Chapter 188

Chapter 188: Not Even the Yellow River Can Wash It Clean

When Du An Rao was eight years old, a very special guest came to the Daoist temple. He was special not because he looked strange or different from other people, but because everyone else who came up the mountain to the temple carried a bag with daily things inside, like toiletries or incense and candles.

He also carried a big, bulging bag, but inside his bag were his lover’s ashes.

At first, Du An Rao did not pay much attention to this old man whose hair was already completely white. She only got interested after her Master talked with him and she found out that this old grandfather had already been to their temple forty years ago.

Back then, he had come with his lover, who was also a Mr.

At that time, the two of them had just made their relationship public. Their families and the outside world strongly opposed it. Both of them had been beaten by their families and locked up at home. But the two men truly loved each other and did not want to break up. So they each racked their brains to escape from home and ran away together.

The Daoist temple was the first place they stayed after they ran away. Both young people still had bruises on their faces. They knelt in the main hall, with the divine spirits in front of them and their lovers at their sides. They did not know what lay ahead, did not know what the future would bring, and did not know if their choice that day was right or wrong. But they still followed each other without looking back.

Her Master had a very good memory, or maybe he had seen through everything long ago. With just one look, he recognized that this pilgrim was one of those two young people from back then. Smiling faintly, he asked about the other man’s situation.

The pilgrim did not answer. He only touched the bag in his arms gently, his expression soft.

Later, Du An Rao learned that the other young man from forty years ago had died of illness more than ten years earlier, and the ashes in the pilgrim’s bag belonged to him.

For more than ten years, the pilgrim had carried his lover’s ashes with him. He had gone to all the places they never had time to visit before, eaten all the foods they had never had time to taste. Now he vaguely felt that his own life was coming to an end, so he wanted to bring his lover back to the first temple they had ever visited together. He wanted to kneel once more before the divine spirits and pray that they could meet again in their next life.

After the pilgrim left, the temple returned to silence.

About a month later, her Master suddenly went down the mountain. When he came back, he brought that same familiar bag with him and only said: “He is gone.”

Back then, young Du An Rao did not really understand. Only when she grew older did she realize that the pilgrim had gone to find his lover who had died young.

For a girl like her, who saw couples turning against each other, brothers fighting, and sisters tearing each other apart all the time, this story had a deep effect. At least it showed her that people who are loyal in love and stay faithful to one person for life are rare, but they do exist.

That was why, when she found out about Du De Sheng and Qin Yan Qing, her first thought was how to help Du De Sheng get his person back.

Even if the world is harsh, people who truly love each other should not be let down.

This matter was like a lesson for her. In this world, there are couples like that pilgrim and his lover, and like Du De Sheng and Qin Yan Qing, who love only one person all their lives and never change their hearts. But there are also scum like Cui Jue Yan and his son, and Qiu Tian Li, who use love as a raft and marriage as a tool to satisfy their greed and desires.

One’s orientation cannot decide if a person is good or bad, but character and nature can.

[So in the end, love is just one big gamble. If you bet right, everyone is happy. If you bet wrong, you lose everything.]

Du An Rao did not like gamblers and did not see herself as one. At least for now, she felt she should stay far away from that kind of thing.

The Jiang Family members: “…” They were all speechless.

But after hearing the example Du An Rao gave, Madam Jiang realized that what she had just said was a bit off. Not only could it easily make people misunderstand and think she was biased, it could also give some sensitive people a handle to attack her.

“An An is right. There are good people everywhere, and there are bad people everywhere. We cannot lump everyone together. But those two really are too evil. They make people and gods alike furious, and yet it seems like we still can’t really do anything to them…”

After all, their plan had not been carried out yet. Yu Chu Hui had not actually been hurt. At most, one young girl’s romantic heart had been smashed to pieces.

“This is just too infuriating!” Madam Jiang felt like someone who binged a drama all the way to the end, only to find that the main character had been abused the whole time and then just died with no happy ending. She was unhappy from head to toe.

“This part you don’t need to worry about,” Jiang Chang Bin said. “With Qing Ting’s personality, there is no way he will just let it go. And don’t be fooled by how stupid Yu Chu Hui can be when she’s in love. If you really make her angry, she alone is enough to destroy those two. There is a saying: if you love someone, you want them to live, if you hate someone, you want them to die. It suits her perfectly.”

As soon as he said that, the gossip radar over Du An Rao’s head stood straight up.

“Big Cousin, why do I feel like… you seem to know Sister Yu really well?”

As soon as she said that, everyone in the room turned to look at Jiang Chang Bin.

His face changed a little, and he even started to stutter.

“I… I… it’s not what you all think. Back in college she was famous for being a love fool. Whenever it came to relationships, she would easily act stupid, and she was especially good at attracting scumbags. The few boyfriends she had were clearly very obvious scum, but she never noticed it. If Qing Ting hadn’t been watching over her, who knows how many times she would have suffered losses.”

“Ohh…” Du An Rao nodded in a long, meaningful way. “All right, if you say so, I’ll believe you.”

[Believe you, my foot! He panicked, he panicked, he panicked. I didn’t even say what I was thinking, okay? What are you feeling guilty about? Clearly you have a guilty conscience! Was it really her brother watching her, or was it you? And you still say you don’t like her? You even know exactly how many boyfriends she had, and you watched so closely you can tell each one of them was a scumbag and exactly how they were scum. Fine, anyone who gets it, gets it.]

Jiang Chang Bin: “…” At this point, not even jumping into the Yellow River could wash him clean.

“Ahem…” He tried his best to ignore the burning gazes from his family and tried to pull the topic back to the main point.

“That day at Jiangyu Plaza, when you warned Chu Hui, her brother found out. He is very grateful to you for reminding her, but he is also worried. So he asked me to ask you if this tribulation of hers can be considered over now?”

When Du An Rao heard this, she snapped out of her gossip mode and frowned: “Didn’t you just say that before the police came, they mentioned someone who wanted to use Qiu Tian Li to set Sister Yu up? Did they never find that person?”

“That is exactly what Qing Ting is worried about. After those two were taken into the station, they denied it to the end.”

[Of course they would. How could they talk about something like that inside the station? That would just add another crime. What I want to know is, after they got out of the station, you guys didn’t have any other methods? Sister Yu’s brother does not seem very capable at handling things. He still hasn’t gotten it out of them!]

Jiang Chang Bin: “…” Great, now not only was his own good name ruined, even his good brother’s image in his cousin’s heart had been ruined by him.