chapter 1

I turned my back on him and pulled the covers over my head.

Jiang Wenzhou said nothing for a long time. He did not try to talk me out of it either.

Just as I began wondering whether I had taken the performance too far, a sigh sounded behind me.

He left, and the door clicked shut.

I sat up, my resolve softening a little.

He probably could not understand why his little sister’s rebellious phase had arrived so late.

But honestly, I was done playing the poor soul who had to trudge through a snowstorm to work.

The snow had been brutal that morning, and my working life even more so.

He had confiscated my phone. My tablet and laptop were gone too.

I dug through the closet for the clothes I had worn that day and pulled my backup phone from the lining of my coat.

Jiang Wenzhou never would have guessed that I bought men’s coats.

Their pockets were deep as the ocean. Mine held not only a spare phone, but also a packet of cookies, a small bun, and three chocolate bars nearly the size of the phone itself.

The snacks had buried the phone at the very bottom.

I switched it on, opened WeChat, and found my cousin.

“What happened after they locked you up? How did you keep them from letting you out?”

My cousin replied, “Jia, are you making fun of me?”

“No. I admire your determination to fight for love. I want to learn from you.”

“There’s no technique to it. You don’t understand love. I’m only following my heart. If it’s for him, so what if I have to go on a hunger strike?”

A hunger strike…

I looked at the chocolate in my hand.

Silently, I put one bar back. That was food for later.

I did not touch a bite of the meal Jiang Wenzhou brought me.

He carried it in and carried it right back out again.

Once he was gone, I broke off another square of chocolate and put it in my mouth, reminding myself that all this suffering was for the glorious work-free days ahead.

Mom and Dad had left us plenty of money. Jiang Wenzhou was the one who had insisted on making me work and live this miserable life.

On the second day of my “hunger strike,” he came in with a bowl of seafood congee.

One whiff had me swallowing hard.

He lowered his gaze to me. “Still don’t want to eat today?”

I kept my face stern. “As long as you refuse to let me out, I refuse to eat.”

Then, worried that the pressure might get to him and he might actually release me, I hastily added, “I’ve chosen him. What’s a little hunger in the name of love?”

He closed his eyes and abruptly laughed.

The sound sent a chill down my back. I stared at him in alarm.

Please don’t tell me my love had moved him!

Without a word, he set the congee on my nightstand and walked out.

I had just started to relax when he came back.

This time, he was carrying a rope.