Chapter 280: Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi

Chapter 280: Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi

The short-haired young man stared blankly at Wu Chen.

He did not know Wu Chen. And everything tonight made it plain that Wu Chen had saved him through simple righteous intervention.

Yet Wu Chen had just mentioned his second uncle. Anyone who knew that Tang Xinbao called his second uncle when trouble came had to know who he was.

“I have some friends in Modu too. I’ve heard about you. That thousand-horsepower modified GTR of yours is fairly famous in Modu.” Wu Chen glanced at the girl in the black dress. “You called her Qiqi just now. Guo Qiqi, isn’t it?”

The girl looked faintly dazed to find him looking at her, and nodded.

“And you’re Tang Xinbao, right?” Wu Chen asked the short-haired young man.

He nodded, equally blank.

Tang Xinbao. Twenty-one years old. A direct third-generation descendant of the Tang family of Modu.

The Tang family stood somewhat above both the Gu family and the Xiang family. Not the single strongest house in Modu, but unquestionably among the top two or three.

Because the Gu and Xiang families were rooted in Modu, their regional weight let them contend with houses like the Li family and the Ding family. But measured purely by the positions individual family members held, they still fell a shade short.

The Tang family was different. Measured by the positions its older generation held, it could already stand on equal footing with the Li and Ding families. In connections and personal networks it might be stronger still.

Yet compared with great families like the Li and the Ding, the Tang family had a particular quality. It was, one could say, a different type of family.

Four generations of Tangs had served in the military.

The earliest of those generations had already been soldiers during the wartime years more than half a century ago. But the generation that truly rose was that of the present Old Master Tang.

Old Master Tang was not originally from Modu. His ancestral home was in Gan Province. After the war was won he spent many years posted in Modu, and in time the family put down roots there.

Tang Xinbao’s grandfather was a soldier. His father was a soldier. His elder brother was a soldier.

Tang Xinbao alone was not.

As a direct descendant he had been expected to serve as well. But he had been fiercely rebellious then. He refused military academy and had even less interest in enlisting. He wanted to go into business. He and his father had fallen out over it, and their relationship remained poor to this day.

Which was also why, in recent years, when something happened he called his second uncle rather than his father.

Guo Qiqi. Twenty-one years old. The youngest granddaughter of Guo Xingqi, chairman of Modu’s Jiuhe Group.

The Guo family behind Jiuhe could be called one of the oldest surviving business families in Modu. It had started in textiles, and its rise could be traced back a full century. The family had lived through years of war, suffered decline, and risen again. Its history was one of repeated falls and recoveries.

Unlike the Tang and Gu families, the Guo family was not a political or military power family. Even today, it remained a purely commercial family. The extended family controlled assets worth tens of billions of yuan, which in Modu still did not place it at the very top.

But the Guos had been rooted in Modu for far, far too many years. They had weathered too many storms. And in that time they had accumulated a network and a weight that ordinary business families could hardly possess.

Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi could fairly be called childhood sweethearts. They had known each other since they were very small, and they officially began dating in high school. They had chosen each other freely.

Guo Qiqi was beautiful, though not of the highest order. By Wu Chen’s own scale, a six was already what ordinary people called a beauty, and Guo Qiqi would score about a 7.5. Hers was the kind of face that grew on you, and her bearing carried something of the refined grace of a well-bred daughter of a great household.

With Tang Xinbao’s background he could have had any kind of top-tier beauty he wanted. But he simply liked Guo Qiqi, and he was quite devoted to her.

In truth, the reason their relationship had run smoothly without the slightest opposition had a great deal to do with their families. The Guo family of Jiuhe was no house of power, but its weight was not far short of one, and its foundations in Modu ran extremely deep. Set beside the Tang family, the two could be called a well-matched pair.

“Brother, then you’re…”

Tang Xinbao surfaced from his daze and turned the question back on him.

Wu Chen knew who they were and had named them both correctly. So Tang Xinbao felt he might know this lifesaver himself, or at least have heard of him.

“Wu Chen,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

Tang Xinbao looked at him and blinked. After a long moment he turned to his girlfriend and gave her a questioning look.

Guo Qiqi met his eyes with a blank face.

Nothing.

Neither of them had heard of Wu Chen.

Which was normal. In Modu’s third-generation circles, having heard of Wu Chen was normal, and not having heard of him was equally normal.

Not everyone paid attention to the identity of Li Ruobing’s new boyfriend. And it had only been public for a dozen or so days.

Besides, Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi were both young and still at university. The circles they moved in were different from those of third-generation heirs who had already entered society and begun taking part in family affairs.

“Then, Brother… your family is…?” Tang Xinbao asked.

He did not know who Wu Chen was. But he felt Wu Chen had to come from a background much like his own.

Otherwise—how could someone outside their circles know to say “call your second uncle”?

He knew too much.

“My family runs a noodle shop in a small county town,” Wu Chen said.

“Brother, you really know how to joke,” Tang Xinbao said at once.

Wu Chen smiled.

Tang Xinbao smiled too. He simply took it for a joke.

Wu Chen had no interest in explaining himself at length. Tang Xinbao would know everything he needed to know before long. Saying more or less now made no difference.

“Brother, how old are you?” Tang Xinbao asked.

“Twenty-two,” Wu Chen said, smiling.

“Ah… then Brother is right,” Tang Xinbao said.

He had only wanted to confirm it. They looked about the same age, and appearance alone made it hard to tell who was older.

“Brother, who taught you kung fu?” Tang Xinbao asked next.

The subject was plainly one he cared about enormously. The more he spoke, the more excited he grew, until he sounded almost like a student begging for instruction.

“How’d you train? How are you that good? I’ve never seen anyone fight like that. I’ve trained since I was a kid and I don’t even come close. How do you get that good?”

Quite the carefree temperament. His face was bruised and swollen, his whole body hurt, and he still had the energy to ask.

“Self-taught,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

“Seriously? You got that good on your own? Could you teach me—”

Vroooom—

The roar of engines rose outside the alley, distant at first, then closing fast. More than one car. From the sound of it every one of them was flat out.

The conversation stopped.

Wu Chen, Tang Xinbao, and Guo Qiqi all turned toward the alley mouth at once.

Wu Chen looked that way for a moment, then walked straight out. He reached the mouth quickly and looked down the street.

The cars were coming from the south. Five or six of them in convoy, all driving as though they were racing. Within seconds of Wu Chen reaching the alley mouth they shot onto the stretch of road opposite him, swerved for the curb, and braked hard.

The cars stopped.

Doors flew open. More than a dozen people got out.

One man stepping down from a black Mercedes held a cane in one hand.

Crooked Zhao.

He had arrived with his people in barely ten minutes, because he happened to live nearby.

And not only he. He Ming’s boss, Yu Hailiang, had come with him. When He Ming called, Yu Hailiang had been at Crooked Zhao’s side at a business club where Crooked Zhao often stayed.

“Mr. Wu! It’s a misunderstanding, Mr. Wu!”

The moment Crooked Zhao was out of the car he spotted Wu Chen standing at the alley mouth. He shouted as he came, limping toward him as fast as he could manage.

“Mr. Wu, it really is a misunderstanding! You still remember me, don’t you? It’s Crooked Zhao. We met that time at Young Master Li’s place… Mr. Wu!”

Every trace of a great underworld boss’s bearing was gone. He hurried over shouting, desperate to explain.

At the same moment—

Wu Chen’s Lamborghini was still parked at the curb. Zhuang Xiaodie sat in the passenger seat, looking anxiously out the window.

Ring-ring-ring…

Her phone rang. It was already in her hand. The instant it rang she looked at the screen and answered.

“Hello, Sister,” Zhuang Xiaodie said quickly, her eyes still darting to the window.

“Is it over?” Li Ruobing asked.

“No. I don’t think so. Another big group just showed up,” Zhuang Xiaodie said nervously.

“It’s still not over? More people came?” Li Ruobing’s voice rose.