Trapped in the Same Day for a Thousand Years: A Hundred-Million-Yuan Villa, Given Away Just Like That!

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. "You're giving me the house?" Wu Chen smiled. He seemed neither delighted nor surprised, just perfectly calm.

"I helped you because of your sister, not because I wanted your house. Or because you call me brother-in-law."

"Come on, now," Li Ruotai said. "You're my brother-in-law, so we're family. But even brothers need to keep their accounts straight, don't they?"

"Brother-in-law, if you hadn't been there yesterday, I'd probably have lost hundreds of millions."

"And that's not even the main thing. If you hadn't tipped me off, I'd still be in the dark. One day, I might have been hauled off without warning."

"But let's set that aside and talk about the casino. You didn't just help me recover my stake. You won another hundred and thirty million from Shen Guangnian. This house is only worth a hundred million. I'm still coming up short."

"Besides," Li Ruotai said, shifting tack, "I'm thinking about your future, too."

"My future?" Wu Chen asked.

"Yeah." Li Ruotai nodded. "You and my sister aren't married yet, but she's pregnant. You'll get married sooner or later. And you're still living in your family's old house, right?"

"I know you've always kept a low profile, brother-in-law. You've got what it takes, but you don't show off." After flattering Wu Chen a little, Li Ruotai went on, "But when my sister marries you, she can't move into that old house with you, can she?"

"What would people say?"

"They'd look down on you. And if you moved into my sister's place, they'd say even worse things."

"You might not care what outsiders think, but it still wouldn't be good."

Li Ruotai could be impulsive and give no thought to the consequences when he got carried away. Most of the time, though, he was sharp and knew how to say things people liked hearing.

"So you need a decent place of your own, brother-in-law. At least one."

"And it's not just for you," Li Ruotai added. "It's for my sister, too. Think of it as an early wedding gift from your brother-in-law."

Li Ruotai knew Li Ruobing had sworn never to marry. Even if she chose a man, she might never marry him and remain his girlfriend forever. He was only saying this to give himself a good enough reason.

A reason to give Wu Chen the house.

Li Ruotai had thought it through carefully. He had mentioned it to Li Ruobing yesterday: Wu Chen had helped him, practically saved him, and he needed to repay him. He knew there were questions about Wu Chen, but that was a separate matter. Wu Chen had saved his life.

He had gone back and forth over whether to give him money directly. That felt crass, and a transfer of such a large sum could cause trouble. Li Ruotai knew his own situation. Wu Chen was his sister's man; if something happened to Li Ruotai later and investigators found huge transfers between them, Wu Chen could be implicated, and that could drag his sister in too. Giving cash felt strange for another reason. It would make it seem as though Wu Chen had helped him for his sister's sake, yet Li Ruotai still didn't consider Wu Chen family.

After weighing it up, Li Ruotai decided to give Wu Chen the villa he wasn't using in East Sea. He could justify it easily enough. The best part was that a house was a fixed asset. If he gave Wu Chen money and Wu Chen spent some of it on his sister, that would create a financial link.

But the house wouldn't be a gift from Li Ruotai to Wu Chen alone.

The villa was actually Li Ruotai's best property in East Sea. It was a courtyard-style villa, and the renovations alone had cost him more than ten million yuan.

He could bear to give it away because he no longer planned to move in.

He had originally intended to move in before the end of the year. But Wu Chen's arrival had alerted him to the danger he faced. After setting fire to Crown Club, he planned to keep a low profile and might even leave East Sea for a while until things blew over. There was no point living in the villa.

"All right. You've certainly thought things through for your sister," Wu Chen said, accepting the house.

Wu Chen did not accept gifts lightly. Accepting one meant owing someone a favor. But some gifts were worth accepting.

He could guess some of what Li Ruotai was thinking, and he understood that refusing the house would leave Li Ruotai uneasy.

A person couldn't appear to want nothing. That made others uneasy; it suggested they were after something bigger. That was why Wu Chen had let Li Ruobing see that he liked money. He would take this house.

For the next ten minutes or so, Li Ruotai showed Wu Chen around upstairs and down. If the house was going to be his, he ought to see it.

Afterward, they left Prestige East Sea Residence and went to the property registry to transfer ownership.

With no mortgage involved, the transfer was quick. Li Ruotai paid all the taxes and fees by card.

The villa was transferred into Wu Chen's name without costing him a cent.

They parted ways at the registry.

It was already past four in the afternoon. Li Ruotai had to return to the club, while Wu Chen went home.

He would put off working out at his old place for now. He needed to move, and he might as well start enjoying the villa right away. The furniture was already there, so he could move straight in. He only needed to bring his clothes and personal things. There wasn't much, and it wouldn't be difficult.

At ten that night, in the basement gym of Villa No. 36 at Prestige East Sea Residence, Wu Chen sat on a weight bench drenched in sweat. He set down the dumbbells in both hands, leaned back, and gulped for air.

Even after moving in, he had made full use of the few hours left before bed to work out.

That felt good!

Wu Chen tipped his head back and panted. Gradually, a smile spread across his face.

He was thinking again about everything that had happened in the two days since his fresh start.

In just two days, he had done no business and made no effort to earn money. He had only met a few people, said a few things, and lent a hand.

Yet someone had given him an eight-million-yuan sports car, and someone else had given him a hundred-million-yuan house.

Life was wonderful.

The next day, July 10, 2020, Li Ruobing arrived at the office early, around seven thirty in the morning, and called a meeting of her senior staff. It wasn't even time to start work, but she had told them at yesterday's meeting to mobilize the entire company to find a spokesperson. Every senior executive was to arrive early and report their progress.

Li Ruobing was sick to death of the whole affair. She had been so furious yesterday that she had called Ding Ruilong at noon and cursed his entire family. Ding Ruilong had merely sounded smug, as if to say, "You can't do it, so stop making a fuss." He had taken every insult without answering back.

That only made her angrier. The thought that she might one day marry a man like him made her want to vomit.

The meeting was still going after eight.

The elevator doors opened on the thirty-first floor of CBD Building Seven. The office building's property manager personally escorted a mysteriously dressed woman out.

She was dressed in elegant, expensive-looking clothes, with a wide-brimmed sunhat, sunglasses covering half her face, and a black mask. She looked determined not to be recognized.

Behind her came two people who looked like assistants and two men who looked like bodyguards.

"This way, Miss Tao." The property manager politely gestured for her to step out of the elevator.

The reception desk of Illusion Stone was on the left, and he led her toward it.

Receptionists generally had to start work early. The young woman at Illusion Stone's front desk had only just arrived, and the sight of these visitors struck her as odd.

It wasn't the visitors themselves. It was the fact that the property manager had personally come up with them.

High-end office buildings had strict access rules. There were generally two ways upstairs: swipe an access card or sign in on the ground floor.

Delivery workers, for instance, had to register as visitors downstairs unless someone had notified the building in advance.

That applied to other visitors too. But even for an important guest of a company in the building, the property staff would at most help them through the access gate. No one would escort them upstairs, least of all the manager.

Someone important to a tenant company was no one in particular to the property staff.

So the receptionist was puzzled.

"Miss Tao." The property manager ushered the woman all the way to the desk.

"Ma'am, who are you here to see?" the receptionist asked with a professional smile.

"I have an appointment with your president, Ms. Li," the mysterious woman said.

She did not remove her mask, though her voice was clear enough. It wasn't meant to be rude. She simply didn't want to attract a crowd.

When she had arrived downstairs, she had assumed Illusion Stone had notified the property staff and she could go straight up. But they had no record of it, so she had been forced to remove her mask to register. That had already caused a small commotion and prompted the property manager to escort her up himself.

She had put her mask back on in the elevator.

She did not want people getting on and off to recognize her. It would cause needless trouble and waste time.

"An appointment?" The receptionist began checking the appointment book.

Any meeting arranged in advance with Li Ruobing would be recorded at the front desk.

"My surname is Tao," the mysterious woman added.

The receptionist already knew her surname. The property manager had called her Miss Tao several times on the way over. But after turning two pages, the receptionist straightened and shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry, Miss Tao. I can't find a record of your appointment. Could you call our president to confirm?"

It was the standard response to someone without an appointment. It avoided giving offense, and if something had gone wrong, it wasn't the receptionist's fault that no booking appeared in the records.

The mysterious woman was confused. This was very strange.

She had been called back from Thailand at short notice and had arrived in East Sea only nine hours ago.

She had assumed her godfather wanted to help a friend again and had called her back to take an endorsement deal.

But after she returned, her godfather had repeatedly reminded her—warned her, even—that this was the company of his close friend's woman, the eldest granddaughter of the Li Family. She was to be polite and follow their lead. She had to cooperate fully on the endorsement, accept whatever fee they offered, and not bargain.

She could tell how serious he was. If she botched this, her godfather would pay for it.

Offending someone powerful was out of the question, so she had come ready to tread carefully. How, then, had they failed even to arrange an appointment?

It was one thing for the building's front desk not to have been notified. Even the company's receptionist knew nothing about it.

"Miss Tao, perhaps you could take a seat in the reception room." The receptionist was quick on her feet. Seeing the woman's discomfort, she said politely, "Our president is in a meeting and may not be able to answer your call. Please wait a moment. I'll let you know as soon as I've checked."

The receptionist could not simply call Li Ruobing to ask. At most, she could call the president's secretary. She had seen plenty of distinguished visitors and could tell this mysterious woman was no ordinary guest. She did intend to check, just not now. All the company's senior staff were in a meeting, and she didn't dare disturb them.

"All right." The mysterious woman hesitated, then started toward the reception room as directed. After only a couple of steps, she stopped and hurried back.

"Could you check again?"

As she spoke, she pulled down her mask, took off her sunglasses, and gave the receptionist a sweet smile. "You recognize me, don't you?"

"I really do have an appointment with your president."

She was afraid there had been some misunderstanding. If she waited too long and delayed their business, her godfather might call to ask what had happened. It would make her look as though she hadn't taken the matter seriously.

The receptionist froze.

It was Tao Manying, one of the biggest stars around. The receptionist immediately thought of the endorsement. For an actress and a cosmetics company, that was the obvious connection.

Li Ruobing had flown into a rage yesterday when their spokesperson was suddenly in a car accident. She had spent the morning and afternoon in meetings, mobilizing senior staff and every company contact to find a replacement. Word had spread through the entire company.

If Tao Manying had suddenly appeared, some remarkably capable executive must have reached her. The receptionist had no idea who could pull that off, much less why there was no appointment on record. "Oh! Miss Tao, please wait—just a moment!"

"There may have been a misunderstanding. Perhaps something went wrong when the president's secretary or assistant passed the details to us. I'll check right away."

The receptionist picked up the desk phone, then paused. She glanced at the internal contact list taped inside the front-desk partition. Several numbers were printed in larger, bold type: the mobile numbers of the company's key executives. Li Ruobing's was at the top.

The president was in a meeting, and an important one at that.

The receptionist thought for a moment, gritted her teeth, and dialed Li Ruobing's mobile directly.

On the thirty-second floor, more than thirty people were gathered in the company's main conference room. Heads of marketing, public relations, human resources, finance, and other departments were there, along with the managers of all three Illusion Stone production facilities, two small and one large. "Thirteen days. There are only thirteen days until the launch. I don't care what it takes or how you do it. I'll look for someone, and you will too."

Li Ruobing's face was cold as she tapped the table. "From research and development to production and every other preparation, we've put nearly two years into this launch. Two years of work. We're on the verge of releasing the product and starting sales. If it falls apart now, we'll have to postpone the company's listing, and the shares I promised you will be worthless."

"I pay you salaries far above the industry average. I give you shares. I don't do that so you can sit around doing nothing! If you can't even handle this, what do I need you for?"

By this point in the meeting, Li Ruobing was furious. Every executive had reported back, and not one had managed to contact a spokesperson who met her standards. She had only asked them to make contact; she would handle the negotiations herself. Yet they couldn't even do that.

She knew it wasn't that her staff were incompetent. Ding Ruilong was interfering behind the scenes. But running a company was like this: if the boss personally stepped in to solve every problem, even capable employees would eventually become useless.

When a company faced a major problem, everyone needed to work together to solve it.

And as the boss, Li Ruobing was right to put pressure on her staff and push them to do more.

The conference room was silent. None of the executives dared so much as breathe loudly.

"Have you all gone mute?"

"Say something!" Li Ruobing slapped the table. "Boss, I think if you could lower your requirements for the spokesperson a little..."

A middle-aged man seated to Li Ruobing's right cleared his throat and spoke cautiously.

Speaking up first had taken courage. He had come from the Li Family and had been among the first group sent to help Li Ruobing start her business. That was the only reason he dared.

Before he could finish, a phone rang. Everyone looked around. Who would dare leave their phone on during a meeting like this?

Li Ruobing, of course.

She picked up her phone and frowned at the screen. If it had been anyone else, she might have rejected the call.

She could ask about it later. But the call was from the company's front desk. The receptionist would never dare call her unless something important had happened.

"Speak," Li Ruobing said as she answered.

She listened for a moment, then shot to her feet. "Who?"

"Who did you say?"

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