Chapter 2
Liu Ruyan went into the bathroom. The door shut, and the sound of running water started up.
Li Mo was still sitting on the bed, unmoving.
His mind was a mess, but his body was honest enough.
He looked down at the state he was in, took a deep breath, and tried to calm himself.
No use.
The image of Liu Ruyan wearing a collar kept spinning through his head.
Without realizing it, he reached out and touched the nightstand. His fingers brushed against a cold metal object.
He picked it up and looked.
Handcuffs.
Fluffy pink velvet, metal rings, the key still stuck in the lock.
Li Mo’s hand jerked, nearly throwing it across the room.
He hurriedly put it back, snatching his hand away as if he’d been burned.
"...This woman."
He swallowed.
His mind raced. What the hell was this situation? A life sim? Some script the system had arranged for him?
Whatever it was, everything in front of him was too real.
The feel of the sheets was real, the dawn light slowly brightening outside the window was real, and the sound of water from the bathroom was real.
And the warmth of Liu Ruyan’s body when she’d pressed against his shoulder just now.
That was real too.
The water stopped.
Li Mo straightened up on reflex.
The bathroom door opened, and a wash of steam rolled out.
Liu Ruyan stepped out wrapped in a bath towel, her wet hair draped over her shoulders. She wasn’t wearing makeup, and her bare face looked even prettier than it had during the day.
She glanced at Li Mo, frozen stiff on the bed, and smiled.
"Why are you still just sitting there? Not going to wash?"
"Oh... oh, right. Right away."
Li Mo awkwardly tried to get out of bed, hands and feet refusing to coordinate.
Liu Ruyan walked over to the wardrobe, opened it, and casually pulled off the towel to start changing.
Just like that.
With absolutely no intention of hiding anything.
Li Mo’s gaze stuck to her back and wouldn’t move.
Her waist was narrow and tight, and below it were two smooth curves, her legs straight and long.
He snapped his head away and fixed his eyes on the crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
His heart was pounding in his ears.
Liu Ruyan seemed not to care in the slightest about his reaction. She put on her bra, then slipped into a white blouse, buttoning it as she said, "Auntie made breakfast. It’s in the dining room. If you don’t have anything to do today, stay home."
Li Mo gave a weak "Mm."
Liu Ruyan fastened the last button, then turned to look at him.
"What’s wrong with you today? You’re acting weird."
"N-no... nothing."
"Nothing?" Liu Ruyan tilted her head, the corner of her mouth lifting. "Then I’m going?"
"Mm."
But she didn’t move.
She stood in front of the wardrobe, looking at him, amusement dancing in her eyes.
Li Mo started to squirm under her gaze. "What is it?"
"Aren’t you going to say something?"
"Say what?"
Liu Ruyan raised a brow.
Li Mo thought for a long moment, then tried cautiously, "...Travel safe?"
For one second, Liu Ruyan’s expression fell flat. Then she laughed again, but this time there was a hint of dissatisfaction in it.
She walked over, bent down, and planted both hands on the mattress on either side of Li Mo, leaning her face toward his.
Less than ten centimeters away.
Her blouse collar was slightly open, and Li Mo could smell the body wash on her.
"Li Mo."
"Ah..."
"Do I have to call you master before you’ll say goodbye to your wife?"
The words hit Li Mo’s brain like a bomb.
His breathing stopped at once.
Liu Ruyan’s lips were almost against his ear. She lowered her voice, the last note dripping with seduction.
"Maaaster..."
Li Mo felt all the blood in his body rush in the same direction at once.
The fire he’d barely managed to force down shot straight back to the top of his head.
Liu Ruyan straightened up and saw the change in him.
The bulge under the blanket couldn’t be hidden at all.
She didn’t look away. Instead, she bit her lower lip with a smile.
"Sorry, Master... we’re out of time."
Her hand slipped under the blanket.
And closed around him.
Li Mo shuddered all over, his fingers grabbing at the bedsheet.
Liu Ruyan’s hand was icy, a sharp contrast to his own burning heat.
She felt him for a moment, then widened her eyes as if genuinely surprised.
"Master... can the little dog use his hand?"
Li Mo’s mouth moved, but no complete sound came out.
His throat was dry as if it had been pasted shut with sandpaper.
Liu Ruyan stopped moving.
She tilted her head, lashes lowering, and put on a pitiful little expression.
"If Master doesn’t speak... then this little doggie doesn’t dare move."
That face, so delicate it didn’t even seem real, combined with that expression, that line.
Li Mo felt something snap in his head.
"Y-yes..." His voice was so hoarse it didn’t sound like his own.
Liu Ruyan moved her hand once, then stopped again.
She raised her face to look at him, eyes curved into crescents.
"Master said that wrong."
Li Mo stared at her, his chest heaving hard.
The air between them was burning.
He heard himself speak.
His voice was low and rough.
"Little bitch, keep moving."
Liu Ruyan’s eyes lit up.
Her hand started moving in a steady rhythm.
At the same time, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to Li Mo’s chest.
Her tongue slipped out, drawing soft circles.
Warm, wet, round and round.
Then the tip of her tongue flicked upward.
Li Mo’s body arched.
He’d never felt anything like this.
Never.
It wasn’t just physical stimulation.
It was this woman.
It was Liu Ruyan.
This woman who stepped out of a Rolls-Royce, untouchable and impossible, with an aura that could crush anything in its path, was now draped over him, calling him master with those tempting red lips.
The pleasure of the flesh and the impact on his mind stacked layer upon layer.
Again and again.
Faster and faster.
Li Mo didn’t know when he’d grabbed Liu Ruyan’s hair, but his knuckles had gone white.
He was reaching his limit.
Liu Ruyan could feel the violent reaction in his hand.
She didn’t stop.
The tongue circling him shifted into sucking.
Hard sucking.
Li Mo’s brain exploded into a sheet of white light.
He came.
It lasted several seconds.
Liu Ruyan lifted her head, her hand still wrapped around little Li Mo.
She looked down at the semen on her hand and lifted a brow.
"Master’s really thick."
Li Mo lay on the bed gasping for air, his mind completely blank.
Liu Ruyan pulled two tissues from the nightstand and slowly wiped her fingers clean.
Then she bent down and kissed Li Mo on the lips.
Very lightly.
"I’m going to work."
Li Mo’s mouth moved before his brain did: "Goodbye, wife."
He was still dazed a second after he said it.
Liu Ruyan stood by the bed, looking at him, her expression softening.
"That’s better."
She picked up the handbag on the nightstand. The sound of her high heels striking the floor grew farther and farther away, then disappeared.
The whole room fell silent.
Li Mo stared at the crystal chandelier on the ceiling, his chest still rising and falling hard.
He rolled over and buried his face in the pillow.
The pillow was full of Liu Ruyan’s scent.
Faint, some kind of perfume he couldn’t identify, but just smelling it made his heartbeat race.
"Calm down... calm down."
He forced himself to sit up.
The translucent blue box appeared again.
It floated in front of him.
[Simulation in progress...]
Li Mo stared at those words for more than ten seconds.
Simulation.
He reached out and touched the edge of the box with one finger.
It trembled faintly, then expanded.
It turned into a larger panel.
A few more lines appeared on it.
[Current status: simulation in progress]
[Identity: husband of Liu Ruyan]
[View this simulation life replay?]
[Yes] [No]
"Life replay?"
Li Mo froze.
It could even replay this thing?
Right now his biggest problem was that he didn’t know how he’d gotten to this point.
One second he’d been lying in his rental room, the next he was in a luxury bed with some woman beside him calling him husband.
He had no idea what happened in between.
"Watch it. Obviously I have to watch it."
He tapped [Yes].
The panel flashed.
Then the bedroom in front of him vanished.
Not really vanished.
It was more like watching a movie, with the image projected directly into his field of vision.
The first scene.
A recruiting website page.
He saw his own resume. The photo was his senior-year ID shot, taken when he was wearing a white shirt, his hair neatly combed.
The company he’d submitted it to was Xinghai Group.
The scene switched.
A large office tower lobby, glass curtain walls, marble floors, and the receptionist girl was pretty too.
He walked in wearing a suit that didn’t look expensive.
Interview.
Sitting across from him was a middle-aged woman from HR, wearing glasses and flipping through his resume.
The him in the scene was answering questions, but the sound had been filtered out, leaving only the images.
Then a line of text appeared, like narration.
[Because of his outstanding looks, the HR manager selected Li Mo ahead of the other thirty-seven candidates.]
Li Mo: "..."
He touched his own face.
"Just because I’m good-looking?"
He knew his features weren’t bad, but he’d never thought they were good enough to land a top-tier company offer just like that.
The scene continued.
Joining the company.
He was sitting in a cubicle surrounded by people in suits.
Keyboards clacked furiously, and the screen was packed with dense spreadsheets.
The lowest-ranking screw in the machine.
The scene jumped a few times, as if fast-forwarding several months.
Then.
A huge office.
The door opened.
He walked in carrying a folder.
The person sitting behind the desk lifted her head.
Liu Ruyan.
The Liu Ruyan in the scene was different from the one that morning.
Her hair was pinned up without a single stray strand, she wore a dark gray suit, and when she didn’t smile, her gaze could freeze people to death.
A nameplate sat on the desk.
[Xinghai Group, Chairwoman Liu Ruyan]
Li Mo sucked in a sharp breath.
"Chairwoman??"
He knew this woman had a background. He’d heard every word she’d said on the phone back then.
But chairwoman?
Xinghai Group?
That was the top enterprise group in Jiangcheng.
"What the fuck..."
He thought of what had happened that morning.
Liu Ruyan lying on top of him, calling him master.
The chairwoman of Xinghai Group, a woman in charge of several thousand employees, lying on top of him, calling him master.
And calling herself little dog.
"How the fuck did I even dare call her a dog!"
Li Mo slapped a hand over his face.
It wasn’t fear.
It was that huge mix of absurdity and excitement that had left his whole body numb.
The scene kept going.
He forced himself to move his hand away and keep watching.
Liu Ruyan in the scene glanced at him.
That look was different from how she looked at other subordinates.
It lingered for two seconds longer.
Then the narration appeared again.
[Liu Ruyan noticed Li Mo’s looks. Over the following three months, under the pretense of “focused cultivation,” she transferred Li Mo from the grassroots level to the chairwoman’s office as her assistant.]
The scene fast-forwarded.
He saw himself start accompanying Liu Ruyan to all kinds of events.
Banquets.
Business dinners.
Signing ceremonies.
At every single one, Li Mo was the man standing beside Liu Ruyan.
His suit changed to custom-made, and his watch turned into brands he’d never even heard of before.
The people seated across the table included men in military uniform, white-haired elders, and people who were obviously from government departments.
Every one of them would look at him along with their toast to Liu Ruyan.
He understood that look.
"The young man by the chairwoman’s side" - everyone knew what that meant.
The scene jumped again.
A private dining room in a restaurant.
Liu Ruyan sat across from him, and the table only had place settings for two.
She held a glass of red wine and smiled at him.
The narration surfaced.
[Liu Ruyan promised Li Mo that if he performed well, the vice president position could be his.]
"Vice president..." Li Mo murmured to himself.
Good-looking, selected by HR, noticed by Liu Ruyan, promoted all the way up.
That line lay spread out clearly in front of him.
In this simulation world, his face was his greatest capital.
"Looks really are... fucking the first productive force."
He let out a bitter laugh.
In reality, he’d submitted resumes for three months and nobody even looked at them.
In the simulation, one face had carried him from a cubicle straight to the chairwoman’s bed.
The gap was absurd.
The scene continued.
A rainy night.
The sky in the scene was black as the bottom of a pot, and the rain was so heavy that even with the windshield wipers on full speed, the road still couldn’t be seen.
A black business car was parked by a mountain road with its hazard lights blinking.
He saw himself get out of the driver’s seat, his suit soaked through and clinging to his body.
Liu Ruyan was slumped in the passenger seat, her face pale, forehead covered in sweat.
The narration surfaced.
[On the return trip from a business trip, they encountered a torrential downpour. A landslide occurred on the mountain road, the vehicle broke down, and the phone signal was lost. Liu Ruyan developed a fever from the rain, her temperature reaching 39.8C.]
The Li Mo in the scene pulled Liu Ruyan out of the car, crouched down, and carried her on his back.
Her face was pressed against his back, her lips burned dry, and her voice came in broken fragments.
"Li Mo... leave me alone... you go first."
The him in the scene didn’t look back. He stepped into the mud and walked step by step down the mountain.
The rain was so heavy he couldn’t even keep his eyes open.
Half the road had collapsed, loose stones rolling down and slamming into his calf. He staggered and nearly fell.
Liu Ruyan clutched his shoulder from his back.
"Are you crazy..."
The Li Mo in the scene was breathing hard, his voice mostly drowned out by the rain.
"Shut up. Save your strength."
Li Mo sat on the bed watching that scene, his fists unconsciously clenching.
Every step the him in the scene took, Li Mo could feel the weight of it.
Driving rain, muddy roads, a woman burning up and nearly unconscious on his back.
If it were the real him, he’d do the same.
The scene jumped.
A corridor in a small-town clinic.
He was covered in mud, one shoe had been lost somewhere, and he stood barefoot at the entrance.
Liu Ruyan was carried into the examination room.
The narration.
[After walking 7.3 kilometers, Li Mo found rescue at the town clinic at the foot of the mountain. Liu Ruyan was out of danger.]
The scene jumped again.
This time it wasn’t a rainy night.
The sunlight was bright.
A room.
He was lying in bed under the covers, a fever patch stuck to his forehead.
Someone was sitting in the chair beside him.
Liu Ruyan.
She wasn’t wearing makeup, and she had on loose home clothes. Her hair was casually tied back, and she was holding a bowl of porridge.
She was nothing like the chairwoman who could freeze people to death in the office.
The Liu Ruyan in the scene set the porridge on the nightstand and reached out to touch his forehead.
Then she sat on the edge of the bed and looked at him.
She looked for a long time.
The narration.
[The day after returning, Li Mo fell ill with a high fever. Liu Ruyan canceled all her appointments for the day and personally took care of him.]
[From this day on, Liu Ruyan’s attitude toward Li Mo underwent a fundamental change.]
Li Mo stared at Liu Ruyan’s expression in the scene.
That wasn’t a superior’s concern for a subordinate.
It wasn’t ordinary gratitude either.
There was something in Liu Ruyan’s eyes he couldn’t put into words, but he understood it.
She had put him in her heart.
The scene cut.
This time it cut suddenly.
The setting became Liu Ruyan’s office.
But Liu Ruyan wasn’t there.
The him in the scene pushed open the door and walked in holding a folder.
"Chairwoman Liu, the meeting minutes from this morning..."
The sentence stopped halfway.
The drawer behind the desk was open.
There was a box inside.
The box was uncovered.
The image zoomed in.
Li Mo almost bit through his tongue sitting on the bed.
He saw that thing.
More accurately, he saw several of them.
Different colors, different shapes, all neatly arranged in the velvet lining.
The expression on the face of the him in the scene changed in a way that could only be called spectacular.
First he froze.
Then his eyes widened.
Then his face turned red all at once, the heat rushing from the base of his neck all the way to the tips of his ears.
The folder in his hand fell to the floor.
When he bent down to pick it up, he bumped into the edge of the desk.
Panicked like a thief who’d been caught red-handed.
He put the folder on the desk and practically ran out of the office, forgetting even to close the door.
Li Mo watched his own miserable, flustered state on the screen and couldn’t help covering his face.
"Fuck..."
The scene jumped to the next day.
Liu Ruyan’s office.
She sat alone behind the desk, and the computer screen in front of her was playing surveillance footage.
It was exactly the part from yesterday when he pushed open the door. Liu Ruyan’s finger rested on the mouse as she rewound it and watched it again.
The scene showed Li Mo discovering the box - freezing - blushing - bumping into the desk - fleeing in panic, and Liu Ruyan watched it all over again.
Then she smiled.
Not a cold smile.
She rested one hand against her chin, her eyes curved with laughter, and the corners of her mouth refused to come down no matter what.
She rewound the footage to the exact moment Li Mo blushed, hit pause, and stared at the screen for a long time.
The narration.
[Liu Ruyan replayed that surveillance footage a total of seven times.]
Li Mo: "..."
Seven times.
She’d watched him embarrass himself seven times.
And specifically paused on the frame where his face was reddest.
"This woman... is she sick or something."
That was what he said, but his heartbeat sped up again.
The scene continued.
This was the last segment.
A private dining room in a restaurant.
A very small room, with only one table and two chairs.
There wasn’t much food on the table, but there was plenty of alcohol.
Liu Ruyan sat across from him in a black dress.
She kept pouring him drink after drink.
The him in the scene was so drunk his face was red and his tongue was thick.
"Chairwoman Liu... I can't drink anymore... really can't."
Liu Ruyan smiled and poured him another glass.
"Don’t call me chairwoman. Call me sister."
"Liu... Sister Liu..."
"Good boy. One more glass."
The narration.
[Liu Ruyan hosted Li Mo under the pretense of thanking him for saving her life. That night, Li Mo drank to excess.]
The scene jumped.
The location changed.
The decor looked like Liu Ruyan’s home.
The hallway lights were dim.
The him in the scene was being half-supported, half-dragged by Liu Ruyan into the living room.
He was already too drunk to stand properly, with half his weight leaning on Liu Ruyan.
"Sister Liu... I’ll call a car home..."
"Go home to what? You can’t even walk straight."
Liu Ruyan shoved him onto the sofa.
He fell back, eyes half-open and half-closed.
Then he struggled to sit up.
"No... this isn't right... I have to go."
He braced himself on the sofa armrest and tried to stand.
One leg came over him.
To be exact, a leg in black stockings.
Liu Ruyan straddled him.
Her knees pressed into the sofa as her skirt spread across both sides of his thighs.
Li Mo sobered up halfway.
He looked down. Black stockings ran all the way from her ankles up her legs, stretched taut over the curve of her thighs. The hem of her skirt had ridden up, and he could see the faint indentation at the top where the stockings dug in.
His gaze stuck to that line and wouldn’t budge.
Liu Ruyan’s hand settled on his shoulder as she lowered her head and looked at him.
Her hair slid off her shoulder and brushed his face.
“You said you were leaving?”
Li Mo’s mouth moved.
His throat felt clogged with something he couldn’t swallow.
Liu Ruyan let her waist sink lower, shifting her weight onto him.
Even through their clothes, he could feel the heat of the inside of her thigh.
He didn’t know when his hand had ended up on her waist.
“Ms. Liu..."
“Mm?”
“This... You’ve had too much to drink.”
Liu Ruyan gave a low laugh, a soft hum from the back of her throat.
“You think I’ve had too much?”
Her eyes were bright, far too clear.
The scene froze there.
Then it vanished.
Li Mo sat on the bed, his palms slick with sweat.
He replayed everything he had just seen in his head.
Picked for being handsome, noticed by Liu Ruyan, promoted step by step, saved her life on a business trip, discovered her secret, then got her drunk and brought back to her place.
Everything connected into one line.
He slowly leaned back against the headboard and covered his eyes.
“So..."
“So this is just some kind of backdoor deal?”