Chapter 4: 365 Ways to Conquer Him

The moment we got home, Jiang Yanshi pinned me against the door.

His voice was low and hoarse beside my ear.

“Baby, you said you had 365 ways to conquer me. I’m looking forward to seeing them.”

I knew it!

Qu Ze was a traitor!

Not only had he sold me out, he’d even handed over the darkest diary of my life to Jiang Yanshi.

I reached for it, but before I could snatch it back, he scooped me up like a piece of luggage and dropped me onto the sofa with surprising decisiveness.

I sank into his dangerous scent once again.

He chuckled and leaned closer.

“I counted. We haven’t even made it through half of them.”

His eyes darkened.

“Why don’t we try a few new ones tonight?”

Just as my mind was beginning to float away, he suddenly bit my shoulder hard enough to make me yelp.

Instinctively, I slapped him.

“Jiang Yanshi, are you a dog?!”

His eyes flickered.

Then, instead of getting angry, something strangely excited lit up in his gaze.

He turned his other cheek toward me.

“This side too. That one wasn’t satisfying enough.”

I was speechless.

But the next second, he caught my hand and kissed my palm, his eyes suddenly looking as pitiful and pleading as an abandoned puppy’s.

“I’m your puppy, remember? Puppies are loyal to their owners.”

He gazed at me.

“Does my owner need me?”

I burst out laughing and leaned down to kiss him.

“I do.”

After all, a stray dog I’d personally trained was too good to waste.

Extra: Jiang Yanshi’s POV

Growing up, I had always been treated like something precious.

If I wanted something, I got it.

My life was so easy that it became painfully boring.

My friends said I had a slight sadistic streak and suggested I find someone to fool around with just to spice things up.

I wasn’t interested.

Even when I went on a blind date with Su Yan—the perfect picture of a gentle, virtuous wife—I knew almost immediately that we weren’t compatible.

She was so quiet that I almost wondered if someone had muted her.

Two months later, I suggested we end things.

She visibly looked relieved.

That was when I decided women were all the same.

Dating was nothing but a waste of time.

I turned to street racing for the adrenaline, just to remind myself that I was still alive.

Then came the accident.

It left both my legs paralyzed.

And then Lin Xiyue came crashing into my life like a hurricane.

She was shameless.

Thick-skinned.

Absolutely incapable of feeling embarrassed.

“Huh? Is that mouth of yours really all talk?”

“Call me your wife! Call me baby!”

“Your hands work perfectly fine. Why aren’t you hugging me?”

She was always forcing me to react.

I thought I hated her.

I thought I hated her so much that when my legs showed the first signs of recovery, my very first thought was to lock her up and let her experience what it felt like to be completely powerless.

I deliberately let her see signs that I was getting better just to scare her.

And sure enough, she panicked.

She even tried to escape using a private jet booked under my name.

Idiot.

An infuriatingly adorable idiot.

But when I heard her say she was going to “raise” another man and his child, I nearly lost my mind.

I dragged her back immediately.

Only to discover that the whole thing had been her plan from the beginning.

She turned the tables on me.

I ended up being the one tied up.

Damn it.

She asked me if I loved her.

Ridiculous.

I told her I hated her.

But when she smiled and said she was “bored of playing with me,” something strange happened.

My heart hurt.

A sharp, unfamiliar ache.

I didn’t stop her from leaving.

After all, divorce had been what I wanted from the beginning…

At least, that was what I told myself.

But once she was truly gone, I became restless.

I couldn’t settle down.

That was when I realized I’d fallen far deeper into her game than I’d ever intended.

There’s a saying that the meaning of meeting someone is this:

You’re moving along the same stable path you always have, and then someone suddenly crashes into your life and knocks you off course.

When they leave, you think you’ll simply return to the way things were.

But you don’t.

The entire coordinate system of your life has already been redrawn.

Like in the mornings.

I would unconsciously move the sugar jar aside because she liked her milk sweet.

Only to find empty space where she should have been.

I’d wake in the middle of the night and reach out for the familiar warmth beside me, only to touch cold sheets.

Even the attic she used as her art studio was empty, with nothing left but blank sheets of paper fluttering in the wind.

Had she really never loved me?

Was I nothing more than a toy?

I convinced myself it was just withdrawal.

But a year had already passed.

Why couldn’t I kick the habit?

I went to Qu Ze, only to get a bucket of cold water dumped over my head.

“You two are seriously made for each other.”

He rolled his eyes.

“You don’t know how to take the initiative, and she takes it way too far. If you didn’t love her, what would you have to hate?”

He scoffed.

“Idiots like you are always the ones who say the exact opposite of what they mean. Your legs are healed. Go find her already. Why are you standing here pretending to be some cold, untouchable badass?”

He pointed at me.

“You arrogant little sadist.”

I wanted to argue.

But I couldn’t.

Turns out, I was the biggest idiot of all.

I spent a long time preparing myself to go find her.

What I hadn’t prepared myself for was seeing her standing beside another man.

In that single second, every bit of rationality left my body.

Jealousy.

Anger.

The desperate need to take her back.

Everything exploded at once.

I just wanted to hold her.

Kiss her.

Claim her.

Even if she hit me, I’d take it.

Fine.

I admit it.

I was done for.

Completely and utterly defeated by Lin Xiyue.

When I learned she was seeing a therapist, I tried to learn how to pursue her “normally.”

But two months passed, and she treated me like I didn’t exist.

Then she said it.

“I don’t play with the same dog twice.”

Something inside me snapped.

I was terrified of being abandoned again.

So I chose the stupidest solution imaginable.

I kidnapped her and brought her home.

I asked the doctor about it.

They said it was a psychological issue.

I told them,

“Don’t treat it.”

Because I already had my medicine.

Her name was Lin Xiyue.

Being controlled by her made my heart tremble with excitement.

It wasn’t pain.

It was addiction.

She was always changing.

Sometimes lively.

Sometimes pretending to be sweet and obedient.

Sometimes frighteningly clever.

She kept me completely hooked.

I knew she was taking my money.

I gave it to her anyway.

I knew her family was struggling.

I took care of it myself.

I thought I was being generous.

The truth was, I was simply willing to do it.

Qu Ze was right.

Only idiots use words they don’t mean when they love someone.

So this time, I said it plainly.

“I love you.”

I handed her my weakness.

I handed her control.

I told her,

“Welcome home.”

And she said yes.

When she ran her foot over me, a whip in her hand, I knew I’d made the right bet.

She loved me.

An outsider might never understand that the submissive one can actually be the one holding all the power.

I didn’t care.

I would never let her belong to anyone else.

Because I was Lin Xiyue’s puppy.

So what if I was the puppy?

Puppies were loyal to their owners.

Forever.

The End