Chapter 5

Chapter 5

At Gu Manor, in a bedroom.

Shen Xingjin had been stripped naked, his wrists and ankles bound in chains, leaving him unable to move.

Gu Beichen wore a bathrobe, his hair still half-damp, a glass of red wine in his hand.

He looked down at the bare Shen Xingjin. “Baby, don’t blame me. You’re the one who was too disobedient.”

Exposed like this, Shen Xingjin was both humiliated and furious.

“You bastard! Let me go!”

“You disgusting gay freak! What the hell is wrong with you? I like women!”

Gu Beichen’s hand caressed his chest. “So what? There has never been anything I wanted that I couldn’t have.”

He poured the remaining half glass of wine into Shen Xingjin’s mouth.

“Be good. Drink this, and you’ll feel good.”

Shen Xingjin was a man, after all. He was stronger than a woman.

If he struggled, it would be very easy for him to hurt Gu Beichen.

Now his face was flushed, and his whole body had gone limp.

The drugged wine had been split evenly between them.

One day and one night.

Shen Xingjin felt like he was going to die.

His consciousness blurred, and he developed a high fever.

Gu Beichen called for doctors.

“If you can’t cure him, all of you will be buried with him!”

After an IV drip, Shen Xingjin’s fever went down.

So Gu Beichen tormented him for another night.

Shen Xingjin fell unconscious.

Doctors.

“If you can’t cure him, all of you will be buried with him!”

The doctor said, “I already told you he needs rest. He shouldn’t be subjected to too much… too much…”

Gu Beichen said coldly, “Remember your place. All you need to do is cure him.”

Shen Xingjin finally woke up.

Gu Beichen, again and again…

In the middle of the night, an ambulance carried him away.

“All of you will be buried with him!”

In the original plot, Gu Beichen did the same sort of things to Su Ruanruan.

Domineering CEOs were all capable of seven times a night.

People even commented that it was “sweet” and “so sugary.”

But shouldn’t both people be enjoying this sort of thing?

In the end, the only one who was “happy” was Gu Beichen, while Su Ruanruan was nothing more than a tool to satisfy the male lead’s desires.

Not to mention Su Ruanruan was forced every time, always left bruised all over and so exhausted she couldn’t get out of bed.

Honestly, what a joke. I went hiking once, and the next day I couldn’t get out of bed either.

My legs ached, my waist ached, even going to the bathroom was a struggle. At the time, I wanted to die.

Shen Xingjin was admitted to the Gu Family’s private hospital.

After he woke, he did not say a word. He only stared quietly out the window.

There was no light left in his eyes.

When Gu Beichen fed him, he refused to eat.

Gu Beichen gripped his throat and asked, “Am I not good to you? Is being with me really that painful?”

Seeing that he still would not speak, Gu Beichen slapped him in anger.

“Talk!”

“Are you deaf?”

Only then did he realize what he had done, and he stroked Shen Xingjin’s face in distress.

“It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have hit you.”

He picked up the bowl of congee and brought a spoonful to Shen Xingjin’s lips, his tone gentle.

“How can you not eat? It hurts me to see you like this.”

Shen Xingjin finally spoke, his voice hoarse.

“Let me go!”

The veins on Gu Beichen’s forehead bulged. He smashed the bowl hard onto the floor.

“You’re still thinking of leaving me?”

“If you don’t want to eat, then don’t eat!”

Gu Beichen left and ordered the guards not to bring Shen Xingjin any food.

“Let him suffer a little. Then he’ll learn to behave.”

Those people immediately understood. They were supposed to make Shen Xingjin “suffer.”

The caregivers stopped taking care of him properly, leaving him to manage his own injections. They did not even notice when the medicine bottle ran empty.

The guards even mocked him. “CEO Gu is just playing around with you.”

They would not even bring Shen Xingjin a sip of water.

In the original plot, Su Ruanruan went through the same thing.

If the female lead didn’t fall into danger, how would the male lead get a chance to play the hero and save the beauty?

Three days later, Gu Beichen came to see him.

“Has he learned to behave?”

The people at the door said nothing, looking somewhat guilty.

Gu Beichen pushed the door open and went inside, only to see Shen Xingjin collapsed on the floor, crawling toward the bathroom.

Rage instantly surged through him. “Are you all dead?”

“Who gave you permission to treat him like this?”

CEO Gu, domineeringly protecting his “husband.”

At that moment, Shen Xingjin could no longer hold on. Lying on the floor, he shed tears of humiliation.

“Gu Beichen, what did I ever do to offend you?”

“Why are you treating me like this?”

Gu Beichen, his heart aching, carried him up. After helping him take care of his physical needs, he placed him back on the bed.

Then he kissed him tenderly.

He turned and went outside, fired all those people, and had his assistant take ruthless revenge on them.

Gu Beichen said, “Xingjin, I’ve already punished them for you.”

“Don’t be afraid. From now on, I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

“Be good. Eat something, all right?”

In the end, Shen Xingjin couldn’t hold out any longer. He drank the porridge Gu Beichen fed him.

Gu Beichen smiled in satisfaction, his words heavy with meaning. “That’s more like it.”

“As long as you behave, you won’t have to suffer. I’ll love you properly.”

This was a process of being tamed.

Shen Xingjin was brought back to Gu Manor.

He stopped opposing Gu Beichen head-on.

Because every time he so much as said the word “leave,” Gu Beichen would go insane.

Then he began to wonder: he had been gone for so long, so why had no one come looking for him?

Shen Xingjin might not have had any family, but he was still the head of a company.

“Gu Beichen, I still have to work. The company can’t function without me.”

Gu Beichen smiled as he soothed him. “Don’t be scared. I’ve already found someone to take over Shen Corporation.”

“Wh… what?”

A sense of crisis rose in Shen Xingjin’s chest.

He wasn’t someone whose whole world revolved around love.

What he loved was power, money, and status.

It was like an emperor who had ruled perfectly well, who possessed a vast empire, held supreme power, and had three thousand beauties in his harem.

Then suddenly, someone usurped his throne, took everything from him, locked him in the harem, and claimed they would grant him the supreme position of empress.

Then, in the tone of bestowing a favor, they said to him, “So many people want to climb into my bed, but I only love you. You should be weeping with gratitude.”

“As for the throne and power, you don’t need them. All you have to do is please me. Having me is no different from having power.”

Right now, Shen Xingjin felt that Gu Beichen had done all of this just to steal his company.

“You’re insane!”

“Shen Corporation is my life’s work. You want to take it from me?”

Gu Beichen chuckled. “It’s just Shen Corporation. As long as you behave and satisfy me, I can give you anything you want.”

“Shen Corporation is still yours. I only found someone to manage it for the time being.”

“Don’t go to work anymore. I don’t want you meeting people outside. Having me is enough.”

Shen Xingjin slapped him across the face. “On what grounds?”

“Gu Beichen, I have my own career. I’m not fucking here to be your pampered little husband!”

Faced with Shen Xingjin’s rage, Gu Beichen showed no empathy at all.

Instead, he touched the side of his face where he’d been hit, and smiled.

In the original plot, no matter how close Su Ruanruan came to being driven mad, in Gu Beichen’s eyes, it was only like a kitten extending its claws.

Utterly adorable.

At the end of the day, it was because he was strong, and you were weak.

He knew it very well…

You. Could. Absolutely. Never. Threaten. Him.

He could not understand your pain, did not care about your needs, and ignored your human rights.

Shen Xingjin slapped him again, and Gu Beichen still didn’t move.

It wasn’t until Shen Xingjin grabbed him by the throat and shouted, “Go to hell!” that he finally raised his hand and pried Shen Xingjin’s wrists away.

Shen Xingjin had only just recovered from a serious illness and had little strength to begin with. Now his face was pale, and his hand hurt as if it had been snapped in two.

“Shen Xingjin, if you go too far, this stops being fun.”

He could indulge a kitten occasionally stretching out its claws to scratch him. He might even have the leisure to tease it a little.

But if the kitten became too disobedient, he would be displeased.

Not because he was afraid.

But because he was annoyed.

A person in power could refuse to allow anyone to challenge his authority.

“If you dare anger me again, I don’t mind bankrupting Shen Corporation. It’s not as if I’m afraid of losing that little bit of money.” Gu Beichen had control over the thing Shen Xingjin cared about most.

“After all… Shen Corporation and the Gu Family are cooperating on three projects. If I pull my funding now, do you think Shen Corporation can hold on?”

Gu Beichen leaned lightly back against the sofa, looking down from above at his prey.

“The door is right there. Shen Corporation or freedom. Choose for yourself.”

He laid out the stakes and the chips, leaving Shen Xingjin with a path he had no choice but to take.

I remembered a line from the original text:

“Su Ruanruan, Lu Qingyuan’s life or your freedom. Choose for yourself.”

Only now did Shen Xingjin truly realize the situation he was in.

“I’m sorry. I won’t dare do it again.”

“I… I’ll listen to you.”

“Kneel,” Gu Beichen said lightly.

“Wh… what?” Shen Xingjin looked at him in disbelief.

“If you dare provoke me, you have to bear the consequences.”

“Only after you’ve been punished will you remember your lesson.”

Shen Xingjin didn’t understand. “Aren’t you…”

He wanted to ask, Didn’t Gu Beichen like him?

But he couldn’t get the words out.

In the end, he could only kneel in humiliation at Gu Beichen’s feet.

Gu Beichen rose, tilted his chin up, and chuckled.

“Now that’s obedient.”

And then…