If there was one thing Mu Yuze learned about He Juan during the few days they had known each other – wait, could it really be counted days? Because Mu Yuze had merely spent a few scant hours with him the night they met and the next morning, He Juan had left in a hurry and did not come back until today. But well, it was already enough for him to catch a glimpse into one of He Juan’s traits buried under the enigma – it was that the man was extremely stubborn despite his gentle appearance.

It was the case when He Juan insisted on treating him to dinner in the family restaurant. It was also the case when he confronted the debtors crowding in front of Mu Yuze’s house alone, when he offered to take Mu Yuze home, when he lent Mu Yuze one of his comfy shirts and... this time, when he demanded Mu Yuze to get off the car and follow him into the oppressive castle.

"I don’t mind carrying you in my arms like I did earlier," he challenged with a raised brow. "How about it?"

"C–Carry..." Mu Yuze sputtered in utter shock. W–Where did this come from? He almost thought that He Juan was talking nonsense again until his brain decided to betray him by recalling a piece of fuzzy memory. Earlier on the street, when he almost passed out due to the sudden panic attack, he seemed to sense someone lifting him up and bringing him away from the crowd...

So that someone turned out to be He Juan and not Chen Youzhi?!

Wait... wait a moment. He Juan still had his right arm on the splint, he could not even eat his noodles properly without causing a mess, so how could he carry a living human like Mu Yuze?! Don’t tell him... had He Juan done it using only his left arm?!

Had he not been lying after all when he said that Mu Yuze almost weighed nothing at all?!

"Hmm? Should I take this silence as a yes?" Upon receiving no answer, He Juan suddenly moved closer with his left arm reaching out around Mu Yuze’s waist, ready to bodily haul him out of the car.

Mu Yuze let out a flustered yelp and recoiled backward as if the arm was going to scald him like a burning iron. "I– I will get off!" He blurted out in a stutter mess. "I will do it right now!" Then without waiting for He Juan to react, he immediately latched onto the door handle, pushed it open and jumped down as if his life depended on it. He almost tripped on his feet and fell straight on his face, but luckily he caught himself on time, sparing him from any possible further humiliation.

He heard He Juan chuckle behind him, and Mu Yuze secretly filed it into the list of grudges he was going to settle with He Juan once he grew as tall as the man. For now though, he was going to endure and bide his time.

Soon, Mu Yuze could no longer think of revenge because the sight of the castle once again took his breath away. It stood tall and magnificent amidst the lush greenery surrounding it, giving off an imposing and aristocratic air. Two massive pillars guarded the entrance, and the floor was made of polished black marble that was so spotless that one could see their reflection on it. Mu Yuze belatedly realized that he had been gawking and hastily clamped his mouth shut. Fortunately, no one paid attention to his momentary lapse of control.

Just in time, the huge double door opened and a scowling man in white coat appeared. "You still know how to come here?" He shot daggers at He Juan, the quiet intensity of rage radiated vividly from every inch of his body.

Mu Yuze did not even blink as he took in the man’s expression. Yes, this was the level of anger he strived to express on his face every time he glared at He Juan. This man had done it so perfectly that he couldn’t help but take notes.

He Juan cleared his throat awkwardly and shifted his gaze to look everywhere but the furious man. Mu Yuze’s heart thumped ominously when He Juan’s eyes landed on him and sure enough, the next second, He Juan placed a bright smile on his face – that honestly looked very fake – and beckoned toward him. "Xiao Ze, come here and let me introduce you to each other!"

Mu Yuze had a hunch that He Juan was using him as a scapegoat to escape the other man’s wrath, but he could only stay silent because he had no evidence about it.

Next, the scowling man’s eyes turned to him and he felt the tangible force behind that scrutinizing stare as if million ants were crawling beneath his skin. He fought against the urge to shrink into himself and pushed away the unpleasant feeling in order to meet the man’s eyes head on.

Truth to be told, Mu Yuze had managed to survive until now by not showing an ounce of weakness to the world. It was only to He Juan that he began to show his embarrassing sides – but he reasoned that it was because the man was so good at pushing his buttons! He had humiliated himself enough times in front of He Juan, but there was no way he was going to do it in front of another person!

As such, despite the overwhelming urge to run away from this place, Mu Yuze still rooted his feet in place and stared defiantly at the scowling man. Inside, he was telling himself that if... if the man rejected his presence, he was going to accept it like the grown adult he was and quickly make himself scarce. It was no problem at all. It was not like this was the first time Mu Yuze had received such a treatment.

However, what the scowling man said next utterly caught him off guard.

"What happened to this kid? Where did you pick him up from? By any chance..." he narrowed his eyes suspiciously at He Juan. "He is not your illegitimate child, is he?"

He Juan, Mu Yuze and Chen Youzhi simultaneously choked on their breaths.

Mu Yuze stared at the scowling man in disbelief. W–What did he just say?!

"Boss...?" Even Chen Youzhi was starting to waver.

"He’s not, he’s not!" He Juan was half coughing and half laughing as he clutched his chest. "Oh my God, why is everyone getting such a false impression? From which angle does he look like my son?!" Mu Yuze’s gaze snapped to him in shock. Before he could even demand an explanation on who ’everyone’ was, He Juan said, "Okay! Let me introduce you two first. Doctor Jia, this is Mu Yuze, my current roommate and Xiao Ze, this is Jia Molei... a very skilled and capable doctor."

"Roommate?" Jia Molei’s frown deepened as he murmured under his breath. "Where the fuck did this roommate climb out from?"

Mu Yuze keenly sensed that there was something more in that pregnant pause, but then He Juan proceeded to herd everyone in without giving any room for questions. Left with no other choice, Mu Yuze could only put on a wooden face and stepped into the castle as if sending himself into a guillotine.

What he and the other two men failed to realize was that He Juan deliberately let himself fall behind. And once he was certain that nobody was paying attention to him, the smile on his face abruptly faded and was replaced with a somber look. He reached into his pocket and took out a piece of crumpled paper.

It was the paper that had been hastily shoved into his palm by the person who bumped into him on the street. On it was a haphazard scrawl of two bold characters:

’SAVE ME’

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A/N: fyi, in my mind, what’s written in the note is actually jiùmìng (or literal meaning, save life/help) but it doesn’t really give the dramatic flair I want so in the end, I settled with ’save me’ lolol