Chapter 221: That’s Fucking Incredible!

Chapter 221: That’s Fucking Incredible!

Gu Ruibo had already analyzed the situation on the way over.

Even if Wu Yurong was involved with Wu Chen, their relationship had to be secret. There was no way she could let Li Ruobing—Wu Chen’s official girlfriend—find out. Otherwise, once things blew up, even if Wu Yurong was not afraid of Li Ruobing, she would still suffer serious losses.

Her reputation would be damaged as well. She certainly would not want to be branded a mistress who had stolen someone else’s boyfriend.

So why had she suddenly spoken up?

What did it mean?

Did she want Li Ruobing to know?

Was she declaring war on her?

Gu Ruibo’s mind raced through the possibilities.

Then Wu Chen spoke, leaving Gu utterly dumbfounded and shocked beyond words.

“Wu Yurong is beside you? She went to Modu with you?” Li Ruobing asked after a brief silence. Her voice had turned cold. She was clearly unhappy.

If it had been any other woman, she would not even have asked. She might even have teased Wu Chen about it.

But Wu Yurong…

“Yeah. I asked her to come to Modu. We had some business to discuss,” Wu Chen said into the phone, still smiling calmly.

He turned to glance at Wu Yurong, then added, “Want to talk to her?”

“Talk to her, my ass!” Li Ruobing snapped.

Ever since Wu Yurong had kissed her that one time, Li Ruobing had wanted to stay as far away from the woman as possible. She did not want to interact with her any more than necessary.

“Are you jealous?” Wu Chen asked with a smile.

“Jealous, my ass! Are you deliberately trying to piss me off?” Li Ruobing was genuinely angry now. She could barely contain herself.

What angered her was not whatever might be going on between Wu Chen and Wu Yurong.

It was the fact that Wu Chen had not told her beforehand.

“I’m taking care of something important. I’ll call you later,” Wu Chen said, amusement still in his voice.

“I’ll wait for your call… You piss me off every single day…” Li Ruobing said, then hung up.

She did not ask anything else.

Wu Chen’s words—taking care of something important—were enough for her to understand that he was working on something big and had brought Wu Yurong into it.

It was not as though he had taken Wu Yurong to Modu for a romantic getaway.

After the call ended, Wu Chen glanced at Gu Ruibo and smiled.

“Sorry about that. Let’s go.”

“Uh… it’s fine…” Gu Ruibo replied haltingly.

He still had not recovered from the shock.

The group continued toward the private room, went inside, and took their seats.

Even after sitting down, Gu Ruibo remained dazed, as though he could not snap out of it.

He had not been able to hear Li Ruobing’s side of the call, but he had heard every word Wu Chen said.

Not only was Wu Chen unafraid of Li Ruobing finding out, he had even dared ask if she wanted to speak to Wu Yurong.

He had even smiled and asked whether she was jealous.

And from the way the call ended, it was obvious the two of them had not fought.

Instead, they had agreed to talk again later?

What the fuck was going on?!

Li Ruobing could tolerate Wu Chen having other women?

Or perhaps she did mind but simply could not control him—and was still willing to keep dating him?

Just how fucking incredible was Wu Chen?

Li Ruobing and Wu Yurong were both women who seemed impossible to handle.

One was exceptionally forceful, the kind who could not tolerate even a grain of sand in her eye.

The other was a woman no powerful man seemed capable of winning over, almost as though she had no interest in men at all.

Both were exceptional.

Both had powerful backgrounds.

Both were wealthy.

And both were breathtakingly beautiful.

Li Ruobing treated Ding Ruilong, the foremost third-generation member of a major family, like garbage.

Wu Yurong, meanwhile, had the psychology of the powerful men who desired her completely figured out. Anyone who dared offend her would also discover just how ruthless she could be.

And yet both women were involved with Wu Chen?

And Wu Chen had somehow arranged everything so neatly that they did not even clash?

How had he done it?

Just how capable did a man have to be to pull that off?

Gu Ruibo could no longer think of any lofty or sophisticated words to describe Wu Chen.

Only two simple, direct words fit.

Fucking incredible!

Absolutely fucking incredible!

Gu Ruibo even felt that with someone this formidable, it would hardly be beneath him to… flatter Wu Chen a little.

What Gu Ruibo could never have imagined was that his current impression of Wu Chen was precisely the effect Wu Yurong had deliberately helped create.

Li Ruobing’s sudden call had been an accident.

But the moment Wu Chen answered and naturally called her “Ruobing,” Wu Yurong understood what he wanted.

So she had deliberately spoken up, letting Li Ruobing know she was beside Wu Chen.

It was not meant to provoke Li Ruobing.

In truth, it had all been for Gu Ruibo to see and hear.

As an intelligent woman, Wu Yurong understood perfectly well that only by convincing Gu Ruibo that Wu Chen was sufficiently formidable could she seize the initiative when the time came to divide the profits between them.

They ordered the food.

Opened the wine.

More than half an hour later, the people Gu Ruibo had summoned finally arrived.

Chen Lixing was fifty-one years old, a tall, thin, balding middle-aged man. A professional manager, he currently served as CEO of Tongbo Investment Company, which belonged to Gu Ruibo.

Qi Jun was thirty-nine, wore glasses, and had a refined, scholarly air. Another professional manager, he was currently the general manager of Ruiyi Fund, which Gu Ruibo actually controlled.

Both men were trusted confidants in whom Gu Ruibo had absolute faith.

Wu Chen trusted them as well.

He had investigated them during the loop and knew neither man would pose a problem.

The dishes arrived.

They ate, drank, and discussed business.

Chen Lixing had brought documents with him.

They contained all the commercial intelligence Gu Ruibo possessed on Ding Ruilong: the exact number of affiliated companies, their various connections, their shareholdings, traceable fund flows, and so on.

After competing against Ding Ruilong for so many years, Gu Ruibo possessed what could probably be called the most comprehensive body of information available.

That was one of the reasons Wu Chen had chosen him.

Wu Chen knew a great deal himself, of course, but he had never bothered investigating every last detail during the loop.

Gu Ruibo, however, already had most of it.

The five of them held another detailed discussion over dinner and, using the documents, tentatively identified several “targets.”

They needed to complete their preparations before anything happened to the Ding family.

The specifics were extremely complicated.

For example, before the Ding family ran into trouble, they would first need to use proxies to quietly spread out purchases of publicly traded shares in certain Ding-affiliated companies.

They would also have to make secret contact with several minority shareholders.

Once the Ding family’s troubles began, many of the people who profited from their connections or business dealings with the family would quickly dump their shares if they wanted to avoid being implicated.

They would sever their ties to the Ding family as quickly as possible.

At that point, money would be secondary.

Protecting their lives and fortunes would matter far more.

That meant there would be an excellent chance to acquire shares in certain Ding-family businesses at extremely low prices.

Once their holdings passed a certain threshold, they could seize control of the companies outright.

It would be almost like stealing money.

Dividing up the pie was, by its very nature, a form of “stealing money.”

And that was only one method.

There were many others.

If the Ding family ran into trouble, plenty of people would want a piece of the pie.

It would all come down to who entered first and who moved fastest.

But if an “ordinary person” tried to take a share of the Ding family’s pie, it would be suicide.

The other powers would crush them immediately.

Even Wu Yurong was not quite strong enough on her own.

She had no great-family background.

At most, she could follow along and sip a little broth. If she tried to claim too large a share of the profits, things would become extremely difficult for her.

That was why she needed a partner.

Gu Ruibo.

Gu had the family background.

Wu Yurong had broader connections and was better at dealing with people.

Once the two joined forces, combined with Gu Ruibo’s detailed commercial intelligence on Ding Ruilong and the crucial information Wu Chen could provide…

there would be virtually no chance of failure.

They had already gone through several rounds of drinks.

Before anyone noticed, it was past nine at night.

“…As for the equity split in the new company…” Wu Chen said, gently swirling the red wine in his glass.

At last, they had reached the division of profits.

Wu Yurong and Gu Ruibo would jointly fund and establish a company.

That company would serve as the parent company, with various subsidiaries registered beneath it.

Through layers of shareholding structures, the entities that ultimately carried out the deals would be obscure little companies that would “forcibly acquire” some of the Ding family’s businesses.

In other words, their respective stakes in the parent company would ultimately determine how the profits were divided.

Originally, Wu Chen had not needed to discuss the details with Gu Ruibo to this extent.

How the operation would work, how they would keep it secret, how it would be managed—there would be all kinds of issues to resolve over the next several months.

Wu Yurong and Gu Ruibo could discuss and study those matters in detail themselves.

Wu Chen would not participate in the actual operation.

Even so, he had said a great deal at tonight’s dinner.

The real reason he was still sitting here was the single most important issue—

the division of equity.

“What do you think, Boss Gu?” Wu Chen asked with a smile, looking at Gu Ruibo.

“How should the shares be divided?”