Chapter 348: Don’t Think So Badly of Me

Chapter 348: Don’t Think So Badly of Me

When Li Ruobing heard Song Xuan’s name she assumed Wu Chen was working another scheme. The last time he deliberately made contact with Song Xuan, the real target had turned out to be Wu Yurong. She did wonder whether Song Xuan had given Wu Chen a massage yet.

Song Xuan was Wu Yurong’s daughter, which was bound to catch Li Ruobing’s attention. As a result it took her a beat to register the other name.

An Menglan.

Li Ruobing did not know An Menglan personally, of course, but there was no chance she would not know of her.

Very few people in the entire country had never heard of An Menglan.

To call her a household name was no exaggeration.

To Li Ruobing, though, An Menglan’s standing as a superstar singer was nothing remarkable. What mattered was her background: the treasured daughter of a family worth hundreds of billions. In the upper circles of the great families she had long carried a reputation as a talented young woman.

And one more thing worth Li Ruobing’s attention. An Menglan was single.

“An Menglan. You must know who she is,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

“What are you up to now?” Li Ruobing demanded, going straight to the heart of it.

“Nothing. An Menglan approached me. She only reached Donghai today, and she wants to treat the two of us to dinner…” Wu Chen said, smiling.

“Song Xuan? An Menglan? Dinner? What do they have to do with you? And what do they have to do with me?” Li Ruobing could not find the thread that joined any of it. She was bewildered.

“It’s a little complicated. I’m on my way to your office. I’ll explain when I get there,” Wu Chen said after a moment.

Half an hour later.

South District, CBD Tower 7, Huancai Fashion.

The corridor outside the president’s office was still full of bodyguards.

“Mr. Wu.”

“This way, Mr. Wu.”

They greeted him as he came, and one opened the office door for him.

The office was empty. Not a soul in sight.

It was already five in the afternoon, the end of the working day, and today was Friday. Wu Chen knew Li Ruobing would not be working late. She would even be taking the full weekend off.

The launch was behind her, the most important work done. Li Ruobing could rest, and would not have to be so busy for a while.

Which was why Wu Chen had felt free to accept An Menglan’s invitation on the spot.

He walked to the space between the desk and the sofas facing it, one hand in his pocket, and looked around. Then he caught faint sounds from the small rest room.

The door was shut.

He went over, opened it, and walked in.

Li Ruobing’s business suit lay on the bed. She had already changed into a dark blue dress and sat at the mirror doing her makeup.

“When did you arrange this? You might have told me sooner.” Li Ruobing spoke while penciling her eyebrows. Her back was to the door, but the mirror had shown her it was Wu Chen.

Only Wu Chen could walk into this room so casually. No one else would dare.

She was a little put out with him. She had planned to leave at the usual hour and go straight home without changing or making up her face. Wu Chen had told her about dinner only half an hour ago, leaving her rushed.

She was taking this dinner very seriously.

Because the other party was a woman. A famous woman. A rich, famous woman with an extraordinary family behind her. Young and beautiful besides.

Who knew what scheme Wu Chen was running this time.

For all she knew she would suddenly find herself with another “little sister.”

“We arranged it this afternoon,” Wu Chen said with a smile. He came farther in and sat on the changing bench slightly behind her.

“There’s no rush. Take your time. We only need to be there at six,” he added, watching her.

“Where are we eating?” she asked.

“Yuelaixuan,” he said.

More than an hour earlier, while he was still talking with Li Ruotai, Song Xuan’s text had come through with the time and the address. Everything was arranged.

“Yuelaixuan.” Li Ruobing repeated it, then said pointedly, “She certainly knows how to pick a place.”

Wu Chen tilted his head slightly, watching her reflection.

She glanced at him through the mirror and spoke again. “Well, my dear Mr. Wu, explain it to me. What’s going on? Why is she inviting you to dinner? And even if she’s inviting you, why does she want me there?”

That was what Li Ruobing found strangest. Whatever women Wu Chen flirted with outside was his own business. But for one of them to dare invite Li Ruobing herself to dinner—was this meant as a show of force?

Given Wu Chen’s record, Li Ruobing had developed a certain prejudice. Whenever a woman was both rich and beautiful, she assumed something was going on between that woman and Wu Chen.

Though strictly speaking it was hardly a prejudice.

“I wrote a song for Song Xuan, and I sang one myself. You know about that,” Wu Chen said.

“Of course,” she said.

Then he told her the whole story.

There was no particular reason to hide it. More to the point, once Li Ruobing got to dinner and they began talking, she would find out anyway. Keeping it back would serve nothing. She was going to learn all of it today regardless.

Better that she be prepared.

“…Song Xuan has misunderstood our relationship. She doesn’t even know who you are. She’s spoken to you once, on the phone, and she has no idea of my circumstances. I’ve suddenly got a great deal of money, and you spoke to her the way you did last time, so she started to suspect…”

“An Menglan has probably been influenced by Song Xuan. She wants to sign me and get me to debut…”

“When we talked this afternoon she hinted that I shouldn’t waste my talent, and that I could tell her if I was in any difficulty…”

“They seem to think I’m being controlled by a rich older woman. I suppose they want to negotiate with you.” By the time he reached that, Wu Chen could not help laughing.

It really was funny.

Li Ruobing gave him a sidelong look. She could hear the teasing in it. He was doing it on purpose.

“And you’re laughing? Is it that enjoyable, having people take you for a kept pretty boy?” she said with a snort.

“Not especially. I did deny it.” Wu Chen smiled.

“You know perfectly well whether you were really denying it. For all I know you did it deliberately. Another one of your schemes…” Li Ruobing came very close to the truth.

“Don’t think so badly of me,” Wu Chen said, getting to his feet.

Li Ruobing had just picked up a diamond necklace. Seeing him stand, she reached back and handed it to him.

Wu Chen stood behind her and fastened it around her neck.

All of it perfectly natural.

With her jewelry on, Li Ruobing stood and looked herself over in the mirror, then turned back to him with a smile. “Am I beautiful?”

“Beautiful,” Wu Chen said, smiling.

“You’re only humoring me,” she said. Even as she spoke she raised her hands and began straightening his collar and tie.

Around five-thirty, Li Ruobing left the office with her arm through his.

A little over twenty minutes later.

Wanzhong Road, Central District, in its busiest stretch. A large restaurant with an antique-style façade stood on the corner.

Yuelaixuan Restaurant. One of Donghai’s finest Cantonese houses, on a par with Laopinxuan.

Wu Chen had come in Li Ruobing’s Maybach.

The two got out together and went in with their bodyguards. Wu Chen gave the receptionist the name Miss Song. Once she had confirmed that he was Mr. Wu, she led the party upstairs with great deference.

They took the elevator to the fifth floor.

But the moment they stepped out into the corridor, the receptionist stopped, turned, and said respectfully, “Sir, miss, the room at the very end. Please go ahead.”

Then she went back to the elevator.

It was odd. Ordinarily she would have walked her guests to the door of the room.

Yet Wu Chen and Li Ruobing, standing on the fifth floor, understood why she had stopped. Song Xuan had booked the restaurant’s entire floor.

A fresh red carpet had been laid down the corridor, and a bodyguard stood every few meters along both walls. There had to be twenty or thirty large men in black suits lining the hall.

The sight of it.

The sheer display.

It was like the Banquet at Hongmen.

And it was deliberate.

Li Ruobing understood at a glance. Song Xuan and An Menglan meant to give her, the “older woman,” an intimidating reception.

“Shall we, my dear Mr. Wu?” Li Ruobing raised an eyebrow and spoke to him with a sidelong, smiling glance, then took his arm and walked on.

A few steps behind her, her bodyguard Yang Kuo had already slipped a hand inside his jacket.

He had no idea what was going on, and did not care. If anyone made a suspicious move, he was ready to draw his gun.