Trapped in the Same Day for a Thousand Years

Chapter 058: A Hundred-Million-Yuan Villa, Given Away Just Like That!

by cnwebnovels

“Not exactly urgent. If you don’t have time, Brother-in-law, we can talk another day. If you do, come on over.” Li Ruotai’s tone was strange—like he’d suddenly remembered something he needed to say, yet not something pressing.

“I’ve got time.” Wu Chen said it easily, then thought for a moment and asked, “You at the club?”

“At the club. Mm… how about this, Brother-in-law—since you’re free, come to Donghai Huafu. The complex near First Hospital. I’ll head over now too. We’ll meet at the gate.”

“All right.” Wu Chen was just as straightforward.

He had nothing better to do anyway. He’d been planning to go home and work out; a little business first was no trouble.

Wu Chen knew Donghai Huafu. Full name: Zunrong · Donghai Huafu, a high-end villa complex built five years ago by Zunrong Group, one of the country’s top ten real estate developers.

Zunrong might only rank in the top ten nationally, but the group was unusual—it built nothing but high-end residential projects, and its reputation was spotless. Its houses, naturally, weren’t cheap either.

But money was the one thing rich people never lacked. Face, status, taste, security—those mattered far more.

That was why Donghai Huafu had never gone through a public presale. All sixty-six villas in the complex had been privately allocated.

As far as Wu Chen knew, Li Ruotai owned one there.

He made a U-turn at the next intersection and pointed the Lamborghini toward Donghai Huafu.

Not rush hour.

Half an hour later he arrived outside the main gate on Qinghai Road in North District. He parked at the curb without getting out—he knew Li Ruotai hadn’t arrived yet. Driving over from Crown Entertainment would take another ten-odd minutes at least.

Sure enough, a black Rolls-Royce pulled up beside the blue Lamborghini a short while later. Li Ruotai lowered the rear window and waved him over. “Brother-in-law, let’s go in.”

He already knew Wu Chen was driving the blue Lamborghini now—Wang Zhuangyuan had told him, obviously. No need to ask. Li Ruotai had called him earlier today.

Though Wang Zhuangyuan had surely dressed up his reasons for giving the car. He’d never admit it was an apology for tailing Wu Chen through the city.

On the night of the seventh, Wu Chen had stolen Wang Zhuangyuan’s car. Wang Zhuangyuan had sent people combing the whole city for both car and driver, had even spotted the car and chased it down. A car as an apology for that wasn’t entirely unreasonable.

Not that Li Ruotai couldn’t guess Wang Zhuangyuan’s real motive. He knew exactly what game the man was playing—currying favor with his brother-in-law.

The Rolls-Royce and the Lamborghini pulled into the complex one after another. Security here was tight, but with Li Ruotai owning a house inside, the guards knew his car on sight. Everyone who lived here was rich or powerful enough that no one dared be careless.

Down to the garage. Park.

From the underground garage they could walk straight into the basement of Villa No. 36, the one Li Ruotai had bought. There was an elevator inside—stairs too, if they preferred.

Li Ruotai left his driver and bodyguards behind. Just the two of them went up.

The first-floor hall was grand and lavish, finished to an almost startling degree of polish.

European-style, but nothing like the gilded excess of Crown Entertainment. That style, to put it plainly, reeked of new money—dazzling at first glance, sure, but the shine wore thin fast.

Look at it too long and you’d grow sick of it.

A club was built for business, and first impressions mattered there, hence the decor.

This villa struck a different balance. Luxurious, but restrained—full of pieces that looked genuinely tasteful. The design fee alone had probably run into seven figures.

In the middle of that sprawling hall, Wu Chen spotted a piano.

Li Ruotai couldn’t play a note.

The man still hadn’t shaken his habit of dressing himself up as cultured.

“So, what’s the matter?” Wu Chen glanced around and sat down on the sofa. He looked the place over more than once—he’d never been here before.

Not in a thousand years of looping had he ever set foot inside this house.

He’d known it existed.

He’d simply never come inside.

More precisely, he’d never crossed its threshold. He’d been to this complex plenty of times over the years, chasing down other people. Just never into this particular house.

Because this was only one of Li Ruotai’s many properties in Donghai. The villa had been handed over three years ago, then spent over a year under renovation, on and off.

Only finished at the start of this year.

And even so, half a year later, Li Ruotai still hadn’t moved in—maybe because it sat forty-odd minutes from Crown Entertainment, too far for a daily commute.

His house. He just didn’t live in it.

Which meant Wu Chen had never had reason to come see what it actually looked like inside.

“Not bad, right? What do you think?” Li Ruotai sat across from him, pulling out a cigarette out of habit, tossing one to Wu Chen, sticking one between his own lips. Before lighting it he gestured around the room. “Spent a fortune on this decor. Hired a designer straight out of Europe…”

“Don’t smoke.” Wu Chen ignored the question and gestured instead. “Can’t have smoke on me. Your sister won’t like the smell.”

Click.

Li Ruotai had already pressed the lighter down. At Wu Chen’s words he paused, thought about it, and set the lighter back on the table.

Wu Chen’s meaning had nothing to do with being afraid of Li Ruobing.

It was about the pregnancy.

His memory was sharp enough that he hadn’t forgotten Li Ruobing’s sudden decision to fake one.

A pregnant woman really shouldn’t be around cigarette smoke.

“Not smoking, not smoking.” Li Ruotai pulled the cigarette from his mouth and tossed it onto the table.

“Nice place. Decorated with real taste, actually.” Wu Chen glanced once more at the piano, then back at Li Ruotai. “Why do you always put a piano in your houses when you can’t even play one?”

“My sister really does tell you everything, Brother-in-law.” Li Ruotai smiled, something knowing in it.

“She talks about you all the time,” Wu Chen said, smiling back. “Hits you plenty, but she worries about you more than she’d ever admit.”

“Well, of course—we’re siblings.” Li Ruotai gestured again. “Brother-in-law, want to take a look around? Upstairs, downstairs?”

“Look at what?” Wu Chen asked.

“Just have a look.”

“What’s there to see?”

“If you’d rather not, I’ll just tell you. Reserved this place five years ago, got the keys three years ago, spent over a year renovating. Never lived in it—someone comes by to clean regularly.” Li Ruotai kept going. “Three floors above ground, one below, four total, over six hundred square meters usable, courtyards front and back.”

“Bought it for under seventy million five years ago. Prices have gone up since. With the renovation counted in, if I sold it now, it’d fetch a hundred million, easy.”

“Meaning what, exactly?” Wu Chen asked, brow lifting slightly.

Showing off?

Didn’t seem like it. Li Ruotai might show off to plenty of people, but not to this “brother-in-law”—not before he knew what sort of man Wu Chen actually was. That would only make him look small.

“Nothing much.” Li Ruotai smiled, pulled a key from his pocket, set it on the coffee table, and slid it across to Wu Chen. “It’s yours, Brother-in-law. Thank you for yesterday. I mean it. The deed and paperwork are in the car. You’ve got your ID on you, right? Let’s go get it transferred right now.”

A hundred-million-yuan villa, given away just like that.