Chapter 286: Firing a Gun in the Street

Chapter 286: Firing a Gun in the Street

Li Ruotai was standing on Wu Chen’s other side. He shouted and lunged for Li Ruobing’s gun hand. He had never expected his sister to act this impulsively.

Bang—

The gun fired, the report short and sharp.

In a city packed with high-rises, a handgun shot generally did not carry beyond a single block. It also sounded much like certain firecrackers, or a tire blowing, and most people could not tell the difference on the spot.

The report rolled away down the street.

Li Ruotai had caught her wrist. The gun was angled toward the sky.

The bullet had gone up.

She had really fired.

By the look of it, if Li Ruotai had not moved fast enough, the round would have gone through Crooked Zhao’s skull.

Crooked Zhao lay sprawled on the ground, face deathly pale, shaking faintly.

Everyone around them stared at Li Ruobing, shaken. She had frightened them all. Even Wu Chen looked faintly surprised.

He genuinely had not expected it.

But after turning over what she had said on the phone, and then what she was doing now, Wu Chen understood.

“Let go!” Li Ruobing turned and glared at her brother.

“Sis, don’t! What are you doing? At least let Crooked Zhao explain himself!” Li Ruotai clung to her wrist, feeling as though life had abruptly become impossible.

He was not only thinking that Crooked Zhao’s offense fell short of death, nor only about what the underworld would make of it afterward.

He was also thinking he absolutely could not let his sister kill a man in the middle of the street.

Too many people were watching. Crooked Zhao’s men. Qiao Chenghu’s people. Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi, who did not even count as their own side yet.

Wasn’t that handing other people leverage?

Too many witnesses, and not all of them allies. If Li Ruobing really killed Crooked Zhao like this, word would travel. It would be very bad for her, very bad for the Li family. Ding Ruilong’s eyes and ears in Donghai might even hear of it.

That would be a serious problem.

“Let go!” She glared at him again.

“Ruobing.” Wu Chen came up behind her and spoke her name. He raised a hand, took the gun from hers, set the safety, and passed it back to Zhou Huan.

She turned to look at him.

“Come on.” Wu Chen took her hand and pulled her away.

She had arrived in a foul temper, furious even with her own brother, but when Wu Chen pulled her away her body went with him easily enough, whatever her face still said.

She had come specifically to back Wu Chen.

Wu Chen had struck Crooked Zhao. As long as she struck him too, the matter would be drawn onto her as well. She was Li Ruotai’s biological elder sister. However Li Ruotai handled the aftermath, no one in the underworld would dare say much.

Killing Crooked Zhao, of course, would have been going too far.

Everyone watched Wu Chen lead her away, their eyes following until he brought her to the Mercedes-Maybach, got in with her, and shut the door.

Zhou Huan looked away, scanned the ground, stepped forward, and picked up the spent casing.

The bullet was gone for good. Fired into the sky, it would come down heaven knew where. All he could do was collect the casing.

Li Ruotai raised a hand and scratched at his hair, looking as though his head ached.

He took out his phone and walked off to make another call.

Li Ruobing’s shot had caused no serious consequences, but the sound could easily draw reports. Residents nearby might call it in, so Li Ruotai needed to put in a word ahead of time.

This certainly would not make tomorrow’s news. If there was a related report at all, it would run along the lines of Residents Call Police After Car Tire Bursts.

“M-Miss Li seems even more formidable than the rumors say,” Guo Qiqi whispered to Tang Xinbao.

“Y-yeah…” he said.

Both turned their heads toward the Maybach.

Inside the Maybach.

“Were you really going to kill Crooked Zhao?” Wu Chen asked with a sideways glance and a smile.

“Didn’t A-Tai stop me?” She glanced sideways right back.

“And if he hadn’t?”

“We grew up together. You think I don’t know him?” Then she changed direction. “Why did you hit Crooked Zhao? Were you angry? That angry?” As she asked, her hand closed around his.

Even now she had not understood why Wu Chen had behaved so unlike himself. And during the call with Li Ruotai she had misread what he meant by complicated.

“It was an act,” Wu Chen said, smiling. “I hit Crooked Zhao, and he still has to thank me for it.”

“Hm?” She froze. “Why?”

“The two people I saved are—” Wu Chen laid out the situation. A minute or two was enough to make it clear, and Li Ruobing of course understood exactly what the Tang family and the Guo clan of Jiuhe represented.

She realized she had misunderstood. Even her worry had been unnecessary. And yet her excessive reaction would work in their favor.

“You could say you blundered into exactly the right thing. Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi both saw you about to kill Crooked Zhao. That’ll go a long way toward taking the sting out of being beaten. And Crooked Zhao’s side knows you were acting, so he has to be grateful to you too,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

In truth Li Ruobing’s reasons had nothing to do with Tang Xinbao or Guo Qiqi.

But she had shown them little earlier, and it was not too late to build a connection now.

Before she acted she had shown concern only for Wu Chen—but she was his girlfriend, and caring more about him was only natural. Besides, she had not even known which one was Tang Xinbao and which was Guo Qiqi.

Li Ruobing rarely socialized with the younger generation of the great families, so tonight really was her first time meeting them.

And their first time meeting her.

But all of them had heard of one another. Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi had heard Li Ruotai call her “Sis” and Wu Chen call her “Ruobing.” Naturally they knew this was the legendary eldest granddaughter of the Li family.

A few minutes after Wu Chen pulled her into the car, the door opened again.

Wu Chen stayed in his seat and beckoned to Li Ruotai, who had just finished his call. “A-Tai, come here.”

Li Ruotai hurried over.

The Maybach’s rear row held only two seats, so Wu Chen motioned him into the front passenger seat.

Li Ruotai got in and shut the door.

They talked it through and got their stories straight.

Less than two minutes later he stepped out again.

Crooked Zhao had already been helped back to his feet by the crowd of subordinates who had been frightened senseless earlier. Li Ruotai walked over to him and motioned him aside. Naturally he would make Crooked Zhao understand that all of this had been theater.

At the same moment.

Wu Chen and Li Ruobing got out as well. She looked much calmer now, and she looped her arm through his.

The two walked to the open van.

“Big Brother—” Tang Xinbao began, then glanced at Li Ruobing. “Um… Miss Li.”

“Hello, Miss Li,” Guo Qiqi said as well.

Both looked a little uneasy. Li Ruobing simply frightened them.

“Hello.” Li Ruobing smiled at the pair.

“How are you feeling?” Wu Chen asked Tang Xinbao. “I still think you should get checked at the hospital. Better to be sure.”

“Big Brother, I’m fine. I’m—” Tang Xinbao started putting on a brave front again.

“Listen to Big Brother,” Guo Qiqi cut in at once, with a reproachful look at him.

“All right. Hospital first. They’ll handle things here,” Wu Chen said.

People were called over.

They got into the cars.

There was no need for everyone else to go. Crooked Zhao would stay and deal with the scene. The low-level men Wu Chen had crippled would have to be sent to hospital too, and Tang Xinbao’s car would need towing for repairs.

Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi rode with Li Ruotai.

Li Ruotai rode with Li Ruobing.

Wu Chen, naturally, drove his own Lamborghini with Zhuang Xiaodie.

They set off.

Not long afterward, inside Li Ruobing’s Maybach.

Li Ruotai finished another call, lowered the phone, and turned to look at his sister. He hesitated, then asked, “Sis, that Zhuang Xiaodie… what exactly is she?”

He had not let it go.

As far as he was concerned, this was the more important matter.

If something went wrong between his sister and his brother-in-law, a great many things would change.