Chapter 096: Honey, Am I Really That Stupid?

Chapter 096: Honey, Am I Really That Stupid?

Madam Su’s tone had gone soft in the space of a breath.

She didn’t know when her daughter had struck up a friendship with Li Ruobing, or why Li Ruobing had been willing to give up an entire day to persuading and counseling her. A friendship like that, taken on its own, was a good thing for the Su family. A very good thing.

And now it looked as though her daughter’s friendship with Li Ruobing might not survive, and on top of that she herself might have offended Li Ruobing, the eldest granddaughter of the Li family.

That could not be allowed to happen.

The situation had been cleared up. There truly was no need to offend her.

“Miss Li, do sit. You haven’t even had your tea. At least have a cup before you go.” Madam Su gestured again, then sat down first herself. She was giving Li Ruobing an out.

So Li Ruobing gave her one in return and sat, her expression easing somewhat.

“Miss Li, the truth is I know you meant well. There must have been misunderstandings between us.” Madam Su chose her words carefully as she went on. “But as for the Su family’s affairs—I don’t know whether you can understand how I think, how a mother thinks. I have never wanted to harm my daughter. I want her to be well. I want her to become better still.”

“Is Miss Qingying still not outstanding enough?” Li Ruobing asked.

“She is outstanding. She is the pride my husband and I share. But you know as well as I do that without our proper guidance she would not be this outstanding. And I hope she will go on being this outstanding.”

“She’s already twenty-seven,” Li Ruobing said.

“Miss Li, my daughter is mine to teach.” Madam Su cut her off. On the question of Su Qingying’s upbringing she would never yield. On that point she was exceedingly stubborn.

Which was one reason Wu Chen didn’t mind offending her. If she couldn’t be persuaded, he would use another method to make her bow her head.

“Though today, perhaps… I really do owe you thanks, Miss Li.” Madam Su picked up speed again, then slowed back to an even pace. “Perhaps Qingying truly has developed some problems, and I failed to notice. That was a failure of mine. Cooking, cleaning the room, washing clothes, even going out to buy medicine—none of it is anything I would have expected.”

As she spoke she glanced at Su Qingying.

Su Qingying sat there in a very low mood, not saying a word.

Naturally Madam Su didn’t want anything wrong with her daughter. If she genuinely developed psychological problems, she would be ruined.

Of course, what Madam Su was saying now wasn’t necessarily all that she thought. She was mainly smoothing over her relations with Li Ruobing.

She looked at her daughter, paused, then turned back to Li Ruobing. “I will consider it. I will allow Qingying to do certain things. She has reached the age when she ought to marry, after all. As for laundry and cooking, there are servants at home for that. But if she wants to understand these things herself, if she wants to do them herself, then from now on I won’t stop her. Ah—that’s right, Miss Li, you’re also twenty-seven this year, aren’t you?”

She changed the subject abruptly.

She had no wish to keep discussing her daughter’s upbringing with Li Ruobing.

“Mm. Yes, twenty-seven.” Li Ruobing nodded.

“The same age as our Qingying. No wonder the two of you became friends.” Madam Su actually smiled, then asked of her own accord, “Qingying is a little older, isn’t she?”

“Yes. Miss Qingying is three months older than me. Strictly speaking I ought to call her Sister Qingying,” Li Ruobing said.

“Oh, there’s no need for Sister this and Sister that. Our Su family can’t compare with your Li family. We’re a small household. You’re of an age, so just use each other’s names.” Madam Su paid the Li family a compliment or two, but the faint pleasure on her face was not feigned.

Nobody had ever heard of Li Ruobing calling an unrelated outsider sister.

That phrase, Sister Qingying, did more than tell Madam Su that Li Ruobing’s relationship with her daughter was genuinely good.

If it could be developed further, if the two of them could grow as close as best friends, then her daughter would very likely possess every condition required to take over.

It would become Su Qingying’s strongest connection. Those restless shareholders inside the group, the ones who questioned whether her daughter was too young, the ones waiting for her husband Su Ruiwen to die, would probably fall quiet at once.

Li Ruobing’s close friend—Li Ruotai would have to call her Sister when he saw her.

Li Ruobing’s relations with her family weren’t good, but everyone in Donghai knew how deep the bond ran between Li Ruobing and her younger brother Li Ruotai.

As long as Li Ruobing was willing to help her daughter, Li Ruotai would certainly help his older sister. And Li Ruotai, as the eldest grandson of the Li family’s main branch, could be said to mobilize the full power of the Li family.

Which meant that as long as her daughter Su Qingying kept things good with Li Ruobing, at critical moments in the future she would be able to borrow the full power of the Li family.

The thought was terrifying.

Not only would it let Su Qingying settle firmly into her seat the moment she took over and hold down every old fox in the group, it would be of enormous benefit to Jinfu Group’s growth and expansion.

Everyone knew Li Ruobing had no taste for socializing in private and rarely mixed with anyone. In business everyone was a friend; in private she came and went alone.

Madam Su couldn’t work out how her daughter had brought her relationship with Li Ruobing to this point.

That didn’t matter.

What mattered was that they must not turn against each other. Best of all, the bond would deepen further.

At that thought, the pleasure on Madam Su’s face deepened by several degrees.

“Since Miss Li is so close with our Qingying, you must have a great deal to talk about. In fact the two of you have plenty in common. You both have companies to run, and you both mean to run them well.” Madam Su spoke on. “Come to that, Qingying has very few friends. Perhaps that’s also because I controlled her too tightly. She has hardly any intimate friends. Being able to make a friend of Miss Li is her good fortune.”

“Please don’t put it that way. There’s no question of fortune. Miss Qingying is so outstanding that anyone who sees her would like her,” Li Ruobing said.

The smell of gunpowder was gone.

From the moment Madam Su decided she didn’t want to offend Li Ruobing over this and set out to salvage things, the atmosphere had improved steadily under her hand. She was also letting them see another side of her, the side skilled at handling people.

There were a great many rich wives in Donghai, and by now many of them had become neglected wives at home. Faced with their husbands keeping other women, all they could do was swallow it, let alone hold any standing in Donghai’s business circles.

Madam Su truly was different.

Her position today didn’t rest entirely on her husband, nor on her standing as the child of a high-ranking cadre.

She wasn’t called a capable wife for nothing.

For the next dozen-odd minutes the rhythm of the conversation stayed under Madam Su’s control. They spoke of this and that, letting it become idle chatter, drawing closer.

Li Ruobing could see the matter was settled and couldn’t be bothered to spend more effort, so she simply went along with her.

Which made the atmosphere especially harmonious.

One point deserves mention. Madam Su spoke only with Li Ruobing and did not say another word to Wu Chen.

She was holding a grudge. Her prejudice against Wu Chen was already enormous. But her own daughter wasn’t pursuing the matter, and there was Li Ruobing to consider, so at this stage she could only let it go.

She buried all of it in her heart.

In truth there was another very important reason she had moved to salvage things. She was worried that if they parted on bad terms like this, Wu Chen would go back and sow discord, fill Li Ruobing’s ears with all manner of things. She had to close off that possibility.

“It’s getting late, Miss Li. You do look truly tired. Why not rest here?” When they had talked enough, Madam Su glanced at her watch and stood.

Without waiting for an answer she turned at once to Su Qingying. “Qingying… since today you—perhaps Mother was too strict with you before. I know you’re under a great deal of pressure. Don’t go back tonight. Just be at the company tomorrow morning.”

Then she looked back at Li Ruobing. “Miss Li, I’ll have Qingying stay and keep you company. Qingying rarely gets to relax either, so I’ll trouble you again to talk her through things.”

Leaving Su Qingying with Li Ruobing: the counseling was the pretext, the closeness was the point.

Her daughter would have to come home eventually in any case, back under the control of Madam Su, her mother.

Beyond that, Madam Su was guarding against Wu Chen.

With Li Ruobing there, Wu Chen certainly wouldn’t dare stir up trouble. And with Su Qingying there, it would be awkward for him to sow discord and invent stories.

“Then… all right.” Li Ruobing stood.

The two of them exchanged a few more words and shook hands, and then Madam Su left with her people.

On her way out, Madam Su cast what seemed an idle glance at Wu Chen. There was a distinctly unfriendly meaning in her eyes.

Wu Chen ignored it, unruffled. He even felt slightly like laughing.

He could guess what she was thinking.

And very soon he would make Madam Su understand that not only did he intend to sow discord, he would also make her understand that with Su Ruiwen about to step back, in the Su family the final say did not belong to her, Madam Su.

It belonged to her daughter Su Qingying. The successor.

And not only in the Su family. In Jinfu Group as well, Wu Chen would soon make everyone understand exactly who had the final say.

Madam Su was gone, and three people remained in the top-floor private room of the teahouse.

Su Qingying had seen her mother to the door. Once she was certain her mother had gone well away, she shut the door, then walked quickly to the sofa, tugged at Wu Chen’s clothes, and asked unhappily, “Honey, am I really that stupid?”