Chapter 459: “Big Brother” Cao Liangpeng

Chapter 459: “Big Brother” Cao Liangpeng

Cao Liangpeng?

Li Ruobing paused, then frowned slightly. The name meant nothing to her.

That wasn’t strange. She had never had much to do with that circle in Modu.

She knew of Mao Rusong only because his network was so tangled and far-reaching. Too many people had ties to him. Even someone who disliked socializing as much as she did would hear his name now and then.

This Cao Liangpeng clearly hadn’t reached that level.

“Who is he?” she asked.

“Owner of Yelai Bar in Modu. He used to be Mao Rusong’s business partner…” Wu Chen gave her a brief rundown.

Cao Liangpeng was fifty-three. He owned Yelai Bar, one of Modu’s four major bars, and had a hand in restaurants, serviced apartments, entertainment clubs, and several other industries.

He was worth more than a billion yuan.

He was much older than Mao Rusong. He had gone out into the world before he was twenty, made his money in the 1990s, and been among Modu’s very first operators of video halls and dance halls.

In that line of business, he was something of a “big brother.”

At the end of the last century, the fast-rising Mao Rusong and the “big brother” Cao Liangpeng, who by then had cleaned up and gone legitimate, had worked together for several years.

They had jointly invested in founding Century Bay No. 1 Bar.

Later, differences over how to run the business, how to split the profits, and more had led them to part ways.

Thirteen years ago, mutual friends had brokered a reconciliation, and the two had teamed up a second time.

That partnership lasted only six months. Between outside meddling, disputes over control of the bar, and other factors, it didn’t just end. The two men became bitter enemies!

From then on, Mao Rusong was “big brother” Cao Liangpeng’s greatest rival.

Seven or eight years ago, Mao Rusong became the top figure in Modu’s bar business.

By now, the two had long since stopped having anything to do with each other, while Mao Rusong’s expansion through the entertainment industry had kept squeezing the room every other operator in Modu had to survive.

Mao Rusong was very good at sharing. He wasn’t greedy. A great many powerful “patrons” held shares in all his core businesses, and his own stakes were relatively modest.

Even so, he was worth more than three billion yuan.

Cao Liangpeng, by contrast, held majority stakes in most of his core businesses, and even then he was worth only around a billion.

On the whole, the two were no longer in the same league.

In a place like Dongpu, with its tangle of powers and its crowds of elites, Mao Rusong was merely a businessman, yet people still called him “Fourth Master Mao.”

Cao Liangpeng could no longer compare.

Still, counting only bars, KTVs, and the like, Mao Rusong was number one, and Cao Liangpeng was still among the top few and still carried the standing of a “big brother.”

“The bad blood between Cao Liangpeng and Mao Rusong goes back twenty years. But all in all, he was just one rival on Mao Rusong’s way up…”

“Mao Rusong likes making friends and doesn’t make enemies lightly.”

“But cutting off someone’s road to wealth is like killing their parents. With a business as big as his… it wouldn’t be hard to find a hundred rich and powerful people in Modu who hold a grudge against him.”

Wu Chen felt a little rueful.

Before he watched the footage, he’d had a great many possible suspects in mind. Assuming it wasn’t the Qi brothers, he’d had no way at all of judging who it was.

It could have been one of Mao Rusong’s business rivals.

It could have been someone Mao Rusong had offended.

It could even have been one of Gu Ruibo’s enemies.

Everyone knew how close Gu Ruibo and Mao Rusong were, and Mao Rusong had certainly handled things for Gu Ruibo before.

Someone who didn’t dare touch Gu Ruibo might seize this chance to get rid of Mao Rusong under cover of the current feud. That was entirely possible.

There were far too many possibilities.

None of these people had any urgent need to kill Mao Rusong right away, but they were all ruthless. Hand them an opening, and they’d dare settle old scores and new ones in one go!

With so many possibilities, no one would have surprised him.

Cao Liangpeng didn’t surprise him either.

“What makes you say it’s Cao Liangpeng?” Li Ruobing started questioning him. “You said yourself Mao Rusong has plenty of enemies. Why him?”

“The footage told me.” Wu Chen smiled.

“Then why didn’t I see it?” Li Ruobing narrowed her eyes. “Are you lying to me? Did you know who did it all along?”

She had long since stopped doubting him lightly.

She did so now only because she’d watched him solve the case with her own eyes. She’d seen everything he had.

Not even a god could pin down the mastermind by fast-forwarding through surveillance!

“If you didn’t see it… maybe your IQ’s just low,” Wu Chen joked.

“Answer me first. Did you lie to me? Did you know already?”

“Do you think I’m that kind of person?”

Li Ruobing fell silent for a moment. She knew he was good at laying traps, but she didn’t believe he would deceive her about this.

The stakes were too big!

He might be full of tricks, but he was never shameless!

“Is it really Cao Liangpeng?” she asked, trying another angle.

“Yep.” Wu Chen smiled.

“You really got it from the footage?”

“Of course!”

She fell silent again.

She was fiercely competitive, and more than anything she wanted to beat him once.

He’d only been joking about her IQ, but now she genuinely started to wonder. Had she really gotten that slow?

She hadn’t spotted a single clue.

Yet he could spot the mastermind?

“Give me the laptop.”

“Here.”

Wu Chen handed her the old laptop.

Li Ruobing sat back against the headboard and went through the footage on her own. She didn’t ask him how he’d figured it out. Not yet. She wanted to look again herself and see what was special, what clue was there.

Wu Chen turned his head and smiled at her, utterly absorbed.

At that moment, she struck him as especially fun.

Very amusing.

Ten-odd minutes later.

Li Ruobing was still going through the footage. Naturally, she couldn’t do it as fast as he had.

Wu Chen was already scrolling on his phone.

He was chatting with Su Qingying on Weixun. Mu Qianqian was staying at Su Qingying’s place tonight too, and both of them wanted to know how things had gone since he’d brought Li Ruobing home.

Just idle chat.

Ring, ring…

His phone rang.

Caller ID: Mao Rusong!

Wu Chen answered.

“Hello, Boss Mao…”

“Mr. Wu…”

Mao Rusong’s voice was very weak.

The doctor had said he’d wake by tomorrow at the latest, but he’d come around much earlier than expected. Gu Ruibo, still at the hospital, had told him Wu Chen wanted a call back, and Mao Rusong had rung him as soon as he woke.

“How do you feel?”

“Not too bad. Head’s spinning like hell. Motherf— Qi Min! I’m gonna fucking kill him!”

“He didn’t do it.”

“Hm?! It wasn’t him?!” Mao Rusong was stunned.

“Boss Mao, have you seen Cao Liangpeng lately?”

“Cao Liangpeng? Last time I saw him… must be nearly half a month ago. At a friend’s birthday banquet. We didn’t even talk…” Mao Rusong spoke very slowly. It was hard to say whether his head was still foggy or he was thinking something over.

“Mr. Wu, you mean…” he asked.

“Cao Liangpeng sent the people who did it,” Wu Chen said.

“Him?” Mao Rusong was startled, then his tone shifted. “Can’t be… We’ve hardly dealt with each other for years. Last time we ran into each other, we didn’t say a word…”

“Do you trust me?” Wu Chen asked.

“…I do!” Mao Rusong paused, then said it with conviction.

“I do! It was Cao Liangpeng!”

Wu Chen got straight to the arrangements. “Get people on it now, and let Boss Gu know too. Pull Cao Liangpeng’s call records. See who called him and who he called around the time of your accident.”

“If any of those numbers belong to one of his trusted men, that man definitely knows Cao Liangpeng’s plan, and he’s probably the one who carried it out…”

“Grab him and beat him half to death. Once he talks, grab the others involved. Then go pick up Cao Liangpeng.”

Cao Liangpeng was still a man of some standing in Modu. Snatching him outright would cause serious trouble! They needed direct evidence first!

But if they followed Wu Chen’s steps, they’d have an answer before the night was out!

“Done. I’ll do as you say, Mr. Wu!” Mao Rusong agreed.

He knew that if they got this wrong, his reputation would be ruined! He and Cao Liangpeng would become mortal enemies, and everyone would be laughing at him.

But he figured Mr. Wu must know something to tell him to do this. And Mr. Wu wouldn’t steer him wrong.

The call ended.

Li Ruobing had long since paused the video and leaned in to listen.

Only when he set down the phone did she sit up straight again and look back at the laptop.

“Figured it out yet, my dear Miss Li?” Wu Chen turned and asked with a smile.

Li Ruobing kept a straight face and said nothing. Infuriating!

A good while passed.

Smack! Li Ruobing snapped the laptop shut, turned to him, and said, “Tell me. How did you figure it out?”

“It’s complicated.”

“No. This time you have to tell me.”

“Even if I tell you now, will you believe me? You’ll have to wait until Boss Mao confirms it was Cao Liangpeng before you believe it, won’t you?”

Once again she had no answer. He was absolutely right.

“So… let’s go to sleep first.” Wu Chen smiled.

“Hmph.” Li Ruobing rolled her eyes at him.

She knew exactly what was on his mind right now.

But in truth, she wanted it too. Because she still didn’t know whether she was really pregnant!

The laptop went aside.

The light went off.

Time for bed!

——

A new day. August 1, 2020.

At seven in the morning, Wu Chen woke briefly as usual. He looked up at the ceiling of his bedroom at home, smiled, then wrapped an arm around Li Ruobing and sank back into deep sleep.

Before they knew it, it was eight.

Ring, ring…

The phone woke them both.

Wu Chen reached out, felt for it, and answered without lifting his head. “Hello, Boss Mao.”