Chapter 333: A Generous Gift

Chapter 333: A Generous Gift

In the second-floor study.

“Mr. Tang, have a seat…” Wu Chen invited them to sit, and the three of them sat down on the sofas.

“Mr. Tang, you’ve seen how Young Master Tang is doing. He’s recovered quite well these past few days. To my mind, since this was a misunderstanding, we’d do better not to make too much of it. That serves both the Tang family and the Li family.”

Wu Chen came straight to the point, though the angle from which he spoke was a delicate one.

“Mm.” Tang Jingbin nodded, then shifted course. “Xiaobao has always had a strong constitution. That’s the only reason he wasn’t beaten to death. As for this business, the Tang family has no wish to blow it up either. But there does have to be an accounting.”

“Of course there does.” Wu Chen smiled at him. “In fact, we could simply ask Young Master Tang himself. He’s the one it happened to. Whatever compensation he wants, we’ll give him.”

That was an enormous thing to say.

Whatever he wanted, he would get.

Tang Jingbin’s expression shifted. He had already considered his nephew’s attitude toward the incident, and today he had seen it confirmed. Tang Xinbao did not think the matter was such a great one. He was fine now.

But that was not the heart of it. The heart of it was that Wu Chen’s standing had changed.

This was Tang Jingbin’s second day in Donghai.

He had spoken with Wu Chen yesterday too.

Yesterday, though, Wu Chen had not discussed the specifics with him.

Wu Chen had deliberately held the matter back until today, precisely to complete that shift in standing.

Yesterday Tang Jingbin had not known Wu Chen. He had known only that Wu Chen was Li Ruobing’s boyfriend, and that the Li family had most likely not accepted him.

Wu Chen was also Tang Xinbao’s savior, but that counted for little in itself. A debt was a debt; you repaid it. If Wu Chen wanted to mediate between the families, there was a limit to how far he could push.

Given his standing yesterday, had Wu Chen said anything excessive, Tang Jingbin would certainly not have accommodated him. In Tang Jingbin’s eyes, whatever grand things Wu Chen said, he was merely a junior with some connection to the Li family.

That was yesterday’s Wu Chen.

Today was another matter entirely.

Everything Tang Jingbin had believed about Wu Chen had been overturned and rebuilt. He now knew that Sun Yongzhang and Wu Chen had acted together to deceive Ding Ruilong, and that the son-in-law Li Maoren acknowledged was apparently Wu Chen, not Ding Ruilong.

Something had most likely gone wrong between the Li and Ding families.

And the way Sun Yongzhang and Li Ruotai treated Wu Chen, along with everything else he had witnessed, made Tang Jingbin feel that Wu Chen’s tie to the Li family went far beyond being Li Ruobing’s boyfriend. He probably had considerable influence within that family.

So when Wu Chen sat down with Tang Jingbin today, his standing had changed completely.

He was not negotiating as Tang Xinbao’s savior. He had already taken the money offered in thanks.

Nor was he a third party mediating between two houses.

He was representing the Li family.

There was nothing abrupt or strange about it. Tang Jingbin had come, quite naturally, to accept that Wu Chen could represent the Li family in these talks.

All the Li family’s weight now stood behind Wu Chen. Add to that his undeniable position as Tang Xinbao’s savior, and the combination produced an exceedingly delicate situation.

How the hell was Tang Jingbin supposed to negotiate?

Tang Xinbao had been injured by low-level men under the Li family, and saved by someone important to that same family. How could Tang Jingbin make things difficult for them?

And Wu Chen had proposed asking Tang Xinbao directly.

If Wu Chen truly went to Tang Xinbao on the Li family’s behalf and asked what compensation he wanted, the boy would certainly make no unreasonable demand.

The affair was already drifting toward a settlement in which the Li family paid some money, disciplined a few minor figures, and called it an accounting…

Tang Jingbin was silent a moment. He looked at Wu Chen, glanced at Sun Yongzhang, and appeared to be weighing his options.

“How about this.” Wu Chen spoke again, smiling at him. “Mr. Tang, when all is said and done, we’re in the wrong over what happened to Young Master Tang. He suffered through no fault of his own, and he was hurt in body and in spirit. Our mistake, and we own it…”

The words left Tang Jingbin momentarily stunned. Even Sun Yongzhang’s expression changed.

Why was Wu Chen suddenly speaking for the Tang family?

“There will certainly be compensation,” Wu Chen went on. “And beyond that, how would it be if I gave you—or rather, the Tang family—a generous gift?”

“A generous gift?” Tang Jingbin stared at him.

“I’ve long heard that the Tang family and the Liu family up north seem to…” Wu Chen drew out the pause, watching him with a smile. “Get along very badly.”

Tang Jingbin’s face changed. It darkened instinctively.

The Tang and Liu families did not merely get along badly. They were enemies.

Where there were interests and allies, there were enemies. In business it was said that men in the same trade were born rivals. Among great families, the scramble for resources, the division of spoils, competition over posts, choosing sides at critical moments—any of it could produce a major conflict, even a lasting feud.

Every great family had allies, and every one had enemies.

That was true of the Ding family and the Li family alike.

Naturally the Tang family was no exception.

The northern Liu family was one of the Tang family’s enemies.

The Tang family was a military house with its own particular circle, and its principal allies and enemies came mostly from within it. The northern Liu family was a military house as well.

The two were rivals.

Years ago, the leading figure of the Tang family’s second generation—Tang Jingbin’s elder brother, Tang Xinbao’s father, Tang Jingjun—had finally had a chance at transfer to the capital. It was the Tang family’s chance to rise another level. If Tang Jingjun could establish himself there and advance a little further, then in another ten or twenty years the family would inevitably reach new heights.

The Tang family had thrown practically everything it had into making it happen.

But the Liu family blocked them, because the Lius wanted the same post. Both houses mobilized nearly every connection they possessed and fought a covert struggle of influence and maneuver. In the end the Liu family won, at enormous cost.

Liu Tonghe, the most outstanding man of the Liu family’s second generation, was transferred to the capital, and his rank was raised a little as well.

The Tang family’s losses were not great. But it had lost.

Unable to go to the capital, Tang Jingjun had reluctantly taken a posting in the northwest. His rank rose too, but the northwest could not compare with the capital.

That was the greatest source of conflict between the Tang and Liu families.

As for lesser disputes and friction, there were far too many to count. Both houses had numerous descendants, along with relatives by marriage and old associates serving all over the country. Their paths crossed constantly, and clashes were practically endless.

Hearing Wu Chen mention the Liu family put Tang Jingbin out of temper at once.

What had happened back then could be said to have changed the whole course of the Tang family’s development. Even now the family’s old patriarch still brought it up, and whenever the Lius came up, he cursed them.

“The Liu family? What about them? What are you getting at?” Tang Jingbin asked. His tone had turned cold and hard. It was not aimed at Wu Chen. Tang Jingbin simply became this way whenever the Lius were mentioned.

“Nothing much, really.” Wu Chen kept smiling. “It’s only that I happen to hold some evidence of… certain things the Liu family would rather not see daylight. Fairly lethal, I’d say. But the Liu family is powerful. Evidence alone won’t be enough. It would take a family like yours to make it count. I wonder whether you’d be interested, Mr. Tang.”

Tang Jingbin’s face tightened and he stared at him.

Wu Chen’s phrasing was delicate, but translated plainly it came to this: he had devastating dirt on the Liu family.

“If you are interested, Mr. Tang, I can give that evidence to the Tang family,” Wu Chen added with a smile.

“Uh…” Tang Jingbin began.

Wu Chen did not let him finish. “In fact, if you judge the evidence usable, Mr. Tang—usable against the Liu family—then the Li family can help the Tang family… move against them.”

Tang Jingbin’s stunned pause broke, and his face changed dramatically.

Sun Yongzhang, who had been listening in silence, was visibly shaken.

Nothing Wu Chen had said earlier had struck Sun Yongzhang as a serious problem. As for the dirt on the Liu family, Wu Chen had not even said what it was or whether he genuinely held anything, so there was no judging how damning it might be or what it could accomplish.

What changed Sun Yongzhang’s face was Wu Chen’s final sentence.

If the Tang family moved on the Lius, the Li family would help them?!

How could Wu Chen possibly say such a thing on his own authority?

Tang Jingbin was thinking exactly the same thing.

Wu Chen had actually dared commit the Li family to helping the Tangs? What standing did he have to make that decision for them? How could he speak such a promise aloud?

Even Li Maoren would not dare say it, surely?

A matter like this absolutely required the Li family patriarch’s personal decision.

What was more, Tang Jingbin knew the Liu family well, and so he knew the Li family had nothing to do with them. Not a thread of entanglement, no conflict, no clash of interests, not even an indirect connection.

So the Li family would simply attack the Lius for the Tang family, out of nowhere?

The study fell silent.

“Well? What do you make of this gift, Mr. Tang?” Wu Chen asked, smiling again.