Qu Jianlei could hardly believe his ears. Stunned, he asked, "You don't need the Millennial Yin-Yang Lingzhi?"
Xiaomeng gritted her teeth bitterly. "If I really needed it, would I have let you look for it?"
At those words, every wrinkle on Qu Jianlei's face blossomed into a smile. "I thought... I thought you felt I'd been putting my heart into this..."
"You idiot!" Xiaomeng shot him a fierce glare. "I was the one who asked someone to divine the Millennial Yin-Yang Lingzhi for you. You knew to look for it years ago, but over the past few decades, have you even kept looking? Huh?!"
That shout truly gave Qu Jianlei a jolt. He carefully explained, "I did look. I just never found it. But since it concerned you, I put in a little more effort... How could I not cherish my own chance at Core Embrace?"
Xiaomeng looked at him silently, then let out a faint sigh. "Yes. I couldn't bring myself to keep pushing you, but you were still acting like this. I was anxious too, so I told you that... Can you honestly say you gave it your all?"
"Of course I..." Qu Jianlei stopped halfway through. He knew perfectly well that he had not truly given it his all. He had his pride, after all. How could he grab anyone he met and ask whether they knew where to find Millennial Yin-Yang Lingzhi?
And once he openly revealed what he needed, someone might very well use that need against him.
Xiaomeng shook her head and spoke helplessly. "I asked quite a few people for you too, but got nothing. So... I could only push you a little harder."
"Xiaomeng," Qu Jianlei said, looking at her with eyes that had reddened slightly.
But Xiaomeng's heart was rather hard.