Locked Qiao

[Steady, reserved, gentle submissive × strong, domineering, possessive temptress]

When she was twelve, Ye Qiao found a girl covered in blood in Nanshan Village.

Later, that girl brought her out of a shabby earthen house and gave her a home.

Jiang Muxi taught her to paint and led her, step by step, from having nothing to exhibiting her work on the international stage.

Ye Qiao is reserved and quiet, unable to say a single pretty word. She can only stay by Jiang Muxi's side in the clumsiest ways.

When Jiang Muxi works late, she quietly massages her shoulders. When Jiang Muxi gives her the cold shoulder, she obediently goes over to coax her with affection.

At first, Jiang Muxi thinks she will always be the one in control, the one relied upon.

But without her realizing it, her need for control and her possessiveness grow wildly.

She craves Ye Qiao, almost to the point of obsession.

She navigates business rivalries and boardroom power struggles, with people lying in wait to take her life.

She lays her plans discreetly, then strikes back and settles accounts without mercy.

Everyone says Jiang Muxi is cold, ruthless, and heartless, never soft-hearted and never caring about anyone.

No one knows that this cold, domineering woman is consumed by unease on countless late nights.

She often can't sleep at night and repeatedly shakes the sleeping girl beside her awake.

The first night, she asks softly, "Will you leave?"

Sleepy and muddled, Ye Qiao answers obediently, "No."

The second night, she asks again, "You really won't leave?"

Ye Qiao answers patiently, "I really won't."

The third night, it's the same all over again.

Ye Qiao's eyes grow red with grievance. Clutching her pillow, she starts to head for the sofa.

Jiang Muxi immediately pulls her back and holds her tightly, burying her face in Ye Qiao's neck. Her voice is muffled and possessive: "Just try leaving."

To the outside world, she is a feared leader, decisive and calculating at every turn.

Only in front of Ye Qiao does she hide all her unease, obsession, and unspoken vulnerability.

Later, someone asks Ye Qiao what Jiang Muxi is really like.

Ye Qiao thinks seriously. "A tigress. Unreasonable. Really scary when she's angry."

The other person doesn't understand. "Then why don't you run away?"

Ye Qiao looks up, open and proud. "That's my privilege. Nobody else gets it!"

And all that possessiveness, yearning, and refusal to let go in Jiang Muxi's life,

She has said to only one person: "Because I raised her with my own hands. From beginning to end, every part of her has grown into my heart."

Theme: Mutual bonds, healing, and growth.