The others nodded in agreement. Even Long Yifan’s face was dark with suspicion.
Gu Jin was silent for a moment, her calm eyes never leaving Gu Aihan’s body. Then, slowly, she spoke.
"Simple," she said. "We test it out."
The room fell silent. Everyone stared at her, their eyes wide, until realization began to dawn on them.
"You mean..." Gu Jihu muttered.
"Yes," Gu Jin nodded. "We will use a soul artifact. That will tell us the truth."
Everyone exchanged glances, the weight of her words pressing on them. Finally, Mr. Gu pushed himself up from his chair, his face heavy.
"Follow me," he said, his voice low.
The family rose and followed him down the hall, into the old study room of the Gu family. The shelves were filled with books, scrolls, and old jade boxes.
Mr. Gu walked to the back cabinet, his hands shaking slightly as he pulled open a locked drawer. From inside, he took out a small wooden box, old but well-kept.
"This," he said quietly, "is one of the soul artifacts passed down in our family."
He opened the box. Inside lay a faintly glowing crystal, smooth and cold, humming with strange energy. Everyone felt their hearts tremble at the sight.
Gu Jishi frowned. "Why do we even have something ?"
Mr. Gu gave him a look. "It was meant to create soul pendants. To keep track of whether a family member is alive or not."
He sighed, his voice lowering. "We already made one for Gu Aihan years ago."
As he spoke, he reached into another drawer and pulled out a jade bracelet. The room grew still the moment everyone saw it. The bracelet was cracked in two, lifeless, as if all the energy had drained away.
Mr. Gu’s face turned pale. "This... this means only one thing."
Everyone held their breath.
"Gu Aihan is already dead."
The words dropped like heavy stones. Gasps filled the room, and silence followed, heavy and suffocating.
"No..." Gu Jihu muttered, shaking his head. "She... she can’t be dead already. We wanted to punish her ourselves!"
Gu Jichun clenched her fists tightly, her voice trembling with anger. "We waited all these months, and now... now she’s gone just like that?"
Even Gu Jishi’s face darkened. "She doesn’t deserve an easy death."
The Gu family’s expressions were filled with regret, anger, and grief all mixed together. They had wanted to see her pay for her sins with their own hands. But now that chance was gone.
Gu Jin, who had been standing quietly, finally stepped forward. Her calm voice cut through the heavy air.
Everyone turned toward her at once.
She looked at the broken bracelet, her eyes sharp. "The bracelet is broken because her soul left her body. That doesn’t mean her soul is gone. It just means she is no longer inside that body."
Her words struck like lightning.
The family froze, their eyes widening as the realization sank in.
"So you mean..." Gu Jihu whispered.
Gu Jin nodded. "Yes. Her soul could still be out there. Maybe in another body. Maybe sealed somewhere. The point is... she is not completely gone."
The Gu family looked at her with awe. Even Long Yifan’s eyes softened with pride, though he said nothing.
"Jin’er..." Mr. Gu whispered, shaking his head slowly. "You are always so clear, so sharp. I don’t know what we would do without you."
The others nodded, their earlier anger slowly fading into respect. It was as if Gu Jin’s words had lit up a path they had not thought of before.
But Gu Jin herself only shook her head. Her expression was calm, even cold. "I just know from experience. Souls do not vanish so easily."
She then motioned toward the limp figure of Gu Aihan in the other room. "Father, test her. Use the soul artifact on her. That will give us the answer."
Mr. Gu nodded firmly. "Alright."
They returned to the living room. Gu Aihan’s body was still slumped forward, her face pale, her eyes closed as if she were unconscious. But the room was heavy, as though waiting for the truth to be revealed.
Mr. Gu held the glowing crystal artifact in his hand. He closed his eyes, focused his energy, and lightly tapped it against Gu Aihan’s chest.
The crystal pulsed. A faint light spread out and hovered in the air. Slowly, a shape began to form, a small jade pendant glowing into existence.
Everyone leaned forward, their eyes wide.
When the pendant fully took shape, gasps filled the room again. Googlᴇ search novel(ꜰ)ire.net
It was not the same as Gu Aihan’s old pendant. The color was completely different.
Instead of the faint greyish-black that Gu Aihan’s soul had always shown, this pendant shone with a deep crimson mixed with a strange murky shadow.
"This..." Mr. Gu’s voice trembled. "This is not her."
Gu Jichun’s face twisted in confusion. "But wait, didn’t Gu Aihan’s pendant used to be dark too? Greyish, blackish... how do we know this is different?"
Gu Jishi frowned. "Yeah, maybe it’s just the same color changing."
But Mr. Gu shook his head firmly.
"No. Every soul has its own unique color. Gu Aihan’s was always dark grey and black, yes, but that was her soul’s nature. This..." He held up the new pendant, his hand trembling.
"This is completely different. Crimson and shadowed. It does not belong to her."
Gu Jin’s eyes were sharp as she looked at the pendant. Her voice was steady. "It proves what I said. The woman in front of us is not Gu Aihan. She is someone else entirely."
Long Yifan clenched his fists, glaring at the limp figure. "So she was telling the truth..."
Gu Jihu muttered, "All this time, we thought it was Gu Aihan, but her soul had already left."
Gu Jichun’s face was pale. "Then where is the real Gu Aihan? What happened to her?"
No one had the answer.
But Gu Jin finally broke the silence. Her calm voice was steady and cool.
"Instead of thinking about where Gu Aihan’s soul went," she said, "it would be better to focus on the soul that is inside her body right now."
Her words made everyone turn their attention to the girl lying on the floor. Gu Aihan’s body looked weak and lifeless, but her chest was rising and falling gently.
Her face was pale, her eyes closed, as though she was still unconscious.
Gu Jihu clenched his fists. "She’s pretending," he growled. "Let’s wake her up and force her to explain everything!"
Gu Jichun nodded angrily. "Yes, she can’t just play dead in front of us. She has answers and she owes them to us!"
The family moved forward, but Gu Jin raised her hand, stopping them.
"No," she said firmly.
Everyone froze, looking at her in surprise.
"Why not?" Gu Jishi asked, frowning. "She’s right there, pretending to sleep. Don’t you want to hear the truth?"
Gu Jin shook her head.
"If she is pretending, then it means she has reasons for hiding. A person doesn’t keep secrets without a purpose. If she truly wanted me dead, she wouldn’t have warned me about my fate. Think about it. If she wanted to see me die, she could have just kept quiet."
The Gu family exchanged glances, and slowly their expressions changed. Her words made sense.
Mr. Gu stroked his beard, his voice heavy. "Jin’er is right. If this soul wished us harm, she would not have told us anything. Perhaps she only wishes to survive."
The room fell silent again as they thought it over. Finally, Gu Jichun let out a long sigh. "Fine. But what do we do with her?"
Gu Jin’s eyes were calm as she spoke.
"We imprison her. Not cruelly, but securely. She is not Gu Aihan, and she is not the one who ruined our family. For that reason, she does not deserve our hatred. But she cannot be allowed to move freely either."
The family nodded in agreement.
And so, Gu Aihan’s body was placed in a guarded room. She was given food, clothing, and a bed, but she was not allowed to leave.
The Gu family did not beat her, nor did they insult her. They showed her respect, but they also showed their caution.
When Gu Aihan opened her eyes later, she realized she was still alive. For a long moment, she simply lay there, her eyes staring at the ceiling. A heavy breath of relief escaped her lips.
"They didn’t kill me," she whispered to herself.
Her mind drifted back to the day she had gained this body. At first, she had been thrilled. She finally had a physical form. She wanted to use it for revenge against the people who had harmed her before.
But she had barely escaped from the organization that had used this body for experiments when she was captured by Long Yifan’s men.
At that time, she was sure she would die. After all, the real Gu Aihan had made so many enemies. Surely, these people would tear her apart in anger.