Chapter 475: When Su Ruiwen Began to Harbor Alarming Suspicions

Chapter 475: When Su Ruiwen Began to Harbor Alarming Suspicions

Li Ruobing was clever, and she knew Wu Chen well.

That was why she couldn’t believe he’d made a mistake this big. Whatever this was, if it involved her and there was any chance Su Ruiwen might call her, why wouldn’t Wu Chen have briefed her beforehand?

Now she couldn’t respond properly to what Su Ruiwen was saying. Wouldn’t that make him suspicious?

She couldn’t even fall back on some other story to bluff her way through.

She had no idea what Wu Chen had told Su Ruiwen, what had prompted it, or what they’d talked about. None whatsoever.

If she started talking blindly, she was bound to say the wrong thing!

And given how sharp Su Ruiwen was, it would take a miracle for her to fob him off with some improvised excuse.

So… Li Ruobing reached a conclusion. Wu Chen’s goal was to make Su Ruiwen suspicious!

Hearing nothing but silence on the line, Su Ruiwen wondered whether the signal had dropped or he’d hung up by accident. He lowered the phone, checked that the call was still connected, and spoke into it again. “Miss Li? Are you still there, Miss Li?”

“Ah… I’m here, Boss Su,” Li Ruobing replied, drawing out the first syllable.

“Hahaha. Miss Li, there’s really no need to keep anything from me.” Su Ruiwen was all smiles, especially warm and friendly toward her, with a note of emotion in his voice. “Ah! I truly never expected you to do so much for our Qingying.”

“Qingying and I… we hit it off the moment we met,” Li Ruobing said.

“Wonderful! Hahaha!” Su Ruiwen laughed. “Miss Li, you and Qingying are the same age, aren’t you?”

“We are. Miss Qingying is a few months older than me.”

“Ah! The same age, and yet our Qingying is nowhere near your level, Miss Li. She’s still far too green. Her experience and abilities fall well short of yours.”

“I wouldn’t say that. Miss Qingying is very capable. She’s wonderful with people, and she’s good at business, too…”

“Compared to most people, yes. Compared to you, Miss Li, she has a long way to go! Still, Qingying is lucky to be as close to you as a sister. In the future, we’ll be counting on you to look after her. Hahaha…”

Something was off!

Li Ruobing found Su Ruiwen very strange today.

He wasn’t the gregarious, glad-handing type. As Donghai’s richest man and its most powerful businessman, he had no reason to flatter anyone with empty praise.

There was no one in Donghai worth Su Ruiwen lowering himself to court.

Not even Li Ruobing.

The Li family was certainly far stronger than the Su family, but Li Ruobing couldn’t speak for the whole family. She was only a member of the family’s third generation. Before Su Ruiwen, she was a junior.

Even face-to-face with Li Maoren himself, Su Ruiwen would have no reason to humble himself and offer flattering words if there were no interests at stake.

Donghai’s upper crust usually called her “Boss Li.” They knew she liked the title and didn’t want to irritate her over something so trivial, so that was what they called her.

Su Ruiwen, however, called her “Miss Li.”

Li Ruobing didn’t mind. It felt perfectly natural to her. Su Ruiwen was a business titan she admired, someone she still had to look up to for now.

Their positions spoke for themselves.

Without her family background, given her current experience and net worth, she might not even have been in a position to talk to Su Ruiwen.

So… what had gotten into him today?

Why was he singing her praises?

Why would he run down the daughter he was so proud of just to flatter her?

It wasn’t like him.

Li Ruobing couldn’t make sense of it.

What could have happened to make him act like this? Did he really believe she could look after Su Qingying, who was about to inherit his capital and connections? Did he think she was that capable?

Su Ruiwen kept up the pleasantries for several minutes. Between the lines, there was even a note of gratitude.

His health was failing. At most, he had another six months to a year to live. For Li Ruobing to help his daughter so much at a time like this, and by methods he could scarcely fathom, left him truly grateful.

He even felt he could go in peace. With Li Ruobing protecting her, his daughter would surely find her footing quickly once she inherited the group. Her grip on Jinfu might even end up firmer than his own was now.

Su Ruiwen was deeply comforted that his daughter had a friend like this. He could die without regret.

“Hahaha… Oh, by the way, Miss Li,” he said, changing the subject, “Mr. Wu mentioned a few names in connection with Xu Zhenyuan’s embezzlement, but he didn’t go into much detail. Could you tell me who they are…?”

When someone was helping you, prying into their methods was bad form.

He would never, for instance, ask how she’d found the body.

But this question was different.

The people who could testify to Xu Zhenyuan’s embezzlement all still worked inside Jinfu Group. In other words, Li Ruobing had investigated Jinfu Group from the inside, uncovered everything in detail, and done it without a whisper getting out.

Su Ruiwen felt he could ask. In fact, he felt he should.

This was a family matter, after all. Li Ruobing had merely been the one to uncover it.

“Uh…” Li Ruobing faltered. Naturally, she had no answer. After a moment, she said, “Boss Su, actually… I’m not entirely clear on the specifics…”

She stammered, hesitating.

“Hm?” Su Ruiwen was taken aback.

“Um… Boss Su, could you give me a quick summary first of what Wu Chen told you? I’m not sure which matters you mean…” Li Ruobing decided to ask outright.

Wasn’t the point to make Su Ruiwen suspicious?

Then she might as well make him even more suspicious!

“You don’t know, Miss Li?” Su Ruiwen’s expression froze.

“It’s not that I… don’t know… It’s just, I sent Wu Chen to deliver documents…” Li Ruobing still refused to admit she didn’t know, and stubbornly clung to the document story.

To Su Ruiwen, it sounded as if she genuinely didn’t know but was trying to hide it, unwilling to admit as much, and was lying to cover for Wu Chen.

“What Mr. Wu told me about was… Xu Zhenyuan’s affairs,” Su Ruiwen said, suspicion creeping over his face.

“Xu Zhenyuan is… Jinfu’s second-largest individual shareholder, isn’t he?” Li Ruobing asked.

Su Ruiwen’s expression changed again!

Her question told him she’d heard of Xu Zhenyuan but knew almost nothing about him!

She’d supposedly had the man investigated so thoroughly. How could she know so little?!

“That’s right. Miss Li, don’t you know—” Su Ruiwen began.

“Ah, now I remember. Yes, I know.” Li Ruobing cut him off. She paused, then added, “Um… Boss Su, I have a meeting about to start. It’s time…”

As she spoke, Su Ruiwen could hear her getting up from her seat in the background.

“Why don’t we discuss this properly some other time, Boss Su?” she said.

“Of course… hahaha. You go on, Miss Li. We’ll talk when we have time.” Su Ruiwen’s voice was jovial, but his face kept changing color. The suspicions racing through his mind had widened his eyes considerably.

The call ended.

Su Ruiwen set down his phone. For a long time he couldn’t collect himself. He stared ahead, eyes darting, uneasy and suspicious, turning over one thought after another.

Li Ruobing barely knew anything about Xu Zhenyuan? Then she wasn’t the one who’d investigated him!

Yet she’d lied for Wu Chen, insisting he’d only gone to deliver documents.

And at the end, she’d refused to admit she didn’t know, but she hadn’t dared to discuss it with him either. She was obviously afraid of saying the wrong thing. She’d even used a meeting as an excuse to cut the conversation short.

What was she covering up for Wu Chen?!!

If Li Ruobing hadn’t had Xu Zhenyuan’s affairs investigated, then who had?

Su Ruiwen thought for a long time. He remembered Wu Chen saying Su Qingying was keeping a secret for him. He remembered how Wu had pinned the entire investigation on Li Ruobing, and how he could answer any question about Xu Zhenyuan off the top of his head…

He even ran back through the entire meeting in his mind, from start to finish!

He also recalled what people all over Donghai were saying about Wu Chen.

It didn’t take long for Su Ruiwen to arrive at a bold and deeply unsettling conjecture.

The person who had dug up Xu Zhenyuan’s entire past, the one whose investigative powers exceeded anything Su Ruiwen could imagine, wasn’t Li Ruobing!

Was it Wu Chen?!

Was Wu Chen the truly formidable one?!

Then Su Ruiwen thought of his daughter’s earlier power grab at the board meeting. Against all odds, she’d won majority support, and even Yao Honglin had betrayed Xu Zhenyuan to come over to her side…

That had happened the very day after Wu Chen took Su Qingying away from the golf course!

Before Wu Chen began rising in Donghai and making a name for himself, Su Ruiwen hadn’t even known his daughter had any friendship with Li Ruobing.

Wu Chen was only twenty-two, with no background whatsoever. Yet whatever he did, even Li Ruobing, the Li family’s eldest daughter, famous for her domineering ways, was willing to cover for him!

The office was utterly silent.

Su Ruiwen sat motionless in his chair, suspicion and alarm never leaving his face, for a long, long time.

…

On Haihe West Road, an Audi A8 sped along.

Ring, ring…

A phone was ringing.

Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, Wu Chen pulled out his phone, glanced at the screen, and answered with a smile. “Hello, Ruobing.”

“My dear hubby. Look at you. Aren’t you something? Playing for stakes this high again?” Li Ruobing launched in immediately.

She was furious!