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The Jun Family and the Guan Family weren't actually related, but still harbored a very similar sentiment.
Now, with the Guan family visiting Tian Xiang City, this cordial kinship had reached a delightful climax. Even the ever-proud and aloof Jun Zhan Tian had decided to attend the dinner personally, a gesture that carried profound weight and honor.
Seated at the head of the table, the venerable Jun Zhan Tian was thoroughly enjoying himself. The boisterous but wise Guan Dong Liu had been regaling everyone with stories laced with wit and satire, causing the stern-faced old general to smile more in this single dinner than he had in the past month.
Beside them, Jun Wu Yi and Guan Ru Shan were joining in, adding their own color with timely remarks and quips. Even the usually reserved Guan Qing Han had a faint, amused smile playing on her lips.
Old Pang moved about quietly, serving dish after steaming dish to the table as the mood grew increasingly pleasant and relaxed. It was a gathering that exuded warmth, dignity, and friendship.
No oneāabsolutely no oneācould have anticipated what happened next.
Just as a burst of hearty laughter had erupted over some particularly clever comment, Guan Qing Yue, the second son of the Guan family, suddenly erupted.
His chair screeched violently against the floor as he shot up, fists clenched, eyes bulging with fury, veins bulging in his forehead like tightly wound ropes ready to snap at any second. His handsome face, which had until then been calm and composed, was now contorted in a grotesque mask of wrath, disbelief, and uncontainable grief.
"You bastard!" He roared, his voice like thunder crashing through the great hall, jolting every single person present into stunned silence. "You shameless pig! You filthy dog! You disgusting piece of shit!"
The entire room froze.
The warm, joyful atmosphere shattered like glass under the hammer of his rage.
Jun Zhan Tian's chopsticks paused mid-air.
Jun Wu Yi's wine cup tilted slightly, a few drops spilling out unnoticed onto the table.
Guan Dong Liu's eyes widened in disbelief, his jaw hanging open. Guan Ru Shan and Qing Han sat frozen, their smiles wiped clean off their faces as if they'd never existed.
It was as if someone had thrown a corpse onto a celebration banquet.
Even Old Pang, the calm and unflinching steward who had faced assassins and enemies in the past, stood rooted to the spot with a dazed expression.
Not even during wartime had the battle-hardened Jun Zhan Tian and Jun Wu Yi witnessed such a terrifying outburst from someone so young. It felt like they were watching a cornered beast lashing out after being prodded repeatedly with red-hot iron.
The level of emotional devastation and fury contained in Guan Qing Yue's roar could have ignited a powder keg.
And its target was Jun Mo Xie.
Guan Qing Yue's eyes were bloodshot, trembling with rage. He looked at Jun Mo Xie as if the young man had just murdered his entire family and danced on their graves.
His right hand slowly reached toward the hilt of his sword, fingers trembling, not from fear, but from the overwhelming desire to draw it and bury the blade deep into the heart of the man who had just sullied everything sacred to him.
Jun Mo Xie instinctively leaned back, genuinely surprised at the intensity of the reaction. Despite the bravado in his heart, he even felt the sudden chill crawling up his spine.
Did I go too far? He briefly wondered, but it was already too late.
"You evil bastard! Are you insane?!"
Guan Dong Liu finally snapped out of the paralysis, his face twisted in alarm and confusion. His thunderous voice echoed across the hall as he jumped up and grabbed his son by the arm, pulling him back from the brink of unspeakable violence. "What nonsense are you spouting in front of our hosts?! Have you lost your damned mind?!"
To curse a Jun in public was outrageous.
To curse the Jun Mo Xie, the sole heir to the Jun Family, at a Jun-hosted dinner, no less, was suicidal.
But Guan Dong Liu was completely unaware of the horrifying truth behind his son's reaction.
Guan Qing Yue wasn't lashing out on impulse. This was the culmination of a heart torn open and shredded before a room full of people.
Guan Qing Yue's obsession with Yue'er was no mere passing infatuation. From the moment he had met her for the first time, her gentle smile, her soft voice, the way her eyes glimmered under the moonlightāit had all carved itself into his soul. She had become the light in his life, the muse of his thoughts, the one thing he treasured above all else.
Even after returning to his homeland, he had thought of her every night. He sent her letters, kept her name close to his heart, and when she had finally written backājust two words, "You're precious."āhis entire world had been reborn.
In those two words, he had found meaning again. His spirit soared with the belief that their hearts beat as one. He had cherished that note like a holy scripture. He had dreamed about their reunion, pictured her smile, and prepared every line he would say.
The journey to Tian Xiang had been filled with nothing but blissful anticipation.
But now... in the blink of an eye... that beautiful world had been burned to ashes.
He never imagined that his beloved Yue'er would be reduced to a subject of mockery, of obscene braggadocio, described in front of a full hall like some cheap whore.
This is the biggest insult for any man! Not to mention that the woman he most cherishes and loves, being... not only being treated as an object, but also being used for such shameless bragging...
How could any man tolerate such words?
Guan Qing Yue's entire body was ready to explode with anger, shame, and disgrace.
His mind screamed in protest, desperately rejecting Jun Mo Xie's words as lies, filth, some deranged fabrication spoken in a moment of tasteless bravado. But he couldn't deny the detailāthat damned detail.
The vivid and unerring description Jun Mo Xie had so casually spoken, especially the part about her birthmark, was something no one could have ever guessed, much less invented.
Only someone who had truly seen herātouched herācould have known that mark existed.
The world tilted.
It was as if the floor beneath his feet had vanished, and Guan Qing Yue was now falling into a bottomless abyss. His ears rang, his vision blurred, and his breath hitched in ragged gasps, as if he had been stabbed in the chest with an invisible dagger and now stood there, trying to breathe through shattered lungs.
He couldn't believe it.
No, he didn't want to believe it.
His trembling hand rose, pointing straight at Jun Mo Xie, the tip of his finger like a spear aimed at his heart.Ā
His voice came nextābroken, raw, and choked with tears.
"Jun Mo Xieā¦" He gasped, every syllable burning through his throat like fire. "I swear... I swear I'll kill you!"
That oath hung in the air like a blade.
The fury in his heart had erupted beyond the threshold of sanity. He was no longer a young master of the Guan Family. He was a wounded beast, a heartbroken lover, a shamed man stripped of all pride, and there was only one thing left within him nowāmurder.
His eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaving violently, and his hands clenched so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. His body swayed unsteadily under the pressure of his roiling emotions.
The pain that wracked his soul was so intense that even the act of breathing felt like swallowing shards of glass. The ache in his lungs was unbearable, as if his ribcage were collapsing inwards under the crushing weight of betrayal and despair.
--- ā¦ ā¦ ā¦ ---
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