Liu Su’s scalp prickled. So that man had only been pretending to be nervous just now? What was in his bowl? It couldn’t be something he’d just… made, and wanted her to eat…

Liu Su steeled herself and walked over to me. She sat down without daring to look me in the eye, keeping her head bowed.

Actually, I hadn’t been looking at Liu Su just now. I’d been staring at her bedroom door, thinking about the possibility I’d just considered—the one that seemed almost impossible. Had Ji Ruoyan really bought Liu Su and brought her home as a maid?

This was the twenty-first century. Human trafficking was illegal, wasn’t it?

Then I heard footsteps beside me. Liu Su, wearing the maid outfit she’d just slipped off in one quick tug, sat down in front of me and lowered her head. I had no idea what she was thinking.

“Uh, have you eaten?” I couldn’t think of anything to say, so I blurted out the most conventional greeting that came to mind.

“I’m not really into eating that…” Liu Su had completely gotten the wrong idea. She glanced fearfully at the full bowl of white liquid. She couldn’t help marveling at how unusually well-endowed he seemed, but she still didn’t want to eat it.

I looked down at the yogurt and oatmeal in my hand, now thoroughly mixed into a mess. Embarrassed, I set the bowl down, cleared my throat, and asked Liu Su, “Did Ji Ruoyan tell you to come to my place?”

“Sigh.” Liu Su let out a breath, then looked at me like I was trash. “Stop pretending. Didn’t you pay two million to clear my family’s debt, and then I agreed to be your maid for three years? I’m an adult. I know what you’re after, and I’ve prepared myself for it. I just hope you…”

“Hold on, hold on!” Seeing Liu Su about to launch into a never-ending rant, I hurriedly stopped her. “You’ve got the wrong idea. I don’t know anything about what you just said. Wait—two million?!”

The number caught me so off guard that I blurted it out.

“That’s right. My dad was set up while gambling and ended up owing a lot of money. The family home was mortgaged, and we still owed more than two million. Sister Ruoyan came over with a contract. She said you’d told her you would pay off all of my dad’s debts, and in return I’d… I’d be your woman.” Liu Su thought I was still playing dumb, so she decided to lay it all out.

So this was Ji Ruoyan’s handiwork. But you’ve really got the wrong idea.” Once I’d pieced everything together, I was about to explain the situation to Liu Su.

But then the front door quietly opened. If I hadn’t been in the living room, I definitely wouldn’t have noticed. Ji Ruoyan snuck in with a camera in her hand. When she saw Liu Su and me in the living room, she froze for a moment.

“You’re done already? That was fast.” Ji Ruoyan stared at me in shock. She half-covered her little mouth with her left hand—the one not holding the camera—and put on an astonished expression.

“What do you mean, ‘fast’?” I muttered, caught completely off guard.

When I came to my senses, I angrily slapped the table, ready to curse her out. But I accidentally hit the spoon in the bowl of yogurt I’d set there earlier, sending yogurt flying straight into Liu Su’s face.

Some of it splattered across her chest, too.

Liu Su cried out, disgust written all over her face. She frantically wiped the yogurt from her skin with her sleeve, tears welling in her eyes. She’d never imagined anyone would smear something like that on her face. The sour stench reached her nose, making her feel sick. Was this what men smelled like?

I hurriedly grabbed a tissue from the table and handed it to her. Then I heard the camera shutter. Ji Ruoyan had her camera raised and was taking picture after picture.

I suddenly realized how easy it would be to misunderstand me holding a tissue and wiping Liu Su’s chest. I handed it to her so she could wipe herself, then looked at Ji Ruoyan with a headache. The little devil was still snapping away.

“Hey, stop taking pictures! I’m begging you—explain what’s going on! I’m starting to look like a pervert…” I stared at her helplessly, slumped on the sofa. What kind of mess was this?

The room descended into chaos.

“Well, that’s the whole story.” Ji Ruoyan sat in my spot, eating the yogurt and oatmeal I’d stirred into mush.

“Exactly, Liu Su. You believe me now, right? I really am not a pervert. Why would I make that kind of perverted demand?” I lay on the floor, barely able to speak. A high heel was pressed against my face, and my clothes were in complete disarray.

Liu Su stared in shock at how everything had turned out in barely ten minutes.

All right, let’s rewind to a few minutes earlier.

I slumped helplessly on the sofa, waiting for Ji Ruoyan to explain things to Liu Su.

Then Ji Ruoyan spoke. “Master, didn’t you ask me to come by later and take some commemorative photos for you?”

The moment I heard that, my scalp prickled. I looked over at Liu Su.

Liu Su was looking at me like I was a complete pervert now. She wiped the yogurt off herself faster, as if she were afraid I’d use my eyes to entertain some unspeakable thoughts about her.

“You! You damn—” I sprang to my feet in a fury. She was slandering me to my face—right in front of me! I pointed at Ji Ruoyan, daring to let loose and give her a proper tongue-lashing.

Unfortunately, I’d forgotten just how wide the gap in strength between Ji Ruoyan and me was. The media often said she was a defenseless young girl because she went out without bodyguards. But after being beaten black and blue by her, I knew better: if anything really dangerous ever happened to her, then that danger would be the real deal!

Two minutes later, Ji Ruoyan had completely dismantled the flimsy defense I’d put up in my anger. She took me down with a lock and a trip. Maybe because I’d been the one to insult and resist her this time, the beating that followed was especially brutal.

I struggled to crawl away, barely clinging to life, but Ji Ruoyan kicked me in the ribs. The blow knocked the wind out of me, and I curled into a ball, unable to move. Then she took off her high heel and smacked me in the face with it, ending the one-sided beatdown.

Damn it! If I hadn’t promised my dad I wouldn’t hit you—and that I’d help you—I’d make you call me Daddy right now! I lay on the floor, thinking in despair.

As if she’d finally gotten her anger out, Ji Ruoyan sat down in my spot. She picked up the spoon that had fallen in the living room. When Liu Su offered to get her a clean one, she refused, wiped it across Chu Turan’s face, then started eating the yogurt Chu Turan hadn’t touched while Liu Su looked on in horror.

That jerk even rubbed the spoon against my lips a few times on purpose. I glared at Ji Ruoyan.

Ji Ruoyan ignored Chu Turan and explained things to Liu Su as she ate.

“Well, this idiot and I are engaged. But I can’t be the one to call it off, so I had to get this idiot to find a woman.” Ji Ruoyan carefully licked the yogurt off the spoon.

Are you licking the spoon or eating the yogurt?

Liu Su was still uneasy about the white stuff in the bowl. But when Ji Ruoyan asked, puzzled, whether she was hungry too and wanted some yogurt, Liu Su leaned over and sniffed it. Only then did she relax.

“Then why me?” Liu Su stopped wiping the stain from her chest and asked, sounding relieved.

“I was going to find someone else. Then I happened to hear that your family was in desperate need of money, so it worked out. You’re the campus beauty at this idiot’s school. Looks, figure, and temperament-wise, you’re definitely a good match for him.”

“Then what about that strange clause in the contract last time?” Liu Su remembered the odd terms written in it. For example, within a specified period, she had to have a…

“It only says you have to live with him for three years. He does stare at other women, sure, but he’s never laid a hand on me. And in three years, the time set by our engagement will be up. If my family still sees him entangled with another woman then, they’ll definitely tell me to go find my own true love.” Ji Ruoyan smiled. “A contract is a contract. That’s the last resort. I still don’t like forcing a girl to do something she doesn’t want to do.”

“I see.” Liu Su lowered her head in silence, seeming relieved.

“You get to live with him for three years and walk away with two million. That’s a pretty generous deal, actually. And he’s not a bad person. He definitely won’t lay a hand on you. If you do end up falling for him someday, you can always choose to marry him.”

To my surprise, Ji Ruoyan was actually putting in a good word for me.

“I’m not going to fall for a man. Men in this world only care about women when they’re young and beautiful.” Liu Su seemed to have a prejudice against men; she rejected them all outright.

“Hey, hey, stop calling me an idiot all the time! I haven’t even agreed to this—” Before I could finish, the bare foot that had been on my chest moved onto my face. I could only mumble incoherently.

That jerk even deliberately pressed the ball of her foot over my mouth.

“All right. Then I’ll follow the contract and live here from now on.” Looking at the scene, Liu Su sighed as if she’d accepted her fate, then continued, “I’ll wear whatever clothes you tell me to every day.”