BDB Chapter 39

Li Jueyan was almost driven to laughter by his frustration.

He leveraged his personal connections to have the notary office staff pretend that everything was fine and issue a high-interest loan document, but the cost he had to bear was no less than 2.18 million.

The reason he did this was not to force her to gather the money and repay him within a day or two.

What he wanted, he believed she knew well, but she was willing to pay this enormous price to cut all ties with him.

Good, so damn good!

Seeing that he remained silent, she waved her hand in front of him, “Li Jueyan.”

He continued to stare at her motionlessly.

“Young Master Li?”

She kept waving, but he still didn’t move.

Realizing this, Jiang Rao sighed in frustration.

She turned her gaze back to the notebook beside her, “Although your silent treatment is a thousand times better than your intimidating speeches, we still need to handle this officially. I’ll prepare the receipt now, and you just need to sign and stamp it. Then we’ll be settled.”

“Silence implies agreement, so I’ll take it as a yes.”

Talking to herself, Jiang Rao began drafting the receipt.

After wasting two drafts, she finally wrote out a proper receipt in neat, standard script.

Turning back to Li Jueyan, she handed him the neatly cut receipt and pen, “Li Jueyan, please sign your name here.”

He smiled and took the pen from her hand. With a few swift strokes, he handed the so-called receipt back to her.

Jiang Rao looked down and saw the large “Your Name” written on it.

After a moment, she took a deep breath, telling herself not to argue too much with a drunk.

Without saying a word, she prepared another receipt. Turning back to him, she clarified, “Just sign here, Li Jueyan.”

But he remained still, not even reaching for the pen.

She looked up at him, “What’s wrong?”

“The three words can’t be written casually. Grandpa once told me that if I feel even a tiny bit uncomfortable in my head, I should never write those three words.”

His voice was still as soft as before, without inflection or emphasis, as though he was reciting a mantra.

Jiang Rao didn’t doubt that he was still drunk, as his tone was unlike his usual self.

Since he said he wouldn’t sign if he felt uncomfortable, she had no choice but to pin her hopes on the hangover pills she had.

Knowing that drunk people were often unreasonable, Jiang Rao didn’t want to hear any more embarrassing or infuriating demands like “feed me with your mouth” from him.

So she lowered her voice, speaking gently, “How about you take the medicine? It’ll make your head feel better.”

When had he ever heard her speak in such a tone before?

Softly and gently, if he were younger and she were more fierce and unattractive, this scene would almost look like luring a child.

But it no longer mattered.

She was coaxing him with gentleness while what awaited him was nothing more than the abyss of never seeing her again.

He smiled, “Alright, feed me with your mouth.”

Jiang Rao’s expression was indescribable.

What was their relationship that he would ask her to feed him with her mouth?

She felt that, compared to feeding him with her mouth, using force to feed him while he was drunk seemed more feasible.

Thinking this, she was about to do just that.

However, just as she was about to clamp his chin with one hand and use the other to put the pill in his mouth, he suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her into his embrace.

Jiang Rao was stunned, and when she came to her senses, she quickly used both hands to push against his chest, trying to prevent their bodies from touching, “Li Jueyan, let go of me. I’m trying to feed you your medicine. Why are you being so disobedient?”

“Jiang Rao, who’s being disobedient?”

By mid-May, people who were afraid of heat had already turned on their air conditioning. In the stifling weather, the air conditioning in the car was running, yet despite the temperature never changing, Jiang Rao suddenly felt a chill.

When he was drunk, he would call her Raorao.

When he was sober and calm, he would address her directly as “you.”

When he was angry even though he was not drunk, he would call her by her full name.

Jiang Rao had a sudden thought—this is bad!

But the next second, she remembered she wasn’t doing anything harmful to him and had no reason to feel guilty.

So she continued to insist he let go while increasing her struggle.

But she couldn’t break free. Not only did she fail to free herself, but she also felt a hard object pressing against her abdomen.

She was stunned, really wanting to slap this male lead to death for being so lustful all the time!

But while her emotions screamed at her to do so, her rational mind and the lessons from her health education classes told her that her best course of action was to keep calm.

After all, studies showed that men were biologically wired to respond with more enthusiasm when faced with resistance.

The more she resisted, the more excited he became!

The more excited he was, the more ideas that might come to his mind!

She quieted herself. A few seconds later, his voice came from her ear, “Stopped making a fuss? Why aren’t you continuing? Hmm?”

His voice was no longer as harmless as before.

To be honest, as a girl who was born in the new society and grew up under the red flag, having experienced four years of dormitory life in university, although Jiang Rao had little interest in the films coming from Japan, there was almost always a “perverted king” in every dorm. Under the influence of these “perverted kings”, she couldn’t help but steal a few glances and overhear some of the information spread by those kinds of films.

The men in those videos always spoke in a lingering, gentle tone when they were in heat.

For some reason, Jiang Rao heard a similar implication in Li Jueyan’s warning.

Especially with the final “Hmm?”

It was simply infuriating!

Feeling the hard object pressing against her abdomen, Jiang Rao forced herself to stay calm, “I’m not going to fuss with you anymore, Li Jueyan. Can you please let go of me?”

“Not going to fuss with me anymore?” He relaxed his hold on her waist, moved his head away from her ear, and looked into her eyes, “You’re planning to get the receipt from me and then part ways forever, right? According to the contract, I won’t be able to ‘harass’ you anymore, so there’s no need to talk about fussing or not, is there?”

His breath was heavy with alcohol, but his eyes were exceptionally clear.

Jiang Rao knew that a domineering president like him would never listen to the truth, no matter how it was presented; yet, he could easily take to heart the lies spoken to please him and remember them for a lifetime.

This was the typical capitalist attitude.

Only hearing what he wanted to hear and seeing what he wanted to see.

He didn’t care at all how obvious her irritation and impatience were!

So, holding his gaze, she couldn’t bring herself to deceive him, “Li Jueyan, we went through the notarization. Now that I’ve managed to gather the money, even if you don’t sign this receipt today, you’ll still have to go to the notary office tomorrow to retrieve the check. There’s no way to avoid it.”

His eyes were dark and his tone was cold, “I’ll send someone to blow up the notary office tomorrow.”

Jiang Rao pressed her lips together, “You’ll end up in jail.”

Whether in stories about domineering CEOs involved in criminal activities or political dramas, a domineering CEO was still just a domineering CEO.

Challenging the state machinery would only result in a prison sentence and endless incarceration.

“Anyway, no one cares about me. It would be better if I were dead!”

Hearing this resentful talk, Jiang Rao felt uneasy, “You’re drunk. Have you forgotten how Grandma Ma cares about you?”

“Jiang Rao, do you care about me?”

“I don’t.”

Li Jueyan narrowed his eyes. Then, she spoke again.

“Li Jueyan, we’re not familiar with each other. I don’t know why you’re so fixated on me. Is it just because of my face?” Jiang Rao took a deep breath, “Even though Director Feng’s event has just started, I’ve noticed that the girls there look somewhat like me and Miss Jiang Tang.”

“You’re wealthy and handsome. Those girls have some background. As long as you wiggle your fingers, many would be willing to undergo plastic surgery for you. Japan and Korean cosmetic surgery industries are very advanced; getting a face almost identical to mine isn’t a big deal.”

“And since you’ve expanded the Li Group business to this extent, I believe you wouldn’t fail to understand such a simple thing. So why do you insist on sticking to me, someone who wants to escape from you?”

Li Jueyan curled his lips, “With the original available, would I be foolish enough to create a replica?”

“But I’m not great. I’m lazy—if I can lie down, I won’t sit; if I can sit, I won’t stand; I’m selfish—I don’t want to help repay my own mother’s debt, and with the money from selling those two houses, I just want to escape and not care about my family’s life and death at all.” Jiang Rao tried to reason with him, “And I just want to get rich quickly, which is extremely unrealistic and vulgar. My health isn’t good. Though it’s not apparent now, I’ll definitely be sickly when I grow old.”

Though she criticized herself and made herself seem worthless, Li Jueyan just couldn’t hate her.

Indeed, with her soft tone and earnest expression, anyone who found her annoying was simply not much of a man.

Seeing she was done talking, he smiled, “If you’re so bad, would you even be able to marry someone else if I hadn’t taken a liking to you?”

He paused, then said, “So just give in to me. I don’t mind you.”

Jiang Rao almost didn’t want to talk to him anymore.

Her self-deprecation was meant to show him that there were many girls better than her, “I just want to tell you that you really don’t need to hang yourself on my crooked tree. After all, you’re so outstanding, and I’m so not worthy of you.”

As she spoke, she placed the receipt and check, which she had been holding, directly in the center of their line of sight, “Li Jueyan?”

Although Li Jueyan wasn’t a top student during his teenage years and had more athletic ability than academic prowess, his high school homeroom teacher was a remarkable person. To improve their essay scores in the science class, she often had them transcribe beautiful verses from the library.

His memory was good, and there was one poem he had remembered until now.

[How to make you meet me at my most beautiful moment.

…

Please listen carefully.

Those trembling leaves are my waiting passion.

And when you finally pass by without a care.

Behind you they fell to the ground.

Friends.

Those are not petals, but my withered heart.]

He thought he might be that crooked tree.

Despite having put in so much effort to keep her by his side, she always ignored him.

He took the paper from her hand, “You really don’t think much of me?”

Jiang Rao didn’t think poorly of him.

If she had been a supporting female character, the male lead’s current antics might have won her over. After all, the attraction between the male lead and a supporting character was usually minimal, and he wouldn’t have any lecherous intentions towards her. As long as she kept her original intentions and didn’t sabotage the female lead, she could safely withdraw from the storyline and walk away with a substantial pension.

It would be like a vacation, enjoying good food and drinks while also making money.

However, she was the female lead.

The one who had finally found hope of escaping the male lead.

If she followed his suggestion and went back to fulfill the remaining six months of the contract, who knew what kind of trouble might arise! Besides, what were they—lovers? Who in their right mind would want to be someone else’s lover? She had no feelings for the male lead, and it really wasn’t necessary.

Seeing her remain silent, Li Jueyan scoffed, “Fine, I’ll sign. But don’t come regretting it and looking for me later.”

Seeing him say this, she nodded obediently.

It made him so angry that his heart ached.

As he signed the paper and handed the pen back to her, he thought to himself.

Did she really think he couldn’t live without her? Just as she said, what was so special about her? Nothing at all.

Exactly.

What the hell was so special about her!

He was so outstanding!

——