"What about you? What do you want?" Jian Shichu glared at her viciously, "Is it so bad being by my side? Something others desperately wish for, why do you always want to escape?"
"Let anyone who wants this chance have it, I don't care for it!" Ye Qingci struggled, "Jian Shichu, let me go, please, I'm begging you, can you just let me be?"
"Not a chance!" Jian Shichu bit her neck fiercely, "You're not going anywhere until I'm tired of you!"
"Why?" Ye Qingci was in despair, "Why does it have to be me? Where have I gone wrong? Just tell me, won't I change if I can?"
Jian Shichu was furious, "You ask me as if I know!"
He wanted to find someone to ask why other women flocked to him like moths to a flame, which he found as annoying as swatting away flies.
Yet, this woman desperately tried to escape from him, and he found himself interested in her.
Only she could kindle the desire to kiss within him.
And only she could allow him, a man plagued by insomnia, to fall asleep with ease.
Thinking of the sweet and soft body he held last night, Jian Shichu's anger slightly subsided, "Ye Qingci, as long as you're obedient, I'll give you whatever you want!"
"I want your life," Ye Qingci said coldly, "Will you give it?"
"Yes!" Jian Shichu whispered as he bit her lip, "If there's danger and only one can live, I'll die, and you'll live!"
"..." Ye Qingci looked at him in shock.
Jian Shichu frowned displeasedly, "What? You don't believe me?"
No!
She believed!
Because Jian Shichu never lied.
It wasn't that he couldn't lie; he simply disdained to do so.
It was exactly because she believed him that she was so shocked.
He said it so naturally: if there was danger and only one could live, he would die, and she would live.
Ye Qingci knew that a man like Jian Shichu, once he spoke, would make it happen.
But why?
She was nothing more than a toy he had whimsically acquired. Which man would foolishly offer the chance to live to such a plaything and choose death for himself?
With a complex gaze, she looked at him, "Why?"
"What why?" Jian Shichu stroked her lips thoughtlessly as he asked.
"Why, if there's danger and only one can live, would you let me live?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Jian Shichu scorned her intelligence impatiently, "I'm a man, and you are my woman. When my woman is in danger, of course the man should bear it. Otherwise, what's the use of a man?"
Ye Qingci looked at him for a while, then gave a bitter smile, "Jian Shichu, do you even know what 'your woman' means?"
"Of course, I do," Jian Shichu bit her again, "We've shared the same bed, so you are my woman now!"
As expected, the answer was what she had anticipated.
Ye Qingci lowered her head, feeling both tired and headachy.
Seeing her silent again, Jian Shichu bit her once more in dissatisfaction, "What exactly do you want? Say the word, and I'll satisfy all your desires! Xiao Wei said, women like houses, clothes, jewelry, cars. I'll transfer a shopping mall, a jewelry store, a car dealership, and an entire villa complex to you. Just sign later, and you can go and choose whatever you like in the future!"
Ye Qingci couldn't help but cry and laugh at the same time.
True to form, he was magnificent in his financial power.
To lavish such generosity on a woman he had known for less than three days.
But what she wanted had never been these things!
She looked up into Jian Shichu's eyes and said quietly, "I don't want anything, I just want... freedom!"
"In your dreams!" Jian Shichu's mood, just starting to improve, flared into rage again.
He fiercely picked up Ye Qingci and threw her onto the nearby sofa, pinned her down, and kissed her fiercely.
He only slightly lifted his body after kissing Ye Qingci to the point where she could hardly breathe, and then he dominantly declared his sovereignty, "You are already Jian Shichu's woman now, and you can forget about going anywhere but by my side!"
As Jian Shichu was pressing forcefully on Ye Qingci's body, his cellphone suddenly rang.
He pulled out his phone to take a look, and his expression softened a bit.
"Hello!" He swiped his phone and left the dining room to take the call in the study.
Ye Qingci lay on the sofa for a long time before she slowly sat up straight, staring blankly at the floor.
"Miss Ye!" Xiao Ying walked in.
"Brother Xiao." Ye Qingci raised her head and forced a slight curve on her lips for him.
"Miss Ye, may we talk?" Xiao Ying stood by the door, and the sunlight streaming through the window bathed his face in a gentle halo.
Handsome and tall, with a gentle demeanor, he was the epitome of a modest gentleman, his presence easily invoked trust.
"Of course." Perhaps because his temperament reminded her so much of Ye Jingzhi, Ye Qingci felt an added sense of fondness and closeness to him.