The Heiress's Game

Bai Junze unscrewed the cap of the essential oil bottle, poured a little into his palm, rubbed his hands together to warm them, and then placed them on Gu Yunjin's lower back.

She lay face down on the bed, her chin resting on her crossed arms, the thin straps of her silk nightgown loosely slipping down to her shoulders.

Bai Junze's palm slowly pushed upwards along Gu Yunjin's spine, with just the right amount of force and the perfect temperature of his palm, carrying a light fragrance of bergamot and sweet almond oil.

"With your technique, you'd easily earn at least 800 yuan an hour working as a prostitute."

Gu Yunjin buried her face in her arms.

"Then you'll have to wait in line." Bai Junze poured some more essential oil and pressed the acupoints between her shoulder blades in circles with his fingers.

His gaze inevitably fell on the deep and shallow red marks on her shoulders and collarbone, some of which had turned into a faint bluish-purple, standing out against her skin.

His finger froze in mid-air. "Does it hurt here?"

"Where?" Gu Yunjin moved her neck and looked down at the marks on her shoulder, following his gaze.

"Oh, this? It doesn't hurt. Just be careful when choosing clothes tomorrow; you can't wear V-necks."

Bai Junze looked at the marks with a complicated expression.

He is a person who can maintain absolute rationality and restraint in any situation. He remains calm in the face of questioning from dozens of senior executives at the board meeting, and can still smile while holding a coffee at the negotiating table even when the other party points fingers and curses at him.

But every time he faces Gu Yunjin, the rational shell he has cultivated for over thirty years becomes utterly vulnerable.

He couldn't explain why; it wasn't that he hadn't seen beautiful women before, nor that he hadn't seen intelligent women before.

But only she—only she could turn him into a stranger in the bedroom, a greedy, insatiable person.

"What are you thinking about?" Gu Yunjin turned her head to the side.

"Sometimes I really act like a beast."

Gu Yunjin was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing.

His shoulders trembled slightly. "I can't refute your assessment of yourself."

"But you're not exactly a beast. You just have a physical attraction to me."

"And," she leaned back down and pulled his hand back to her lower back.

"Your level of beastly behavior is still within my acceptable range for now. Keep it up."

"Yes, ma'am." He replied, placing his palm back on her lower back, but with less pressure than before.

Have you been paying attention to the stock price of Brilliant International, the company owned by Pak Man-hung?

Bai Junze didn't stop what he was doing, he just raised an eyebrow slightly: "It's over a hundred."

"right."

Do you think it's worth it?

Bai Junze mentally reviewed the business landscape of Brilliant International, a company that had been separated from Bai's core system.

Its main business is real estate support and some commercial property operation. The scale is not large and the business structure is not complicated.

Based on Brilliant International's actual profitability and asset size, a reasonable share price should be around 40 yuan.

The current price of 100 yuan is not supported by performance, but by expectations.

"It's not worth it," he said. "There's a bubble. Pak Man-hung has driven market expectations too high."

"That's why I said he's actually quite capable."

"He managed to package a company with mediocre fundamentals as a high-growth concept stock."

For several consecutive quarters, the company's financial reports have been impressive, analysts have been raising its ratings, and retail investors have followed suit and chased the price up.

To be honest, their ability to manage market value is truly among the best in the Bai family's third-tier agency.

"So next, I plan to teach him a lesson."

"What class?"

"Let him know what will happen after the stock price breaks 100." She looked at him slyly.

"Teacher Gu's Financial Mini-Class offers one-on-one teaching with no tuition fees."

"You're setting him up," Bai Junze said with a smile.

"How can you call it setting a trap? This is called letting him experience the cruelty of the capital market in advance."

Gu Yunjin said confidently, "He's having a smooth ride now and thinks he's invincible."

But the bigger the foam is blown up, the louder it explodes.

Rather than letting him suffer a bigger fall later, I'd rather give him a smaller one first, so he'll learn his lesson.

Do you think I'm a bad person?

Bai Junze has never been a moral exemplar.

"I don't know if you're bad or not," he said, pouring some more essential oil into his palm, rubbing it to warm it, and then placing it on her shoulders.

"But it was indeed me who raised Meng Wanqing and Bai Wenxiong's appetites."

Gu Yunjin raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.

"You've seen my attitude towards them over the years."

He pressed his fingers down on her Jianjing acupoint with just the right amount of force.

"I don't like them, but I've never really taken action against them."

Why? Not because I'm soft-hearted, but because I felt it was unnecessary.

In my opinion, Meng Wanqing's methods were too low-level, like a fly buzzing in your ear—annoying, but not worth dropping what you're doing to swat it away.

Gu Yunjin laughed: "So you're just going to ignore her and let her run wild?"

"almost."

"I've always felt that she is who she is, and she can do whatever she wants. As long as it doesn't affect our core interests, I don't care."

I won't interfere with how Bai Wenxiong plays at Brilliant International.

If he's truly capable and can pull off some amazing results, then he's impressive. If he's not, the market will naturally teach him a lesson.

"But now you realize that this line of thinking is wrong."

Yes, because of you.

Bai Junze's gaze fell on the deep and shallow kiss marks on her collarbone.

"I used to be single, so it didn't matter."

But now that you're here, their little tricks are no longer like flies buzzing.

Meng Wanqing has tried to drag you down with her time and again. Last time, in the second room, she even tried to introduce you to people in the film industry.

These issues no longer fall into the category of "unnecessary" for me. Rather than saying you're targeting them, it's more accurate to say I've been too lenient with them before.

Gu Yunjin blinked, not expecting him to take all the blame upon himself.

"There's another thing. People outside have been saying that I was able to build the company to its current size by relying on the resources of the Bai family, my mother, and the Cui family. I don't deny these claims."

Bai Junze said calmly, "I used the Bai family's resources."

I also used my mother's connections and funds.

The Cui family is on my stepfather's side. When we visit each other during holidays, I also discuss potential collaborations.

These resources are right there; only a fool wouldn't use them.

"If I don't use these resources, then I'm crazy, am I even human?"

Gu Yunjin was amused by his confident and frank confession.

"You're right, you definitely need resources in the early stages."

Without the foundation laid by the Bai and Zhuo families, no matter how smart you are, you can't build such a large enterprise from scratch.

What's there to be ashamed of? It's like you were born a head taller than others; while others have to jump to touch the rim when playing basketball, you can reach it just by standing.

Are you going to squat down to fight? Giving up your natural advantages just to appear to be working as hard as others isn't humility, it's affectation.

"But Junze, resources can only get you to the starting line."

The road after the starting line is one you run yourself.

Your Bai family has three generations and so many descendants. Who has received the resources and who hasn't?

When your father was in power, which of the second, third, or fourth wives didn't receive resources?

But besides you, has the Bai family ever produced another Fortune Global 500 company?

No. So those who say you rely entirely on resources are either jealous or simply don't understand a certain principle.

Resources are the ticket, but how far you can go after you're in depends entirely on yourself.

Why should they hand over the project to you later? Because of who your father is? Because of who your mother married?

The business world is full of cunning old foxes. If you don't have real skills, they might call you "General Manager Bai," but then they'll turn around and sign the contract with someone else.

Bai Junze lay down next to Gu Yunjin, his arm slipping under her neck to pull her into his embrace.

"Junze".

"Um?"

"I'll start preparing my lessons tomorrow. I've already arranged Bai Wenxiong's schedule."

Lesson One: How retail investors are fleeced after a stock price breaks 100.

Bai Junze chuckled silently in the darkness, placed his palm on the back of her head, and gently pressed her into the crook of his neck.

"Teaching is fine," he said, "but don't ruin the students."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." She snuggled closer to him, her breathing gradually calming down. "At most, I'll make him pay some tuition fees, although it might be a bit much."