He Was a Live-in Son-in-law

"Does it still hurt?"

It was the seventh day Gu Hansheng had kept me trapped in bed, tormenting me.

At that moment, he was biting hard into my shoulder, continuing to ravage me.

"Mm..."

I bit my lip and nodded in surrender.

But he had no intention of letting me go. He simply held me from behind, again and again.

His low, husky voice curled around my ear like poison.

"Good. It should hurt, Yu Han. The pain I went through before was ten thousand times worse than what you're feeling now."

Almost every inch of my body bore his marks.

Yet he still had no intention of letting me go.

In the past, as a live-in son-in-law, Gu Hansheng had been quiet and reserved, swallowing every humiliation I dealt him.

Now my family was bankrupt, while Gu Hansheng had become one of the Capital's newly powerful elite-and my sugar daddy.

He was like a beast fully awakened, no longer holding back or giving ground, as though he meant to use my body to reclaim everything for all the humiliation he had endured.

My husband, Gu Hansheng, was the live-in son-in-law the Gu family had foisted on me after one reckless night.

The person I actually liked was his older brother, Gu Mingze.

Gu Hansheng was merely the Gu family's illegitimate son, unwelcome and never fit to be seen in respectable company.

I had liked Gu Mingze for four years.

He was handsome and wealthy, the Gu family's eldest legitimate grandson and the sole heir to the Gu Consortium.

I was the Yu Group's only daughter, the sole pearl in my parents' palms.

Gu Mingze and I were well matched in family standing. Although we weren't engaged, many saw us as a perfect pair-a talented man and a beautiful woman. Our families were also old friends and had always been close.

I had thought I would marry Gu Mingze and spend my life in happiness.

Unfortunately, a birthday banquet destroyed everything.

That day, I drank too much at Uncle Gu's birthday banquet, and Gu Hansheng took me back to the hotel.

When I woke the next morning, I discovered that Gu Hansheng was actually in the same bed as me.

We were both naked, and the sheets bore a glaring smear of bright red.

Although I wanted to cover it up, the media still found out and reported it widely.

In the end, we could only announce that our families had arranged our engagement long ago.

Just like that, I was forced to marry Gu Hansheng.

Naturally, he became a live-in son-in-law.

With his status, he wasn't remotely worthy of me. Letting him through the Yu family's doors was already a favor bestowed upon him.

On our wedding night, I locked the door and made him sleep in the hallway.

He said nothing, simply taking a pillow and sitting outside the door all night.

When I went to wash up the next morning, I saw that his whole body had gone stiff, but he was still keeping watch by the door, refusing to leave.

I felt no sympathy, only greater disgust.

I thought he was filthy, that he had done it deliberately-that everything had been his scheme from beginning to end.

So I went further and further.

I made him sleep in the maid's room and wouldn't let him eat at the table.

Many times, I tipped the dishes he had just served straight onto him.

But he never lost his temper with me. He simply cleaned up the mess in silence, then went off to apply burn ointment.

When he picked me up from work, I never gave him a kind look, either.

I humiliated him in front of crowds, sparing him no dignity whatsoever.

In our four years of marriage, I never let him touch me again. Gu Hansheng's standing in the Yu household was even lower than a maid's.

But no matter how I treated him, he always stayed quietly by my side, gentle and gentlemanly, seeing to my food, clothing, housing, and transportation.

Sometimes, my heart softened a little.

But whenever I remembered that night at the hotel, how he had ruined my life, that trace of guilt quickly vanished without a trace.

I tormented him like that for four whole years.

Back then, I had no idea.

Over those four years, I had unknowingly fallen in love with him and become increasingly unable to live without him.

Just when I wanted to treat him well and start over.

My family went bankrupt.

And during the time I knew nothing about, he had endured in silence and fought his way up, ultimately becoming the most discreet of the Capital's powerful elite.

When I was thrown out of the villa in a wretched state, he was sitting in a black Maybach, watching me through the window, his gaze as distant as mist.

Beside him sat his white moonlight, who had just returned from abroad.

He passed me a divorce agreement through the car window.

At that moment, my mind went blank.

I had meant to build a good life with him.

I had meant to tell him I would make up for my past mistakes and start over with him.

But now it was all too late.

I quickly signed the divorce agreement.

I had no face to pester him, nor any right to ask him to help the Yu family.

I handed the agreement back without letting him see the tears in my eyes.

He was still a gentleman, saying he could send a car to help move my things.

I stubbornly refused, unwilling to show even a trace of my predicament in front of him.

That day marked exactly four years since Gu Hansheng and I had gotten together.

Good.

It counted as a complete ending, too.

I stumbled back to the place my parents had hastily rented.

It was a damp, chilly semi-basement that saw not a sliver of light even during the day.

Exhausted, I was about to rest for a while when my father, unable to bear the blow, took pills.

My mother and I hurried him to the hospital.

But as it turned out, we couldn't even afford to have his stomach pumped.

My mother clutched me like a woman possessed. "The whole family's hopes rest on you now. Go beg Gu Hansheng. He's one of the newly wealthy elite now. If he lends even the slightest hand, there's still hope for the Yu family."

Looking at my mother, I could only smile bitterly. She had no idea we were already divorced.

Had she forgotten how she had treated Gu Hansheng before?

She had forced Gu Hansheng to scrub the floor on his knees...

Made Gu Hansheng stand barefoot in the snow to teach him his place...

And even humiliated Gu Hansheng in front of many rich and powerful people, calling him nothing but the Yu family's dog.

But now my mother had forgotten it all.

She was actually telling me to beg Gu Hansheng-to beg the very dog she had once despised.

When I didn't agree, my mother actually climbed onto the hospital windowsill and swung half her body outside to threaten me.

"Yu Han, if you don't go, I'll jump too! We might as well all die together!"

I tried to pull her back, but she grew even more frenzied and nearly fell.

We were on the hospital's seventh floor. A fall would mean certain death.

As more and more people gathered around us, I was exhausted in body and mind and could only calm her down first.

"All right, I'll go. Come down first."

Only after much persuasion did my mother climb down from the windowsill, still urging me to hurry and find Gu Hansheng.

She kept repeating that all the Yu family's hopes rested on me.

I returned to the rental and pulled out the few clothes I had left, only to find that nearly all the decent ones had already been sold. Nothing remaining was presentable.

But at that point, I couldn't worry about all that.

My mother was still bombarding me with texts.

She told me I had to win Gu Hansheng over and give the Yu family a way to survive.

I thought I wouldn't ask him for anything more, only to help pay my father's hospital bills.

I carefully applied makeup in front of the mirror.

It was the first time I had ever put on makeup for Gu Hansheng.

He had called me pretty before, only for me to viciously berate him.

I had thought he had no right to compliment me. Even one extra glance from him disgusted me.

Yet now I had to wear revealing clothes and carefully applied makeup to win a trace of his favor.

I learned that Gu Hansheng would be holding a celebration banquet at the Imperial Dynasty Club that day.

I steeled myself and went to find him.

Fortunately, the security guards didn't stop me and let me straight in.

Wearing a relatively cheap evening dress, I endured the strange looks from many people as I walked toward Gu Hansheng, seated at the head.

His gentle air had long since vanished, replaced by the aloof refinement of a man in power.

He simply watched me with that sharp, amused gaze as I shed all my dignity and pride and walked toward him, step by step...