Overdo

Dizzy and disoriented, she instinctively grabbed his arm. In her daze, she seemed to see a familiar face—those eyes were the obsession of this lifetime, an eternal confinement she could never break free from.

"Ren Susu!"

Her body trembled as she looked up, only to see Lei Shaogong rushing forward. "Third Young Master!" He tried to grab his arm, but Murong Qingyi shook him off with a jerk. She felt herself lifted abruptly, dragged over by him. His gaze was terrifying—"Smack!" A slap landed on her face.

Zhang Mingshu demanded angrily, "Why did you hit her?"

The world spun before her eyes. She only felt his arm gripping her with such force, as if he meant to crush her. She merely said, "It has nothing to do with him."

A night of fear and anxiety, a night of confusion and loss, a night of wild thoughts and frantic searching—his eyes seemed capable of spitting fire. And the only words she uttered were in defense of that man!

He cared for her, cared so deeply that this night had nearly driven him mad, yet all he heard were these words. She was so fragile and slight, like a wandering spirit he could never capture. Gasping, he glared at her, and she met his gaze fearlessly. She had always lowered her head before him; such courage was only for someone else.

Lei Shaogong's face was full of anxiety. "Third Young Master, let go of the young mistress. She can't breathe." He flung her away abruptly. Staggering unsteadily, she nearly fell, and Zhang Mingshu couldn't help but reach out to support her. But he shoved him away forcefully. "Don't you touch her."

Yet, almost simultaneously, she pushed his arm away. "Don't touch me."

These words cut into his heart like the sharpest blade. Stubbornly and obstinately, she lifted her face, her eyes filled with unmistakable disgust. She did not love him—in the end, she did not love him. Clear and unmistakable, she had finally said it. Relying on his power and influence, he had kept her all these years, yet he could not obtain even a fraction of her heart.

He had lost utterly before her, beyond any hope of recovery. So many years, so many years—she had become a pain deep in his bones. Every glimmer of hope had only led to greater disappointment, until today... it had finally turned to despair. Despair welled up from the depths of his heart. Her words had pronounced his death sentence, erasing even the last remnants of longing and unwillingness that remained. Like a drowning man in his final moments, he forced out a sentence through gritted teeth, "I won't touch you! I will never touch you again in this lifetime!"