Fate Brought Us Together!

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. Xianglong Wuhui really could summon Tao Manying back from Thailand with a single phone call. He had been supporting her for nearly ten years, and everything she had achieved was thanks to him.

Though Tao Manying was now famous and successful, in front of the man funding her career, she was still just a woman he supported.

If he could lift a woman to the heights of stardom, he could just as easily take it all away.

That was true, but a game alone was hardly enough reason to call Tao Manying back. The question was not whether he could, but whether it was worth it.

That was only an opening. "You know Tao Manying too?" Wu Chen replied.

"Know her? That's putting it mildly!" Xianglong Wuhui replied.

He did not elaborate. He was not foolish enough to tell someone that Tao Manying was his mistress and that he had made her a star.

"I really am leaving," Wu Chen replied again.

"You're still leaving? What's that supposed to mean?"

"You don't believe me? Are you looking down on me?" Dragon Subduer Without Regret seemed to have lost his temper.

"Look, my friend, it's not that I don't believe you. We met playing on a private server, and just when I happen to need help, you happen to have an actress working for you? Do you run a talent agency?"

"I don't run a talent agency, but I have connections."

"And what's all this about coincidence? Hardly anyone plays this game anymore. The fact that we met is fate. Fate, you understand?"

"My friend."

For Wu Chen, it truly was not a coincidence.

Li Ruobing had said she wanted Tao Manying, but Wu Chen had been the first to bring up her name. She had come to mind because, before speaking to Li Ruobing, he had considered which popular actress he could reach most quickly. He had thought of Tao Manying first because the man supporting her had lived in East Sea for years.

From Xianglong Wuhui's perspective, it might not seem like a coincidence yet. But the more he talked with Wu Chen, the more likely he was to think so—even to grow suspicious.

So Wu Chen had brought up the coincidence first and called their meeting fate.

But what Xianglong Wuhui said next would show him just how strong that connection was.

"How about this? Let's stop fighting for now. Come out and pick somewhere in East Sea, or I'll come to you. I'll have someone contact the private-server owner and shut down Server Three temporarily. I'll find you a spokesperson. Once that's done, I'll have them bring the server back up, and we can fight again. We've each poured twenty million into this. We need a winner. If I don't sort this out for you today, I'll take your surname."

Xianglong Wuhui had a quick temper and acted on a whim. In four words: rich enough not to care.

Wu Chen knew his personality. He had planned for this to happen.

He had been waiting for Xianglong Wuhui to suggest meeting.

If Xianglong Wuhui had not done so, Wu Chen would have provoked him into it.

"All right. My woman needs this urgently. If you really can help, that would be great," Wu Chen said.

"136555." Xianglong Wuhui sent a phone number, then typed, "That's my number. If it's convenient, come to Qinyuan Tea House in the Central District. I'll wait for you."

"Sure."

Once the call was over, Wu Chen looked up at the internet café. More than eighty people were waiting for him.

He had told them to log off, but not to leave. They did not know if he had more instructions.

Many of them did not even know who Wu Chen was, only that his surname was Wu. But Wang Zhuang, their boss's boss, treated him with respect, so they did not dare slight him.

"You can all go. We're done here. You did well today. I'll tell Zhuang," Wu Chen said loudly as he stood. He dismissed them; he would not be playing this game again.

Wu Chen was certain that after Xianglong Wuhui met him and they talked, the man would no longer care about settling their score in the game.

At Wu Chen's words, the entire group—mostly young people, with a few middle-aged men among them—stood up.

"Thank you, Mr. Wu."

"Then we'll be off. Goodbye, Mr. Wu."

Wu Chen watched them shut down their computers and head out, paying them little further attention.

He sat down again and checked the game. Members of the Dragon Soars Across the World Guild were logging off in droves.

Suddenly, the game screen flickered. Before Wu Chen could quit, he was disconnected.

Xianglong Wuhui had evidently spoken to the private-server owner. Server Three had been temporarily shut down, with its data preserved.

Xianglong Wuhui did not know the owner, but after he had spent over ten million on the server, the owner would probably treat him like royalty. One phone call was enough to get the server shut down on command.

About half an hour later, a blue Lamborghini roared down Chunyuan Avenue in the Central District. It slowed and pulled up at the curb.

Wu Chen got out and looked up at the teahouse. The old-fashioned sign read Qingyuan Tea House. This was the place.

Teahouses were generally upscale places to meet. They were more common in the South and relatively rare in Northern China.

In East Sea, Jingyuan Tea House ranked among the finest. A pot of tea started at 888 yuan, and the expensive ones cost tens of thousands.

East Sea was a northern city in the East China Region, and locals rarely visited teahouses. But when wealthy business owners entertained clients from the South, knowing they liked to discuss business over tea, they brought them here.

Wu Chen walked inside. As soon as he entered the First Floor lobby, a neatly dressed young woman with pleasant looks approached him. She gave him a professional smile, nodded, and asked, "Sir, do you have a reservation?"

Her voice was gentle. Although the First Floor lobby had seats, they were mostly for guests to rest while waiting. Serious business took place in private rooms.

"My friend's here, in Dreaming of West Lake," Wu Chen said casually, glancing around. Dreaming of West Lake was the name of a private room. "Are you Mr. Wu?"

"Yes." "Please follow me."

On his way there, Wu Chen had briefly spoken with Xianglong Wuhui, who had called to tell him the room name and ask for his surname. The receptionist led Wu Chen upstairs. The décor was old-fashioned throughout, and the place offered plenty of privacy.

Two broad-shouldered bodyguards stood outside Dreaming of West Lake. As the receptionist approached with Wu Chen, they turned and fixed him with sharp looks.

"This is the room, Mr. Wu."

The receptionist pushed the door open and gestured for Wu Chen to enter.

Since the receptionist had brought him, the bodyguards naturally did not stop him.

"Thank you."

Wu Chen thanked her and went in.

The spacious room was much larger than a restaurant private room that could seat a dozen or more people. Yet it held only one table and four wooden chairs, along with decorative flower stands and folding screens.

A middle-aged man in his early forties sat at the table drinking tea. He wore a plain turtleneck, baggy shorts, and slippers.

He was tall and somewhat overweight, though not excessively so. He gave an impression of considerable heft.

His face was covered in stubble, and his hair looked as though it had not been washed in days. He appeared sloppy and greasy. Either bodyguard outside had a hundred times more presence than he did.

At first glance, he looked like an ordinary middle-aged man one might see anywhere. Perhaps he had once been fit, but after marrying and having children, he had let himself go and stopped caring how he dressed. Life's petty demands had worn down the edge of his youthful bravado, leaving him coarse and unremarkable, destined to achieve little.

That was the impression he gave. No one would take him for a man of wealth and power. In fact, he was extraordinarily rich.

One detail stood out: a faint scar on the right side of his neck. It was his most distinctive feature and why he habitually wore high collars—to hide it a little.

As far as Wu Chen knew, the scar came from a car accident many years ago.

As Wu Chen entered, the shabby middle-aged man turned toward the door. Both men froze at the sight of each other, though for different reasons.

The middle-aged man was startled by how young Wu Chen was. He had expected a wealthy man around his own age who shared his hobby—perhaps a little younger, but not by much.

They had spoken briefly on the phone. Wu Chen's voice had sounded youthful, but his manner had been composed, so the man had guessed he was in his early thirties. It had never occurred to him that Wu Chen was only in his early twenties.

"So it's you, Boss Lei," Wu Chen said first, looking surprised. He did it deliberately. He wanted the recognition to feel natural, as though their meeting really was fate.

"Chen... Wu Chen?" the shabby man asked.

He knew Wu Chen's name probably contained "Chen," because Wu Chen's character was named Server-Dominating King Chen. He had asked for Wu Chen's surname earlier.

"Yes, that's me."

Wu Chen nodded and walked in. The bodyguards closed the door behind him.

"You know me?" the shabby man asked, following Wu Chen with his eyes.

"Hongfa Industries. The Lei Family's second son. I've heard plenty about you. We really do seem to be connected," Wu Chen said with a smile. His expression shifted subtly on the last words.

The shabby man noticed. Wu Chen had meant for him to.

After speaking, Wu Chen straightened his suit and sat across from him.

Quite a few companies were called Hongfa Industries. It was a common name, though their full registered names would differ by location or line of business.

"Industries" was a broad term covering manufacturers and even some high-tech companies.

The Hongfa Industries Wu Chen meant was Hongfa Weixing Precision Group of Guan'an County, Huaixi City. It ranked among the nation's top ten industrial groups in contract manufacturing and was involved in fields ranging from air-conditioner research to auto-parts production. Its total assets now exceeded sixty billion yuan.

The Hongfa Lei Family, also known as the Lei family, collectively held thirty-one percent of Hongfa Group. Together, they were its largest shareholder and controlled it in practice.

Hongfa Group had begun as a small, poorly performing state-owned factory in Guan'an County, Huaixi City, and had nearly gone bankrupt.

In the early 1990s, as privatization swept the country, Lei Zhenhui, then director of the Hongfa Machinery Factory, scraped together the money to buy it. He changed its business strategy, and it grew rapidly.

Over its thirty-year rise, Hongfa had faced bankruptcy several times, accepted multiple rounds of financing, and eventually acquired another large industrial group, Weixing Industries.

Those financing rounds and acquisitions had repeatedly diluted the Lei Family's stake to thirty-one percent, but control had remained firmly in their hands. Shares and voting rights were not the same thing.

Hongfa Industries Group's chairman was still Lei Zhenghui, now nearly seventy, though he had largely stepped back. His eldest son, Lei You, managed its operations as general manager. The man sitting across from Wu Chen was Lei Zhenghui's second and youngest son, Lei Cheng.

Lei Cheng was forty-two. He was the company's seventh-largest individual shareholder, holding five percent of Hongfa Group.

He was also deputy general manager of Hongfa Weixing and both chairman and general manager of Donghai Fumao Group, a Hongfa subsidiary.

He had lived in East Sea for years and had other businesses of his own, though none approached the scale of the family enterprise.

"My reputation?" Lei Cheng laughed. The shabby, greasy man looked cheerful, but Wu Chen heard a note of self-mockery. Still smiling, Lei Cheng asked, "Which family are you from?"

"What do you mean, which family?" Wu Chen asked. He pretended not to understand, though he did.

Lei Cheng had already begun guessing which powerful family Wu Chen belonged to. He could see no other explanation.

Someone so young who could pour over ten million into a private-server game without blinking had to be the heir of a fabulously wealthy family.

"Not from a family?" Lei Cheng frowned, puzzled. After a moment, he picked up the teapot and smiled. "Forget it. I won't ask."

"But tell me, young man, how did someone your age end up playing such an old game? I never expected you to be this young. You're more than ten years younger than I imagined."

As he spoke, he refilled his own cup and poured one for Wu Chen.

There was only one pot and two cups on the table. "Just playing for fun."

"A lot has happened lately. I've been under too much pressure, so I wanted a game where I could let loose. The last time I played it, I was in fourth grade," Wu Chen said with a smile.

"Blowing off steam, huh?" Lei Cheng laughed, then sighed. "You rich young people really know how to spend. You're worse than I am. Well, drink up."

Wu Chen smiled and glanced toward the door. "Let's have some tea first."

Lei Cheng lifted his cup in invitation.

Wu Chen picked up his cup but said, "Boss Lei, those two bodyguards outside don't look ordinary. And you're still being this careful? Afraid your brother will kill you?"

Lei Cheng froze with the cup at his lips. His gaze snapped to Wu Chen, suddenly sharp.

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