Chapter 113: Jealousy Breeds Thorns
Lin Shuo never imagined that simply delivering an umbrella would lead him to witness such an intoxicating scene. He didn’t know how to face it. The umbrella slipped from his grasp and crashed heavily onto the ground. Afraid to linger any longer, perhaps hoping to give her time to concoct a plausible explanation, he chose to turn away and leave.
The first raindrop struck his eyelid, causing a faint shudder. A sting welled up in his nose, a bitter ache rising within him.
“Lin Shuo!” she called out desperately, abandoning the bleeding Professor Pan without a second thought, barely straightening her clothes before rushing after him. All she saw was his heavy, retreating back. She took two hurried steps forward to block him, then threw herself into his arms, wrapping herself around his waist. But he pushed her away without a trace of emotion. Frozen in place, tears welled up and spilled down her cheeks. “Why? It’s not what you think!” She had been the one wronged. After waiting so long for him to arrive, all she wanted now was a word of comfort. Yet he had turned away so coldly, as if unwilling to be dragged into the mess even for a moment.
He met her gaze without blinking, letting the rain lash against his handsome features. Then, with a bitter laugh, he said, “I used to dismiss those rumors as idle gossip, but if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, how would I know what you really are?”
“Xiao Lin, please, just listen to me…” she clung to his arm, her voice thick with tears, begging for his mercy. He recoiled with disgust and jerked his arm free. She slipped on the wet ground, falling hard and sending splashes of water flying.
From above, he looked down at her with overwhelming pressure. Bending slightly, his eyes blazed venomously as he fixed her with a hateful glare. “So you want to say you were forced, huh? Then why do you keep walking right into the trap again and again? You could have screamed for help, but I heard nothing. If this wasn’t your willing choice, what else could possibly explain it?”
She tried to speak, but before she could utter a word, he cut her off sharply: “Is climbing up really that important to you? More important than betraying me?” His voice cracked with bitter resentment. His father had betrayed his lifelong promise to his mother for fleeting pleasures in decay; his mother, unable to forgive, had abandoned his ailing father, harboring hatred and regret for a lifetime, leaving behind only a fractured existence gnawed away by bitterness.
Now, he had tasted it too.
Faced with his accusations, she was speechless. The misunderstanding had taken root so deeply, entwining like creeping vines, its sharp thorns piercing her heart.
“To live shamelessly is one thing, but ignorance is far worse,” he said, straightening up, unwilling to witness tears mingling with rainwater tracing down to the earth. “And don’t assume others are as ignorant as you.”
Is that so? Yes.
She asked herself quietly: can even the deepest love not withstand suspicion? Believing love to be the strongest fortress, she now realized how fragile it truly is, vulnerable to even the slightest doubt. Plant a seed of love, and a tree of blossoms will flourish; plant suspicion, and a path of thorns will grow without sun or rain.
She could not bear Lin Shuo’s distrust. She fought desperately to preserve her innocence for his sake, only to be met with his harsh condemnation. Why must she be cast into such ruin? For a pitiful, miserable love?
Enough.
“I was still wondering how to make you retreat, but turns out it’s really quite simple.” She rose from the ground, brushing rain-soaked hair from her face, forcing a proud smile through the pain. “I wasted my breath acting out this farce. If I’d known sooner, I wouldn’t have bothered with any detours. Little boy, wake up. Stop dreaming about some damn pure love. Are you filming a romantic drama or something?”