Trapped in the Same Day for a Thousand Years: You Slept with That Con Man?

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

None of Li Ruobing's trusted bodyguards were ordinary people. They were all former special forces soldiers. The salaries for these bodyguards alone ran into the millions each year.

But Li Ruobing did not pay them. The Li Family did.

No matter how deep her conflict with her family ran, Li Ruobing was still a core member of the Li Family and the eldest granddaughter of its main branch. The family could fight among themselves as viciously as they liked, but that was their own affair. When it came to the safety of a family member, they would never be careless.

Wu Chen was not the only one who noticed. Li Ruobing's bodyguards had spotted the tail too. They had counter-surveillance skills, after all.

But Wu Chen had immediately worked out who had sent the tail. Li Ruobing's bodyguards had no way of knowing that.

"Lose them," Li Ruobing said. She was used to this. Someone in her position had been followed more than once or twice, especially over the past four years. That bastard Ding Ruilong often sent people after her, particularly when she went out alone, as if he wanted to know everything about her.

Ding Ruilong truly had an almost pathological need for control.

The convoy picked up speed. Li Ruobing frowned slightly. She was growing irritated. The tail had made her think of Ding Ruilong, which in turn reminded her of the pressure from her family and the wager.

Truthfully, Li Ruobing was not certain she could surpass Ding Ruilong in business. She had considered other ways to win, but none seemed easy.

Wu Chen suddenly took Li Ruobing's hand and laced his fingers through hers.

Li Ruobing turned to look at him. Her frustration had wiped away her earlier smile, but Wu Chen met her gaze with a smile of his own.

When he saw her looking, he said, "Ruobing, don't worry. Your brother will be fine. I'm here."

"Ruobing" was like a signal. It meant Wu Chen was acting. The driver and bodyguards were still there, and although they all worked for Li Ruobing, she had said they needed to fool everyone. Playing their parts in the car made sense. Still, hearing him say that now felt strangely different.

I'm here.

Something stirred in Li Ruobing's heart.

Wu Chen was no god, but he understood Li Ruobing. He really could guess what she had just been thinking. For instance, he knew she had mistaken the car following them for one sent by Ding Ruilong.

Half an hour later, the convoy returned to Huancai Fashion Company in CBD Building Seven. Wu Chen completed his hiring paperwork and officially became the company president's assistant, with a monthly salary of twenty thousand.

Afterward, Li Ruobing personally took Wu Chen around the entire company. Ostensibly, she was helping him get to know the place. In reality, she was telling everyone he was her boyfriend.

Li Ruobing kept her arm linked through Wu Chen's. She no longer seemed like the cold, domineering CEO. At his side, she smiled far more often.

At Villa Five in the Qinghe Courtyard villa complex, South District, Mo Qianqian stood by the window, yelling into her phone. "You brat, you finally answered! You even dared turn your phone off? You really ditch your friends the moment a man comes along!"

She was furious. She had not been able to reach her best friend all morning. She knew her friend's boyfriend was back and that the two of them must have been up to something, but her friend had arranged for someone to mess with her, then switched off her phone the next day. It was too much!

"Qianqian, let me explain! I didn't turn it off on purpose. The battery died. I forgot to charge it yesterday, then slept until noon. How was I supposed to know?"

"Enough excuses. Get over to my house. I have something to ask you."

Mo Qianqian hung up.

A little over twenty minutes later, her best friend arrived downstairs. The housekeeper knew her and let her in to go straight upstairs.

Mo Qianqian heard a knock from her room. "It's open," she said sharply. A girl stood in the doorway. Her looks were ordinary, but she had lovely skin and wore flashy jewelry and luxury brands from head to toe.

She was Mo Qianqian's best friend, Wan Li. She was also eighteen.

Her father, Wan Jianmin, owned Donghai Wanmin Biochemical Group.

An heiress's best friend was hardly going to be an ordinary person. They had to move in the same circles to grow close.

The Mo and Wan families had been friends for generations, and Mu Biomedical Group and Wanshi Biochemical Group were business partners.

Mo Qianqian and Wan Li had known each other since childhood. They had grown up together and attended the same elementary, middle, and high schools. They were extremely close.

"Qianqian, don't look so sour. Are you really mad?"

"Hmph. You ditched me for a man!"

"Oh, come on. Didn't I leave him to come keep you company?"

"What's so urgent, anyway?"

"I have a question for you."

Mo Qianqian looked completely serious.

"Did you arrange for someone to approach me yesterday and put on an act? Was it you?"

"Who are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb."

"I'm not. Who?"

"Wasn't that Wu Chen sent by you?"

"Who's Wu Chen? What did I arrange?"

Mo Qianqian knew her best friend. Wan Li loved joking around, but with Mo Qianqian asking so seriously, she would not keep denying it if she had done it.

So Mo Qianqian briefly told her what had happened yesterday, leaving certain things out. She focused on Wu Chen's claim that he was trapped reliving the same day and how he had accurately predicted when Wan Li would call.

She also gave a brief account of the trouble afterward, saying only that Wu Chen had frightened those people off with a phone call.

"Qianqian, you actually believe a con man like that?" Wan Li stared at her in disbelief. She could hardly believe her best friend was that gullible.

"You even stole someone's car with him. You really didn't arrange it?" Mo Qianqian asked.

"Of course not. Do I seem that bored?" Wan Li said.

She tossed her bag onto a cabinet and sat down.

Then she frowned. She had spotted a box of medicine on the table.

She picked it up and examined it. It looked newly bought, and the package had been opened. Someone must already have taken a pill. The box said Jin Yuting.

Wan Li was even wilder than Mo Qianqian. She had started dating at sixteen and changed boyfriends more often than clothes over the past two years. She had taken this pill herself, so she knew it was emergency contraception.

"Give me that." Mo Qianqian snatched the box back as soon as Wan Li saw it, looking nervous.

Wan Li turned to stare at her best friend, eyes wide. She sprang to her feet. "You slept with that con man?"

"Y-yes." Mo Qianqian stammered. Wan Li liked to have fun, but Mo Qianqian knew her friend had a very different life from hers. Wan Li's father was strict with her, so she had never had a boyfriend. She said she would wait until college.

Wan Li did not care about sex itself. If the man had been Mo Qianqian's boyfriend, that would have been fine.

But from what Mo Qianqian had just told her, Wan Li thought her best friend had fallen for a con man and slept with him to boot.

"You... you idiot! Are you stupid?" Wan Li was furious with her.

Mo Qianqian herself seemed unbothered, but Wan Li was beside herself.

"What's his number? Call him and arrange for him to meet me."

Mo Qianqian blinked and said nothing.

Wan Li was stunned. "Don't tell me you don't even have his number."

"I forgot to ask," Mo Qianqian said quietly.

Wan Li pressed a hand to her forehead. This was giving her a headache.

Wu Chen spent the afternoon at Huancai Fashion Company. His position was only nominal, and he had no actual work to do, but on his first day, he had to at least make an appearance. He familiarized himself with the place, met people, and even attended a company meeting.

A little after five, he and Li Ruobing left the office together.

This time, they did not take Li Ruobing's Maybach.

Li Ruobing had plenty of cars. She switched to a Bentley Continental and drove it herself.

Wu Chen sat in the passenger seat. Only a few bodyguards accompanied them, following in a Mercedes G-Class.

She might have been a CEO, but she still needed a life of her own.

"Where do you want to eat?" Li Ruobing asked as she fastened her seat belt and turned to him.

"Well..." Wu Chen gave it some thought, then asked, "Would you mind if more people found out about me?"

"The more, the better."

"Lao Pinxuan," Wu Chen said.

Lao Pinxuan was East Sea's finest Cantonese restaurant, bar none. It was an upscale Chinese restaurant where tables generally had to be booked in advance—and were often impossible to get even then.

Wu Chen chose Lao Pinxuan partly because Li Ruobing was a regular and a top-tier member. She often entertained important clients there.

The other reason was that only wealthy people could afford it. Businesspeople particularly liked the place, making it easy to run into acquaintances there—wealthy tycoons from East Sea.

They drove to the restaurant. Private rooms were available, but instead they found a window seat on the first floor.

It was not that the private rooms were too large. Li Ruobing wanted more people to learn of Wu Chen's existence and accept that he really was her boyfriend.

If they wanted to be seen, they had to sit where people could see them. They ordered and waited for their food. Sure enough, someone soon came over to greet them.

"Well, Ms. Li! Fancy seeing you here for dinner." He was the first to approach.

He was a thin, bespectacled man nearing fifty.

"Mr. Han! What a coincidence," Li Ruobing said, looking surprised.

Han Deli was forty-seven, the CEO and a major shareholder of Longcheng Innovation Group. His company sold electronic components. He had been married twice and had a son and a daughter.

Longcheng Innovation Group was currently doing very well. Its business was flourishing.

The moment Wu Chen saw Han Deli, he silently ran through the man's details. He needed no introduction.

In fact, Han Deli and Li Ruobing had no business dealings. A cosmetics company and an electronic components company had little reason to cross paths.

But wealthy people did not know one another only because they did business together. There were plenty of chances to meet, whether at a business reception, an important figure's birthday banquet, or through a friend of a friend.

Wealthy people tended to make friends readily. Everyone understood that another friend opened another door, while another enemy put up another wall.

Li Ruobing did not particularly enjoy socializing in private, but she still knew the people she needed to know.

When it came to making connections, Li Ruobing had a tremendous natural advantage.

She was remarkably young among billionaires, exceptionally beautiful, and backed by a powerful family. She attracted attention almost anywhere she went, and prominent business owners often took the initiative to meet her.

Li Ruobing exchanged a few pleasantries with Han Deli. Naturally, he noticed that she was dining with a young man.

"Is this your younger brother?" Han Deli asked with a smile.

Of course Han Deli knew about Li Ruotai. Few people in East Sea had not heard of the young master of the Li Family. But the family was enormous, with many members of its third generation.

Han Deli had not specified a blood brother; Wu Chen might have been a cousin. He looked so young that Han Deli had not considered him a business associate.

"No. This is my boyfriend, Wu Chen," Li Ruobing said.

She turned to Wu Chen and gestured toward their visitor.

"Darling, this is Mr. Han from Longcheng Innovation Group."

Wu Chen stood. Before he could extend his hand, Han Deli had already offered his.

They shook hands and exchanged greetings.

Han Deli looked surprised, but inside he was stunned. He knew Li Ruobing had reached twenty-seven without ever dating. She had seemed uninterested in men altogether.

Her fake-boyfriend routine had already become a joke in East Sea business circles. People said she used men as shields against the marriage her family wanted to arrange.

How did everyone know they were fake?

Because Li Ruobing had never brought one of them to a restaurant on a date. They appeared only at specific events, like props.

At business banquets, if Li Ruobing did not introduce the man beside her as her boyfriend, everyone would assume he was a subordinate or lackey. There was never any intimacy between them. Her previous fake boyfriends would not dare speak unless she spoke first. They acted meek and cautious around her, serving her tea and water. That was how everyone knew they were fake.

But this time, Li Ruobing had just called Wu Chen "darling." She also seemed to be in a good mood. The strong-willed, domineering woman rarely smiled, yet now she wore a natural smile. This time, it had to be real. "Mr. Wu! A pleasure, a pleasure! Haha! You're quite a fine-looking young man. You and Ms. Li make a splendid couple!"

"Ms. Li has excellent taste!"

Han Deli thought fast, laughing as he complimented both Wu Chen and Li Ruobing.

"Thank you, Mr. Han. You're too kind," Wu Chen said with a smile, exchanging a glance with Li Ruobing.

"Haha!" Han Deli laughed again. "May I ask what you do, Mr. Wu?"

"I just graduated from college. I'm helping out at Ruobing's company," Wu Chen said.

On the surface, the answer made him seem unimpressive. A fresh graduate with no career of his own, working at his girlfriend's company? Something seemed off.

But who was Li Ruobing?

Could her boyfriend possibly be an ordinary man?

So when Wu Chen calmly said he had only just graduated, the first thought that sprang to Han Deli's mind was: Which powerful family's young master is he?

Li Ruobing would never choose an ordinary man. Given her personality, talent, education, and background, an ordinary man could never catch her eye.

"Boss, the guests have arrived." Han Deli's assistant stepped up behind him and murmured a few words.

"Ah, haha! Sorry to interrupt your date," Han Deli said, quickly changing course. "Ms. Li, I wish you a thriving business. My clients are here, so I need to greet them."

"Of course. Wishing you a thriving business too," Li Ruobing replied.

Han Deli hurried off. Even after he had walked some distance, he glanced back at Wu Chen before going upstairs.

He was still trying to guess which family the young man belonged to.

"Han Deli is a decent man. He likes making friends and serves as an officer of the Donghai Chamber of Commerce." Once he was upstairs, Li Ruobing turned to Wu Chen and briefly told him about the man.

After all, they had deliberately come here today to introduce Wu Chen to people. If they were a real couple, Li Ruobing would naturally tell him who had just approached them, so she did.

Wu Chen smiled, moved his water glass slightly, and straightened the tableware.

Only after she finished did he look up and say, "I know more about him than you do."

Li Ruobing's expression froze for a moment. Then she smiled dismissively. "Right. You're an intelligence dealer."

Eight or nine minutes later, a second person came over. "Ms. Li, it's been a while."

He was a tall, thin man of about forty. A beautiful woman accompanied him, though she was not his wife.

Wang Gu was the general manager and second-largest shareholder of Zhenguang Industrial Group. His father was its chairman and largest shareholder, and Wang Gu was set to take over the family business. He had a son.

He was divorced, had numerous lovers, and was currently involved with three of them.

"Mr. Wu! Oh, hello, hello." It was almost the same routine. When Wang Gu learned that Wu Chen was Li Ruobing's boyfriend, she could barely hide her astonishment.

After that, two more East Sea business magnates came over to say hello: Zhou Ru, owner of Crimson Shop, and Qian Fugui, owner of Green Forest Real Estate.

Their reactions were just like those of the first two.

Not everyone who came to Lao Pinxuan for a meal was a business owner, of course. But anyone without sufficient standing was unlikely to know Li Ruobing. Even if they knew who she was, they would not dare approach her. They had no real connection to her, so none of them came over to make small talk.

Once the simple dishes had all arrived, the two ate and talked quietly.

Li Ruobing rarely appeared in public when she was off the clock. Unless she had to, she kept a low profile, and many people knew it. That was why seeing her here surprised them and prompted them to come over for a word.

Even so, only a handful of people could see her during one meal. But news traveled. In a few days, many in East Sea's business circles would likely hear that the eldest daughter of the Li family, Li Ruobing of Illusion Stone, really was in a relationship.

"Well, if it isn't Miss Li?"

"What a coincidence!" Someone else had come over to say hello.

It was a woman. Far from polite, her voice had a mocking edge.