Chapter 404: Not the Same Name

Chapter 404: Not the Same Name

What on earth was going on?

Why were all these men who looked like bad news bowing to her brother?

It wasn’t the first time she’d heard someone call him “Mr. Wu.”

Earlier, at lunch with her sis-in-law, the businessman they’d run into at the restaurant had called him that too.

It really was an odd thing to call a twenty-two-year-old fresh out of college. Far too formal.

Even then, Wu Jiao had felt something wasn’t quite right.

Now it felt even less right!

Her mind was already racing through every movie she’d ever seen about big underworld bosses.

That was exactly the feeling!

Exactly like this!

Had her brother gone into the underworld?

She dismissed the idea at once.

He’d been out in the world for less than a month. Nobody became a big boss in under a month.

Even the movies wouldn’t dare write something that ridiculous!

While her thoughts were running wild—

“All right. If there’s nothing else, get lost,” Wu Chen said.

“Sure, sure, of course, Mr. Wu. You go on with your business.” Still all smiles, Feng Yuan nodded and bowed.

Then he waved his men off.

He had seen Wu Chen with two young girls and had no idea what the situation was.

Feng Yuan had plenty of “improper” guesses, but this wasn’t the sort of thing he dared say a word about.

He would act as if he’d seen nothing.

Wu Chen turned back, bent over, and went on loading the trunk.

They’d bought quite a lot, and the boxes in particular took up space, so he had to arrange everything carefully to make it fit.

“Bro, who were they?” Wu Jiao asked once she’d recovered.

Bro?

Feng Yuan and his men had only gone a little over ten meters.

Sharp-eared, Feng Yuan caught the word. His steps slowed on their own, and he turned his head slightly to glance back, listening.

“Friends,” Wu Chen said, arranging bags.

“Friends? Since when do you have friends like that?” Wu Jiao asked.

“Met them recently,” Wu Chen said.

Feng Yuan didn’t listen any longer.

He was afraid Wu Chen would notice they’d stopped. He gestured again and hustled his men away.

Only when they were fifty or sixty meters off did he wave at the men beside him and speak.

“Those two girls just now, especially the one on the left. You all saw them? You remember what they look like?”

“Yeah.”

“Pretty girl.”

“Brother Yuan, don’t tell me you’re thinking of…”

“Thinking, my ass!” Feng Yuan flared up.

Keeping his voice low, he smacked two of them across the back of the head.

“Show some goddamn respect! That’s Mr. Wu’s sister. Burn her face into your heads. Mr. Wu’s sister is in Donghai now. If you run into her and don’t recognize her and end up crossing her, you’ll get your heads knocked clean off!”

He was warning his men.

Recognizing people, and knowing better than to cross anyone they couldn’t afford to offend, was the most basic survival skill in their “line of work.”

Crossing some big shot and getting your whole family killed for it was extremely unlikely, of course. Big shots had famous names and wide networks; few of them ever went unrecognized…

But you still had to guard against it.

Especially lately.

There was a jumpy, uneasy mood all through Donghai’s underworld.

It was all because of the Tang Xinbao affair.

A lot of Crooked Zhao’s men had died. Word was that Crooked Zhao had nearly gone bankrupt just settling it, and Mr. Wu had been the one who helped smooth it all over.

These days, everyone in Donghai’s underworld was keeping their heads down.

No one wanted to make the mistake of failing to recognize some important outsider.

That was why Feng Yuan was so tense, and why he’d gone out of his way to warn them.

They walked on.

After his tirade, everyone fell quiet for a moment.

“B-Brother Yuan, you sure that’s Mr. Wu’s sister?” someone ventured.

“Of course I’m sure!” Feng Yuan snapped. “You think I’ve got nothing better to do than lie to you?”

He was one hundred percent certain.

Not just because she’d called Wu Chen “Bro,” and not just because of the way the two of them talked to each other.

More important…

Feng Yuan thought back.

Wu Chen and that girl looked alike!

That was the strongest proof of all.

They were definitely blood siblings!

He was leading his men toward the stairwell rather than the elevators; they meant to take the stairs up into the mall. Just before they went in, Feng Yuan thought it over and took out his phone.

He dialed.

It was answered quickly.

“What’s up, Yuan? You guys there yet?” Wang Zhuangyuan’s voice came down the line.

“Brother Zhuangyuan, we just got here. About to head up… We ran into Mr. Wu in the garage just now. Looks like he came shopping,” Feng Yuan said.

“Wu…” Wang Zhuangyuan paused. “Did you say hello?”

“We did, we did,” Feng Yuan said hurriedly. “I talked to Mr. Wu. He wasn’t alone, either. He had two girls with him. One of them seems to be Mr. Wu’s sister…”

Still talking, he led his men up the stairs.

At the same time.

Wu Chen had gotten everything into the trunk.

The three of them climbed into the car.

Wu Jiao took the passenger seat. As she pulled her seat belt across, she kept sneaking sidelong looks at her brother.

His answers just now had been completely offhand. She hadn’t gotten a thing out of him.

Now she was suspicious, and she was letting it show all over her face without the slightest attempt to hide it.

She was practically announcing to him: I’m suspicious of you!

The Bentley started up.

Wu Chen drove toward the garage exit. Soon he was up the ramp, out at street level, and merging onto the main road.

“Bro, did you do something bad?” Wu Jiao finally asked again.

There was no anger in it this time. She spoke quietly, sounding a little worried for him.

“Nope,” Wu Chen said, smiling as he drove.

“You’re not telling the truth,” she muttered, pouting.

She could already tell he was keeping a lot from her.

Asking wasn’t going to get her anywhere.

If he hadn’t done anything bad, why wouldn’t he explain?

Her suspicion only deepened.

Since she couldn’t get anything out of him, she made a decision.

She would keep an eye on him!

If he wouldn’t tell her, she would watch him, observe him.

She would find out her brother’s “secrets” for sure!

A few minutes later…

Wu Chen glanced at his watch as he drove.

Five-thirty.

He took out his phone and dialed.

As he did, Wu Jiao leaned over to see who he was calling.

The contact name: Ruobing.

Her sis-in-law.

She sat back properly.

The call connected quickly.

“Meeting over?” Wu Chen asked.

“Just finished,” Li Ruobing said.

“Then I’ll take the two girls straight to your place,” Wu Chen said.

“Okay. I’m heading back now,” Li Ruobing said.

A few lines, and that was it.

The call ended.

“Bro, are you living with Sis-in-law now?” Wu Jiao asked.

Wu Chen glanced at her, then back at the road, and nodded.

“Yeah.”

“At Sis-in-law’s place? You’re living together?” she asked again.

“What’s a little girl like you asking about that for? Are you even an adult yet? Always asking that kind of thing…” Wu Chen laughed and reached over to touch her hair.

“I’m just asking…” she grumbled.

They chatted idly for a bit.

Ring, ring…

Wu Chen’s phone.

He picked it up and glanced at the screen.

Wu Jiao leaned over at once to look too.

Caller ID: An Menglan.

“Hm?” Wu Jiao froze.

That was the exact name of the superstar singer she loved!

Not just the same sound. Every single character was identical.

“Hello, Miss An. Made it home?” Wu Chen answered.

“I’ve been back a little while. I’m just about to go to dinner.”

An Menglan’s rich, magnetic voice came through his phone.

Wu Jiao tilted her head and leaned in as close as she could, straining to hear.

But the seat belt held her back. Any closer and she’d be in the way of his driving, and she didn’t dare make it too obvious.

“…Is Mr. Wu with Miss Li?”

“Not yet. In a bit.”

“You won’t go back on what you promised me, will you, Mr. Wu?”

“I told you. She won’t ask.”

There wasn’t really anything to it.

An Menglan didn’t even know herself what had come over her.

All the way back to Modu, her head had been full of her “adventures” over the past few days in Donghai.

Wu Chen was everywhere in her thoughts.

Partly she had called just to let him know she’d gotten home safely.

But partly she was uneasy.

She was afraid he might tell Li Ruobing what had happened between them, and wanted to remind him.

They talked for a few lines more, then hung up.

“Bro, you know someone called An Menglan too?” Wu Jiao asked the instant he lowered the phone.

“Yeah. Why?” Wu Chen said.

“No reason. It’s just… she’s got the exact same name as the superstar An Menglan,” Wu Jiao said.

Wu Chen smiled.

He thought for a moment, glanced at his sister, then looked back at the road.

“It’s not someone with the same name,” he said with a smile. “It’s the An Menglan you know.”

“Hm? Huh?!”

Wu Jiao let out two startled sounds.

First she went blank.

Then the shock hit her.