Chapter 152: True Colors
Chapter 152: Chapter 152: True Colors
Cui Hao furrowed his brows tightly, his handsome, refined face flushed with urgency.
"Stop pretending. I know it was you. Even my initial position as an Assistant Teacher was secured because you pleaded on my behalf!"
Liang Wan glanced at him, remaining silent. That single glance held panic, surprise, and a hesitation to speak.
Cui Hao’s breathing grew ragged. His eyes were locked dead onto her, desperate to confirm the suspicions in his heart.
"I always thought it was Feng Qingyue who begged Princess Lanling to help me get this position, but Song Tan told me it was you. You specifically asked him for help and forbade him from telling me!" he said, his voice trembling slightly and his eyes sparkling.
Liang Wan’s face flashed with astonishment, but she still said nothing.
Cui Hao shook his head and let out a long sigh. "Not only did you use Lu Xiu to introduce me to Prince Guangping, but you also arranged my marriage. At first, I thought you wanted to humiliate me by having me marry into the Tangyi Marquis Mansion as a live-in son-in-law. But after that incident at the wedding banquet, Chun’er told me the truth. You were the one who gave her that idea because you were afraid the Cui family would be left without an heir.
"Never mind all that. When Prince Guangping got into trouble, you were the one who sent someone to warn me. You were also the one who recommended me to His Majesty, giving me the chance to meet the Emperor, the chance to—"
Cui Hao’s eyes grew visibly moist. "Earlier, I blamed you for being heartless, but I didn’t know... I didn’t know you were silently sacrificing for me behind my back!
"Blame me for being blind! Blame me for believing that bitch’s words and failing you! I’m so sorry!"
With bloodshot eyes, he clenched his fists in a fierce, resolute manner, looking as though he were consumed by unbearable remorse.
Liang Wan lowered her eyes, smiled faintly, and sighed softly.
"You... know everything?" That question carried bitterness, sorrow, and helplessness.
"Awan—" Cui Hao was overwhelmed with mixed emotions, finding it difficult to speak.
He remembered very clearly that after Liang Wan learned the truth, she resented him. The look she had given him was filled not only with disgust but also with deep hatred. That day in the rockery of the Liang Mansion, she clearly could have killed him, but she couldn’t harden her heart. Ultimately, she still held onto a shred of affection for him.
But he also knew they had no future together.
However, just as he was realizing his heart’s desires step by step, he discovered that she had orchestrated all of this for him... It was incredible, unbelievable, yet undeniably real.
This sense of fragmentation, contradiction, and doubt trapped him like a giant net. He didn’t dare to believe it, yet he had no choice but to. That faint stirring grew like a fire, burning brighter and brighter in the depths of his heart. If he didn’t seek her out to get to the bottom of it, the torment would truly kill him.
Cui Hao looked a bit flustered. Gazing at the woman with her head bowed before him, he asked uncertainly, "Do you... do you still have feelings for—"
Liang Wan said softly, "Cui Hao, actually, I truly hate you."
Cui Hao froze slightly, opening his mouth to speak.
Liang Wan’s eyes were red. "I even hate that I can’t kill you with my own hands."
Cui Hao stepped forward, moved. "I know, it’s my fault I let you down!"
Liang Wan took two steps back, lowered her head, and gave a bitter smile. "But—"
"But you couldn’t bear to do it!" Cui Hao said anxiously. "You still have feelings for me, don’t you?"
Liang Wan hurriedly denied it. "No! I have no feelings for you, only hate!"
Cui Hao sighed softly. "Awan, you can’t fool me. Otherwise, why would you do so much for me?"
She turned her face away and shook her head. "I didn’t do it for you. I did it for myself."
The moment the words left her mouth, she snapped back to reality. Filled with immense regret, she refused to say anything more. "Just pretend you never knew about these things!"
After saying that, Liang Wan decisively turned around. Cui Hao lunged forward, blocking her path. She quickly stepped back, maintaining a safe distance from him.
She fell silent for a moment, casting her gaze into the distance as if recalling the past. "Cui Hao, I still remember when you first arrived in Jinye. Among all those glamorous, idle young nobles, you were full of literary talent and noble character, simple and unadorned. Back then, you were mocked for not knowing what five-colored floral stationery was, and you flushed bright red in embarrassment." Liang Wan smiled.
At the mention of this, Cui Hao was filled with indignation, his expression contorting. "They were just a bunch of snobs looking down on me!"
Liang Wan secretly glanced at him and sighed. "The beginning of everything is always the hardest. In the future, everything you desire will slowly come true. Earning promotions, receiving noble titles, bringing glory to your ancestors, having a house full of children... Things will definitely get better and better."
Cui Hao’s expression softened, and he felt deeply moved. "I remember too. You couldn’t stand seeing them humiliate me, so you not only gifted me precious brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, but also gave me your private collection of ancient texts—"
In Liang Wan’s lowered eyes lay the darkest winter night.
Cui Hao’s expression grew particularly earnest. "Did you know? I’ve kept everything you gave me safely stored away!"
"Safely stored away?" she thought. "Are you sure you didn’t pawn them for money or use them to curry favor with others?"
A faint, almost imperceptible cold glint was hidden in Liang Wan’s eyes. Her tone, however, remained flat. "Is that so?"
Cui Hao made no attempt to hide the truth, confessing openly, "I won’t lie to you. When times were hard, I did pawn them. But later, when I received my official salary, I bought them all back."
A long silence followed. Only the chilly wind swept past their faces, carrying the faint sounds of distant laughter and conversation.
Cui Hao let out a sigh and said slowly, "Awan, do you know why I agreed to Zhang Shi’s proposal back then?"
Liang Wan clenched her hands into fists, a chilling cold spreading through her veins.
Seeing that she remained silent, he continued, "The reason I agreed to Zhang Shi wasn’t to beg him for a recommendation, but for you. You don’t realize it, but I truly wanted to marry you!
"You might not believe me if I say this, but you were the first person to smile at me after I came to Jinye." He gazed at her with a complex look in his eyes.
Liang Wan stared at a deep crack in the bluestone bricks a few steps away. The corners of her mouth curled up slightly, but she didn’t say a word.
That day, Liang Cheng was hosting a banquet for his guests and ordered her to perform the Palm Dance. Standing atop the high crystal plate, she had noticed at a glance a man in a plain green robe and a black hat mixed in among the silk-clad dandies. His timid, cowering demeanor had been truly comical.
Liang Wan’s lips moved, but she made no sound.
Cui Hao gritted his teeth. "You don’t know this, but I begged your uncle. I begged him to let you marry me. I promised that as long as he let you marry me, I would do whatever he asked of me in the future. But they all looked down on me. Not only did they insult me, but they also sent people to—" A look of dark ruthlessness flashed quickly across his eyes before returning to a mask of utmost sincerity. "Tell me, how could I not vent that frustration? You don’t understand! Only if you lost your chastity would they despise you and cast you aside. Only then could you truly belong to me!"
Liang Wan furrowed her brows, her lips twitching into a silent smile. In that instant, she finally understood just how terrifying the human heart could truly be.
Seeing that she wasn’t angry, Cui Hao let out a long sigh and said, "Awan, I’m not like them. I truly adore you. If you lost your purity, they would despise you, but I wouldn’t! As long as you can be with me, I don’t care that you’ve slept with someone else!"
Liang Wan laughed softly, her smile exactly as it had been when they first met.
Yet, her body felt as if it had been pierced by dozens of iron nails fired all at once, leaving every limb and bone riddled with bloody holes. A bone-deep agony and an overwhelming hatred consumed her. She looked over impassively. The man standing before her didn’t show the slightest hint of guilt. She wondered how a person could be so utterly despicable and shameless.
Cui Hao narrowed his eyes slightly. "Awan, you aren’t me, so you wouldn’t understand. You were like the bright moon hanging high in the night sky of Jinye City, while I was merely an ignored corner of this bustling metropolis. If the radiant pearl wasn’t covered in dust, how would the opportunity ever fall to me?"
She once believed that Jinye City was a giant dyehouse, staining perfectly good people until they were unrecognizable, turning them into something neither human nor ghost. Actually, she was wrong. Whether a person was a human or a monster had been determined long ago.