Although Bella deeply regretted her moment of cowardice just now and wished she could take matters into her own hands, reason told her that this man was very dangerous right now.
She could only regretfully maintain her posture as a director, giving commands from a distance.
"Yes, stop! Perfect!"
Looking at the perfect V-line contour and the explosive muscle lines in the viewfinder, Bella's eyes sparkled. She looked as if she wanted to stare right through the screen.
She quickly pressed the shutter, capturing the moment with a click.
After taking the last photo, Bella stared at the image on the screen. To be honest, she hadn't had enough fun yet; she even wanted to explore a bit further down.
But when she met the man's bottomless dark eyes, her little bit of liquid courage instantly shrank back.
"Ahem... all done."
Bella put away the camera in a blatant attempt to cover up her thoughts, backing down incredibly fast.
"Get up, young master. After tossing around for half the day, I'm tired and want to sleep."
Hearing this, Ye Jinzhi surprisingly didn't pester her anymore.
He stood up, and right in front of her, his fingers went to the remaining buttons, swiftly taking his shirt completely off.
His firm and solid back stretched out under the light. With his movements, his trapezius, deltoids, and latissimus dorsi muscles were all fully displayed in front of Bella.
Her pupils dilated in shock. Overwhelmed by the rushing wave of male hormones that made her heart skip a beat, she quickly turned her back to him, cursing softly, wanting to cry but lacking the tears:
"...Taking off your clothes without even a warning."
"Good girl."
The man's low voice sounded behind her. Before she could react, a large, warm hand grasped her wrist, then slid down to interlock fingers with hers.
Without a word, he pulled her toward the walk-in closet, stopping in front of a cabinet. He raised his chin slightly, gesturing:
"Choose."
Bella was completely confused. She pulled open the drawer, but the moment she saw clearly what was inside, her entire face flushed bright red.
Inside were neatly arranged various skimpy pieces of fabric—lace, silk, strappy ones...
Every single piece was extremely skimpy, a hundred times more daring than the one he had just ruined.
"Smack!"
As if burned, Bella slammed the drawer shut with the back of her hand and held it down tightly.
Her face turned red all the way to her ears at a visible speed, and even her breathing became scorching hot.
She spun around, questioning him incoherently, her voice trembling:
"You... how could you actually prepare these things?!"
The man had already closed the distance between them at some point. He lowered his head slightly, his figure enveloping her completely in his shadow:
"I promised to compensate you just now... Do you like it, darling?"
"Stop talking!"
Embarrassed and annoyed, she reached out and covered his mouth directly.
"I'm going to sleep. Now. Right this instant!"
She tilted up her blushing face, pretending to be calm.
She thought that with his mouth covered, this person would behave for at least a second or two, but the next moment,
A wet sensation spread across her palm. Not only did the man not pull away, but he slightly parted his lips and licked her palm.
The moist sensation wrapped tightly around her fingertips, then spread from her fingertips through her entire body.
"Ugh!"
As if bitten by a venomous snake, Bella let out a short scream and instantly retracted her hand like she had been electrocuted.
She clutched her fingertips. "You... you pervert!"
She accused him loudly, the corners of her eyes seeping with a seductive red from shame and anger.
The man merely tilted his head slightly. "Tastes good... but compared to sleeping, I think I'd rather try these little pieces of fabric on you, my good girl."
"Go away! Leave, now!"
Bella, overwhelmed with embarrassment and anger, couldn't even bother to look at his tantalizing body. She used all her strength to push the dangerously alluring man out of the walk-in closet.
"Bang!"
With a crisp click of the lock, she leaned her back against the door panel, taking a few deep breaths. Like guarding against a thief, she opened the cabinet again, rummaged through the pile of blush-inducing fabrics for a long time, and finally picked the one with the most coverage to wear.
She dawdled inside for a long time until she confirmed there was no sound outside. Only then did she carefully turn the lock and peek half her little head out.
The bedroom was empty, with only the moonlight quietly spilling over the messy bed.
Bella patted her chest in relief, threw herself onto the large bed with peace of mind, wrapped herself tightly in the blanket, and contentedly drifted off to sleep.
Meanwhile, in the study.
Ye Jinzhi, still bare-chested, stood in front of the bookcase. With a clear target, he accurately pulled out a thick, textured black book.
The sound of flipping pages was exceptionally clear in the silent night.
He lowered his eyelashes, his fingertips slowly stopping on the second page.
Besides some drawings on the paper, the most obvious thing was a circled sentence: "...might as well kneel down and beg me."
The image of the young girl's eyes shining tonight surfaced in his mind. Ye Jinzhi no longer restrained himself; a bright smile curved on his lips, bringing scattered light into his eyes.
He picked up a pen and drew a red checkmark next to that line of text.
Then, his fingertips flipped the page, looking at the third page.
The composition of the drawing was excellent, featuring a close-up of the male lead's face. The glaring red mark on his forehead added a bit of rebelliousness, and the edge of the bandage on the bridge of his nose curled up slightly, yet it couldn't hide those eyes that were curved like crescent moons.
He murmured softly, raising his fingertips to gently rub the bridge of his own nose.
"Injury, huh..."
"Buzz—buzz—buzz—"
The ringing of the phone suddenly interrupted him. Ye Jinzhi answered it impatiently:
"Since the other party refuses to leave the market, force a liquidation. Before Monday, I want to see their trump cards completely invalidated. If their capital chain doesn't break, keep smashing it down until they beg me to sign the contract."
"No need to wait for a pullback, just sweep up the shares. Anything within a three-times premium doesn't need to be reported. I just want our people sitting in their board seats by next Tuesday."
Hanging up the phone, Ye Jinzhi returned from the study to the bedroom, his eyes instantly turning from cold to gentle.
Lightening his footsteps, he lifted the corner of the blanket, scooped the sweetly sleeping girl who was curled up in a ball back into his arms, and finally closed his eyes to fall into a deep sleep.
When Bella opened her eyes again, she found that she had been mysteriously returned to her own room.
She rubbed her eyes and subconsciously checked the time on her phone, making a mental note of it.
She briskly washed up, packed her backpack, and pushed the door open to leave.
Today was Thursday.
Bella cheered herself on in her heart:
Just hold on a little longer. After today, tomorrow will be the highly anticipated Friday!
Carrying her backpack, she secretly felt lucky. As expected of First High School, compared to those "devil high schools" that insisted on squeezing students until Saturday noon before letting go, and forcing them to return on Sunday afternoon, the principal of First High was simply a living Bodhisattva.
As soon as the school bell rang on Friday afternoon, the school gates would swing wide open, and no one was held back.
If anyone indignantly asked why, the principal only needed to toss out the blindingly brilliant undergraduate admission rates from previous years: that was the ultimate confidence.
Bella had already secretly made her plans. The first thing she would do after school on Friday was kick off her shoes, dive under the covers, cut off all contact with the world, and sleep until the sky turned dark.
She felt that all the exhaustion of her entire life had probably been overdrawn during these three years of high school.
In the early morning, Ye Jinzhi noticed the emptiness in his arms and let out a soft, helpless sigh.
He got up, freshened up, and headed downstairs with a composed stride.
The butler stationed at the foot of the stairs instinctively looked up, only to flinch and avert his gaze as if he had been burned.
The red marks on the Master's face... were those five finger marks?
The butler rubbed his eyes, thinking he hadn't fully woken up yet. Had the Master... been slapped?
Ye Jinzhi brushed past him, but the butler remained frozen in place, completely forgetting to even bow in greeting.
