My Charm is Truly Great

That smile clearly said, "Do you really think we'll listen to you?"

Deng Tianxin looked at the smiles on the two women before him and felt a chill run down his spine.

He was all too familiar with this kind of smile; it was the exact expression Bibi Dong wore every time she was about to discipline him.

It was gentle, amiable, and looked completely harmless, but the next second, she would have him pinned across her lap, wailing to the heavens.

Deng Tianxin instinctively took half a step back, his heel catching on the edge of the bed. He plopped back down, his short legs dangling off the side, looking both pathetic and helpless.

"What... what do you want?" Deng Tianxin's voice wavered involuntarily.

He braced his small hands against the mattress, leaning back, looking exactly like a cornered little animal.

"I'm warning you, I am the personal disciple of the Spirit Hall Saintess. If you dare to force me, just wait until my teacher returns..."

"And what will happen when your teacher returns?" Liu Erlong leaned over, bracing her hands on the edge of the bed and trapping him between herself and the mattress.

Liu Erlong beamed. "Didn't you say you were going to spank her? Why are you using her name to scare us now?"

Deng Tianxin opened his mouth, realized he was contradicting himself, and simply hardened his heart, snapping his mouth shut.

The more he said, the more mistakes he made. Rather than letting them catch his words and tease him repeatedly, he might as well play dead.

Seeing his "ready to die" expression, Tang Yuehua's heart softened after all.

She tapped Liu Erlong on the shoulder, signaling her to stop teasing the child, then sat on the edge of the bed and pulled Deng Tianxin into her arms.

Tang Yuehua's voice was as gentle as a spring breeze in March. "Alright, alright, we won't tease you anymore. Lady Erlong and I don't want to make things difficult for you, but we really are worried about a child like you traveling such a long distance alone. How about this: we'll escort you to the gates of Spirit City and then leave. We won't go inside, and we won't let anyone from Spirit Hall see us. How does that sound?"

Deng Tianxin poked half his head out from her embrace, suspiciously eyeing Tang Yuehua's incredibly gentle face.

To be honest, he trusted this sister a little more than Liu Erlong; after all, Tang Yuehua was indeed more reliable in her words and actions.

But he still felt this wasn't as simple as it seemed. These two women were playing good cop and bad cop, coordinating seamlessly—it was clearly a trap.

"You'll really only take me to the city gates?" Deng Tianxin asked warily.

"Really," Tang Yuehua nodded with a smile.

"And you won't go inside?"

"We won't."

"And you won't appear in front of anyone from Spirit Hall?"

"Absolutely not."

Deng Tianxin stared at her for several seconds, then turned to look at Liu Erlong.

Liu Erlong shrugged, her expression clearly saying, I don't care, I'm following you regardless.

He sighed, knowing he couldn't win against these two women today.

He couldn't beat Liu Erlong alone, and with Tang Yuehua there to use softness to overcome his hardness, his resistance was like a pebble thrown into a lake—it wouldn't even cause a ripple.

"Fine, fine," Deng Tianxin resigned himself, his head drooping, his voice filled with the helplessness of someone who had given up. "Escort me if you must, but it's settled: once we reach the gates, you have to leave. If anyone dares to follow me in, I'll... I'll..."

"You'll what?" Liu Erlong asked with interest.

"I'll cry until you see!" Deng Tianxin declared fiercely.

Liu Erlong and Tang Yuehua froze for a moment, then one laughed so hard she slapped her thigh, while the other doubled over, covering her mouth.

A little brat actually using crying as a threat—this was likely the least intimidating threat they had ever heard in their lives.

"What are you laughing at!" Deng Tianxin's hard-earned momentum vanished completely under their laughter.

Anger turning into shame, he jumped off the bed. Standing on the edge, he put his hands on his hips, finally managing to be half a head taller than the two seated women.

Deng Tianxin took a deep breath, lifted his chin, and put on a look of world-weary disdain. His tone was filled with pained lamentation. "Sigh, my charm is truly too great. Even two sisters like you are so infatuated with me that you insist on following me back to Spirit Hall. But I suppose that's to be expected; after all, I am so cute and such a genius, you won't find another like me in the entire Douluo Continent."

As he spoke, he shook his head with great gravity and reached up to touch the dragon horns on his head, acting as if he were deeply troubled. His expression was as smug as it could possibly be.

Liu Erlong's laughter stopped abruptly.

She stared at Deng Tianxin's smug little face for two seconds, then slowly turned her head to exchange a look with Tang Yuehua.

Deng Tianxin didn't catch that look, but its meaning was clear: this little brat's skin was itching again.

"Yuehua," Liu Erlong cracked her knuckles, the sound echoing softly. "I think our little Tianxin has some misunderstandings about himself that need correcting."

"I think so too," Tang Yuehua stood up gracefully, that dignified, gentle smile still lingering on her lips.

However, her fingers were already quietly pinching the lace at her cuffs, as if she were seriously considering the best angle to strike without causing too much pain.

The smile on Deng Tianxin's face froze instantly. He instinctively took a step back, forgetting he was standing on the edge of the bed. His heel hit empty air, and he tipped backward.

Liu Erlong was quick-witted, grabbing his collar and pulling him back from the brink of a fall. She then scooped him into her arms, and a slender finger poked his chubby cheek.

"Charm is truly great, is it?"

"Infatuated, are we?"

"Won't find another in the entire continent, right?"

With every question, her finger poked him—not too hard, not too soft—leaving little shallow dimples on Deng Tianxin's cheeks.

Tang Yuehua didn't miss her chance either, reaching out with her index finger to join the pincer attack from the other side. The two of them, one on each side, treated Deng Tianxin's face like some novel musical instrument, poking him until he was howling.

"I was wrong! I was wrong, okay!" Caught in a pincer movement, Deng Tianxin didn't even have room to struggle, so he could only desperately shrink into Liu Erlong's embrace.

Halfway through shrinking, he suddenly realized that this embrace was also an enemy's, and he scrambled to crawl back out, only to be pressed firmly back down by Liu Erlong.

"Too late," Liu Erlong and Tang Yuehua said in unison.

Pinned in Liu Erlong's arms and poked repeatedly on both cheeks, Deng Tianxin simply gave up struggling, going limp on her lap like a resigned salted fish.

He stared up at the ceiling, his eyes revealing a world-weariness that transcended his age, and let out a long, heart-wrenching sigh, his face clearly etched with the words: I regret everything.