“You want it here?” A low chuckle escaped his throat. Pei Sichen’s expression was playful, his eyes laced with a dangerous aura.
Jiang Ruobai felt a weight press down on his neck and shoulders, a force filled with intense oppression.
“Young Master Pei, I beg you, let me go. I am not. I am truly not the kind of person you think I am. I am just an ordinary server; I am not worthy of your attention.”
Pei Sichen squinted slightly, sizing up the pale face beneath him. With tears and sweat mingled together, he looked disheveled and pitiful.
He leaned down, his lips brushing against Jiang Ruobai’s ear.
“Begging me?” He chuckled in a low voice, his airy tone causing Jiang Ruobai to feel as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. “It is too early to start begging for mercy now.”
“Young Master Pei!”
Jiang Ruobai grabbed onto Pei Sichen, his voice sounding hoarse and strained. “Please, can you let me go? I. I really cannot. I am just a useless beta; I will not be able to satisfy you.”
His fingertips, clutching at Pei Sichen, turned pale from the force, mirroring his own fragile, bloodless appearance.
“One hundred thousand. A month. How about that?”
Pei Sichen’s patience was running thin, his voice gradually turning cold. He considered this a reasonable price; such a mediocre beta was hardly worth more.
One hundred thousand.
The number scorched Jiang Ruobai, burning deep into his heart.
One hundred thousand yuan was exactly the amount of his wife’s medical expenses for one month.
He clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms. Struggle and desire flickered endlessly in his eyes.
“Really. One hundred thousand?”
In the end, his dignity was defeated by reality. He bowed his head, his gaze fixed on the floor beside him, not daring to meet Pei Sichen’s eyes.
Pei Sichen let out a soft laugh and pinned his hands to the floor. “I am not worth it to waste a mere one hundred thousand yuan just to deceive you.”
“Mm.”
He closed his eyes, a sense of resigned despair hidden beneath them.
Pei Sichen leaned down, his scorching breath hitting the hollow of his neck.
Jiang Ruobai’s breathing tightened; he was as tense as a drawn bow.
Shame and anger clouded his mind, and in a panic, he grabbed Pei Sichen’s sleeve.
“Could we go to the sofa?”
Pei Sichen looked up, his eyes filled with such intense passion that Jiang Ruobai shuddered and quickly pulled his hand back.
Pei Sichen remained silent for a few seconds before scooping Jiang Ruobai up and carrying him to the sofa.
The scenery before his eyes blurred and cleared, then blurred again.
Jiang Ruobai lay on the bed, his brain seemingly having stopped functioning, tortured by unbearable pain.
In the darkness, he curled his body into a ball under the covers, yet he still felt freezing cold. Even with the person behind him pulling him into a tight, forceful embrace, he continued to shiver.
Pei Sichen watched Jiang Ruobai, who was tossing and turning in pain, his brow furrowing slightly.
He placed a hand on Jiang Ruobai’s forehead. The abnormally high temperature prompted him to take out his phone and call his home.
“Housekeeper Zhang.”
He sat up and leisurely pulled a pack of cigarettes from the nightstand. After lighting one with a lighter and taking a deep drag, he spoke in a casual tone: “Send someone to pick me up from Nightclub. And have the family doctor sent to the house.”
“Yes.”
When Jiang Ruobai woke up, he discovered that his body had already been cleaned.
The first person he saw upon waking was not Pei Sichen, but Housekeeper Zhang.
Housekeeper Zhang informed Jiang Ruobai that Pei Sichen had already left for the company. He told him he could sleep a little longer, and once the IV drip was finished, he would have the maid prepare breakfast.
Jiang Ruobai refused repeatedly. Since Pei Sichen had already left, he could not bear to stay here for even another second.
Ignoring the housekeeper’s objections, he pulled out the IV needle himself and headed for the door. The housekeeper could not stop him.
For the first time ever, Jiang Ruobai chose to take a taxi home. Exhausted in body and spirit, he collapsed to the floor the moment he entered his home.
It had only been a few days, yet it felt like a lifetime had passed.
He did not understand how he had offended a heavyweight like Pei Sichen, but he knew he could not escape his grasp now.
His wife, Lin Xinshu, was still in the hospital; he could not abandon her.
But now, he did not know how he was supposed to face her.
At three o’clock in the afternoon, the sky suddenly turned gloomy, as if brewing a heavy storm.
Sure enough, within half an hour, the rain poured down, accompanied by blinding flashes of lightning, creating an illusion of the end of the world.
Jiang Ruobai plugged in his phone, which had died. The moment the screen lit up, a dozen missed calls appeared; all of them were from Zhou Luo.
“Brother Bai, are you okay? I heard from people at ‘Darkness’ that you were taken away by Young Master Pei. Are you alright? Did Young Master Pei give you any trouble?”
Hearing a familiar voice, Jiang Ruobai’s eyes grew hot. He forced himself to hold back the tears.
“I am fine. My phone ran out of battery and shut down, so I did not hear your calls.”
There was a moment of hesitation on the other end before a cautious voice asked: “Young Master Pei, he did not make things difficult for you, did he?”
Jiang Ruobai laughed it off; he could not possibly tell Zhou Luo that he had been forced.
“No, I am just a stubborn beta. How could someone like Young Master Pei ever be interested in me? My phone just broke, and I could not answer. I just got it fixed and charged, and saw you had called.”
Jiang Ruobai’s story was full of holes. Given what the people at ‘Darkness’ had told him, Zhou Luo had likely already guessed the truth, but he did not point it out. Instead, he carefully tried to piece back together Jiang Ruobai’s shattered self-esteem.
He took a breath and continued in a light, cheerful tone: “Brother Bai, my boyfriend told me today that the stock I mentioned to you before will likely triple in profit again. He heard from the government office that they are building a new development zone. The chairman of Xuming Construction has already bought several plots of land nearby and says they are going to build a shopping mall. As long as we invest in Xuming Construction, it is a guaranteed win!”
“Is that so? That is great,” he sighed, though he could not bring himself to feel happy.
Therefore, he only spoke a few words to Zhou Luo before hanging up.
After ending the call, he looked up toward the window.
A bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, instantly illuminating the dim bedroom.
The sound of thunder followed immediately. The torrential rain showed no signs of letting up.
Jiang Ruobai looked at the gloomy scenery outside the window, praying only for the dawn to come quickly.