Chapter 57: Chapter 57: Tonight, I Belong to You

The call lasted for about three minutes.

After discreetly sizing up the three of them, Yuan Shimo offered a rather formulaic inquiry into his female master’s well-being, then mentioned he had research to attend to and needed to end the call.

"You should get back to your work, then," Jiang Qingli said understandingly. Then, she suddenly remembered something. "Oh, by the way, when do you think you’ll be heading over here?"

Yuan Shimo chuckled softly at her words. "What is it? Is there something you need me for?"

For some reason, even though he was smiling and his tone was polite, Jiang Qingli sensed a considerable distance and resistance from him.

"Not really," Jiang Qingli explained. "I just wanted to let you know that there are still a few empty rooms in the house. Between you and Gu Nian, it’s first come, first pick."

The villa had five floors in total. Jiang Qingli lived in the master bedroom on the fifth floor, with a guest room on each side occupied by Ye Linyuan and Baili Jing respectively. Qin Muye was currently living on the third floor.

Lin Xiyue had said that the Beast Husbands would fight fiercely over room assignments.

Although that hadn’t happened at her villa yet, Jiang Qingli decided she should still make things clear.

Yuan Shimo was clearly uninterested in any of this. He simply gave a slight nod. "Very well. Thank you, female master."

The call ended, and a new message appeared on his terminal.

Father: [Have you checked in with Miss Jiang?]

The message had been sent five minutes ago. Scrolling up, he saw that there had been similar messages almost every day lately.

Yuan Shimo slowly tapped out a reply: [I just spoke with Miss Jiang on a call. She is doing well.]

A reply came back almost instantly: [Jiang Youchen will be back in Central City in less than half a year.]

Father: [Your top priority right now is to serve Miss Jiang well. It will be of great benefit to both our families, and especially to your younger brother.]

Yuan Shimo replied expressionlessly: [Understood.]

As he put his terminal away, there was a knock on the door. "Finished chatting with your female master?"

Yuan Shimo turned to look at the young man standing in the doorway. "Yu."

Yu Yang shrugged. "Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop on your chat with the female master. The soundproofing in here is just terrible."

He tossed a packet of nutrient solution over to him. "Your dinner."

The pollution in the Lower District was severe. There was no decent food to be had, and only the nutrient solution was considered clean.

Yuan Shimo downed it in one gulp. A strange, bitter taste filled his mouth.

Yu Yang sat down next to him and said in a gossipy tone, "Your female master doesn’t seem like the rumors online say. Judging by her voice, she sounds really gentle."

Yuan Shimo’s hand paused as he reached for the kettle, his mind replaying the scene from the call.

Yuan Shimo had actually planned to just send a message, but the fact that his unfailingly honest brother had lied for a female had made him intensely curious.

Yuan Shimo had seen Jiang Qingli before, but like with everyone else, his memory of her was just a vague blur.

It wasn’t until today that he truly saw her.

Dark hair, red lips, skin as white as snow, and clear, bright almond-shaped eyes.

’Her slender fingers were held by two tall males who surrounded her. The tips of her ears were tinged with pink. She looked frail and innocent, as if she wouldn’t fight back no matter how you bullied her, only whimper softly and beg for mercy...’

’Exactly the kind of frail female he despised the most.’

"Yuan," Yu Yang suddenly said, "your cup is overflowing."

Yuan Shimo snapped back to reality and glanced down at his cup, only to see it wasn’t full.

His prank a success, Yu Yang cackled. "Oh my god, you were actually spacing out? Don’t tell me you fell in love at first sight!"

Yuan Shimo closed his eyes for a moment before forcing a faint smile, a flicker of impatience in their depths. "Please don’t make that kind of joke."

He put the kettle away, but for once, he misjudged his own strength.

A few drops of water splashed onto the pages of a book, slowly seeping in and leaving a stark stain on the paper.

-

Back at the villa, Jiang Qingli had dinner.

After her meal, she took a stroll in the garden before leisurely making her way back to her bedroom.

Just as she entered her room, she saw Yi Nuo standing at the bathroom door, peering inside with a deep frown, looking quite displeased.

Jiang Qingli walked over. "What’s wrong?"

"Mr. Baili is in the bathroom," Yi Nuo said, his lips pressed into a thin line.

Jiang Qingli glanced into the bathroom and saw Baili Jing, wearing a bathrobe that hung wide open at the collar, dropping a bath bomb into the tub and swirling the water to create bubbles.

Yi Nuo’s voice dropped, and he looked at her with an aggrieved expression. "I’m usually the one who prepares these things."

"It’s alright, Yi Nuo," Baili Jing said with the smile of a devoted housewife. "This is my duty as a Beast Husband. You can consider your burden lightened."

Yi Nuo: "..."

The Gray Wolf Butler wrinkled his high-bridged nose, beastly instinct urging him to bare his teeth in a show of aggression.

But when his peripheral vision landed on the girl beside him, Yi Nuo’s tone softened. "The young lady likes her water at a specific temperature. The bubble bath mixture, the toys in the water, and the color coordination of the towels all have to be just right."

"Mr. Baili, in that regard, you are not yet qualified."

"Is that so?" Baili Jing said with a smile, placing a small rubber duck in the water. "But I know Xiao Li better than I know myself."

Jiang Qingli: "..."

’It’s just drawing a bath. They’re making it sound like some world-class problem.’

’And didn’t Yi Nuo say before that this was all automated? Why is he preparing it by hand now!’

’Does a butler really need to be this meticulous...?’

After their verbal sparring match, neither having gotten the response they wanted, they both turned to look at Jiang Qingli in unison.

Jiang Qingli found the whole thing absurd. "I’ll just draw my own bath from now on."

The moment she said it, both men put on wounded expressions.

"Fine, you two can take turns then, how about that?" Jiang Qingli couldn’t help but laugh at her own words as she quickly shooed them out. "Okay, okay, I want to take my bath now. You two, out."

Baili Jing’s voice was a tender purr. "Baby, I can stay and help you..."

Before he could finish, Xiao Qing Mei shot him a glare.

The glare made Baili Jing’s heart melt. By the time he came to his senses, he’d already been pushed out the door.

Glancing down at his widely open collar, Baili Jing began to doubt himself.

’This amount of exposed skin is usually just right. It should be Xiao Li’s favorite. Why didn’t she even look...?’

’Have I lost my appeal to her?’

A few minutes later, Jiang Qingli sank into the tub, leaning against the edge, lost in thought.

"What are you thinking about?"

A cold, deep voice came from her side.

Jiang Qingli whipped her head around to find Ye Linyuan standing beside the tub, his coiled snake tail resting on the floor. She had no idea when he’d appeared.

She jumped, startled, and instinctively covered her shoulders. "Don’t just sneak up on me like that!"

"You’re supposed to be mine tonight," Ye Linyuan said, averting his gaze, his tone full of displeasure. "You were with that fo—with Baili Jing last night."

Startled by him, Jiang Qingli’s temper flared. "I don’t like the way you put that," she said, annoyed. "What do you mean, I’m ’yours’? I’m not some tool."

Ye Linyuan’s eyes narrowed. He suddenly braced his hands on either side of the tub, leaning down and looming over her.

The distance between them closed in an instant.

Staring into the sinister, vertical pupils so close to her own, Jiang Qingli’s heart rate skyrocketed.

Out of fear.

’She silently cursed herself for being reckless. A major villain was still a major villain, even if he’d been obedient for a few days. His thought process was different from a normal person’s. And they weren’t in some intimate relationship; there was no need to correct him...’

Just as she was about to say something to smooth things over, Ye Linyuan leaned in, his pale, thin lips brushing against the corner of her mouth.

He said again, word by word:

"Jiang Qingli, tonight, I am yours."

"I’ll be the tool. That’s fine."

The air seemed to freeze for a moment.

Jiang Qingli’s eyes widened, and she wondered if she had heard him correctly.

’She had thought the villain would give her a cold look and walk out, or maybe curse her for being ungrateful. How could he just... change the wording?’

’And saying that he’d be... a t-tool...’

The tips of Jiang Qingli’s ears grew scorching hot.

Her silence made Ye Linyuan very uncomfortable.

The young man pulled back a little, his brow deeply furrowed, as if trying to figure out what he had said wrong this time.

’His worldview really is a bit warped,’ Jiang Qingli realized.

’Should I try to correct it?’

Just then, a soft knock came from the door.

Baili Jing’s smooth, affectionate voice drifted through the door. "Xiao Li, I think I left something in there. Could you open the door for a moment?"