Chapter 31

They had ended up this way because of his own mistakes, so he would make up for them from now on.

When Fu Siyao saw her eldest brother walking toward her sister-in-law, she gave a knowing smile and swayed gracefully away from where she stood, choosing to chat with the other guests at the ball.

Just then, music began playing at the reception.

Most people instinctively looked for their dance partners.

Fu Huaiyan also took the initiative to ask Su Wanqiao to dance.

Su Wanqiao was not particularly good at dancing and merely cooperated instinctively, placing her hand in his.

Fu Huaiyan asked gently, "May I?"

She nodded. "Yes."

[Fu Huaiyan, you really are carefree! Jiang Ruoning is about to snatch your business partner Xie Muling away, and you're still in the mood to dance here.]

"..."

The strong hand holding Su Wanqiao's slender fingertips suddenly tightened.

It brought a trace of surprise to the woman's beautiful eyes.

But Fu Huaiyan immediately returned to normal.

He keenly realized that another important plot point had appeared at the reception.

This plot point actually involved his business partner, Xie Muling.

Could Jiang Ruoning really snatch away his partnership with him?

The studio Jiang Ruoning had opened had the Jiang and Gu families backing it. Since they had failed to win the bid for the Yannan District project last time, they had not received either family's investment.

Moreover, Jiang Ruoning's loan application had not been approved, so she was now urgently looking for someone to inject funds.

But the terms she could offer could not possibly compare to the Fu Group's. As long as Xie Muling was not blind, whom he would choose was plain to see.

So Fu Huaiyan truly could not puzzle it out, no matter how hard he thought. If Jiang Ruoning could snatch him away, how exactly would she do it?

Could Xie Muling's brain have broken down just like his younger brothers' had? That really was a difficult illness to treat.

Fu Huaiyan's gaze flickered as he instinctively led Su Wanqiao onto the dance floor, though his mind had long since left the dance.

Su Wanqiao saw that he was leading her through a waltz. Since she was not good at dancing, she kept making mistakes, but Fu Huaiyan did not care at all, and she could not help thinking.

[Hurry up and dodge! I'm about to step on your foot!]

"..."

Fu Huaiyan swiftly dodged her step.

Then he spoke softly into Su Wanqiao's ear.

"Qiaoqiao, you see Xie Muling over there, right? He's my new business partner. We're developing a new project together, and this project is especially important to me. Let's go say hello in a bit, all right?"

"Sure." Su Wanqiao felt a slight tickle by her ear and quickly agreed.

[A woman who wants to climb into Xie Muling's bed is about to drug him. Jiang Ruoning will see it and follow them upstairs to save him just before he falls. We won't even have a chance to say hello.]

Fu Huaiyan frowned, and the hand around her alluring waist suddenly tightened again, making the way he held her feel rather intimate.

Two blushes bloomed on the woman's delicate face.

[Is Fu Huaiyan's hand a branding iron? Why is it so hot...]

"..."

Fu Huaiyan hurriedly loosened his hand again.

He turned to look toward Xie Muling and, sure enough, saw him dancing with an unfamiliar woman.

After scanning the room, he discovered that Jiang Ruoning was also in a corner of the ballroom.

So Xie Muling would suffer from the same problem as Fu Yichu and the others, be influenced by the plot, then fall for the female lead and end his partnership with him.

Fu Huaiyan certainly would not resign himself to watching his business get snatched away. No one had ever dared to brazenly steal business from his hands like this, so he had to stop it.

But this matter was easy to resolve.

He had an especially simple solution.

Simple, brutal, effective.

And it would also keep Xie Muling from being influenced by the plot.

It was just a pity that Xie Muling was not a member of the Fu Family. Otherwise, he could use the same method he had used to wake his younger brothers: slap him directly, and he would sober up no matter what drug he had taken.

By the end of the dance, Su Wanqiao had already lost count of how many times she had stepped on Fu Huaiyan.

But the man simply showed little reaction.

In truth, Fu Huaiyan had been so focused on his thoughts that he had unconsciously ignored even the pain. Besides, even if he felt uncomfortable, he would not hold it against Su Wanqiao.

And now there was something more important to do.

The music ended.

Xie Muling and the woman he had just danced with went to the bar together intimately. They took two glasses of wine from a waiter and were just about to drink.

Fu Huaiyan gave one of his subordinates a meaningful look, and someone soon went to make arrangements according to his instructions.

So he simply watched calmly.

He did not intervene at all.

Su Wanqiao, meanwhile, was unconcerned, sitting to one side and quietly enjoying the exquisite desserts.

Just then, however, Fu Siyao suddenly strode forward. As Xie Muling was about to drink, she said urgently to him.

"Mr. Xie, what are you doing here? Mr. Fu has been looking for you for ages."

Fu Huaiyan: "?"

Xie Muling stopped drinking and turned to look at Fu Siyao.

"I'll go over right away."

Seeing that the duck already in her grasp was about to fly away, the beautiful dance partner beside him suddenly looked distressed and said anxiously, "Mr. Xie, you haven't had your wine yet. Besides, didn't you promise me just now? Don't you consider me a friend?"

Xie Muling frowned and said coldly, "Can't you see I have something to attend to?"

The beautiful dance partner's expression changed drastically with anger, but she still did not dare say anything more. She could only secretly resent having such a good opportunity ruined.

Jiang Ruoning also looked over in their direction. In fact, she had been keeping an eye on Xie Muling all evening, hoping to find time to discuss a partnership with him, but she had not had an opportunity earlier.