Mrs. Hong made a move! With one hand on Li Mu and the other on He Xiaoyu, she forced them to sit down at the table and said cheerfully, “If Miss Lin wants to talk to the two of you, you’d better sit down and listen up! Or don't blame me for being rude!”

“What do you want to do to us? All of you are violating my personal freedom. You are committing a crime! I am warning you. If you don't let us go, I’ll definitely sue you!” He Xiaoyu shouted in anger.

“Xiaoyu, stop it!” Li Mu persuaded her from aside, “It's okay. It's better to talk things out now so we can make things clear.”

He Xiaoyu went silent and looked at Lin Wan indignantly.

The latter gave her a disdainful glance and said with a serious face, “He Xiaoyu, were you amongst the ones who set me up? Were you the mastermind behind Lu Fangliang’s trap?”

He Xiaoyu grunted and mocked Lin Wan, “Set you up? What a joke! Did anyone even set you up? Did anyone force you or entice you at all? It was you who failed to keep your boundaries. Why don’t you blame yourself instead! What now? Are you trying to put the blame on someone else? Lin Wan, just admit what you did, won’t you?”

“In that case, you knew everything from the very start! Even if you’re not the mastermind behind all this, you’re one of the accomplices, too! Tell me everything you know about this. And you’d better be honest before it’s too late!”

Li Mu cursed to himself. Judging by He Xiaoyu’s personality, she’d most probably admit that she was behind all these out of anger and lashed out at Lin Wan! Although he didn't know what would happen, his intuition told him that it would be something bad.

Thinking of this, he hurriedly spoke before He Xiaoyu could, “This has nothing to do with Xiaoyu. She knew the truth because I told her so. She was the one who accompanied me to watch those videos together. That's why she knows what happened.”

Lin Wan looked at Li Mu sadly. She knew that Li Mu was lying, and He Xiaoyu was definitely involved in this mess. But at this point, all she could do was to act dumb and not insist on pursuing the truth. Otherwise, it might really be the end for her and Li Mu.

“Honey, I can forgive her just for the sake of you. But she must tell me who is the one behind this. Is there another mastermind?”

“Lin Wan, watch who you’re calling ‘honey’! He is now my fiance. The two of you are divorced already. Please keep that in mind!” He Xiaoyu corrected unhappily.

A trace of grief flashed through Lin Wan's eyes. And she looked at Li Mu mournfully. It was as if she had a thousand words to say to him but she stayed silent.

Li Mu did not dare to meet her eyes. After the divorce, he had started to blame himself as he gradually calmed himself down.

Seeing his wife being set up, he chose to sit aside instead of giving her a hand. As her husband, he did not do the right thing and gave up on his obligations and responsibilities. Now that he recalled what he did, he really was a bastard.

Lin Wan was at fault. But Li Mu knew that she had not betrayed him, and was probably taken advantage of by her kindness again.

He knew very well about this weakness of hers. Hence he should have warned her in time. If he had trusted his wife and reminded her at that very moment, she would have realized what she was in. And what happened later would’ve been avoided.

Him saying “let her indulge to her heart's content” does not justify his actions of not giving her a hand. He was no different from being an accomplice when all he did was seeing her being set up and falling into the trap.

“That man is a private detective named Zhou Zijian.” Li Mu said in a deep voice, “I suspected that you were in an affair and hired him to investigate you. He planned everything with the reason being that he wanted to test how loyal you were to our marriage and I agreed. It was me who wronged you. It had nothing to do with Xiaoyu!”

“Was he also the one who set me up previously?”

“Yes. It was him too!”

Slap! Lin Wan slapped Li Mu in the face fiercely.

He Xiaoyu was furious and stood up to fight with Lin Wan. But she was pinned to the chair by Mrs. Hong. God knew how she did it, but Xiaoyu wasn’t able to move at all.

“Lin Wan, don't make it difficult for Li Mu. I was the one who hired Zhou Zijian. He planned these things so I could be together with Li Mu. Didn't you want to know the truth? This is the truth!”

Li Mu stopped her immediately, “Shut up, Xiaoyu. This is none of your business. Don't take the blame. Lin Wan, it is all my fault. Come at me instead if you’re mad!”

Lin Wan was in tears and choked through her sobs, “Honey, why did you do this to me? You knew very well that He Xiaoyu did not meant well. Why did you allow her to hurt me? You would rather trust her instead of me. What did I do wrong to be treated like this by you?”

Li Mu bowed his head in silence, while Mrs. Hong grabbed He Xiaoyu's collar and asked Lin Wan, “Lin Wan, what should we do with this culprit?”

“It's none of her business!” Li Mu hurriedly said, “I can guarantee with my life that Xiaoyu wasn’t behind any of these. Zhou Zijian was indeed hired by me. And the incident between you and Lu Fangliang had nothing to do with her either. All she did was not stopping this matter from happening just like me!”

“Not stopping this matter from happening? Do you mean that the two of you didn't know about Zhou Zijian's plan beforehand?” Mrs. Hong pursued.

“We didn’t! We only found out about it after the playground incident. Anger and sadness made me lose my mind. Hence I decided to just stand and stare. The blame is all on me and no one else!”

“Why? Just why?” Lin Wan whimpered. Li Mu's answer broke her heart. She never thought that the man she loved so much was one of the accomplices that set her up?

“Why?” Li Mu suddenly snapped, “You tell me why! How many times have you lied to me? And how many secrets have you kept from me up till now? In Lu Fangliang’s incident, how many more times have you lied to me? How can I trust you when you have lied to me again and again?”

“I lied to you for your own good. It was for the sake of our family.” Lin Wan explained bitterly.

“Shameless! You went behind my back to be someone's wife and mother. And you’re saying that’s for my own good? You lied to me because you went to a widower’s house to have a happy time with them. Was that for my own good too? Lin Wan, how could you say such disgusting words? Don't you think you’re being really shameless and ironic right now? Your actions are not for our family, but for that family. I have my faults. But don’t you too?”

“I was at fault for letting people with ill intentions take advantage of my kindness. Then why didn't you warn me? You are my husband. How could you just watch me fall for it?”

“I admit it was my fault for not doing so explicitly. But how dare you say I did not warn you at all? What about my unusual behavior? These were all hints for you to pick up on! You knew there was a problem between us. But did you try to correct it? Did you care? Didn’t you still choose to lie to me and reunite with them over and over again. Why are you after me again after our divorce if you love that family so much?"

“I, I…”

“What? All this time you have been acting like you respect me. But have you really considered my feelings before you act? Me, your husband! Have you ever thought of my feelings?” Li Mu shouted in agitation.

“Yes, Li Mu is right. It was your fault in the first place. What you did was outright betrayal. Now you are trying to blame us instead and pester Li Mu about this? What’s the point?” He Xiaoyu agreed loudly.

Surprisingly, Mrs. Hong did not lecture her. She merely sighed and pulled her up, “Let's stay out of this and let them have a good talk. Both sides are at fault in this matter. And it's not something that can be clarified in just a few words.”

“You guys stay here. We’ll talk inside!” Lin Wan stood up and walked towards the bedroom with her head down. Li Mu stood up too and followed her in stiffly.

He decided to go all out. They’re divorced now anyway. Hence he could care less about what would happen in the end. Since his ex-wife wanted to talk about it, then he would make things straight so she would not think of herself as the victim all the time.

After entering the room, Lin Wan closed the door behind her and hugged Li Mu while sobbing aloud, “Honey, I’m sorry. I know what I did was wrong. I shouldn't have lied to you nor ignored your feelings. And I shouldn't have been too close to them. I know my mistakes now. It’s all my fault!”

Li Mu was a little helpless as Lin Wan surprisingly took the initiative to admit that she was at fault. Alas, it was too late for her to admit her mistakes as they’ve already divorced. Plus, he and Xiaoyu had already started dating. Their time was up. And it was time for them to let go of each other if fate said so.

“Ah! Lin Wan, it’s over now. At this point, it doesn't matter who is right and who is wrong anymore. All we can do now is to move on and let each other go. Okay?” Li Mu advised.

“No, I love you dearly. And you love me too. We can't be apart. You promised me you'd never let go. We can remarry and still be as happy as before. Honey, please don't leave me!”

“Let's calm down and reconsider first. Let's not talk about remarriage yet. You know me well. I'm not that generous to let it pass just like that. I’m also worried that something like that will happen again in the future.” Li Mu said frankly.

“It won’t. It won’t happen again. I will never let anyone take advantage of my kindness again. Honey, I didn’t yearn to be a part of that family. I didn't betray you. I did that for a reason and I swear I’ll explain this to you. But you have to give me some time. Okay?”

Lin Wan sobbed profusely and Li Mu became soft-hearted at the sight of her crying. He could not bear to say anything harsh to Lin Wan anymore. In fact, he knew very well that he was still in love with Lin Wan, and that he couldn’t leave her just like that either.

But he couldn’t just leave He Xiaoyu hanging just like that. She was his fiancee. And he was going to propose to her in the future. He couldn’t possibly take back his words just because of his ex-wife's apology. In that case, what did he think of Xiaoyu all this while? A backup partner?

Li Mu decided to tell her the truth. It was better for her to know the truth before it was too late. He didn’t want to be in this mess with Lin Wan in the future too.

Firstly, he couldn't forgive Lin Wan for what happened between her and Lu Fangliang. Those discs were like a thorn in his heart. Even if they were remarried, it wouldn’t be the same anymore because of these discs. In that case, they were better off without remarrying. It was better to part ways and wish each other the best in their futures.

Secondly, he was not optimistic about getting back together with Lin Wan. Although he still loved her, he still could not accept Lin Wan's ways of handling things. He had reminded her and advised her multiple times but in vain. Hence, even if they got back together, they’d still leave each other for similar reasons sooner or later.

It was better to just get it over with. Li Mu said firmly, “I'm sorry. I can't forgive you nor your behavior. I have already promised Xiaoyu that I’ll marry her. Forget it. We’re never getting back together!”