Chapter 541: Moon Bright Pearl's Identity Revealed

Yuemingzhu lowered her head. She let out a long sigh: "Gong Caiyi, you are truly annoying."

She dared not look into Jiang Fan's eyes. She dared not look at his expression. Taking a deep breath, her voice was low: "That's right. I am the Sect Master of the Joyful Union Sect. Yuemingzhu is my fake name. I have been deceiving you, pretending to be your age all along. In truth, I am over thirty, yet I've fallen for someone younger. I have no sense of propriety, righteousness, integrity, or shame. I disregard ethical norms. I am a despicable woman who deserves to be nailed to the pillar of shame and publicly condemned! Is... is this enough?"

After uttering the last three words, her delicate shoulders trembled. A hot, crystal tear dropped onto the snow at her feet, melting a deep pit in the freshly fallen thin layer of snow.

Gong Caiyi was stunned. For the first time, she felt like a bad person. She had done something truly wicked. What had Sect Master Yu done wrong? She just wanted to be with the person she loved. It was just that, like Gong Caiyi, she was self-conscious about her age. That's why she hid her identity and approached Jiang Fan under the name Yuemingzhu. She carefully concealed her less-than-perfect side, only wanting to show her best self to Jiang Fan. But Gong Caiyi had exposed her. In front of Jiang Fan, in front of the person she cared about most, she had laid bare all the hidden flaws.

With one sentence, all her hopes for the future were shattered. It left her in despair, so desperate that she questioned her very existence.

At this moment, Yuemingzhu was utterly mortified. Head bowed, she took a step to leave. Her blurry, tear-filled eyes prevented her from seeing the snow beneath her feet. She didn't want to see it anymore. She only wished she could disappear on the spot, vanish completely from the world.

She had only taken two steps when a strong hand grabbed her arm. Jiang Fan's calm voice softly reached her. "Hey. So, you really are the Sect Master of the Joyful Union Sect. It turns out I was right all along."

Yuemingzhu stopped, her voice hoarse, "You knew? Since when?"

Jiang Fan chuckled, "Since you kept speaking so highly of the Sect Master of the Joyful Union Sect. At that time, I started thinking, 'Who would praise someone else so diligently?' Unless that person was herself."

Yuemingzhu was even more mortified. So, Jiang Fan had already guessed. Her tears flowed even more freely. A wave of desolation washed over her. She had actually lived as an unaware clown, diligently performing her own ugliness for others to see. She covered her face, truly wanting to sink into the ground!

She turned, wanting to run away, but Jiang Fan still held her arm tightly. "Let me go. Haven't you seen enough of my humiliation?" Yuemingzhu struggled, trying to shake his grip off her arm. But the more she struggled, the tighter Jiang Fan held her. It wasn't until a soft sigh that she abruptly stopped struggling.

"Whether you are Yuemingzhu or the Sect Master of the Joyful Union Sect, wasn't it you who gave me your only defensive magic artifact? Wasn't it you who tricked me into leaving, then faced two battle generals alone, nearly dying? Wasn't it you who went to great lengths to prepare life-saving items for me?"

Yuemingzhu's tears fell like a kite with a broken string, continuously rolling down. So, Jiang Fan remembered all her efforts. He remembered every single one. "Stop talking." She wiped away her tears, but more welled up, blurring her vision. Her tears seemed uncontrollable. They kept flowing. Because her identity was exposed. There would be no more Yuemingzhu in the future. From now on, there would only be the Sect Master of the Joyful Union Sect and a disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect. They would no longer have any connection.

Suddenly, a warm, large hand reached out and wiped away the tears from her eyes. It was quite miraculous; the uncontrollable tears suddenly ceased. She raised her misty eyes, and Jiang Fan's tender face came into view. His voice, too, touched her heart. "Still don't understand? Who you are doesn't matter. What matters is that everything about our time together was real. That's enough."

Yuemingzhu looked away, too ashamed to meet Jiang Fan's gaze. She mumbled with a nasal voice, "You don't blame me for deceiving you?"

Jiang Fan countered, "Did you deceive me with malicious intent?" Yuemingzhu quickly replied, "Of course not! I... I was just afraid you'd dislike me. Dislike me for being old."

Jiang Fan looked at her appearance, which seemed to be eighteen, and didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "In another ten years, you'll still be eighteen, and I'll be nearly thirty. It's hard to say who will dislike whom then."

Yuemingzhu said self-deprecatingly, "You don't have to comfort me. No matter how much my appearance remains unchanged, my actual age is still thirty. And you are only eighteen. The difference is too great."

Jiang Fan smiled, "Aren't we still friends? Does an age gap between friends matter?"

Yuemingzhu scoffed at herself. What she wanted was not just a friendship. Age was indeed an unbridgeable chasm; if she cared about it, Jiang Fan would surely care even more.

Gong Caiyi also felt a pang of bitterness. Her expression gradually darkened.

However, Jiang Fan immediately continued: "Regarding a romantic relationship, we haven't reached that point yet. But if we did... why would I mind? Let's not even mention that your body will always look eighteen, which is every man's dream for a celestial wife. Even if your body were truly thirty, isn't that also when a woman is most mature? I like both."

Her cheeks flushed, and her heart pounded. She playfully chided, "You, you're just trying to sweet-talk me."

Jiang Fan was at a loss whether to laugh or cry: "I can't prove that now. Unless we truly have that destiny to unite in the future."

Yuemingzhu stamped her foot in embarrassment, "You, what nonsense are you spouting? Who wants to unite with you? Shameless!" She blushed from her neck all the way to her cheeks. But her misty eyes were full of brightness. A heart that had shattered into eight pieces was now glued back together. It turned out that the age she was most self-conscious about was not an issue at all in Jiang Fan's eyes! She had created her own prison. Restricting herself. Her heart felt lighter than ever before.

Even Gong Caiyi, who was standing nearby, now hesitated to look into Jiang Fan's eyes as she usually did.

"Yuemingzhu, we are still friends, trustworthy friends." Jiang Fan released her arm.

Yuemingzhu broke into a smile through her tears. Being friends was already enough, more than enough. Just a moment ago, she had been so desperate it felt like the sky was falling.

Thinking of this, she glared fiercely at Gong Caiyi: "I've disappointed you, Gong Caiyi! Jiang Fan doesn't dislike me!"

Gong Caiyi looked awkward and explained, "I didn't have any other intentions. I was just worried you might have ulterior motives toward Jiang Fan. I didn't expect you to be serious about Jiang Fan." She also felt wronged. Who would have thought that the carefree Sect Master of the Joyful Union Sect would actually fall in love? She had thought the Sect Master of the Joyful Union Sect was just toying with Jiang Fan.

Yuemingzhu, with her sharp mind, subtly sensed something was amiss. With her hands behind her back, she circled Gong Caiyi, scrutinizing her from head to toe. This made Gong Caiyi feel uneasy, and she asked, "What are you looking at?"

Yuemingzhu propped her chin on her hand, a shrewd glint in her eyes: "I'm wondering why you're involving yourself in Jiang Fan's affairs? Jiang Fan is neither your disciple nor your subordinate, nor even your legitimate junior. Even if you were worried about my intentions towards Jiang Fan, shouldn't you have warned someone from the Azure Cloud Sect? Why would you personally interfere?"