Chapter 338: No Ordinary Man

Chapter 338: No Ordinary Man

Tang Jingbin understood perfectly. Next to the Tang family’s feud with the Lius, Tang Xinbao’s affair truly was a small matter. After all, the boy had come through it.

After Wu Chen had pressed such a “generous gift” on him, the Tang family would have to be utterly senseless, and utterly shameless, to keep pursuing it.

Since the two families were going to cooperate, they had to make a big problem small and a small problem disappear.

“How can we simply forget it?” Wu Chen replied.

“Why can’t we?” Tang Jingbin shot back, smiling and gesturing. “It’s a small matter. A misunderstanding to begin with. We’ve settled it between us. We can’t let a thing like this damage relations between the Tang and Li families.”

It was as though they had swapped roles. Tang Jingbin had taken up Wu Chen’s earlier argument and was now insisting the matter be dropped.

“That won’t do.” Wu Chen shook his head. “Young Master Tang suffered considerable harm, in body and in spirit. If we were to—”

“Hey, Xiao Wu!”

Tang Jingbin cut him off. He even seemed faintly “unhappy,” his tone almost reproachful. “Don’t say that! You’re doing so much for our family. If we turn around and demand compensation, what kind of people would that make us? Would we have any shame left? We’d be slapping our own faces. Xiao Wu, do me a favor and let it go.”

Sun Yongzhang was dumbfounded all over again.

Wu Chen refused to let it go, and Tang Jingbin insisted on letting it go.

Wasn’t that backward?

Tang Jingbin’s position was easy enough to understand. But what was Wu Chen thinking? Why was he so determined to compensate the Tang family?

“Mr. Tang.” Wu Chen raised a hand and smiled. “That isn’t what I mean. Whatever else happens, the Li family has to give you at least something.”

“No, Xiao Wu, you—” Tang Jingbin began.

“Hear me out.” Wu Chen interrupted, still smiling. “Sooner or later word of this will spread. Young Master Tang was attacked in Donghai and nearly beaten to death by A-Tai’s men. You even made the trip to Donghai yourself over it. Outsiders will hear all of that.”

He paused, then continued. “In that case, if the Li family makes no gesture at all and the Tang family doesn’t pursue the matter, outsiders will draw two conclusions. First, that the Tang family is afraid of the Lis, which will hurt your family’s name. Second, that something is going on between our families. That would make our cooperation much harder to keep quiet.”

As Tang Jingbin listened, understanding dawned.

“Ah!” He slapped his forehead and grinned. “That was an oversight on my part. You really do think of everything, Xiao Wu. You’re right! You really are something. Hahahahaha…”

By this point Tang Jingbin was practically forcing the praise out.

It was not that he could not have worked out the implications himself. He had simply been carried away by the prospect of cooperation between the Tang and Li families. With his head full of that, he had overlooked everything else.

“Hahaha…” Tang Jingbin glanced at Sun Yongzhang, then turned back to Wu Chen. “In that case, let’s—let your Li family decide. As for the money, a token amount will do.”

“Then that’s settled too,” Wu Chen said.

“Settled, settled!” Tang Jingbin nodded quickly.

Everything had been agreed.

Tang Jingbin suddenly checked his watch, then looked up. “Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll head back shortly. I should be home around seven or eight tonight. I’ll see my father first; this needs to be said in person. As for my elder brother, if necessary I’ll fly out and tell him myself. Though I suspect the old man will have him come home for this.”

They talked a little longer, then rose and left the study. It was time to go downstairs.

Wu Chen and Tang Jingbin kept talking as they walked. Sun Yongzhang deliberately hung back a step, and when the other two started down the stairs, he stopped.

He took out his phone, turned back into the second-floor hallway, and went into the restroom.

Not to use the toilet, of course, but to make a call.

He felt it was absolutely necessary to call Li Maoren at once and report.

In the restroom.

The call connected quickly.

“Hello, Yongzhang,” came Li Maoren’s voice.

“Brother-in-law,” Sun Yongzhang began. “We’ve just finished the talks. It’s settled. Tang Jingbin has agreed to cooperate, and I don’t expect any problems inside the Tang family. This should work.”

One point was worth noting. By now Sun Yongzhang understood why the Li family would move against the Lius.

When Wu Chen explained the situation to Tang Jingbin he had mentioned the Dou family. That had made everything click.

“What did you discuss?” Li Maoren asked.

“The Liu family. Wu Chen told Tang Jingbin about some of their activities and gave him leads he can chase…” Sun Yongzhang kept it brief.

“Specifically?” Li Maoren asked.

That single question shook Sun Yongzhang to the core.

Earlier he had wondered how Wu Chen and his brother-in-law could possibly have settled something without telling him. It made no sense. But the alternative, that Wu Chen had decided on his own, made even less.

Now he had his answer.

Li Maoren truly had not known.

“Specifically—Brother-in-law! Wu Chen didn’t tell you about this beforehand?” Sun Yongzhang could not help asking.

“No,” Li Maoren answered crisply.

“Then… the Liu business, was that our Li family’s investigation, or—”

“Wu Chen.” Li Maoren was just as direct.

Sun Yongzhang fell silent, stunned past words.

It really had all been Wu Chen. He had settled the arrangement himself, and the intelligence had come from him as well. He had acted on his own authority, but everything he did served the Li family’s interests, so Li Maoren had cooperated without hesitation.

Li Maoren had even given him the highest authorization, letting him represent the Li family with full authority.

The least reasonable, most unbelievable possibility had turned out to be the truth.

“Yongzhang…” Hearing him fall silent, Li Maoren knew exactly what he was thinking. He spoke with a sigh. “Truthfully, I felt the same. The first time I met that young man, my reaction was stronger than yours is now. He… is no ordinary man.”

There was a great deal behind those words, though he did not specify what he meant.

“I understand, Brother-in-law,” Sun Yongzhang said.

At last he understood completely why Li Maoren thought so highly of Wu Chen. Why his opinion of him was so extraordinarily high. It all made sense now.

Today Sun Yongzhang had seen for himself just how uncanny Wu Chen could be.

Meanwhile.

In the first-floor living room, Tang Jingbin and Wu Chen came downstairs. Seeing that Li Ruobing had returned, Tang Jingbin greeted her warmly as “Miss Li” and shook her hand before sitting down.

Everyone talked for a while.

Neither Tang Jingbin nor Wu Chen mentioned what had been discussed upstairs, or what had been decided about Tang Xinbao’s affair.

Not long after, Tang Jingbin checked his watch again, rose, and said his goodbyes. He was returning to Modu immediately. He also called for Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi to come along so they could travel back together.

Tang Xinbao did not want to leave. He said he wanted a few more days in Donghai, so Tang Jingbin did not press.

Li Ruobing watched all of this, her brows drawing together almost without her meaning them to.

From the moment Tang Jingbin came downstairs until he announced his departure, he had been in exceptionally high spirits. Wu Chen wore his usual faint smile and gave nothing away. Judging by Tang Jingbin’s mood alone, Li Ruobing had the impression that he had won the negotiation over Tang Xinbao’s affair.

How much compensation could he have squeezed out of the Li family to be this happy?

Had Wu Chen lost?

Impossible.

But for the moment that was all Li Ruobing could guess.

When Tang Jingbin really was leaving, everyone rose, shook his hand, and offered to see him out. He waved them off repeatedly.

“No need, no need! Hahahaha! Xiaobao can see me out. Everyone else, please stay. Hahaha, you’re too kind…” He persuaded the others to remain. They could all tell he wanted a private word with his nephew before he left. That was why he had said Xiaobao alone could see him off.

So the others stayed inside. Only Tang Xinbao and Guo Qiqi walked out through the villa’s front door with him.

After the three had gone, Li Ruobing, standing beside Wu Chen, tilted her head slightly and asked, “How did the talks go?”