Chapter 315: He’s Sulking

Chapter 315: He’s Sulking

“This matter…” Tang Jingbin looked at Wu Chen, drawing the words out.

A-Tai’s matter naturally meant the incident involving Tang Xinbao. Tang Jingbin’s head was full of questions about Wu Chen. He already sensed something enormous was under way, and he had not expected Wu Chen to raise this now.

Tang Jingbin had already grown wary of him.

So for a moment he did not know how to discuss it at all.

He could hardly agree to whatever Wu Chen proposed simply because Wu Chen had saved Tang Xinbao.

“Brother Tang, there’s no rush on this,” Sun Yongzhang cut in suddenly, taking the thread of conversation away and very deliberately refusing Wu Chen face.

Wu Chen said they should talk.

Sun Yongzhang insisted there was no hurry.

He gave Wu Chen an expressionless glance, then turned to Tang Jingbin with a smile.

“You’re not in a rush to get back to Modu today, are you, Brother Tang?”

“Get back… no, no particular rush.” Tang Jingbin looked at him.

He appeared to be weighing something.

In reality he simply no longer had any idea what he was supposed to say.

Wu Chen and Sun Yongzhang were performing right in front of him, and it left him deeply uncomfortable. He did not know how to respond.

He knew that one wrong word could expose the whole act.

And having seen through it, he obviously had no reason to offend Sun Yongzhang.

But if he cooperated with Sun Yongzhang and Wu Chen…

then he would be joining them in deceiving Ding Ruilong.

It was a bind. He knew none of the inside story, and yet somehow he had been drawn into a state where he was expected to act alongside Wu Chen and Sun Yongzhang.

“Uncle Sun!” Ding Ruilong sensed something off in the atmosphere and spoke up. He glanced at Li Ruotai, then asked, “What’s going on here? What happened with A-Tai?”

“None of your business. Stay out of it,” Li Ruotai snapped, his face dark.

“A-Tai!” Sun Yongzhang glared at him.

Li Ruotai fell silent.

“Ruilong, it’s like this… it’s really nothing serious. A-Tai and Tang Xinbao had a small misunderstanding. A minor thing!” Sun Yongzhang explained briefly, smiling.

“Tang Xinbao?” Ding Ruilong repeated, and looked at Tang Jingbin.

Of course he knew who Tang Xinbao was.

“The night before last my nephew nearly died in Donghai,” Tang Jingbin said.

Whenever the subject arose he said “nearly died.” He was determined not to let anyone shrink the matter.

It was a negotiating tactic.

It was also his position.

“Nearly died…” Ding Ruilong’s expression shifted slightly.

He understood perfectly well how important Tang Xinbao was.

“What exactly happened?” he asked again.

He had heard nothing of something this serious, chiefly because so little time had passed. It had happened only the night before last. There was no way word could have traveled yet.

“It went like this…” Sun Yongzhang gave him a fuller account.

A few minutes later he had covered most of it.

Naturally he mentioned that Wu Chen had saved Tang Xinbao.

Which made Ding Ruilong’s expression turn strange.

He realized that as Tang Xinbao’s lifesaver, Wu Chen was positioned to mediate the dispute.

Wu Chen might be able to solve Li Ruotai’s problem for him.

That…

Ding Ruilong felt he ought to make a showing. He ought to get ahead of Wu Chen and resolve the matter first.

Not for Li Ruotai’s sake.

To perform well in front of Sun Yongzhang. To show the Li and Sun families what he was capable of.

“Second Master Tang, strictly speaking this isn’t really my place to speak, but I think…” Ding Ruilong began, smiling.

He was off.

Wu Chen could not be bothered to listen.

The situation was certainly amusing. Li Ruotai all but wanted Ding Ruilong dead, and here Ding Ruilong was, trying to help him.

Wu Chen raised his wrist and checked the time.

Nearly half past one in the afternoon.

“I’m going to find somewhere to lie down for a while,” Wu Chen said to Li Ruobing, neither loudly nor quietly.

“Tired?” she asked, her eyes flickering.

She hardly thought he was tired. She simply did not know why he wanted to leave.

“There’s no point wasting my time here.” Wu Chen stood, straightened his suit, and turned toward the door.

Li Ruobing rose with him, meaning to follow.

“Bingbing, where are you going? We still have a guest.” Sun Yongzhang frowned.

The guest he meant was Tang Jingbin, not Ding Ruilong.

Li Ruobing was only staying at all to help resolve her brother’s problem.

“Sis.” Li Ruotai stood too and called to her, not wanting her to go.

“You all keep talking.” Wu Chen stopped and turned back to her.

But she walked over anyway, took hold of him, and whispered, “What are you going to do?”

“Play along a little,” he murmured back.

She understood at once.

Wu Chen was damn well planning something.

She still could not guess what he meant to do out there.

No one else could hear a word of it.

All they saw was the two exchange a few quiet sentences. Then Wu Chen turned and left, while Li Ruobing went back to her seat looking rather unhappy.

And to everyone watching, the whole scene looked like one thing.

Wu Chen was sulking.

He had tried to speak with Tang Jingbin, only for Sun Yongzhang to seize the conversation and refuse to let him say a word. Sun Yongzhang’s attitude had apparently upset him so badly that he could no longer stand to stay, and had gone off to find somewhere to rest.

As Wu Chen walked out, Ding Ruilong could not keep from smiling.

He was beginning to think Wu Chen hardly counted as a threat at all.

Tang Jingbin, also present, felt wave after wave of cold pass through him.

He could see how thoroughly the act was being played.

How high the stakes were.

Ding Ruilong had been completely taken in.

He might not even know how he died.

Wu Chen left the suite alone.

The corridor was full of bodyguards, more than twenty men altogether. When he emerged, every one of Ding Ruilong’s men sharpened their gaze.

They all knew who he was.

They had seen his photograph.

“Mr. Wu!” Li Ruotai’s bodyguards greeted him.

Wu Chen glanced around, taking note of the bodyguards Ding Ruilong had brought today. More than ten men had met him at his arrival in Donghai yesterday; today he had brought only some of them.

“I want somewhere to rest for a while,” Wu Chen said.

“This way, Mr. Wu.” Ma Yuan, Li Ruotai’s bald confidant, gestured and led him personally.

They did not go downstairs.

Ma Yuan simply took him to the other end of the corridor, stopping outside Room 1119.

“Where did you put it?” Wu Chen asked as they neared the lounge door.

His voice was very low. The bodyguards at the suite door down at the far end could not hear him.

“Under the sofa,” Ma Yuan answered quietly.

At the door Ma Yuan produced a master keycard, unlocked the room, pushed the door open, and gestured him through.

“After you, Mr. Wu. Call me if you need anything.”

“All right. Go on.”

Wu Chen walked in.

The door closed behind him.

It was a spacious, well-appointed lounge with both a sofa and a bed.

Wu Chen crossed to the sofa and sat, then reached underneath and felt around.

Soon he dragged out a case.

The same case he had found first inside the “safe house” when he went looking for Old Dao.

Li Ruotai had kept it ever since.

And on the phone yesterday Wu Chen had told him he would need it.

He set it on the coffee table and opened it.

Fake ID cards, driver’s licenses, passports, fifty thousand yuan in cash, several bank cards, a phone, a handgun, and ammunition.

Everything was still there.

Nothing had been touched.

Wu Chen took the phone from the case and powered it on.

The phone had been used exactly once. It had sat idle for some time, but because he had switched it off after using it that day, it still held a charge.

Once it booted, Wu Chen thought for a moment and smiled.

Then he opened the messaging app and quickly composed a text.