Li Ruobing Lost Her Composure

Welcome to Trapped in the Same Day for a Thousand Years, produced exclusively by Feilu Novel Network, written by Sang Ze and performed by Wang Xiaomo and Lao He. "Come to Building 7 in Nancheng CBD." The call connected, and Li Ruobing spoke at once, her tone icy and leaving no room for refusal.

"I'm already downstairs," Wu Chen said calmly.

Li Ruobing's breathing hitched. "I'll send someone to bring you up."

"Underground garage. White Lamborghini." Wu Chen hung up.

For a stranger to meet someone as important as Li Ruobing was all but impossible.

But for Wu Chen, meeting any prominent figure in Donghai was easy. All he needed was a phone call and a few carefully chosen words.

He knew the secrets of everyone who mattered. All he had to do was mention one, and they would take the bait.

In their earlier call, what had truly prompted Li Ruobing to call back was the wager.

Very few people knew about it. There was no way an outsider should have heard of it.

Before long, a tall, thin man in a black suit and sunglasses came to the garage and knocked on the white Lamborghini's window.

Wu Chen knew him too. Zhou Huan was one of Li Ruobing's top bodyguards, a former reconnaissance soldier from an elite special forces unit. He was married and had a five-year-old son.

"Let's go," Wu Chen said as he got out.

Zhou Huan sized him up. Wu Chen was dressed plainly and looked especially young, like a university student without much money.

Zhou Huan wondered why his boss had sent him down to meet someone like this, but he asked no questions.

"This way, sir." The bodyguard gestured ahead.

Nancheng CBD was Donghai's business district, full of upscale office towers with tight security. Without an employee card, no one could get upstairs.

Zhou Huan took Wu Chen into an elevator, and they went up to the thirty-first floor.

Rent there was exorbitant. Most start-ups rented only a small office, but when Li Ruobing had founded her company there three years earlier, she had leased five whole floors.

And that was only one part of her business. She had also invested one billion yuan in a massive factory in the industrial district.

With all five floors belonging to the same company, they had been decorated as a whole.

The Illusion Color Fashion Group logo was everywhere, as were people coming and going.

The offices bustled with activity, and attractive men and women were everywhere.

The bodyguard led Wu Chen up the stairs to the thirty-third floor. There were hardly any employees in sight now. Instead, black-suited bodyguards stood everywhere.

If Wu Chen hadn't known whom he was meeting, he might have thought it was some underworld boss.

Li Ruobing was a powerful figure, but she had no ties to the underworld. Publicly, she was simply a celebrated entrepreneur and CEO in Donghai City. Two black-suited bodyguards stood on either side of the doors to her office on the thirty-third floor like sentries.

"Boss, he's here," Zhou Huan called inside.

"Come in!" An icy voice came from the office.

Zhou Huan brought Wu Chen in.

The office was enormous, with a beautiful view through its floor-to-ceiling windows, but it held little furniture. The guest sofa stood far from the desk.

"You're the one who called me." Li Ruobing set down her pen and studied Wu Chen.

She was surprised. He looked nothing like she had imagined. A stranger had called her out of nowhere, spoken of things only a handful of people knew, and remained perfectly calm despite knowing who she was. She had expected a mature, steady man, probably middle-aged. Wu Chen was far too young. He looked like a student.

Wu Chen studied Li Ruobing too. She was tall and slender, with long, straight black hair and gold-rimmed glasses. Her makeup gave her a cool, striking look, and her presence was formidable.

Even sitting there in silence, she radiated authority and seemed hard to approach. Her commanding air made it easy to overlook her beauty.

"A pleasure to meet you, Boss Li." Wu Chen smiled, then began strolling around the office as though he pleased.

He looked around as casually as if he were in his own home, walking wherever he liked.

He even circled the desk, passing behind Li Ruobing.

Zhou Huan glanced at Li Ruobing, silently asking what she wanted him to do.

Wu Chen was acting far too boldly. He hadn't actually done anything, but behaving so casually in front of Li Ruobing was brazen enough.

"Wait outside," Li Ruobing told Zhou Huan.

Zhou Huan left.

Li Ruobing looked at Wu Chen, who had already settled onto the sofa and crossed his legs.

"Wu Chen, is it?" Li Ruobing picked up a document from her desk.

"Twenty-two. Graduated from Donghai University with a degree in computer science. Your father is Wu Dahai, and your mother is Zhang Xiujuan. They run a noodle shop in a small county town."

"You also have a younger sister named Wu Jiao. She's in high school."

Wu Chen smiled and applauded. "Impressive, Boss Li. You found out all that in less than an hour."

He wasn't surprised. He knew what resources Li Ruobing had. His phone number was registered under his real name, so someone with money and influence could easily investigate his background. It was only a matter of how long it took.

"Hmph. I thought someone had taken your SIM card. I didn't expect it really was you—a perfectly ordinary university graduate." Li Ruobing tossed the file aside and stared straight at him. Naturally, she had plenty of questions.

Wu Chen had no connections. He was too ordinary. "Who I am doesn't matter, does it?" Wu Chen tilted his head and smiled. "I'll get straight to the point. Give me ten million yuan, and I'll tell you who the traitor is."

"Who sent you?" Li Ruobing asked. She seemed uninterested in his talk of a traitor and far more concerned about Wu Chen himself.

"No one. You can think of me as an information broker. I know a great deal, including things you'd care about. You pay me, I give you the answer. A fair trade," Wu Chen said.

"A stranger comes to me out of nowhere, says something about a traitor, demands ten million yuan, and calls it a fair trade. Do you think that's possible?" Li Ruobing smiled, then her expression turned cold. "I'm warning you. If you don't give me an answer I'm satisfied with, you won't leave here alive today."

As she spoke, Li Ruobing pulled open a drawer, took something out, and slammed it down.

Bang!

A black handgun lay on the desk.

This woman was always direct. And she really would kill someone in her office.

"Wow. You want to kill me?" Wu Chen feigned a sharp intake of breath, then gave a surprised laugh.

He raised his hand and shook what he held. "How are you going to do that without this?"

In Wu Chen's hand was a magazine.

Li Ruobing's expression changed. She glanced at her handgun. Sure enough, its magazine was gone.

"When did you—" Li Ruobing sprang to her feet.

Her eyes widened, uncertainty flickering across her face.

She remembered Wu Chen wandering around when he first entered and circling her desk. That was the only time he had gone near it. But how had he taken the magazine?

The gun had been in a drawer. How had he known it was there?

Even if he had known, how could he have taken the magazine in the instant he walked past while leaving the gun in the drawer?

"Calm down, Boss Li. This isn't like you." Smiling, Wu Chen tossed the magazine onto the coffee table. "I mean you no harm. I came for the money. This is a transaction. I hope you understand."

Li Ruobing slowly sat back in her chair. She realized she had lost her composure.

Losing her composure in front of a strange man—just as Wu Chen had said, it wasn't like her.

"Can we talk now?" Wu Chen asked.

"The traitor?" Li Ruobing had calmed down completely.

"You mean?"

"There's a traitor close to you. For ten million, I'll tell you who it is." Wu Chen repeated his price.

In truth, he had brought up money and stressed that this was business only to lower Li Ruobing's guard.

Everything needed a motive. If Wu Chen was going to turn up unannounced, he needed a reason. Money was a perfectly plausible one.

To grow close to someone quickly, he needed to understand them and choose exactly the right moment.

First impressions mattered enormously.

During the endlessly repeating July 7, Wu Chen had slept with one beautiful woman after another soon after meeting them. He had succeeded because, after investigating them, he knew when to approach so they felt no suspicion or need to guard against him.

This time, he couldn't lay the groundwork before meeting Li Ruobing, and he didn't want to reset July 8 over and over. So he had chosen another way to approach her.

It had left Li Ruobing deeply wary of him, but given how well Wu Chen knew her, getting her into bed would still be easy.

It had been more than a hundred years since he had last slept with Li Ruobing. Truth be told, Wu Chen missed her.

"Ten million?"

"What kind of traitor do you think is worth ten million to me?" Li Ruobing gave him an assertive smile. "And even if you're telling the truth and there really is a traitor close to me, I can investigate on my own. I don't need you."

"You've been investigating the traitor for quite some time, haven't you? Have you found them?" Wu Chen asked.

"You—" Li Ruobing's expression changed again.

He was right. She had known for a long time that someone close to her was a traitor. She had been investigating, but had found nothing.

"There's only half a month until the new product launch. The traitor will try to get hold of the research data before then. Your rival will get ahead of you and ruin the launch. You don't want to lose the wager, do you?" Wu Chen looked certain he had her cornered.

To win over a forceful woman like Li Ruobing, he had to be even more forceful. Not with empty arrogance, but with facts and the ability to back them up.

Li Ruobing stared at Wu Chen without expression.

"Ten million, and I'll tell you who the traitor is," Wu Chen continued. "Add another ten million, and I'll tell you something about your younger brother. His safety is at stake. Something's about to happen to him. Did you know?"

"Trying to scare me?" Li Ruobing raised an eyebrow and adjusted her gold-rimmed glasses.

"No, no. I'm not trying to scare you. I know threats and persuasion don't work on you. You'd even stand up to your grandfather in public, wouldn't you? I can't threaten you." Wu Chen kept smiling.

"You seem to know me well." Li Ruobing narrowed her eyes.

"Of course. I'm an information broker. I make sure I know anyone I approach extremely well," Wu Chen said with a smile.

"Then tell me. What else do you know about me?"

"Are you sure you want to hear it?"

"Li Ruobing, twenty-seven. Chairwoman and CEO of Illusion Color Fashion Group. Graduated from Harvard Business School."

"You returned to China at twenty-three and founded Illusion Color Fashion Group, which focuses on high-end cosmetics. Your net worth is currently around two billion yuan."

Wu Chen seemed to stop there. "Is that all?" Li Ruobing asked mockingly. What kind of intelligence was that? Anyone could find it online.

"You're the eldest granddaughter of the Li Family's main branch, but because you're a girl, you were never favored."

"Your grandfather favors boys over girls. You felt the difference in how you were treated from a very young age, but you refused to accept it. You vowed to prove yourself—to show everyone a woman could be stronger than a man."

As Wu Chen went on, Li Ruobing's expression shifted again and again.

"You've always had a tough, boyish streak. You got into group fights as a child, and even the boys were afraid of you. Even your beloved younger brother, who grew up with you, was afraid of you."

"You refused to bow to fate, so you worked hard at school and did well."

"But in the end, you couldn't escape the curse of a powerful family."

"When you were twenty-three, your family lured you home by saying your mother was gravely ill. In reality, they wanted you back to get married."

"Your grandfather had arranged for you to marry Ding Ruilong, the young heir of the Nanguang Ding Family."

"Your mother had always taken your side. She came from the Northwest Sun Family and had married your father as part of an alliance between the two families. Because her own family was powerful, she had a say in your household. But this time, even she opposed you. She wanted you to marry Ding Ruilong. You refused. When your family tried to force you, you overturned the table in front of everyone and called your grandfather an old bastard. Your uncle slapped you, and you slapped him right back."

"Honestly, I really admire you." Wu Chen smiled before continuing. "You meant to walk away, but your mother used that to pressure you. In the end, you and Ding Ruilong made a wager. You would each start a business in an industry your families weren't already involved in and compete on your own merits. Whoever built the bigger company in five years would win. That was why you founded Illusion Color Fashion Group."

"You'd said you would never marry. You thought a woman who would never marry was pitiful, but later you changed your tune: if you did marry, it would only be to a man stronger than you. So if you lose, you have to marry Ding Ruilong."

"If you win, you'll be free to live your own life. No one will force you again."

"You've worked incredibly hard these past few years. Maybe you really are talented, because you've carved out a place for yourself in fashion and cosmetics."

"Over those four years, you also had three boyfriends. All three eventually left you. One killed himself, and the other two lost everything."

"But none of them was really your boyfriend. You deliberately used them as shields."

"Ding Ruilong is petty. Even though he knew they were only pretend boyfriends, he went after them anyway. That's why no man dares get too close to you now."

Wu Chen paused and watched Li Ruobing's remarkable expression.

"You're not nearsighted," he added, looking her over. "You wear those glasses to create distance between yourself and others. Your forcefulness, your domineering manner, your refusal to smile—much of it is an act."

Li Ruobing suddenly clenched her fists, a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"I know. Now that I've told you all this, there are only two possible outcomes for me. I know too much about you, and that makes you feel threatened. So you'll either control me or make me disappear. Right?" Wu Chen laid her thoughts bare.

"You know that, and you still dared say it?" Li Ruobing shot back.

"Fortune favors the bold, doesn't it?" Wu Chen smiled. "I also know you usually keep three guns in your office. Do you think the other two are on me right now?"

Li Ruobing's fists tightened until her knuckles turned white. She hated this feeling—being seen through, being held down by someone else.

Just then, a knock sounded at the door, easing the tension in the office.

"Come in," Li Ruobing said coldly.

The person who entered was an expert.

The middle-aged man hurried in with a folder in his hand. He glanced at Wu Chen but paid him no further attention as he strode to the desk.

"Boss, you need to sign this document."

The middle-aged expert spoke.

He was Feng Yan, Li Ruobing's senior assistant. Only a trusted aide would knock and interrupt while she was talking to someone.

Li Ruobing scanned the document, flipped through a few pages, then picked up a pen and began to sign.

Just then, Wu Chen sprang to his feet. He grabbed the magazine from the coffee table, strode to the desk, picked up the pistol, loaded the magazine, chambered a round, and released the safety in one swift motion.

Too fast. Too sudden!

Wu Chen seized Feng Yan by the collar, slammed his head onto the desk, and pressed the muzzle against the back of his skull.

"How much did Ding pay you to betray your boss?"

As he spoke, Wu Chen struck Feng Yan hard on the back of the head with the gun, drawing blood.

Startled, Li Ruobing rose and took a step back. "Someone, get in here!"

The door flew open. Seeing what was happening, the bodyguards outside drew their guns and aimed at Wu Chen's back.