Chapter 149: Contractual Lovers

Chapter 149: Contract Lover

"What is your profession?"

The woman was a bit baffled by Chu Fei's words, looking at him with utter confusion.

"Do I really need to spell out your profession so clearly?" Chu Fei frowned as he stared at the woman's seductive, oval-shaped face. He was inwardly astounded by her thick skin. His gaze once again fell upon the subtle trace at the corner of her eyes, and he curled his lip, sneering, "No matter how well you apply your makeup, it can't hide your age. You must be getting on in years by now, right?"

The woman's smile froze for a fraction of a second, though it quickly morphed back into an expression of alluring charm. She batted her eyelashes and looked at him coyly. "It sounds like you're trying to fish for information about me?"

"Do I even need to fish? One look at the corners of your eyes tells me you must be at least thirty!" Chu Fei curled his lip, directly exposing her age.

"Thirty?" The woman's expression shifted slightly.

"Don't look so surprised. No matter how good the makeup is, it can't mask the traces left by time. That's just the cold, hard fact..." Chu Fei had no idea what was wrong with himself; he simply couldn't bear to watch this woman lead such a fallen life. Perhaps it was due to that accidental encounter last time, but looking at her now, he felt compelled to offer some well-meaning, earnest advice. "At your age, you surely must have passed the stage of daydreaming. It's about time you seriously considered your future. Tell me, am I making sense or not?"

"Ahem—well, ahem ahem... What you're saying actually does make a bit of sense." The woman looked at Chu Fei with a very peculiar expression, as if she were trying to hold back a burst of laughter.

"What are you laughing at? Am I wrong?" Chu Fei glared at her. He couldn't explain why, but he just couldn't bring himself to be polite to this woman. "You're getting on in years—how many more years do you have left to live like this? If you don't hurry up and find a proper place to settle down, you'll be crying your eyes out with regret when you're old and past your prime, and it won't do you any good."

"Huh?" The woman's eyes widened in sheer disbelief. For how many years had no one ever lectured her like this, especially a man younger than her? If she hadn't previously witnessed Chu Fei throwing a tantrum at the birthday banquet, she would have undoubtedly thought she had run into a lunatic.

"Whatever. I know you won't take it to heart, and I can't be bothered to lecture you anymore. Go on and wallow in your degradation; there will come a day when you live to regret it." Chu Fei sighed, turned around, and prepared to leave. The woman's appearance had suddenly stirred a heavy, oppressive feeling in his chest.

"Hey." The woman grabbed Chu Fei by the arm.

"What do you want?" Chu Fei turned back around.

"You've been rambling on and on—just what do you take me for? You don't actually think I do *that* kind of work, do you?" The seductive woman looked at Chu Fei with a half-smile, her expression utterly bizarre.

"Don't look at me like that. I know you're not one of those nightclub hostesses who sleep around for cash," Chu Fei frowned, "but you aren't exactly high-class either. Even though the clients you cater to are fixed, you're still relying entirely on your youth. Right now, those men swarm around you and pamper you because you're pretty, and they can satisfy some of your desires. But once you get a little older, do you really think they'll still treat you well?"

"You think I'm..." The woman's eyes widened again, looking somewhat uncertain.

"A contract lover. Or do you still want to deny it?" Chu Fei hit the nail on the head, and before she could speak, he sneered, "I know people in your line of work have more dignity than those nightclub women and don't sign contracts casually, but you're no more noble than them. At the end of the day, you're still trading your youth and your body for profit, just under a prettier title. Men pamper you now because you're young and pretty. But once you're past your prime—oh, you don't even need to be old and withered, the moment they grow tired of you, they'll kick you aside without a second thought. To wealthy men like that, beauties are everywhere, aren't they?"

The woman stared at Chu Fei with wide, astonished eyes, seemingly utterly speechless.

"Damn it, why am I even saying all this to you? Just pretend I'm a lunatic." Feeling unnerved by the way she was staring at him, Chu Fei muttered self-deprecatingly and turned to leave. Even he felt that he wasn't acting normally today. Could it be that just because he had touched her once, he had developed a favorable impression of her? Impossible!

Although Chu Fei admitted that he liked beautiful women, he wasn't so indiscriminate.

However, the woman blocked his path once again, looking at him with an even more complicated expression. "Do you look down on me?"

"No," Chu Fei shook his head. He truly didn't look down upon this profession. In fact, contract lovers went by another name: professional mistresses. It sounded refined, but in reality, it was simply a form of self-glorified degradation among women. Some of them came from high-status backgrounds, such as socialites and wealthy matrons, while others stumbled into the industry purely by chance because of their exceptional beauty. The situation was akin to wealthy bosses keeping college student mistresses; once a man selected a woman, they would sign a contract for her to act as his lover for a specific period, occasionally even appearing openly in public together. After all, those who could enter this trade were top-tier in terms of figure and facial features, often well-educated and naturally poised, meaning they wouldn't embarrass their employers when brought out to social events. Many people even knew about this arrangement implicitly and engaged in silent competition.

Chu Fei had only recently learned by chance that this profession had been quietly thriving in the metropolis, with businesses operating in full swing.

Yet, it wasn't hard to understand.

Men were naturally possessive, and the wealthier and more powerful they were, the stronger this desire became. No man wanted a woman he had just touched to have been touched by someone else, nor did he want a woman he intended to touch to have just been under another man. Thus, the industry of contract lovers emerged. Certain unique women became the primary choice for these men. By signing a contract, the woman belonged entirely to him—at least for the duration of the agreement. This not only satisfied the man's possessiveness to the maximum degree, but also provided him with an outlet.

Of course, there were also cases where a woman was so exceptional that she had more than one employer.

Chu Fei figured that the woman in front of him was precisely this kind of contract lover, and very likely had multiple employers at the same time.

Though she seemed high-class on the surface, her essence was no different from those fallen women who worked the circuit. She too traded her body and youth to get what she needed, eating a literal meal of youth. And while the woman before him exuded femininity and could effortlessly rouse the primal desires of any man, the fine lines at the corners of her eyes betrayed the fact that she was no longer young.

She was destined not to be able to keep living like this forever.

"You really don't look down on me? Then why did you just say all those things to me?" The woman looked at him skeptically, though her expression was fascinating.

"I really don't look down on you. I just feel that at your age, you should start thinking about your future sooner rather than later. Continuing to sink into this kind of life is no solution," Chu Fei shook his head.

"Am I really that old?" The woman was beginning to get annoyed.

"Whether you're old or not, you know best in your heart. Anyway, if you keep going down this degenerate path, leaving everything else aside, your body won't even be able to take it in a few years," Chu Fei curled his lip, blunt to a fault.

"You—"

The woman's beautiful eyes widened once more, but the very next second, her pupils rolled and a pitiful expression appeared on her face, startling even Chu Fei.

"You think I *want* to live like this? I have no choice! Society is so cruel and realistic; how else am I supposed to make money to support my family if I don't do this?" the woman looked at Chu Fei with utmost "grievance."

"Supporting your family doesn't mean you have to sell your body, does it?" Chu Fei was speechless. He glanced down at the woman's graceful, curvaceous figure, feeling another wave of heat flare up inside him, yet he retorted, "With your conditions, you could easily find someone well-off and marry into a wealthy family to be a rich housewife."

"I've thought about it, but my circumstances don't allow it," the woman said, looking even more aggrieved.

"Don't tell me you're already married? You have a husband?" Chu Fei probed cautiously. Aside from this, he couldn't think of any other reason.

"My husband died over a dozen years ago. I'm a widow now," the woman said sorrowfully.

"Even as a widow, someone with your physical assets shouldn't have trouble finding a partner, right?" Instinctively, Chu Fei cast another glance at the woman's enchanting face. To say that a woman looking like a veritable siren couldn't find anyone—he wouldn't believe it even if he were beaten to death.

"You think I haven't thought about it? But I have my burdens," the woman said, looking even more heartbroken.

"What burdens?"

"I have a son, and I also have to support my parents-in-law. Before my husband died, I promised him I would take care of his mom and dad. Tell me, with all these burdens on my shoulders, who would dare to marry me?" The woman asked, looking at Chu Fei with a pitiable expression.

"Ah—"

Chu Fei suddenly felt a strong urge to curse out loud, remaining speechless for a long time. He didn't know how much of the woman's story was true and how much was false. But if it was real, then indeed no man would want to take that on. A son was understandable, but having to take care of her deceased ex-husband's parents as well? What the hell, that was just too much! Which man would willingly and gladly support his predecessor's parents? Chu Fei must have water in his brain to even consider it.

"I don't have any skills of my own. Besides being pretty and being good in bed, I have nothing else. You tell me, besides doing this, what else can I possibly do?" The woman blinked her peach-blossom eyes at him.

"Uh—"

Chu Fei was struck dumb. He suddenly found that the woman's words made an awful lot of sense, leaving him utterly speechless.

"How about..." The woman suddenly bit her lip as she looked at Chu Fei, hesitating as if she had more to say, her gaze flickering.

"How about what?" Chu Fei asked, bewildered.

"How about you keep me? From now on, I'll follow you. I know you must be very wealthy, and I can see you have a good heart. You surely wouldn't abandon me just because I'm getting old..." The woman smiled brightly as she leaned closer, whispering right into Chu Fei's ear with breath as sweet as orchids.

"Damn!"

Chu Fei shuddered all over and quickly took two steps back. He saw the woman looking at him with a disappointed expression—a look so poignant that it almost made a cold-hearted man like Chu Fei soften.

"And you said you don't despise me? You clearly do despise me! You look down on me!" The woman glared at Chu Fei, acting angry yet wronged all at once, looking a sight to behold...

"I don't look down on you..." Chu Fei was torn between laughter and tears. Just as he was about to explain, the phone in his pocket rang. Pulling it out, he saw it was Fu Ziqing, so he immediately took two steps back and answered the call.

"I'm done with my work. Where are you?" Fu Ziqing's usual cold voice came through the phone.

"I'm behind the garden. Go to the entrance first, I'll be right out," Chu Fei said, hanging up the phone. When he turned back, he saw the woman still watching him with a wide, cheeky smile, completely devoid of any sorrow or grievance. He realized instantly that he had probably been played by this woman. Not in the mood to bicker with her, he frowned and said, "I was only trying to persuade you out of kindness not to keep sinking like this. Whether you listen or not is up to you, but sooner or later, you'll regret it."

With that, Chu Fei turned and walked away. As for whether the woman would take his advice to heart, he couldn't be bothered to ponder it any further... though the thought of her likely wandering among one man after another in the near future left a sour taste in his mouth.

The woman stood rooted to the spot, watching Chu Fei's departing back with a complex expression. A captivating, alluring smile suddenly bloomed across her face, and she murmured softly to herself, "What an interesting little fellow, tee-hee."

Then, letting out another light, heart-fluttering giggle, she turned and walked toward a different exit.