Qiao Chu very much wanted to say it with backbone: kids make choices—adults want it all.
Unfortunately, Butler Wu wasn’t just devastatingly handsome; he also had her entire financial lifeline firmly in his grasp.
Fine, fine. Male models could be indulged any day. Today, she’d indulge Butler Wu, this little temptress, first.
Qiao Chu reined in her wandering gaze, straightened her back, and assumed the elegant, reserved posture befitting a young lady of status.
“I was only joking. How could the cheap tea from some vulgar club compare to the refined elegance and mellow sweetness of tea personally brewed by Butler Wu?”
Wu Zhe’s high, straight nose was adorned with a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. He was looking down at the financial statements on his laptop. Light and shadow interwove across his face, accentuating his superior bone structure.
“Thank you for the compliment, Young Miss. Coincidentally, I also have something I’d like to discuss with you.”
Blindsided by top-tier male beauty, Qiao Chu cursed inwardly. What a fake prude. Too handsome and too controlling—did he really think he was her mother?
The van soon stopped in front of the Qiao family villa.
Qiao Chu got out and casually tossed her heavy backpack at Wu Zhe. “Phew. If you’ve got something to say, say it quick. I’m tired.”
Wu Zhe caught the backpack steadily. His calm, slightly downcast expression tightened the moment he touched it; his lips pressed into a straight line.
The strap length was wrong.
A cool, crisp orange-mint men’s fragrance.
An extra sports wristband in the side mesh pocket.
A man had carried the young miss’s bag. Most likely a passionate, energetic, athletic boy—young. Definitely not her fiancé.
Thinking of the nonstop flirtatious calls and friend requests she’d received all day, Wu Zhe’s gaze darkened slightly. He maintained the faint smile at the corners of his lips, his complexion tinged with a sickly pallor.
“Is the young miss in such a hurry to drive me out of the house?”
How laughable. Ten whole years—raise a dog and you’d grow attached. Yet the girl he’d raised with his own hands couldn’t wait to sweep him out the door.
All for a man she’d only just met?
In her eyes, was he not even as loyal or reliable as a dog?
Wu Zhe had never intended to interfere excessively in her love life.
Whether she dated or went out partying, as long as she didn’t go too far, he would always clean up after her, letting her enjoy herself without worry.
Even after her formal marriage alliance with the Shang family, he would still stay by her side, serving her closely.
Wu Zhe had never been a dutiful butler.
He was a damp, twisted mad dog crouched at the young miss’s feet.
But now, he had changed his mind.
After all—his beloved young miss wanted to hand him over to another woman.
“Butler Wu, you can’t just say things like that. When did I ever say I was kicking you out?”
It took Qiao Chu a moment to remember that she’d sold Wu Zhe’s contact information behind his back.
“A man should settle down and start a family—that’s the proper path. You don’t have any relatives, and we’re practically siblings. Of course I should worry about you.”
As if. If that stiff old fossil stayed around nagging her all day, how was she supposed to have any fun?
Qiao Chu couldn’t wait for Wu Zhe to marry far away, living a cozy life with his wife and kids.
And she—
She’d surround herself with puppy boys, wolfish boys, men with absurdly good waists and Captain-America-level asses.
Her thoughts drifting somewhere highly inappropriate, Qiao Chu suddenly stopped walking. Her gaze slowly slid downward—to the lean, powerful waist tightly wrapped by his suit.
So perky.
How could a man who sat in an office chair all day have such an outrageously good figure?
Wu Zhe was in no mood to correct her indecent stare. His deep voice, cold as ice shards, cut through the air.
“Fine. Then I’ll leave it to the young miss to decide.”
Qiao Chu’s poor backpack—along with a phone—was hurled forcefully onto the sofa.
For the first time, Wu Zhe stormed out in a rage, disappearing beyond the villa gates.
Angry as he was, he still pocketed the sports wristband from the side mesh.
The wristband had been secretly placed there by Bai Lang, hoping to use it as an excuse to ask Qiao Chu out later. But with Wu Zhe interfering, Qiao Chu never even noticed it.
And even if she had, she wouldn’t have cared.
Netizen Yun once said: When you’re standing atop a skyscraper’s observation deck, overlooking the most dazzling night view of the city, you’re definitely not thinking about whether he loves you.
Rice-System, reciting from memory: 【You’re thinking about booking eighty male models to drink with you.】
Qiao Chu retrieved Wu Zhe’s phone from between the sofa cushions. The screen lit up and unlocked instantly via facial recognition.
Revealing an utterly indecent lock-screen wallpaper—
A man sprawled on a soft princess bed, snow-white shirt disheveled, collar buttons torn open, sleeves rolled to his elbows. His wrists were bound with a necktie tied into a bow.
Cold pale skin flushed with drunken heat. Half-hidden collarbones covered in lipstick marks. The meticulous restraint gone—eyes hazy, corners tinged red.
That kind of soul-stealing beauty practically invited crime, making one want to ravage him mercilessly.
Qiao Chu swallowed and admired it again and again. Beautiful, yes—but for a grown man to set this as his wallpaper was seriously disturbing.
“Don’t tell me Wu Zhe’s secretly working as a male model behind my back? No wonder he got so mad about settling down…”
Rice-System was speechless: 【Host, please watch your mouth. He ended up like that because of you. You got drunk, went berserk, and nearly whipped his belt off him.】
Qiao Chu: “OVO!”“I’m that savage?” She tried to recover her fragmented memories. “This background looks really familiar…”
Rice-System: 【Of course it does. It was the room Butler Wu personally decorated for your coming-of-age ceremony. He hid quite a few blind boxes in there—meant to surprise you.】
Qiao Chu, unfazed, munching on gossip: “And then?”
Rice-System: 【Then the drunk host tied him to the bed, groped him up and down, took indecent photos, and blackmailed the weak, helpless Butler Wu.】
Qiao Chu clicked her tongue. “Wow. I really am a piece of work.”
Then she unblinkingly opened Wu Zhe’s photo gallery.
No wonder she hadn’t noticed anything afterward—it turned out the photos were taken on his phone.
Which meant there had to be even more spicy content inside.
Before she could open a full-size image to appreciate it properly, the phone was snatched away by a furious Butler Wu who had rushed back in.
Only then did he seem to remember the unspeakable secrets stored inside. His chest heaved from the exertion, suit wrinkled, breath rough as he struggled to steady himself.
“I left in a hurry and accidentally forgot my phone. Thank you, Young Miss.”
He tried to pretend nothing had happened, turning off the screen and slipping it into his trouser pocket.
Qiao Chu propped her chin on her palm, tilting her head with a fox-like grin.“Didn’t you say you’d let me decide? Why rush to take it back?”
She couldn’t even be bothered to expose him—he’d clearly left the phone on purpose, wanting her to deal with those flirtatious socialites.
But it was obvious that the usually sharp Butler Wu had truly lost his head to anger to make such a massive blunder.
So perverted.
Under the girl’s keen, unreadable gaze, Wu Zhe felt utterly humiliated. His body stiffened; his hands and feet turned ice-cold.
All this time, he’d positioned himself as a mentor, carefully burying his dark, filthy thoughts.
Madam had entrusted the young miss to him—teaching and raising her were his duty. Anything else, he had no right to desire.
He had never imagined that one day, his secret would be exposed to her in such an absurd way.
His strictness and her rebellion had already left their relationship hanging by a thread. And now she knew he harbored other intentions…
She would despise him completely, wouldn’t she?
Wu Zhe thought bitterly.
But then again—she’d already planned to give him away to someone else, hadn’t she?
If she dared abandon him, he’d lock her up.
Bind her with golden chains. Imprison her in a lavish garden villa.
Just like she’d once done to him.
He’d keep evidence. Threaten her. Tease her.
Until she could never leave him again.