[Mutual pining + rekindled love + love and hate + school days to city life]
[Devoted puppy-like secret admirer early on, possessive and partly villainous male lead later × clever and sensitive early on, mature and calculating female lead later]
Wang Xian loves Li Junshi.
Li Junshi loves Wang Xian, too.
Wang Xian can break up with him without hesitation, and leave just as easily.
Li Junshi can steel himself to take revenge, and use every means at his disposal to keep her captive.
Neither of them will give an inch.
And yet they still love each other.
Their love is bound up in desire, habit, and hatred.
As one abandoned lover put it: How could you toy with my feelings so easily, then leave as if nothing had happened?
And so they put it into practice, staring each other down at a lavish wedding, or inside a hellish cage, and saying:
I accept your greed, your desires, all of you.
I accept your possessiveness, your schemes, all of you.
How is this not love?
