Chapter 484: He Asked Point-Blank!

Chapter 484: He Asked Point-Blank!

Everyone around them was talking about Second Master Tang, and now Wu Chen had a call from a “Boss Tang.” It could be a coincidence. Su Ruiwen had a feeling it might not be.

Because he knew Wu Chen and Tang Jingbin were acquainted!

According to the rumors, when Tang Jingbin came to Donghai, it was Wu Chen who had mediated between the two families. So Wu Chen had certainly met him.

Wu Chen stepped off to one side to take the call.

“Young Wu, about the Gu family…” Tang Jingbin got straight to the point. As their interests grew more tightly bound together, the two of them had dropped more and more of the formalities, and their conversations had become simpler and more direct.

The call was mainly about the Gu family.

Qi Min and Qi Jun had been formally arrested. With Tang Jingbin’s arrangements in place, the Qi family was finished. No one could save them!

What had surfaced online was only what had deliberately been made public.

In reality, the police already held evidence relating to no fewer than ten separate cases involving members of the Qi family!

All serious crimes!

Ten years in prison at the very least.

Death at the most.

As Tang Jingbin understood Wu Chen’s plan, its ultimate aim had been for Wu Chen to bring the Gu family to the Tang family as an ally. And things had now reached precisely that stage!

The brothers had been secretly taken in for investigation yesterday afternoon.

Last night, Gu Ruibo had been summoned home and questioned by several members of his family’s true inner circle of power, his father among them.

This morning, the Gu family had reached out to the Tangs.

Because outsiders read it as the Tang and Gu families joining forces against the Xiangs, the affair had already caught the attention of every key figure in both families.

Tang Jingbin had even made the necessary report to the old master of his family.

He’d also had a call from his elder brother, who held office far away in the southwest.

It really had become a very big deal. It had sent rumors flying among Modu’s great families and stirred undercurrents beneath the surface!

Tang Jingbin filled Wu Chen in on all of it.

Not that he was reporting to Wu Chen, exactly. It was just that… Wu Chen had planned everything from behind the scenes. Put bluntly, he was the hidden hand behind the whole affair! Tang Jingbin had accepted a great gift from him, so naturally he had to keep Wu Chen informed.

Nothing unexpected had happened.

Everything was going according to plan!

So smoothly that even Tang Jingbin could hardly believe it! He could feel clearly that Wu Chen seemed to have foreseen every step to come.

By the elm hedge, Wu Chen stood with one hand in his pocket, his back to the wedding grounds, talking with Tang Jingbin.

Meanwhile, Su Ruiwen…

Suspicion stirring, he walked over to Li Ruobing and Su Qingying.

“Dad,” Su Qingying greeted him first.

“Boss Su,” Li Ruobing said with a smile.

“Mr. Wu seems to be a busy man,” Su Ruiwen remarked genially to Li Ruobing, glancing toward Wu Chen.

“He…” Li Ruobing glanced at Wu Chen too, then smiled at Su Ruiwen. “He can never sit still. He’s always like this.”

“I couldn’t help overhearing just now… Boss Tang?” Su Ruiwen said with a perfectly natural expression, gesturing lightly as he smiled. “Surely not Second Master Tang of the Tang family?”

He simply asked outright!

Su Ruiwen really had nothing to worry about. His conscience was clear, and there was no point standing around guessing. A casual question did no harm. He was also prepared for Li Ruobing to say she didn’t know.

“I believe so…” Li Ruobing smiled.

“It is? Tang Jingbin?” Now it was Su Ruiwen who was caught a little off guard.

“I believe so,” Li Ruobing said with a nod. She took in his reaction, and the corners of her mouth curved a little higher.

Su Ruiwen was startled. It had only been a guess, and he hadn’t expected her to confirm it so readily.

For someone as powerful as Tang Jingbin to call Wu Chen personally was unusual in itself.

To say nothing of the Qi brothers’ affair, which had only just happened.

Could it really be a coincidence?

“I had no idea Mr. Wu was so well connected with the Tang family…” Su Ruiwen said casually. He took a sip of champagne, his eyes never leaving Li Ruobing.

“Well enough. They’ve been seeing quite a bit of each other lately,” Li Ruobing said with a smile.

That made Su Ruiwen’s heart skip again. He had said Wu Chen and the Tang family, not the Li family and the Tangs! And Li Ruobing had simply followed his lead.

Ring, ring…

Su Ruiwen’s phone rang.

He took it out, glanced at the screen, and answered. “You’re here? Mm… We’re by the fountain, the one on the west side… Mm…”

From her father’s tone, Su Qingying knew it was her mother.

“Dad, is that Mom? Why don’t I go meet her…” she offered.

She wanted to slip away for a while.

She’d been uneasy ever since her father came over, worried that once Wu Chen finished his call and they all started talking, her acting wouldn’t hold up.

In front of her father, she couldn’t keep up the composure she showed everyone else. The pressure was immense!

Su Ruiwen glanced at his daughter and said into the phone, “Hold on… I’ll let Qingying talk to you…” Then he handed her the phone.

“Mom… where are you?… Then stay put. I’ll come to you…” Su Qingying was already walking away as she spoke.

There really were far too many guests today. People were everywhere.

But Su Qingying knew Tangsha Club extremely well. She would find her mother much faster than Madam Su could make her own way over.

Watching his daughter go, Su Ruiwen turned back to Li Ruobing and lifted his glass.

Li Ruobing lifted hers.

They clinked and each took a sip.

“Oh, by the way, how is it I haven’t seen Young Master Li today?” Su Ruiwen asked casually.

“Atai’s still on his way. He should be here soon. He called earlier…” Li Ruobing replied just as casually. It was only small talk.

Su Ruiwen still couldn’t decide whether he ought to tell her about Wu Yurong.

He was also waiting for Wu Chen to finish his call and come back.

A few minutes later.

Wu Chen hung up and returned with his champagne. As he drew near, he raised his glass to Su Ruiwen with a smile. “Boss Su.”

“Mr. Wu.” Su Ruiwen smiled too. He stepped a little closer, glanced around in an offhand way, and only then said, “We found it.”

Anyone overhearing would have had no idea what he meant.

But Wu Chen understood.

They’d found the body!

“Then congratulations, Boss Su, and to Miss Qingying as well,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

“It’s too early for congratulations. I can’t act right away. It’ll take some time.” Su Ruiwen, whose bearing had grown ever more refined with age, smiled mildly and warmly. “But first I owe you thanks, Mr. Wu, and Miss Li, for helping Qingying.”

He raised his glass.

Wu Chen and Li Ruobing raised theirs, and the three of them clinked.

Each took a sip.

“Mr. Wu, might we have a word in private?” Su Ruiwen asked. As he finished, he watched Li Ruobing out of the corner of his eye.

“Of course.” Wu Chen nodded with a smile and gestured off to one side with the hand holding his glass.

The two men walked away.

Su Ruiwen’s expression shifted faintly again. Li Ruobing hadn’t said a word. Her expression hadn’t changed in the slightest.

That was very wrong!

Donghai’s upper circles saw Li Ruobing and Wu Chen as a couple in which the woman was strong and the man weak! And not a little weaker. Far weaker!

Yet he, Su Ruiwen, had asked to speak with Wu Chen alone, right in front of her.

Wu Chen agreeing on the spot was strange enough.

Li Ruobing saying nothing at all was stranger still!

It was as if… suppose Wu Yurong asked Ma Huifang for a private chat right in front of Lu Guangnian. Normally Ma Huifang would look to her husband, and Lu Guangnian would certainly say something, probably half joking: “What’s with all the secrecy?” or “Keeping things from me now?”

Everyone is curious.

And everyone reacts when something is out of the ordinary.

Su Ruiwen knew that asking for a private word with Wu Chen in front of Li Ruobing made it look as though he had something to keep from her. It was out of the ordinary, and he had made it so on purpose.

And Li Ruobing hadn’t reacted at all!

A sudden thought struck Su Ruiwen: what if Wu Chen and Li Ruobing weren’t a strong woman and a weak man, but the reverse?

What if the man was the stronger one?

If that were true, it would be unthinkable!

Knowing her background and temperament, Su Ruiwen couldn’t imagine anyone who could make Li Ruobing yield. Not her father, not even her grandfather, could keep her in check!

Wu Chen and Su Ruiwen reached the elm hedge.

“Mr. Wu, actually… I went looking for you earlier,” Su Ruiwen began, turning his head toward him and keeping his voice low. “I went over to the rockery. Miss Li told me you and Ms. Wu were discussing something over that way…”

There was an unreadable smile in his eyes.

With his words and his look, he was telling Wu Chen that he had seen him with Wu Yurong!

“Did you?” Wu Chen smiled and turned his head toward him as well. “Then how come I didn’t see you, Boss Su? Ms. Wu and I were in the pavilion farther back. Did you go that far?”

Su Ruiwen opened his mouth, then stopped.

He’d been stopped cold!

That reaction! He’d imagined Wu Chen might get nervous, might try to explain himself, might spin some lie, or might ask him to keep quiet for fear he’d tell Li Ruobing. None of it!

Just an attitude of… So you saw. So what?

“Mr. Wu, you really do make me feel that you…” Su Ruiwen began, and broke off again. After a few seconds, he changed tack. “Actually, there’s something I’ve been very curious about. Mr. Wu, what exactly is your relationship with my daughter, Qingying?”

He asked it point-blank!

The more powerful a person, the less they feared, and the more willing they were to speak plainly!