Chapter 498: He Was Fucking Stunned!

Chapter 498: He Was Fucking Stunned!

Su Ruiwen remained silent.

He truly wanted to know whether Wu Chen knew those things about He Meijuan. But with Wu Yurong there, he couldn’t be sure whether he might one day become Wu Chen’s enemy.

And just as Wu Yurong didn’t want things between herself and Su Ruiwen to end in a complete falling-out, Su Ruiwen didn’t want that to happen between them either.

So he absolutely did not want Wu Chen to reveal those things in front of Wu Yurong.

Even if Wu Chen told Wu Yurong privately afterward, that would be a different matter. Wu Yurong could pretend she didn’t know, and Su Ruiwen could pretend he didn’t know that she knew… Then neither of them would have to feel awkward.

The private room fell silent for another ten seconds or so.

“Sister Rong.” Wu Chen gently squeezed Wu Yurong’s left hand, which he was still holding. He continued to look at Su Ruiwen as he spoke.

“Why don’t you head back first… I’ll talk to Boss Su alone.” Wu Chen turned to Wu Yurong, the same unchanging smile on his face.

“Ah… then… all right…” Wu Yurong agreed, looking at Wu Chen with a trace of panic. She felt as though her heart were about to leap out of her chest.

In fact, she understood that Wu Chen was doing her a favor by asking her to leave at this point. If his conversation with Su Ruiwen ended in a falling-out, her presence would only put her in a difficult position.

And yet…

That wasn’t what she cared about right now. What mattered was whether Wu Chen was angry. Was he?

“Then you two chat. I’ll head out first,” Wu Yurong said with a gentle, sweet smile. She picked up her purse and stood.

Before leaving, she suddenly bent down and leaned toward Wu Chen, kissing the corner of his mouth.

And then she left.

Click, click, click went her high heels.

Wu Yurong’s departure was fairly graceful. She didn’t seem awkward about being asked to leave; her expression and bearing were impeccable. But Wu Chen noticed the unease in her eyes when she kissed the corner of his mouth.

Wu Chen knew what she was thinking.

He could even guess what she would do next.

The private-room door opened and closed, and the sound of Wu Yurong’s heels faded into the distance outside.

Su Ruiwen had watched it all. He truly still couldn’t get used to Wu Yurong behaving this way with a man. He could see how forward she was with Wu Chen, and how readily she listened to him.

Wu Yurong, once hailed as Donghai’s number-one beauty and known as the “Black Widow,” had been able to turn the business world upside down with her extraordinary intelligence and skill. And yet she had truly been brought to heel by a man to this extent.

Su Ruiwen found it hard to calm himself.

He hadn’t been calm for a single moment since he began talking with Wu Chen that day.

Su Ruiwen said nothing. He looked at Wu Chen and raised a hand in a gesture of invitation.

Go on, then. Show me what you’ve got.

“Boss Su really values friendship,” Wu Chen said with a smile.

“What exactly do you know?” Su Ruiwen asked directly. Like Wu Chen, he didn’t want to waste time.

This dinner had to produce something genuinely worthwhile.

Now that Wu Yurong had left, they could speak more freely.

“I told you, I know everything,” Wu Chen said with a smile, looking at Su Ruiwen. “Though it’s complicated, you met He Meijuan twelve years ago… and cut off contact eight years ago. Four years of friendship…”

“To be honest, I admire you, Boss Su. At least you’re much more faithful than I am. He Meijuan wasn’t quite as beautiful as your wife, but she wasn’t far behind. Her family background and the help she could offer you were far beyond what your wife could provide…”

“But you still rejected her… and even helped her rival bring her down. That wasn’t just to get rid of her persistent advances, was it? You also happened to be at a point when you had to choose sides…”

The story between Su Ruiwen and He Meijuan was not particularly complicated in itself. It was simply that it stretched across a long period and involved all kinds of people. Anyone trying to investigate it would have to know a great deal before they could understand the causes and connections.

To put it simply, twelve years ago, Jinfu Group—the largest jewelry group in East China—had completed its acquisition of its competitor, Meiyuan Jewelry. It now had the resources to compete for a place among the industry’s top giants.

Su Ruiwen had been thirty-nine that year.

He Meijuan was forty-three and worked at the Ministry of Natural Resources, which oversaw the jewelry industry.

At the time, Su Ruiwen was planning to expand into the northern market and was constantly traveling to the capital. He kept running into He Meijuan, and over time they became familiar with each other. But there was nothing special between them then; they simply got along well.

Eleven years ago, He Meijuan divorced her first husband.

Her first husband was a second-generation member of the Beijing Shen family. In the capital, where powerful families were everywhere, the Shen family was considered mid-tier. Eleven years ago, a major incident brought the Shen family down, and the He family had to cut its ties with them.

He Meijuan had never had much affection for her first husband. It had been a marriage arranged between the families, and each of them had always done their own thing. The divorce was swift, and He Meijuan became single again.

Over the next two years, He Meijuan and Su Ruiwen saw each other often. Whenever Su Ruiwen went to the capital, He Meijuan would be at the private gatherings he attended.

A great many things happened, but they weren’t the point.

The key was that nine years ago, He Meijuan actually began pursuing Su Ruiwen.

For He Meijuan, who was already in her forties, Su Ruiwen was indeed a very attractive man. He was handsome and refined, had an elegant air, was extremely successful in business, and possessed undeniable personal charisma.

At various gatherings in the capital, there were many people far more powerful than Su Ruiwen at the time who were willing to call him “brother” and treat him like one.

He Meijuan had taken a liking to this “younger brother” of hers. She also recognized Su Ruiwen’s abilities. After all, he was a business prodigy, and even major families needed to make money. Some businesses were difficult for family members to manage personally, so they needed “outsiders” to run them.

So even though He Meijuan knew Su Ruiwen had a wife, she still pursued him.

Su Ruiwen refused.

He Meijuan had once told Su Ruiwen very frankly that if he divorced his wife and married her, he would become the He family’s son-in-law, and the He family could help him make his business bigger and stronger.

Su Ruiwen hadn’t been tempted. He’d even avoided seeing He Meijuan on two trips to the capital. He couldn’t afford to offend her, but he could keep his distance.

This went on for more than half a year. After Su Ruiwen had clearly rejected He Meijuan yet again, she called Mrs. Su.

He Meijuan threatened Mrs. Su.

Mrs. Su was not from an ordinary family either. At the height of his career, her father had held a deputy position in the provincial government. He’d helped Su Ruiwen’s business in its early days, and Su Ruiwen had later repaid the favor. Through his network, he’d helped his father-in-law reach his eventual position.

Even so, Mrs. Su’s family couldn’t compare with the He family.

He Meijuan caused Mrs. Su enormous distress. After Su Ruiwen returned to Donghai from the capital, Mrs. Su had a huge fight with him and cried bitterly.

He Meijuan’s attempt to pressure Mrs. Su directly enraged Su Ruiwen.

The second half of 2011 and the year 2012 were unusual. Major events and sweeping changes were taking place in the capital, and the He family was also under pressure, competing with other families.

To put an end to the problems He Meijuan had caused him, Su Ruiwen chose to help her rival.

He already knew that rival.

Su Ruiwen was using a small amount of leverage to move much bigger forces.

As a businessman, he couldn’t openly involve himself in conflicts between major families. But he had many friends and a broad network. He introduced people to He Meijuan’s rival, acting as an intermediary and bringing his own contacts into the rival’s circle.

Behind the scenes, he quietly lent his support.

After all this, by eight years ago, He Meijuan had failed to rise in rank. Instead, she was transferred to a position at the same level—a lateral move that amounted to a demotion.

Her rival had won.

At the time, the He family was once again going through turmoil and beginning to decline, with one problem after another. As one of the family’s core second-generation figures, He Meijuan had no time to concern herself with romantic matters.

After that, Su Ruiwen never saw He Meijuan again.

That was the story.

Normally, even if this came out and He Meijuan learned that her “little brother Su” had stabbed her in the back, it wouldn’t amount to much. Jinfu Group wasn’t easy to bring down.

The crucial point was that six years ago, He Meijuan remarried. She married a widower, and the He family formed a marriage alliance with a military family in the capital.

The He family of today had grown powerful again—stronger even than it had been back then.

He Meijuan had become one of the leading power holders among the He family’s second generation, with an exceptionally high rank.

In these circumstances, if He Meijuan found out what had happened… women could be more ruthless than men when it came to revenge, especially when feelings were involved. The more deeply He Meijuan had once cared for Su Ruiwen, the more she would hate him after learning the truth.

He Meijuan had encountered only two major setbacks on her path to promotion. One was when her first husband’s family collapsed and she was implicated; the other was the setback caused by Su Ruiwen’s support for her rival.

That was truly devastating.

The He family now stood on equal footing with the Li family, a major family that dominated its own region. And the He family also had the advantage of its location: it was one of the capital’s powerful families.

Wu Chen spent more than twenty minutes discussing all of this with Su Ruiwen.

Too many people and too many names were involved.

Wu Chen didn’t simply announce what he knew. Instead, he spoke as though he already knew the whole story. For example, when he said, “That phone call broke Mrs. Su,” Su Ruiwen understood that Wu Chen knew He Meijuan had called his wife.

By the end, Su Ruiwen’s face had gone expressionless.

Before, his expression had mostly been calm, as though he were at ease. Now he’d gone completely blank, trying desperately to conceal his emotions.

He didn’t want Wu Chen to see just how fucking shocked he was.

It was impossible… No one could know the story in such detail. Only Su Ruiwen himself, the central figure connecting all the pieces, could know everything.

And yet Wu Chen knew.

“Mr. Wu, can you give me a serious answer? How exactly did you find all this out?” Su Ruiwen asked.

“I’ve told you many times. I investigated it,” Wu Chen replied with a smile.

“You’re only twenty-two!” Su Ruiwen said bluntly.

“So what?” Wu Chen replied.

Su Ruiwen fell silent for a moment, then asked, “Have you ever been to the capital?” He’d seen Wu Chen’s file. Wu Chen’s background was extremely simple because he’d only graduated from college recently and had been a student until then.

Su Ruiwen had a very good memory, and he couldn’t recall the file mentioning that Wu Chen had ever been to the capital.

“I have. It’s not far…” Wu Chen said with a smile. “It only takes three and a half hours to get from Donghai to the capital by high-speed rail. You can leave in the morning and arrive by noon.”

Su Ruiwen fell silent again.

He wasn’t surprised. Wu Chen’s secrets weren’t the kind of things that would appear in a file.

Su Ruiwen speculated inwardly, even beginning to consider explanations in the realm of the supernatural. But he could never have imagined that most of what Wu Chen had just told him about his own life was information Su Ruiwen himself had personally told Wu Chen before.

During the thousand-year time loop.

Wu Chen met Su Ruiwen’s gaze. Suddenly, he raised his wrist and glanced at his watch. Then he lowered his hand and looked at Su Ruiwen again, smiling.

“Boss Su, actually… I think that Qingying is your daughter, and I like her very much too. Putting her in a difficult position might not lead to a good outcome.”

Wu Chen was warning Su Ruiwen not to pressure Su Qingying.

It would be best if Su Ruiwen didn’t even discuss this with Su Qingying.

“We’re both men,” Wu Chen continued with a smile. “Things between men can be settled in a man’s way… What do you think?”

Su Ruiwen, who had been staring straight at Wu Chen, narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, “How do you want to settle it?”