Chapter 442: What Did He Say? How Did He Agree Just Like That?

Chapter 442: What Did He Say? How Did He Agree Just Like That?

“Hahahaha! Little Gu, you made it. Come, come… sit.” Tang Jingbin laughed heartily and waved him over. “Little Wu was just saying you’d be coming. Here, take a look and order something more…”

Greetings. Hospitality.

The usual routine of empty talk.

Tang Jingbin even urged Gu Ruibo to order.

There was already a huge spread on the table. They’d drunk plenty of wine but barely touched the food, and some of it had gone cold.

Gu Ruibo didn’t order anything. He hadn’t come here to eat.

After another round of pleasantries, the three of them took their seats again, and Tang Jingbin had a server bring a fresh set of tableware.

Along the way, Gu Ruibo worked out the first thing: tonight’s dinner was Tang Jingbin’s.

Tang Jingbin was the elder. If it hadn’t been his dinner, he wouldn’t have taken it upon himself to play host.

Gu Ruibo also noticed several used sets of bowls, chopsticks, and wineglasses around the big round table. It looked as though others had been here earlier and had already left.

That struck him as a little odd. Tang Jingbin bringing people along to treat Wu Chen to dinner… well, that wasn’t impossible. Li Ruotai had told him the Tang Xinbao business was settled. The two sides had made peace, and Wu Chen had saved Tang Xinbao’s life.

There was nothing strange about them eating together.

But at a juncture like this, could it really be a coincidence?

“Little Gu, you’re here about Qi Min and Qi Jun too, aren’t you?” They’d barely exchanged a few words after sitting down when Tang Jingbin raised it himself.

Gu Ruibo snapped to attention and nodded.

He hadn’t dared bring it up with Wu Chen first. With Tang Jingbin present, and no way of knowing whether Tang knew, he couldn’t mention it carelessly.

But now that Tang Jingbin had raised it, he was free to speak.

“Yes, I heard…” Gu Ruibo trailed off, considering, then looked at Wu Chen. “Mr. Wu, are you planning to…” He drew the words out and glanced at Tang Jingbin.

He already had a guess.

Was Wu Chen planning something big, and had he gone to Tang Jingbin for it? But even Tang Jingbin… would he provoke the Xiang family over something this small? Spark a war between two great families? Would it be worth it?

Besides, the whole affair had nothing to do with the Tang family.

It was a personal grudge between Wu Chen and another person.

Still drawing out the question, Gu Ruibo went on before Wu Chen could answer. “Honestly, I think it’s better to settle a feud than to deepen it. Mr. Wu… I heard from Old Mao that Miss Zhuang wasn’t really hurt. I think you ought to give this some more thought.”

Wu Chen hadn’t even said what he meant to do, and Gu Ruibo was already trying to talk him out of it!

The last thing he wanted was for anything to happen to Wu Chen… The main thing was, as Gu Ruibo saw it, there was no need whatsoever to blow this up!

What was the point? Why not just lean on their influence to make the Qi brothers bow their heads and be done with it?

Wu Chen hadn’t lost anything in the first place, and they could squeeze some compensation out of the Qi family on top of that. Wasn’t that better?

“I have thought it through carefully.” Wu Chen smiled at him. He reached for the document envelope lying on the table between himself and Tang Jingbin and handed it over. “Boss Gu, have a look.”

Gu Ruibo took it, looked at its blank cover, glanced at Wu Chen, then opened it and drew out the documents.

He went through them page by page, quickly.

His reaction mirrored Tang Jingbin’s exactly.

Alarm!

Horror!

After a dozen-odd pages, Gu Ruibo stopped short of the end. He swept the papers together and stuffed them back into the envelope.

“Mr. Wu, you… how did you get hold of all this?” He looked up, traces of fear on his face.

He believed the dirt was real, because it came from Wu Chen. What he couldn’t understand was how anyone could possibly lay hands on material this detailed.

Qi Jun and Qi Chenghong had only crossed Wu Chen at noon today. Barely nine hours ago!

“I looked into it, naturally,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

Gu Ruibo didn’t believe it. Unless Wu Chen could foresee the future, had known what he’d run into today, and had investigated in advance, there was no way he could have dug all this up in a mere nine hours.

Wait!

Foresee the future?

All at once Gu Ruibo felt the way he had when he first met Wu Chen. He had long sensed something almost mystical about the man, and right now that feeling was stronger than ever!

“Then what are you planning, Mr. Wu…” he asked again.

“The Qi family… Over the years, Qi Min has made plenty of money and done plenty of harm. He’s the most ruthless of them, and he repays every slight. Qi Jun is an incompetent idiot who leans on his elder brother and has done some… truly disgusting things. Rotten through and through…”

Wu Chen spoke unhurriedly, giving a brief verdict on the Qi brothers.

“So I’ve decided to send the whole family away. Honestly… I can’t stand any of them.” Wu Chen smiled when he finished.

It rang false!

Gu Ruibo found the whole speech awkward.

And he sensed at once that Wu Chen wasn’t telling the truth. He didn’t think Wu Chen was the kind of man who’d destroy anyone he happened to dislike.

A man like that could never accomplish anything great. He wouldn’t even have lived this long!

And Wu Chen was a man certain to accomplish great things!

“Mr. Wu, I… I still think this needs careful thought. The Qi brothers have the Xiang family behind them. Qi Min was groomed by the Xiang family’s Third Master. I’m sure taking down the Qi family is no problem for you, but the Xiang family is bound to…” Gu Ruibo didn’t finish. Everyone knew what he meant.

“My target is only the Qi brothers. As for how the Xiang family reacts…” Wu Chen said with a smile. He paused, then turned the question back on Gu Ruibo, still smiling.

“Boss Gu, isn’t your Gu family always at odds with the Xiang family? You ought to be supporting me. If only for the sake of the future… why are you trying to talk me out of it instead?”

“I’m…” Gu Ruibo began, then stopped dead. His expression froze, and his heart gave a jolt.

For the sake of the future?

That woke him up at once!

The future he had in mind was, of course, the great affair a few months from now! The Li family was going to rally multiple forces and take down the Ding family!

If it unfolded as planned, the lion’s share of the spoils would go to the major powers led by the Li family. Gu Ruibo, and Wu Yurong on Wu Chen’s behalf, would also take a sizable share for having positioned themselves early.

And the Gu family, because Gu Ruibo had gone in early to reap the gains, would lean toward the Li family and join in dividing the pie!

As for the Xiang family… it wasn’t particularly close to the Ding family, so it was hard to say which side it would fall in with once the chaos began.

There were two possibilities.

Either, for some reason or in exchange for some benefit, it would back the Ding family.

Or it would join the pile-on against the Ding family and grab a slice of the pie.

The Gu and Xiang families weren’t enemies. But just as Wu Chen had said, they clashed often, mostly through commercial competition. Their industries overlapped heavily.

That meant once the great affair began, the Xiang family would make trouble for the Gu family either way. At best, it would fight them for the pie. At worst… the two would become open enemies on opposite sides of the line!

So no matter how he looked at it, Wu Chen taking a swing at the Xiang family would only benefit the Gu family!

But Wu Chen had also just said his target was only the Qi brothers, and that it depended on how the Xiang family reacted. In other words, if the Xiang family didn’t move against Wu Chen, Wu Chen wouldn’t move against them for now.

Then the Xiang family wouldn’t actually take any real blow. Logically, that sat a little at odds with “for the sake of the future”!

Gu Ruibo’s reasoning fell briefly into confusion. He looked at Wu Chen, then his eyes suddenly flicked over and landed on Tang Jingbin, who sat smiling with narrowed eyes, listening and saying nothing.

Second Master Tang was here too.

He’d listened to the whole exchange without the faintest surprise. He must already know everything! He’d surely talked it over with Wu Chen beforehand.

He’d probably seen the documents too!

Would he help Wu Chen?

Then this whole setup, Wu Chen inviting him here, the three of them meeting… a possibility suddenly struck Gu Ruibo!

An extremely bold hypothesis!

Could Wu Chen mean for all three sides to join forces?

Or rather… was he finding the Gu family an ally in advance?!

Of course the Gu family needed allies! A great upheaval was coming! When it hit, everything would be chaos! Banding together was the only way to stay steady and claim bigger gains!

“…Mr. Wu.” After a long silence, Gu Ruibo finally spoke. His expression was earnest, but the question was a probe. “What do you need me to do? Just say the word.”

Wu Chen took the envelope from him and, with a backhanded swing, slapped it down on the table in front of Tang Jingbin. Then he looked at Gu Ruibo. “Mr. Tang will take out the Qi brothers within three days. If you’re willing, I’d like you to back him publicly! Lend him some weight!”

Just as he’d thought!

Second Master Tang was going to act!

He’d take out the Qi brothers fast!

And as long as Gu Ruibo publicly sided with the Tang family, the Xiang family would mistakenly believe the Gu and Tang families had joined forces. With that hanging over them, they wouldn’t dare react too fiercely!

They could only swallow it!

And this! This could very well lead straight to an alliance between the Gu and Tang families!

In the moment, Gu Ruibo couldn’t quite work out why Tang Jingbin was willing to go all out for Wu Chen, or why he’d want to ally with the Gu family.

But that didn’t matter!

What mattered was that if this really meant an alliance, Gu Ruibo was more than willing!

“No problem! Then it’s over to you, Second Master Tang.” Gu Ruibo barely hesitated before turning to Tang Jingbin. “Second Master, when the time comes, if there’s anything you need help with, just give me word. I’ll see it done.”

Gu Ruibo agreed without a second thought, and now it was Tang Jingbin’s turn to be completely dumbfounded.

How had he agreed just like that?

What had the two of them even said?

Holy hell, how many sentences had they exchanged altogether? They hadn’t weighed a single pro or con. How had Gu Ruibo agreed?!