Host! I told you to do a task! I didn't tell you to bbb.

The moonlight slanted in, outlining the man's tall and straight figure.

Despite his casual attire and his hat pulled low, Liu Yunshu recognized him at a glance.

That was Lu Hengyan, who had disappeared for three days.

His gaze beneath the brim of his hat was intense, like a fire that had been smoldering for three nights, igniting the moment he saw her.

Lu Hengyan strode closer, his footsteps echoing clearly in the empty dance studio.

"It's been three days, Yunshu, have you missed me?"

His voice was slightly hoarse, as if it had been soaked by the night, but it couldn't hide the burning passion within.

The sound spread through the silence, creating a slight echo.

Liu Yunshu's lips curled into a smirk, her fingertips tracing the cold barre, her voice as faint as frost:

"Want to? I'd rather you disappear completely."

Lu Hengyan paused, stopping three steps away from her.

The burning passion in those eyes was like being doused with half a cup of cold water; it didn't extinguish completely, but instead burned even more intensely.

He raised his hand to touch her face, but she dodged it.

That dodge was like a fine needle, piercing straight into the softest part of his heart.

"Yun Shu,"

His Adam's apple bobbed, and his hoarse voice was tinged with an uncontrollable pain.

"You hate me that much?"

Liu Yunshu lowered her eyelids, her long eyelashes casting a small shadow under her eyelids.

He concealed the turbulent emotions in his eyes, leaving only the icy sharpness in his tone:

"Disgust? Lu Hengyan, you overestimate yourself. To me, you're just an insignificant stranger."

His hand, suspended in mid-air, froze, his knuckles turning white from gripping so tightly, and even his voice trembled: "Stranger?"

He forced a smile, a smile more like a grimace. "A night of marriage brings a hundred nights of kindness, Yun Shu. How can we be strangers?"

"Lu Hengyan, Mo Ci has proposed to me. Please stop bothering me."

Liu Yunshu raised her eyes, her expression indifferent.

"Between us, there has only been absurdity, not affection. From now on, we have nothing to do with each other."

"Proposal?"

Lu Hengyan's body stiffened, as if an invisible icicle had pierced his chest.

Blood rushed to every part of the body in an instant, only to freeze into frost in the next second.

"You... you agreed?"

Liu Yunshu turned her head to look out the window, her fingertips tightening almost imperceptibly.

"This is between us, it's none of your business."

Lu Hengyan's Adam's apple bobbed violently, his hoarse voice tinged with broken tremors:

"Unrelated? Yun Shu, if you truly feel no emotion whatsoever, why don't you dare look at me?"

Liu Yunshu turned her head, her cold eyes meeting his burning gaze.

Her voice was firm and resolute: "Don't dare look at you, Lu Hengyan? I just feel there's no need."

No need...

Lu Hengyan felt a sudden rush of metallic sweetness to his throat. He swallowed it down, his knuckles clenching until they turned white, and even his bones ached.

He lowered his head and chuckled softly.

When he looked up again, his eyes were filled with a scarlet obsession, and the raging fire was extinguished by despair into scorching embers.

He stared intently at her, his hoarse voice carrying a desperate madness: "Unnecessary? I'll show you just how unnecessary it really is!"

The mirror in the dance studio reflected two opposing figures.

Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the blinds, cutting out patterns of light and shadow on the floor, much like the chasm between the two people.

Liu Yunshu was startled by the crimson in his eyes and instinctively took a half step back.

Her back suddenly bumped into the cold barre, the chill spreading up her spine and making her shiver slightly.

She forced herself to remain calm, straightening her back like a white plum blossom stubbornly standing tall in the cold wind. "Lu Hengyan, don't do anything reckless."

"mess?"

Lu Hengyan repeated those two words in a low voice, his laughter filled with broken despair.

He slowly approached, each step feeling like he was stepping on her taut nerves.

"Yun Shu, I've never been lucid since the day you barged into my world."

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly grabbed the back of her neck.

Liu Yunshu tensed up, his strength was brutal and forceful, she couldn't break free, she could only clench her fists and punch his chest.

But it was like hitting a rock; instead, he held on even tighter.

"Let go! Lu Hengyan, you bastard!"

Her voice was choked with sobs, and the ice in her eyes finally shattered into tears, rolling down and hitting the back of his hand, burning his fingertips.

Lu Hengyan, however, seemed to have lost his mind as if burned by the temperature.

He leaned down, his forehead touching hers, their noses almost touching, and the brim of his hat slipped off.

His eyes revealed a surging crimson and obsession, and within those scorching embers, a glimmer of mad hope ignited.

"A bastard? Yeah, I'm a bastard."

His breath, carrying the coolness of the night, brushed against her reddened earlobe, his hoarse voice filled with a do-or-die stubbornness.

"But I'd rather be a bastard for the rest of my life than let you go."

His gaze fell on her trembling lips, the bright red flushed with anger and grievance drawing his attention like a magnet.

His Adam's apple bobbed violently, and the longing and pain he had suppressed for three days burst forth at this moment. Ignoring her struggles, he lowered his head and covered her body.

The moment their lips touched, Liu Yunshu froze.

Then came even stronger resistance; she clenched her teeth, unwilling to let him cross the line again.

But Lu Hengyan seemed determined, his tongue pressed against her lips with an almost devout obsession and an unyielding force, lingering and caressing her.

A faint smell of blood lingered between their lips; she had bitten his lip during her struggle.

But he seemed oblivious, continuing to kiss her stubbornly.

It was as if the three-day gap, the pain and love in his heart, were all melted into this kiss tinged with the smell of blood.

Liu Yunshu's struggles gradually weakened, and tears streamed down his neck like broken beads, soaking his clothes.

Lu Hengyan felt her trembling and tears, and his movements suddenly slowed down.

The madness in his eyes faded somewhat, leaving only an intense, overwhelming pain and deep cherishing.

He gently licked her tear-stained lips, his voice thick with nasal consonant, hoarse and barely audible:

"Yun Shu, don't push me away... please..."

Gu Shichen had just finished his work and rushed to the theater troupe.

He looked up at the dance studio on the second floor and saw Liu Yunshu and a man in an intimate pose by the window.

Is it Shen Moci? Gu Shichen narrowed his eyes, a sense of displeasure rising in his heart.

Just then, a car drove up from a distance and stopped downstairs.

Gu Shichen subconsciously retreated into the shadows, only to see Shen Moci get out of the car.

His pupils contracted, and he looked up at the second floor again. If Shen Moci was downstairs, then who was the man by the window?

Lu Hengyan slightly loosened his grip on Liu Yunshu, and was about to speak when he caught a glimpse of a familiar car downstairs.

A flash of crimson madness crossed his eyes, and his voice revealed an almost cruel tenderness: "Yun Shu, look, A Ci is here."

Liu Yunshu's blood seemed to freeze instantly.

She followed his gaze downwards, and when she recognized the car, her pupils suddenly contracted.

Unconsciously, her fingers gripped the curtains tightly, slamming them shut.

"No! Go! Go now!" Her voice trembled.

The crimson in Lu Hengyan's eyes intensified, and that cruel tenderness was like an impenetrable net, tightly enveloping Liu Yunshu.

Instead of moving, he raised his hand and pressed down on her hand that was gripping the curtain, his fingertips stroking the back of her cold hand.

His voice was as low as a lover's whisper, yet it carried a poisoned obsession:

"Leave? Why should I leave? Wouldn't it be better to let him see for himself?"

Liu Yunshu trembled violently, tears blurring her vision, her voice filled with desperate pleading:

"Lu Hengyan, don't force me! Please, please let me go..."

Looking at Liu Yunshu pleading with him in despair, Lu Hengyan felt unbearable heartache.

His fingertips traced her tear-streaked cheeks, the touch so cold it felt like it was being etched into her very bones.

The crimson in his eyes was washed away by a layer of mist, the obsessive madness faded, leaving only a dense, throbbing pain, even his voice trembled with a broken quality:

"Force you? Yun Shu, I never wanted to force you... but I can't let you go. The thought of you marrying someone else makes me feel like my heart has been ripped out."

He leaned down and buried his face in the crook of her neck, his warm breath mixed with suppressed sobs, soaking her collar.

"I know I was wrong. I was bad before. You can hit me or scold me, but please don't hurt me with 'stranger' tactics, okay?"

Liu Yunshu trembled uncontrollably with fear. She gripped Lu Hengyan's shoulders, her voice filled with pleading:

"Okay, he's not a stranger. Could you please hide? Please, he's coming up. Please, I beg you, please hide!"

Lu Hengyan's neck muscles tensed up suddenly, and his face, which was buried in the crook of her neck, lifted up slightly.

The bloodshot in his eyes hadn't faded, but it was mixed with a hint of almost desperate hope.

"Are you telling the truth?"

He gripped her sleeve tightly with his fingertips, his knuckles turning frighteningly white, as if if he loosened his grip even slightly, the person in front of him would vanish like a bubble.

Liu Yunshu felt a pang in her heart at the sight in his eyes, and her tears flowed even more fiercely, but she could only force herself to nod, her voice trembling uncontrollably:

"It's true, please hide first."

In the corner of the dance studio, there were some discarded dance costumes and prop boxes piled up. The space was small, but enough to hide a person.

Lu Hengyan followed her gaze, his Adam's apple bobbing a few times.

In the end, he couldn't resist the pleading in her eyes and released his grip on the back of her neck.

He stood up unsteadily, and in the instant he turned around, his eyes revealed a mixture of stubbornness and vulnerability.

Like a trapped wild beast, it finally chose to compromise.

Just after he crawled into the prop box, steady footsteps echoed down the stairs, each step like a tap on Liu Yunshu's heart.