Chapter 245: Don’t I Need to Save Face Too?

Chapter 245: Don’t I Need to Save Face Too?

Li Ruobing reacted strongly.

How could she not?

It was true that she did not mind Wu Chen fooling around with other women. She never interfered, so long as it did not affect her.

But—

three days, three women?

Wasn’t that going a bit far?

If he kept on at this rate, where would it end?

Would he even have the time for all of them?

Li Ruobing knew perfectly well that Wu Chen took the women in his life seriously. Every one of them. He treated each of them earnestly and shouldered the responsibility.

After Su Qingying became his woman, Wu Chen helped her seize power in a single day, handing her outright control of Jinfu Group, a company with a market value in the tens of billions of yuan.

After Wu Yurong became his woman, Wu Chen went to Modu and arranged everything for her so thoroughly that she stood to make more than ten billion yuan inside six months to a year.

The truth was, Li Ruobing did not dislike how well he treated his women.

It was even one of the things she admired in him.

After all, she was one of Wu Chen’s women too, and his only publicly acknowledged girlfriend. For her sake he was preparing to take on the whole of the Ding family.

But—

if his women grew too numerous, and he treated every last one of them that well…

Li Ruobing had the distinct feeling that one day even seeing him once a day would become difficult.

Who did things like that?

That was no way to carry on!

Wasn’t he afraid of wearing himself into the ground? He was still so young. Could his back even take it?

Li Ruobing was furious.

She was not jealous.

She was simply angry. She thought Wu Chen was going much too far.

Fine, if Wu Chen wanted to fool around with women, that was one thing. But why bring every one of them back to Donghai? Was he planning to keep them all there? She even began to suspect he was deliberately trying to provoke her again, because she had teased him the night before he left and then refused him.

“Why are you reacting so strongly? That doesn’t sound like you,” Wu Chen said into the phone, amusement in his voice.

“Could you stop always saying ‘that doesn’t sound like you’?” Li Ruobing’s tone was cold and angry. “My dear Mr. Wu, I don’t care how much you indulge yourself out there, but could you maybe not indulge yourself quite this much? Three women in three days, and you’re bringing them home. Don’t I need to save face too?”

Li Ruobing really was furious.

She had even said something like Don’t I need to save face too? That was nothing like her.

Zhuang Xiaodie lay curled slightly against Wu Chen, half on her side, her head on his arm, one arm draped loosely around his neck.

They were nestled intimately close together.

She was close enough to hear the voice coming out of the phone.

Since that afternoon she had listened to Wu Chen make a good many calls. She did not know who all of them were to, but from what he said she could tell he had been calling women he was involved with.

So she knew Wu Chen had many women.

Nothing strange in that. To Zhuang Xiaodie’s mind it was perfectly normal for a wealthy young man like Wu Chen to have many women. She gave it no particular thought.

She understood very clearly that now that she was with him, she was only one of them.

She had been prepared for that from the beginning.

Ordinarily, Zhuang Xiaodie paid no attention when Wu Chen spoke with his other women. She had even been trained in this over the past year.

She understood that if you wanted an important man to like you, to favor you, you did not play games with him.

You had to know how to behave.

You had to know how to pretend you had heard nothing.

A little coquetry was fine. Making trouble was absolutely not.

This time, though, was different.

From the content and the tone of the conversation between Wu Chen and Li Ruobing, Zhuang Xiaodie could tell that the woman on the other end had to be his wife or his official girlfriend.

The principal woman.

And Li Ruobing sounded furious. Cold and forceful. Zhuang Xiaodie could feel it plainly.

Which left her…

a little uneasy.

She did not know who the other two women Wu Chen meant to bring back might be. Her first concern was herself. She was going to Donghai with him tomorrow.

Would she be hit?

Influenced by all the movies and television dramas she had watched, Zhuang Xiaodie was already picturing herself following Wu Chen home only to be forced to her knees by the senior wife and slapped across the face.

Just imagining it was terrifying.

If she really were bullied, Zhuang Xiaodie had no idea what she was supposed to do about it.

“My dear Miss Li, you promised me you wouldn’t get jealous,” Wu Chen said, laughing again.

He was teasing her, of course. The situation was nothing like what she imagined.

Of the three, only Zhuang Xiaodie was actually his woman.

Wu Chen and He Shiqin…

that was complicated.

And He Shiqin was far too special. If Li Ruobing learned that the woman he was bringing back was He Shiqin, she would be overjoyed. She might even take the initiative to build a good relationship with her.

Because what He Shiqin had endured deserved sympathy.

And because she was the key witness who could bring Ding Ruilong down.

But Wu Chen did not tell Li Ruobing outright.

He teased her instead.

“So what if I am jealous? I’m jealous. Am I not allowed?” Li Ruobing shot back.

This was not an admission—she was not actually jealous. She said it deliberately, hoping it might make him rein himself in a little in the future.

“Jealous, is it? Then Miss Li is going back on her word. You lost to me, remember?” Wu Chen laughed.

“I— then punish me. I don’t care. Punish me when you get back, I’ll take it. I’m jealous! And I’m telling you, I’m angry!”

“Punish you… How would you like me to punish you?”

“You’d better start working out how to stop me being angry first! You actually want to punish me? Just wait until you’re back tomorrow. You’ll see how I deal with you!”

“Wow. Terrifying. Threatening to deal with me again.” Wu Chen made his voice deliberately theatrical.

“Don’t get cocky! Wait till you’re back and see whether I dare! Fine. I’m angry. I’m done talking to you. Go and hold your little lover and get some sleep!”

And with that, Li Ruobing hung up.

Zhuang Xiaodie had not made a sound the whole time.

Li Ruobing could still tell there was a woman beside him right now.

At least one.

The call ended.

Wu Chen smiled, moved the phone away from his ear, glanced at the screen, then reached back and set it on the cabinet.

Still holding him, Zhuang Xiaodie lifted her head and kissed his cheek.

He looked at her, slid down a little, and drew the blanket higher. He was getting ready to turn out the light and sleep.

“Mr. Wu… was that your wife?” Zhuang Xiaodie asked softly, blinking up at him from inches away, a trace of unease in her large eyes.

“My girlfriend.” He turned his head and smiled.

“She’s angry…?” she asked quietly.

One look at her face and Wu Chen knew what she was thinking. He did not go into any detail about Li Ruobing’s particular situation. Spend enough time around them and she would understand it herself.

“Frightened?” he asked with a laugh.

Zhuang Xiaodie pressed her lips together, then nodded gently and made a small sound of assent.

“Don’t worry.” Wu Chen smiled and pinched her cheek. “She won’t do anything to you. You’ve got me.”

“Mm…”

She gave another soft nasal hum and said nothing more. She wrapped her arms around him and burrowed into his chest.

Very well-behaved.

Wu Chen kissed her forehead once more and turned off the light.

Sleep.

—

A new day.

July 19, 2020.

Zhuang Xiaodie woke a little after six in the morning. They had gone to sleep early the night before. She did not wake him. She simply lay there in his arms, head tilted, big eyes blinking, watching his profile.

The longer she looked, the more handsome he seemed.

She went on watching him and thinking about all sorts of things, right up until seven o’clock exactly.

Wu Chen woke.

They got up at once. They washed up together and dressed together. Zhuang Xiaodie even knotted his tie and fetched his leather shoes, taking attentive care of him.

They did not eat breakfast. They simply carried the luggage she had packed the previous afternoon down to the car and set out.

First, to meet He Shiqin.

The meeting point was outside the expressway entrance in Dongpu District. Wu Chen arrived a little after eight and saw at once that He Shiqin’s white Mercedes G-Class SUV was already there, parked at the curb.

He did not stop or get out. He sounded the horn once as a signal and drove on toward the toll station. He Shiqin’s car fell in behind his Mercedes S-Class.

They took the expressway back to Donghai.

Under four hours.

Around noon.

The two cars came off the expressway one behind the other and took the ring expressway toward the north side of the city. At roughly half past twelve they finally reached Zunrong Donghai Huafu.

Before turning into the complex, Wu Chen noticed several very familiar cars parked at the curb near the gate.

He knew the people sitting in them too.

Li Ruobing’s bodyguards.

Obviously.

Li Ruobing was already inside.

The woman who had been so furious the night before was now waiting in Wu Chen’s house—

waiting for him to bring those three women home.