Chapter 284: What the Fuck Is Going On Here?

Chapter 284: What the Fuck Is Going On Here?

The Lamborghini’s door opened and Zhuang Xiaodie got out. She wore a tight short dress that showed off her figure, the kind that would make anyone’s eyes light up.

Of course, given the scene, no one was in any mood to admire a beautiful woman.

Li Ruotai was watching Zhuang Xiaodie, still guessing at what she was to Wu Chen.

Surely not that.

Li Ruotai was a man himself, and he had plenty of women. He understood men far too well. In his eyes there was not a man alive who would not be attracted to a woman as exceptional as Zhuang Xiaodie.

But inwardly he hoped she and Wu Chen were not involved that way. He hoped his guess was wrong.

Otherwise—

He felt he was going to be in a very hard position.

Li Ruotai would never let his elder sister be wronged. But right now he also did not particularly want to go to war with Wu Chen. He was somewhat afraid of him.

By now Li Ruotai’s “acceptance” of Wu Chen was not simply because Wu Chen was his brother-in-law. It came from a great many things, including Li Maoren’s current attitude toward Wu Chen, and some of what Li Maoren had let slip while giving his son instructions in private.

Zhuang Xiaodie got out feeling somewhat nervous. There were people everywhere—Crooked Zhao’s men, Qiao Chenghu’s people, Li Ruotai’s people.

She knew none of them. The sheer scene put considerable psychological pressure on her.

She kept herself in hand and walked to Wu Chen’s side.

“Mr. Wu.” Zhuang Xiaodie pressed her lips together slightly as she said it.

Hearing that “Mr. Wu,” Li Ruotai relaxed a little. It was not how lovers addressed each other.

“Do you have any tissues?” Wu Chen asked her with a smile.

“Yes. Yes, I do.” She quickly pulled a pack from her handbag and handed it over.

“Wipe yourself off first.” Wu Chen took the tissues and gestured toward Tang Xinbao.

“Thanks, Big Brother.”

“Big Brother, let me.”

Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi both spoke. Guo Qiqi took the pack, opened it, and began wiping him down—wiping away blood.

He had no life-threatening or especially serious injuries, but he had been knocked down several times. His forehead had bled, and so had his nose.

The nose was the worst of it. The bleeding had stopped by now, but his face and the front of his clothes were covered.

“Someone go find Miss Guo’s shoes. They should be at the other end of the alley… And Miss Guo’s bag is in the GTR over there…” Wu Chen turned and gestured as he spoke.

It was not even clear whom he was addressing.

“Yes, Mr. Wu.” One of Li Ruotai’s bodyguards answered and hurried off into the alley.

Seven or eight meters in, Qiao Chenghu was still beating his son.

The bodyguard ran straight past them without so much as a glance.

Only a few seconds later—

“AAAH! My leg! Dad! My leg! Aah!” Qiao Yang let out a piercing scream, the pitch of it frightening.

He rolled on the ground clutching his visibly deformed left leg, screaming so wretchedly that the sound made people’s scalps crawl.

Qiao Chenghu had actually broken his own son’s leg.

Part of the self-injury ruse, naturally.

He had been truly ruthless.

But of course he would not really cripple his own son. As long as the fracture was not at a joint, it could heal without leaving him disabled.

The scream was so awful that Zhuang Xiaodie and Guo Qiqi both flinched.

Young women were naturally a little more timid about such things.

Guo Qiqi’s grip on Tang Xinbao’s arm tightened.

Zhuang Xiaodie edged instinctively closer to Wu Chen, visibly frightened, and hooked an arm through his.

“It’s all right.” Wu Chen glanced at her and reassured her quietly. He also slipped an arm around her waist and patted her twice, gently.

Li Ruotai saw it.

His pupils contracted violently.

Crooked Zhao saw it too, and his face changed dramatically.

He feared Wu Chen because Wu Chen was Li Ruotai’s brother-in-law. Crooked Zhao knew little of Wu Chen’s other affairs, but he did know Li Ruotai genuinely treated Wu Chen as his brother-in-law, calling him that as easily as breathing.

The heart of it all was that Wu Chen and Li Ruobing were a couple.

So if Wu Chen had another woman, then with Li Ruobing’s temper there was bound to be trouble. And if Wu Chen and Li Ruobing broke up, then Li Ruotai’s attitude toward Wu Chen would—

Even Crooked Zhao was frightened.

He wasn’t even hiding it?

Li Ruotai felt the same. After his pupils contracted, anger surged up in his chest.

The situation he least wanted had arrived. This girl and his brother-in-law really were involved that way.

He actually dared cheat on his sister.

Fine—cheat, then. But could he not at least keep it hidden?

What the hell was Li Ruotai supposed to do now?

His feelings in that moment were extremely complicated. In truth he had always been broad-minded about men fooling around with women. He even knew his own father had other women, and that his mother knew and simply looked the other way.

Li Ruotai understood perfectly well the difference between real feelings and fooling around.

But!

Even if it was only fooling around, could Wu Chen not keep it hidden? Could he not stop being so blatant? Don’t let Li Ruotai know. Don’t let his sister know. If neither of them knew, wouldn’t everyone get along just fine?

He was furious.

Li Ruotai could tell Wu Chen simply did not care whether he found out.

Being this blatant right in front of his own “younger brother-in-law,” acting that way with another woman—this was going to blow up. Li Ruotai was absolutely going to tell his sister.

“Brother-in-law! This young lady is…” Li Ruotai asked suddenly, laying heavy weight on the words brother-in-law, the look he shot Zhuang Xiaodie distinctly strange.

There were too many people around and the original trouble was still unresolved, so naturally he would not fall out with Wu Chen here.

And what if it really was a misunderstanding?

Making a scene in front of outsiders would not look good either.

In truth, part of Li Ruotai’s restraint came from the fact that he was a little afraid of Wu Chen.

Otherwise, with his old temper, misunderstanding or not, he would have cursed first and demanded answers on the spot.

“Hm?” Wu Chen looked at him with a smile.

He knew exactly what Li Ruotai was thinking.

In fact he had called Zhuang Xiaodie out of the car at this particular moment on purpose. He wanted this settled sooner rather than later, so that Li Ruotai would not stumble across something else later, misread it, and create trouble.

“Zhuang Xiaodie.” Wu Chen introduced her to Li Ruotai, then turned to her. “Xiaodie, this is Li Ruotai, Ruobing’s younger brother.”

“Hello, Mr. Li.” Zhuang Xiaodie nodded in greeting.

Knowing now that he was Li Ruobing’s younger brother, but with no idea what he did or how much weight he carried in Donghai, Zhuang Xiaodie actually felt less pressure than before.

Besides, she did not know that Li Ruotai was unaware Wu Chen had other women. Seeing Wu Chen introduce them so naturally, she assumed everyone already knew. On that assumption there was nothing to be nervous about.

Li Ruotai frowned slightly.

A mistress, and she did not care at all? She was not afraid of him?

He had no idea that Zhuang Xiaodie was simply fearless because she knew too little to be afraid.

“Oh, right, Mr. Wu.” Zhuang Xiaodie seemed to remember something. She looked at Wu Chen. “I called Miss Li earlier. Maybe ten minutes later she called me back. She asked for my location. It sounded like she was coming over…”

“Coming over?” Wu Chen looked at her. “Why isn’t she resting properly? What’s she coming here for?”

“I don’t know. I just told her what was happening here, and then she…” Zhuang Xiaodie trailed off, unable to explain.

Li Ruotai stood off to the side, completely dumbfounded.

When she said “Miss Li,” Li Ruotai thought instinctively of his sister, Li Ruobing. But if she meant his sister—then his sister knew this girl named Zhuang Xiaodie?

She knew about this mistress?

And they talked on the phone?

He was baffled.

He could make no sense of it at all.

“Um, Miss… Zhuang? This Miss Li you’re talking about is…” Li Ruotai asked outright.

“Hm?” Zhuang Xiaodie looked at him, then said, “Mr. Li, I mean your sister…” She found him rather strange. Why would he have to ask about his own sister?

Li Ruotai remained stunned.

He stared at her for several seconds, then came back to himself all at once.

“I’ll make a call and ask my sister when she’ll be here.” As he said it he glanced at Wu Chen, then walked off to one side.

A phone call.

Of course Li Ruotai was not going to ask Li Ruobing when she would arrive.

He was going to ask—

What the fuck was going on here?

He walked to the roadside a short distance off and dialed Li Ruobing’s number.