Chapter 191: Kneel and Apologize to Me!

Chapter 191: Kneel and Apologize to Me!

Click, click, click.

The strike of high heels on the floor was crisp and sharp.

Li Ruobing wore her long black hair straight as always, with only light makeup. But her lips were a vivid red, as striking as the red heels on her feet.

She walked toward the living room, sweeping her gaze over it.

She saw neither Wu Chen nor Wu Yurong. Neither was downstairs.

The room had been tidied, and she could make out no particularly telling traces.

“Miss Li, please wait a moment. Our boss will be down soon.”

Chu Yan invited Li Ruobing to sit. As she spoke her expression was strange, her manner touched with caution and wariness.

Of course she knew exactly who Li Ruobing was.

She also knew Wu Chen was Li Ruobing’s boyfriend.

And she knew that yesterday her own boss, Wu Yurong, had slept with him.

On top of that, before Li Ruobing arrived Wu Yurong had not only called to tell Chu Yan to receive her, but had also given her several unusual instructions.

All of which left Chu Yan feeling that something might happen today.

In a women’s suit, Li Ruobing sat down on the sofa, took out her phone, and dialed.

It connected quickly.

“Where is he?” she asked.

She listened a moment, then hung up.

Chu Yan did not linger in the living room either. While Li Ruobing was on the phone she hurried out.

A minute later.

Wu Chen came downstairs, clean and neat, the faint scent of body wash still on him.

He came into the living room.

Li Ruobing turned her head and looked at him, expressionless.

Her eyes followed him all the way until he reached the sofa, sat down beside her, turned his head, and smiled.

They were very close, face to face, looking straight into each other’s eyes.

“My dear Mr. Wu. You really do never stop bringing me surprises,” Li Ruobing said in a deliberately measured, icy tone.

“Thank you.” Wu Chen smiled, taking it as praise.

“Have fun?” Li Ruobing asked.

“Of course.” Wu Chen smiled.

“You really do… go for them all, don’t you? Wu Yurong’s daughter is nearly your age, and you still—” Li Ruobing’s tone was plainly deteriorating.

There was anger in her.

Not because Wu Chen had another woman, but because that woman was Wu Yurong—and because Wu Yurong had taken that attitude with her.

That was what had made her angry.

“I go by looks,” Wu Chen answered, smiling.

He was perfectly frank that in this sort of thing, looks absolutely mattered.

Li Ruobing said nothing.

She turned her head slightly and stared straight at him for a long moment.

“Jealous?” Wu Chen asked softly, smiling.

Li Ruobing did not answer.

Not getting jealous was part of the bet she had lost to him. She also knew he was teasing her again.

It was not that she was conceding the point.

She was simply angry.

“I know how formidable you are, my dear Mr. Wu!” Li Ruobing said at last, after a silence.

She leaned a little closer and lowered her voice, very nearly grinding the words out.

“But would it kill you to go one day without making me angry? Can’t you give in to me a little? What good does it do you to make me this furious?”

For someone with Li Ruobing’s temperament, being able to say that meant she truly cared.

And in her own way she had yielded to Wu Chen—just a little.

The words translated very simply.

Two words:

Comfort me.

As she said it, Li Ruobing reached toward his waist—

And pinched him again.

A very womanly little gesture.

Wu Chen’s expression did not change at all.

He simply kept his head turned toward her, holding her eyes, smiling.

The smile deepened slightly.

Then he said, “I love you.”

At that moment—

Anyone who did not understand Wu Chen, anyone who did not know what he had done, would certainly have taken him for a smooth-tongued pretty-boy scumbag who cheated on woman after woman and was exceptionally good at sweet-talking girls.

The kind of absolute bastard who could be caught cheating, have his girlfriend come and confront him, and still calmly tell her he loved her.

It looked exactly like that.

It was exactly like that.

But Li Ruobing understood Wu Chen.

She knew what he was capable of, and by now she understood something of his character.

Wu Chen was not a man who won women by coaxing them. He would never make himself a fawning lapdog. He only made women become obedient and afraid of losing him.

Su Qingying, for instance—that nearly perfect strong woman—became so well-behaved in front of Wu Chen that she seemed like another person.

Wu Chen was a master of playing with hearts.

He was never humble.

So when the words I love you came from Wu Chen voluntarily, Li Ruobing’s first instinct was that he was coaxing her.

And she truly was happy. Even knowing how good he was at playing his little games, even knowing this might itself be another of his routines, she still could not stop the happiness rising in her.

Then, thinking it over more carefully, something felt wrong.

It was too abrupt. He had said it suddenly, like a confession.

Entirely contrary to Wu Chen’s character.

So…

Li Ruobing’s thoughts moved fast. After only a brief daze she looked into his eyes and asked, “Who else have you ever said that to on your own?”

She needed to confirm what she was thinking.

“No one.” Wu Chen smiled.

Saying it first and answering when asked were two different things. Since his new life began, this really was the first time he had voluntarily said those three words to a woman.

Li Ruobing abruptly turned her face away.

She wanted to smile. She could hardly hold it back.

There was no other feeling mixed into it. She simply wanted to smile because she was happy.

Now she understood completely what Wu Chen meant. Afraid she might be misreading him, she had asked one more question to be sure.

And now she was certain.

This was exactly what he meant:

She was the most important woman in his life.

She was his primary partner.

Every other woman, whoever she was, whatever her identity or standing, whatever her relationship with Wu Chen, came after her.

Li Ruobing could hardly believe she was this happy over something like that.

What was there to be happy about?

This was something an ordinary woman could never accept.

How had she accepted it?

And why was she happy about it?

Li Ruobing knew that feeling this way right now was, in a sense, rather pathetic.

But she truly could not control it.

Li Ruobing, who would submit only to someone stronger than herself, suddenly found her mood extraordinarily good.

Still turned away, she pressed her lips together and brought her emotions under control.

When she turned back to look at Wu Chen, she kept herself from smiling, but the coldness had gone out of her face.

She looked at him a moment, her gaze serious.

“I love you too.”

“I know.” Wu Chen smiled.

“You…” Li Ruobing thought a moment, then asked with a faint smile, “Aren’t you afraid Su Qingying will find out? Or today’s woman? If… they object, if they make trouble with you, what will you do?”

“They know… It’s fine. They won’t make trouble.” Wu Chen smiled when he finished.

Something seemed to occur to Li Ruobing. Her expression turned strange for an instant.

She did not argue with him. Instead she asked, “Why hasn’t she come down yet? Is she upstairs?”

“Putting on makeup. We took a shower earlier,” Wu Chen said.

“Only a shower?” Li Ruobing gave him a sidelong look.

“What else?” Wu Chen grinned.

Then he stood, straightened his suit, and said, “All right. She’ll be down soon. I’m going first. You two can talk alone.”

“Where are you going?” Li Ruobing asked.

“Home to sleep,” Wu Chen said.

And when he said he was leaving, he left.

How the two women talked, what they said, whether he heard any of it—none of it mattered.

Wu Chen was not worried that anything would spiral out of control.

He had not rested well the night before.

He genuinely was going home to sleep.

A full ten minutes after Wu Chen left, Wu Yurong came downstairs.

She wore a silk nightgown, her makeup immaculate, her long hair loose around her shoulders.

She looked languid, elegant, beautiful.

“Sorry to have kept you waiting, Miss Li,” Wu Yurong said as she entered the living room, her voice as gentle and sweet as ever.

Li Ruobing sat on the sofa without expression.

After a silence, she spoke directly.

“Ms. Wu, we’re both busy people. I don’t want to waste too much time here. I think we can skip the unnecessary arguing and both be direct.”

“Miss Li… what do you mean?”

Wu Yurong genuinely did not know what she was driving at.

“Kneel down and apologize to me,” Li Ruobing said seriously.