Why Do You Suddenly Look Familiar?

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 Lao He.

Did no one dare cross Li Ruobing?

Of course not. The Li Family was wealthy and powerful, but it was not among the very top families. Besides, Li Ruobing kept a low profile and never volunteered details about her family. People without enough standing might have heard of the Li Family without understanding how formidable it was.

People with enough standing already knew the Li Family. Ruobing had no need to tell them.

And some people who had dealings with Ruobing still knew little about her. Naturally, they dared to offend her.

Ruobing disliked being called Miss Li. She would only tolerate it from certain people in certain settings.

She much preferred "Boss Li." "President Li" was acceptable too, but "Boss Li" was her favorite. The word "boss" played down her identity as a woman and suited her forceful presence.

That was why Wu Chen had always called her Boss Li in private, ever since they first met.

Wu Chen knew what she liked. He saw no reason to make her dislike him over a form of address and leave her with a needless prejudice against him.

But the person greeting Ruobing now had called her Miss Li. From the tone alone, it was clearly deliberate.

Ruobing frowned and looked up. Wu Chen glanced over too. The woman wore a French haute couture gown, carried a Hermès Birkin bag, and had an enormous diamond ring on her finger. She looked about thirty, with long, wavy hair and delicate features, though her makeup was rather heavy. Wu Chen recognized her at once.

Liu Caixiu, originally named Liu Lijuan, was thirty-two. She came from Liu Family Village in Sishui Town, Erma County, Donghai City. Her husband was Lu Guangnian, chairman of Juli Group. She had married him seven years ago and had a son. With Lu Guangnian's help, she had since founded Yunxiu Fashion Co., Ltd., which mainly sold cosmetics and personal care products.

She and Ruobing did not merely know each other. They knew each other well, though they were hardly friends. They were business rivals.

As far as Wu Chen knew, Liu Caixiu had always felt that Ruobing had stolen her business.

Liu Caixiu had opened a cosmetics company in Donghai six years ago. Ruobing had arrived to start hers four years ago.

Liu Caixiu had never been much good at running a company. If Lu Guangnian had not repeatedly invested money and used his connections to support her, her company would have gone bankrupt long ago.

After Ruobing opened her company, things grew even worse for Yunxiu Company.

Their feud had truly begun three years ago, when Ruobing secured a deal with a large chain of beauty salons. The salons would use and recommend Illusion Fashion skincare products to customers, promoting them in person. Before that, they had recommended Yunxiu Fashion products.

Ever since, Liu Caixiu could barely stand the sight of Ruobing.

It was worse this year. Ruobing's Huancai Fashion Company was already valued at nearly two billion and had a national reputation. Liu Caixiu's company was worth only thirty to fifty million, and even that was because it owned a factory and other fixed assets. In reality, it was a small local operation. The gap was enormous. Liu Caixiu could not match Ruobing in business, looks, family background, or education.

Liu Caixiu was vain and loved comparing herself with others. Their years of rivalry only made it worse. Whenever she saw Ruobing, she came over to talk, and she never had anything pleasant to say.

"Mrs. Lu. Boss Lu didn't come with you today?"

Ruobing's reply was cool and even.

As she spoke, she glanced around the restaurant but did not see Lu Guangnian.

Ruobing remained calm. She knew Liu Caixiu had come to pick a fight and would probably find some excuse to say something nasty again.

Ruobing could hardly be bothered with the woman anymore. It was not that she had no temper. When she lost it, even she found herself frightening.

The reason she let Liu Caixiu be was that she was on good terms with Lu Guangnian.

Ruobing had met Lu Guangnian through her younger brother, Li Ruotai, who was very close to him. She did not automatically like everyone her brother befriended, but Lu Guangnian was the sort of person she got along with.

Lu Guangnian had started out in the demolition business, operating in the gray areas between legitimate business and the underworld. Later, he founded a real estate company and went legitimate. He was generous and loyal. In his youth, he had taken a knife meant for a friend and had nearly died in the hospital.

Lu Guangnian ranked sixth among Donghai's ten wealthiest people, with a fortune of around eight billion. He was also vice president of the Donghai Chamber of Commerce.

Despite their age difference, Ruobing and Lu Guangnian were close friends. More than once, he had told her to her face, in private, that she had been born into the wrong body. Ruobing was assertive and handled things in a way he considered masculine. The fact that he dared joke about it showed how close they were.

Lu Guangnian had also asked Ruobing privately, more than once, not to hold his wife's behavior against her.

As for Ruobing competing with Liu Caixiu in business, Lu Guangnian did not care. He had funded the company to make his wife happy, not to earn money. If it lost a little less, that was enough for him. His devotion to his wife was well known.

Ruobing had never quite understood how someone as generous and loyal as Lu Guangnian had married such an idiot. Was it just because she had given him a son?

"My husband's outside. He's waiting for a guest and will be in soon."

With that, Liu Caixiu turned straight to Wu Chen. "Miss Li, is this your boyfriend?"

No one who knew Ruobing well would have asked that. But Liu Caixiu had come looking for trouble.

"Mm."

Ruobing gave a brief hum of assent.

"Well, well, Miss Li. Since when did you start keeping pretty young men?"

Liu Caixiu's voice turned theatrically loud.

"You're twenty-seven this year, aren't you, Miss Li?"

"And this little pretty boy can't be much over twenty. He is good-looking, I'll give you that. You certainly know how to find yourself a younger man!"

Liu Caixiu spoke loudly on purpose, drawing attention so everyone else in the restaurant would hear and Ruobing would be embarrassed.

It would not actually embarrass Ruobing. She was far too strong-willed for that. But she had no reason to put up with it either.

Ruobing closed her hand around her wineglass. Wu Chen knew she might throw the wine straight into Liu Caixiu's face. That would damage her relationship with Lu Guangnian, and there was no need for it.

So Wu Chen spoke first. "You've had too much to drink, haven't you? It's gone to your head. Stop acting like a shrew and disturbing everyone's meal."

"What did you say, pretty boy?"

Liu Caixiu whipped her head toward him.

"Was I wrong?"

"Hasn't the drink gone to your head?"

Wu Chen gave a faint smile.

"Or did they damage a nerve during your plastic surgery?"

"Surely they didn't mess up your brain when they did the corners of your eyes?"

"Shut your mouth! I've never had plastic surgery!"

Liu Caixiu shrieked as though someone had stepped on her tail.

Her plastic surgery was a secret. She was delighted with how delicate her face looked now and hated anyone suggesting she had had work done.

Wu Chen could not understand why some people insisted on courting trouble for no reason.

Everyone had secrets they could not afford to reveal. Even a woman like Ruobing had them.

And Wu Chen knew the secrets of every person of standing in Donghai.

Mentioning Liu Caixiu's plastic surgery was only an opening move.

He had not yet mentioned her biggest secret, the one she most needed hidden. That secret could make her disappear.

Wu Chen had no intention of going around exposing people's dirty laundry for no reason. He had better things to do. But he never went easy on someone who deserved it.

She had brought this on herself.

"Why do you suddenly look familiar?"

Wu Chen stared at Liu Caixiu as if he had just recognized her. "Didn't you work at a bathhouse once?"

"You worked at a bathhouse!"

"Your whole family worked at a bathhouse!"

"Have you no shame, you bastard?"

Liu Caixiu's face flushed red. She shouted and cursed, making a scene.

She really had worked at a bathhouse, though that had been ten years ago and only for a short time. After successful plastic surgery, she had caught the eye of a wealthy man. Marrying Lu Guangnian had come much later.

It was one of Liu Caixiu's shameful secrets. It was not her worst, but it was damaging enough.

"Manners?"

"Please mind your manners. Everyone here is civilized."

Wu Chen spoke calmly.

"You're a person of standing now. It's time you broke the habits you picked up back then."

"How dare you frame me and slander me! I'll—" Liu Caixiu lunged forward, swinging her bag at Wu Chen. She had been married to Lu Guangnian for years and should have known better than to disgrace herself in public. She should at least have pretended to be dignified. But Wu Chen was telling the truth. Panic drove her to cover her fear with even greater fury.

Smack! Thud!

The bag struck someone, but not Wu Chen. One of Ruobing's bodyguards had stepped in front of him in time. She had brought bodyguards today, just fewer than she had during the day.

Several of them had been seated in a corner of the restaurant. From there, they could not eavesdrop on Ruobing and Wu Chen's conversation, but they could protect them if anything happened.

The bodyguards had come over when Liu Caixiu first started shouting. They had looked to Ruobing for instructions, but she gave none. Wu Chen had taken the problem on himself, and she wanted to see how he would handle it.

Liu Caixiu was an idiot and hardly worth worrying about.

Lu Guangnian, however, wielded immense power in Donghai. The Li siblings were influential outsiders, while Lu Guangnian was a local powerhouse who could stand toe-to-toe with the Li Family here. That was one reason Ruobing and Li Ruotai had been able to become friends with him.

Temperament was only part of it. More importantly, there was no great difference in their standing. People could only grow close and speak freely when they met as equals.

Ruobing had not known Wu Chen long, but she knew he was no fool who acted on impulse. Yet he had publicly accused Lu Guangnian's wife of having worked as a prostitute.

Did he think Lu Guangnian would simply swallow that? "Mrs. Lu, please calm down. Calm down!"

The bodyguards held Liu Caixiu back, but she struggled like a woman possessed, still trying to hit Wu Chen with her bag.

Naturally, the bodyguard could not let her through. A sharp slap rang out as Liu Caixiu struck him across the face. "Get out of my way!"

The bodyguard stood nearly six foot three, with arms thicker than Liu Caixiu's legs. He did not budge. His expression did not change as he calmly repeated, "Mrs. Lu, please calm down."

Ruobing narrowed her eyes. Her bodyguards were trusted people who had been with her for years.

Ruobing stood up.

Just then, a voice called from near the restaurant's ground-floor entrance. "Caixiu, what's all this shouting about?"

The speaker was a dark-skinned man in his fifties wearing a crisp suit.

Lu Guangnian, fifty-five. Chairman of Donghai's Juli Group, vice president of the Donghai Chamber of Commerce, and a representative to the Donghai Municipal People's Congress. He was a central figure in the East Sea Business World and one of Donghai's ten wealthiest people.

He had come to Lao Pinxuan to treat someone to dinner. He was determined to win the East City Old Street redevelopment project.

Although his company was Donghai City's largest real estate firm, it did not rank nationally. Several of the country's real estate giants were competing for the project, so he had to work his connections.

He had been outside personally welcoming his guest and had let his wife enter first. He had not expected to walk in with the guest and find her trying to hit someone.

Normally, he would have hurried over to defend his wife, whatever the reason. Disrespecting her meant disrespecting Lu Guangnian.

But he spotted Ruobing standing beside the table and understood at once. In all likelihood, his wife had gone looking for trouble with her again.

At the sight of her husband, Liu Caixiu immediately stopped making a scene. She rubbed her eyes, summoned tears, and put on the look of someone who had been terribly wronged.

Lu Guangnian strode over.

"Brother Lu. You're here."

Ruobing's greeting was cool.

Lu Guangnian nodded and gave her an apologetic smile. He knew his wife had caused trouble. If Liu Caixiu were not his wife, she could never have harassed Ruobing for this long. Someone would have dealt with her long ago.

The eldest daughter of the Li Family had been showing him consideration by putting up with her. "Honey, this pretty boy insulted me! He said I was ugly and had plastic surgery. He even said I used to be a prostitute!"

Liu Caixiu leaned into Lu Guangnian's arms and wept pitifully.

Lu Guangnian's face changed, and his eyelids twitched.

He was a billionaire, a successful businessman, a man of stature in Donghai. And now someone had publicly accused his wife of having been a prostitute.

A man's reputation mattered, and Lu Guangnian cared deeply about his. If he did not get angry today, people would think he was afraid of a younger member of the Li Family. He would become a laughingstock.

Everyone in the restaurant was watching. The client he had brought was standing nearby too. This was embarrassing enough already. If the accusation was true and he handled it badly, it would be worse.

"There, there. Stop crying. I'll handle it."

Lu Guangnian comforted Liu Caixiu, moved her aside, and stepped forward. His expression darkened. "Boss Li, is he a friend of yours?"

He addressed Ruobing directly. He did not know Wu Chen, but he could see they were together.

He was furious, though he was still holding it in. Anything said in private might have been smoothed over. But insulting his wife in public was a slap in his face. A few words would not settle this.

Ruobing could tell Lu Guangnian was restraining his anger. Even his form of address gave it away. She called him Brother Lu, and in private he called her Ruobing. "My boyfriend," she said. "The 'pretty boy' your wife mentioned."

Ruobing's face was expressionless.

If this meant a head-on clash and the end of their friendship, so be it. She was not afraid.

Lu Guangnian's eyes shifted. Ruobing's boyfriend? From her tone, she was willing to offend him for this young man. "He is a pretty boy! You're nearly thirty and still unmarried, and now you've found yourself a twenty-year-old. What else would you call it?"

"Am I wrong?"

Liu Caixiu started making a scene again.

Lu Guangnian turned and glared at his wife. "They bullied me! The two of them ganged up on me and said such awful things."

Liu Caixiu immediately began crying again. Lu Guangnian's heart softened, and he said quietly, "I'll deal with it. Don't say anything."

Wu Chen stood, raised a hand to signal the bodyguards to step aside, and took a step forward with a smile.

He held out his hand. "Boss Lu, let me introduce myself. I'm Wu Chen."

Lu Guangnian looked at the offered hand, his expression saying the young man was finished. He reached out and shook it, gripping Wu Chen's hand hard.

Wu Chen used the grip to pull him in sharply until their shoulders bumped. He placed his left hand on Lu Guangnian's right shoulder, leaned close, and whispered in his ear.

Lu Guangnian had been about to shove him away, but Wu Chen's words stopped him. He listened intently, his expression changing again and again.

Wu Chen spoke to Lu Guangnian for a full two minutes. Lu Guangnian never pushed him away. At one point, he even turned his head and asked Wu Chen something in return.

Everyone present was baffled. A moment ago, it had looked as though a fight might break out. What could Wu Chen have said to calm Lu Guangnian down and make him listen so carefully?

That concludes this episode. Thank you for listening, and please join us for the next one!