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Mu Han froze in shock from the slap, and like a frightened cat, he leaped off Lu Zhizhi's body, stumbling towards the door. He had taken just two steps when the unyielding voice behind him rang out again, wrapping around him like an invisible chain: "Did I let you go?"

His feet were rooted to the spot, his back straight, his fingertips slightly curled from the effort. He didn't look back, didn't speak, silently resisting the burning gaze behind him.

"I said, come here." Lu Zhizhi's voice became deeper, and each word hit the air, "Sit on it."

Mu Han turned around abruptly, his eyes filled with long-suppressed irritation, threatening to burst out. "What on earth do you want to do?! You're the one who said you liked me, and you're the one who forced me into this!" His chest heaved, his tone filled with a sense of grievance that he himself wasn't aware of. "What's so good about me that Mr. Lu would go to all this trouble?"

Before he could finish his words, he turned to leave, but his wrist was grabbed by a brute force. The next second, his back collided with a warm chest. Lu Zhizhi hugged him tightly from behind, so hard that he almost kneaded him into his bones and blood. His voice was choked with a barely perceptible sob, and he muffled it behind his ear: "Do you need a reason to like someone?"

"I need it!" Mu Han growled, his pent-up confusion and resentment completely erupting at this moment. "I want a clear, unequivocal reason!"

"Okay, I'll tell you." Lu Zhizhi's voice got lower and lower, with a fragility that was almost broken, but every word clearly penetrated Mu Han's ears, "But you might not believe it. I had a very long dream. In the dream, I treated you very badly, but you were still like a stone that could not be warmed... No, you were more persistent than a stone, following me wholeheartedly. It was not until I lost you in the end that I knew what it felt like to have a piece of my heart gouged out. In this life, I don't want to lose you again. Even if I have to use this stupid method, I still want to keep you by my side."

Mu Han's body froze, his chaotic emotions frozen in time. He was silent for a long time, so long that Lu Zhizhi's embrace began to stiffen. Then he slowly spoke, his voice so calm it was almost indifferent: "Calm down for a moment."

He struggled to break free from the restraints, his fingertips brushing against Lu Zhizhi's palm, leaving a hint of coldness. Without turning back, without even a glance, he walked out of this suffocating room.

When I walked downstairs, the kitchen auntie was carrying out a plate of freshly baked dim sum. Seeing this, she smiled and asked, "Master Mu, dinner is about to be served. Where are you going?"

Mu Han pulled the corners of his mouth and tried to squeeze out a polite smile: "I have something to go out for."

He drove to his studio, but Luo Wanghan was gone. He unlocked the door with his key, and the familiar yet unsettling smell of turpentine and paint filled the air. He walked to his easel and paused for a moment, reaching for a paintbrush. As his fingertips touched the shaft, a sharp, stinging pain suddenly spread from his wrist—the same piercing, numbing pain he'd felt when his hand was crippled in his previous life. The paintbrush fell to the ground with a thud, rolling a long way across the smooth floor.

"What was supposed to come finally came." Mu Han looked down at his slightly trembling hands, his voice so soft it sounded like a sigh. "He really is reborn, but this sudden good feeling is, after all, just the result of guilt."

He raised his left hand and looked at the ring on his ring finger that Lu Zhizhi had forced on him. It shone coldly in the sunlight, and he couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips in self-mockery. What was this? Compensation?

Elsewhere, Lu Zhizhi stood beside a black Bentley, his long black trench coat slightly lifted by the night breeze. He stared at the lighted window of his studio for hours, until the light finally went out, and then he seemed to come back to life from his paralysis.

Not long after, that familiar figure appeared at the door. As soon as Mu Han walked down the stairs, Lu Zhizhi strode up to him. Before Mu Han could react, he hugged him tightly in his arms, his voice so gentle that it could drip water: "It's all my fault. Don't be angry. Let's go home, okay?"

Mu Han didn't struggle or respond, like a puppet that had lost its strength. Seeing that he didn't speak or move, Lu Zhizhi made up his mind and simply picked him up horizontally. Mu Han screamed and subconsciously grabbed his collar, but didn't push him away.

As he was being stuffed into the car, Mu Han tilted his head to look at the street lights passing by outside the window, his eyes empty. Back at Lu Zhizhi's villa, he was taken straight to the master bedroom. Lu Zhizhi placed him on the soft big bed. Fearing he might misunderstand, he quickly stepped back and whispered, "Go to sleep. I'll be on the sofa next to you. I promise not to touch you."

Mu Han nodded numbly, pulling the quilt over his head, and no longer paying attention to his surroundings. Lu Zhizhi stood by the bed for a long time before carefully lying down on the sofa, his eyes fixed on the figure bulging under the quilt until the dawn broke, and he fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, the sharp ring of the phone jolted Mu Han out of his trance. He drowsily picked up the phone, and Han Yi's anxious voice immediately blasted through the receiver: "Hanhan! What's in the news... isn't true, right?"

"What's going on?" Mu Han rubbed his swollen temples, his voice hoarse from just waking up, his face blank. "What are you talking about?"

"Look at the trending searches yourself! The first one! By the way, auntie asked you to come to the hospital right away. Uncle isn't feeling well." Han Yi's voice was filled with anxiety.

Mu Han's heart tightened. He quickly hung up the phone and clicked on the news app. The top trending headline stung his eyes—"Secret Marriage Between Lu's President and Mu's Young Master? Hugging Scene Revealed at the Civil Affairs Bureau." Below it were several high-definition candid photos, including one of him and Lu Zhizhi silhouetted against the Civil Affairs Bureau entrance, and another shot of Lu Zhizhi carrying him into the car yesterday. The angles were tricky, making the scene look incredibly intimate.

He suddenly sat up from the bed, hurriedly put on his clothes, and rushed downstairs. The aroma of fried eggs wafted from the living room. Lu Zhizhi, wearing an apron, stood in front of the stove in the open kitchen. The morning light fell on the side of his face, softening his usual sharpness.

Mu Han strode over and thrust his phone screen in front of him, his tone filled with suppressed anger: "Look for yourself! What the hell is going on?"

Lu Zhizhi looked at the news on the screen, his brows knitted tightly together, his face filled with astonishment and bewilderment: "When...when was this filmed?"

"You ask me?" Mu Han sneered. "Now the whole internet is saying we're married, and you tell me you didn't know? Lu Zhizhi, do you think this is funny?"

"I really don't know." Lu Zhizhi hurriedly turned off the gas stove, not even bothering to put down the spatula in his hand. He took a step forward to pull him, his tone full of obvious grievance and helplessness. "I got up early to cook and didn't even check my phone. Believe me, I'll have the PR department handle it right away!"

Mu Han looked at him steadily, and saw that his eyes were full of anxiety and honesty, and he didn't look like he was lying. The anger in his heart inexplicably subsided a lot, but he turned his face away with the remaining anger: "Okay, I won't eat breakfast, I want to go to the hospital."

"I'll take you there." Lu Zhizhi said immediately, reaching out to untie his apron.

"No thanks." Mu Han refused flatly, turned around and walked towards the door.

When he arrived at the hospital, the atmosphere in the ward was so oppressive that it was hard to breathe. His father was leaning against the headboard, his face not looking good, and his mother was sitting beside the bed, her eyes red. Han Yi was standing in the corner, and when he saw him come in, he gave him a worried look.

The room instantly fell silent, with only the regular beeping of the ECG monitor. Mu Han stood at the door, bewildered.

It was my mother who spoke first, her voice trembling slightly. "Is what's on the news... true?"

Mu Han pursed his lips and whispered, "We signed a three-year contract. He said... no matter what happens to the Mu family in the future, he will stand up for them."

"How could you make such a decision without discussing it with us?" The mother's voice suddenly rose, filled with pain and anger. "Mu Han, who do you think you are?!"

"I was afraid you'd be angry." Mu Han lowered his voice, his eyes reddened, feeling wronged and helpless. "You know the situation of the Mu family at that time. Apart from him, no one else could help us..."

"Are you afraid I'll be angry?" His mother looked at his red eyes and her heart softened, but her tone still carried the implication of disappointment. "How can I not be angry when you do such a foolish thing?"

Mu Han walked up to his mother, squatted down, buried his head in her lap, and cried, "Mom, don't be angry. Three years, that's three years. When the three years are up, I will go to Country M and never have anything to do with him again, okay?"

His mother looked at his red eyes from crying, but she couldn't bear it. She sighed and reached out to touch his hair: "Forget it, big or small, it's always a worry. From now on, I won't take care of your affairs. You can decide for yourself."

Mu Han raised his head, a choked smile breaking across his tear-stained face as he hugged his mother tightly. The air in the ward seemed to finally loosen a little. He himself didn't know if he could keep his promise to "leave in three years."