Chapter 350: No More Pretending!

Chapter 350: No More Pretending!

Villa No. 6, Lüyuan Waterside villa complex, South District.

In the first-floor living room, Wu Yurong sat curled on the sofa, listening to her bodyguard’s report. She had not long been home, had showered and changed into her pajamas. Her expression kept shifting as she listened.

“They brought guns? Are you certain?” she asked, frowning.

“It looks that way. One of Miss Li’s bodyguards has kept his hand inside his jacket the whole time. He’s very alert… As for us, we were only following the young miss’s instructions. When the older woman arrived, we were supposed to… We didn’t know beforehand that it would be Miss Li…” The bodyguard laid it out again.

Her frown deepened. She turned it over and could make no sense of it.

She knew why her daughter and An Menglan had sought Wu Chen out. An Menglan had first contacted Song Xuan on the day Song Xuan signed her revenue-sharing agreement with Wu Chen, and Wu Yurong had been there.

There had been nothing in it.

Wu Yurong had never imagined Wu Chen would debut as a singer anyway. They would talk, he would refuse, and that would be the end of it. She had barely given the matter another thought.

Yet now her daughter had staged a Banquet at Hongmen for Li Ruobing?

And had used a term as malicious as “older woman” for her?

And Li Ruobing’s bodyguard had apparently come armed.

So Wu Yurong still could not make sense of it. Her daughter was not the sort who went looking for trouble. Why single out Li Ruobing? What did Li Ruobing have to do with any of it?

“I understand. Keep an eye on things and don’t let it get out of hand. I’ll be there shortly,” Wu Yurong said at last.

“Yes, Boss,” the bodyguard said.

…

Yuelaixuan Restaurant.

In the enormous private room, Li Ruobing spent nearly ten minutes going over the menu with Wu Chen before she was finished. She had ordered a full eighteen dishes, along with several bottles of red wine costing tens of thousands of yuan apiece.

Song Xuan had a menu on her side as well. Seeing how much Li Ruobing had ordered, neither she nor An Menglan added anything.

There would certainly be enough.

More than enough. Enough for ten people.

With the order placed, the four began to talk. Mostly it was Li Ruobing and An Menglan.

“…Your company will be listing soon, won’t it, Miss Li?” An Menglan asked, smiling.

“We’re still preparing. It won’t be long,” Li Ruobing said, smiling too.

The wine arrived first. Over the first glass An Menglan raised a toast to her. “Then let me congratulate you in advance, Miss Li. May the listing go smoothly and your business prosper.”

“Thank you.” Li Ruobing raised her glass in return, smiling.

Wu Chen and Song Xuan naturally lifted theirs as well.

Everyone drained their glass.

The mood could hardly have been warmer. Li Ruobing went on to ask about An Menglan’s company. Nothing but idle talk, and the atmosphere stayed just as cordial.

Song Xuan gradually recovered and began joining in of her own accord. She even brought up Huancai Fashion’s recent launch and complimented Li Ruobing on it.

“Miss Li, your skin is lovely. I’m so envious. Are you twenty-three this year?” Song Xuan asked with a soft, sweet smile.

“Twenty-seven,” Li Ruobing said, her smile subtle.

“Wow! You take such good care of yourself, Miss Li.” Song Xuan let out a small exclamation and glanced instinctively at Wu Chen.

The remark was really for him. She was the one who had called his girlfriend an older woman, and she was making up ground.

The restaurant served fast. They had not been drinking long before the dishes began arriving one after another.

The three women went on talking.

Wu Chen said nothing at all, watching it with a smile.

And as An Menglan and Song Xuan talked with Li Ruobing, they kept an eye on him, and An Menglan began to feel that… she had heard about Li Ruobing’s way of doing things. Hard, uncompromising, utterly unyielding. An extraordinarily domineering woman.

An Menglan was already getting a taste of it.

Precisely because Wu Chen was not speaking.

It gave her the impression that in Li Ruobing’s presence he hardly dared open his mouth. The woman strong, the man weak. It could not have been plainer.

She even began to think that although Song Xuan had been wrong about the older woman, the rest might well be true: Wu Chen could not debut because Li Ruobing would not permit it.

A talented, handsome man from an ordinary family, dating an enormously wealthy young woman from a great house. Naturally he would have to do as he was told.

It fit the domineering reputation perfectly. Everything her way.

“Miss Li, Mr. Wu posted a song online some time ago. You’ve heard it, haven’t you?” An Menglan raised it herself, steering toward the real business of the evening.

“I have.” Li Ruobing nodded.

“What did you think?” An Menglan asked.

“It was very good.” Li Ruobing smiled. After a pause she added, “I’m not a professional in that field, so I can’t really say much. You’re the professional, Miss An. I’m sure you understand it better than I do.”

An Menglan smiled. “I have to say, that song astonished me. Mr. Wu truly is extraordinarily talented. Calling him a prodigy wouldn’t be an exaggeration. If he debuted properly as a singer, I’m certain he’d become a huge star.”

“Really?” Li Ruobing gave a surprised smile and turned to glance at him. “Then congratulations are in order, my dear Mr. Wu.”

There was a teasing edge in it. As she spoke she picked up her wineglass.

Wu Chen knew she meant to stir things up. He smiled without a word and raised his glass too.

They touched glasses, and each took a sip.

“Well… here’s the thing, Miss Li.” An Menglan chose her words carefully as she looked at her. “The reason I invited you to dinner is that I’d like to discuss Mr. Wu making his debut. If he came to my company, I could give him the very best resources…”

“Discuss it with me?” Li Ruobing cut in, sounding faintly puzzled. “If you want to sign him, ask him. I don’t think there’s anything for the two of us to discuss…”

As she spoke, she glanced at Wu Chen.

An Menglan looked at him too.

“I’ve already said I won’t be debuting,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

“Mm…” An Menglan hesitated. She wanted to say something to him and did not, turning back to Li Ruobing instead. “It’s just that I don’t know whether Mr. Wu has certain concerns on your account, Miss Li. Which is why I think it’s necessary for us to…”

“I don’t think he does.” Li Ruobing cut across her again. “Why would he have concerns on my account? We’ve talked about it ourselves. He simply doesn’t want to debut. He has no plans to go into the entertainment industry.”

An Menglan did not believe a word of it.

“Then may I ask something, if you don’t mind? I forgot to ask earlier. What does Mr. Wu do at present?” An Menglan looked from one to the other as she spoke.

“I’m an assistant at Ruobing’s company,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

“You’re… Miss Li’s assistant?” An Menglan said.

Wu Chen nodded.

Understanding appeared on her face at once. Everything fit again. Wu Chen would rather work under his own girlfriend than debut as a singer. How could that possibly be his own choice?

Wu Chen suddenly raised his wrist and checked his watch. More than twenty minutes had passed since they came in.

“I’m going to the restroom,” he said, smiling. Then he stood and walked out.

The moment he was gone, a good deal of the smile left Li Ruobing’s face.

With Wu Chen there she showed him consideration. Without him she had no desire to go on performing for An Menglan.

No more pretending.

“Miss Li.” An Menglan looked at her again, weighing her words. “I truly believe that with the talent Mr. Wu has shown, his choosing not to enter the music industry would be a loss…”

“Why do you keep saying this to me? Wu Chen was sitting right here. Tell him. Persuade him,” Li Ruobing cut in.

An Menglan thought a moment. “It’s only that I feel Mr. Wu may be more inclined to listen to you, Miss Li. If you could persuade him…”

“He listens to me?” Li Ruobing burst out laughing, as though she had heard something genuinely funny. She looked at An Menglan. “If I could control Wu Chen, I wouldn’t be sitting here having dinner with you today… It seems you really don’t understand him, Miss An.”

An Menglan’s face shifted. She did not entirely follow her meaning, but she heard the change in her voice.

She no longer sounded so friendly.

“Miss An, I get the feeling you’re rather fond of my Mr. Wu,” Li Ruobing said, smiling again.

An Menglan’s expression changed once more. All at once she understood where the unfriendliness came from.

“You may have misunderstood, Miss Li. I simply admire Mr. Wu’s talent very much,” she said.

“So? When are you planning to sleep with him?” Li Ruobing asked outright.

The private room fell abruptly silent.