Chapter 165: Then Let's Jump Down Together!

Gu Jin Xing took Meng Shutang to Chen Bi Shan Zhuang.

"Do you still remember this place?"

The sea wind whipped his coat, making it rustle, but he gripped Meng Shutang's wrist tightly, turned his gaze slightly, and asked her.

Meng Shutang looked at the desolate courtyard before her, and her heart involuntarily tightened.

Vines clung to the villa's outer walls, and the solid wood doors were mottled with peeling paint, like old scars.

The entire estate lay soaked in night, its architecture undeniably lavish, yet it exuded a desolation of years abandoned.

"Can't recall, huh? There was a time when I, too, forgot it."

As he spoke, Gu Jin Xing seized Meng Shutang's hand and led her into the villa, "This is our marital home. It was supposed to be called Haitangshan Villa, but since you didn't come, I renamed it Chen Bi Shan Zhuang."

Chen Bi Shan Zhuang leaned against the mountains and sat by the sea, now shrouded in darkness.

There were no lights, no voices, and even the birdsong was sparse.

It seemed that whatever happened inside, no one outside would ever hear.

Meng Shutang suddenly halted, "Jin Xing, shall we go back?"

She pleaded with him, hoping he would quickly take her away from here.

"Do you think I'm crazy? Yes, I am crazy.

I've never let go of the past; I returned to ruin Gu Yunci.

But just now I couldn't hold back; the moment I lost control and uncovered the truth of my mother's death, I knew I had lost again.

Soon, you will all know that I am Peter; my father will no longer recognize me, my grandmother won't either, and if my brother learns what I did to him, he won't forgive me.

"Your brother knows, he knows everything." Meng Shutang looked at him, each word clear, "Since that day you injured yourself and sent me to the hotel, he knew."

He knows you're Peter, knows you orchestrated the whole‑network hype about his affair with Bai Cixian, knows you sent people to hijack a project and poach executives, and also knows you created a subtle‑scar project for Bai Cixian to lure him.

At today's birthday banquet, the oil painting you displayed, I think he also knows, but out of fraternal affection, he let you vent that malice.

And that glass of wine…

Meng Shutang's words were cut off before she could finish.

"Enough," Gu Jin Xing, losing control, said, "I know you don't love me, I know it all.

But can you stop praising your brother in front of me? He's always just accommodating me.

I've heard that kind of talk all my life."

After speaking, he clenched both fists, trembling all over as he stood there, "I've lived twenty‑eight years, at least twenty of them under my brother's shadow.

He's good, he's everything, I'm inferior to him, I am nothing compared to him."

Meng Shutang, frightened by his demeanor, turned and ran outward.

She staggered out of Chen Bi Shan Zhuang, and in her panic she lost a shoe.

Barefoot on the broken stones, she didn't even notice, she just wanted to flee this dead silence with all her might.

Soon, hurried footsteps sounded behind her.

A man, wrapped in coldness, approached; the next second his hand seized her wrist again so hard it nearly crushed the bones, pulling her off balance.

"Run? Where else do you think you're going?"

Seeing the man's eyes churn with rage and obsession, Meng Shutang said nothing, her once‑radiant face paling as she stood there, no longer struggling.

But the man steadied for a moment, then half‑dragged, half‑pulled her down the mountain, "Do you think my brother really loves you? Bai Cixian treated you that way; he only punished Meng Zhibang and Bai Lianyue, and Bai Cixian emerged almost unscathed.

But I'm different; I ruined her face, making her life worse than death."

He originally planned to stay with her in the villa for two days before coming, but since Meng Shutang seemed so eager, it was fine to act while dawn hadn't broken.

The briny sea wind gusted, and the waves crashing against the rocks produced a deep rumble.

Gu Jin Xing gripped Meng Shutang's hand and hauled her onto the largest boulder.

At this moment, the sky was just beginning to brighten.

His hand, like iron tongs, clamped tightly around her.

She struggled once, and he tightened his grip a notch.

"Tang Tang, look at the sea, how quiet it is."

All these years I've lived like a sinner; everyone says I'm ruthless, why did I push my mother down? Some say I'm ill‑omened; if I hadn't been born, my mother wouldn't have died.

He paused, "Only you ever smiled at me, were kind to me.

I wagered everything on you; if you hadn't followed my brother back then, how wonderful that would have been."

If seven years ago, at the engagement banquet, Gu Yunci hadn't pulled Meng Shutang away, acting as usual, letting him.

Gu Jin Xing told himself in his heart that he would no longer clash with Gu Yunci, nor snatch anything from him.

He would, like in childhood, be good to him, respect him from the bottom of his heart, love him.

But fate didn't arrange that; that day, Gu Yunci left, taking Meng Shutang with him.

At the most pivotal moment of his life, he stole his light.

Just as from childhood, because of his existence, he was always the most inconspicuous one.

That day, he was also inferior; his fiancée followed Gu Yunci away, and he became a joke.

"Do you know, after that day I came here, feeling abandoned by my own brother and the one I love most, life still seemed meaningless.

I jumped from here, thinking that you would never forget me in this lifetime, that you'd always owe me."

But he was lucky; a fisherman rescued him.

It was also after that suicide attempt that he suddenly saw the light.

Why must he spend his whole life living in Gu Yunci's shadow? He wants to become his own light.

So he went to Africa, then the United States, the United Kingdom… hoping to rise, become a wealthy aristocrat, and stand on equal footing with Gu Yunci.

But when he finally achieved such results and told his grandmother and father, they... simply didn't care.

He even thinks he has let the ancient pearl restoration fall into neglect, not properly preserving the spirit of craftsmanship.

Meng Shutang listened and began to struggle.

Gu Jin Xing saw it, turned and looked at her, "If you don't want to go home with me, then we'll sink into the sea together.

Thus, in the next life and the life after that, you will belong only to me, only be able to watch me, love me."

Meng Shutang struggled desperately, "You're insane!"

She still has Xin Xin, her grandmother and her mother to care for; she cannot die.

"Yes, I'm crazy. From the moment I learned you fell in love with my own brother, I've been insane!

Everyone blames me, saying I caused my mother's death; for all these years I have borne that scorn!

Everyone blames me, saying I shouldn't have fallen for the woman my brother likes, saying I am the one monopolizing you.

But do you really think all this is my fault?

Now, after great difficulty, I've finally spoken the truth, finally shed my sins, and we can be together properly.

But look at how you are now; you refuse.

Fine then, let's die here together."

The night was dim, the cold sea wind carrying a salty, damp scent; waves repeatedly battered the massive reef, emitting a muffled, desperate sound.

Gu Jin Xing was engulfed in surging malice and shattered grievance; the face that was usually clear, handsome, and gentle was now filled with obsession and madness, completely devoid of any trace of his former self.

He clutched Meng Shutang's wrist tightly; his knuckles turned a pale blue from the effort, the force so great it nearly crushed her wrist bones.

"Why are you running?" Gu Jin Xing's voice was hoarse, tinged with mournful sobbing, "There's nothing to fear about death!"

Meng Shutang's face turned deathly pale; she struggled to pull her hand back, "Jin Xing, calm down a bit, I still have Xin Xin and my grandmother to care for, my mother is still lying in a hospital bed, I cannot die."

Gu Jin Xing barely thought before blurting out, "No need, my brother will handle it; he won't stand by idly."

But after speaking, he suddenly froze; at that moment, he also felt that Gu Yunci was more reliable than he was.

He tightened his grip on Meng Shutang's hand a bit more; the sea wind, swirling with salty waves, pounded the reef, the icy seawater drenched the hem of her skirt, and the chill penetrated straight to her bones.

"Jin Xing, you can't force me this way; let go quickly, I'm begging you."

Meng Shutang's desperate pleas failed to awaken Gu Jin Xing; instead, he pulled her even harder. Her strength was insignificant before his uncontrolled force, despair shrouding her. He dragged her step by step toward the cliff's edge, where another step would plunge her into the roiling black abyss.

At that hair‑raising moment, a swift figure burst through the gloom.

Gu Yunci's eyes bulged as if about to split; he nearly used all his strength to rush to the edge, suddenly swinging his hand to wrench Gu Jin Xing's grip. When Meng Shutang's half‑body hung suspended in the air, the sea wind nearly sweeping her away, he thrust his hand out and forcefully pulled her into his embrace.