Chapter 346: A Small Token of My Appreciation!

Chapter 346: A Small Token of My Appreciation!

“Tonight works.” Wu Chen nodded.

“Then let me arrange the restaurant.” The moment he agreed, Song Xuan put in.

“Fine.” Wu Chen nodded again, still smiling.

“Senior, I really do think that with your talent you’d become enormously popular if you debuted. You’d do far better than I ever could. If you have any concerns, you can tell me. I can help you, and Miss An will help you too.”

Song Xuan raised the subject of his debut again, speaking slowly, plainly picking her way around the things she could not say outright.

“I really have no concerns.” Wu Chen smiled, then looked at An Menglan. “Miss An, as I’ve said, I won’t be debuting. But when it comes to writing music, I think there’s a great deal of room for us to work together. My fees run high, though. I hope you’re prepared for that.”

“Money isn’t a problem. I’d be very glad to work with you, Mr. Wu,” An Menglan said without the slightest hesitation. Then she shifted. “But I do think that with your musical vision and your voice, never stepping in front of an audience would be a tremendous waste…”

“Exactly!” Song Xuan chimed in at once.

Song Xuan was kindhearted. She wanted very badly for Wu Chen to make something of himself in music rather than be hemmed in by another person, denied a life of his own, his talent squandered.

Her intentions were good, and what she was doing was not really a bad thing. She had simply misunderstood a few matters.

For the next ten-odd minutes An Menglan and Wu Chen talked about almost nothing but his debut.

She even laid her cards on the table, pressing him to join her company and promising him terms that many of the star singers already under her did not enjoy.

Song Xuan kept urging him too.

Wu Chen did not budge.

Debuting was out of the question. As far as he was concerned, now that An Menglan had sought him out, he fully intended to work with her very closely. Becoming a performing artist himself was not part of it.

Ring, ring…

A phone broke into the conversation.

Wu Chen’s.

He took it out and looked. Li Ruotai. He answered. “Hello, A-Tai.”

“Brother-in-law, do you have time?” Li Ruotai asked.

“Time… what’s happened?” Wu Chen glanced at An Menglan as he spoke, answering with a question of his own.

“Here’s the thing. Crooked Zhao is with me right now…”

Song Xuan and An Menglan watched him take the call. In the end he listened for a good while before hanging up.

“Why don’t we leave it there for now? Something’s come up. We can talk over dinner tonight,” he said to the two women with a smile.

“Of course. Go and see to your business, Mr. Wu.” An Menglan was brisk about it and stood.

Wu Chen rose too, and they shook hands.

“Senior, once I’ve booked the restaurant I’ll text you the address,” Song Xuan said sweetly as she got up.

Wu Chen gave her an OK sign.

Then he left.

After he had gone, Song Xuan and An Menglan stayed on, drinking coffee and talking.

“Miss An, what do you think of my senior?” Song Xuan asked. It was their first meeting, and naturally she hoped An Menglan had formed a good impression of him.

“A very interesting man.” An Menglan thought for a moment, then smiled and looked at the door he had gone out through. She turned back to Song Xuan. “He’s different.”

“Yes, Senior really is different.” Song Xuan nodded wholeheartedly.

“Is he always like that?” An Menglan asked. “I mean, is that how he treats everyone? So natural, always smiling, never arrogant, never impatient…”

Wu Chen’s manner with people was out of the ordinary, and An Menglan was doing her best to describe it.

Before she finished, Song Xuan was nodding again.

“Yes. Senior has always been like that. I didn’t know him well before either. We only became acquainted recently, but he really is like that. He makes you feel so comfortable.” Song Xuan gave him a glowing account.

And she meant it. Because of her looks, her family, and her mother’s reputation, Song Xuan rarely met men her own age who could speak to her normally. There was always some kind of problem.

Some could not even bring themselves to meet her eyes while they talked.

“He does put people at ease,” An Menglan said with a nod. She agreed entirely.

“A very distinctive person. Someone who would make a good friend,” she added after a moment.

She meant that sincerely.

Wu Chen had done nothing remarkable, and yet he had left her with an extraordinarily good impression.

It had to do with the life An Menglan had lived.

She had been a princess from birth. Apart from her relatives, everyone who met her either fawned or trod with excessive care. Even her father’s business associates, men who were her elders, would flatter her and laugh heartily as they praised her.

It had only grown worse once she became a celebrity.

In truth An Menglan did not much enjoy being the center of everyone’s universe. It was not that she was being difficult. She genuinely felt that most of it was false.

No one seemed able to speak to her as an ordinary person.

At times she even felt she had no friends, certainly none her own age. Her position made everyone around her behave in ways that were not genuine.

Outside her family An Menglan could hardly find anyone she could speak to from the heart. And even with her family there was a great deal she could not say freely.

All of which explained why she had taken such a liking to Wu Chen at a first meeting.

They shared a love of music. He was extraordinarily talented. And he could treat her like an ordinary person and talk openly. A friend like that was precisely what An Menglan had always wanted.

“Miss An, do you think we can persuade Senior to debut?” Song Xuan asked.

“We absolutely can.” An Menglan looked at her and answered without a trace of doubt.

Wu Chen was someone she was determined to sign.

Whatever that older woman’s background, An Menglan meant to settle the matter tonight.

More than half an hour later.

Crown Entertainment, a second-floor KTV room. Li Ruotai had a cigarette between his lips and was speaking quietly to Crooked Zhao.

Crown Entertainment had closed for renovations. The eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh floors all had to be redone, but the lower floors had not been touched by the fire and were essentially undamaged, so they remained usable.

“My brother-in-law should be here soon.” Li Ruotai checked his watch again, then shot Crooked Zhao a sidelong look. “I don’t need to teach you how to behave when he arrives, do I?”

“Don’t worry, Young Master Li! I know! I know!” Crooked Zhao assured him eagerly.

“Mr. Wu.”

“This way, Mr. Wu.”

The bodyguards’ respectful voices sounded outside. The door opened, and Wu Chen came in with one hand in his pocket.

“Brother-in-law, you’re here.” Li Ruotai hurriedly stubbed out his cigarette and stood.

“Mr. Wu.” Crooked Zhao rose at once too. His legs were bad, and he got up so quickly that he wobbled before catching his balance.

“You wanted to see me?” Wu Chen turned to him and asked directly.

“Mr. Wu, thank you. Thank you so much. If it weren’t for you this old life of mine would be over. You’re like a second set of parents to me…” Crooked Zhao was emotional from his first words and grew more so as he went, thoroughly into the part.

“Young Master Li told me everything. It’s all thanks to you. I only wanted to thank you in person. You saved not just me but my whole family, Mr. Wu. Let me kneel and kowtow to you!”

Even Li Ruotai was taken aback. He had not expected Crooked Zhao to go this far. Shamelessly currying favor with his brother-in-law right in front of him—what a calculating old bastard.

Crooked Zhao really was about to kneel, but Wu Chen reached out and caught him by the elbow.

“You’re one of A-Tai’s men, which makes you one of us. There’s no need for any of this.” Wu Chen let go, straightened his suit, turned, and sat down on the sofa.

“Yes, yes. One of us.” Crooked Zhao stayed on his feet at the side, agreeing hastily. Then he took a bank card from his pocket, set it on the table, and pushed it toward Wu Chen.

“Mr. Wu, even among our own people, this cost you a great deal of trouble. A small token of my appreciation!” Crooked Zhao said with a broad smile.

Money, offered outright.

Wu Chen glanced at him.

“It isn’t much, truly. Only a little something. You must accept it!” Crooked Zhao added quickly, afraid of a refusal.

Naturally his words had to be read in reverse. The more he called it a little something, the more had to be on the card.