Qian Renxue fell silent, at a loss for words.
Outside the carriage, Snake Lance Douluo was also struggling to keep his expression composed.
This was treating someone like a complete idiot and pulling the wool over their eyes!
"Then... what about now?" Qian Renxue asked.
"Do you want the truth, or something pleasant to hear?" Xuan Ming asked.
Qian Renxue paused. "The truth."
"Don't say what shouldn't be said," Xuan Ming said.
"You said that yourself."
Qian Renxue was momentarily speechless. "Then what about something pleasant?"
"Sorry, I don't know how," Xuan Ming said.
"..." Qian Renxue.
So he just wasn't going to say anything, was he!
Qian Renxue took a deep breath. "There were some misunderstandings about what happened before..."
"..."
Xuan Ming remained silent, quietly listening to Qian Renxue's explanation without interrupting or agreeing. He listened, yet it was as though he hadn't.
"Could you give me some kind of response?" Qian Renxue said.
"What kind of response?" Xuan Ming asked in confusion.
"You don't believe me?" Qian Renxue asked.
"I do," Xuan Ming said.
"No, you don't," Qian Renxue said with certainty.
"All right, I don't," Xuan Ming said.
"But that's the truth," Qian Renxue said.
"..."
Xuan Ming took a deep breath. "Then may I ask, should I believe you or not?"
"Do you want me to believe you or not?"
"I want you to believe me, not just agree with your mouth," Qian Renxue said.
"How do you know I don't believe you?" Xuan Ming asked in return.
"I can tell you don't," Qian Renxue said.
"..."
"Did the Pope say something to you?" Qian Renxue asked suspiciously.
"Listen to me. This really isn't what you think. My grandfather and the others were schemed against by the Pope."
Xuan Ming sighed. "May I speak?"
"I haven't stopped you from speaking," Qian Renxue said.
"I'd like to ask, what is it you need?" Xuan Ming asked.
"What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to believe what I'm saying," Qian Renxue said.
"Believe you?" Xuan Ming paused.
"With all due respect, if you want me to believe you, then you should be worthy of my trust, rather than demanding that I trust you."
"Why am I not worthy of your trust?" Qian Renxue asked.
"Is the Pope worthy of your trust, then? Don't forget, she was the one who had Yue Guan abduct you from Sunset Forest."
"First of all, we're talking about you right now," Xuan Ming said.
"Second, when did I ever trust the Pope?"
"Isn't the Pope the reason you don't trust me?" Qian Renxue said.
Xuan Ming took a deep breath. "If I told you she never mentioned any of you to me, or said anything to sow discord, would you believe me?"
"How is that possible?" Qian Renxue didn't believe it at all.
"I've never shown you any ill will. In fact, I was trying to help you from the very beginning. If she hadn't said something, why wouldn't you trust me at all?"
"..."
Xuan Ming didn't respond. He had already given up.
He had never understood why Qian Daoliu, Golden Crocodile, and Qian Renxue all instinctively treated him like an idiot!
They thought that whatever they said, no matter how ridiculous or unreasonable it was, he should believe it and obey with boundless gratitude.
Now he understood. They weren't treating him like an idiot. They simply thought this was how things should be.
Whatever they said was how it should be!
Likewise, Qian Renxue wouldn't listen to him, nor did she want to hear him speak.
She only wanted him to obey.
That lofty, stubborn insistence on her own views was just like those asshole bosses he had encountered when he used to work!
What they cared about was never right or wrong, only whether he obeyed.
Those assholes thought that because they paid him, he should naturally put up with whatever they said, a beast of burden toiling without complaint.
Qian Renxue was the same now. She thought she was being good to him, so whatever she said or did, he should believe and accept it with boundless gratitude.
Qian Renxue wasn't communicating with him. She was merely issuing orders.
She had first established her position as absolutely correct, so when she issued orders and failed to get the results she wanted, she would only think there was something wrong with the person receiving them.
She only wanted the result she desired.
"What's wrong?" Qian Renxue looked at Xuan Ming, who had lowered his head without a word.
"I kind of want to die," Xuan Ming said.
Qian Renxue froze. "Why?"
Xuan Ming took a deep breath. "Why don't you just kill me and get it over with?"
Qian Renxue frowned slightly. "When did I ever..."
"Ahem!" Snake Lance Douluo couldn't bear watching any longer.
Qian Renxue truly bore the boy no ill will, but she was looking at everything entirely from her own perspective, without considering what he had been through at all.
She had been talking at him the whole time. She was too impatient.
Qian Renxue wasn't usually this impatient.
"I just wanted to say that you shouldn't readily believe the Pope's words," Qian Renxue said.
"I should readily believe yours?" Xuan Ming asked.
"I really don't understand. If you only want to use me, then you just need to offer enough benefits and issue orders. Even if you gave me nothing, I wouldn't have the right to refuse and would still have to obey. Why do you have to torment me like this?"
Qian Renxue grew somewhat anxious. "I'm not trying to use you. I..."
"Then what are you trying to do?" Xuan Ming asked, bewildered.
"When the Pope tries to win people over, she at least cares whether I live or die. Even if she's pretending, at least she makes the effort."
"What about you? You can't even be bothered to pretend."
"From start to finish, you haven't said a single word of concern. You started straight off with interrogation and suspicion, looking ready to drive me to my death."
"And you say everyone else harbors ulterior motives toward me, and you're the only one who's sincere?"
"Your sincerity means driving me to my death?"
"Have you treated me like a person? Even training a dog shouldn't be done like this, should it?"
Believing her wasn't right, and neither was disbelieving her!
Whether he stuck his head out or pulled it back, the blade would fall all the same!
"I... didn't mean that." Qian Renxue felt a little guilty.
Xuan Ming had spent two months in Spirit City, most of that time in the Pope's Palace. She was truly worried that woman had already instilled something in him.
First impressions took root. If she didn't clear up the misunderstanding as soon as possible, would Xuan Ming still listen to her in the future?
"Are you... all right?" Qian Renxue tentatively reached out and touched the lump on Xuan Ming's forehead.
Xuan Ming's brows knitted tightly. "Why don't you just kill me?"
"What did I do now?" Qian Renxue asked indignantly.
"It's such a huge lump that I don't even dare touch it myself. It hurts like hell, and you just reached out and pressed it?" Xuan Ming felt as though he was about to fall apart.
If he had to face this kind of forced psychological manipulation every day after reaching Heaven Dou City, wouldn't he go mad?
"Then... should I blow on it for you?" Qian Renxue offered tentatively.
"..." Xuan Ming.
"Could you let me calm down?"
Qian Renxue moved over to sit beside him. "You go ahead and calm down. I'll blow on it for you. It won't hurt once I do."
"No need..."
"Don't move!"
"..."
Chapter 59: The opposite effect
After entering the area around Heaven Dou Imperial City, Qian Renxue's group stopped in a forest not far from Heaven Dou City, both to rest and to lay the groundwork for Xuan Ming's legitimate return.
After all, he had disappeared for several months in a hellhole like Sunset Forest. If he suddenly returned, there had to be a plausible explanation.
"Have you thought about how to explain the months you were missing?" Qian Renxue asked.
"..."
"Xuan Ming?"
Xuan Ming opened his eyes and took a deep breath. "I think this is something you should be considering."
"I'm asking for your opinion," Qian Renxue said.
"I have no opinion," Xuan Ming said.
"Be serious." Qian Renxue frowned slightly.
"Xue Qinghe will be coming here to pick you up tomorrow."
Xuan Ming sat up. "A Soul Beast carried me off in its jaws. After I woke up, I survived in the wilderness of Sunset Forest and returned to Heaven Dou City after enduring a thousand hardships. Will that explanation do?"
"That's too fake. You're a six-year-old child who just obtained a Soul Ring. How could you survive in a hellhole like Sunset Forest?" Qian Renxue said.
A pack of Thousand-Year Soul Beasts had appeared that night, along with several Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. Never mind a child like Xuan Ming-even a Soul Saint would have been in extreme danger. One careless move and they would have been surrounded and killed by the pack.
Moreover, the imperial guards and large numbers of Soul Masters had entered Sunset Forest to search afterward. Dugu Bo had searched for several days without catching so much as a glimpse of him.
"Would everyone believe that a child who wasn't even a Soul Master could turn the tables on two Soul Grandmaster traffickers, kill them, and escape?" Xuan Ming asked.
"Or would they believe I survived being caught up in a battle between three Titled Douluos?"
"Or would they believe my First Soul Ring was eight hundred years old?"
"Fake? Aren't all those things fake too?"
"But Barak's prince also disappeared. If the explanation is too careless and people refuse to believe it, they'll easily connect Baers's disappearance to you," Qian Renxue said.