The Whole Truth Revealed

Gu Xin looked at Lin Rou and said coldly, "What is the meaning of this?"

Lin Rou was utterly panicked and stammered, "Th-that still doesn't prove my cousin didn't give it to me. Perhaps my cousin simply remembered incorrectly, right?"

As she continued, her voice grew fainter and fainter.

"Amitabha, is it so hard to verify whether she remembered incorrectly?" Master Yuanming said.

Gu Xin asked, "What method does Master Yuanming have?"

"This string of beads fell from the Ninth Heavens and is a spiritual artifact that has chosen its master. If the owner willingly gifted it to someone else, naturally there would be no harm. But if someone stole this bead, the moment they wear it, they will suffer bone-corroding agony."

It seemed she had never actually seen Lin Rou wear them before. Could it be...

"Rou, younger sister, put the bead bracelet on your hand right now," Gu Xin said, pointing at the string of beads before him.

"I, I..." Lin Rou said in a panic.

Jiang Shuwan handed the seven-color bead bracelet directly to her. "An innocent person has nothing to fear."

Lin Rou stared at the bead bracelet, hesitating for a long time without taking it.

"Cousin, what are you afraid of?"

Still, Lin Rou did not take it.

Gu Xin reached out and yanked her hand over, grabbing the bead bracelet with his other hand, and forcibly slid it onto Lin Rou's wrist. Lin Rou struggled, crying out, "Brother Xin, what are you doing?"

Gu Xin gripped her tighter and tighter until the bead bracelet was firmly on her wrist. Lin Rou's face turned ashen white.

Everyone waited in suspense, Lin Rou's nervous heart beating frantically against her throat.

After waiting several seconds, seeing that nothing happened, she finally let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

"I told you so, this was a gift from my cousin."

Gu Xin also stared at her intently, a shred of doubt still lingering in his heart.

Could he have truly wronged Lin Rou?

Just as Lin Rou's words trailed off, the very next second, a piercing, excruciating pain shot through her hand, causing it to tremble violently. Lin Rou's expression shifted drastically as she grabbed her wrist with her other hand.

"Ah! So painful! What is happening?"

At last, Gu Xin understood everything. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Lin Rou, you have harmed me beyond measure."

Too consumed by pain to care about anything else, Lin Rou grabbed Gu Xin's hand and pleaded, "Brother Xin, listen to me, things are not like this."

Gu Xin forcefully shook her off.

Panicking to the point of tears, Lin Rou cried out, "Brother Xin, it's not like that! Please listen to my explanation."

In the past, whenever Lin Rou shed tears, his heart would instantly soften. But now, looking at her weeping like rain, Gu Xin only felt an overwhelming sense of irritation. "Lin Rou, you have deceived me for so many years. What is left to explain?"

Watching them fall out with each other, Jiang Shuwan felt an incomparable wave of exhilaration in her heart.

She turned to Master Wuming beside her and said, "Thank you, Master, for clearing my name today. Since this matter is settled, once I return to the manor later, I will personally have the zither score delivered into your hands."

"Amitabha."

"Master, please."

Master Yuanming cast a glance at Lin Rou, shook his head, and walked toward the doorway.

Jiang Shuwan followed closely behind him.

Lusu grabbed Lin Rou's hand and ruthlessly snatched the bead bracelet back.

Gazing at Jiang Shuwan's retreating figure, Gu Xin was filled with profound regret. "Younger sister Wan, wait for me."

He stepped forward to catch up with Jiang Shuwan, but before he could take more than a single step, Lin Rou seized his hand. "Brother Xin, do not leave."

The hand held by Lin Rou filled Gu Xin with utter disgust. He violently shook her off and said coldly, "I never want to see you again for the rest of my life."

With that, he strode directly toward the entrance.

"Brother Xin!" Lin Rou cried out tearfully at his retreating back.

Yet Gu Xin did not even turn his head as he left.

Lin Rou's expression turned hideous.

All of this was the doing of that bitch Jiang Shuwan! If not for her, Brother Xin would never treat her this way.

Thinking of how Gu Xin was going after Jiang Shuwan and might ignore her forever, Lin Rou hurriedly scrambled to chase after him.

Outside, unaware of when the weather had changed, the previously clear skies had suddenly begun to rain.

Jiang Shuwan's figure was long gone, while Gu Xin had boarded a carriage, seemingly heading in the direction of the Pingning Marquis Manor.

Stumbling and falling, heedless of the driving rain, Lin Rou ran toward the Pingning Marquis Manor.

By the time she reached the Pingning Marquis Manor, she was completely drenched.

She stepped forward and hammered on the door. After a long wait, the door finally opened.

A wave of joy washed over Lin Rou, thinking it was Gu Xin, but upon seeing the doorkeeper, deep disappointment swept through her.

"Miss Lin, you had best go back. Our Heir has given word that he will never see you again."

Previously, Lin Rou had spent a considerable amount of silver to bribe the doorkeeper in order to curry favor with Gu Xin. The doorkeeper, unaware of what had transpired, only knew that Lin Rou had been pounding on the door for a very long time, and that the Heir had explicitly ordered that if Lin Rou came again, no one was to open the door for her.

Having pounded on the door in the rain for half an hour, the doorkeeper remembered the silver he had received from Lin Rou in the past and felt a pang of pity, opening the door simply to warn her.

Acting as she usually did, Lin Rou offered all the remaining silver she had on her to the doorkeeper. "I will give you all my silver, please let me in."

Unlike before, the doorkeeper did not take the money, saying with a troubled expression, "No, Miss Lin, please do not make things difficult for this servant."

"I beg you."

The doorkeeper shook his head. "Miss Lin, you should leave quickly."

"I am not leaving," Lin Rou said, her eyes red.

"Sigh."

Seeing how obstinate she was, the doorkeeper said nothing more and slammed the door shut.

Refusing to give up, Lin Rou continued to pound on the door from the outside. "Brother Xin, please open the door. Won't you listen to my explanation?"

A dead silence reigned inside the doorway.

Lin Rou repeated those same few phrases over and over as she hammered on the door.

Just as she felt herself growing utterly exhausted, her throat so parched she could barely speak, the grand doors swung open once more.

A flash of joy crossed her face. Lifting her head with great effort, she saw Gu Xin holding an umbrella.

She spoke in a frail, delicate voice, "Brother Xin, you've finally agreed to see me."

Gu Xin glared at her with undisguised revulsion and remained silent.

A tight constriction gripped Lin Rou's heart. Trembling, she reached out to clutch his sleeve. "Brother Xin, you promised to marry me. Does that still count?"

"You deceived my sincere heart for years, and yet you still expect me to marry you? Keep dreaming!" Gu Xin stared at her viciously.

Seeing his chilling indifference, Lin Rou took a step back, her complexion turning even paler.

Unreconciled, she blurted out, "Brother Xin, I gave you my body! How can you say you won't marry me just like that?"

Gu Xin gave her a ruthless, violent shove. "That is only because you were cheap and shameless of your own accord."

Lin Rou was knocked to the ground, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Looking down at her from above, Gu Xin spat, "If it weren't for a bitch like you, how could younger sister Wan and I have ever reached this point?"

Struggling to her feet, Lin Rou retorted, "No! How is Jiang Shuwan worthy of you? Only the two of us are a match made in heaven!"

"Shameless to the extreme."

Leaving those words behind, Gu Xin turned to walk away, but pausing as if remembering something, he stopped and said coldly, "Get lost. Never let me laid eyes on you again."

Gu Xin's words pierced Lin Rou's heart like a sharp knife.

Overwhelmed by the terrifying sensation of losing everything, she raised a hand as if to grasp at something, but her fingertips barely brushed the door before it nearly crushed her fingers.

Staring at the door that had closed once more, Lin Rou screamed toward the inside, "Gu Xin, you have no heart!"

Only absolute silence answered her.

Lin Rou's crying grew louder and more desperate.

"The one without a heart is you."

Suddenly, Jiang Shuwan's voice echoed from behind her.