Ting J iaoqiao’s days had always been peaceful, until she found an unconscious stranger who was barely breathing but undeniably beautiful.
When her relatives heard the news, they rushed over and carefully examined the man.
“This is the master our secret letter told us we must serve with the utmost care!”
Ting Jiaoqiao glanced at the man’s long fingers clutching her sleeve and silently recalled her family motto: Be absolutely loyal to your master.
What did loyalty mean? She thought that being incredibly good to him must surely count.
*
So, when the man woke up, Ting Jiaoqiao did everything she could to show him her loyalty.
When he scolded her coldly, she wasn’t the least bit intimidated. When he made her run errands over and over, she never complained of being tired.
She committed his offhand remarks to memory, and treasured the ordinary things he casually gave her as if they were priceless.
She accepted his capricious moods, sometimes gloomy and sometimes sunny. Even when he couldn’t sit still all day, either tearing the house apart or running off to get into trouble, she continued to be good to him every moment of every day.
*
When Li Congyuan opened his eyes, he found a little subordinate gazing eagerly at him.
Remembering how he had recently been betrayed by a subordinate, Li Congyuan was wary of her at first and gave her a hard time.
But she treated him so well that his heart softened, and he grew attached to her. He assumed she had fallen for him too.
So one day, he summoned Ting Jiaoqiao and gave her his usual order: “I command you to love me, and from now on, love only me.”
To his surprise, his usually good-natured subordinate turned cold for the first time.
She didn’t love him, and she never would.
She said, “That’s simply loyalty.”
*
From then on, Li Congyuan no longer felt fortunate to have her wholehearted loyalty. Instead, he resented her blind devotion.
He hated that she knew nothing about romance. When she saw him acting crazy and pretending to hang himself, she thought he was swinging on a swing.
One remark from her, “So the master likes having a rope around his neck,” ruined every scheme and ploy he had prepared!
After days of brooding, one night he finally took advantage of the wine to muss up his clothes and fall forcefully into her arms, leaving her no chance to refuse.
Yet he showed a vulnerability she had never seen before, his eyes red at the corners as he panted in her ear:
“Do you hate me so much that you want me to know what it feels like to be worse than dead?”
She just gazed at him, dazed and lovestruck, stammering.
From then on, it seemed she had finally started to catch on.
Only later did he realize that what he had actually said was:
“Let me know what it feels like to be driven to ecstasy.”
·One-on-one romance / both leads are virgins / happy ending
A practical, straightforward, slow-to-catch-on type VS a sensitive, clingy, fierce-on-the-outside type
An emotionally detached, avoidant master and her easily anxious, highly sensitive little beagle.
·Subordinate rises above master / sweet girl trains dog / Girl: My puppy’s broken! Why does it keep yelping!
·(Fake) love-hate tragedy / (Real) lovesick fool throws a tantrum and begs for love
#Master, you’re overthinking it. I’m just a hardworking employee… What, you say you like me and want to be my dog? Sorry, I have no plans to get a dog… What, you say that because I brought you home at the start, you’ve been my dog ever since, and I’m not allowed to play with you and then abandon you… All right, all right, I’ll keep you around for now… What! How was I supposed to know you were a chaotic beagle, an invincible champion of destruction!#
(I want to write this…)
Theme: Kindness can be worth giving freely.
