But when it came to Mu Yunchen, when it came to protecting his honor and his name, when it came to defending what he meant to her, Zhou Yuxi cared for nothing and no one else.
Not propriety. Not family harmony. Not even human life itself.
The room fell into stunned, heavy silence, broken only by Mei Lanhua's ragged breathing, her desperate gasps for air, and the steady ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner marking seconds that felt like hours.
Jin Zixuan still held his sister's arms, feeling her trembling with barely controlled violence, like a wire pulled too tight, ready to snap.
"Yuxi," he said quietly, carefully, the way one might speak to someone holding a weapon. "I'll take you. Right now. I'll take you to the Mu Mansion. Just... breathe. Calm down and breathe."
