Chapter 224: You Don’t Remember Me?

Chapter 224: You Don’t Remember Me?

“Did Ding Ruilong say when he’s coming to Donghai?” Wu Chen asked, one eyebrow still raised.

“He didn’t give an exact time,” Li Ruobing said.

She fell silent for a moment, as though there were something she wanted to tell Wu Chen but could not quite bring herself to say.

After a pause, she continued, “I told him not to come. Even if he does, I won’t meet him. But…”

Wu Chen understood.

Li Ruobing could not control Ding Ruilong.

If he wanted to come, he would come.

“I’ll be back in Donghai in a couple of days,” Wu Chen said after thinking for a moment.

“Mm… Wu Chen…” Li Ruobing replied, then called his name.

Once again, she fell silent.

“What is it?” Wu Chen asked.

“…Nothing. We’ll talk when you get back to Donghai,” Li Ruobing said instead.

She still did not say it.

There were some things that would be pointless to discuss over the phone anyway.

Wu Chen, however, could immediately guess what she wanted to tell him.

She was worried that once Ding Ruilong arrived in Donghai, Wu Chen might simply finish him off right there.

Li Ruobing did not think Wu Chen was someone who ignored the consequences.

His plan was proceeding in an orderly fashion.

There was no reason for him to create unnecessary complications.

But…

If Ding Ruilong came looking for death himself—

if he provoked Wu Chen in Donghai or said something offensive to his face—

then…

it might be impossible for him to stay alive.

Li Ruobing wanted to persuade Wu Chen.

She wanted to have a proper conversation with him.

But the phone was an inconvenient way to discuss it, and doing so would accomplish little.

She could only wait until Wu Chen returned to Donghai.

Wu Chen and Li Ruobing exchanged a few more words, wished each other good night, and ended the call.

It was already past eleven.

It really was time to sleep.

Wu Chen put his phone aside, slid down slightly against the pillows, turned over, and pulled Wu Yurong into his arms.

Wu Yurong nestled completely against him.

The lights went out.

They went to sleep.

In the darkness, Wu Yurong suddenly asked in a soft, sweet voice, “Ding Ruilong is going to Donghai… What are you planning to do?”

“…It should be interesting,” Wu Chen replied after a brief silence, a subtle smile in his voice.

—

A new day.

July 17, 2020.

A little after seven in the morning, Wu Chen opened his eyes right on time.

Looking up at the ceiling of the presidential suite’s bedroom, he smiled.

Wu Yurong was still asleep.

She truly had drunk quite a lot the night before.

Although she had taken some hangover medicine and worked up a sweat from some exercise, she had still gone to sleep rather late.

The moment Wu Chen moved, turning slightly to reach for his phone, Wu Yurong woke up.

Even in deep sleep, she had been holding him.

Wu Yurong opened her eyes and took a moment to shake off her drowsiness.

Then, seeing Wu Chen right in front of her, she smiled softly and beautifully, leaned forward, and kissed his chin.

A little after eight in the morning.

Wu Chen and Wu Yurong finally got up.

They washed, showered, and dressed.

It was around eight-thirty when they left the room together.

By then, Wu Yurong’s female bodyguard, Chu Yan, was already pacing in the corridor outside.

Two of Wu Yurong’s male bodyguards were there as well.

“Get everything ready…” Wu Yurong briefly instructed Chu Yan about the day’s schedule.

Then she went with Wu Chen to the Western restaurant on the hotel’s third floor.

They simply had breakfast together.

A little after nine, once they had finished eating, Wu Yurong left with her people.

She was heading straight back to Donghai.

The convoy had driven here, and the convoy would drive back.

Taking the expressway, the journey would only take three or four hours.

One thing worth mentioning was that before leaving, Wu Yurong left a car for Wu Chen.

She knew he had come to Modu by high-speed rail and did not have a car there.

That made it rather inconvenient for him to get things done.

So she left him a Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan with Donghai plates.

Outside the hotel entrance.

Wu Chen stood with one hand in the pocket of his dress pants, watching Wu Yurong’s convoy drive away.

After the convoy turned at the intersection and disappeared from view, he looked back at the traffic moving along the main road.

He smiled and thought for a moment.

Then he turned and strode toward the Mercedes-Benz S-Class Wu Yurong had left behind.

The key was already in his hand.

He opened the door and got in.

Sitting in the car, Wu Chen took out his phone.

He scrolled for a moment, opened Penguin Chat, and entered his conversation with “No Envy by the Abyss.”

Ever since he had gotten He Shiqin to add him as a friend and ask him to become a private tutor, Wu Chen had chatted with her from time to time.

He had also promised that when he came to Modu, he would definitely meet her.

Now it was time.

Holding the phone in one hand, Wu Chen typed rapidly.

Are you there? I arrived in Modu yesterday. I happen to be free today.

He sent the message.

Barely half a minute later, a reply arrived.

No Envy by the Abyss: Teacher Xingchen, you’re already here? Where are you? Let’s choose a place to meet.

Xingchen: I’m in Dongpu District.

No Envy by the Abyss: Dongpu District? What a coincidence. Xinxin and I live in Dongpu District too. Then… would it be convenient for Teacher Xingchen to come directly to our home? You can meet Xinxin at the same time.

Xingchen: Sure.

He Shiqin then sent Wu Chen the address and typed:

Sorry to trouble you, Teacher Xingchen.

They exchanged another couple of messages and ended the conversation.

Wu Chen started the car and pulled onto the road.

A little over ten minutes later.

Near New Century Park in Dongpu District.

Century Garden Residential Complex.

By Modu standards, the development could not be considered upscale.

It was only mid-range.

But because of its excellent location, property prices were still exceptionally high—currently more than 100,000 yuan per square meter.

The complex was more than ten years old, however.

When it first opened, housing prices had been nowhere near their current level.

He Shiqin had bought early, so the apartment had cost her only a few million yuan.

Wu Chen parked beside the road outside the complex but did not get out.

Management here was fairly strict.

Residents needed access cards to enter and leave, and security guards watched the entrance.

He would have to call He Shiqin and ask her to come out to meet him.

Wu Chen took out his phone and called her number again.

The phone rang for quite a while.

No answer.

Eventually, the call disconnected automatically.

Wu Chen calmly called again.

Still no answer.

Just as he was preparing to call a third time, he saw someone hurrying out through the gate of the residential complex.

It was a young girl wearing an oversized hip-hop jacket and black jeans, her hair tied in a single ponytail.

She was very pretty.

Not especially tall, but slim and fair-skinned.

Judging by her appearance, she looked fourteen or fifteen, probably in her second or third year of junior high school.

She was even wearing slippers.

Her eyes were red.

Her face showed both anger and hurt, as though she had just argued with someone.

She strode along quickly in a huff.

Watching from inside the car, Wu Chen smiled.

Then he lowered his phone and slipped it away.

The girl was He Xinxin.

After leaving the complex, He Xinxin headed west along the sidewalk.

Wu Chen’s car was parked at the curb on that same side.

He unfastened his seat belt, opened the door, got out, and stepped onto the sidewalk.

That put He Xinxin on a path directly toward him.

Wu Chen stopped.

With one hand in his pocket, he smiled and called out, “He Xinxin?”

“Hm?”

The angry girl looked up.

She had been crying and sniffed before asking, “Who are you? Do I know you?”

“You don’t remember me?” Wu Chen asked with a smile.

“Hm?”

He Xinxin froze again.

Wu Chen looked polished and respectable, nothing like a bad person.

So for the moment, she showed no wariness toward him.

Instead, she blinked at him and tried hard to remember.

Who was this man?

Had she seen him before?

Did she know him?

“I’ve even been to your home before,” Wu Chen said with another smile. “You and your mom live in Unit 3, Apartment 702, right?”

“You are…” He Xinxin frowned.

She thought and thought, trying to place him.

Just then—

“Xinxin… Xinxin, don’t run…”

A woman’s voice called from inside the residential complex.

Rapid footsteps accompanied it.

He Xinxin whipped her head around.

Still looking furious, she quickly glanced around, hurried to the roadside, and hid behind Wu Chen’s Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

Then she crouched down.

Just as she finished hiding—

a beautiful woman who looked twenty-seven or twenty-eight came rushing out of the residential complex.

She wore a long dress and slippers.

Her face was anxious.

The instant she came out, she began looking left and right as though searching for someone.

Wu Chen stood on the sidewalk with one hand in his pocket, watching the woman with a subtle expression.

She was He Xinxin’s mother.

He Shiqin.

Wu Chen glanced back toward the rear of his car.

From where he stood, he could see He Xinxin.

From He Shiqin’s angle, she could not.

When He Xinxin saw Wu Chen looking at her, she quickly waved at him.

Then she clasped her hands together and shook them slightly, wearing an unmistakable pleading expression.

She was begging him not to say anything.

Wu Chen smiled.

Then he turned back to He Shiqin, suddenly raised a fist to his mouth, and coughed lightly.

“Ahem.”