Make Him Your Dog

#Working title

Jing Jiashu gets excellent grades and is handsome, a darling of heaven. Nansheng has heard it so often she's sick of it.

All Nansheng knows is that she hates him.

They'd known each other, yet acted like strangers when they met, until the funeral of her father and "mother," where she stood before that woman's portrait and faced the son she had been so proud of.

"I'll give you money, and you can be my dog."

Nansheng has a cool yet brazen face, just like her temperament. She gripped the boy's chin. Jing Jiashu was slender and sickly pale, always silent.

"Jing Jiashu, do you know what I like most about you?"

Nansheng narrowed her eyes lazily. "That you hate me, but can't do anything about it."

Yes, he hated Lin Nansheng, his mother's stepsister from a wealthy family, the girl he'd once admired from afar through an elegant glass window. She had toyed with his life.

Just before he'd worked hard to pay back his debts, she was caught up in an ethical scandal. Her reputation as a model student was ruined, and she became a laughingstock.

He wished Lin Nansheng would disappear.

Just as Jing Jiashu wished, Nansheng disappeared without a word. At first he felt liberated. Later, he frantically searched everywhere for news of her, but found nothing.

The following summer, he began to miss her.

In the summer of the eighth year, a soft rain fell over Ancheng. The songs at the Left Bank Bar were alluring yet distant. Since returning to China, Nansheng had spent her days painting and her nights singing at the bar.

In a dim corner, half of a handsome man's face was hidden in shadow. Few people knew that Mr. Jing, Ancheng's new financial titan, came to this little bar every day to listen to the woman onstage.

The bar owner teased him, "I used to invite you all the time, but you never came. Now you're here every day this week."

His friend followed Jing Jiashu's gaze. "Oh, you've got your eye on that girl? That's rare."

Jing Jiashu said nothing, gazing at the woman onstage.

When she finished singing, amid the applause, she walked toward a man holding a bouquet. The two hugged affectionately.

His friend smacked his lips. "What a shame. She's got a boyfriend. You don't stand a chance."

*

After parting with her cousin, Nansheng wandered through the vast city of Ancheng until she reached the apartment they used to rent. She tried her key and opened the door, surprised to find that the place had not been rented out in ten years.

In the darkness, an arm suddenly wrapped around her waist, and a familiar kiss came with the taste of alcohol. And he had learned to smoke in the years they'd been apart.

Jing Jiashu panted softly, cupping her face. "Did you do the things we used to do with him, too?"

She dropped her usual defiance and fell silent. Eventually, he leaned against her shoulder.

"Lin Nansheng, keep playing with me."

Bonus scene:

One night, Jing Jiashu was consumed by jealousy and confronted Nansheng.

Lin Nansheng deliberately hit him where it hurt, hoping he'd back off. "He can keep me and pay off my debts. Can you?"

Jing Jiashu leaned against the wall and slowly lowered his head. Just as she turned away, he took her hand. "Let's get married. You can do whatever you want with the assets in my name."

Flashback:

One winter, when he was nineteen, someone threatened to ruin the young prodigy's reputation with scandalous photos.

Jing Jiashu silently stared out the window. Nansheng walked out with a man, laughing and chatting, then disappeared around the corner.

The young man's brows grew still, his thin lips pursed in self-mockery. His finger hovered over the delete button on the photo, then he pressed cancel.

He still remembered what that person said in the end, with pity.

"Jing Jiashu, you're hurting yourself."

Both leads are each other's first | Happy ending

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