Dugu Yan's words immediately won the agreement of most of the group.
Now that they were all in one group, as the Group Leader put it, they were all his people. There was no need to hide their identities from each other.
Wu Xing was about to speak when Shui Bing'er and Hu Liena took the lead, changing their nicknames to their real names.
[Shui Bing'er: This is my real name. My record can be checked. I'm a student at Skywater Academy.]
[Ning Rongrong: Skywater Academy? I think I've heard of it. It only accepts beautiful girls, but how do you know so much about men?]
At Ning Rongrong's question, a flush of embarrassment spread across Shui Bing'er's pure features in the Core Disciple dormitory at Skywater Academy.
She'd already pulled off her disguise, and Ning Rongrong was still pressing her for details. She couldn't exactly say that at an all-girls academy, the students were most keen to gossip about the opposite sex, and that she'd heard it by chance from her classmates!
Who'd believe that?
Fortunately, before she could think up an excuse, the Chat Group was flooded with messages.
[Hu Liena: I never change my name or surname. I'm Hu Liena. Why did you all say I was a sycophant before? It's because the Pope is my teacher!]
[Xue Qinghe:...]
[Qian Renxue: Fine. I've worn this disguise for over a decade. I'm tired of it.]
Seeing the two of them reveal their identities, Qian Renxue bit her lip. She was the only one left, and she couldn't make herself the exception, so she changed her name back to her real one too.
Besides, now that she'd received the opportunity of joining the Chat Group, whether the Spirit Hall's grand plan succeeded no longer mattered.
The most important thing now was to build a good relationship with Wu Xing.
[Xiao Wu: Well, Hu Liena, I knew you had a close relationship with Spirit Hall! So Bibi Dong is your teacher. No wonder you're so willing to serve them!]
[Bibi Dong: Nana, it's you? You're Nana? You joined the group chat—why didn't you tell your teacher?]
[Hu Liena: Teacher, Nana didn't mean to hide it. I was going to gather more information before reporting to you.]
When Xiao Wu saw that the Nine-Tailed Sky Fox belonged to Spirit Hall, she was the first to jump out, gritting her teeth in anger.
When Bibi Dong realized the Nine-Tailed Sky Fox was her disciple, Hu Liena, she froze for a moment, then was overcome with joy.
She hadn't expected Nana to be in the group too, in addition to her daughter. That meant Spirit Hall had three members here—a sure sign that the Group Leader favored them.
But before she could enjoy the moment, she saw her daughter's nickname change from Xue Qinghe to Qian Renxue, and a sudden wave of dread surged through her.
Sure enough, the very next moment, the thing she feared most happened.
[Dugu Yan: Qian Renxue? I haven't heard that name. Have any of you?]
[Ning Rongrong: I haven't either.]
[Zhu Zhuqing: The surname Qian... Could she be related to Qian Xunji, Spirit Hall's former Pope?]
[Qian Renxue: That's right. I'm related to Spirit Hall's former Pope. Qian Xunji was my father.]
The moment she said that, everyone was astonished. Apart from Hu Liena, no one had expected another woman in the group to be connected to Spirit Hall.
Even Hu Liena was stunned. This was the first time she'd heard the name Qian Renxue, and she'd never imagined that the former Pope's daughter was in the group too.
After all, Qian Renxue had infiltrated the Heaven Dou Imperial Family at the age of nine. Back then, she hadn't yet been brought back to Spirit Hall.
[Ning Rongrong: If you're the daughter of Pope Qian, why are you using the nickname of a Heaven Dou Empire crown prince?]
[Dugu Yan: Yeah, that's strange.]
[Qian Renxue: You'll have to ask the current Pope of Spirit Hall—my mother, Bibi Dong.]
[Bibi Dong:...]
[Hu Liena: What??? Qian Renxue, you're Teacher's daughter too?]
[The girls: Sitting back and waiting for the juicy gossip!]
Qian Renxue's words set the group ablaze, but more than anything, they sensed there was something deeper going on.
She was Bibi Dong's daughter too? This was even more explosive than what had happened with Sister Ah Yin. They couldn't look away.
And judging by their interaction in the group, the mother and daughter seemed to have a very unusual relationship. They acted more like mortal enemies.
Bibi Dong hadn't expected her own daughter to reveal everything about her so directly. She was caught completely off guard.
But after calming down and thinking it over, she decided it didn't matter. Now that she had the Chat Group, and the Group Leader knew everything about them, her daughter would sooner or later ask Wu Xing for an explanation.
Why not take this opportunity to lay everything out?
As for Spirit Hall's grand plan, with an opportunity like the Chat Group, it had become more or less irrelevant.
It had to be said that the mother and daughter were cut from the same cloth. Their thoughts were uncannily alike.
[Bibi Dong: Group Leader, please explain it to Xue'er.]
Wu Xing hadn't expected Qian Renxue to do that either. He'd been ready to sit back and enjoy the gossip, wondering how Bibi Dong would explain it, when she suddenly asked him to do it instead.
Was she unable to say it herself, so she wanted someone else to do it for her?
That made sense. It wasn't easy for someone involved to recount what had happened back then.
[Wu Xing: Bibi Dong, are you sure?]
[Bibi Dong: Yes. Sorry for the trouble, Group Leader.]
[Wu Xing: All right.]
Wu Xing didn't waste any more time. He spoke directly.
[Wu Xing: Qian Renxue, what do you want to know?]
[Qian Renxue: Group Leader, I want to know about my father, and why Bi... my mother never liked me from childhood—in fact, why she hated me!]
Qian Renxue took a deep breath and voiced the question she'd wanted answered for years.
[Wu Xing:...]
[Hu Liena:...]
[Everyone:...]
Now everyone understood why Qian Renxue always contradicted Bibi Dong in the group. They were nothing like a mother and daughter.
So there was a huge secret hidden behind it all!
Of course, they were even more curious about what kind of secret could make a mother dislike her own daughter from childhood, even hate her.
But some of them were clever enough to guess the reason. Bo Saixi, for instance, recalled everything that had happened since she joined the group and pieced together some of it.
[Wu Xing: It's a long story, but I can tell you this first: Bibi Dong loves you very much. She just can't get past the hurdle in her heart.]
[Wu Xing: And Bibi Dong, Qian Renxue desperately wants her mother's love and cares deeply about what you think. Otherwise, six years from now, she wouldn't make your Spirit Hall grand plan fail at the very last moment.]
[Wu Xing: Of course, this outcome also has something to do with the fact that both of you are hopeless romantics.]
Crack.
As Wu Xing slowly began to explain, the taut string inside Qian Renxue snapped completely.
That old woman loved her?
How could that be!
Qian Renxue thought back to everything she could remember: the way Bibi Dong seemed to hate her to the bone, the coldness with which she ignored her, and how every time Qian Renxue sought her out, she was met with an impatient expression.
From childhood onward, cold stares, indifference, distance, even hostility had been carved into her bones!
But now, a single casual remark from the Group Leader had overturned everything she knew.
What kind of hurdle could make a mother treat her newborn child so cruelly? How could she heartlessly abandon her?
At the Crown Prince's Mansion, Qian Renxue had already changed back into her own appearance. Her fingers clenched tight, the tips turning white, while her eyes involuntarily reddened with blood...
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