Chapter 410: Who Is Scheming Against Whom?

Chapter 410: Chapter 410: Who Is Scheming Against Whom?

When Wang Chenning returned to the hotel, the women were still gathered together, chatting.

They were all quite surprised to see him back.

"You’re back so soon?" Luo Yuqing eyed Wang Chenning for a moment before getting straight to the point. "Did you say everything you needed to?"

"There wasn’t much to say!" Wang Chenning replied with a chuckle. "We’re all intelligent people. It’s best not to say what doesn’t need to be said!"

"Then let’s just sit back and watch the show," Luo Yuqing said with a nod. She then asked Wang Chenning, "Do you think Yan Dongling will come looking for us tonight?"

Wang Chenning shook his head. "If she’s smart enough, she definitely won’t come looking for us. She’ll keep a low profile for the next few days."

Luo Yuqing stared at Wang Chenning for a moment, then suddenly got angry. "You bastard, can you stop being so smart? How am I supposed to play mind games with you in the future?"

Luo Yuqing’s comment earned her nearly simultaneous eye-rolls from the other women.

Just as she spoke, Zhao Xiao’an’s phone rang. When she saw the caller ID, she quickly stepped aside to answer it.

A moment later, they all heard her voice gradually rise, culminating in an angry, low growl.

But in the end, she gave in. "Fine, I’ll be home tomorrow night!"

After hanging up, Zhao Xiao’an stormed back and confronted Luo Yuqing. "Did you have something to do with this?"

"What do you mean?" Luo Yuqing looked utterly baffled. "What’s wrong?"

Zhao Xiao’an ignored her, storming back to her room in a huff.

"I don’t know what’s wrong either!" Seeing everyone’s eyes on him, Wang Chenning threw up his hands and prompted Luo Yuqing, "Why don’t you go ask her yourself?"

After a moment’s thought, Luo Yuqing got up and went to find Zhao Xiao’an.

Li Fuzhen and Li Yanxian took that as their cue to return to their rooms. After watching them leave, Yang Xiaofei stayed behind.

They had been in Luo Yuqing’s room. With the host gone and everyone else having left, Yang Xiaofei suddenly grew excited.

"Wang Chenning, I’m more and more impressed with you!" she said, walking up to him. She placed a hand on his chest and looked at him with a grin. "When it comes to scheming, you’re on a whole other level!"

"I’ve always been amazing, in every way," Wang Chenning said, lowering his head to look into Yang Xiaofei’s eyes. "Someday, I’ll let you experience my even more impressive moves."

"Pervert!" Yang Xiaofei’s face instantly flushed. She gave him a light kick and said in a huff, "I give you chances and you don’t take them, but you still go around bragging. Who knows if you’re not just all talk and no action!"

Wang Chenning wasn’t annoyed at all. He just grinned and asked, "How many days until your birthday?"

"Eight days!" Yang Xiaofei answered in a huff. "I’m just dying to see what kind of gift you’ll have for me!"

Wang Chenning put on a serious expression. "The gift of helping you transition from a girl to a woman. That’s a momentous enough gift, isn’t it?"

"You pervert!" Yang Xiaofei charged at him, swatting at his chest. "You’re always thinking such filthy thoughts. I’m telling you, unless you’re willing to take responsibility for me, you can just forget about it!"

"Sheesh, women always say the opposite of what they mean!" Wang Chenning caught Yang Xiaofei’s hands and pulled her close. "A minute ago, you were complaining I don’t seize my chances, and now you’re telling me not to even dream of it. It’s a good thing I can resist temptation, or I’d be in deep trouble with you!"

He was rewarded with another barrage of her playful, ineffective blows.

"Luo Yuqing’s coming back!" Wang Chenning’s words were finally enough to scare Yang Xiaofei into fleeing to the bathroom.

Luo Yuqing returned just as Yang Xiaofei, having composed herself, was stepping out of the bathroom.

"Xiao’an’s father called and urged her to go back home. He said something important has come up." Luo Yuqing glanced at Yang Xiaofei’s slightly unnatural expression but didn’t press the matter. After explaining the situation to Wang Chenning, she turned to Yang Xiaofei. "I have something to discuss with you. Chenning, could you excuse us for a moment?"

"Alright, you two take your time. I’m going to head back and get some rest."

After leaving Luo Yuqing’s room, Wang Chenning went straight to Zhao Xiao’an’s.

"I’m going back to Yandu tomorrow afternoon," Zhao Xiao’an said with a pout the moment Wang Chenning walked in, clearly upset. "My dad wants me back early. He said something came up at home."

"That’s okay. We can still visit Jinling tomorrow," Wang Chenning said with a smile. "Let’s go tomorrow morning. If we get up early, we can see a few sights."

"Okay!" Zhao Xiao’an’s face instantly lit up. "I thought you were all planning to stay in Gusu for another day!"

"Wu Jingyi and Lv Qinglan are arriving in Gusu tomorrow morning to handle the aftermath here." Wang Chenning pulled Zhao Xiao’an into his embrace and said with a gentle smile, "I’ll stay with you again tonight. But first, I need to go discuss something with Li Fuzhen, then chat with Luo Yuqing and Yang Xiaofei for a bit. If I have time, I’ll contact Yan Dongling as well. The events of today will determine the futures of many people."

"Okay," Zhao Xiao’an agreed, but she didn’t let him go. She initiated a kiss, her hands beginning to roam.

Wang Chenning did not disappoint Zhao Xiao’an. After a passionate interlude that swept away all her feelings of being wronged, he finally went to find Li Fuzhen to discuss matters.

Li Fuzhen was speaking with Li Yanxian. Seeing Wang Chenning knock on the door, she immediately switched to Chinese to greet him. "What’s this? Done keeping Miss Zhao company already?"

Wang Chenning smiled, plopped down on the sofa, and patted the seat next to him. "Sister Li, forgive my ignorance, but I had no idea you’d already opened a branch in Gusu, and another one in my hometown of Chang’an!"

"That’s perfectly normal," Li Fuzhen said with a laugh. "We didn’t know each other back then. Besides, the Gusu branch was opened before I took over. Even though it’s on my consolidated statements now, I can’t really count it as my achievement. The one in Chang’an, however, I set up myself. My next step is to figure out how to open several more branches, and not necessarily under the Shilla name. After all, the name ’Shilla’ represents a specific piece of history. It wouldn’t be out of the question to replace it with a name that carries a more suitable meaning."

"Then you should open another branch right here in Gusu and make it the headquarters for Huaxia, or at least for the Jiangnan region," Wang Chenning suggested. "Just give it a new name. Or, you could establish a completely separate subsidiary to operate in the tourism and hotel business. It doesn’t have to be under the Shilla brand."

"I see," Li Fuzhen said. She was exceptionally sharp and immediately grasped his meaning. "If a new hotel chain were to use your name, countless tourists would flock to it out of admiration for you. Then I could apply the successful model from The Shilla Hotel, manage the products and services impeccably, and business would certainly be booming."

"If you two are planning a new collaboration, you have to include me!" Li Yanxian chimed in with a grin. "When it comes to brand promotion, we can be our own spokespeople. We’d save a fortune. With our level of fame, anything we do is bound to be a success!"

Wang Chenning gave a dry laugh. "Somehow, I feel like I’m the one being schemed against by you two."

Li Yanxian rolled her eyes at Wang Chenning and shot back without ceremony, "Aren’t *you* the one scheming against *us*? Fess up. Are you trying to capture both the hearts and bodies of this aunt-and-niece pair?"