"Welcome home, Young Master!"
As Adrian Li's custom armored limousine glided past the heavy wrought-iron gates of Mansion No. 1, two immaculate rows of uniformed domestic handlers bowed in unison along the cobblestone driveway to receive him.
"Why are all of you still awake at this hour?" Adrian asked, stepping out of the vehicle and glancing at the assembled staff with mild surprise.
In principle, domestic staff were expected to remain on call until their master retired for the night, but Adrian had never enforced unnecessary, ritualistic cruelty on his handlers.
"Young Master, we were eagerly anticipating your return!" Nan Xiang replied with a sweet, radiant smile, stepping forward to take his tailored suit jacket.
The surrounding handlers nodded in rapid agreement. In truth, however, their late-night wakefulness had little to do with waiting at the curb. For the past two hours, they had been gathered in Qin Yumo's private recovery suite, busily experimenting with the estate's newest biological acquisition.
According to Number Four's chemical analysis, while Qin Yumo's expressed fluids and milk contained high concentrations of active aphrodisiacs, the sheer volume of multi-hundred-thousand-yuan daily cellular nutrients being pumped into her system had produced a remarkable side effect: her secretions were saturated with rare, potent active peptides that exerted an almost miraculous regenerative effect on human skin.
It was an undisputed truth of human nature: women would go to terrifying lengths for the sake of flawless beauty.
Consequently, Qin Yumo was being utilized by the domestic staff as a living, breathing beauty-serum extractor. What couldn't be consumed directly was collected in crystal bowls, whipped into rich emulsions, and applied as luxury facial masks or skin-firming balms for their hips and legs.
Had they not feared being executed for damaging Adrian's primary toy, the handlers would have gladly expressed enough milk to fill a daily soaking tub.
Inside the estate, a rigid, absolute caste system governed every resident:
The Handlers & Nan Xiang: First-class staff who enjoyed private quarters, high-society luxury, and personal freedom so long as they satisfied Adrian's demands.
The Caged Acquisitions: Stripped of all human identity, classified strictly as livestock, experimental specimens, or domesticated pets.
As long as the handlers kept their games behind closed doors and avoided permanent physical damage, Adrian simply turned a blind eye.
"Number One, arrange a private guest suite for her in the east wing," Adrian instructed, gesturing toward the woman stepping out from the rear passenger door.
"Young Master, what is her administrative classification?" Number One stepped forward, inquiring respectfully.
The handlers needed to understand the exact status of any woman brought into the estate. If she was a guest of honor, she was treated with deference; if she was an incoming handler, boundaries were immediately established; and if she was a captured pet, the collar was prepped immediately.
"She is Executive Vice Mayor Xu's goddaughter," Adrian explained with a helpless shrug. "She will be residing here for roughly two months. Ensure she is provided for and not mistreated."
In truth, Adrian found Xu Guangxi's maneuver somewhat transparent. If the Vice Mayor had merely sought to apologize for Gu Yuan's insolence, breaking the boy's limbs and locking him in a psychiatric ward was more than sufficient. Shipping Ye Chuanping to Mansion No. 1 was an entirely different gambit.
While Ye Chuanping had maintained her youthful, high-society aesthetics remarkably well, her pregnancy created an awkward complication. Xu Guangxi's legitimate political spouse was an exceptionally formidable figure from a heavyweight provincial family; while she tolerated casual mistresses, an illegitimate child carrying Xu's bloodline would ignite a domestic war that could destroy his political career.
By stowing his pregnant mistress inside Adrian's private estate, Xu Guangxi ensured absolute safety. Even if his wife discovered the pregnancy, she would never dare to breach Mansion No. 1 to touch a woman protected under Adrian Li's roof.
Furthermore, it provided Ye Chuanping a direct avenue to atone for her family's past offenses.
Thud.
Ye Chuanping walked forward and dropped to her knees on the marble steps, bowing low. "Godfather... my father instructed me that I am to serve as your goddaughter from this day forward, and to attend to your daily comforts with utmost devotion."
"Very well. Follow Number One to your quarters," Adrian waved his hand lazily.
The handlers exchanged curious glances, wondering why the Young Master had brought home a mature, middle-aged woman as a 'goddaughter,' but none of them dared to utter a single question. That was the absolute discipline of his household: unless their master spoke first, curiosity remained locked behind closed lips.
Later that evening, Adrian leaned back into the bubbling warmth of the master suite's marble jacuzzi, letting the hot water soothe his muscles. Sitting on the submerged ledge beside him, Nan Xiang carefully massaged his feet.
"How is the training progressing with the second hound?" Adrian asked casually.
"A wild dog naturally requires a period of starvation to break her stubbornness, Master," Nan Xiang smiled softly, her hands working over his arches. "I estimate she will completely surrender within forty-eight to seventy-two hours."
Nan Xiang had attempted another feeding earlier that evening, but Gu Li had stubbornly refused to touch the cold scraps thrown into the dirt. Nan Xiang remained entirely unconcerned; she knew Gu Li's arrogant, self-preserving nature far too well. The former heiress lacked the suicidal conviction to genuinely starve herself to death.
Once the last shreds of her human dignity were thoroughly crushed by hunger and isolation, she would crawl on her stomach and beg to eat from the floor.
"Young Master... I was considering procuring two aggressive male hounds to share her cage," Nan Xiang asked, her large almond eyes blinking with an innocent, sweet expression. "What are your thoughts on introducing them to her training?"
"Male dogs?" Adrian raised an eyebrow.
'This woman's cruelty toward her former best friend is truly bottomless,' Adrian thought, looking down at Nan Xiang's delicate, smiling face.
When a woman's malice was fully unleashed, it far eclipsed common cruelty. Gu Li and Nan Xiang had shared a sisterly bond for over a decade, yet Nan Xiang didn't hesitate for a single second to devise the most degrading, animalistic torment imaginable.
"Forget the hounds," Adrian replied smoothly, shaking his head.
While he held zero sexual interest in Gu Li, his core system objectives explicitly dictated that target acquisitions could not be touched by external males. Whether a canine technically violated the system's definition of the opposite sex was an unnecessary variable—risking mission failure over a pet was poor operational judgment.
"We shall maintain standard training protocols," Adrian decided.
He leaned back against the marble edge, a dark, calculating smirk curling his lips. "Though... once the hound is fully broken to the collar, arrange for my new 'goddaughter' Ye Chuanping to visit the kennel. I believe the two of them will have quite a lot of shared history to discuss."