┃Ming Yi vs. Qi Nianpu
┃A true mistletoe-vine villainess who seduces women vs. a powerful, skin-hungry bully
Qi Nianpu, heir to a top luxury family in the capital, never lacked women to adorn his side. But of all of them, the mute gambling runner Ming Yi, whom he'd brought back from a Macau casino and kept in the capital, had been with him the longest. Poverty had made her timid and ignorant, but at least she knew her place all too well.
He was satisfied. As a plaything, she ought to be beautiful, obedient, and never resist.
So even though he knew Ming Yi threw her weight around by borrowing his name, he never called her out. After all, if his woman couldn't enjoy even that little bit of respect, it would be a slap in his face.
He spoiled her.
But who could have known that this little bird would eventually peck his eye...
The club.
A corner.
Dim lights.
Hidden in the shadows, Ming Yi wore a deep-red dress, yet her jade-like skin and bones remained impossible to conceal. Her translucent silk jacket, thin as a cicada's wing, slipped off one shoulder and hung from her lotus-like arm, revealing a springtime glow that warmed the winter air. She seemed not to notice, absorbed in admiring the plant wall.
Beside her, Pei Jue lazily blew out a ring of smoke. "Don't mistletoe vines get possessive of their hosts?"
Ming Yi touched her hair and teased, "Since when do wolves care about plants?"
Pei Jue responded with a cold snort.
They were both demons, so there was no point in beating around the bush. Ming Yi was frank. "As Qi Nianpu's pet bird, kept around to amuse him in his spare time, I need to know my place." She twirled her fingers, lightly touching the frosty veins on the jade hairpin's leaves and listening to the plant's pent-up frustration inside the wall. "Besides, how do you know I'm not the hunter? Stealing food from a tiger's mouth is just an act."
Qi Nianpu swallowed his rage and vowed to drag her back and grind her bones to dust.
But when he found Ming Yi, who had used up her cultivation to save someone else's life, what surged up first was his sense of betrayal: [Great, now I have to watch out for women as well as men!] He ground his teeth. Killing her outright would be far too easy. He should tie her to the bed...
Later, Ming Yi's five senses were sealed. There was no need to tie her up; she could only lie in bed.
He called off his arranged marriage and stopped leaving the house.
His friend tried to talk him around.
He said, "Isn't it great? My wife is still beautiful, obedient, and never resists."
*
Theme: Self-interest
