Chapter 291: Going Straight to Ding Ruilong

Chapter 291: Going Straight to Ding Ruilong

Zunrong Donghai Huafu, Villa No. 36.

In the dining room everyone had just served themselves rice and sat down. Li Ruobing and Zhuang Xiaodie sat on either side of Wu Chen, with Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi across the table.

“Come on, try it. See if it suits your taste…” Li Ruobing invited them to eat.

Lunch began.

Conversation flowed.

Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi praised both Zhuang Xiaodie’s and Li Ruobing’s cooking. After that the women mostly talked among themselves and the men among themselves.

Or rather, Tang Xinbao did most of the talking on the men’s side.

He kept asking Wu Chen questions. His enthusiasm for fighting truly was beyond the ordinary.

“Miss Zhuang, what do you do for work?” Guo Qiqi asked Zhuang Xiaodie.

She had begun to take an interest in her.

Earlier she had been curious about Li Ruobing. She had gone into the kitchen to talk with her and even helped wash vegetables. But before long she had noticed that something was off.

The night before she had already sensed that something was unusual between Zhuang Xiaodie and Wu Chen, but she had not dared make wild assumptions. Wu Chen’s girlfriend was Li Ruobing, after all.

So she had thought Zhuang Xiaodie might be something like a little sister.

Or perhaps one of Li Ruobing’s people, a trusted confidante.

Zhuang Xiaodie always addressed Wu Chen as “Mr. Wu,” which made a great many things impossible to judge with any accuracy.

But after only a little time in the kitchen, Guo Qiqi began to sense that the relationship between Li Ruobing and Zhuang Xiaodie was extremely strange.

Even the way they addressed each other was strange.

They called each other Miss Li and Miss Zhuang, and yet Zhuang Xiaodie would occasionally call Li Ruobing “Sister.”

What their conversation revealed between the lines felt wrong too.

It seemed as though Li Ruobing and Zhuang Xiaodie were not close at all. Zhuang Xiaodie seemed somewhat afraid of her, and Li Ruobing had even asked her where she had gone with Wu Chen the day before.

Guo Qiqi had already begun to sense, vaguely, what their relationship actually was.

Naturally she could hardly believe it.

As she talked with Zhuang Xiaodie, her gaze kept darting back and forth—Zhuang Xiaodie, then Li Ruobing, over and over. Her expression even grew a little excited.

The flames of gossip were blazing in her heart.

Ring-ring-ring…

A phone rang.

Li Ruobing’s.

Out of politeness everyone at the table stopped talking. Li Ruobing took out her phone, glanced at it, and frowned.

Ding Ruilong.

She did not answer at once.

Wu Chen glanced at her screen.

Li Ruobing looked at him, and something passed between them silently. Then she stood and smiled at Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi across the table.

“Excuse me. I need to take this.”

Li Ruobing usually answered Ding Ruilong’s calls.

Because Ding Ruilong was insane.

There had been times she refused, and he would call over and over like a madman. Blocked, he would call from another number. He had even called Huancai Fashion’s office line and bombarded the company.

Eventually Li Ruobing decided she had no interest in wasting time and energy on such a thing, so she stopped refusing his calls.

Sometimes she even called him herself.

Of course, whenever she called him, it was to curse out his entire family.

She left the dining room and walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling windows on the far side of the living room.

“Speak.” She answered, staring out the window, her voice cold and clipped.

“I’m coming to Donghai tomorrow. When are you free? How about lunch?” Ding Ruilong’s voice came through the phone.

“Fuck off,” Li Ruobing said coldly.

“Don’t be like that. If you don’t want to meet me somewhere else, I can come see you at your company.”

“Come, then. See whether I throw you out myself.”

Not a mere verbal threat.

She really would.

If Ding Ruilong dared show up at her company, she genuinely dared slap him.

“Ruobing, don’t be like this. I’m coming to apologize to you in person. You’ve got to at least give me a chance, haven’t you?”

“Will you just die already?” She hung up without listening any further.

She returned to the dining room.

Li Ruobing looked as though nothing had happened.

And to her, nothing really had. Ding Ruilong had merely annoyed her again.

Once seated, she picked up her chopsticks, placed a piece of pork rib in Wu Chen’s bowl, then leaned toward him and murmured, “Ding Ruilong is coming to Donghai tomorrow.”

Wu Chen’s eyebrows rose slightly.

Ding Ruilong was supposed to arrive in Donghai today.

He had already set a time and place to meet Lei Cheng that afternoon.

If something had come up and he truly could not make it today, he would certainly have notified Lei Cheng in advance. He needed something from Lei Cheng; he would not stand him up.

And Lei Cheng had not called to say the plan had changed.

So Ding Ruilong was lying.

He was still coming to Donghai today, and had deliberately told Li Ruobing tomorrow.

This was not merely some childish game to toy with her.

Under normal circumstances, once he told Li Ruobing, Wu Chen would know. Li Ruotai would know as well. They would certainly make special arrangements for him.

With a single phone call, Ding Ruilong had pushed every arrangement aimed at him back to tomorrow.

Today he could move at his leisure.

And he could even give Li Ruobing a “surprise.”

Donghai was Li Ruotai’s territory, after all. Ding Ruilong was still cautious.

As he thought it through, Wu Chen leaned toward Li Ruobing again and whispered, “On that call just now, was there any background noise?”

She frowned at him.

She did not know why he was asking, but she thought back a moment and whispered, “A lot of wind.”

Wu Chen nodded and smiled, asking nothing further.

Ding Ruilong was already in Donghai.

And right now he was at the airport.

Wu Chen could infer it.

It was already noon. Ding Ruilong was meeting Lei Cheng that afternoon, so he would certainly arrive several hours early. The airport lay far from the main urban area, and he would want time to prepare unhurried.

At this hour, either he had already reached Donghai or he was on a plane about to land.

There was no chance he had not yet departed.

And Ding Ruilong had suddenly called Li Ruobing to say he would arrive tomorrow.

Psychologically, a call like that would most likely be made at a particular moment.

There was even a kind of malicious amusement in deceiving her that way.

The wind had been loud.

The airport was outdoors, wide open.

Plenty of wind.

Ding Ruilong had probably made the call the instant he stepped off the plane.

It was only an inference, but the probability was high.

Wu Chen glanced at his watch.

Then he went on eating.

Lunch ran more than half an hour. Everyone ate their fill.

“I’m going out to take care of something,” Wu Chen told Li Ruobing as they left the dining room and headed toward the living room to sit and talk a while.

Then he looked at Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi.

“I’m heading out. I’ll be back tonight. Ruobing has to go to the office this afternoon, and Xiaodie will be home. If you need anything, just tell Xiaodie…”

Simple courtesy. Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi were guests, after all.

A few minutes later.

The blue Lamborghini drove out of the compound, joined the main road, and headed straight for South District.

Wu Chen was going to find Ding Ruilong.

Now.

At once.

Inside the Lamborghini he drove with one hand and took out his phone with the other, dialing a number.

He called Meng Junhao—the double agent Wu Chen had already brought entirely under his control.