Trapped in the Same Day for a Thousand Years

Chapter 409: What Happened? Tell Me!

by cnwebnovels

A chill crawled over Li Ruotai’s skin.

His voice cut off. He turned his head a little stiffly and found Wu Chen and Li Ruobing both eyeing him sidelong.

They just kept looking.

It made his hair stand on end.

Both of them were giving off “killing intent.”

For a moment, Li Ruotai couldn’t work out what he’d done wrong this time. Had he done something? Said something?

Then, almost at once, he understood.

All of it was wrong. Everything he’d done and everything he’d said.

Wu Chen had warned him: keep a low profile, don’t scare anyone. With Li Ruobing, Wu Chen had only mentioned it in passing, and she had more or less understood. With Li Ruotai, he had gone out of his way to say a few extra words.

And yet.

Li Ruotai had understood, all right.

Just not all of it.

From the moment he walked in today, he had behaved beautifully. He had hidden every one of his “dark sides” to perfection. He hadn’t even dared mention that he ran an entertainment club.

But he hadn’t hidden that he was rich.

Nor had he shown the slightest restraint in splashing money around. Quite the opposite. He had put his wealth on display by giving extravagantly expensive gifts.

He’d thought that was the right move, because it would make Wu Chen look good. He was only giving Wu Jiao gifts because of Wu Chen in the first place. The pricier the gifts, the more face it gave his brother-in-law. Wasn’t that how it worked?

The logic was sound.

The problem was that he had overlooked Wu Chen’s family background.

Or rather…

He simply had no idea how an ordinary family thought about money. An expensive gift gave face, yes, but only up to a point. Past that point, it stopped flattering and started frightening. It set people thinking.

It was a textbook case of flattery backfiring spectacularly.

“Um… well…” Li Ruotai turned his head stiffly again, dodging his brother-in-law’s utterly expressionless stare and his sister’s look that said she wanted to smack him. Bracing himself, he faced Wu Jiao once more.

“I can’t take it, Brother Atai. Please take it back.” Wu Jiao was still holding the bag out to him in both hands. She pressed her lips together as she said it.

She really was a little frightened now.

It felt as though accepting it would leave her owing him an enormous debt.

Whether her family even had a million yuan in savings right now was hard to say.

“Uh…” Li Ruotai looked at her and suddenly had no idea what to say.

Take it back? He might as well throw his face on the floor and stomp on it twice. Who took a gift back after giving it?

Insist she keep it? He didn’t dare do that now either.

He froze.

He and Wu Jiao stared at each other.

They couldn’t stay frozen like that forever.

So Li Ruotai braced himself and looked at Wu Chen.

Wu Jiao looked at Wu Chen too, her eyes pleading for help.

Li Ruobing glanced at Wu Chen.

So did Chen Xue.

Everyone was looking at Wu Chen.

“Bro…” Wu Jiao said softly, torn, appealing to her brother.

She was hoping he’d say something so she could give the gifts back.

“Keep them,” Wu Chen said instead.

“K-keep them?” Wu Jiao was still a little panicked.

“Mm.” Wu Chen nodded. “It’s just a little something from your Brother Atai. He gave them to you, so keep them. It’s fine.”

That one “it’s fine” put Wu Jiao a great deal more at ease. She herself didn’t dare accept so large a favor, but her brother had spoken, and Li Ruotai was her brother’s friend to begin with, so…

“Hahaha, that’s right! Keep them. They’re just a few little gifts!” Li Ruotai said at once, following Wu Chen’s lead.

“Then… thank you, Brother Atai.” Wu Jiao had no choice but to thank him and accept, though she did it with obvious reluctance.

She had already made up her mind. There was no way she could actually wear that watch. If she so much as bumped it, the heartache would kill her. She couldn’t even afford to get it fixed… She would have to talk it over with her brother later and work out what to do with it.

“Come on, eat. Don’t just sit there. The food’s getting cold.” Wu Chen called everyone back to the meal, easing the suddenly strange mood around the table.

“Right, let’s eat… Uh, brother-in-law, Sis, a toast to you both…” Li Ruotai chimed in at once and raised his glass.

The three of them drank.

Wu Jiao and Chen Xue had orange juice.

Li Ruobing had been glaring at her younger brother the whole time. She clinked glasses with him, drained her wine in one swallow, and set the glass down.

“Atai, come with me for a minute. I need a word with you…”

She was already rising as she said it.

Li Ruotai panicked.

His sister calling him aside for a word at a moment like this could only mean she meant to give him a beating. That she hadn’t kicked him in front of Wu Jiao and Chen Xue was already her doing him a kindness.

He made as if to stand, but very slowly, his eyes darting about until they settled on Wu Chen in a silent plea for rescue.

“Leave it. Whatever it is can wait till after dinner. Atai’s leaving tomorrow…” Wu Chen said, turning to Li Ruobing.

What was done was done. Wu Chen couldn’t even summon the energy to scold Li Ruotai. It was a nuisance for him too, but as long as he handled his sister and kept the family from finding out that Li Ruotai had given her such expensive gifts, it wouldn’t be much of a problem.

The real trouble was that his sister would start imagining things. But settling his sister down was still easy enough for Wu Chen.

Wu Chen had spoken.

So Li Ruobing sat back down.

Li Ruotai dropped into his seat at once, quietly breathing a sigh of relief, and, with nothing better to say, busied himself urging everyone, “Eat, eat.”

Wu Jiao and Chen Xue had both noticed how the three of them behaved.

And both came away with the same impression.

It was almost as if, in this “family,” Wu Chen was the one who called the shots.

The rest of dinner stayed cheerful. Li Ruotai was thick-skinned enough that once he saw his sister and brother-in-law weren’t going to hold it against him, he acted as if nothing had happened. He ate when there was eating to be done and talked when there was talking to be done.

Mostly, he wanted the whole thing forgotten as fast as possible. So he made a special effort to chatter about anything and everything…

He had even managed to botch a gift and make more trouble for his brother-in-law. Li Ruotai felt as though his IQ had dropped ever since he’d met Wu Chen… No, that wasn’t quite it. It wasn’t that he’d gotten dumber. It was that sometimes he just couldn’t keep up with geniuses like his brother-in-law and his sister.

Before anyone noticed, it was nearly nine.

The meal was more or less over.

“Uh… brother-in-law, Sis, I’m full. I’ll head back first. You all keep chatting…” Li Ruotai wiped his mouth, grabbed his jacket, and made to leave.

“What’s the hurry? Stay a while longer.” Li Ruobing eyed her brother sidelong, drawing out every word.

“No, no. I’ve got to go home and get ready. My flight’s tomorrow morning.” Li Ruotai waved his hands hurriedly.

Dinner was over, and he was afraid his sister would haul him off for that private word again. So he wanted to bolt.

“Jiaojiao, Xiaoxue, I’m heading off,” he said to the two girls before Li Ruobing could get another word in.

“Bye, Brother Atai!”

“Yep, yep. I’m off.”

Li Ruotai fled.

They cleared the table.

Washed the dishes.

Then sat and talked in the living room.

The four of them sat in a row and chatted about this and that. Wu Jiao kept wanting a word with Wu Chen alone but never got the chance, because Li Ruobing was there. She didn’t feel she could talk about what she thought of Li Ruotai’s gifts in front of her.

After ten, everyone was getting sleepy.

They said good night and went up to their rooms.

Not long after.

The master bathroom.

Wu Chen and Li Ruobing had just showered when it suddenly occurred to Li Ruobing that the two girls probably had no toiletries.

She kept spare sets, all for women, so she took one from the cabinet and went to bring it to Wu Jiao and Chen Xue.

Wu Chen came out of the bathroom in a robe, pulled back the covers, lay down, and leaned against the headboard, scrolling through his phone.

Ring, ring…

His phone rang.

Caller ID: An Menglan.

It was already ten-thirty at night. Given An Menglan’s upbringing, she wouldn’t call to disturb anyone this late without good reason. Not unless something urgent had come up.

Wu Chen answered.

“Hello, Miss An,” he said.

“Mr. Wu, s-something’s happened!” An Menglan sounded a little urgent and a little panicked. Wu Chen could even hear a trace of self-reproach in her voice.

“What’s wrong?” Wu Chen asked.

“It’s my fault. It’s all my fault. I messed up. I’m sorry, Mr. Wu!” She couldn’t hold it in. She made no attempt to hide how much she blamed herself, and she even apologized to him outright.

That gave Wu Chen pause.

What on earth had she done?

“You… What happened? Tell me!” Wu Chen said.