The Devil’s Demands

“You!” Shen Lanzhi’s cheeks flushed crimson, her words catching in her throat. “You are utterly, completely unreasonable!”

“That’s just how I am,” Gu Wei retorted, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “I simply can’t bear the thought of you moving out.”

“You…”

As the two women engaged in their relentless verbal sparring, Xiang Qing felt her head throb.

‘Help me!’ she pleaded silently. ‘Please, stop arguing!’

‘If this continues, I swear I’ll perish right here and now!’

Seizing a brief lull in their incessant squabbling, she hastened her movements, swiftly scrubbing clean the items in her hands.

‘This was the first time in her life she had ever washed such intimate items for a woman, and to be doing so amidst this veritable battlefield of words felt utterly surreal.’

Xiang Qing couldn’t help but feel her professional journey was becoming increasingly fantastical.

Just then, Shen Lanzhi suddenly gasped, clutching her lower abdomen.

“No, I must return home immediately,” she announced, a distressed frown creasing her brow. “My traditional Chinese medicine needs brewing, and I absolutely cannot miss it.”

Approaching Xiang Qing, she lowered her voice to impart a hushed warning.

“Xiao Qing, you must be careful. If that madwoman dares to lay a hand on you, just call me, and I’ll be here in a flash!”

Xiang Qing nodded furiously, yet in her mind, she was screaming: ‘Sister, please, just go! Your presence here only amplifies my stress!’

Shen Lanzhi departed, casting a fierce glare at Gu Wei over her shoulder with every few steps until she was out of sight.

The click of the security door ushered in an immediate, profound silence throughout the grand mansion.

Xiang Qing had barely exhaled half a breath of relief before the other half caught in her throat.

‘I’m utterly screwed.’

Now, it was just her and the utterly unhinged Gu Wei.

‘How was this any different from a small white rabbit being trapped in a lion’s cage?’

“Alright, they’re all clean,” Xiang Qing announced, having rinsed the freshly washed items multiple times in clear water. She then carefully presented them to Gu Wei, much like a diligent primary school student submitting homework. “CEO Gu, please inspect them.”

Gu Wei, however, did not take them directly. Instead, she extended her slender fingers, delicately picking up each item for inspection.

Xiang Qing found herself holding her breath.

“Hmm… not bad at all,” Gu Wei murmured, nodding with an air of satisfaction after examining the final piece. “While your technique is clearly unrefined, your diligence is commendable. You pass this time.”

Xiang Qing exhaled a long, shaky breath.

‘Wonderful! The first hurdle is finally cleared!’

Yet, before she could fully release her breath, Gu Wei’s subsequent action caused her mind to utterly seize up, almost sending her spiraling into an existential crisis.

Before her very eyes, Gu Wei’s hands began to move, slowly, deliberately, as if in cinematic slow motion, drifting outwards.

Then, with a graceful flick of her wrists, she conjured into existence a piece of opulent fabric that clearly cost a fortune, as if performing a magic trick.

‘Holy shit!’

‘No, seriously, holy shit!’

Xiang Qing’s eyes widened to the size of brass bells, her mouth agape in a perfect ‘O’, her entire being utterly petrified.

‘She… she… she…’

‘She just… conjured this right in front of me, out of thin air?!’

‘What kind of lightning-fast sleight of hand is that? Is she a professional magician?’

“Here, and this one too.”

After a playful flourish with the ‘magic prop’ in her hand, Gu Wei casually tossed it into Xiang Qing’s arms.

“Wash this one with the rest.”

Xiang Qing fumbled to catch it, a strange yet wonderfully peculiar sensation tingling from her fingertips, electrifying her all the way to the crown of her head.

Her face instantly flushed a crimson so deep it seemed ready to bleed.

“You… you…”

Xiang Qing stammered, her tongue stumbling over the words. “You… now… isn’t that… that ‘thing’?”

“That ‘thing’?” Gu Wei echoed, raising an eyebrow with an utterly unconcerned air. “Yes, that ‘thing’. What of it?”

She took a deliberate step forward, encroaching upon Xiang Qing’s personal space.

“This is my home,” Gu Wei declared, “and I can do as I please. Never mind ‘that thing,’ even if I were to remain exactly as I am and run wild through this house, what business is it of yours?”

Xiang Qing felt utterly numb.

‘This woman isn’t merely unhinged anymore; she’s the ultimate, evolved form of a deranged pervert!’

With the previous items, Xiang Qing had merely suspected that Gu Wei had just discarded them.

While washing them had been undeniably awkward, she could at least self-hypnotize, pretending they were nothing more than ordinary garments.

But this item now clutched in her hand…

It had appeared right before her eyes!

Directly conjured into existence!

‘Does any of this still adhere to common sense?!’

‘The destructive power of this moment wasn’t just off the charts; it was a critical hit of nuclear proportions!’

Xiang Qing felt as though she wasn’t holding a mere ‘magic prop’, but a searing hot coal, its imaginary heat making her squirm with discomfort.

She couldn’t discern if she was nervous, excited, or simply experiencing an acute case of social demise.

Above all, however, was the overwhelming mortification that made her long to burrow into the nearest crack in the floor.

“Why are you just standing there, stunned?” Gu Wei’s voice purred in her ear. “Hurry up and wash it, or do you expect me to teach you personally?”

Xiang Qing jolted, quickly turning her back to Gu Wei and facing the sink once more.

She dared not glance back, fearing what impropriety might meet her eyes.

“CEO Gu… this… does this also require hand-washing?” she stammered, her voice trembling noticeably.

“Of course!” Gu Wei’s voice was laced with an air of absolute certainty. “This fabric is incredibly expensive; do you dare try throwing it in a washing machine? If you ruin it, what will you use to compensate me?”

Xiang Qing: “…”

‘Fine, you’re rich, and you’re utterly insufferable.’

With a sigh of resignation, she turned on the faucet and immersed the ‘prop’ in the water.

Even the icy rush of water failed to quell the fiery blush consuming her cheeks.

“Oh, the water’s far too cold,” Gu Wei purred. “It’s not good for your hands.”

Gu Wei had, at some unknown moment, moved closer, her warm breath caressing the sensitive skin behind Xiang Qing’s ear.

Xiang Qing’s entire body went rigid.

“You need to use warm water; that’s the only way to get it truly clean, understand?”

As she spoke, Gu Wei actually reached out, her hand gently covering Xiang Qing’s as she adjusted the water temperature.

Gu Wei’s hand was remarkably soft, carrying a slight coolness, yet her body pressed so intimately close that, even through the thin fabric of her cat-girl outfit, Xiang Qing could feel the radiating warmth of her skin.

Xiang Qing felt as though she were on the verge of suffocation.

“You… you stay away from me!” she finally blurted out, recoiling sharply to the side.

“Shy, my little darling?” Gu Wei chuckled softly, her voice laced with pure mischief. “Can’t handle this much? There’s far more excitement awaiting you.”

Xiang Qing felt like crying, but no tears would come.

‘More?’

‘If it gets any more stimulating, I’ll surely drop dead on the spot!’

‘Is this 800,000 yuan debt truly to be repaid with my very life?’

“Don’t add too much laundry detergent,” Gu Wei instructed. “It will damage the fabric.”

“Here, this spot isn’t clean enough,” she pointed. “Yes, right there, apply more pressure.”

“Look at you,” Gu Wei teased, “you’re getting bubbles all over me.”

Gu Wei hovered like a meticulous supervisor, constantly gesturing and issuing commands, occasionally even reaching out to physically guide Xiang Qing’s movements.

Xiang Qing felt less like she was washing fabric and more like she was enduring some form of extreme survival challenge.

Every single minute, every agonizing second, was pure torment.

Her dignity, her very sense of self, and the worldview she had painstakingly constructed over two decades were being utterly demolished, as Gu Wei ruthlessly pinned them down, repeatedly scrubbing them into oblivion with the water used for these ‘magic props’.

Finally, just as Xiang Qing felt her soul begin to detach from her body, she managed to get the item thoroughly clean.

“It’s… it’s clean,” she managed to utter, her voice as weak as if she had just completed an exhausting 800-meter sprint.

“Let me see.”

Gu Wei took the damp ‘magic prop’ and meticulously examined it from every angle.

“Hmm, not bad at all,” she conceded, nodding with an air of distinct satisfaction. “This one is even cleaner than the previous batch.”

Then, she performed another action that caused Xiang Qing’s pupils to dilate in shock.

She actually held the item in her hand, once again showcasing a magician’s dexterity, manipulating it between her fingers with such extreme speed that it almost left afterimages.

“Mmm, it smells lovely.”

Inhaling the fragrant breeze that emanated from the fabric, Gu Wei turned to Xiang Qing and flashed a smile so enchanting it bordered on the demonic.

“It carries your scent now, my little darling.”

Xiang Qing: “!!!”

‘Is this woman truly a devil?’

‘She absolutely must be!’

‘This isn’t mere harassment anymore; this is an entirely new level of torment!’

‘All she wanted now was to escape this bathroom, to escape this madwoman!’

However, Gu Wei remained firmly blocking the doorway, showing no inclination to move aside.

She simply stood there, smiling serenely, her eyes brimming with mischievous amusement.

“You completed the first task admirably.”

Gu Wei drawled, her words slow and deliberate.

“Now, I shall assign your second task.”

She paused, the curve of her lips widening into an even broader smile.

“Go cook for me; I want to eat something made by your own hands.”

“But there are no ingredients in the kitchen,” Xiang Qing offered meekly, her voice a mere whisper of protest.

“Then go buy them now.”

Gu Wei retrieved a black card from her pocket, tucking it into the lace trim of Xiang Qing’s outfit. “The password is six eights,” she instructed. “Buy whatever you desire, and while you’re out… perhaps select a few new work uniforms for yourself.”

She placed particular emphasis on the phrase “work uniforms.”

Xiang Qing glanced down at the utterly scandalous cat-girl outfit she was currently wearing.

‘More of these?’

‘More of these clothes?’

‘Is your house some kind of novelty shop?!’

“What, unwilling?” Gu Wei gently pinched her cheek. “Or do you simply prefer to go grocery shopping dressed like this?”