With half of his eyeball bloodshot and inflamed, Jiang Ruobai looked at the man before him. He let out a scoff, then weakly dropped his head, saying in despair, “Pei Sichen, just kill me.”
Pei Sichen’s eyes sharpened. He kicked Jiang Ruobai in the stomach. “What did you say?!”
A metallic, bloody taste surged up his throat, and Jiang Ruobai fell to the ground weakly like a kite with a broken string.
Large beads of sweat splashed from his cheeks onto the floor. Pei Sichen hunched his back, curled into a ball from the pain, his expression bitter and helpless. “Mr. Pei, I am truly sorry. I am really sorry for taking your money.”
Pei Sichen kept a cold face, his sinister expression like a demon crawling out of hell. He crouched down and grabbed Jiang Ruobai by the hair, forcing him to look at him.
“Jiang Ruobai, you love money so much. Take that money as the fee for tonight.” Pei Sichen slammed his head against the ground. Ignoring Jiang Ruobai, who was on the verge of fainting, he took two pills from a box handed to him by his subordinate, pried Jiang Ruobai’s mouth open, and forced him to swallow them.
“Cough, cough, cough. What did you feed me!” Jiang Ruobai asked in a panic. He did not hesitate to reach into his throat, trying to vomit the medicine back up.
Pei Sichen pinned Jiang Ruobai’s arms above his head, flipped him over so his back was facing him, and pulled out a pair of silver handcuffs, locking his hands to the headboard of the large bed in the basement.
“Pei Sichen, what are you doing? Let me go!”
The handcuffs jingled, but Pei Sichen slowly stopped his movements. He leaned down and whispered into Jiang Ruobai’s ear, laughing maliciously, “That medicine will only make you feel weak; it has no other side effects. Don’t worry, tonight I will let you watch with your own eyes how you are being broken.”
Feeling Jiang Ruobai’s body trembling incessantly from fear, Pei Sichen rose with elegant composure and smoothed out his slightly disheveled collar.
Looking at the bodyguards standing in a neat row, Pei Sichen smiled, “He is your reward. Go ahead and get a good taste of a body worth five hundred thousand.”
“Yes, sir,” the dozen men in black shouted in unison.
Jiang Ruobai was terrified to the point of fainting. He shook the shackles on his wrists desperately and begged with a heart-wrenching voice, “Mr. Pei, no, I was wrong. I truly know I was wrong. I will never run away again. Don’t treat me like this, I beg you, don’t do this to me!”
Pei Sichen sat back in his chair with composure, lit a cigarette, and sneered, “What are you all still standing there for?”
“Yes.”
Receiving the order, those men tore Jiang Ruobai’s shirt open in an instant.
With teasing, playful, and greedy gazes scanning his body, Jiang Ruobai—though he could not see them—felt every sensitive nerve ignited by fear. Humiliation, shame, and overwhelming panic gripped his heart so tightly that even breathing became incredibly difficult.
Tears spilled uncontrollably. He buried his face in the pillow, sobbing uncontrollably, “Mr. Pei, I was wrong. You can punish me however you want, just don’t do this, I beg you.”
He felt he could not breathe. Due to the lack of oxygen, his vision blurred. He felt as if every ounce of strength had been drained from his body; other than begging Pei Sichen, there was nothing he could do.
But Pei Sichen simply sat there, ignoring his pleas, watching with the composure of a victor as Jiang Ruobai made a spectacle of himself.
The moment a cold hand touched his skin, Jiang Ruobai completely collapsed.
“Don’t touch me, don’t touch me!”
He roared in a near-maniacal state, but those meager, insignificant resistances had no effect.
At first, he kept apologizing and begging Pei Sichen, but in the end, even his pleas became extremely faint, leaving only trembling sobs echoing through the enormous basement.
The rain tonight was heavy, the biggest storm Haishi had seen in fifty years, as if the rain wanted to wash away all the filth in the city.
The torrential rain continued for two days. After waking up, Pei Sichen got out of bed, draped a bathrobe over himself, pulled back the bedroom curtains, and let a sliver of weak light into the room.
Outside the door, the housekeeper knocked cautiously, “Young Master, Young Master Su is here to see you.”
“I know.” Pei Sichen glanced at the thin figure sunken into the bed, tidied himself up, and headed downstairs.
Su Jiachen sat in the living room, pinching his nose, looking at Pei Sichen with an indescribable, complex expression, “Such a strong pheromone scent. Has your rut period arrived?”
“No,” Pei Sichen said coldly.
“Oh, I see.” Su Jiachen’s eyes lit up as if he had realized something, “It seems that poor beta has been caught by you. You guys must have been quite intense last night.”
Pei Sichen held a glass of water but did not drink. He glared sideways at Su Jiachen, “If you have nothing better to do, get lost.”
Su Jiachen’s face lacked any fear of Pei Sichen’s cold aura; instead, it was filled with gossip-fueled excitement.
“That is not right. You haven’t answered your phone since the night before last. Could it be…” Su Jiachen covered his mouth in shock, then gave Pei Sichen a thumbs-up, exaggerating, “As expected of Pei Shao, your stamina is legendary.”
“But isn’t Jiang Ruobai a beta? How can he handle you playing like that?”
Thinking of Jiang Ruobai, Pei Sichen’s expression soured. He clearly did not want to talk about it.
Su Jiachen, completely oblivious to Pei Sichen’s foul mood, continued on his own, “The medicine you asked me to buy the day before yesterday, don’t tell me it was for Jiang Ruobai to take?”
Su Jiachen had only been speaking casually, but he had not expected Pei Sichen to remain silent, effectively confirming it.
“No way, Pei Sichen. You are playing for keeps.” Su Jiachen was so excited he almost choked on his own saliva.
Pei Sichen’s eyes grew even colder. He tossed the water glass onto the table and said bluntly, “Since he dared to run, he should be prepared to bear the consequences.”
Realizing that Pei Sichen was truly angry, Su Jiachen stopped provoking him. Out of kindness toward his friend, he advised, “That medicine causes delirium. Once or twice is fine, but if he takes it too much, he will either die or go insane. Isn’t your grandfather handing the Pei Corporation to you in two months? At this critical juncture, you should not cause a death. A beta with plain looks is not worth the risk.”
“I have my own judgment,” Pei Sichen said in a low voice.
Thinking of last night, Pei Sichen’s eyes darkened.
Of course, he would not let those people touch Jiang Ruobai. Everything was just an illusion induced by the medicine and his verbal guidance. People belonging to him, Pei Sichen, were not worthy of being touched by others.
“That is good. I am just afraid that you might act impulsively and cause a major catastrophe.”
Pei Sichen sneered, “He is just a beta. Once I get bored of playing with him, I will just throw him out.”
Su Jiachen did not commit to an opinion on Pei Sichen’s words.
“By the way, Lin Jianyuan’s daughter is having a birthday banquet. He couldn’t reach you, so he sent the invitation to me.”
Su Jiachen pulled out a black-gold invitation and placed it on the table.
“I know.” Pei Sichen glanced at it briefly and left it lying on the table.
“Has the new district development plan come out?” Pei Sichen asked.
“With Lin Jianyuan’s people and our own people watching over there, there will be no problems.”
Pei Sichen nodded, “That is good.”
Su Jiachen looked at Pei Sichen’s perpetually furrowed brows and left a meaningful remark before departing, “I am telling you, don’t torment him too hard. Scaring him should be enough. If something really goes wrong, you will regret it too late.”
In truth, Su Jiachen had realized something from Pei Sichen’s attitude toward Jiang Ruobai.
If anyone else had run away like that, Pei Sichen would have killed them hundreds of times over. But Pei Sichen only dragged Jiang Ruobai back—there was clearly something wrong here. But some things are best understood by the people involved themselves.
Su Jiachen’s words left no ripple in Pei Sichen’s heart. He only knew that he had spent fifty thousand to keep Jiang Ruobai and gave him another five hundred thousand, only for him to take his money and run. Even though he had given Jiang Ruobai chance after chance, Jiang Ruobai had still chosen the worst possible path.
He really should not have run away. Before he had ordered him to leave, he had left without permission. A disobedient pet needs to be taught a lesson.
He certainly had not let those people touch Jiang Ruobai. Anything Pei Sichen set his eyes on—even if he destroyed it with his own hands—would never be stained by anyone else’s filth.
“Bang!”
A loud noise suddenly came from upstairs. Upon hearing it, Pei Sichen walked toward the bedroom.
He opened the door to find Jiang Ruobai completely naked, hiding behind the curtains and wrapping them around his body. A long chain connected from the bed to his ankle.
“Come out,” Pei Sichen commanded.
Jiang Ruobai curled his body up, shrinking even further, muttering something small and fragmented to himself.
Pei Sichen lost his patience, picked up the chain from the floor, and pulled Jiang Ruobai out bit by bit.
“No, don’t touch me, I am dirty! I am so dirty!” Feeling someone dragging him, Jiang Ruobai screamed like a madman.
Pei Sichen did not soften his heart in the slightest. He forcefully dragged Jiang Ruobai out, pinned his neck, and pressed him onto the bed, sneering, “That is right, Jiang Ruobai. You are truly dirty now. Apart from me, no one will want you anymore!”
Jiang Ruobai’s eyes were vacant, and he struggled incessantly, “Let me go, I am so dirty, I want to take a bath, I want to take a bath, let me go!”
Jiang Ruobai had too much strength, and his constant thrashing finally angered Pei Sichen. “If you keep thrashing, I will let those people come back in and play with you again!”
This sentence worked immediately; Jiang Ruobai dared not move anymore.
He buried himself in the quilt, his body trembling for a long time, before he finally managed to spit out a few words: “I will be obedient, don’t let them in.”
Pei Sichen looked at the suddenly dormant Jiang Ruobai and then aimed his gaze at the beta’s scarred gland.
“Jiang Ruobai, give me a child.”