Lu Chengwen explained awkwardly:
"Uh... Mr. Cang Hai, right? Nice to meet you. I think there's been a misunderstanding between us..."
"I brought twenty million US dollars here."
Cang Hai cut Lu Chengwen off.
His arms rested naturally on the sofa's armrests, his wrists hanging loosely, his long, elegant fingers lightly tapping against their edges.
His eyes rested on Lu Chengwen. They were not fierce—one could even call them calm. But within that calmness lurked a nearly contemptuous threat.
"The elders believe the priority is to ransom the hostage. But I disagree."
Cang Hai stared at Lu Chengwen. "I believe the Elder Council should respond forcefully to threats from these underworld thugs. This time, there's no need to mobilize the Ancient Martial Arts World, nor do we need support from the Four Great Families. I intend to handle this personally."
Lu Chengwen looked at him. "To be honest, you've looked pretty damn impressive ever since you walked in. But looking like this, you won't stay impressive for long. Is that the twenty million?"
Lu Chengwen dragged over a stool, sat across from him, and looked at him with utter sincerity.
"My personal advice is to leave the money here and take Brother Cang Yue back with you. Then this matter should be over. Don't worry, I won't skim a single cent from this money, and I'm not interested in it! At most, it's just over three hundred million Chinese Yuan. I would never stir up this much trouble over that little money. I'm saying this entirely to help—especially to help you people."
Cang Hai smiled. "Anything else?"
"Yes." Lu Chengwen said, "If you think I'm in cahoots with the kidnappers, or if you think that kidnapper is no big deal and there's no need to leave a ransom behind, then