Trapped in the Same Day for a Thousand Years: Aren't You Contradicting Yourself?

Welcome to Trapped in the Same Day for a Thousand Years, produced exclusively by Feilu Novel Network, written by Sang Ze and narrated by Wang Xiaomo and Laohe.

Li Ruotai's suspicions about Wu Chen weren't about whether Wu Chen genuinely wanted to help him. There was no doubt about that anymore. Li Ruotai knew how serious his own problems were. The evidence could send him straight to prison, where he might even die. If Wu Chen wanted to hurt him, he wouldn't have to do a thing. Li Ruotai was already finished.

So Li Ruotai believed Wu Chen wanted to help him through this crisis, but he still had doubts. Who exactly was Wu Chen? Did he have some larger scheme? He had appeared out of nowhere, and both the information he provided and his abilities defied explanation. He seemed unfathomable. Anyone would be curious and suspicious of the unknown.

In that sense, Li Ruotai's suspicions only proved he could think straight. If he weren't suspicious, he'd be a fool.

A sharp tap sounded. Li Ruotai clutched the top of his head, looking angry but not quite daring to show it. After all, the person who had hit him was his sister.

Li Ruobing had rapped him with a spoon. "What's with 'that guy' this and 'that guy' that? Where are your manners? He's your brother-in-law."

Li Ruobing glared at him coldly. She had doubts about Wu Chen too, but they still had to play the loving couple.

"Right, right. My brother-in-law. That's who I'm asking about."

"Then where exactly did Brother-in-law come from?"

"Don't try to fool me. He can't be an ordinary college student, and he's no kept man either. I'm your own brother. Don't hide it from me."

Li Ruotai tried asking another way.

"Why are you asking?" Li Ruobing said. She couldn't answer him, so she could only avoid the question. She could hardly admit she didn't know either. That would give the game away.

"Because I care about you! Don't you think there's something seriously strange about him?"

"I'm afraid he's deceiving you. He's no ordinary person."

"Give it a rest. What happens between me and your brother-in-law is none of your business. Worry about yourself first. I've told you eight hundred times to stay away from Xie Hun. If your brother-in-law hadn't stepped in this time, you'd have been finished. Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes. I was a fool to trust that bastard Xie Hun. My mistake."

"But, Sis, don't change the subject. I'm asking about Brother-in-law."

"He's doing just fine. He treats me well, and he treats you well too. What else do you want to ask? What problem does he have?"

Li Ruotai was getting anxious. It felt as if his sister couldn't understand what he was saying.

"Do you know what your brother-in-law and I have been through?"

"If you don't, then stop talking nonsense. I can't go into all his affairs with you. And I'm warning you: don't do anything reckless. Your brother-in-law and I will handle our relationship ourselves."

Li Ruobing had started making things up.

"What have you been through?"

"Was it something big?"

"How come I don't know about it?"

Li Ruotai pressed.

"You're still asking?" Li Ruobing glared at him. She felt stifled herself, because she truly didn't know either. They hadn't been through anything. She had only met Wu Chen today and knew nothing about him. She even suspected the background information they had found on him was fake.

Intimidated by his sister, as he had been since childhood, Li Ruotai didn't dare ask again.

"Fine, fine. Forget I said anything. Just don't come crying to me when you find out he's been leading you around by the nose."

Li Ruotai said it,

then immediately leaped away, putting a good six feet between them.

Li Ruobing gave her brother a cold look but stayed where she was.

Having deliberately provoked her, Li Ruotai had expected her to come over and hit him, so he'd jumped away as soon as he finished. But Li Ruobing seemed to see through his little trick.

"Come back and sit down. Your brother-in-law will be back soon."

Li Ruobing shot him a warning look.

Li Ruotai returned to his seat. After looking his sister up and down, he asked, "Sis, are you really pregnant?"

Li Ruobing looked at him in silence for a moment. "Don't go telling the family. If I hear any rumors about this from them, don't blame me for smacking you."

She hadn't actually answered whether she was pregnant, but to Li Ruotai, it sounded like an admission.

"Hey, you don't have to tell me that. Of course I won't let the old man find out. That would only hurt you."

Li Ruotai sighed.

That was why the siblings were so close. Li Ruobing always worried about her brother, and Li Ruotai always looked out for his sister.

"Sis, do you think I should give Brother-in-law some money?"

"What for?" Li Ruobing frowned.

"Brother-in-law won that money back," Li Ruotai said. "He recovered what I lost and won another 130 million for the casino. Sure, he was gambling with the casino's money, but if I don't give him something as his brother-in-law, won't I look stingy?"

"It won't look good for you either, Sis!"

Li Ruobing rarely approved of what Li Ruotai did. Much of it was illegal, after all.

This time, though, she thought her brother was right.

She had to admit that, despite being a businesswoman, she couldn't match her brother when it came to dealing with people.

Strictly speaking, Li Ruotai wouldn't be wrong to give Wu Chen money or to give him nothing. Wu Chen had gambled with the casino's money, so the wins and losses belonged to the casino. He had taken no risk.

Besides, Wu Chen was Li Ruotai's brother-in-law in name. Why should he expect a huge reward just for helping family?

But Wu Chen not asking was one thing; Li Ruotai offering was another. Li Ruotai understood these social niceties better than Li Ruobing. He moved in those circles, after all. "It's up to you. You decide."

"Speaking of which, you're pretty strange yourself."

Li Ruobing sounded amused.

"You suspect your brother-in-law, but you still want to give him money. Isn't that contradictory?"

"One thing has nothing to do with the other. If he manages to get me out of this mess, I'll give him something big afterward."

Li Ruotai spoke like a man of the underworld, but he still had plenty of doubts. "Don't you see it?"

"He's incredibly capable, and he's so young."

Li Ruobing offered no opinion.

Seeing her reaction, Li Ruotai sighed. "Forget it. I can't be bothered with you two."

In the second-floor restroom, Wu Chen washed and dried his hands, then left to return to the private room.

As soon as he turned a corner in the corridor, his brow furrowed.

He pretended to check his phone. Its screen was dark; he was using the reflection as a mirror.

He glanced behind him. He could sense someone following him—or watching him.

Wu Chen was puzzled. Why would someone already be following him?

His new life had only begun today. A lot had happened, but news couldn't have spread quickly enough for anyone to target him yet.

Ding Ruilong?

Ding Ruilong wasn't omniscient. He couldn't possibly know Wu Chen existed already. That should take at least a few days.

So why was someone tailing him?

Had Li Ruotai arranged for someone to watch him?

Even when he went to the bathroom?

That didn't make sense either. Li Ruotai wouldn't do anything so stupid, and his trusted men wouldn't be so inept that Wu Chen could spot them this easily.

Wu Chen kept walking as he thought. Lunch came first.

His life was no longer trapped in a loop. He intended to enjoy it and treat himself well.

Being watched might mean trouble, perhaps even danger, but he didn't care. Wu Chen couldn't imagine an unexpected situation he couldn't handle. Otherwise, what had been the point of living through that thousand-year cycle?

After Wu Chen returned to the private room and shut the door, a man in a baseball cap peered out from around a corner of the corridor. He looked at the door, then took out his phone and made a call.

"Boss, where is he?"

"He's having lunch with Young Master Li and Miss Li. Keep watching, and be careful. Don't let him spot you."

"Yes, Boss. Don't worry."

"By the way, Boss, should I listen in on what they're saying?"

"Are you out of your fucking mind? If Li Guangze catches you, you'll be fish food tomorrow. Just follow him carefully and see where he goes afterward."

"What were you talking about in here?" Wu Chen asked with an easy smile as he pulled out his chair and sat down.

"You, Brother-in-law," Li Ruotai replied at once, sounding even more polite than before. "I haven't asked you yet. Are you from East Sea?"

"From one of the counties nearby. Ning'an County," Wu Chen answered casually.

The moment Li Ruotai opened his mouth, Wu Chen knew what he was after.

He was fishing for information.

Li Ruobing knew it too, but she didn't stop him.

She wanted to hear what Wu Chen would say.

"From the county, huh? Do you live in the city now?"

"Yeah. In Yuehe Community, in the old part of the East District."

"Oh, that's the old district. All old houses over there."

"With what you can do, Brother-in-law, haven't you thought about buying a nicer place?"

"No. It's an old family place, and I'm comfortable there."

"An old family place?"

Li Ruotai repeated Wu Chen's words. He thought he'd found a hole in the story. After a pause, he said, "Brother-in-law, didn't you just say your family was from Ning'an County?"

"How come you have an old family place in the city too?"

The story didn't seem to add up.

Wu Chen looked up with a smile. "When my parents were young and had just married, they came to the city to make a living. My dad was a cook—he could make noodles and stir-fries. My mom had more schooling and worked as an accountant."

"That was over twenty years ago, when housing was still cheap. They scrimped and saved for years to put together a down payment, then bought the place with a mortgage."

"Later, my grandfather was in poor health for years before he died."

"After my grandmother passed away, my parents had to work out how to care for him. They wanted to get a storefront and open a shop in the city, but they didn't have enough money. So they simply went back to the county and opened a restaurant there. It made looking after him easier too."

"They rented out the city apartment for years. Property prices kept rising, so they couldn't bring themselves to sell it. When I got into high school at Donghai No. 1 High School, I moved back and lived there."

Wu Chen didn't mind talking about his family. He knew Li Ruotai could investigate his background in no time if he wanted to.

There was one point worth noting: Wu Chen had crossed over from a parallel universe, into the life of his counterpart in this one.

His parents, relatives, and friends in this world were the same people he had known before, and he felt the same way about them. Their lives differed slightly, but most things were much the same.

After hearing Wu Chen's brief account, Li Ruotai could think of only two words: utterly ordinary.

More than twenty years ago, Wu Chen's parents had arrived in the big city full of ambition, ready to build a life together. Like many people of their generation, they had worked hard in hopes of a better future.

But fate had a way of playing tricks. After struggling to buy a home in the city, circumstances had forced them back to their hometown. They had accepted it and built a stable life there.

And Wu Chen was just an ordinary man from that ordinary family? As if.

Li Ruotai didn't believe a word Wu Chen had said. Who are you trying to fool?

Could an ordinary person know so much information, as if he could predict the future?

Could an ordinary person outplay a top gambler from a gambling city?

Could an ordinary person slash someone without batting an eye?

In fact, Wu Chen hadn't lied at all. Until yesterday—before July 7, 2020—he really had been an ordinary person. If he hadn't lived through July 7 a total of 365,000 times, he would still be ordinary today.

"Brother-in-law, you lived by yourself in high school?"

"Didn't your parents think of coming to look after you?"

Li Ruotai still wasn't ready to give up.

Wu Chen went on, "I have a younger sister, five years younger than me. Someone had to look after her, and my family couldn't just close the noodle shop. We needed to make a living. I was fifteen or sixteen by then; I could manage on my own. As long as they sent me living expenses, I wasn't going to starve."

"I was a boy, after all."

"What was there to worry about?"

Li Ruotai still didn't believe him. Anyone who did was an idiot. No one like Wu Chen could have such an ordinary background.

The more ordinary Wu Chen made his family sound, the more suspicious Li Ruotai found him. He was definitely going to investigate.

Wu Chen knew Li Ruotai would investigate him, but he was welcome to try. An investigation was the last thing Wu Chen feared.

If Li Ruotai actually uncovered a lie or some astonishing background Wu Chen had concealed, that would be a miracle.

Everything he'd said was true. "Your gambling skills really are incredible, Brother-in-law!"

After that compliment, Li Ruotai asked, "Who taught you?"

"Can you tell me, Brother-in-law?"

"I picked it up myself when I had time," Wu Chen said casually. That was a lie, but no one short of a god could trace where he had learned to gamble. The time he'd spent learning had long since been erased by the resets.

"Then how did you know all those things?" Li Ruotai asked again.

He meant the intelligence Wu Chen had given him.

"That's a trade secret." Wu Chen gave him a mysterious smile.

"All right, enough. Stop interrogating him," Li Ruobing said, cutting Li Ruotai off before he asked anything he shouldn't.

She knew Wu Chen was an information broker, so of course he couldn't reveal his sources.

There was a knock at the door, but it opened before anyone answered.

The servers had arrived with their Western-style lunch: steak, foie gras, pumpkin and corn soup, and some desserts.

They enjoyed the meal. As they ate, they chatted about this and that, getting to know one another a little better.

After lunch, the three left the restaurant together but got into separate cars.

Wu Chen went straight back to Huancai Fashion Company with Li Ruobing. Li Ruotai headed back to Crown Club to say goodbye before leaving.

Sitting in the back of the Maybach, Wu Chen tilted his head to check the side mirror, then turned to look out the rear window.

Li Ruobing didn't know what he was looking at. She glanced back too. The road was crowded, and their bodyguards' car was following behind them. Nothing seemed out of place.

"What, do you miss my brother already?"

"He's too far away to see now."

Li Ruobing was teasing him, something she rarely did unless she knew someone well.

In half a day, their relationship had made remarkable progress.

"Nothing," Wu Chen replied with a smile. He had spotted a car following them, and he already knew who was behind it.

In the restaurant hallway, the person had worn a baseball cap. Wu Chen hadn't seen their face, so he hadn't known who they were. But while a person could disguise themselves, a car was another matter.

Wu Chen knew the East Sea too well. He recognized the nondescript black Volkswagen trailing them.

The bodyguard in the front passenger seat suddenly pressed a hand to his earpiece and listened intently. Then he murmured, "Understood."

He turned to Li Ruobing. "Boss, the escort car reports that someone's following us."