Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I would never have crossed paths with someone like Liang Jiao under normal circumstances. His family’s network was deep and tangled; in Shangcheng, his word was law.

If he wanted to play with me, no one could save me.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t thought about going to the police. But as soon as I even hovered near the station, Liang Jiao would send over a photo of my sister.

He once squeezed my throat and said, “I’ll let you go whenever I get bored of you.”

Rich people have many ways to amuse themselves.

Having found a new toy, he couldn’t wait to show me off to others.

At first, I was defiant. I refused to listen to him, so he tortured me within an inch of my life.

He held my head underwater in a sink for five minutes.

He locked me in a dog cage for three days, starving me before tossing in a single raw chicken.

Perhaps you think I’d be the type to stand tall against tyranny, gritting my teeth and holding out.

I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I wasn’t that strong or noble. I learned to submit.

Only by submitting could I avoid being beaten to death.

I had already learned how to throw my pride to the ground back when I was a high school graduate, handing out flyers and begging strangers to leave their phone numbers.

Once Liang Jiao saw that I had broken, he stopped the torture.

I endured it time and again. Every night, I would look at the stars outside the window and calculate when I would finally be able to die.

As long as I could provide for my sister, as long as she could finish university, I would die.

What was the point of me living anyway?

Because Liang Jiao controlled me, I couldn’t work as a delivery driver to make money anymore. I didn’t want my sister to know about my current situation, so I swallowed my pride and begged Liang Jiao for money.

I remember the mocking look in his eyes that day very clearly.

The corner of his mouth curled as he pinched my face. “So, you’ve learned to ask me for things? If you want something, you have to pay the price.”

He was drunk that day, his ears flushed deep red. My hands trembled as I fumbled with the buttons of his shirt.

He threw me to the floor, calling me filthy.

Undeterred, I hugged his legs, tears streaming down my face.

I knew how pathetic and cheap I looked, but I had no choice. I had to get money for my sister.

I knew I was quite beautiful; back when I was working part-time jobs, many men had offered to keep me as a mistress.

Even Liang Jiao couldn’t resist my beauty.

I don’t know how I got through that night. Liang Jiao pinned me in the bathtub and scrubbed me raw with a brush.

After that night, Liang Jiao developed a taste for me. I no longer had to sleep in the cage in his room.

That was where his old Tibetan Mastiff used to sleep.

Instead, he let me sleep in the bed, holding me tightly at night.

He would brush my hair as if he were grooming a dog, and he bought me beautiful clothes to dress me up.

He said, “You’re just like the Tibetan Mastiff I had when I was a kid. Exactly like it. That dog used to look at me just like this, with wet eyes. It was raised with common mutts by people who didn’t know its worth.

“I really loved that dog. I’d hit it hard with a stick, trying to break it, to make it protect me.

“You and that dog are so similar. I’d beat it until its fur was matted with blood, yet it would still try to protect that common mutt.”

I remained silent. Liang Jiao cupped my face and asked, “Tell me, suffering under me just for your sister… what a great, noble love that is.

“Just like that stupid dog.”

Liang Jiao loved listening to me talk to my sister on the phone. He said my voice was so tender it could practically melt.

He said, “Cheng Dongdong, say something to me like that. I want to hear it.”

Under the pressure, I was forced to awkwardly mutter a few words.

Liang Jiao didn’t find it awkward; he enjoyed it. He said, “Cheng Dongdong, treat me as well as you treat your sister. I could use someone sincere by my side.”