Chapter 536: You’ll Find Out When the Time Comes

Chapter 536: You’ll Find Out When the Time Comes

“Dad, I beg of you! Dad!”

“I have a video conference to attend. Stop making a fool of yourself!”

Hardening his resolve completely, An Huaiguo shook off his daughter’s grasp, pushed the door open, and swept out of the office.

Wu Chen gave two brisk hand signals to Peng Wei and Shang Yunlu, gesturing toward the coffee table to instruct them to pack everything away. Then, rising to his feet, he strode over to the doorway and gently helped An Menglan up. She buried her face directly into Wu Chen’s chest, her shoulders trembling violently. She was weeping, yet stifled her voice, releasing no sound.

Peng Wei and Shang Yunlu wore matching expressions of desperate urgency. Hastily gathering the documents, laptops, and photographs into their arms, they skirted around Wu Chen and An Menglan and bolted through the doorway without so much as a parting word.

This was a profoundly humiliating moment for the “boss’s woman.”

The less they witnessed, the better.

“Bring a first-aid kit,” Wu Chen called out just as the door was swinging shut.

“Right away!” Peng Wei shouted back from down the hall.

Over ten minutes later, An Menglan sat curled in the executive chair behind the president’s desk, still sniffling and dabbing at her tears . Wu Chen crouched beside her, applying medicine to her scraped knee with a cotton swab.

The skin had broken slightly.

“Still crying? What if someone comes in to drop off documents and catches you like this? Wouldn’t that be humiliating? Wouldn’t you be mortified?” Wu Chen coaxed her, his tone laced with gentle teasing. “You’re a massive superstar. If the media caught wind that you had such a falling-out with your father over a man, you’d make the headlines.”

An Menglan turned her face away, sniffling hard in an attempt to stem the flow of tears. She managed to hold them back for a few brief seconds, but then her lips trembled, and fresh tears spilled over even faster.

Compared to Li Ruobing, An Menglan was a woman from an illustrious pedigree, extraordinarily educated, refined, poised, and intellectually sophisticated… a truly “normal” woman! Because she was normal, when her emotional defenses shattered, she released her distress through uncontrollable weeping.

Li Ruobing, by contrast, was entirely abnormal!

Wu Chen liked Li Ruobing’s abnormality, yet he appreciated An Menglan’s normalcy just as much.

“If your eyes swell up, you won’t be able to face anyone for the rest of the day,” Wu Chen murmured as he tended to her knee. “You can brush off a scraped knee by claiming you tripped. But if your eyes are swollen, you can hardly tell people you sobbed your heart out because of a little scrape. You could say it, but not a soul in this building would believe you.”

“Everything is fine. Even if the sky falls, I’m here to catch it. You don’t have to carry the weight.”

“How can you say it’s fine? You’re still claiming everything is fine!” An Menglan finally found her voice, speaking through choked sobs as she wiped at her cheeks. “You had a complete falling-out with my dad! He gave us a single day—just one day! He will do exactly as he promised! You don’t understand! No, you should know! Back in Xiangjiang… back in those years, my dad…”

Wu Chen understood precisely what An Menglan was trying to say.

“Did we really fall out? I don’t see it that way,” Wu Chen said smoothly. “Think about it: I laid out every scrap of intelligence, every piece of evidence, every photo and video, and even produced our key inside man. Your father now understands exactly what I’ve achieved and what I have prepared. That was the entire goal. He had to leave eventually—did you expect me to sit here and endure his lectures for the rest of the afternoon?”

Because she was weeping so pitifully, Wu Chen kept his voice soft and soothing, speaking with patient affection.

“B-but you didn’t convince him!” An Menglan sobbed.

“Someone else will convince him. They will make him see reality—and understand me, too.” Wu Chen packed the first-aid kit away, and set it on the desk. Then, slipping his arms beneath her, he scooped An Menglan up horizontally, pivoted, and settled into the executive chair, pulling her sideways into his lap.

“Look at you, crying yourself to pieces.” Wu Chen brushed his thumb across the corner of her eye, wiping away a stray tear.

“Who? Who could possibly convince him?” An Menglan asked.

“Plenty of people.” Wu Chen raised his wrist to check the time. “Mm… it should be soon. Someone will be calling your father shortly.” He looked back into An Menglan’s tear-streaked face. “It won’t take long. I’ll be going out for a meal this afternoon… By tonight at the absolute latest, your father will come to you in person to apologize. When he does, mess up your hair a bit, smudge your makeup, and maybe take a few sips of liquor and look as though you’ve been trying to numb yourself. Make yourself look as broken and pitiful as humanly possible. Then, whatever you tell him, whatever demands you make, he will grant them without hesitation!”

An Menglan sniffled, her wide, luminous eyes blinking up at Wu Chen’s smiling face.

Five or six seconds drifted past in silence.

“I… I don’t believe you. You’re just trying to placate me. Right now, in my dad’s eyes, you have less standing than a random person off the street. You’re just spinning fairy tales to soothe me. You…” As she spoke, An Menglan suddenly threw her arms around Wu Chen’s neck, blurting out words fueled by sheer, frantic impulse: “I don’t care about any of it anymore! I don’t want any of it. I don’t want anything! I’ll follow you back to Donghai! I’ll drop to my knees before Miss Li and beg her to shield us! Once she steps in, my dad won’t dare make a scene—he’ll be too terrified of losing face!”

Wu Chen knew An Menglan was saying this purely because the emotional intensity had peaked and she felt compelled to prove her loyalty. She was far from a brainless romantic, yet in a moment of desperate passion, anyone could utter reckless, dramatic declarations.

Naturally, it also laid her true allegiance bare.

She was resolved to fight her father to the bitter end! And she refused to see Wu Chen come to any harm. In her worldview, the only person capable of shielding him from the An family was Li Ruobing.

“How about this? We have twenty-four hours, and nightfall is barely twelve hours away… Why don’t we wait and see whether what I predicted comes to pass, hmm?” Wu Chen tilted his head slightly, his gaze resting on An Menglan’s face mere inches away. “If it does happen, you won’t need to kneel before Ruobing. You might as well kneel for me instead…”

Wu Chen leaned down and whispered a few words into An Menglan’s ear.

On the very same floor, inside a fully furnished, vacant assistant’s office.

There was only a single occupant.

Behind the desk, the office chair was reclined. An Huaiguo lay sprawled across it with his hands laced behind his head, staring blankly up at the ceiling. Though he had marched out of the room with ruthless finality, an immense, suffocating gloom weighed on his chest. Claiming he had a video conference had been nothing more than an excuse to find an empty room where he could nurse his thoughts in solitude.

Menglan is no match for that boy. She has fallen entirely under his spell. That kid… An Huaiguo mused darkly.

Ring, ring…

His phone trilled.

An Huaiguo sat up straight, pulled the device from his breast pocket, and frowned in confusion at the caller ID. Yet the instant the call connected, his demeanor transformed as if by magic. The dark scowl vanished without a trace, replaced by an expansive, radiant smile.

“Boss Tang! Hahaha!” An Huaiguo let out a booming laugh.

In truth, An Huaiguo was hardly close to the man on the other end. They were acquainted and had crossed paths on several social occasions; they were broadly familiar with each other’s reputations, but moved in completely different circles.

Yet this man wielded staggering, terrifying power across Modu! He was the public face of the prestigious Tang family of Modu!

One could easily call him the Tang family’s “God of Wealth”!

“Boss An, I heard you’ve arrived in Modu?” Tang Jingbin’s voice came through the receiver, carrying a warm, genial chuckle. “Would you happen to be free for dinner this evening?”

“Oh? Your intelligence network is as formidable as ever, Boss Tang.” An Huaiguo chuckled in return, though his brow furrowed deeper. Why had the Tang family suddenly taken an interest in him? Turning it over in his mind, he ventured smoothly, “The truth is, Boss Tang, I traveled to Modu to resolve a few important business. Might tomorrow instead?”

An Huaiguo wanted to investigate first. He didn’t want to meet Tang Jingbin too hastily.

“Boss An, I happen to have a major project I’d like to explore partnering with you on. Since you’re preoccupied…” Tang Jingbin drew out his words with calculated leisure.

“A major cooperative venture?!” An Huaiguo was suddenly electrified.

Never mind the specific details of the venture, and never mind what price he might have to pay! For an elite mainland clan’s financial pillar to approach the An family to discuss a strategic partnership? A project anchored directly on the mainland?! That was something An Huaiguo had dreamed of!

“I am free! I am absolutely free tonight!” An Huaiguo discarded his posturing in an instant.

“Splendid… Ah, by the way, several other important friends will be attending the dinner tonight… I am not the one organizing this collaboration…” Second Master Tang chuckled softly, his tone pregnant with unspoken meaning.

“Then who is…?”

“You’ll find out when the time comes.”