Trapped in the Same Day for a Thousand Years: Darling! Come Here!

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 Lao He.

Li Ruobing had thought he would mention a mole somewhere on her body, or a faint scar from a fight when she was younger.

White Tiger? Li Ruobing really was a White Tiger, and she was the only one who knew.

She had noticed the difference as soon as she reached puberty. Unwilling to be talked about, she had stopped using the girls' showers at school after turning fourteen.

Wu Chen's words startled Li Ruobing so badly that she dropped her chopsticks. He had revealed not only her deepest secret, but something no one else could possibly know.

Li Ruobing silently picked up the chopsticks she had dropped onto the table. When she looked at Wu Chen again, there was danger in her eyes. Wu Chen could clearly tell she was looking at him like a pervert.

"How long have you been stalking me?"

Li Ruobing's gaze darkened as she asked.

She genuinely thought Wu Chen was some stalking voyeur. He might even have broken into her home before and spent an entire night watching her from inside a closet.

"I'm twenty-two this year."

Wu Chen kept smiling. "I just graduated from university. I spent my three years of high school and four years of university in Donghai Community. That's seven years in all.

"And four years ago, you were still abroad. You only came to East Sea after finishing your master's degree.

"I still had school to attend. My grades were always good, and Donghai University is a top university, after all. I got in.

"And I don't just know about you. I know more people and more things than you can imagine.

"So how much time do you think I could spend on any one person?

"Do you think I'd investigate everyone one by one through something as clumsy as stalking?

"As an intelligence broker, I have my professional skills. I have methods beyond your imagination, but they're nowhere near as simple as you think."

Li Ruobing set down her chopsticks and pressed her lips together.

She wanted to ask Wu Chen something, but held back. She knew the answer might be a trade secret.

She had to admit that what Wu Chen said made sense.

He didn't just know about her. He knew about far too many people.

Given that Wu Chen was only twenty-two, there was no way he gathered intelligence by following people or staking them out. Those methods worked, but they took too much time.

Wu Chen simply couldn't have investigated so many people that way.

He must have a more advanced, effective method. And he keeps getting more interesting.

Li Ruobing suddenly smiled, an unusual light glimmering in her beautiful eyes.

In the day since she had met Wu Chen, he had intrigued her more than once. Now her interest in him had reached its peak. Her stubborn, competitive nature made it hard for her to accept the situation.

Wu Chen knew everything about Li Ruobing, down to her most private secrets, while she knew almost nothing about him.

After today, Li Ruobing would have more people investigate Wu Chen with even greater intensity. She would also do everything she could to uncover this remarkable man's secrets herself. That was exactly what Wu Chen wanted.

A man often won a woman over by first making her interested in him. For most women, that interest began with a man's looks or money.

Looks and money were precisely what interested Li Ruobing least. She had seen plenty of handsome men, and a rich man might not even be richer than she was.

Even if he was richer, and had earned the money through his own abilities, he would earn no more than Li Ruobing's respect.

Respect was only respect. Nothing more.

Wu Chen, however, was using his own mystery to draw Li Ruobing's interest.

"Cheers!"

Wu Chen raised his glass.

Li Ruobing studied him with a smile, then raised her own glass and clinked it against his.

She was probably already devising some grand plan to investigate him.

Wu Chen had no fear of that. He welcomed it. Li Ruobing could dig as deeply and recklessly into his life as she liked.

Their first date and first dinner slowly drew to a close over Poland Platinum.

There was no need to pay. Lu Guangning had already settled the bill for every table on the first floor.

With her arm linked through Wu Chen's, Li Ruobing left Old Pinxuan Restaurant under countless watchful eyes.

"I'll take you home before I head back."

Li Ruobing added, "Get in. I'll take you home."

On the way to Wu Chen's place, he briefly told Li Ruobing about Lu Guangnian, mainly the parts involving Liu Caixiu and Liu Ligang. He said nothing about Lu Guangnian's first love.

Whether Lu Guangnian could win his first love back, or whether his son would acknowledge him, remained uncertain.

Until there was an outcome, Wu Chen felt the matter was best kept quiet.

More than half an hour later, the entrance to the alley where Wu Chen lived, on an old street in East District, came into view.

Wu Chen knew why Li Ruobing had offered to drive him home. First, it helped keep up their act. If she had never taken him home, their relationship would look too fake. Second, she wanted to see whether he really lived here.

Li Ruobing's phone rang inside the Bentley Oulu. Keeping one hand on the wheel, she picked it up, glanced at it, and answered. "Boss, a car's following us," reported a bodyguard in the Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUV behind them.

"I know."

Li Ruobing frowned, irritation rising. She ended the call and told Wu Chen, "Someone's following us. Probably one of Ding Ruilong's people."

She suspected Ding Ruilong again. Only someone as obsessive as him would send people to follow her at every opportunity.

"What makes you so sure Ding Ruilong sent them?" Wu Chen asked.

"Who else is that sick in the head?" Li Ruobing replied.

Wu Chen smiled and said nothing more.

He had known someone was following them since noon. But they weren't following Li Ruobing. They were following him.

Someone had watched him at Old Pinxuan Restaurant, too, except while he was talking with Lu Guangnian. The watcher had been too far away to hear anything, but could have seen them speaking alone and Lu Guangnian offering Wu Chen a cigarette.

Wu Chen knew who had sent the people. If Li Ruobing had the wrong idea, he was happy to let her keep it.

The Bentley Continental soon reached the alley entrance and slowed to a stop. The road inside was rough, and the Continental was a low-slung coupe. Even with its adjustable suspension, driving in and out would be a nuisance.

"Here's fine. It's getting late, so go home and get some rest. Good night. Sweet dreams."

Wu Chen opened the door, got out, and headed straight down the alley without looking back.

Watching him through the windshield, Li Ruobing seemed to think of something. She suddenly lowered her window, leaned toward it, and called, "Darling!"

Another act?

For whose benefit?

Wu Chen turned toward the car. Li Ruobing tilted her head and beckoned him over.

He frowned slightly, then walked back to the Bentley and stopped beside the driver's door.

"Come here," Li Ruobing said, crooking a finger again as if she wanted to whisper something.

Wu Chen bent closer.

Li Ruobing hooked an arm around his neck, leaned halfway out of the window, and kissed him on the lips.

The sudden warmth caught Wu Chen off guard, but he understood at once. Li Ruobing was putting on a show for Ding Ruilong's people.

She thought Ding Ruilong had sent the people following them all day, so she had decided to kiss Wu Chen where they could see. She might even have hoped they would photograph her leaning out of the car to kiss her boyfriend and send it to Ding Ruilong, just to drive that bastard mad.

Of course, Li Ruobing would not kiss just anyone merely to upset someone else. She kissed Wu Chen because his value in her eyes had risen to the point where she felt it was worth it.

Wu Chen quickly realized how inexperienced Li Ruobing was. This was probably her first kiss. She had no idea what she was doing.

He could also tell she was trying to pretend otherwise.

She hated being at a disadvantage and always had to come out on top. Even during her first kiss with Wu Chen, she wanted to seem more practiced than he was.

The result was that Wu Chen's mouth hurt.

A full ten seconds passed before Li Ruobing released his neck and withdrew into the car, breathing heavily. She took another deep breath, pressed her lips together, and said, "Good night. Sweet dreams."

Wu Chen looked at her for three seconds before smiling. "Sweet dreams. Be careful on your way back, and drive slowly."

He turned and left.

During those three seconds, Wu Chen had considered a serious question: should he make Li Ruobing his tonight? Physically, that was.

Although he had never tried this particular approach before, he was now more than ninety percent sure he could take things further with Li Ruobing tonight.

It was only a little after seven, leaving them many hours. But after a moment's thought, Wu Chen decided against it. He didn't want the balance of their relationship to shift the wrong way. This was a matter of who controlled whom.

If all he wanted was Li Ruobing's body, he had managed that many times before. But because that had been his only goal, even when they slept together, Li Ruobing never saw it as a man winning her over. In her eyes, she had been the one using him.

A few times, Li Ruobing had even transferred a huge sum into Wu Chen's account afterward, treating it as payment for the night and for the chance to conceive. She couldn't know whether she would get pregnant, but on several occasions, she had paid him upfront.

Li Ruobing had decided never to marry, but that didn't mean she didn't want children. Independent and strong-minded, she had long thought of having a child and choosing excellent genes for that child.

And if she became pregnant, her family could no longer force her to marry Ding Ruilong. She might have to sever ties with them completely, but she would gain an entirely new life of freedom.

In short, Wu Chen had exploited Li Ruobing's predicament and her determination to fight to the bitter end each time. He had set off the timed bomb inside the Illusion Stone project early, letting Ding Ruilong obtain the product information on July 7, and made sure Li Ruobing knew. With a problem like that in her business, she had almost no chance of winning the Bet.

At the same time, Wu Chen had shown Li Ruobing his talents and abilities, making her see how capable he was. He had repeatedly hinted, almost brainwashing her, that unless she truly had another man—and preferably became pregnant—she could not escape marrying Ding Ruilong.

The idea suited Li Ruobing perfectly. She had long considered having children without marrying or depending on a man.

That was how Wu Chen had guided Li Ruobing, step by step, until she slept with him.

He had gotten her body, but their roles in the process were all wrong. Li Ruobing had become something like a rich woman paying dearly for a child. Wu Chen had become a pretty boy she used to defy her family, resist her fate, and escape her troubles—one who happened to meet her standards for excellent genes.

Now Wu Chen had a future, and he would not let that situation happen again.

Today, he had already shown Li Ruobing what made him unique and formidable.

That was enough for now. Before he reached her heart, scheming to get her body first would only make things worse.

Forget it.

Wu Chen continued down the alley, lost in thought.

After twenty or thirty meters, he took out a tissue and wiped his mouth.

Li Ruobing had left lipstick and saliva on it. Wu Chen took out his phone, its screen dark, and used the streetlight to inspect his lips.

Li Ruobing really had kissed like a novice, fumbling fiercely while pretending she knew what she was doing. Luckily, she hadn't broken the skin.

When he reached his building, Wu Chen glanced left and right, then went inside and climbed the stairs with one hand in his pocket.

"Lili, I'm starving. We haven't even had dinner. Can't we stop waiting and get something to eat?"

"No! We have to catch that liar. He has to come home eventually. When he does, we'll grab him and call the police. We'll say he tricked you into sleeping with him. He'll be finished!"

"But I wanted to!"

"You idiot! How was it what you wanted? Just say it wasn't! Besides, he lied to you. Are you really going to let him get away with that?"

"But yesterday was actually pretty fun. You have no idea how exciting he was—"

"Mu Qianqian, are you stupid? Why are you defending that liar? You gave him your first time, and everything he told you was a lie. Are you really okay with that? Don't you feel wronged?"

"No."

"Then aren't you upset?"

"No. What would I be upset about?"

"Then why were you calling me in such a panic today? And getting mad at me? Did you really think I'd arranged for him to be there? Do you think I'd do that to you?"

"I—I just wanted his phone number! Come on, Lili, can we eat first? I'm really hungry. I haven't eaten all day."

"Forget food! Stop acting like a little fool who'd help count the money after being sold. We're waiting until he gets back!"

Outside Wu Chen's apartment on the fifth floor, Mu Qianqian and Wan Li sat arm in arm on the stairwell steps, looking determined to wait as long as it took.

Mu Qianqian had wanted to leave for ages. She really was hungry. She had spent the morning trying and failing to reach Wan Li, and had been too angry to eat. Now she truly hadn't had a bite all day.

After Mu Qianqian told her best friend she had spent the night at Wu Chen's place, Wan Li had dragged her straight here. They had been waiting since a little after one in the afternoon. Mu Qianqian wanted to go, but Wan Li refused. She meant to stand up for her best friend and teach that liar a lesson he would never forget.

Thud!

A heavy footstep sounded from below. Someone was coming up. It might be the liar. Wan Li hurriedly whispered and gestured to Mu Qianqian, tightening her grip on the stun baton.

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