The Coldest Heart Is Also the Deepest Love

Grandma Evelyn Yin kept nodding, "Yes, I regret it! I think, as a family, aren't we fine just as we are? May Chen is already gone. The dead can't return. Son, why are you still so obsessed with her?"

Howard Yin, a man in his sixties, was crying like a child.

"But I promised May Chen I would stay with her for my whole life! I can't break my word! Mother, why did you lie to me? You lied to me once, twice, why did you have to keep lying to me?" Howard Yin sobbed uncontrollably. "She's waiting for me in heaven, but I can't go to her. Isn't that unbearably cruel to me?"

To be parted by death from the one you love most.

Yes, isn't it unbearably cruel?

"If you hadn't changed your mind, would I have spent all these years scheming, deliberately setting up May Yan as a scapegoat, allowing Vivian Jiang and May Yan to fight, then using Vivian Jiang's murder to escape this suffocating Yin Family?" Howard Yin wiped his eyes harshly. "Whether it's the Yin Family's inheritance or its wealth and status, when have I ever cared? All I wanted was to grow old with May Chen. Why, why did even such a humble wish have to be taken away from me?"

"I'm already in hell. There's no going back for me!" Howard Yin closed his eyes, tears streaming down his face. "There was no way I could openly leave the Yin Family, except to fake my death. Yes, that's the whole truth. Everything you wanted to know, that's all of it!"

Standing off to the side, May Chen trembled as she asked, "And what about me? Was I just a cover too?"

Howard Yin was silent, not denying it.

May Chen couldn't hold back any longer and slapped Howard Yin hard across the face!

Smack—five bright finger marks appeared on Howard Yin's face, his head snapping to the side.

May Chen trembled with anger, "Just because my name sounds like hers? So you made me her substitute?"

Howard Yin still didn't deny it.

May Chen looked up and let out a long sigh, "So that's it! Then those days you disappeared every month, where did you go?"

"May Chen's grave is not far from here," Howard Yin answered in a low voice. "I couldn't be with her while she was alive, so now, as long as I can, I spend a few days with her every month."

The room was deathly silent.

Cici, as the only outsider, took in everyone's expressions.

It turns out the events from over nine years ago looked like they were orchestrated by Vivian Jiang.

But in reality, it was Howard Yin who pushed things along.

He did manage to escape the Yin Family, but left chaos behind. Because the family lost its CEO so suddenly, Grandma Evelyn Yin had to come out of retirement to save the day, forcing her barely adult son to shoulder the family's responsibilities early.

He also turned his wife, who was wounded for a lifetime, into a disabled woman who had to go to South America for six years of psychological treatment and recovery.

He also made May Yan and Ethan Yin, the scapegoats he set up, into Vivian Jiang's punching bags.

If Ethan Yin hadn't been smart and patient, May Yan and Ethan Yin would have been destroyed by Vivian Jiang long ago.

And the root of all this was a love affair that ended more than forty years ago.

In this game, everyone was a loser.

Not a single person was a winner.

The past, with all its bloody wounds, was ripped open in front of everyone.

Almost everyone found it impossible to accept the truth.

"Now, I have nothing left to say. I'm no longer the CEO of the Yin Family. I'm just a villager now, and I won't go back to the Yin Family—that prison that tormented me for decades. I haven't touched a penny of the Yin Family's money. All my expenses these years came from accounting work I did for others when I visited the grave every month. I carefully erased every trace of myself, but still, I was found. Maybe this is fate." After saying this, Howard Yin turned to Cici, "You say you're my daughter-in-law? It really must be fate!"

Cici was about to explain when Charles Yin spoke up, "Are you really sure about this?"

Howard Yin looked at Charles Yin with a complicated expression.

This son, even more outstanding than he imagined, had now matured to a level that Howard Yin could only look up to.

Howard Yin felt guilty toward this son.

But compared to his true love, that guilt was nothing.

Howard Yin nodded lightly, "Don't worry. As long as you don't come looking for me, I'll make sure I have no presence at all."

He really could do it. In fact, he'd done it very well.

There were so many people in the Yin Family, but none of them found a single clue about him. That was no small feat.

If Rona Muir and Cici hadn't happened to come to Chen Village, no one would have discovered his existence.

All of this really must be fate.

Howard Yin picked up his luggage from the floor, looked at everyone in the room one by one, and said, "I'm leaving. From today on, I'll spend every day with her! If possible, let this be our last meeting."

Grandma Evelyn Yin suddenly cried out, "Howard, I'm already eighty years old, and my eightieth birthday is coming up. Are you really going to ruin my big day?"

Howard Yin's back stiffened. "I'm sorry, Mother. I've failed you. On your eightieth birthday, I'll have someone send a gift. Please forgive your unfilial son. Charles, since I am your father, please fulfill my filial duty for me."

With those words, Howard Yin turned and left, leaving behind a room full of people with mixed expressions.

Cici watched Howard Yin leave. No one tried to stop him.

This man was selfish and heartless to everyone in the room.

But somehow, this very man was also deeply devoted and loyal.

His heart, his love, all belonged to the woman named May Chen.

Since then, he could never love another woman. All that was left was responsibility.

When he realized he'd been deceived again, all he had left was anger and calculation.

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He didn't hesitate to use his wife and a vain woman, creating two sons but never giving them true fatherly love.

To Vivian Jiang and Charles Yin, he wasn't fit to be a husband or a father.

To May Yan and Ethan Yin, he wasn't even fit to be a man.

To Grandma Evelyn Yin, he seemed conflicted. Dutiful, yet also undutiful.

To May Chen, she was the most innocent, but also the luckiest.

Because aside from losing her love and youth, she was the only woman who wasn't completely destroyed by this man.

To them, Howard Yin was just a bastard.

But to May Chen, he was a man worth trusting for a lifetime.

Even though she'd been dead for over forty years, he still hadn't forgotten their love. He still loved her, unwavering to the end.

Maybe some people can fake it, put on a show of undying love.

But for a high and mighty CEO to give up everything, even his own identity and name, and guard a woman's grave for nearly ten years...

A man like this, a love like this, is no longer just an act—it is genuine and heartfelt.

So, Howard Yin is just that contradictory.

Both heartless and deeply devoted.

Hahahahaha... What is this? What is this supposed to be?! Vivian Jiang suddenly burst into hysterical laughter. "The truth is so ridiculous! The truth I desperately sought is just this laughable! Mother-in-law, you've ruined my whole life!"

Charles Yin suddenly brought Cici's finger and squatted down in front of Vivian Jiang. "Mom..."

Vivian Jiang, tears streaming down her face, looked at her son and stroked Charles Yin's features. "Son, if not for you, what meaning would my life have? What meaning at all?!"

"Mom, you still have me." Charles Yin lowered his voice. "I'll never forget how you destroyed your own legs to save me. Mom, I know you were Vienna's most beautiful White Swan. Your dance, your..."

"Enough, don't say anymore." Vivian Jiang's shoulders shook as she sobbed. "I've gotten the explanation I wanted, and that's enough. I'm over fifty now, I have nothing left to fight for. I won't concern myself with the Yin family's mess anymore. I'll raise my two grandsons well, and that's enough... more than enough..."

"Mom..." Charles Yin's voice was choked with emotion.

Ethan Yin stood up blankly and staggered away.

Cici watched Ethan Yin's departing figure, lost in thought.

Whether it was Grandma Evelyn Yin, Vivian Jiang, or Charles Yin...

Regardless of whether their feelings were genuine in the past, now they truly are a family, recognized by the clan.

But what about him?

What did Ethan Yin count as?

A target set up on purpose, a child born by accident, a child who was never blessed or hoped for from the very beginning.

What was the meaning of his existence?

He was a living, breathing person!

He wasn't a rag to be used and then thrown away.

He had a heart and flesh—he could feel pain too!

But who saw his pain?

He didn't even have the right to cry, because he was a concubine's son!

For so many years, he endured humiliation and burden, pretending to be crazy and foolish. To act more like a spoiled rich kid, he forced himself to do things that disgusted others—and himself.

He thought he could change it all with his own hands.

But three years ago, when he returned to the Yin family, the moment he walked in the door, Charles Yin gave him a harsh wake-up call.

Suddenly, he realized how small and ridiculous he was—just as he was getting his mindset right and preparing to live out the rest of his life.

He was suddenly told he was just an accident.

And a discarded piece of trash.

All his beliefs collapsed in an instant.

His world turned gray.

He suddenly lost his reason and courage to go on living.

Even if Charles Yin was hurt, he still had a mother to comfort him.

But what about him?

May Yan cared about nothing but money, money, money!

Even the most basic motherly love was a luxury for him!

He truly had nothing at all!

Cici watched Ethan Yin's back as he staggered away. She looked at the people in the room; everyone seemed lost in their own sorrow, and no one came to ask her or even glanced her way.

After thinking for a moment, Cici turned and ran after Ethan Yin.

Forget it, I'll go comfort this pitiful man myself.

After all, he really was too innocent.