Chapter 331 - 328: The Water Cup

Chapter 331: Chapter 328: The Water Cup

"Since you’re both so pleased, let’s consider it settled!"

The Young Lady’s father happily took their hands and brought them together.

"A fine gentleman and a beautiful lady—a true match made in heaven!"

The Young Lady, standing to the side, also blushed deeply.

And just like that, the two were quickly engaged. After the Young Lady graduated, they were married.

The Young Lady didn’t join her family’s company. Instead, she began studying medicine—after all, it wasn’t too late to start over...

One evening, they sat by the riverbank. The former Young Lady, now his wife, stared thoughtfully at the water’s surface.

"You know, I feel like I just stumbled into marriage in a complete daze."

Mr. Guo paused for a moment. "Time flies, doesn’t it? Sometimes you feel like you’ve gotten old in a blur. It’s been ten years since the first time we sat here."

His wife ticked off the years on her fingers. "You’re right, it has been ten years. Back then, you were still a ’Master,’ weren’t you?"

She sighed. "Alas... We’ve been married for so long, ten years gone by, but I still feel like I can’t figure you out. You’ve never told me about your life before we met. It’s like everything about you is a mystery."

"I’m really curious, you know. How did you work your way up? How did you build such a huge company and carve out your own empire in a city as competitive as Dawn City?"

"My life has been so ordinary. That’s why I want to hear your story..."

His wife turned to Mr. Guo and said earnestly.

"I can’t. A lot of it is confidential."

"Not even a little bit?"

"That’s right. Not a single word," Mr. Guo said firmly. "Please, trust me."

Seeing Mr. Guo’s do-or-die expression, his wife reached out and poked his cheek.

"Hahaha! What’s with that face? Of course I believe you! You silly man! And you call yourself a ’Master’—can’t even figure that much out."

"If you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine. Everyone has secrets. I have some of my own, you know."

"What secrets?" Mr. Guo immediately asked.

"Why don’t you do a reading, Master? Can you figure it out?" his wife teased.

Mr. Guo raised his hand, making a show of calculating on his fingers. With a grave expression, he said, "Is it that you didn’t bring the laundry in?"

"Of course not." His wife tapped him on the thigh.

"I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell anyone else," she whispered, leaning close to Mr. Guo’s ear.

"Ten years ago... that pizza I gave you? It was expired. I didn’t eat a single bite. Didn’t you notice it tasted a little off? I felt so guilty about it for a long time afterward. It was only when I saw you later, alive and kicking, that I could finally relax."

As she spoke, his wife burst into laughter again.

"I was going to tell you," she added, "but you ate it so fast! It was gone before I even had a chance to say anything."

But after she finished laughing, she looked at Mr. Guo guiltily and said, "Are you mad at me?"

Mr. Guo shook his head and started laughing along with her.

Just like that night ten years ago, the two of them laughed happily on the riverbank.

The only thing missing was an expired pizza...

...

However, such beautiful moments are always brief.

Not long after, his wife was diagnosed with a type of Abyssal Sickness.

Asphalt Disease. All the fluids in the patient’s body slowly transform into an asphalt-like substance. There is no cure. The victim can only die in agony. Even the corpse dissolves into a pool of black liquid. It is an exceptionally gruesome way to die.

The woman who dreamed of becoming a doctor had become a patient, lying in bed on the verge of death.

"Don’t worry," his wife joked weakly, even from her sickbed. "Just find a relic that can bring people back to life, and then you can resurrect me."

"Don’t say that. You’re not going to die."

"It’s an incurable disease. Of course I’m going to die. You have to accept fate. Say, after I turn into asphalt, do you think they could use me to pave a road?"

The longer he knew his wife, the more she loved to spout nonsense. She would often discuss the weirdest things with Mr. Guo. Even now, with her illness so advanced, she hadn’t changed.

Mr. Guo could only stroke her forehead gently. "Probably not," he replied. "You’d be low-quality asphalt."

"What do you mean, low-quality?! COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!" Getting agitated, his wife started coughing again, spewing black stains onto the bedsheets.

Mr. Guo quickly moved to call a doctor, but his wife grabbed his hand.

"Don’t go," she said weakly.

"Okay."

"Tell me... tell me your story."

"Okay..."

Mr. Guo held his wife’s hand and gently began his story:

Once, there was a beggar who found a glass on the riverbank.

The glass was a relic, and the beggar called it the Cup of Lies.

So long as he drank water from the cup, any lie he told would become true.

If he said someone would bring him food, someone would.

If he said he would make a friend, he would.

The beggar used this cup to effortlessly make a fortune and establish a large company.

He built an empire from nothing, becoming the biggest middleman in Dawn City. All material supplies had to pass through him. Later, with ample capital, he established his own factory for processing semi-finished goods.

He controlled the central link in Dawn City’s entire tech supply chain. He acquired raw materials from downstream suppliers and provided semi-finished products to upstream tech companies, making himself an indispensable part of the process.

But the beggar felt as though he were treading on thin ice.

Because it was all a bubble, created from his lies—a bubble that was growing ever larger.

If any single part of it were to be exposed, the entire bubble would burst. All the accomplishments and wealth he had built on lies would crumble in an instant.

This was the price of the Cup of Lies.

Everything was false. He could deceive others, but he couldn’t deceive himself.

If anyone ever noticed the falsehood, the dominoes of truth would come crashing down on him.

But his fears seemed excessive. When the lies piled up high enough to form a mountain, becoming ever more irreplaceable, no one seemed to care about the truth. No one suspected any of it was fake.

As long as no one found out it was all a lie, it could last forever.

But, lies cannot bring the dead back to life.

The Cup of Lies could only create falsehoods within the realm of what was possible, weaving a bubble out of potential.

He tried to use lies to obtain relics that could raise the dead or cure any disease, but the Cup of Lies couldn’t do it.

The lies couldn’t be too grand. That was the restriction.

And so, he could only watch his wife die in agony, all of his lies utterly useless.

"That is my story. A life fabricated from lies."

His wife stared at him, stunned. She said nothing, only weakly lifting her other hand to place it over his.

Her touch was cool.

"So... now that you’ve told me the truth, everything will fall apart? Is that it?"

"Yes. That’s why I never told you," Mr. Guo replied, his voice laced with guilt.

And yet, after learning the truth, his wife only held his hand tighter, even pulling him closer to the bed. Mr. Guo had no choice but to lean in.

Once he was close enough, his wife placed both her hands on his cheeks and gave them a weak pinch.

Her eyes were incredibly clear. Though she was at death’s door, they were still shining brightly.

As she gently pinched his cheeks, she began to laugh happily.

"Is this real?"

"No. It’s all a lie."

"Then do you love me?"

"I don’t."

Mr. Guo looked into his wife’s smiling eyes as tears streamed down his face.