Chapter 157
Xi Ning opened his eyes in astonishment. The lips that had been slightly curved now turned downward, and his face was terrifyingly gloomy.
"That time I disappeared wasn't because I ran away. It was because you used the same trick. You knew I mistakenly thought I was supposed to marry Brother Cheng and that I wanted to elope with Cheng Bai. So, you bribed a servant in my household to bring me a letter, claiming Cheng Bai wanted us to run away together. I believed it, packed my things, and left the city. But outside the city gates, it wasn't Cheng Bai waiting for me—it was the beastman assassins you had waiting in ambush."
"..." Pan Shulin shrank into a ball, putting on a very pitiful and vulnerable act. However, after hearing what he had done, everyone present felt a cold chill.
This person... after committing so many terrible acts, actually acted as if nothing had happened. Back when so many people in Ning'an City were looking for the young master, no one had suspected him.
If the person involved hadn't remembered everything, everyone in Ning'an City would still be kept in the dark.
Wang Jin said: "I can guess a little about the subsequent murder attempts. You were undoubtedly afraid I would seek revenge if I remembered everything. But I want to ask you, about that very first time, I had very little contact with you back then. Why did you hate me so much?"
As he spoke, Wang Jin glanced at Cheng Bai beside him and pointed at him, saying: "It couldn't just be because I had a marriage contract with him, could it? That kind of reason would be utterly ridiculous..."
After all, this Cheng Bai had never shown the slightest affection for the original owner before; it was always the original owner chasing after him...
"What's so ridiculous about it?!" It seemed Wang Jin's disdain had angered Pan Shulin. Pan Shulin suddenly stood up and shouted at Wang Jin: "You always get everything you want without lifting a finger! Just because you're the city lord's younger brother, any good thing has to be offered for you to pick first! I saw Brother Bai first! You just glanced at him once during the banquet, and then your brother went and settled the marriage agreement between you two! How could I possibly accept that?!"
"..." Wang Jin let out a cold laugh. Pan Shulin made it sound reasonable, but what right did he have to feel resentful? It was true the original owner had an older brother who doted on and spoiled him, but didn't Pan Shulin have one too? How much more could his father and brother possibly dote on him?
While it was true the original owner got to pick whatever he wanted, wasn't everything he picked eventually taken away from him? Compared to that, Pan Shulin was clearly the more fortunate one.
"And also, you followed Brother Bai around all day. When I followed him, he would shoo me away fiercely. But you two stuck together all the time, and he never once shooed you away... How could I tolerate you because of that?"
"..." Wang Jin's eye twitched. Cheng Bai had shooed the original owner away more than once. It was just that the original owner was thick-skinned around Cheng Bai.
Cheng Bai's face turned deathly pale. He walked up to Wang Jin, filled with guilt and apology.
"..." Yuan Heng watched from the side, pressing his lips together tightly and clenching his fists as he stood there.
"..." A throbbing pain started in Wang Jin's forehead.
Pan Shulin looked at Cheng Bai, but the other man's gaze never settled on him. It was just like before; whenever Xi Yao was present, Cheng Bai never saw anyone else.
Pan Shulin's eyes reddened. "I thought that if you were gone, Brother Bai's engagement would be broken, and finally... finally he would see me! But you... you just kept coming back!"
Pan Shulin cried out and knelt down onto the sand, sitting back on his heels in despair.
Cheng Bai said with a cold face: "You are wrong. Even without the little delicate one, even if I had no marriage contract, I still wouldn't like you. I made that very clear to you before."
"Brother Bai..." Pan Shulin called out softly.
Cheng Bai frowned in disgust: "We are not that familiar..."
Pan Shulin hesitated for a moment, then laughed bitterly through his tears: "Not that familiar now? Why didn't you say that when you came to me for help before?"
"Before, I didn't know you were so vicious," Cheng Bai retorted angrily.
Wang Jin rubbed his temples. It had been hurting terribly just now. He thought it was because of hearing Pan Shulin's absurd statements and seeing Cheng Bai and Yuan Heng's misunderstanding. Only now did he realize he genuinely had a headache.
Wang Jin instinctively retreated to Yuan Heng's side, leaned against him, and whimpered softly: "Brother Heng, I'm in pain..."
"..."
Feeling the weight against him, Yuan Heng's mind, which had been swirling with the ger's words about eloping, closeness, and his past with Cheng Bai—words that made his heart ache and sour with jealousy—and his initial thought that he needed to teach the ger a small lesson, went completely blank.
Now, with the ger leaning softly against him, whimpering lightly about the pain, that small resentment in Yuan Heng's heart had long been thrown away without a trace, replaced only by a chest full of worry.
"Ger, what's wrong? Where does it hurt?"
"My head..." Wang Jin tried to straighten up, but as soon as he moved, a wave of dizziness assaulted him. His vision blurred, and he could only hear the man's voice growing more and more distant.
"Ger... ger... wake up..."
Xi Ning clenched his knuckles, about to step forward to deal with the audacious Pan Shulin, when he was drawn by the urgent calls from nearby.
"!" He saw his precious younger brother, Xi Yao, pale and fainting in the man's arms. Yuan Heng was frantic, his eyes red.
Xi Ning hurried over, almost bumping into Cheng Bai who was also rushing forward.
They spoke in unison: "What happened?"
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