“Close the door and come here.”
Gu Huaiye sat on the sofa with his long legs crossed.
His gaze was so direct that Shi Shuyi felt like a piece of merchandise under inspection.
But at Baisen, in front of Gu Huaiye, everyone had a price.
In fact, plenty of people would fight tooth and nail to become the commodity he chose.
Shi Shuyi did as he said and closed the door, but she only dared to stop on the other side of the coffee table, keeping a cautious distance between them.
“President Gu,” she said, her voice slightly tense, just timid enough to seem appropriate. “Manager Chen told me to bring you this wine.”
She set the bottle on the table, then returned to where she had been standing. With her eyes lowered and her back straight, she looked like a student waiting to be disciplined.
Gu Huaiye said nothing. He simply took slow drags from his cigar.
Pale gray smoke blurred his sharp features, but his half-smiling gaze never left her.
Silence. Oppressive silence.
Shi Shuyi could barely breathe.
The man’s tangible stare slowly crushed the composure she was forcing herself to maintain.
At last, she crumbled.
Panic crept into her voice as she hurried to explain.
“President Gu, last Friday…I was covering a shift for my friend Lili. She said she’d lost her necklace on the top floor, and that you definitely wouldn’t come by that night, so I…so I went up to help her look for it without permission.”
She lowered her head and continued:
“I know that whatever my reason, I broke your rules. It was my fault. You…can punish me however you like. I’ll accept it.”
Watching the girl grow flustered, just as he’d expected, Gu Huaiye smiled casually.
The information in his hands, combined with his practiced eye for people, had already led him to guess that the girl had wandered onto the top floor only because she’d been set up by that woman called Lili. She herself had no idea.
That innocence, together with those clear, pure eyes, was so much like Xiaxia…
He hadn’t gotten a good look at her last time in the dim lighting. Now, examining her in the bright light, he saw that her face and features were entirely different from Xiaxia’s, yet possessed a breathtaking refinement of their own.
No wonder she was the campus belle everyone at S University adored.
Gu Huaiye was never short of women. Some were arranged by Jiang Cheng to suit his tastes; others were sent by business partners eager to show their sincerity. He had always accepted them all.
That was why Gu Lin had threatened him with his countless lovers.
But those women’s faces blurred together, and none ever stayed by his side for more than a week.
He had never even chosen one himself.
Shi Shuyi was the first woman besides Xiaxia to make him feel something he could call “interest.”
“You’ll accept any punishment?”
He repeated her words in a teasing tone, then patted the empty space beside him and ordered, “Come here. Sit down.”
Shi Shuyi’s fingers curled slightly, but she still stood her ground. Her voice was faint, yet clear.
“President Gu…I’m fine standing.”
Seeing how plainly she wanted to avoid him only stirred a rebellious impulse in Gu Huaiye.
Every woman around him tried everything she could to get close.
Could a woman who worked in a place like Baisen and wanted to break into the entertainment industry really be that innocent?
Was she trying to play hard to get?
“Don’t make me say it a third time.”
“Come here. Sit down.”
Shi Shuyi’s delicate brows drew together. In the end, she did as he said, walking around the coffee table and deliberately choosing a seat farther from him.
But the moment her bottom touched the sofa, Gu Huaiye stretched out his long arm and easily pulled her toward him.
The outsides of their thighs pressed tightly together. Through a thin layer of fabric, she felt the heat of his body.
Shi Shuyi jolted in alarm and instinctively tried to spring up, but his strong arm held her firmly in place, leaving her unable to move.
Gu Huaiye leaned toward her, turning his head to bring his lips close to her ear. His scorching breath brushed her sensitive earlobe, and his voice dropped to a dangerously low murmur.
“Why pretend? Since you said I could punish you however I liked, then naturally I get to decide how.”
He could feel the body beneath his palm go rigid in an instant.
Inexperienced. Timid.
He had indeed never touched an unworldly college student like her before, but…
Teasing her seemed far more entertaining than he’d imagined.
Perhaps it was because her face was so striking. Every look of alarm and every tiny struggle carried an inexplicable allure that made him want to see how she would react next.
Gu Huaiye raised his other hand and clamped her chin between his thumb and forefinger with an unmistakably forceful grip, making her lift her face. His fingertips then brushed her cheek.
His touch was cool, carrying the possessive pressure of someone used to controlling everything.
They were so close that he could feel the girl holding her breath in tension, and clearly see the fine down on her face.
Her flawless, pale skin was like fine white jade—smooth and delicate. The feel of it tempted him to keep stroking it with his thumb.
And he made no effort to resist.
His hand stayed on her chin, holding her in place, while his fingertips began to move slowly over her smooth cheek, as if exploring it.
“You’re not wearing foundation?”
A note of surprise entered his low voice.
Bare skin felt entirely different from skin covered in makeup.
None of the women who had been his lovers for a week had ever appeared in front of him without makeup.
The unusually soft, novel feel beneath his fingertips stirred a strange curiosity in him.
Shi Shuyi frowned and instinctively turned her head, trying to evade Gu Huaiye’s overly intimate touch and the forceful pressure behind it.
She had naturally fair skin, and her mother was a professor of medicine. From childhood, her mother had taken great care to nourish her from within and look after her skin, giving her a very healthy constitution.
That inner vitality showed in her complexion: smooth as white porcelain, naturally flushed with a healthy pink, and glowing with a soft radiance. Her skin was so delicate it seemed it might break at a touch.
So she hardly ever used foundation. The makeup she used most often was eyeshadow.
“President Gu, Baisen belongs to you.”
She forced down her panic, trying to keep her voice steady, even firm.
“If you want to cut my pay or even make me leave, I’ll accept it.”
She took a deep breath and met his dark gaze, enunciating every word as she repeated:
“But please—show me some respect!”
Gu Huaiye lifted her chin, his gaze as cold as if she were a plaything.
“Respect?”
“But I’m playing with you.”
In other words, what right did a plaything have to ask for respect?
His long, well-shaped fingers slid flirtatiously down her slender neck, their heat searing against her skin.
Shi Shuyi’s expression changed.
Gu Huaiye never showed his cruel side to Gu Zhixia, but in front of Shi Shuyi, he could reveal his true nature without restraint or concealment.
Because—
He simply didn’t care about her.
She struggled faintly. Gu Huaiye smiled with wicked amusement and soothed her.
“Be good. You’re the most special one. Otherwise, why wouldn’t I play with someone else?”
His former lovers had all been sent by other people, so that didn’t count as him playing with them.
If Shi Shuyi could hear his thoughts right now, she would probably gain a much deeper understanding of the term “scumbag.”
At that moment, the “innocent” Shi Shuyi was so angry that her cheeks flushed crimson and she nearly ground her teeth to dust.
“President Gu, please—show—some—restraint!”
Gu Huaiye watched her face for a moment.
She looked serious, as though she truly wanted nothing to do with him.
There was indeed a youthful innocence about her, the sort you’d expect of a college student.
But he absolutely refused to believe that a girl who wanted to break into the entertainment industry could remain genuinely unmoved when faced with someone like him, a man powerful enough to make waves in that world.
Her refusal was nothing more than a way of making herself seem more valuable, so she could bargain for greater leverage.
And Gu Huaiye had never lost at the negotiating table.
Gu Huaiye suddenly released her and spread his hands, leaning back into the sofa as though his earlier aggression had never happened.
He would try another approach and let the rabbit walk right into the trap.
“Fine. I’ll grant Miss Shi’s request. I’ll respect you and restrain myself.”
Gu Huaiye’s lips curled, his tone unreadable.
“Tonight, I misunderstood you, Miss Shi.”
“Since you have no interest in me at all, then…you may go.”
“But before you do, go get Li Yue for me.”
The instant he let go, Shi Shuyi stood up and backed away several steps, eager to put distance between them.
“Yes, President Gu. I’ll go now.”
She all but fled.
Li Yue was Gu Huaiye’s lover for the week, and she accompanied him to all kinds of banquets and social dinners.
Everyone at Baisen knew that.
Watching her hurried retreat, Gu Huaiye’s lips curved into a contemptuous smile.