Chapter 352: Giving Her a Taste of Her Own Medicine

Chapter 352: Giving Her a Taste of Her Own Medicine

At her question Wu Chen turned to look at her.

She had plainly come in a hurry, because she had not even put on makeup. Her face was completely bare. Wu Yurong was a woman who pursued refinement and perfection in her daily life; she almost never went out to meet anyone without makeup, and at the very least would put on something light.

She only ever let people see her at her best.

Today she had made an exception.

For her daughter, Song Xuan, naturally. Wu Chen could even picture how the bodyguard had made his report. He had counted on that call to Wu Yurong and on her coming, which was why he had timed his exit and waited for her.

Bare-faced or not, Wu Yurong was still breathtaking. Her skin was as flawless as a young girl’s.

“There’s no quarrel. It’s really only a bit of a misunderstanding,” Wu Chen said.

“A misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?” She kept hold of his arm as they walked to the window at the end of the passage, and only stopped there. “It isn’t because of you, is it?”

She gave him a playful look.

“What else would it be?” Wu Chen smiled. “If it weren’t for me, how would she have come to know Ruobing?”

At that Wu Yurong felt considerably easier. She had suspected Li Ruobing might be making trouble for her daughter on her account.

If what he said was true, that was not it.

“Then what’s the misunderstanding…?” she asked in her soft, sweet voice.

“Your daughter suspects I’m being kept by a rich woman,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

Her expression changed dramatically. Her first instinct was that her daughter had begun to suspect her. Then she realized that could not be it. Song Xuan must have meant Li Ruobing.

“She knows my family runs a noodle shop, that we’re ordinary people. So the car I drive and the watch I wear set her thinking…”

“Then she spoke to Ruobing on the phone once. Your daughter called while I was in the shower, so Ruobing answered. You know how Ruobing usually speaks…”

“And about debuting, I’ve said I won’t. Which made her suspect an older woman was controlling me…”

In a minute or two he sketched the whole thing for her, then described the situation in the private room.

“That misunderstanding is cleared up now. But An Menglan still thinks that with Ruobing’s strong character, Ruobing must be the one stopping me from debuting…”

The more Wu Yurong heard, the more reassured she became. She was no longer worried about her daughter. By his account, Song Xuan’s misunderstanding about Li Ruobing had dissolved the moment Li Ruobing walked in.

Which meant her daughter would not go out of her way to cause any more trouble.

However…

Even as she relaxed, a playful look began to grow on her face. By the time he finished, the corners of her mouth had lifted and her expression had turned distinctly suggestive.

“So?” she asked.

“So what?” Wu Chen said, smiling.

“So what little game are you playing?” She moved closer, resting a hand on his shoulder and dropping her voice further. “You could have cleared all this up long ago, couldn’t you?”

She had gone straight to the point. None of today needed to have happened. Wu Chen was not the sort of man who let a situation run out of control. Which meant he had done it on purpose.

“I did deny it,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

“Only denied it? Why didn’t you explain? You did it deliberately, didn’t you?” She poked a finger lightly against his chest and asked softly, smiling, “Have you taken a fancy to An Menglan? Hoping something will happen between you?”

When she had finished she raised her eyebrows at him slightly.

“You shouldn’t say things like that without evidence. Miss An and I only met today,” Wu Chen replied. Neither an admission nor a denial.

“Hmph.” Wu Yurong gave a coquettish little snort and a look that said, Keep pretending. Then she scolded him fondly. “You rascal.”

She had seen through all of it.

And on this point her judgment matched Li Ruobing’s exactly. Both of them suspected Wu Chen meant to get involved with An Menglan.

The difference was that Wu Yurong did not mind how many women he had. She was effectively one of his other women herself. Her position was different, her state of mind different, and she could even find it in herself to tease him about it.

She suddenly took his hand and looked at his wrist.

A new watch. But not the one she had bought him.

“Did Li Ruobing buy it?” she asked softly.

“Yes.” Wu Chen smiled and nodded.

Wu Yurong said nothing. Her expression shifted a little, then she raised a hand in a small gesture. “I’ll go touch up my makeup. I’ll come over in a while.”

“All right.” Wu Chen smiled.

She glanced back toward the junction with the main corridor. Only her female bodyguard Chu Yan stood there. None of the other bodyguards were in that spot, and no restaurant staff either.

She looked back at Wu Chen, reached up with both arms, hooked them around his neck, and tilted her face to kiss him.

When she let go she pressed her lips together and said in her sweet, gentle voice, “I’m going.”

“I’ll head back, then,” Wu Chen said.

She nodded, and with her handbag went into the women’s restroom beside them.

Wu Chen left.

He returned to the private room.

The moment he stepped in he felt that something was wrong with the air. Compared with the harmony he had left behind, the mood had cooled considerably. Not the atmosphere of open conflict, but everyone was a little off.

Song Xuan looked uneasy.

Even the way An Menglan looked at him had changed, gone slightly unnatural.

“What have you been talking about?” Wu Chen asked casually with a smile as he sat down beside Li Ruobing.

“You, of course.” Li Ruobing swirled her glass and gave him a sidelong look. “Miss An admires you enormously. She hopes you’ll debut.”

“Haven’t I said my ambitions lie elsewhere?” Wu Chen smiled, then turned to An Menglan. “Miss An, some things can’t be forced.”

“I understand,” An Menglan said, looking at him. She glanced at Li Ruobing, paused, then smiled at him again. “But… Mr. Wu, even if you have no wish to debut as a singer, surely there are still opportunities for us to work together?”

“Such as?” Wu Chen asked after a moment’s thought.

“Such as…” An Menglan said. “I would be delighted to sign you to my company as a songwriter and composer. Or we could work together with you remaining independent. Either would be fine. I wonder whether you feel…”

“That’s worth considering. I don’t see any problem with it,” Wu Chen said, smiling.

“Then here’s to a successful partnership.” An Menglan raised her glass to him, and glanced at Li Ruobing as she did.

Wu Chen actually caught a trace of provocation in her expression.

“To a successful partnership.” He raised his glass too, keeping an eye on Li Ruobing beside him.

Wu Chen knew she had come here meaning to stir up trouble today.

And while he was out of the room, she had already done it.

He simply did not know what.

Wu Chen was very interested.

What could have left someone as even-tempered as An Menglan feeling provocative toward Li Ruobing? Just how hard had Li Ruobing hit her?

“Come on, let’s all drink,” Wu Chen said, calling the others in.

Li Ruobing raised her glass, and so did Song Xuan.

They touched glasses and drained them.

Once his glass was down, Wu Chen tilted his head toward Li Ruobing and asked quietly, “What did you do just now?”

She leaned in, as though the two of them were sharing a secret.

“I made a bet with An Menglan,” she said softly, with a sidelong glance. The corners of her mouth lifted.

“A bet?” Wu Chen’s eyebrow went up.

He understood at once. Li Ruobing was learning his tricks. The only question was how much of his skill she had picked up.

“On what?” he asked quietly.

“Guess.” She said it softly, then broke into a smile.

She was not going to tell him.

She really was giving him a taste of his own medicine.

Wu Chen was forever telling her to “guess.” Now she had learned that too.

“You’re sure you won’t tell me?” Wu Chen asked, smiling.

“I won’t. What are you going to do, bite me?” She smiled too, plainly trying to needle him.

“Then I’ll just…” Wu Chen began. Suddenly he lifted his head, looked at An Menglan, and asked in a perfectly normal voice, smiling, “Miss An, you and Ruobing made a bet while I was out, didn’t you? What did you bet on?”

When he had asked, he glanced at Song Xuan as well.

All three women changed color at once, each stunned for a moment.

Wu Chen had actually dared to ask outright, in front of everyone. Was he not afraid of what asking might set off?

And Li Ruobing was… infuriated all over again.

The room went silent. For a moment nobody spoke. An Menglan had no idea how to answer him. She genuinely could not say it aloud.

“Is no one going to tell me?” Wu Chen asked, smiling again. Then he looked at Song Xuan. “How about you, Student Song?”