Chapter 446: The Truth’s About to Come Out |
After a long internal struggle, Qin Fan finally decided he couldn’t keep waiting anymore. With not a single coin in his pocket, he’d been stuck in this luxurious mansion for days, unable to go anywhere aside from the dining hall.
The waiting was dull beyond belief. And after ten years in the secluded mountains, he picked up a strange little habit—when idle, he often entertained himself with odd rituals and thoughts.
But now, he was done waiting.
He reached for the landline and dialed the number Tantai Yaoyue left behind. After a few rings, the call connected.
“Hello? Is that you, Master?” came her voice on the other end, sounding a little hesitant.
“It’s me,” Qin Fan answered with a calm, sage-like tone. Then, playing the concerned teacher, he continued, “Yaoyue, didn’t I do a fortune reading for you before? You were supposed to meet your destined partner soon. Have you met him?”
His words were intentionally vague, pretending not to know she had feelings for him. His voice carried the gentle concern of a master looking out for his disciple.
On the other end of the line, Tantai Yaoyue fell silent.
It had been a few days since that night, and although her emotions mostly settled, Qin Fan’s question brought everything rushing back again. Bitterness, longing, melancholy, and frustration swirled inside her heart, all tangled together.
“Yaoyue, I told you before—opportunities vanish in the blink of an eye. Did you meet the one, only to lose him because you held back too much?”
His tone was filled with implication, each word nudging her toward a confession.
He waited, ready for her to muster up her courage and pour out her feelings. Once she confessed, he’d act surprised, pretend to hesitate, and then gracefully accept her. Everything would fall into place.
“Yes, Master… I missed my chance.” Her voice came through, tinged with complicated emotion.
Qin Fan froze.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Something was off.
“You… you really met your fated one?” he asked, voice tight with disbelief.
From her tone, it was clear she was not referring to him. Qin Fan’s heart sank. He misunderstood everything. His gorgeous, goddess-tier disciple… liked someone else.
“You told me my stars were aligned for romance, and that much was true. It’s just a shame things didn’t go the way I hoped,” she said softly, sighing at the end.
Qin Fan clenched the phone in silence, his worst fear confirmed. She wasn’t in love with him—she had fallen for someone else.
Qin Fan forced himself to speak again, masking his frustration with calm concern.
“Yaoyue, tell me what happened. Maybe I can help. Maybe there’s still a way to fix things.”
What he really wanted, however, was to find out who the man was and destroy him. Before they could get any closer, he’d cripple that bastard, erase the threat, and steal Tantai Yaoyue back for himself.
That way, she’d still belong to him.
But Yaoyue refused. “Master, it’s over. I don’t want to talk about it.”
She did not even dare tell her closest sisters. There was no way she’d confess to Qin Fan. Her pride wouldn’t allow it, and this was a secret she planned to bury deep inside forever.
“Yaoyue, I’m not an outsider. Why can’t you just tell me? If you share it with me, I can help you figure things out,” he coaxed gently, voice still laced with the wisdom of a seasoned mentor.
“Some things, once missed, are simply missed. I don’t want to deal with feelings anymore. I just want to focus on cultivation.”
Not wanting him to probe any further, she could only tell a lie.
Hearing that, Qin Fan finally felt a little better. She hadn’t said who the man was, but her tone told him enough. Whoever it was, things clearly did not work out.
Maybe she was heartbroken. Maybe she was ready to give up.
Either way, that meant there was still a chance for him.
After a few more casual words, Tantai Yaoyue’s mood soured again, and she ended the call.
Qin Fan sat there, full of mixed feelings. He waited by the phone for days, only to receive a vague half-rejection. It felt like a punch to the gut.
Outside, the sun was shining brightly. Qin Fan considered going out for a walk to clear his head, but quickly remembered he was still penniless. In a city like this, there wasn’t much he could do without money.
“How has it been days, and Cheng Rui still hasn’t gotten the five hundred million ready?”
He was starting to get anxious. He wanted to call and ask her directly, but that would ruin his image as a reclusive master.
After some thought, he decided to wait just a bit longer.
—
That afternoon, beneath the same bright sun, Wang Haoran lay stretched out on the grassy field inside the campus, eyes closed, soaking up the warmth in quiet leisure.
Before long, the warmth on his face dimmed slightly.
He opened his eyes and saw that the sunlight was blocked by someone standing over him.
His gaze traveled upward, starting from long, slender legs all the way to the cold, striking face of the woman above.
It was Yun Churan.
“What brings you here?” Wang Haoran asked with a smile.
“You know exactly what you did,” Yun Churan said flatly, her expression icy.
“I’ve done a lot of things. You’ll have to be more specific,” he replied, sitting up and brushing the grass off his clothes.
Yun Churan remained standing, looking down at him with a face like frost. “The strange changes happening to me… you’re behind it, aren’t you?”
“What strange changes?” Wang Haoran already had a guess, but he played dumb.
“I—” Yun Churan started to explain, but was suddenly overtaken by a wave of nausea. She covered her mouth and dry-heaved, her face twisting with discomfort. When it passed, she glared at him. “That. That’s what I’m talking about.”
“You’d better not throw baseless accusations at me. You’re saying you’re pregnant—what’s that got to do with me? Are you trying to pin it on me and force me to take responsibility? Do I look like some guy who’d raise someone else’s kid?” Wang Haoran chuckled, as if the whole thing was ridiculous.
“I’m not pregnant,” Yun Churan said coldly.
Wang Haoran’s laughter stopped instantly. His eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at her.
She’s found something out.
“Didn’t Little Doctor Immortal check your pulse? With her skill, how could that diagnosis be wrong?” His heart skipped a beat, but his face remained calm.
“Would a pregnant woman still be having her period?”
Her question was simple, but it crushed all of Wang Haoran’s lies in an instant.
As soon as she said it, Wang Haoran knew the jig was up. No matter how meticulous a forgery might be, there would always be a flaw somewhere.