Chapter 332: The One in Charge

Chapter 332: The One in Charge

Before long a jumble of voices rose outside the door.

Wu Chen got up.

Since he had already mentioned that Tang Xinbao’s Second Uncle was coming, Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi rose as well. Tang Xinbao moved fastest, reaching the front door first and opening it.

Li Ruotai came in first, followed by Tang Jingbin and Sun Yongzhang.

“Young Master Tang…”

“Young Master Li…”

“Second Uncle, you’re here.”

Tang Xinbao greeted Li Ruotai and Tang Jingbin. Wu Chen came to the entrance to welcome them as well. Once the greetings were done, Tang Jingbin introduced Sun Yongzhang to Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi.

“This is the Sun family’s Third Master, Sun Yongzhang. You should both call him Uncle…”

Settling a form of address by seniority was common between prominent families. Li Ruotai always called Tang Jingbin Second Master Tang. Ding Ruilong did the same, and addressed Sun Yongzhang as Uncle Sun.

“Uncle Sun.”

“Hello, Uncle Sun!”

The two shook hands with him in turn. Sun Yongzhang smiled warmly as they exchanged greetings, then immediately asked after Tang Xinbao’s health.

Tang Xinbao had, after all, been injured by Li Ruotai’s men. Sun Yongzhang needed to show the proper concern.

“Ah, what a mess this has been. How is the recovery coming? Anything still troubling you these past few days?”

“No, no, I’m in fine shape. Thank you for asking, Uncle Sun. Nothing wrong with me at all now.”

Tang Jingbin’s expression shifted the moment the words were out.

This was exactly what he had feared when he refused to let Tang Xinbao go to the club the day before.

And now, the instant they met—

Sure enough.

Tang Xinbao was behaving as though nothing had happened. It would make the negotiation between Tang Jingbin and Sun Yongzhang far harder. With everyone present, Tang Jingbin could hardly hint to his nephew that he should say otherwise.

What Tang Jingbin did not know was that Tang Xinbao’s insistence came from Wu Chen’s influence. He desperately wanted to formally take Wu Chen as his master and learn from him, and the two had discussed it many times over the past two days.

Wu Chen had told him repeatedly to wait until he had recovered. So Tang Xinbao kept proving, over and over, that he was fine, that he was strong, that he was healing fast.

He was still in that frame of mind.

With Wu Chen present, he did not “dare” say his recovery was going poorly.

After a round of talk at the entrance, everyone moved into the living room and took seats around the coffee table. Another round of talk, and then Li Ruotai’s temper went off.

“Fucking Ding Ruilong! Damn it! Brother-in-law, you haven’t heard, have you? Ding Ruilong is the bastard who burned down my club!”

“What?” Wu Chen stared at him.

The performance was still running, and it was chiefly for Tang Jingbin, the outsider.

“What happened?” Wu Chen asked.

“Brother-in-law, hold on. One second. I’ll be right back…” Li Ruotai rose as he spoke, apparently going out to fetch something. The laptop, naturally.

Once he had hurried out, Wu Chen looked at Sun Yongzhang.

“Mr. Sun, what’s this about?” In truth Wu Chen could not tell whether Sun Yongzhang already knew what had really happened. Had Li Ruotai told him? Had Li Maoren?

But it made no difference. Even if he knew, he would have to play along.

“Ah, well… it’s hard to say for certain yet. It looks as though someone on the Ding family’s side was up to something. There may be trouble inside the Ding family itself…” Sun Yongzhang sighed. His words were heavily hedged with supposition.

“What exactly happened, then…?” Wu Chen asked.

Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi looked at Sun Yongzhang with open curiosity. Both knew about the fire. Neither had expected it to involve Ding Ruilong. He had set it?

“One of Ding Ruilong’s bodyguards…” Sun Yongzhang began.

He was halfway through when Li Ruotai hurried back, set the laptop on the coffee table, and played the surveillance footage for everyone.

He explained as it ran.

Mostly to Wu Chen.

He swung between agitation and fury. He was not the only one talking; Sun Yongzhang spoke too, filling in details and repeatedly seeming to say things in Ding Ruilong’s defense.

He was not defending Ding Ruilong.

He was steadying Li Ruotai.

Sun Yongzhang’s position had never wavered. He wanted the truth established, and he wanted his nephew to stay calm and not act impulsively.

Tang Jingbin watched it all. He felt exactly as he had the day before, only his astonishment ran deeper now.

And it came entirely from the way Li Ruotai and Sun Yongzhang treated Wu Chen.

Both laid the matter out for him in extraordinary detail. Li Ruotai called him “brother-in-law” every other sentence, with an air of asking him to take charge and set things right. Sun Yongzhang treated him as one of their own, without a trace of an elder’s airs.

They even seemed to be waiting for Wu Chen to decide.

That was formidable.

Consider what those two men were. And Wu Chen was merely Li Ruobing’s boyfriend. The contrast made it more astonishing still.

Tang Jingbin thought back over everything that had happened the day before…

“Brother-in-law, you tell me. How the fuck could this not be Ding Ruilong’s doing?” Li Ruotai asked at last.

Wu Chen looked at the laptop, apparently thinking.

“Xiao Wu, how likely do you think it is that Ding Ruilong did this?” Sun Yongzhang followed. He stressed “how likely” deliberately, leaving Wu Chen room to qualify his answer and avoid provoking his nephew.

In fact, Sun Yongzhang’s apparent willingness to let Wu Chen decide came from Li Maoren’s influence. Li Maoren had praised Wu Chen to the skies, so Sun Yongzhang understood that the young man was formidably capable.

He simply wanted to hear his view.

To Tang Jingbin it looked like handing him the decision.

“Ding Ruilong, Jiang Hongguang, Jiang Chuan. The last two have both disappeared. That can’t be coincidence…” Wu Chen began thoughtfully, smiled faintly, then let the smile go and glanced from Li Ruotai to Sun Yongzhang. “Even if Ding Ruilong didn’t do this, someone inside the Ding family did. I’d guess an internal power struggle. As for Ding Ruilong himself, he actually isn’t all that suspicious. The evidence was left far too obviously.”

“Mm.” Sun Yongzhang nodded. Turning it over, he had reached the same conclusion.

“Brother-in-law…” Li Ruotai was thrown. Weren’t they framing Ding Ruilong? Didn’t that let him off?

“However…” Wu Chen went on, changing tack. “When all of us think that way—couldn’t that itself be a step in Ding Ruilong’s plan? He anticipated we’d think exactly this. So he deliberately left obvious evidence behind to make himself look innocent?”

Now it was Sun Yongzhang’s turn to stare. He worked carefully through the reasoning.

Li Ruotai’s expression changed, a sharp light flashed in his eyes, and he was shaken to the core.

His brother-in-law’s logic was viciously clever.

Bang!

A tremendous crash.

Li Ruotai had slammed the table and shot to his feet. “Damn it, I knew it! Ding Ruilong, today I’m going to—”

“A-Tai!” Wu Chen said, raising a hand to signal him down.

Li Ruotai swallowed his rage and sat. “Go on, Brother-in-law.”

“It still has to be investigated, doesn’t it? The Ding family will certainly have to give us an accounting. We can discuss it afterward.” Wu Chen glanced at Tang Xinbao and continued, “Since everyone’s here today, let’s settle Young Master Tang’s matter…”

The living room went quiet for a couple of seconds.

“Mr. Tang.” Wu Chen turned to Tang Jingbin with a smile. “Why don’t we go up to the study and talk?”

A private conversation upstairs.

Before Tang Jingbin could answer, Wu Chen glanced at Sun Yongzhang. “Mr. Sun, shall we go together?”

Not two men talking, then. Three.

“Mm. All right.” Sun Yongzhang nodded. He agreed readily because it had been arranged beforehand: when Wu Chen spoke privately with Tang Jingbin, Sun Yongzhang was to be there to listen.

Sun Yongzhang understood that the real subject of this private talk was not Tang Xinbao at all. It was drawing the Tang family into their plans.

A dangerous step. He knew he could not stop it, and his brother-in-law Li Maoren had already agreed. All he could do was go along and keep watch.

But that prompt agreement of his changed the mood in the room completely.

It was as though Wu Chen were the one in charge.

If he said upstairs, they went upstairs.

If he said how the talk would run, that was how it ran.

“Very well.” Tang Jingbin nodded too. As he stood he gave Wu Chen a long, searching look, then laughed heartily. “Hahahaha! The sooner we settle it, the sooner it’s behind us. We can’t let a thing like this damage the relationship between our families.”

The three men went upstairs.

Into the study.

And shut the door.