Chapter 308: An Ordinary Kind of Abnormal Behavior

Chapter 308: An Ordinary Kind of Abnormal Behavior

Tang Jingbin really was a little stunned.

Events had unfolded nothing like what he had expected.

Before coming to Donghai he had done his homework.

To his mind, the man who had harmed Tang Xinbao had to die. Tang Xinbao had come through all right in the end, but this touched the Tang family’s face.

The face of a great family absolutely could not be lost.

Everyone knew Donghai was Li Ruotai’s territory. The slightest retreat by the Tang family might be read as the Tangs being afraid of the Lis.

As for the Li family, the affair could not be pinned directly on Li Ruotai.

If Li Ruotai chose to sacrifice the pawn to save the king, that would be acceptable. If he declined to shield his subordinates and left them to the Tang family’s disposal, that would give the Tangs face enough, and there would be no need to pursue it further.

But if he wanted to protect those men, then the Li family would have to pay a price.

The price might not even be large. If negotiations went well it might amount to nothing more than a sum of money and the disappearance of a few minor figures.

Money was a small matter. Even a few hundred million yuan was a small matter.

But then it would become a question of the Li family’s face.

At bottom, the entire affair was about face.

Disregard face altogether and Li Ruotai could simply kneel before the Tang family, kowtow, admit his fault, and apologize. The whole problem would dissolve in an instant.

Which was impossible.

So Tang Jingbin had already predicted how the affair might develop and how it might end. Only two possibilities existed, and he had prepared amply for both.

As for Wu Chen—

Tang Jingbin had looked into him. He had sent people to investigate the day before. They had found no background attached to Wu Chen himself, which did not mean he truly had none. There had been little time; failing to uncover everything was normal.

There were naturally a great many things Tang Jingbin could never have investigated.

But Wu Chen’s relationship with Li Ruobing and Li Ruotai’s attitude toward him were easy enough to learn. Tang Jingbin knew Wu Chen was a capable young man. Without ability he could never have won Li Ruobing, much less become the brother-in-law Li Ruotai acknowledged.

He did not know the specifics, but he knew Wu Chen would certainly try every means to mediate the affair.

And he had prepared for that too.

By his thinking—

He would hand Wu Chen money outright, in thanks for saving Tang Xinbao’s life.

Wu Chen would certainly refuse it. He would make a show of declining.

Because if Wu Chen took the money and let the Tang family settle its debt, mediating afterward would become far harder.

He definitely would not take it.

Tang Jingbin had even imagined that while refusing, Wu Chen might steer the conversation straight to Li Ruotai and launch into a whole speech aimed at mediation.

That would have been normal.

What the hell was this business of simply taking it?

Because he had assumed a refusal, and because he wanted to show the sincerity of the Tang family’s gratitude, Tang Jingbin had even allowed for the possibility that Wu Chen might ask how much was on the card.

The larger the sum, the less likely he would be to accept.

So—

Tang Jingbin had put a full fifty million yuan on it.

And Wu Chen had not even asked.

He had taken it and put it in his pocket.

Every line Tang Jingbin had prepared was now useless.

For a moment he even found himself wondering, by instinct, whether he had overestimated this young man named Wu Chen.

Had Wu Chen simply not thought that far ahead?

Money offered, money taken?

No intention of mediating at all?

Wasn’t that stupid?

If Wu Chen made proper use of his standing as Tang Xinbao’s lifesaver and mediated the affair to both sides’ satisfaction, Li Ruobing would inevitably think still more highly of him, and Li Ruotai would trust him further.

Even the Li family itself might begin to regard him in an entirely new light.

The benefits would be enormous. Far beyond anything a single sum of money could match.

How could anyone let an opportunity like that slip?

Wait.

No.

Tang Jingbin suddenly felt that perhaps Wu Chen had thought that far after all.

Because Wu Chen’s behavior was abnormal.

Simply taking the money looked like the ordinary conduct of a man blinded by cash. In truth, even an ordinary man would not behave that way.

Offered a reward, and especially handed a bank card outright, people asked questions, declined, traded polite words. To say nothing at all, to skip even the most basic courtesies and simply pocket the card—

that was abnormal.

Tang Jingbin could no longer get any read on what Wu Chen was thinking.

Only two possibilities remained, as far as he could see.

Either Wu Chen was genuinely mediocre, nowhere near as capable as Tang Jingbin had imagined, perhaps possessing no more than a little cleverness. As for how he had won Li Ruobing—

Maybe it was his face. Li Ruobing had an unusual temper and always did as she pleased. If she happened to take a liking to someone, there did not have to be any reasonable explanation for it.

Or else Wu Chen had indeed considered mediating but had no particularly good approach. So he had taken the money first, meaning to put it toward whatever compensation the Li family eventually paid.

That would at least count as a contribution toward a resolution.

Tang Jingbin was an intelligent man.

All of that passed through his mind in the brief moment he sat frozen.

Intelligent men were intelligent, but they all shared one flaw. Sometimes they could be too clever for their own good. That was truest of men with complicated minds. The more they thought, the more likely they were to end up matching wits with thin air all by themselves.

Still, Tang Jingbin was not exactly matching wits with thin air.

He had accurately grasped part of Wu Chen’s thinking, and before meeting him he had guessed everything correctly.

Wu Chen really was capable.

And Wu Chen really did intend to mediate.

There was nothing wrong with his reasoning.

But after meeting Wu Chen he had been thrown off by Wu Chen’s “abnormal behavior.” Precisely because he thought too much, his thoughts had tangled, and he could no longer make sense of the situation.

What he did not know was this:

Wu Chen understood what kind of man Second Master Tang was perhaps better than Tang Jingbin understood himself.

An observer saw more clearly.

Wu Chen knew what Tang Jingbin had done, what kind of man he was, and how he handled affairs.

So—

Wu Chen’s abnormal act of simply taking the money had been prepared specially for a deeply calculating, complicated man like Tang Jingbin.

Had Tang Jingbin been simpler-minded, Wu Chen would never have done it.

The smile on Tang Jingbin’s face had frozen. Seen another way, that also meant the smile was still there. His expression looked slightly off, but very quickly it “bloomed” again.

“Hahahahaha! Little brother, you’re refreshingly direct! No dragging things out, no hypocrisy. I love dealing with straightforward people!”

Tang Jingbin laughed loudly, then shifted his tone into a sigh.

“I was worried, you know. What if you refused this fifty million, little brother? The Tang family has always repaid its debts. And this is a debt for a life!”

Still laughing, he had deliberately let the amount slip.

Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi showed little reaction, merely exchanging an ordinary glance. Neither of them had complicated thoughts about it.

It was a life-saving debt, after all. To Tang Xinbao’s mind, forget fifty million—a hundred million would not have been too much.

But Zhuang Xiaodie, in an armchair on the other side, changed expression.

She came from no powerful family, so naturally her reaction was—

What an enormous sum. How generous. How extravagant.

The Tang family really was rich.

Beyond that, she sensed nothing strange.

Only Wu Chen understood.

Tang Jingbin had named the amount deliberately, because he wanted to see Wu Chen’s reaction.

And Wu Chen’s reaction was—

none.

He simply went on smiling.

Even knowing there was fifty million yuan on the card, he showed not the slightest emotional flicker.

Tang Jingbin watched his face closely.

He could not tell whether Wu Chen was feigning composure or genuinely did not care about fifty million.

Tang Jingbin had always been an excellent judge of people.

But a man like Wu Chen—

he could not read.

“Boss Tang, you’ve had a long journey. Setting out early to come all the way to Donghai—you haven’t eaten yet, have you…?”

Wu Chen smiled at him, looking exactly like a man who had taken the money and now meant to entertain his guest properly.

As he spoke he glanced at his watch.

Then, without waiting for an answer, he turned and gestured to Zhuang Xiaodie.

“Xiaodie, get lunch ready. We’ll eat a little early today. We have things to do afterward…”

It was the first time Wu Chen had ever asked Zhuang Xiaodie to cook. Before this she had always volunteered on her own.

“Oh, okay. I’ll go start now…”

She rose hurriedly and turned toward the kitchen.

And at that moment Wu Chen did something astonishing.

“Wait, Xiaodie.”

He stopped her. At the same time he took the bank card Tang Jingbin had just given him out of his pocket and held it out to her.

“Take this card. Use it for groceries, buy yourself some clothes. Whatever’s left will come in handy when you go back to Modu.”

Wu Chen gave the card with fifty million yuan on it to Zhuang Xiaodie.

The fifty million he had only just received.

He gave it to Zhuang Xiaodie.

Everyone except Wu Chen was instantly dumbfounded.