The moment the door swung open, he saw her standing barefoot on the cashmere carpet, clad in that revealing ensemble. Long Yubei closed the door behind him with a casual motion, his eyes sweeping over her from head to toe.
"Not bad," he remarked.
She moved to change, but he stopped her.
"Keep it on."
Gu Lili lifted the blanket and sat on the edge of the bed, just as her phone rang.
Glancing at the caller ID, she turned to Long Yubei.
"Don't make a sound."
She tapped the answer button.
"What is it?"
Gu Xichen's voice came through the line.
"You're not at Xiliang Mountain. Where did you go?"
"None of your damn business."
"If not for my mother's sake, I wouldn't care at all. You've lived your whole life on that mountain—you don't know how ruthless the outside world can be. Be careful who you trust. Don't end up counting money for the same people who swindled you."
Gu Lili was speechless. To her, this was nothing short of an insult to her intelligence.
"You really think I'm that stupid? Don't call me again—we've got nothing left to say."
With that, she hung up and shut off her phone altogether.
"Who was that?" Long Yubei asked.
"My ex-fiancé."
He pulled her down beside him and held her tightly, kneading and groping her as if trying to imprint her into his memory. At the office earlier, he had felt an unusual emptiness in his hands—he now understood why. The sensation of her under his palms had lingered all day.
This woman was nothing short of intoxicating.
"Are you trying to knead me to death?" Gu Lili couldn't take it anymore. She sat up and glared at him.
"I don't just want to knead you to death," he said, mouth curling into a wicked grin. Then, almost inaudibly, he mouthed three more words—fuck you dead.
Though he hadn't said them aloud, she read his lips clearly. A flush crept across her cheeks.
"We already did it in broad daylight. I'm done."
"You ate breakfast this morning—does that mean you won't eat dinner?"
"How can that even compare?"
"To me, it's the same thing."
He pushed her down again, his desire unrelenting, consuming her without mercy.
Gu Lili deeply regretted ever getting into his car. If only she hadn't, she wouldn't be suffering under him now.
He was like a starved wolf who had finally caught a snow-white lamb—devouring her with unrestrained hunger.
She felt utterly taken advantage of, but there was no place to air her grievances.
Ten days—just ten days.
It would pass in the blink of an eye.
So she told herself, even as she slipped once more into that familiar abyss.
Nine days swept by in a haze of decadent indulgence.
He seemed to possess an inexhaustible reservoir of energy—once in the morning, again at night.
Each day, she donned a new outfit for his amusement, letting him feast on her with both eyes and hands.
On the morning of the tenth day, Gu Lili awoke with a sense of liberation.
Finally—it was nearly over.
Rising from bed at six, she went to make breakfast of her own accord.
When Long Yubei came downstairs, he found her dressed in a maid costume, smiling sweetly.
"I made breakfast today."
"Oh? Celebrating your imminent departure?" he asked, dragging out the chair and sitting down, his voice low and unreadable.
"Of course," she answered so cheerfully it rubbed him the wrong way.
"I thought you were unemployed. I can offer you a job. Stay."
"No." She didn't even bother to ask what the job was—she refused flatly.
"Twenty thousand a month."
"Not interested."
Long Yubei looked up, eyes dark and deep.
"Ten times that."
A hundred thousand?!
Money was truly no object for him.
Gu Lili hesitated.
"What kind of job?"
"To sleep with me."
"…" She didn't skip a beat.
"No deal."
Long Yubei's lips curved faintly.
Well, well—he'd seen it all now.
This country girl really had the nerve to play the part of a virtuous martyr.