Chapter 102: That Simple?!

Chapter 102: That Simple?!

Su Qingying knew this middle-aged man.

In fact, listening to his voice over the call earlier, she had vaguely felt it sounded familiar. But there were far too many people with similar voices.

More to the point, listening to the two of them talk, she could tell Wu Chen truly was threatening the other party, and murder and arson had come up. So she had absolutely not dared to imagine the man on the line was someone she knew.

Her impression of him had never been a bad one.

And yet here he was.

Yao Honglin, forty-six years old, chairman of Donghai Rutong Trade Investment Company and chairman of Donghai Meifu Decoration Company.

On paper his net worth ran past a billion. In all of Donghai that was not low. But his standing in Donghai’s business circles was merely middling.

Because net worth and assets were two different things. Counting only Yao Honglin’s own businesses, his personal fortune capped out at a few hundred million. The reason his paper net worth could exceed a billion was that… he held 3.8 percent of Jinfu Group’s shares.

Most of those shares had been pledged as loan collateral, and he had lost a great deal for the sake of his own ventures, but as long as he wasn’t forced into bankruptcy liquidation he remained one of Jinfu Group’s major individual shareholders, enough to place in the top ten.

So of course Su Qingying knew him.

Yao Honglin’s relationship with Jinfu Group was highly complicated. He had started out in jade, then went into partnership with others to found Meiyuan Jewelry Group, where he was the second-largest shareholder.

In its early years Meiyuan Jewelry had been Jinfu Group’s biggest competitor in the East China region, but its growth had fallen far short of Jinfu’s.

Fourteen years ago, the rapidly expanding Jinfu Group acquired Meiyuan Jewelry outright through a mix of cash and share swaps. As Meiyuan’s second-largest shareholder, Yao Honglin came away with 6 percent of Jinfu Group.

Afterward Jinfu Group went through rounds of financing and expansion, and later listed-company financing, which pushed Yao Honglin’s stake down further.

The number of shares he held never changed. Only the percentage fell, until it reached the present 3.8 percent.

In his ten-plus years inside Jinfu Jewelry, Yao Honglin had held a string of important posts. But as Jinfu Group swelled in size, the limits of his personal ability were exposed.

Beyond that, in recent years his heart had no longer been in Jinfu Group at all. He took less and less part in the company’s operations, and the positions he held there had become nominal.

Mainly because he had other businesses.

When Meiyuan Jewelry was acquired, Yao Honglin had received not only equity but a certain amount of cash.

He had used that money to start ventures of his own, and he had made them work.

Perhaps because those ventures kept growing while his small slice of Jinfu didn’t amount to much, and because his ability fell short and he gradually lost his voice there, he had lost interest in Jinfu Group’s affairs.

Su Qingying also knew that after shifting his focus to his own businesses, Yao Honglin had repeatedly pledged his Jinfu Group shares for loans, converting them into capital to expand those ventures.

In the end the reckless expansion collapsed. He lost a great deal of money.

Su Qingying’s overall impression of Yao Honglin was of a wealthy middle-aged businessman with ideas and nerve, ability that was merely average, somewhat half-hearted, and fond of being his own boss.

That “average” was of course measured against people of real ability. However poor Yao Honglin’s ability might be, he was still several dozen streets ahead of ordinary people.

Su Qingying and Yao Honglin looked at each other.

The air in the room stalled slightly.

Yao Honglin was frightened. How had Su Qingying suddenly appeared here? Why had she pushed the door open and walked straight in?

Su Qingying was somewhat dazed herself. Yao Honglin had once… committed murder and arson?

“Ah?” Then Yao Honglin started all over again.

Because he didn’t only know Su Qingying. He had recognized Li Ruobing too.

He had seen her at a banquet once. Though he had never spoken to her, he’d heard people talk about her, and he knew she was the Li family’s eldest granddaughter.

Looking at Li Ruobing, he went blank again.

How were Su Qingying and Li Ruobing also… connected? And why had they come together?

He had never heard of Eldest Miss Su having any friendship or entanglement with the Li family’s eldest granddaughter. Even if they were acquainted, they oughtn’t to have been close.

“You heard all of it, didn’t you?” Wu Chen asked, tilting his head.

Su Qingying and Li Ruobing both nodded.

Something seemed to fall into place for Yao Honglin all at once—and then something else came to him, and his face turned even more shocked.

He understood. The people on the call with Wu Chen a moment ago had been Su Qingying and Li Ruobing.

And he had it now… he finally knew why the name Wu Chen had felt familiar. Wasn’t this the Wu Chen Donghai’s business circles had been talking about these last few days? Li Ruobing’s boyfriend, the man who had appeared out of nowhere—Mr. Wu Chen!

It was over.

Yao Honglin knew he was finished. Utterly finished.

Earlier he genuinely had thought about killing Wu Chen and making him vanish from the face of the earth, whatever he’d said when Wu Chen asked him.

Now he no longer dared entertain the thought.

Li Ruobing’s boyfriend. A man of the Li family. If he dared touch him… he would die all the faster.

And Su Qingying was here too. She knew as well.

Touch whom? Which of them could he possibly touch? There was more than one person in the know, and each one’s standing was more terrifying than the last. Forget having problems of his own—even with a spotless record, daring to touch these people meant death.

He was wrong on one point: Li Ruobing and Su Qingying had no idea what he had actually done. They had heard fragments only. The one person who knew everything was Wu Chen.

Yao Honglin’s face went ashen with fear.

He knew that the instant he dared resist, he was finished. He couldn’t resist. Whatever sum they wanted, he would have to hand over.

“Come, don’t stand there. Sit,” Wu Chen called again.

Li Ruobing and Su Qingying came over.

Li Ruobing sat beside Wu Chen, and Su Qingying sat on Li Ruobing’s other side, producing an arrangement with Li Ruobing in the middle and Wu Chen and Su Qingying on either flank… all of it laid out by Wu Chen in advance.

There was no need for Su Qingying to sit beside him, because there was no need for Yao Honglin to know what lay between them.

It was unnecessary.

Yao Honglin still stood there like a fool across the table.

“Sit,” Wu Chen said again.

“Ah! Yes, yes, sitting!” He agreed in a rush, thoroughly obedient, and sat.

Borrowing momentum.

Wu Chen was currently borrowing the momentum of Li Ruobing and Su Qingying both. He didn’t even need the two women to speak. They only had to come in and serve as props, and Yao Honglin was already frightened half to death.

“I think you understand the situation, so I’ll speak plainly.” Wu Chen looked at him. “I… don’t need your money.”

Yao Honglin froze, then was shocked all over again.

He didn’t want money?

Then what did he want?

What else did Yao Honglin have?

His life?

“All I need is this: from now on, whatever Miss Su says at board meetings, you support it. Understood?” Wu Chen finished with a smile.

Yao Honglin’s face turned extraordinarily colorful.

First he froze. Then he started. Then he stood there dumb. And then—he was overjoyed. Delighted.

That simple?

It was that simple?!