Hu Ning was annoyed by the fact that her words didn't seem to have diminished Liu Zihan's suspicion toward her in the slightest.
It wasn't that she cared about Liu Zihan's lack of trust; rather, it was the fact that Liu Zihan seemed to be ignoring the voice of reason. In the absence of any conclusive evidence pointing to her, how could Liu Zihan consider her the primary suspect when it came to informing her mother about Han Yu's courtship?
Thinking that it was out of character for Liu Zihan to act so irrationally, Hu Ning suspected that she simply wanted to divert her attention from questioning her about her feelings for Liu Fengying.
In any case, Hu Ning had no intention of letting Liu Zihan off the hook so easily; it hadn't been easy to bring up the subject of the relationship between her and her sister so naturally, catching her off guard. But now, feeling provoked by Liu Zihan, she intended to become even harder to handle.
"After all, you have zero evidence that I had any involvement in this whole thing; in other words, it's just your imagination…" Hu Ning finally said, visibly dissatisfied.
And to make Liu Zihan understand how she felt, she decided to give her a taste of her own medicine:
"Honestly, I think I would be far more justified in assuming that something tainted happened between you and Fengying in the past. She used to be so caring toward you—where have you ever seen such friendship between a legitimate child and an illegitimate one? Well, unless Fengying happens to be some kind of saint…"
"Hu Ning, are you really trying to push me over the edge?" Liu Zihan cut her off before she could finish. Not only was the scenario Hu Ning presented extremely dangerous if it reached the wrong ears, but it also felt like she was smearing the purity of her past relationship with Liu Fengying—a relationship grounded in a profound connection of souls, not some animalistic urge like physical lust.
"If you have too much free time on your hands and nothing better to do than invent stories about me, then I'll think of a way to keep you busy. Yes, as far as I remember, that contract your family wanted so badly to secure hasn't been signed yet…" Liu Zihan continued in a threatening tone. Although she didn't like leveraging her family's influence, she had no choice this time given the critical nature of the situation.
Did Liu Zihan actually have a way to carry out her threat? Well, she was merely bluffing; her relationship with her father was nowhere near good enough at the moment for her to influence his business decisions. In fact, one could say it was worse now than at the beginning, when she still considered Liu Yichen just her stepfather. However, since no one had any way of knowing this, people feared her; after all, seeing a tiger is enough to make anyone run—no one sticks around to check if it actually has teeth.
Yet, just as Hu Ning had no way of knowing Liu Zihan's family situation, the reverse was equally true. Hu Ning wasn't particularly happy with her own family members at the moment, who, after a period of business success due to their closeness to Liu Zihan's family, had become overly arrogant. Thus, she wasn't afraid of the possibility that they might suffer because of her; on the contrary, she thought it might be good for them to be brought back down to earth.
"See? Even though I merely voiced a suspicion, you still got upset. Do you understand now how your accusations made me feel?" Hu Ning said, entirely unfazed, looking like a kindergarten teacher dealing with a child's tantrum.
"..." Liu Zihan lost some of her momentum; this wasn't just because her intimidation tactic had failed, but also because Hu Ning's attitude made her feel like a circus monkey putting on a show.
"Anyway, as I said, the aggressiveness with which you're reacting makes you seem even more suspicious of hiding something…" Hu Ning continued, maintaining a superior air, like a god analyzing the affairs of mortals from high above in the heavens.
However, to show Liu Zihan that—unlike her—she was far more reasonable, she decided to give her the benefit of the doubt:
"Let's say, though, I take your word that nothing out of the ordinary happened between you and Fengying in the past; after all, I have no evidence to prove otherwise. Still, are you capable of swearing that even if you weren't half-sisters, you still wouldn't want to be in a relationship with her? I'm thinking the reason you're so angry is that, even though you're attracted to her, your hands are tied…"
Well, it seemed Hu Ning intended to stop dwelling on things that could no longer be verified, focusing instead on ongoing matters.
To Liu Zihan, the new hypothesis Hu Ning came up with was just as annoying as the previous one; in principle, it revolved around the same theme: that she was in love with Fengying. On top of that, Liu Zihan was further irritated by the thought experiment Hu Ning proposed because she saw no point in analyzing the past to ask "what if this had happened" or "what if that had been the case." Since the past is set in stone, people have no choice but to take it as it is.
However, as she began to get "acclimatized" to the accusations Hu Ning threw at her, Liu Zihan realized that she was right: reacting with such aggressiveness wasn't the best way to prove her innocence. She concluded that it would be best to give Hu Ning a clear, firm response that would reject the hypothesis once and for all, leaving no room for reinterpretation.
"I'm not attracted to girls, so it's impossible for me to see her that way…" Liu Zihan said with complete decisiveness.
Hu Ning reacted with such shock upon hearing those words, as if 99% of all women were lesbians, making the probability of Liu Zihan being straight almost negligible.
"Have you ever shown interest in a boy? Not only have you not, but you also tolerated Zhang Mei's presence around you for nearly a year just to use her as a shield whenever a boy wanted to interact with you. What, do you think I didn't realize that? Anyway, what straight girl would act like that?" Hu Ning rushed to contradict her.
"Cough!…" Liu Zihan was caught off guard by the fact that Hu Ning had seen right through the motive behind her so-called friendship with Zhang Mei; she had wanted to imply that Zhang Mei had managed to get close to her through her gift of flattery.
Yet, Liu Zihan wasn't overly concerned because, logically speaking, Hu Ning's argument didn't actually contradict her words.
"I don't see what one has to do with the other. Just because I don't like girls, does that mean I'm obligated to like boys? The truth is, I'm not attracted to anyone…" Liu Zihan explained, looking at Hu Ning as if she were being dense.
Situations where Hu Ning was left at a loss for words occurred quite rarely. Well, Liu Zihan's comeback managed to put her in precisely that position.
Hu Ning found it hard to believe her. Looking at the way Liu Zihan's body had begun to develop, it was obvious she wasn't lacking in hormones; was it really possible for a girl with the potential to become a woman overflowing with sensuality to exhibit zero sexual drive? Hu Ning thought that was only possible in the case of an extreme narcissist, but since Liu Zihan didn't seem to fit into that category, she doubted that she lacked the capacity to find someone else attractive.
Still, it was impossible for Hu Ning to test whether Liu Zihan was truly asexual; she couldn't exactly try to seduce her just to see if she got a reaction, could she? On one hand, she lacked the talent for such a thing, and on the other, Liu Zihan would almost certainly be more terrified than charmed if she tried to hit on her. In conclusion, Liu Zihan had managed to checkmate her with a piece she hadn't even taken into account.
"Ahem, while I find that a bit hard to believe, it's not impossible; maybe all the passion was burnt out in previous generations…" Hu Ning said jokingly, wanting to hide the fact that she didn't know how to proceed next. After all, every scenario she had envisioned centered around Liu Zihan either vehemently denying it or flustered out of her mind.
One could say her situation was similar to that of a chess player who, accustomed to matches following studied strategies, discovers that their spontaneity has rusted over the moment something goes off script.
Perhaps Hu Ning's words sounded like a random remark, but for anyone remotely familiar with Liu Zihan's family history, it wasn't hard to deduce that Hu Ning was hinting at the relationship between Liu Zihan's parents—a relationship so passionate that it hadn't mattered that one of them was already married.
It wasn't as though Hu Ning planned to get anywhere with that comment; rather, it was said out of spite, born from the frustration of her plans falling through. Yet, much like how flashes of genius strike artists involuntarily, Hu Ning inadvertently managed to hit the exact reason behind Liu Zihan's apparent "asexuality." After all, due to the immorality of her parents' relationship, Liu Zihan had come to view sexual attraction as something corrupting to be avoided at all costs—hence her decision never to enter a relationship.
"That's a possibility too…" Liu Zihan replied in the same playful manner, unwilling to let Hu Ning discover yet another weak spot to exploit and irritate her.
However, beneath the mask of someone making light of a bad situation, she was nowhere near in a good mood. Liu Zihan began to think that, just as she intended to end her "friendship" with Zhang Mei, she ought to cut ties with Hu Ning as well, as she was becoming far too uncomfortable to have around.