Early the next morning, dawn was just breaking.
Chen Lin arrived at the Osmanthus Jiangnan Guesthouse.
He had asked Chen Muyao to meet him alone, and the two walked along the shimmering reservoir.
The morning air carried a slight chill. A thin mist shrouded the water, and the distant mountains looked like a painting.
Chen Lin looked at his aunt beside him.
Uncertainty about the future still lingered on her face, but much of the anguish in her expression had faded.
Overnight, a new strength had begun to take root in her heart.
"Auntie."
Chen Lin suddenly stopped.
He turned to face Chen Muyao, his expression serious.
"Since you've decided to start a new life, some things have to change."
"Can you really stand spending the rest of your life with Li Hongjun?"
Chen Muyao went rigid, her newly settled emotions thrown into turmoil again.
Her eyes instantly reddened.
The emotions she had held back all night finally broke loose under Chen Lin's clear, concerned gaze.
Unable to contain herself any longer, she poured out the full story of the fifteen years she had spent swallowing her grievances to keep her marriage intact.
"He... he started seeing someone else in our third year of marriage... Over the years, he's gone through several mistresses..."
Chen Muyao's voice choked with the pain and resentment she had suppressed for years.
"It wasn't that I didn't know. I just kept putting up with it for Jiaojiao."
"I thought if I gave in, I could keep our family together."
"But all I got was more contempt and humiliation."
Tears slid down the fine lines at the corners of her eyes, each drop landing like a spark in Chen Lin's heart.
She sobbed out her story in fits and starts. All the grievances buried deep inside