Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Little Ruo Doesn’t Believe Them Anymore

They believed they treated the two of them fairly, but they never noticed how their words always favored Bai Mu Mu and doubted Shen Sang Ruo.

Shen Sang Ruo said calmly, “No need. I have no evidence.”

Her goal was only to test Bai Mu Mu. Whether they believed her did not matter to her. Even if they did believe her, would they really punish Bai Mu Mu? At most they would make Bai Mu Mu apologize and then persuade Shen Sang Ruo to drop it. As for her grudge, she would take care of it herself.

Bai Mu Mu stared straight at her, surprise flashing in her eyes.

Wen Xuan was stunned for a moment, then swallowed the words he had been about to say, yet he still could not help adding: “If there is no proof, then stop dwelling on it.”

Feng He Yun eyed her with suspicion and asked, “You are not planning to go back and complain to Sect Master Shen and Master, are you?”

Shen Sang Ruo curved her lips in a mocking smile. In their hearts, how clingy did they think she was? She said, “When no one believes it, saying more is useless. Just pretend I never spoke.”

Wen Xuan felt as if a needle pricked his heart and protested, “Little Ruo, it is not that we do not believe you, it is…”

She looked at him with cold, quiet eyes, not like someone speaking in anger at all.

Then Wen Xuan realized that from the moment this topic began, her gaze had never truly fallen on them. She honestly did not expect them to trust her. He froze. [How could she not expect our trust? We are her Senior Brothers.] [Has she completely lost hope in us?] [That cannot be. We have always trusted her, except this time.]

He hurried through his memories, looking for proof that they had stood with her, and the result only made him more flustered. In every memory he could find, they had stood on the opposite side of Shen Sang Ruo. When Bai Mu Mu fell into the ravine, they decided at once that Shen Sang Ruo had done it. When a shopkeeper came to the sect to demand an explanation, they suspected her again. Things like that were too many to count. It was as if, whenever anything involved her, they would decide she was the one who did it.

The more Wen Xuan thought, the more alarmed he felt. For years they had treated Shen Sang Ruo like this. [Even I cannot find a reason for her to expect our trust.] If he had to find one, it would only be the bond between them.

He looked at Shen Sang Ruo. Her eyes were calm, like still water, with no ripple of feeling. Just as he had once believed, she had taken them as the closest people and had wanted their unconditional trust. But now Little Ruo did not believe them anymore. Yes, it looked like they did not believe Shen Sang Ruo, but the truth was that Shen Sang Ruo did not believe them.

Wen Xuan felt as if a hand squeezed his heart tight, worse than any panic before, and the Master of that hand was Shen Sang Ruo. It was like she had drawn a hard line through their years of closeness. No. It should not be like this. He hurt all over.

He glanced at Feng He Yun. Feng He Yun’s face was just as grim; he clearly understood the hidden meaning too. What looked like Shen Sang Ruo “slandering” Bai Mu Mu did not make them dislike Shen Sang Ruo. Instead, it made them more anxious about her.

Seeing their expressions, Bai Mu Mu dug her fingernails into her palm. She understood the situation less and less.

Shen Sang Ruo said coolly, “If my Senior Brothers and Sixth Junior Sister are fine, I will leave first.” She still had to hurry back to Ninghua Sect.

She had come only to give them a simple greeting. A few careless words were already her limit. If not for the ties of the same sect, she would not have said even these two lines. She regretted once more that her own curiosity had made her look their way and brought all this trouble.

She also saw the hurt in Feng He Yun’s and Wen Xuan’s eyes. She had once shown that same look countless times because of them, so how could she not recognize it? Now, watching them hurt because of her, she felt only irony. Beyond that, nothing at all. She would never look back.

Without anyone noticing, their positions had fully reversed. Now it was she who looked down on them.

Wen Xuan had already woken from the joy of finding Shen Sang Ruo alive, and her coldness poured another basin of cold water on him. He asked sadly, “Little Ruo, will you still not say a few more words to us?”

He remembered how she used to hover by their sides, smiling and chattering. Back then, they only thought she was noisy. Now the words she said to them could be counted on one hand, and whenever she looked at them, there was always a thin layer of distance. There was no longer any warmth or closeness. She did not even ask how their wounds were.

Little Ruo would not care about them now. She did not care anymore. Wen Xuan suddenly missed the Shen Sang Ruo who would run up to greet them with a bright smile and tell them all the funny things she had seen. But now they could not go back.

They were all badly hurt. The places burned by the fireball throbbed faintly, yet none of it hurt as much as his heart. Wen Xuan lowered his eyes, full of sorrow.

Shen Sang Ruo said coldly, “My Senior Brothers never liked talking to me. I am only doing what you asked of me.”

Wen Xuan burned with shame. He knew she had become like this because of them. As her Senior Brothers, they should have protected and cared for her. What had they done instead? Not one of them had failed to hurt her. They owed Shen Sang Ruo too much. He tried to speak, but only opened and closed his mouth without a sound. He could only look at her with sadness and hope, hoping she would stay for the sake of the sect. At least they were still fellow disciples. Even if she was distant, surely she would not be that distant.

“Fifth Junior Sister, you barely escaped with your life. We were all worried about you. Please come back to the sect with us,” Feng He Yun said.

He had wanted to add that they could protect her if they traveled together, but thinking that most of her injuries had come from them, he could only add, “Then we can be at ease.”

He was depressed too. Why would Shen Sang Ruo not draw close to them? Yes, they had done some things wrong, but now that they knew, they could change. Before, if she cut her finger, she would act spoiled around them for days. Now, after a brush with life and death, Shen Sang Ruo treated them like this, as if it did not matter if she never saw them again.

[It must still be the matter of Lu Shi Qing and the Seven Emotions Gu,] Feng He Yun thought as he tugged at Lu Shi Qing’s sleeve.

From beginning to end, Lu Shi Qing had not said a word. He only stood to the side watching Shen Sang Ruo speak with them.