"Do you finally trust me now?"

Gu Jiuci let out a breath and blinked her big, watery eyes at Huo Mingche with a "look, I really am innocent" expression on her face.

"Yes."

Huo Mingche acknowledged her lightly, but his body remained on top of her with no indication that he intended to move off.

However, the bloodthirsty aura from a moment ago had completely disappeared. At this moment, the dusky light of the late afternoon filtered through the window and landed on the large bed. The illumination of the two bodies actually gave the sense of two lovers cuddling in a movie.

"Xiao Jiu'er, don't lie to me. You know the consequences of that..."

The man buried his head in Gu Jiuci's shoulder. Hot breaths brushed across her sensitive skin as he warned her in a low voice.

Gu Jiuci didn't even dare to take a deep breath. Like prey pinned by a predator, she didn't dare to move an inch.

In he

Standing outside the front gates of the Phoenix Lodge, Xu Yun'er, who had been stopped by cold-faced security guards, held her phone in a death grip and was gnashing her teeth in fury!

"This idiot, Gu Jiuci. Why is she always so lucky?!"

She had clearly seen Huo Mingche head angrily toward the school to take her away!

Why had an entire night gone by yet nothing had happened?

Which part had she miscalculated?

"Young lady, go away. Don't stand here. If you don't leave, we'll have to take action!"

At this moment, the black-clothed security guard in the guardroom to the side came out again to chase her away.

"I'm leaving now."

Xu Yun'er hurriedly stood on her toes and glanced at the Phoenix Lodge again.

The extravagant sight blinded her completely. She clenched her fists tightly and silently made a vow.

"Just wait. I will eventually be the mistress here!"

Inside the master bedroom

"Mr. Zhan, may I ask why Brother Che is looking for me?" Gu Jiuci asked, going against her instincts.

Zhan Ying let out a cold and disdainful huff.

"Are you not aware of something you have done that could have disappointed the master?"

Gu Jiuci paused. "Something that disappointed Huo Mingche?

"Have I done something? After I was reborn, I haven't done anything stupid, right?"

In a flash, the image of Jiang Yutang cornering her this afternoon rose in Gu Jiuci's mind.

At this moment, Zhan Ying opened the back door of the car and chided her in a cold voice.

"Miss Gu, our master's patience is limited!"

Gu Jiuci's heart jumped and she forced herself to duck into the car. As expected, the devil was indeed inside.

The man didn't even glance at her. A terrifying tempest lay beneath the cold and handsome face. The devastatingly low air pressure and murderous aura practically froze Gu Jiuci into a block of ice.

She very much wanted to explain something, but she also didn't know where to start. Particularly after she glanced toward the devil and his icy expression, she found that she could barely breathe, much less speak.

Under this strange and continued silence, the car flew along the roads. Gu Jiuci turned the matter over and over in her mind. "What had gone wrong to cause Huo Mingche to be so angry for so long?" 

The car abruptly stopped. Gu Jiuci pulled back from her thoughts and glanced outside without thinking.

The familiar white stone path snaking inside, the two marble statues of Greek gods standing to either side, the clear pool in the distance, and the grapevines all brought back her... terrifying memories!

This was the Phoenix Lodge. The most luxurious manor and the most admired residence in the imperial capital.

Its name came from Sima Xiangru's "Phoenix Seeking Mate". In her opinion, it was clearly "Phoenix Imprisoning Mate"!

She had been reborn, yet she had returned to this place where she had been placed under house arrest by Huo Mingche!

"Get out."

The man's voice was very cold, plunging Gu Jiuci into an icy pool.

All kinds of bad memories from her previous life surged into her mind. She hurriedly climbed out of the car, and following behind Huo Mingche, she walked inside quickly.

"Brother Che, let's talk. Why are you so angry? Even if I am to die, let me die knowing what I did wrong!"

Gu Jiuci threw caution to the wind and shouted in a loud voice, but the man didn't seem to hear anything!

She could only chase behind his cold and cruel figure, all the way from the hall to up the stairs.

Suddenly, a weight came down on Gu Jiuci's waist, and afterward, a brutish force pulled her into his arms. After the world spun around, her entire person was thrown heavily onto a gigantic bed!

Following this, a mountain-like shadow pressed down on her and caught her in a tight embrace. Her hands and feet were pressed down and she was unable to move an inch.

She raised her eyes nervously and met the man's deep and cold eyes, seeing her terrified face clearly reflected in his eyes.

The dark pressure surrounding the man's body had reached a limit. At this moment, all of the blood in Gu Jiuci's body seemed to have congealed!

The helpless struggle and hopelessness from her previous life once again washed over her.

She remembered that after she was engaged to Huo Mingche, she had been forced to move into the Phoenix Lodge to live together with him. That day, she had confessed her love to Jiang Yutang at school and Huo Mingche had found out about it. In a rage, the devil had used force against her.

That was a terrifying memory that she didn't want to revisit in either of her lives.

"Brother Che, what are you doing?"

Gu Jiuci's voice sounded like sobbing. Her desire to live made her struggle, however, this light movement further angered the man; particularly after he saw her bright and lively eyes suddenly become hopeless and dark. The bloodthirsty tyrant inside of him couldn't be pulled back!

The man's already dark expression grew even colder. All around them, the temperature was as icy as an abyss in the south pole, yet his fingers ripped at her dress with more brute force. Her collarbone ached from his pressure!

"Why? I have worked so hard. Why do we have to end up like this?"

Countless grievances rose in Gu Jiuci's heart. She gazed at Huo Mingche blurrily through her tears and slowly extended her hand to wrap around his neck, choosing to compromise. Raising her lips, she begged, "Brother Che, be gentle. It hurts..."

All of the man's brutish movements abruptly stopped upon hearing that cry of "Brother Che". Complicated emotions flashed through his sharp eyes; it was as if he wanted to bore holes into Gu Jiuci.

He could feel the girl trembling and see her obvious fear, yet she kept her eyes tightly closed and clung to him with a death grip. Her fearful but reluctant expression made inexpressible hopelessness and desolation flash across the icy eyes of the man who had been brutish and completely inhumane just a moment ago.

In the end, he couldn't harden his heart against her. As long as she expressed the smallest weakness, the smallest amount of care, he would compromise, he would lose everything.

Gu Jiuci had planned to keep her eyes tightly closed and push through it, but she suddenly felt Huo Mingche stop moving. Her lashes trembled, but she finally opened her eyes.

"Perhaps... there is still a chance of survival?"

"Why are you treating me like this? What have I done wrong? Tell me!"

Forlorn tears ran down Gu Jiuci's face. She spoke weakly, but her tone was full of accusations.

Hearing her question, Huo Mingche's face abruptly darkened and the atmosphere once again became icy.

However, there were clearly slight differences from before!

Although the devil was still pressing down on her, he didn't continue moving. In a flash, Gu Jiuci hurriedly said, "Did you hear some rumor? Or did you see something that you misunderstood?

"I swear, I haven't done anything that would disappoint you!

"This afternoon, Jiang Yutang even came to harass me, but I rejected him and scolded him away! Many students saw it! If you don't trust me, go investigate!"

The devil didn't say anything. He just picked up his cellphone from the head of the bed and played a recording.

"Ah Ci, I understand everything. Yesterday at the Huo Family home, you were trying to protect me. You said all those things to win Huo Mingche's trust.

"Trust me, I will think of a perfect plan to take you away!"

Jiang Yutang's voice came from the phone. It was a recording from this afternoon. Following this came her voice, but the contents made Gu Jiuci's face pale!

"Huo Mingche, he should stop dreaming. He and I can never be together."

So this was what happened! No wonder the devil would become so angry! Gu Jiuci's eyes widened and she cried out, "I didn't say that at all! I can prove it! I have a video!"

Gu Jiuci struggled to pull her phone out of her pocket and quickly pulled up the video to show Huo Mingche.

Fortunately, she had thought ahead, and as Jiang Yutang charged toward her, she had started to record.

She had not expected this... Jiang Yutang and Xu Yun'er's tricks were indeed vicious. They had edited her words, then sent them to Huo Mingche!

They were purposely antagonizing their relationship!

After the recording finished paying, the devil's expression was clearly calmer; particularly after hearing the line "I am already engaged to Huo Mingche. Stop your wild dreams!"

A faint sliver of gentleness even appeared at the corners of his mouth. Although it disappeared very quickly, Gu Jiuci caught it with her sharp eyes!

"Do you finally trust me now?"

Gu Jiuci let out a breath and blinked her big, watery eyes at Huo Mingche with a "look, I really am innocent" expression on her face.

"Yes."

Huo Mingche acknowledged her lightly, but his body remained on top of her with no indication that he intended to move off.

However, the bloodthirsty aura from a moment ago had completely disappeared. At this moment, the dusky light of the late afternoon filtered through the window and landed on the large bed. The illumination of the two bodies actually gave the sense of two lovers cuddling in a movie.

"Xiao Jiu'er, don't lie to me. You know the consequences of that..."

The man buried his head in Gu Jiuci's shoulder. Hot breaths brushed across her sensitive skin as he warned her in a low voice.

Gu Jiuci didn't even dare to take a deep breath. Like prey pinned by a predator, she didn't dare to move an inch.

In her last life, she had already learned the consequences.

After a while, the sound of Huo Mingche's sl

Chapter 14