Chapter 556: The Other Side of Li Ruobing’s Performance
by cnwebnovelsChapter 556: The Other Side of Li Ruobing’s Performance
An Menglan had never witnessed Wu Chen adopt such a sharp tone with anyone. The man was perpetually the picture of calm, unshakeable poise. Even at noon yesterday, when he had radiated arrogant conceit, An Menglan had subsequently realized he was merely laying a psychological snare for her father—a trap she had briefly feared had failed, only to succeed with terrifying precision!
And now… Wu Chen was reprimanding Li Ruobing on her behalf? Why on earth would a woman like Li Ruobing tolerate that?!
An Menglan trembled with profound gratitude, yet simultaneously felt her heart seize with terror for Wu Chen’s life. To provoke Li Ruobing in this manner—wasn’t that practically daring her to spill blood on the spot?
When had Li Ruobing ever bowed her head to any living soul?!
She was notoriously a creature who yielded only to gentleness, never to force! Who dared speak to her in such an abrasive tone—especially upon catching her man in bed with another woman?! Forget Li Ruobing; even an ordinary person, even An Menglan herself, felt she might act with blind violence in such a humiliating moment!
Consequently, Wu Chen’s intervention brought An Menglan no relief whatsoever.
She was only a thousand times more petrified!
Terrified that she and Wu Chen were about to be sent into the next life together!
Yet through Li Ruobing’s eyes, the scene held an entirely different meaning! The instant Wu Chen flashed that loaded look, she caught his intent with absolute clarity!
She had long since deduced that the entire incident was a misunderstanding. An Menglan had never intended to challenge her throne, nor had Wu Chen withheld his phone call out of stubborn defiance. He had been occupied! Even her own father had been laboring alongside Wu Chen, plotting the complete annihilation of the Ding family!
On that front, the anger in Li Ruobing’s heart had already evaporated.
The reason she had come regardless was simple: she could not permit a precedent to take root! Whether the provocation was real or fabricated, Li Ruobing was compelled to project an overwhelming reaction to deter any future challengers! God only knew how many more women Wu Chen might accumulate down the road…
Thus, Li Ruobing had come.
And with Wu Chen’s tacit blessing, she had been granted license to terrorize An Menglan! She had already achieved her objective. Her original design had been to pin An Menglan into the corner and leave it at that—there was no subsequent act planned. Yet Wu Chen, fully aware of her script, had chosen this exact moment to step in and check her!
Which meant…
Li Ruobing recognized that Wu Chen was actively molding her image within An Menglan’s mind! A dynamic that would undeniably ease his subsequent governance over things.
Respect went both ways!
Wu Chen had already granted her wish; thus… she was entirely willing to partner with him to see this performance to the end! This was hardly the first occasion Li Ruobing had acted in concert with Wu Chen. Casting her mind back, she had once feigned being pregnant with his child…
An Menglan’s wide eyes brimmed with fear, her gaze darting periodically toward Wu Chen, the strangling tension in her throat rendering her incapable of speech.
Li Ruobing registered Wu Chen’s reprimand.
She cast a cool, detached glance his way, shifted her gaze to An Menglan, paused for two heavy seconds, and looked back toward Wu Chen. The lethal frost upon her face dissolved rapidly into an unreadable blankness. Then, pressing her lips together, she averted her eyes toward the bedroom window, as though fiercely determined to conceal whatever emotion flickered in her gaze.
Click!
Li Ruobing’s thumb abruptly depressed the magazine release of the black pistol. The magazine slid free, falling to the floor and bouncing! As the magazine skittered across the floor, An Menglan clearly glimpsed the bullets inside. It was nearly fully loaded!
An Menglan’s heart came within a hair of stopping!
Li Ruobing had come prepared to shoot! She truly had!
Clack-clack-ding!
Li Ruobing racked the slide back, ejecting the live round from the chamber! Not only had the magazine been loaded, but a bullet had already been chambered, ready to fire! The cartridge arced through the air, clattering onto the floor.
Thud!
With a heavy, muffled sound, Li Ruobing finally cast the firearm onto the carpet.
She looked toward Wu Chen once more, then turned her gaze back out the window, her lips pressing into a thin line as her slender hand curled into a tight fist before slowly, reluctantly relaxing. She offered not a single word! She wore the precise countenance of someone profoundly resentful of being reprimanded, yet choosing to obey nonetheless—stubborn, petulant, and seething with quiet defiance!
Li Ruobing simply stood there. The weapon discarded, she made no move to leave, nor did she speak.
Her entire posture radiated a solitary message: You scold me, and I’ll do as you say, but that doesn’t mean I accept it! Truthfully, this manner of dynamic was never seen between equals. It was an energy typically reserved between elders and youths, mentors and pupils, or a stern patriarch and his daughter.
Like an unruly, vicious young heiress who, upon being brutally chastised by an all-powerful father, ceased her mischief yet remained rooted to the spot, brooding in sullen resentment, not daring to talk back, left only to stew in silent mutiny!
That was the precise aura she projected…
Li Ruobing was capable of this?!
An Menglan stared in frozen disbelief. What rendered the sight infinitely more terrifying was that… in reality, Li Ruobing feared not even her own father, nor her venerable grandfather! It was an open secret that relations between Li Ruobing and Li Maoren were ice-cold; she rarely spared him the time of day!
The man who had reduced Li Ruobing to this sullen obedience was no revered patriarch! Nor was he some untouchable titan wielding superior authority!
It was Wu Chen, a boyfriend five years her junior who commanded not an ounce of pedigree to his name.
And this miracle was unfolding right after Li Ruobing had caught her lover in bed with another woman! Yet a single utterance from Wu Chen had caused her to disarm herself, abandon her assault, and retreat into sullen silence!
Could the terrifying legends surrounding Li Ruobing be nothing more than empty gossip?
No!
Gazing upon the scattered brass and the discarded handgun upon the carpet, An Menglan instantly banished the thought. No! Li Ruobing was every bit the monster of legend! She had tracked them down in the flesh! She had infiltrated their hotel suite like a vengeful specter, proving she had mobilized monumental intelligence networks to pinpoint their exact location!
And she had arrived bearing a weapon packed with live ammunition! She was infinitely more terrifying than An Menglan had ever dared imagine!
An Menglan had contemplated physical danger, even considering a retreat to Xiangjiang to weather the storm, yet she had never dreamed that a threat to her very life would manifest with such lethal velocity…
Li Ruobing remained that terrifying creature.
This astonishing contrast emerged exclusively when she faced Wu Chen!
For a fleeting moment, An Menglan could no longer discern who was truly more horrifying: Li Ruobing, or Wu Chen!
Beautiful! Wu Chen silently praised Li Ruobing’s performance. He found himself growing increasingly enamored with this strange woman. Wu Chen’s own way of thinking was often deeply eccentric, far beyond the comprehension of ordinary people. Yet Li Ruobing understood him well!
And at times, Li Ruobing was more than willing to indulge Wu Chen in securing a particular triumph!
It was the sovereign psychology of an extraordinary woman: I belong to an strong man, and I will ensure the entire world recognizes his strength.
And so…
“Is that it? It isn’t even seven in the morning. Carrying on like this is going to scare her out of her wits. Make peace with her this instant… Have you forgotten what I told you yesterday? Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten what you promised me?” Wu Chen remarked smoothly.
Li Ruobing blinked in mild surprise.
What had she promised him?
And what did making peace have to do with anything?
Then recollection struck like lightning. Last night, because Wu Chen had deduced her deployment down to the final beat, she had consented to grant him a reward! A sudden surge of exasperation and amusement washed over her—so this was the what he’d been waiting for all along!
Turning her eyes toward An Menglan once more, Li Ruobing’s expression settled into cool detachment.
She advanced toward her.
An Menglan clutched the duvet tighter, shrinking another fraction into the corner.
Li Ruobing came to a halt directly before her, reaching out to clasp both of An Menglan’s hands in her own, standing face-to-face, hand in hand.
And then…