"Sweetie, can you say it for me?"
"... Husband..."
Ji Nanshu's eyes were glazed over, her face flushed, and her bright red lips opened and closed, which made Chu Mo work even harder.
"Good..."
After one time, Ji Nanshu, drenched in sweat and utterly exhausted, collapsed onto Chu Mo.
"How... how can you have such good stamina?"
After their lovemaking, Ji Nanshu's voice was soft and sweet, sounding almost like she was being coquettish.
Chu Mo chuckled softly, "Perhaps... it's because I exercise every morning?"
Ji Nanshu grumbled, "... Don't try to trick me into getting up early to exercise!"
"Oh... sweetie, have you rested enough?"
"Hmm? When... I don't..."
Before Ji Nanshu could fully react, Chu Mo had already begun a new round of maneuvering.
A soft whimper escaped Ji Nanshu's lips as he clung to Chu Mo, trying to keep himself from sliding down...
Ji Nanshu didn't know how many times the two had done it. When he woke up, he only knew that his back and buttocks ached, and his whole body was covered with dense red marks, especially on his inner thighs.
Seeing Chu Mo looking so refreshed, she was furious and kicked him.
Chu Mo grasped Ji Nanshu's foot and tickled the sole. "Awake? Hungry?"
Ji Nanshu abruptly shrank back, let out two weak groans, and glared at him, saying, "I'm full of anger!"
"Hmm? Isn't this what my sweetheart wanted?" Chu Mo's eyes were filled with laughter as he gently touched Ji Nanshu's swollen lips. "Or... does my sweetheart think I didn't try my best?"
A pillow landed on Chu Mo, who snapped, "Don't act all innocent after getting the benefit! Get lost!"
So, what does my sweetie want to eat?
"Casual."
"Okay, then let's keep it light..."
While Ji Nanshu was enjoying his leisure, Chen Jia and Xia Hong were in a real bind.
Under joint pressure from the Chu and Ji Family, Chen Rui's crimes were quickly adjudicated. Due to the egregious nature of her offenses and multiple crimes, she was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad three days later.
On the day of the sentencing, Chen's mother fainted from crying in court. After returning home, she cried and begged Chen Mao to rescue Chen Rui.
"Husband!! I beg you!! Please, please rescue Xiaorui! She's only twenty-four! How can she be sentenced to death like this!"
Chen Mao irritably pushed his mother away. "You think I don't want to save them?! I can't!! Everyone's watching our family now. If I dare to make the slightest move, do you believe the Chen family will collapse immediately?!"
"How could that be! Our Chen family is a century-old family! No way! We just rescued Xiaorui, we didn't do anything immoral..." Chen's mother knelt down in front of Chen Mao with a thud, grabbing his trouser leg and pleading incessantly.
Chen Dingguo, who had rushed back from the Country M the day before, frowned and asked, "Is there really no way, Dad?"
"The Chen family is currently struggling to survive; we can't afford to plunge the entire family into crisis just for Chen Rui's sake." Chen Mao also felt helpless. "If I make another mistake, there's a high probability I'll lose my position as head of the family, and Anbang will also lose its position as heir. Our situation will only become more difficult."
The Chen family was thrust into the spotlight because of Chen Rui's affair, and the deeds of other members of the Chen family were also investigated, with some even being reported for tax evasion.
If it weren't for the cooperation with the Xia family, which temporarily stabilized the Chen family's decline, the Chen family would have truly been forced out of the circle of top financial magnates in the Imperial Capital soon. At that time, who could have protected the Chen family?
They'll just come over and kick me while I'm down.
The best option now is to sacrifice his daughter.
Chen Anbang helped his mother up. "Mom, the execution is in three days. We... let's go see Xiaorui these next couple of days. Dingguo, we'll take turns staying with Grandpa, just in case anything happens to him."
Chen Dingguo gave a soft "hmm," indicating that they all bore responsibility for Xiao Rui becoming like this.
The Chen family home was unusually quiet today; the only sound was probably Chen's mother's crying.
In the middle of the night, Chen Dingguo couldn't sleep, so he went to see his elder brother.
"Brother, do you think Xiaorui really can't be saved?" Chen Dingguo rarely lit a cigarette, and the anxiety in his eyes was clearly visible.
He remembered how adorable Xiao Rui was when she was little. She would call them "brother" in a soft voice, and she would cry and rescue injured animals... But how did their lovely little sister turn out like this?
Chen Anbang lowered his eyes and smiled bitterly, "I asked Xiaorui many times before if she had done these things, but she denied it. I couldn't find anything when I investigated; the victims are unwilling to talk."
"If she had told me everything back then, there might still have been a chance... She even overestimated herself and used the Miao ethnic group's Heart-Connecting Gu in an attempt to control Chu Mo... Xiao Rui's affair was exposed, and all the crises the Chen family suffered were behind the shadows of the Chu and Ji Family."
Chen Dingguo was speechless. Both were among the four great families of the Imperial Capital, but the Chu family was the leader, while their Chen family was the weakest. No matter how powerful the Chen family was, they were merely merchants, while the Chu family had military and political backing. How could they possibly compete?
"Brother, you know... I'm usually overseas, what if I hire someone to bring Xiaorui out of the country..."
Chen Anbang said coldly, "If you can successfully get Xiaorui out of the country without being found out, fine. But if you are found out, given our family's current situation, we will only sever ties with you."
Even if they sever ties, the Chen family will still be implicated.
Chen Dingguo sighed, "I understand... Brother, I'm going to sleep now."
But Chen Dingguo was thinking to himself, as long as he didn't implicate the Chen family, there shouldn't be too much of a problem, right?
On the morning of the third day, news reports indicated that Chen Rui was involved in a multi-vehicle collision during the transport of her to be executed by firing squad, and she died on the spot.
Netizens who have been following this story are all delighted, saying that Chen Rui, this wicked and harmful woman, is finally dead.
Only Ji Nanshu and Chu Mo, who had been closely monitoring Chen Rui—no, they were ghosts—knew that Chen Rui had been secretly sent to the Country M.
But to Chen Dingguo's utter surprise, Chen Rui was kidnapped by people arranged by Chu Mo as soon as she set foot on Country M's territory.
Chen Dingguo flew to the Country M and immediately hired people to find Chen Rui. They searched for seven days and finally found Chen Rui, who was poorly clothed and mentally unstable, in a slum.
Chen Dingguo was going crazy. He took Chen Rui back and cleaned her up. After a careful examination, the doctor's assessment of her injuries was that she had been subjected to human violence. Combined with her repulsion towards men, the doctor very tactfully told Chen Dingguo that Chen Rui had been raped.
Chen Rui once regretted smuggling Chen Rui out of Hua Country. This experience was worse than death; she would have been better off being shot dead.
But how could he have imagined that Xiao Rui would suffer such a thing!
He had no influence in the Country M and couldn't find anyone to take revenge on. He didn't even know who had kidnapped Xiao Rui or who had done this to her.
Is this karma...?
If they had discovered Xiaorui's problem in time, would all of this have been avoided, and would they have escaped this predicament?
But it was all too late, too late...
Ahhhhh, when I scheduled this chapter to be published, the previous chapter was still under review. It only underwent nine minor revisions and may still need further revisions.
He's really bald.