Trapped in the Same Day for a Thousand Years

Chapter 349: Something Big Is About to Happen!

by cnwebnovels

Li Ruobing walked on with her arm through Wu Chen’s, her eyes passing straight over the bodyguards and their fierce faces.

She had brought only two men upstairs and left the rest below, yet her presence lost nothing by it. Yang Kuo was very alert, his hand tucked inside his jacket, ready to draw his gun at any moment. Professional instinct. Nobody had to tell him.

All twenty or thirty of the bodyguards Song Xuan had arranged glowered at them.

The air in the corridor was heavy.

By the look and feel of it, something terrible was about to happen.

In fact, every one of the men Song Xuan had assembled for the show was thoroughly bewildered. All of them.

Because something was wrong.

Strictly speaking, they were Wu family staff. Their boss was Wu Yurong. Song Xuan had cleared it with her before pulling this many men at once, but she had done it under the pretext of covering An Menglan’s visit.

They had reached Yuelaixuan Restaurant an hour earlier and received Song Xuan’s instructions there. She told them her senior would be bringing an older woman, and she wanted them to intimidate her.

Nothing else required. Simply glare at her, and look as though they meant her no good.

The spectacle was the point. The atmosphere.

They had grasped her meaning perfectly and carried it out. When Wu Chen and Li Ruobing came up, they turned their glares on Li Ruobing at once, and then… something was wrong.

Why was she a young woman in her twenties? And an extremely beautiful one? Where was the older woman?

But that was not even the heart of it.

The heart of it was that some of them recognized Li Ruobing. She had been in Donghai four years. Among men working under Wu Yurong, someone was bound to have seen her before.

Every bodyguard who recognized her felt certain something terrible was about to happen.

The young miss had plainly staged this because she wanted trouble. And apparently she and An Menglan were stirring it up together, with Li Ruobing as the target.

At the end of the corridor.

Wu Chen and Li Ruobing arrived.

“This way, Mr. Wu!” said the bodyguards on either side of the door in unison, hauling the double doors open. The space beyond opened out enormously.

The room was lavishly appointed, classical in style yet blazing with gold and color.

In the center stood a round table large enough to seat twenty. Song Xuan and An Menglan sat side by side on the far side, talking quietly. When the doors opened, both looked up.

“Senior, you’re here!” Song Xuan stood at once and waved to Wu Chen with a sweet smile. In the next instant she froze.

An Menglan froze too.

Both of them were looking at Li Ruobing, elegant and poised, her presence filling the room. Both paid particular attention to the arm she had through Wu Chen’s. A woman who walked in on his arm was naturally his girlfriend.

So where was the older woman?

An Menglan blinked her bright eyes, turned, and gave Song Xuan a questioning look. Most of what she knew had come from Song Xuan, and she had no idea what was happening now. All she could do was “ask” her.

But Song Xuan did not notice. She was still stunned.

The bodyguards pulled the doors shut from outside.

Even by the time Wu Chen and Li Ruobing reached the table, Song Xuan had not recovered.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Wu Chen said with a smile, which broke through her daze.

“Ah… Senior, not at all, Miss An and I only just arrived ourselves.” Song Xuan was plainly not telling the truth, though it hardly mattered. She quickly composed herself, gestured toward Li Ruobing, and asked, “Senior, this is…?”

“Weren’t you the ones inviting her to dinner? And now you’re asking?” Wu Chen said, half joking. He turned slightly, resting a hand against Li Ruobing’s back and gesturing with the other. “Ruobing, let me introduce you. This is Song Xuan, Student Song, my junior from university… And this one you certainly know of. Miss An Menglan.”

The introductions were a formality. Li Ruobing knew perfectly well who they were.

Then he introduced Li Ruobing to them.

“This is my girlfriend, Li Ruobing,” he said, gesturing as he looked their way.

“Li Ruobing?”

Song Xuan and An Menglan repeated the name almost at the same moment, and both their faces changed. Song Xuan was from Donghai. She had never met Li Ruobing and had never paid her any attention, but of course she had heard the name.

As for An Menglan, the name meant something to her.

Comparatively speaking, the An family and the Li family stood on the same level. Even if the Ans fell short, the gap was not large. They were not a politically powerful house, but they were a tycoon family from the Xiangjiang Special Administrative Region, which gave them a character of their own.

An Menglan had heard of Li Ruobing years ago.

Lately the name had come to mind often. She was coming to Donghai, after all, and everyone knew Donghai was Li Ruotai’s ground. The fire at Li Ruotai’s club had even made the news. Thinking of Li Ruotai naturally brought Li Ruobing to mind.

So the Li Ruobing standing before her was that Li Ruobing?

Or simply someone with the same name?

“Miss An, a pleasure.” Li Ruobing had already stepped forward to shake her hand.

An Menglan came to herself at once and smiled. “Hello, Miss Li.”

“Miss Song, you remember me, I think? We spoke on the phone last time.” Li Ruobing shook Song Xuan’s hand too, with a meaningful look.

“Ah, y-yes, that’s right…” Song Xuan was still stammering slightly.

Confirmed.

She remembered the “older woman’s” voice. It was the very voice Li Ruobing was speaking in now. The tone was different, but the voice was the same.

The private room went abruptly quiet.

Having said “that’s right,” Song Xuan had no idea what to add. Her cheeks were reddening.

The misunderstanding was enormous.

“Miss Li, might I ask you something, if you don’t mind…” An Menglan said suddenly.

“Mm? What is it?” Li Ruobing looked at her.

“I’m not quite certain whether you’re the Miss Li I’ve heard of…” An Menglan was easy about it and asked what she wanted to know. “That is, Miss Li, do you have a younger brother named Li Ruotai?”

“I do.” Li Ruobing nodded.

“Then it really is you. I’ve heard of you for years, Miss Li.” An Menglan smiled. “You’re in cosmetics now, aren’t you?”

“Yes, that’s right.” Li Ruobing nodded again.

Everything matched.

No namesake. This was Li Ruobing, eldest granddaughter of the Li family’s senior branch.

After a few more pleasantries, Wu Chen and Li Ruobing sat down.

Song Xuan had not spoken for some time. She sat there with her face burning red.

She was the one who had told An Menglan that Wu Chen’s girlfriend was an older woman. Now she could not even look at An Menglan.

“Have you ordered?” Wu Chen asked once he was seated.

“Not yet. We were waiting for you, Mr. Wu, and for… Miss Li,” An Menglan said with a smile.

“Let’s order, then. What would you like, Miss Li?” A menu lay in front of An Menglan. She set it on the glass turntable and rotated it until the menu reached Li Ruobing.

They had invited Wu Chen’s girlfriend to dinner, so naturally Li Ruobing should order.

Li Ruobing did not stand on ceremony in the slightest. She made no polite demurral at all. She picked up the menu, opened it, and began to order.

“Darling, what would you like?” She gestured for Wu Chen to look at the menu and choose with her.

An Menglan watched the two of them, studying them so closely she could hardly look away.

The gifted amateur male singer she had found online had Li Ruobing for a girlfriend?

It was astonishing.

Open, the menu was large enough to hide both their faces.

“This one… what about this? And this one…” Li Ruobing sounded as though she were consulting him, but she was choosing so fast that it looked as if she meant to order a mountain of food.

“Can we finish all that?” Wu Chen asked with a sidelong smile.

“Isn’t someone treating us?” she answered softly, glancing back at him.

Wu Chen’s eyebrow twitched.

Li Ruobing was not the sort to milk a host simply because the host was paying. It was hardly as though she lacked money. If she was behaving this way, she was plainly planning to stir up trouble.

This dinner was obviously not going to be peaceful.

Meanwhile.

In the corridor outside the private room, around the corner by the stairwell.

A bodyguard was making a quiet call to Wu Yurong. He had no choice. The young miss had set up a Banquet at Hongmen, and Li Ruobing had walked into it. If it came to a clash, the matter would be serious.

“…The young miss told us to set things up this way. Then just now Mr. Wu Chen and Miss Li Ruobing arrived. Miss Li brought bodyguards too, and it looks as though they’re armed. One of them has kept his hand tucked inside his jacket the whole time…”