Golden Pavilion

"It's not easy looking after a young lady."

Wen Ling's friend gave him a meaningful look. "Young Master, you have to bend over, keep your head down, grovel, wag your tail and beg. Memorize everything she likes. Be her ashtray. Be her dog."

His friend smiled knowingly and asked, "Can you do that?"

Tan Yishu didn't answer.

But when he finally met the deranged young lady, who did bad things without a shred of conscience, he understood why his friend had said that.

Maybe most people who make art are a little crazy.

Wen Ling's eyes were like a cat's: cold, beautiful, and eerily lifeless.

She had a bewitching beauty, so striking it bordered on the uncanny, paired with a heart as poisonous as a snake's.

Tan Yishu smiled. If she looked like that, he supposed he could live with it.

-

Wen Ling loved to make fun of people, and her tongue was sharp.

Her bad temper was famous.

She dated the young master of the Tan family and turned him into a dog. The whole social circle delighted in gossiping about it.

Tan Yishu told her about it as a joke, and Wen Ling, just as expected, propped her chin on her hand and laughed with delight.

He watched her for a moment. "Wen Ling, do you treat me like a dog?"

"Yeah. Got a problem with that?"

"Then put a collar on me tomorrow."

Wen Ling hummed, sat up, and put her arms around him. Lazily, she kissed the corner of his mouth and said nonchalantly, "Puppy, you can never betray me."

-

Reading guide:

* Short, around 150,000 Chinese characters

* Third-person narration, from the heroine's perspective

* Gloomy, unhinged young lady x her puppy

* Blurb written on July 22, 2025, screenshot saved

As long as I have even a little feeling left, I cannot help hoping to receive some feeling in return, whether love or hatred.

Yukio Mishima, The Temple of the Golden Pavilion

Theme: Live in the present