When Wang Yang gave the order to kill Baoyue at all costs, he could never have imagined that one day he would face a question like this.
In truth, the moment he gave that order, the outcome had been sealed. Now it was almost a dead end.
There were two common misconceptions in human relationships.
The first was believing sincerity could deliver a killing blow, leading people to reveal every card at a critical moment, imagining that laying themselves completely bare would win the day.
The second was believing the human heart was unknowable, leading people to become suspicious at crucial moments, arming themselves to the teeth and resorting to nothing but scheming.
The former believed in trading heart for heart, assuming that offering absolute truth would earn equal trust and affection. In essence, this reduced complex emotional exchanges to mechanical barter, underestimating the depths and intricacies of human feeling while overestimating humanity's need for truth and capacity to bear it.
For instance, suppose a girl demanded resentfully, "Why are you so practiced at this?!"
Would you recount, without reservation, every time you had wandered among the flowers, then conclude, "Nothing special-just well-practiced hands," hoping your sincerity would move her heart?
Or would you laugh it off and say smugly, "I'm just naturally gifted. What can I do?" before receiving a savage pillow attack followed by sweet cuddling?
Or suppose an elder who admired you immensely warmly invited you to a gathering and dinner, where everyone enjoyed themselves and wine dissolved all formalities.
He asked you to assess the strengths and weaknesses of his scholarship, enlightening him with your genuine insights and speaking without restraint.
Would you truly abandon all restraint, launch into a wild discourse, list points one through four, expose his flaws, and vehemently detail where his scholarship