Luring the Butterfly into the Jar

The platinum chain around Su Qi’s ankle had a bell on it. Every step made it ring, and only Fang Ciqian could hear it. “You can’t keep someone who wants to die.” He smiled as he kissed her bitten, bleeding lips, his fingertip tracing the lock around her ankle. “How could I bear to let you die? You have to live to a hundred.” She thought this was already hell. Until she found the wounded boy, who stumbled into her arms like a stray dog abandoned in the rain. Su Qi reached out to him, but he shrank back, his voice trembling so badly he could barely speak. “I’m dirty. Don’t let me stain your hands, Sister.” Everyone in Jingshan treated him like trash. She was the only one who crouched down to tend his wounds herself. What she didn’t know was that there had never been gratitude in those damp, pleading eyes. Later, the two escaped that cage, while Fang Ciqian truly became a madman consumed by her. Kneeling in the torrential rain, he held up the bloodstained ring and begged her to look back at him just once. “Su Qi, I’ll take off the chain if you give me your heart. Will you?” Chu Yu, dressed in elegant finery, took Su Qi’s hand. Not a trace of timidity remained in his eyes. “Mr. Fang, your chain broke long ago. I’ll buy her a ring.” On that rainy night, he cornered her in front of the floor-to-ceiling window. The storm raged behind her, and his burning breath warmed her from the front. “Su Qi, I’m tired of pretending to be good.” He kissed away the alarm in her eyes, then grazed her earlobe with his teeth and chuckled. “You’ve spent so long worrying about me... Now it’s my turn to worry about you.” From the very beginning, Chu Yu never wanted her pity. He wanted her.