Almost Got Talked Into Believing Shuang Yue

Shuang Yue's theory was far too well-reasoned.

So much so that

I couldn't get a word out for ages.

No, no. Something still wasn't right.

I—I couldn't let myself get talked into believing something ridiculous.

This was actually a trap in logical thinking. You couldn't deny a truth you could see and touch just because someone else's conclusion sounded correct.

Shuang Yue was a little uncanny. Whether I was a cat or not—

wouldn't I know best?

If I listened to Shuang Yue for much longer, I'd start doubting whether I was even human.

So I instinctively opened my mouth to argue.

I wanted to explain that this was just a personal habit and had nothing to do with me not being human.

The only reason I called my daughter that was because that was what the system interface said. It called the daughter I was carrying a cub, and then went on to list other details.

Suddenly, I froze.

Wait. That was how the system described her.

The system!

It was as if a sudden flash of insight had struck me. My whole body jolted.

Couldn't that—actually prove something?

At the thought, I inexplicably started to panic.

No.

Something still wasn't right. How could I be a cat?

I needed to stay calm. I couldn't let Shuang Yue lead me into the pit of a self-confirming fallacy with just a few words.

What normal human would hear a few words from someone else and, as if possessed, decide from then on that they were a cat?

Under Ye Qingxian's appraising, not doubtful, gaze, I took a deep breath just like Shuang Yue and steadied myself.

Her argument did have some persuasive power, but there wasn't all that much to it when you examined it closely.

Because

one crucial piece of evidence was still missing.

I had always been a real human, standing right in front of everyone now, someone whose humanity could be sensed directly by sight and spiritual sense.

Ye Qingxian and Yue Wuhua were both renowned cultivators with minds of their own. People like them would obviously trust what they saw with their own eyes more than "evidence" described by someone else.

"Senior Sister Shuangyue, listen to me first." I suddenly raised my voice. This couldn't go on.

I was Ye Xiaoyao, and I'd taken care of myself for as long as I could remember. I saw my own body every day when I bathed and slept. Other people might not know, but how could I not?

I couldn't let Shuang Yue keep making her case.

There was something downright bewitching about her. Couldn't she see that I was questioning my whole existence now?

I could humor Shuang Yue about other things, but not this.

"I can say for certain that I'm human." This concerned the last shred of a human's dignity. I took another deep breath and resolved that this wasn't some sort of cat-pride defense campaign. Then I spoke to Shuang Yue as evenly as I could. "You must have been seeing things. The truth you decided on long ago is false at its core."

"I'm not wrong. I wasn't seeing things." Shuang Yue's lashes trembled, but her conviction never wavered.

Her answer was firm and crisp, and her eyes still shone with a starry longing. "Besides, you're the cutest cat I've ever seen. You're the most noble of all cats, and the one and only Princess."

My head suddenly started to hurt.

It was the first time I'd met someone so difficult to deal with, with a fixation every bit as strong as my plan to rule the world.

Commonly known as being stubborn as a mule.

If Shuang Yue were a villain, I'd want to recruit her as a partner.

She was a perfect genius!

Seeing that nobody believed her, Shuang Yue could only give a slightly helpless sigh. "The truth is what it is. Whether you believe me or not, there's nothing I can do about it."

"I was certain Junior Sister Xiaoyao was the Cat Princess, and that's why I wanted to become her closest family member. As the only family member second to Father, naturally I'd need her approval before dating."

Ye Qingxian had been listening the whole time. At that, she inexplicably let out a sigh of relief.

I did my best to act calm, silently repeating that nobody could strip me of my human status, though my fingertips trembled a little.

"I'm not a cat," I instinctively explained to Ye Qingxian.

Ye Qingxian paused, then nodded very seriously.

Under everyone's gaze, the little girl held a big cup in both hands and took another sip of her sweet fruit juice.

In the next moment, she replied in a soft yet equally stubborn tone, "You can have your 'anyway,' and I can have mine."

Don't think you're the only one who can use that word. I, Ye Xiaoyao, am officially certified as difficult too.

"Anyway, I'm definitely not a cat."

"You are a cat!" Shuang Yue retorted with utmost seriousness, staring at me as she corrected my words.

"Not a cat." I took another sip of juice.

Don't even think about stripping me of my human status. Not even you, Shuang Yue.

"Cat."

"Human."

When stubbornness met stubbornness,

when a stubborn junior sister met a stubborn little girl, a rather amusing scene was born.

Looking at the two little girls with their similarly stubborn streaks, Ye Qingxian inexplicably felt a headache coming on.

Their ceaseless chatter sounded like two little bees buzzing around her head.

Her eyelids kept drooping against her will. Another thought surfaced in her mind from nowhere: Had Yue Wuhua been right all along?

She couldn't let her junior sister keep babbling.

She'd just thought that her junior sister had been less prickly than usual today, and that they could almost have a normal conversation. Now she inexplicably felt that the little mouth was the same as ever, spouting words that made her eyelids twitch nonstop. Her specialty was saying not a single nice thing.

The argument ended without reaching an agreement, at least for now.

I flopped onto the table in a huff and didn't even want my juice anymore.

Shuang Yue gazed at me with wide, pleading eyes, seeming to want to apologize. She looked a little pitiful, too.

Though the conclusion was absurd, Shuang Yue had clearly meant every word. There was no need to make anything more of it.

After letting out a sigh of relief, Yue Wuhua kept staring at Shuang Yue's little mouth, which had been chattering away moments ago. Her lashes suddenly lowered, casting a shadow over her eyes.

Ye Qingxian didn't need to turn her gaze to know what someone had in mind.

As for me, I didn't react at all. I slowly lifted my eyelids and happened to catch the eager look in Ye Qingxian's eyes.

And Ye Qingxian was still watching me.

At that moment, only one thought remained in Ye Qingxian's mind.

What should she do?

She wanted to discipline her junior sister too.

But her junior sister was just like her: straight.

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