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 looked neither delighted nor surprised, just perfectly calm.

"I helped you because of your sister, not for your house, or because I expected anything from you, my brother-in-law."

"Come on."

Li Ruotai said, "Sure, you're my brother-in-law, and we're family. But even brothers should keep their accounts straight, right?"

"If you hadn't been there yesterday, I might've lost several hundred million."

"And that's not even the important part. If you hadn't tipped me off, I'd still be in the dark. I might've ended up behind bars one day without knowing what hit me."

"Let's put that aside. At the casino, you didn't just help me recover my stake—you won another 130 million from Shen Guangnian. This house is only worth a hundred million. I'm still giving you less than I owe you."

"And 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 tie the knot sooner or later. And you're still living in your family's old house, aren't you?"

"I know you've always kept a low profile. You've got talent, but you don't show off."

After flattering Wu Chen a little, Li Ruotai continued, "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."

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

Li Ruotai could be impulsive and reckless, but most of the time he was sharp and knew exactly what to say to put someone at ease.

"So you need a decent place of your own. At least one."

Li Ruotai added, "This isn't just for you. It's for my sister too. Consider it 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 might remain his girlfriend forever. He was only saying this to give himself a good enough reason

to give Wu Chen the house.

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

He had gone back and forth over whether to give him money outright. That felt too crude. A transfer that large could also cause trouble, given Li Ruotai's circumstances. Wu Chen was his sister's man; if Li Ruotai ran into trouble later and investigators found a huge money transfer between them, Wu Chen could be implicated, and so could his sister. Besides, handing over cash would feel strange, as though Wu Chen had helped him for his sister's sake, but Li Ruotai still didn't consider him family.

After weighing it all, Li Ruotai decided to give Wu Chen this vacant villa in East Sea. He could easily justify it. The greatest advantage was that a house was a fixed asset. If he gave Wu Chen money and Wu Chen spent some of it on his sister, it would create a financial link.

A house, on the other hand, wouldn't simply be a one-sided gift from Li Ruotai to Wu Chen.

It was also Li Ruotai's best property in East Sea: a courtyard-style villa. He had spent more than ten million yuan on the renovations alone.

He was willing to part with it because he no longer intended to move in.

His original plan had been to move in before the end of the year. But Wu Chen's arrival had made him aware of the danger he was in. After burning down Crown Club, he planned to keep a low profile and might even leave East Sea for a while to let things cool down. There was no reason to move into the villa now.

"All right. You've certainly thought things through for your sister." Wu Chen agreed to accept the house.

Wu Chen did not accept gifts lightly; accepting one meant owing someone a favor. But there were times when he ought to accept.

He could guess some of Li Ruotai's thoughts, and he understood that refusing the villa would only make Li Ruotai uneasy.

A person couldn't appear to want nothing. That made others feel unsafe, as though he had some greater scheme in mind. It was why Wu Chen had shown Li Ruobing that he liked money. He would accept this house.

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

Then they left East Sea Splendor and went to the property registration office to transfer ownership.

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

He had the villa transferred into Wu Chen's name without letting Wu Chen pay a cent.

They parted ways at the property registration office.

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

He would put off working out at the old house for now. He needed to move, and he intended to move straight in. He might as well enjoy it. The furniture was already there, so the villa was ready for him to arrive with nothing but a bag. He only needed to bring over his personal items and clothes. There wasn't much, so it would be easy.

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

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, breathing hard, and a smile slowly spread across his face.

He was thinking again about everything that had happened in the two days since his new life began.

In just two days, he had done no business and made no effort to earn money. He had merely met a few people, said a few things, and helped out a little.

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 company early, at around seven-thirty in the morning, and called a meeting of her senior executives. The workday had not even begun, but at yesterday's meeting she had ordered the entire company to search for a spokesperson. She had told every executive to come in early and report their progress to her.

The matter was driving Li Ruobing up the wall. At noon yesterday, she had been so angry that she called Ding Ruilong and cursed him and his entire family. Ding Ruilong had smugly told her to give up and stop making a fuss. Whatever she threw at him, he refused to fight back.

That only made her angrier. The thought that she might someday marry a man like him made her sick.

The meeting was still going after eight.

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

She wore an elegant, lavish outfit, an oversized sunhat, sunglasses that hid half her face, and a black mask. She looked determined not to be recognized.

Behind her came two men who looked like assistants or bodyguards.

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

He then led her toward the reception desk of Brilliant Colors on the left.

Receptionists generally started work early. The receptionist at Brilliant Colors had only just arrived and found the visitor's appearance strange.

It wasn't the visitor herself that was strange. It was the fact that the building's property manager had personally brought her up.

Upscale office buildings controlled access strictly. There were usually two ways to get upstairs: swipe a card or register on the first floor.

Delivery workers, for example, had to register on the first floor unless someone had arranged for them to come up in advance.

Visitors were no different. Even for an important guest of a company in the building, the property staff would at most swipe them through. No one would escort them upstairs, much less the property manager himself.

An important guest to a tenant company meant nothing to building management.

That was why the receptionist was puzzled.

"Miss Tao." The property manager continued ushering her forward until they reached the desk.

"Ma'am, who are you here to see?"

The receptionist gave her a professional smile and asked politely.

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

She had not removed her mask, but her voice was clear enough. She wasn't trying to be rude; she simply did not want to draw a crowd.

Downstairs, she had assumed Brilliant Colors had notified building management and that she could go straight up. Instead, they had no record of her visit. She had been forced to take off her mask to register, causing a commotion and prompting the property manager to escort her upstairs personally.

She had put her mask back on in the elevator.

She did not want people getting on and off at each floor to recognize her. That would only cause unnecessary trouble and waste time.

"An appointment."

The receptionist began checking the appointment book.

Any meeting arranged in advance with Li Ruobing would have been recorded there.

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

The receptionist knew her surname; the property manager had repeatedly called her Miss Tao. But after turning a couple of pages, she straightened and shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry, Miss Tao, but I can't find a record of your appointment. Could you call our president to confirm it?"

It was the standard response to a visitor without an appointment. It avoided offending anyone, and if something was wrong, it wasn't the receptionist's fault that no record existed.

The mysterious woman was baffled. This was very strange.

She had been summoned back from Thailand without warning and had arrived in East Sea only nine hours ago.

She had assumed her godfather was helping a friend again and had called her back to take on an endorsement.

But after she returned, her godfather had repeatedly reminded her—even warned her—that this was the company of his close friend's woman, the eldest granddaughter of the Li Family. He had told her to be polite, behave herself, cooperate fully with the other party on the endorsement, and accept whatever fee they offered without bargaining.

She could tell how serious he was. She understood that if she botched this, she would cause trouble for her godfather.

Offending someone that important was out of the question. She had come cautiously, yet now it seemed there wasn't even an appointment. How could that be?

It was one thing for the building reception desk not to have been notified, but even the company's receptionist knew nothing.

"Miss Tao, perhaps you could wait in the reception room."

The receptionist was quick-witted. Seeing the mysterious woman's unease, she politely added, "Our president is in a meeting and may not be able to take your call. Please wait a moment. I'll check and let you know as soon as I can."

The receptionist could not call Li Ruobing directly to ask; at most, she could call the president's secretary. She had seen enough important guests to sense that this mysterious woman was no ordinary visitor. She did mean to check, but not right now: every senior executive was in a meeting, and she dared not interrupt 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.

"Please check again."

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

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

She was worried there had been a misunderstanding. If she sat waiting and delayed the other party's business, her godfather might call to ask what had happened and think she had not taken the job seriously.

The receptionist froze.

It was Tao Manying, one of the biggest stars around. The receptionist immediately thought of the endorsement. When a female celebrity visited a cosmetics company, that was the obvious reason.

Yesterday, Li Ruobing had been furious about the original spokesperson's sudden car accident. She had held meetings all morning and afternoon, mobilizing every executive and every company connection to find a replacement. Word had spread throughout the company.

So if Tao Manying had suddenly shown up, some impressively connected executive must have reached her. The receptionist had no idea who could pull that off—or 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 information to us. I'll check right away."

The receptionist picked up the desk phone, then paused. She glanced at the internal contact list posted behind the reception counter. Several numbers were printed in larger, bolder type: the mobile numbers of the company's core executives. Li Ruobing's was at the top.

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

After a moment's thought, the receptionist gritted her teeth and dialed Li Ruobing's mobile number directly.

In the main conference room of Brilliant Colors on the thirty-second floor, more than thirty people were in a meeting. They included the heads of marketing, public relations, human resources, finance, and other divisions, as well as the managers of all three Brilliant Colors production facilities, two small and one large. "Thirteen days," Li Ruobing said. "We have only thirteen days until the launch. I don't care what methods you use. I'll look for someone, and you will too."

Her face was cold as she tapped the table. "From research and development to production and every other preparation, we've spent almost two years on this launch. Two years of work. We're finally on the verge of releasing the product and putting it on sale. If we fail at the last hurdle, the company's listing will have to be postponed, and the shares I promised you will be gone."

"I pay you far above the industry average. I've offered you shares. I don't pay you to sit around doing nothing! If you can't handle even 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 contacted a spokesperson who met her standards. All they had been asked to do was make contact; Li Ruobing would handle the negotiations herself. Yet they could not even reach anyone.

Li Ruobing knew her people were not incompetent. Ding Ruilong was working against them behind the scenes. But running a company was like that: if the boss personally handled every problem, even capable employees would eventually become useless.

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

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

The conference room fell silent. None of the executives dared breathe too 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 first took courage. He dared to do it only because he was from the Li Family and had been among the first people sent to help Li Ruobing build her business.

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 anyone else had called, she might have rejected it immediately.

She could ask them what they wanted afterward. But this call was from the company's reception desk. The receptionist would not dare call her without a very good reason. The fact that she had called anyway meant it had to be important.

"Speak." Li Ruobing answered without preamble.

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

"Who did you say?"

That concludes this episode. Please keep listening!