48 Bitter Endings

Ping!

Inside the taxi cab, Hui Yin glanced down at her phone. She had received two texts from an anonymous number.

The first one seemed to be a vehicle registration license plate number.

The second one read, 'Older sister, be more careful. Taxi scams are rampant nowadays. Plus, that man next to you...he kind of looks like a turd.'

A turd...

Hui Yin silently looked at Lu Shen. Without hesitating, she took a screenshot of the text. Then she bit her lip and tried to keep herself from laughing.

She didn't know who sent it, but she praised his bravery wholeheartedly! Not many would have the guts to insult the Great Dragon King.

Then Hui Yin remembered that someone had just called her 'older sister' recently. She recalled the face of that nice boy. She frowned.

Was he the one who sent her this text?

Could it be...he pretended to have lost his phone so that he could get her number?!

All at once, Hui Yin didn't feel like laughing anymore. She also felt like a turd. To be duped by a youth who looked six years younger than her...

If this was found out, she would have nowhere to save her face!

The taxi finally arrived in front of the shrine and both Lu Shen and Hui Yin got off. Today was the last day that she had to give her offerings to Yue Lao. They didn't use one of Lu Shen's many cars because Hui Yin wanted to adapt herself in becoming poor again.

This time, she had stayed at Lu Shen's mansion for a very long time. All her needs and desires were fulfilled at the blink of an eye. Her daily meals were comparable to that from a five star hotel, her home clothes could be auctioned off and help charity, and even her pillow case was tailored perfectly for her needs.

Hui Yin didn't know that a person could be pampered to such an extent.

As usual, Yue Lao was waiting for her. Hui Yin took the plastic bag and gave it to him. After watching the deity gulp down a whole bottle of beer without gasping for air, she tentatively asked, "Senior?"

Lu Shen's dark eyes were watching her, but she had to make sure that Yue Lao fulfilled his promise. Anyway, he wouldn't understand what she was talking about.

Yue Lao was feeling happy and patted her shoulder. But before his hand could land, Lu Shen intercepted and grabbed his wrist. He looked coldly at him.

"Don't touch."

Yue Lao hiccuped and really wanted to smack him. This boy, seriously...do you know the identity of this grandpa whom you just threatened?! You're too much! No wonder this girlie wants to run away from you. It's because you're too disrespectful to your elders. Hmph!

Yue Lao turned his nose high up in the air.

Hui Yin had three black lines running over her forehead. "Senior..."

Why are these two so childish? One of them was a sacred deity, while the other could control China's economy with a flip of his hand. Can't they act accordingly to their status?

"Girl, I remember the promise that I gave you. Don't worry about a thing, because I'll definitely fulfill it."

He gave Lu Shen the stink eye. This fellow is too rude, so watch how I'll punish you!

He picked up his plastic bag of beers and left in a huff.

Lu Shen saw that Hui Yin's forehead was creased and used his thumb to smoothen it.

"Why do you keep delivering bottles of beer to that beggar? Is he threatening you? I can get rid of him if you want."

Hui Yin's hair stood up on end. M—My lord, you're a man of many means, but assassinating a god isn't one of them!

"You...don't speak so carelessly."

Hui Yin nervously looked around. If a streak of lightning abruptly comes down and strikes them both, she vowed to herself that she would strangle Lu Shen in the afterlife.

With Hui Yin anticipating that she would breathe her last dying breath at any time and Lu Shen planning inside his mind to have that old beggar investigated, the two people with different thoughts went back to the mansion.

...

At night.

Lu Shen put toothpaste on her toothbrush before handing it back to Hui Yin. His eyes looked amused as he glanced at the dazed-looking girl who put the toothbrush into her mouth on autopilot. He thought that she was cute.

Hui Yin was actually thinking about him as well.

But unlike him, she wasn't thinking about how good he looked in his pajamas or how that boundary pillow between them should be burned with its ashes thrown into the deepest sea.

Instead, she was thinking of how to say goodbye to him.

Contrary to what he thought, Hui Yin didn't hate him. During their conversation in the graveyard, she had already forgiven him. She just didn't want their tangled relationship to continue.

It was true that he didn't mean for things to have turned out the way it did. It was also true that he loved her.

But although his love had never ended and he still loved her...he didn't really make it easy for her to keep loving him.

She could forgive, but she could not forget. She was still haunted by the memories of being trapped inside that mansion, of being constantly ignored by her own husband, of being insulted by the whole world.

No matter how good his intentions were, or his lack of knowledge about her sufferings, the bruises would be still be there.

She had exhausted all her love for him.

Hui Yin lay down on the bed and Lu Shen clicked off the lamp. They both lay on their backs with the boundary pillow between them, unable to sleep.

In the darkness, Hui Yin suddenly said softly, "Remove the pillow."

Lu Shen turned to his side and his dark eyes looked at her side profile in the dim light.

He asked with a low voice, "Are you sure?"

His heart was filled with an overwhelming sweetness. He was always pressuring her to stay with him, but when she finally lowered down her walls, he could not help but feel that he was only dreaming. His lips loosened in a furtively delighted smile.

"Yes."

Her words had not yet fallen when he already threw the boundary pillow aside and pulled her into his arms. Lu Shen buried his face into her hair and took in a trembling breath.

He missed her too, too much.

After a brief pause, Hui Yin hugged him back and pressed her face to his chest. She listened to his erratic heartbeat and felt his warmth. Her eyes burned.

She clutched his shirt and whispered, "Good night."

He pressed his lips against her forehead and said with a smile, "Good night."

Gradually, after a long time, the two of them fell asleep.

One of them was dreaming of sweet beginnings.

While the other was dreaming of bitter endings.

When midnight came, a white-haired old man slowly appeared underneath the shaft of moonlight that fell through the French doors of the balcony and made a white stripe across the luxurious carpet on the bedroom floor.

He looked at the two people that were hugging each other tightly with no gaps between their bodies.

Yue Lao sighed.

"What a pity..."

He waved his hand, and the red string bracelet on the man's wrist slowly dissolved. The girl inside his arms stirred, and when she lay down her head again, the soul inside the body was no longer the same.

As if he could feel her changes, Lu Shen's forehead knitted and he seemed to be trapped inside a nightmare. His lips parted and a hoarse "No..." came out.

Yue Lao was about to leave when he heard him.

He pursed his lips and tried to take another step, but the man's unwilling protest sounded again, this time a bit louder.

Finally, he couldn't bear it any longer and cursed angrily, "You really are a rude fellow!"

Fine, since he did pay for all those bottles of beer...

He reluctantly did another brief flip of his hand, and the man's tightly creased forehead slackened. His face restored its usual calm.

Yue Lao could not renege on his promise to Hui Yin.

But he could not leave this boy suffering from torment either.

So he could only do one thing.

In this man's heart, an existence that was equal to life itself was slowly being erased.