You Have a Brain Now

Only Yu Xiaogang, unaware of her status, had approached her with genuine closeness. He did not care whether she was a Saintess or a commoner; he simply treated her as Bibi Dong.

But... was this truly love?

If she only wanted to be treated like an ordinary person, then would it not suffice to find someone else who was ignorant of her identity?

She discovered, to her own surprise, that she could not say "I only love him" without hesitation.

Deng Tianxin watched the shifting expressions on Bibi Dong's face, knowing his words had taken effect.

The fragment within Bibi Dong grew increasingly restless, and Deng Tianxin felt immensely satisfied.

If he pushed a little harder, he might be able to seize the fragment today.

The problem, however, was her current state. If he continued to provoke her, would her volatile emotions lead to some unforeseen disaster?

"You are right."

Deng Tianxin blinked. "What?"

"I said, you are right." Bibi Dong raised her head, a complex smile gracing her face. "Perhaps... I really just enjoyed the feeling of being cared for. From childhood until now, aside from my master, no one has ever truly cared about me. Others respect me because I am the Saintess. The Spirit Masters of the Spirit Hall are deferential to me because I am the Pope's disciple. Only Xiaogang, when he didn't know who I was, was willing to listen to my inner thoughts."

She paused, her voice softening.

"But thinking about it carefully, he listened to my inner thoughts more because he wanted to use me to learn about the Spirit Hall, didn't he?"

Deng Tianxin gasped.

Good grief, so Bibi Dong knew it all along?

Then again, Bibi Dong's affliction was quite common; many young ladies or masters suffered from similar delusions.

To put it simply, this was just the novelty of the situation. Because she had encountered such a person for the first time, she felt he was special, and after spending time together, she mistook that for love.

Deng Tianxin looked Bibi Dong up and down.

That look was hard to describe—it was like watching a blockhead finally see the light, filled with three parts relief, three parts sentimentality, and four parts the satisfaction of seeing her finally understand.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Bibi Dong felt thoroughly uncomfortable under his gaze.

Deng Tianxin patted Bibi Dong and said, "It's nothing, Auntie, I'm just marveling at the fact that you finally have a brain."

Bibi Dong's expression froze instantly.

"What did you call me?"

Deng Tianxin's palm remained on Bibi Dong, his entire body frozen in place as if someone had hit the pause button.

He had been too busy feeling sentimental and had let his tongue slip, blurting out the word "Auntie" directly.

"Uh..." Deng Tianxin slowly retracted his hand, his short legs silently taking a step back. "Big sister, I said big sister, you heard wrong."

"I heard wrong?" Bibi Dong stood up, a smile on her face that made Deng Tianxin's scalp tingle. "That exclamation about you having a brain just now—what were the first two words?"

"It was big sister."

"Is that so?"

"Absolutely!"

Bibi Dong did not speak; she merely crossed her arms and looked down at Deng Tianxin, her eyes seeming to say, "Keep lying, go on, keep lying."

Deng Tianxin felt his skin crawl under her gaze, his mind racing to find a way to smooth things over.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck. He straightened his small face and put on a look of profound grief. "Big sister, that's not the point! The point is that you have finally recognized your own heart! That is what's worth celebrating!"

Bibi Dong raised an eyebrow but remained silent.

"Look, you admitted it yourself—your feelings for Yu Xiaogang are actually just a sense of novelty," Deng Tianxin continued, analyzing with fervor as she didn't interrupt. "Raised as a Saintess your whole life, you suddenly met someone who didn't treat you like one. You felt it was special, you felt it was fresh—that's normal. But is it really love? I don't think so. It's like if I ate delicacies every day and suddenly had a bowl of plain noodles, thinking, 'Wow, this is delicious.' That doesn't mean plain noodles are better than delicacies!"

The corner of Bibi Dong's eye twitched.

Plain noodles? Her first love was just a bowl of plain noodles in this little brat's mouth?

"Plain noodles?"

Bibi Dong repeated the words, her tone so calm it made Deng Tianxin's scalp prickle.

"A metaphor! It's just a metaphor!" Deng Tianxin hurriedly explained, his short hands waving rapidly in front of him. "I mean, it's not that he is a bowl of noodles, but that the concept of novelty is..."

"Enough." Bibi Dong cut him off, pressing a hand onto his head. The pressure wasn't heavy, but it made Deng Tianxin shut his mouth instantly.

She looked down at the little runt who only reached her waist and suddenly found it somewhat amusing.

He was clearly just a six-year-old child, yet he was earnestly analyzing her emotional problems, using plain noodles to describe her first love, and even telling her she finally had a brain.

Yet, it was this little brat who had made her stop and seriously consider the questions she had been avoiding all along.

About Yu Xiaogang, about herself, and about those complex feelings she had brushed aside with the single word "love."

"You are right. Whether it was novelty or a moment of impulse, these are my own problems." Bibi Dong's tone was uncharacteristically serious as her hand moved from his head to his shoulder. "But you've been scolding me for quite a while—calling me an auntie, a pervert, and love-brained—not to mention the robbery, the running away, and the pile of lies you spun. How do you think we should settle this account?"

Deng Tianxin's mouth twitched.

How was this woman so adept at bringing up old scores?

Wasn't she just immersed in the sorrowful atmosphere of reflecting on her first love?

How, in the blink of an eye, had she turned back into that petty, small-minded old auntie?

"Uh... Big Sister, look, the fact that we could meet in this vast sea of people is a form of destiny in itself. Why bother with such trivial details? Right?" Deng Tianxin laughed dryly, trying to brush it off. "Besides, that speech I just gave helped you recognize your own heart. Isn't that a massive favor? By all rights, you should be thanking me."

"Thanking you for calling me 'Auntie'?" Bibi Dong asked with a beaming smile.

"Er..."

"Thanking you for calling me a pervert?"

"That..."

"Thanking you for saying to my face that my first love was a bowl of plain noodles?"

"..."

Deng Tianxin fell silent.

He realized he had nothing to say, because when he thought about it carefully, he seemed to have done every single one of those things, and more than once at that.

Seeing the frustrated expression on his face, the smile on Bibi Dong's face deepened.

She crouched down to look Deng Tianxin in the eye, gazing earnestly into his large, round eyes.

"Little bastard, I am the Saintess of the Spirit Hall, raised while being held on a pedestal since I was a child. You are the first person who dared to scold me, anger me, and call me love-struck—and you're just a little shrimp thirteen years younger than me. If this got back to the Spirit Hall, where would I put my face?"

Deng Tianxin swallowed hard.

He had a vague, creeping feeling about what Bibi Dong was going to say next.