What to do if you're forced into love by a powerful man?!

Fang Xu spurred his horse around again, this time at an even faster speed. Zong Ming's body was dragged and rolled on the grass, his screams turning from sharp to hoarse, then gradually into weak whimpers, and finally almost inaudible.

When Fang Xu reined in the horse, Zong Ming lay paralyzed on the grass, unable to move. Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, his eyes were half-open and half-closed, his pupils were unfocused, and only the faint rise and fall of his chest proved that he was still alive.

Ah Feng walked over expressionlessly, holding a bottle of clear liquid in his hand—the same bottle that had been found on Liu San, and its composition matched the residue detected on the saddle.

He squatted down, grabbed Zongming's chin, and shoved the bottle opening into his mouth, pouring in half a bottle of liquid without leaving a drop. Zongming's body arched violently, letting out a hoarse scream. His hands clawed at the ground as the burning sensation spread from his mouth all the way to his stomach. He curled up on the ground, convulsing violently. He was completely unrecognizable as the arrogant young master of the Zong family he had been just a few hours earlier.

Ah Feng stood up, threw the empty bottle next to him, and turned to walk toward his next target.

When Zongming's two friends saw this, one collapsed to the ground with his crotch soaked, while the other kowtowed desperately, hitting his forehead on the grass until it bled, incoherently shouting "Spare me!"

Liu San had already fainted from fright, but was woken up by someone. When he woke up, he saw Fang Xu walking towards him with a rope, and he fainted again.

The same punishments were applied to each of them in turn—drag, forced medication, without exception.

The grassland echoed with screams and cries, but the person standing in the center of the grassland remained expressionless.

After all the punishments were over, the four of them were dragged in front of Zong Ran.

Zongming lay on his side on the grass, his throat emitting faint breathing sounds. Old Mo walked over from the side, flexed his wrists, and his usually calm and gentle eyes were now surging with undisguised ruthlessness.

He had been waiting at the horse farm for so long, just for this moment. He wanted to show these people what it meant to wish they were dead, and what it meant to have messed with the wrong person.

"All sorted out." Zong Ran said these three words and turned to walk towards the car.

Chen Du followed closely behind him, opening the back door for him. Zong Ran paused before bending down to get in, his voice calm: "Zong Ping's faction was dealt with directly, leaving no future trouble."

"Yes." Chen Du responded, closed the car door, walked around to the passenger seat, and took out his phone to send messages.

Zong Ran leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and tapped his fingers on his knees twice. All he wanted to do was get back to the manor and be with that person.

Xie Zhizhou woke up from hunger in the master bedroom of the manor.

He opened his eyes groggily and saw the familiar gray velvet curtains and ceiling. It took him a couple of seconds to realize that he was in Zong Ran's bedroom.

He instinctively tried to prop himself up with his left hand, but the cast on his arm reminded him of what had happened that morning. He hissed softly and used his right hand to support himself on the mattress as he slowly sat up. He looked around and realized he was all alone in the room.

Zong Ran is not here.

He pursed his lips, suppressed the inexplicable sense of loss, and then threw off the covers and got out of bed.

After putting on his shoes, he prepared to go downstairs. The gauze on his side of his leg tugged at the wound slightly as he walked, causing a little pain, but it was bearable. He held onto the stair railing and walked down step by step, his right hand on the railing, the cast hanging in front of his chest, making him walk much slower than usual.

Ah Gui was standing in the hall giving instructions to several of his men when he heard a noise on the stairs. He looked up and his expression changed instantly.

He shoved the documents in his hand into the hands of the person next to him, and rushed up the stairs in a few strides. He grabbed Xie Zhizhou's right arm with one hand and loosely protected his back with the other, his tone clearly tense: "Mr. Xie, why did you come down by yourself? You should have called me and I would have come up to help you—your arm is still in a cast, and your leg is injured too. What if you had slipped and fallen—"

"I was just hungry," Xie Zhizhou smiled at him as he was helped down the last step. "I woke up and saw no one in the room, so I came down to find something to eat."

"If you're hungry, just press the internal phone; the kitchen always has hot food on hand."

Ah Gui helped him walk towards the dining room, chattering on and on, "The head of the family instructed us before he left that you might wake up in the afternoon, and told us to prepare all the food. You can eat whatever you want anytime. Just lie down and wait to eat. You really don't need to get down yourself."

Xie Zhizhou felt a little embarrassed by his nagging, but he still obediently let him help him sit down at the dining table.

Several servants quickly filed in carrying plates, placing the steaming hot dishes on the table one by one. There were several more nourishing soups than usual, probably at Zong Ran's special request before he left.

Xie Zhizhou picked up his chopsticks. Although his left hand was injured, his right hand seemed to be less agile as well. He had to use his chopsticks three times to pick up a piece of pork rib.

He glanced at his left hand, which was in a cast, and suddenly thought that if Zong Ran were here, he would probably be feeding him again.

He was stunned when the thought popped into his head; he had only been away from him for a morning and he was already thinking about him like this.

When Zong Ran pushed open the restaurant door, this was the scene he saw—Xie Zhizhou was looking down, clumsily struggling with a piece of pork rib with his right hand, and before he could even put it to his mouth, he heard the door open.

He looked up and met Zong Ran's furrowed brows.

"Why did you come down?" Zong Ran walked over and sat down next to him, his gaze sweeping over his left arm in a cast, his brows furrowing even deeper.

"I woke up and found you weren't here, so I came down to find something to eat." Xie Zhizhou stuffed the ribs he had managed to pick up into his mouth, his cheeks puffed out on one side, and said indistinctly, "I didn't want to eat in bed. It's not like I'm seriously injured, and I'm not missing any hands or feet. Eating in bed would just make a mess of the bed."

Ah Gui, standing nearby, added at the opportune moment, "Boss, I just told Mr. Xie that I would help him with whatever he wanted to eat, but Mr. Xie was embarrassed and insisted on doing it himself."

Zong Ran glanced at A Gui and nodded, then reached out and took the chopsticks from Xie Zhizhou's hand, picked up the clean chopsticks next to him, forked a piece of rib, and brought it to his mouth.

Xie Zhizhou looked at the hand held out in front of him, his ears turned red, and he obediently opened his mouth to take it.

He chewed while secretly glancing at Zong Ran, wanting to ask where Zong Ran had gone, but his mouth was full of ribs and he couldn't speak.

While he was chewing, Zong Ran forked another piece of shrimp and fed it to him.

Xie Zhizhou swallowed the pork rib in his mouth, and before the next bite of shrimp reached his lips, he quickly asked, "Where have you been? Have you eaten?"

Zong Ran paused for a moment, then continued to put the shrimp into his mouth.

"I went out to run some errands and haven't eaten yet," he said. "No rush, I'll feed you first."

Xie Zhizhou was fed bite after bite by Zong Ran. Before he could swallow the food in his mouth, the next bite was already being put to his mouth. His cheeks were bulging like a hamster hoarding food.

After swallowing several mouthfuls, he finally seized a moment and reached out his right hand to grab Zong Ran's hand, which was still trying to pick up more food: "Wait, wait—I'm full! Really full!"

As he spoke, he patted his own stomach, a very serious gesture, "Look, it's all bulging up, I'll throw up if I feed it any more."

Zong Ran glanced down at Xie Zhizhou's slightly bulging belly, then at Xie Zhizhou's face, which looked like he was about to vomit from overeating, before putting down his chopsticks.