Chapter 40: Is it true that as long as the money is enough, you'll do anything you're told?

Zhu Yuan stood at the doorway, her legs as stiff as if they had been filled with lead; she simply could not take a single step.

The man was permeated with a bone-chilling coldness.

A Sheng Yu like this easily reminded her of that rainy night when he was frantic, brutal, and had lost his mind.

"Come here."

The man's cold, low voice reached her.

Zhu Yuan was slightly startled, staring at his back.

That night, Sheng Yu hadn't said a word, only engaged in frantic plundering; he had been in a state of complete loss of reason.

If he could speak clearly now, did that mean things weren't as serious as she had thought?

Not daring to hesitate any longer, lest she provoke him and suffer for it, Zhu Yuan clenched her fists, gathered her courage, and walked over slowly.

Just now, Sheng Yu had been facing away from the door, but now she saw several empty wine bottles in front of him.

Rare wines that couldn't be bought even outside were being drunk by him like water.

He had drunk quite a lot, and the smell of alcohol on him was very heavy.

The faint scent of roses on the woman mixed into the smell of alcohol, drilling into his nasal cavity and entangling with it; Sheng Yu's expression was gloomy to the extreme.

His legs were splayed, his back hunched, and his whole person appeared disheveled and depressed; he kept his head down, toying with the lighter in his hand.

The black matte lid closed, opened, closed, and opened again.

Each time, it stepped precisely on the rhythm of Zhu Yuan's heartbeat.

"Why were you there?"

Even though his tone was sparse and ordinary, Zhu Yuan's body trembled slightly, and she said in a low voice, "The theater troupe was invited to perform; I am the lead in this play."

Worried that he might misunderstand something, Zhu Yuan explained, "I didn't know beforehand that it was to celebrate Shen Yijing's birthday."

The man chuckled.

"Heh, how much did Sheng Hongyao pay you?"

He didn't care at all whether Zhu Yuan had known before going to that cruise ship; instead, he repeatedly threw out insulting questions.

Zhu Yuan tightened her fingers.

"Speak!" Sheng Yu smashed his wine glass and stood up, grabbing Zhu Yuan by the arm and dragging her in front of him.

"Sheng Yu, let me go!" Zhu Yuan struggled in fear.

But how could the man easily let her break free? His fingers were almost lethal, digging through her clothes into her flesh as if he wanted to crush her bones.

Zhu Yuan cried out in pain, but Sheng Yu turned a deaf ear, staring down at her face with intense mockery and fury in his eyes.

"Is it true that as long as the money is enough, you'll do anything you're told?"

The rims of Zhu Yuan's eyes, pale from fright, gradually turned red.

She knew he was angry that she had gone to perform for Shen Yijing; in his eyes, her actions were a form of betrayal.

That was why she had endured repeatedly, trying to explain it clearly to him, but did he even know what he was saying!

Sheng Yu looked at those bright, expressive eyes brimming with tears, and his fury grew: "Don't put on an act for me!"

Zhu Yuan held her breath to force the tears back; it wasn't as if she hadn't heard more insulting words before, but she didn't know what was wrong with her—why did she care about the cold taunts of a madman?

Yet, she hadn't expected even more insulting words to come out of his mouth so naturally.

"I'll give you one hundred thousand; take off one piece of clothing."

Sheng Yu leaned close to her face maliciously, his breath spraying onto her face, ambiguous and provocative.

Zhu Yuan, however, felt as if sharp blades were slicing through her flesh; there was no color left in her face.

His low voice slowly poured into her ears, "Take it all off, and I'll give you another million."

Sheng Yu restrained her with one hand while his other hand pulled hard at her collar, tearing it open directly; as she struggled, his fingers reached into her pocket, pulled out the Electric Baton, and slammed it against the wall!

His fingers gripped her chin, forcing her to lift her face to look at him, "Take it off. Isn't it true that if the money is enough, you'll do anything? Is it that I'm not paying enough?"

Zhu Yuan gave a hollow laugh, and tears still slid uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes, "Sheng Yu, you are a fucking bastard!"

That teardrop rolled onto the man's fingertips, carrying a scorching temperature, as if it were about to burn a hole through his finger.

The hand gripping Zhu Yuan's chin was suddenly flung away; Sheng Yu's eyes turned red with rage, and he kicked the low table away.

"Get out!"

Zhu Yuan clutched her torn collar against her chest, turned around, and ran out of the room without looking back.

Her footsteps hurried down the stairs; she probably couldn't see clearly in the darkness and missed a step.

With a "clatter," Sheng Yu then heard the woman's muffled groan.

His expression suddenly turned cold and dark, and he kicked the rattan chair!

Zhu Yuan didn't care about her bruised head and scrambled up from the ground in a disheveled state.

She looked at the pitch-black living room and angrily slapped the wall switch; the lights suddenly flared on.

It startled the Bodyguard and Situ at the door.

"Miss Zhu..."

Situ was stunned at first, then saw her disheveled state; almost without a moment to react, he directly closed the villa door, blocking the view of the other two people.

Tears rolled down one by one.

How humiliating!

Zhu Yuan wiped her face fiercely with the back of her hand; she turned and strode toward the dining room, intending to go out through the side door.

As a result, she saw the food on the table; it had all gone cold.

And it looked like it hadn't been touched at all.

Sheng Yu hadn't eaten dinner yet.

The stubborn figure still hadn't appeared downstairs; after finishing two cigarettes, Sheng Yu called Situ, "Where is she?"

"Miss Zhu is in the kitchen," Situ replied.

A busy signal came from the other end of the line.

Situ glanced at the call-ended screen, and a few seconds later, he heard Sheng Yu's angry voice coming from the villa: "Who gave you permission to turn on the lights?"

Zhu Yuan untied the apron she was wearing and hung it back in its original place.

As she turned to the side, Sheng Yu saw a steaming bowl of noodles on the kitchen counter.

His hand, hanging at his side, clenched abruptly.

With an expressionless face, she picked up the noodles and walked out of the kitchen, not even sparing him a glance as she passed by Sheng Yu.

"Even if you're angry, don't torture your own stomach."

After setting down the bowl of noodles, Zhu Yuan turned to head out through the side door of the dining room; she could leave this place by passing through the garden.

From the moment Sheng Yu appeared at the kitchen doorway until now, she hadn't looked at him once.

Her emotions were so stable that it was as if the person who had cursed in front of him upstairs earlier wasn't her.

Yet, the moment she turned away, Sheng Yu's heart felt as if it had been squeezed by a hand; it was very sour.

He strode over and gripped her wrist tightly, his voice trembling in a way he hadn't even noticed himself, "What do you mean by this?"

"I don't mean anything; you only speak without thinking when you're angry, so I don't blame you, and I won't be angry with you either." Zhu Yuan remained motionless, not even struggling.

Sheng Yu narrowed his eyes slightly, "Do you have such a high tolerance for everyone? Or is it because I am your benefactor?"

"You are my creditor, not my benefactor," Zhu Yuan corrected him.

Sheng Yu sneered, "What's the difference?"

Zhu Yuan seemed to have no intention of arguing with him further, "I see the dishes on the table have all gone cold; you haven't eaten and have had so much to drink that you'll feel unwell. Just eat the noodles and go rest; don't drink any more alcohol."

She didn't look at Sheng Yu's face, and the moment his fingers stiffened, she broke free from his hand.

After Zhu Yuan walked out the door, Sheng Yu looked at the bowl of noodles on the table.

Was it cooked for him?

He lowered his head and looked at his right hand; it felt as if he could still sense the warmth of that tear on his fingertips.

A subtle, sour ache came from his heart once again.

Driven by some impulse, he walked over, pulled out the dining chair, and sat down.

He picked up the chopsticks and took a bite of the noodles.

The next second, he angrily threw down the chopsticks, stood up, and walked into the kitchen, where he saw an opened bottle of bird's eye chili on the spice rack, with half the liquid in the glass bottle gone.

He didn't even need to think to know that it had all been added to that bowl of noodles!

"Situ!"

When Situ entered the house, Sheng Yu was standing in front of the water dispenser, drinking water with a cold face, "Go catch her and bring her back!"

"Young Master Yu, Miss Zhu drove your car away, and before she left, she also slashed all four tires on your other car."