Chapter 139: Cunning
Given Andrew’s thick skin, she could usually only threaten him with some dirt she had on him.
At that moment, Scarlett put a piece of fish into her mouth, removed the bones, and fed it to Andrew.
"Will you watch it again?"
"No more, no more."
Andrew shook his head repeatedly, indicating he wouldn’t dare do it again.
"Then eat the fish. Once you’re done with your CET-4, I’ll start making sure you eat more to gain some weight."
"Oh." Andrew was as obedient as a child now, doing whatever Scarlett said. After opening his mouth to eat the "imported" fish, he went back to eating quietly.
That punishment in the afternoon had been truly agonizing.
Not only did he have to endure the pain of having his hands tied behind his back and being unable to move...
...but even worse, Scarlett had already stoked his inner fire, only to suddenly release him at the most critical moment and leave the room, abandoning him there alone.
At that time, Andrew felt so uncomfortable it was as if ants were crawling all over him; it was more painful than being roasted over a fire.
Professor Scarlett’s move was just too ruthless.
Andrew wouldn’t dare experience it again.
However, Scarlett seemed to realize that today’s punishment was a bit heavy, so she allowed Andrew to sleep with her that night.
She was still wearing that thick cotton onesie pajama, but she wasn’t wearing stockings anymore.
"I’m only allowing you to sleep with me, no fooling around."
"Oh." Andrew responded somewhat dejectedly. After the lights were turned off, the two huddled together face-to-face in the darkness.
"Do you know what you did wrong? Will you still watch secretly?"
"No."
"Besides, you can see me every day. Why do you need to look at those women online? Could they possibly be better looking than me?"
Scarlett actually didn’t understand why Andrew still watched those lewd videos.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t seen them, but after having this Little Thing, she stopped. Anyway, whenever she wanted a hug or to rub his head, she just tricked Andrew into coming over.
"Of course they aren’t as good-looking as you, Scar. It’s just because..."
Andrew felt that if he spoke out, he’d be finished again. He couldn’t exactly say it was because Scarlett always dressed so conservatively at home that he couldn’t see anything, right?
"Anyway, I won’t watch them anymore."
"Hmph. If you watch again, I’ll tie you up and stuff my foot in your mouth."
"Scar, that sounds like a reward."
Although it was dark and she couldn’t see his face, Scarlett could already imagine the mischievous grin on Andrew’s face.
"You stinky Pervert, what on earth is inside your head!"
Scarlett extended her fist and gave Andrew’s head a sharp rap.
"Ouch."
Andrew let out a mock cry of pain, shrinking his head down a bit.
"What’s wrong? Does it hurt?" Scarlett immediately felt bad and stroked Andrew’s head.
"A little~" As Andrew spoke, his head was already buried in Scarlett’s chest, experiencing the most fragrant and softest pillow in the world.
Soon, Scarlett realized Andrew was being mischievous again. Annoyed, she rapped him again: "Pervert!"
"Hehe." Andrew stopped pretending and simply buried his entire head in there. Even through the pajamas, it was very comfortable.
"Stretch your feet over and let me hold them for a bit. My feet are too cold."
"Okay."
The two had initially agreed to just sleep together without touching each other.
But less than five minutes after the lights went out, they were clinging to each other again.
Andrew gradually started misbehaving, pulling down the zipper of Scarlett’s pajamas a bit, and she didn’t stop him.
Hmph~~~ I’ll just consider it compensation for the Little Fellow for the excessive punishment this afternoon.
But gradually, the atmosphere became more and more ambiguous.
Their movements became more frequent as well.
Just before things got out of hand, Scarlett, breathing heavily, stopped Andrew: "I’m still in that period, so... never mind."
"Mm."
Andrew gave a soft response. He also knew tonight wasn’t the night, so he didn’t push it and just held Scarlett.
"Is it very uncomfortable?"
"A little."
"Then should I use my hand?"
"Ok"
"Hmph, I’m so much older than you; don’t call me Scar."
"Heh, wife~"
"Little Pervert."
...
Early the next morning, the first thing Scarlett did upon getting up was wash her hands.
She kept muttering, "Little Pervert, thinking about this stuff all day long."
Although she kept complaining, the corners of her mouth couldn’t help but turn up.
Wasn’t her heart feeling the same way?
Besides, she was already 27 years old and had been very restrained. The reason she hadn’t let Andrew go further wasn’t because she didn’t want to, but to protect this Little Thing.
Some things, once started, are very hard to restrain.
Andrew had a full class schedule on Monday, and since he had exam that weekend, he didn’t plan on going to the studio.
But Hannah proactively contacted him, asking him to come over, saying she had run into some trouble. He had no choice but to make time to check the situation.
"What’s wrong? What’s the big fuss that requires my personal attention?"
As soon as Andrew arrived, he asked Hannah.
Hannah briefly explained: "Boss, do you remember last month when we were just starting to prepare for the Rice Panel group buying and ordering activity, several merchants banded together and refused to lower their prices?"
"Yeah, what about it? Do they want to raise prices now? That’s turning the tables!"
Andrew felt that he was running a business, not a charity. Agreeing not to lower prices wasn’t enough; they were now demanding a price increase, they were really going too far.
"No, if they want to raise prices, they can just list higher unit prices themselves. Didn’t you say that time that you wouldn’t allow them to list the locations of their four physical stores, nor would you give them any promotion?"
"Correct, so what? If they don’t want to accept the price reduction, then I won’t advertise or promote them. Is there a problem with that?"
"But now they are demanding promotion too, otherwise they say you are being unfair and discriminating against franchised merchants, and they threaten to sue you."
"Damn it! Sue me? They’ve gone too far!"
Upon hearing this, Andrew immediately became agitated and stood up, slamming the table.
Seeing Andrew’s firm stance, Hannah immediately expressed her support: "Exactly. If we give in to the demands of these few stores again, they will only become more demanding later on. We need to let them see who is really in charge.
"Damn it, I compromised before because I needed to secure enough franchisees, and our startup phase was difficult. Do they really think I’m a pushover just because I made a concession? Now they want to sue me?"
"Boss, I’ll go find a lawyer and prepare for the lawsuit."
Hannah started to look for a lawyer and gather materials to prepare for litigation.
However, Andrew calmly sat back down: "Calm down. No need for a lawyer. I’m enough."
"Huh? Boss, aren’t you in the Finance Department too? Are you also a lawyer?"
"Of course not! But if it comes to a lawsuit, I am guaranteed to win."
"Huh?"
Hannah was stunned. When did her small company become so formidable, like a guaranteed winner?
Andrew calmly took a sip of water and said to Hannah, "Get me the contract we signed with the franchised merchants back then. Look at Article 34, the third line in the middle, and you’ll know."
"Article 34, third line in the middle?"
Hannah doubtfully took out a copy of the principal party’s contract and began searching carefully.
When Andrew first gave her this contract, she already wanted to complain. For just franchising a merchant, he had written a pile of rules and regulations, with many phrases repeating the same meaning.
Simply put, Andrew would provide sales support on the platform, free promotional advertising support, treat all merchants equally, and ensure fair competition.
But this contract was stubbornly written with over fifty articles and more than ten thousand characters.
"Let me see, Article 34, third line in the middle..."
Hannah found the spot Andrew mentioned and finally located the line embedded in the middle: "The final right of interpretation regarding in-platform advertising promotion and fair competition belongs to the Principal Party."
Hannah was dumbfounded. She had read the contract three times back then but never noticed that Andrew had buried this sentence there.
"So, don’t panic. If they want to sue, let them sue. Just let them.", Andrew said calmly, completely unconcerned.
"Oh my, Boss, how can you be so cunning? You actually hid that sentence in the middle section. If one isn’t careful, they’ll easily miss it."
"What cunning? This is a business tactic. What do you know? I’ve been more than generous to those franchised merchants, right? I basically don’t exploit them. It’s those few stores that are pushing their luck.", Andrew said lightly.
Hannah nodded in agreement: "That’s true. They are much more conscientious compared to others."
"Alright, just tell them that if they want to sue, we’re ready anytime. Then, tell Mark Vane to directly remove all preferential support for these few stores, and make them untraceable on the platform, but don’t delist them."
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