"You're unlucky, but at the same time, you're very lucky." Zhou Ze smiled. "I could tell from what he said that he was very proud of you, too."
"Really?" A hint of delight and embarrassment appeared on Yaorao's face.
Nothing made a child happier than a parent's approval.
"Mm. All right, enough family talk." Zhou Ze's expression returned to normal. "I know the basics of your situation from Hong."
"You've been with Hong since you were little, and you've also practiced cultivating your state of mind under his guidance. But it doesn't seem to be going very well?"
Yaorao looked a little downcast. "I did exactly what he told me, but I don't know why it hasn't worked..."
"Because you don't dare face your true feelings!" When Zhou Ze encountered problems like this, he always felt it was best to cut straight to the heart of the matter and be decisive.
Hesitate, and you'll lose. Go soft, and you'll suffer!
"You like Hong, don't you?"
Zhou Ze's voice boomed like thunder, exploding inside Yaorao's heart!
"Of course... He's like a father to me..."
Yaorao was in a complete panic. She had Councilor Level strength and stood 1.9 meters tall, with an exaggeratedly curvaceous figure, yet she was acting like a bashful little girl. The contrast was off the charts!
"No. I mean romantically! I've caught you sneaking glances at Hong several times. That awkward look in your eyes—you think you're hiding it well, but even an idiot could see through you."
"Do you think Hong doesn't know? He just hasn't said anything because he's afraid of hurting you. Or maybe he's been waiting for the right opportunity all along—and that opportunity is me!"
Zhou Ze said coldly.
Crack!
Yaorao's heart crumbled. Unwilling to accept reality, she cried, "That's enough! Stop talking!"
"Why are you shouting so loud..." Zhou Ze raised an eyebrow. Hong really was unbelievable—he wouldn't even deal with his own problems himself.
As he spoke, a water-blue domain bloomed, enveloping the entire Training Hall.
He didn't want Yaorao's voice carrying outside and inviting gossip. It wasn't that he was afraid; he just didn't want the hassle.
The domain spread, its power similar to Hong's, and Yaorao immediately calmed down somewhat.
But she still clung to hope.
"I know the Hall Master is afraid of trouble. He's the strongest person on Earth, so everyone keeps an eye on him. And he has children of his own. If people found out he'd fallen for his adopted daughter..." Yaorao spoke with absolute conviction.
Zhou Ze said flatly, "He's never liked you that way..."
Before Zhou Ze had even finished, Yaorao raised her voice. "Then why does he care about me so much? That's clearly more than family affection. He likes me too!"
"He just doesn't want to face it. He's afraid—afraid the whole world will find out about our relationship."
"If he doesn't like me, why doesn't he just say so? Why make me his personal guard? He calls me his guard, but I've always been doing secretarial work for him..."
Damn you, Hong!
You'll never repay the favor you owe me—not in a lifetime! Just tell me "Loyalty!" and "Integrity!"
Zhou Ze felt a headache coming on.
Irrational women, kids who hadn't matured, and old people who tried to scam others were the biggest headaches!
Kids could be cowed with a stick, and even shameless old scammers had their limits.
But irrational women could be crazier than pigs during the New Year...
"Hong cares about you because he's always seen you as his daughter! With his state of mind, if he really liked you, he wouldn't care what other people thought. But how could he possibly fall for the adopted daughter he raised himself?"
"Even his biological children probably haven't spent as much time by his side as you have, right? His affection for you is almost as strong as what he feels for them—maybe even stronger."
"Making you his personal guard was one of his ways of looking after you... He's always worried about you and keeping an eye on you. He hasn't come out and said it because he's afraid you wouldn't be able to handle it."
"After all, you may seem strong and gifted at martial arts, but you're truly fragile when it comes to matters of the heart..."
Yaorao couldn't come up with a rebuttal at first. But then her brain temporarily evolved, and her intelligence shot up to the highest level on Earth!
She calmed down a little and analyzed the situation logically. "He could've simply stopped taking me with him. Given enough time, I would've gradually forgotten him. So the explanation that he made me his personal guard doesn't hold up. He does like me—he's just afraid to face it..."
Pfft!
Zhou Ze felt like he was about to spit blood.
Women's intelligence could be ridiculously unpredictable. Sometimes it dropped to zero; other times, it rivaled Einstein's...
Damn you, Hong!
Cursing him again, Zhou Ze composed himself and asked mockingly:
"Do you know the story of the young heartthrob and the old geezer?"
Yaorao listened and tried to speak again, but Zhou Ze's voice, infused with the power of his domain, immediately stopped her in her tracks:
"You're an orphan. As Hong's adopted daughter, you're of noble status, and you don't have any friends. You've placed all your feelings in Hong..."
"If Hong deliberately distanced himself from you, do you think you wouldn't start imagining things? And what if someone took advantage of you while you were at your most emotionally vulnerable?"
"There'd be enough people hoping to marry Hong's daughter to circle the Earth a hundred times..."
Zhou Ze said meaningfully, "Come to think of it, Thunder God would know more about this than anyone..."
Hong seemed cold on the surface, but he was just as passionate inside as Thunder God and Luo Feng.
"Thunder God..." Yaorao stared blankly.
As the only two people on Earth who stood head and shoulders above all the others, Thunder God and Hong were both under the watchful eye of the world's major powers.
The world's major powers knew all about Thunder God and his daughter, and Thunder God had even made a public threat over it.
Hong naturally had his reservations. After all, appearances could be deceiving; all kinds of underhanded tricks happened behind the scenes, and you couldn't find a shred of evidence. Everything just seemed to happen naturally.
Zhou Ze continued slowly, "So, do you understand now?"
"You need to grow up. You can do whatever you want, but please stop causing trouble for your father..."
Yaorao's body trembled.
"But I really do like the Hall Master. I won't make him worry anymore. I won't fall for any man except him!"
Yaorao wiped away her tears, utterly defiant.
Zhou Ze had tried every way he could to talk her around, activating every possible buff in his mind.
That's right—even something like this counted as guidance in the system's judgment. As a student listening to her teacher, Yaorao also received a bonus to her comprehension while processing what he said.
But when it came to matters of temperament and state of mind, even the highest comprehension and the strongest state of mind seemed inadequate. Yaorao had known from the beginning that she was lying to herself.
"Actually, you know all of this perfectly well. You know Hong's feelings for you are those of a father for his daughter. You even know that what you feel for him isn't romantic love, but familial affection. So why don't you dare face it?"
Zhou Ze's expression was calm as he spoke slowly, like an elder:
"That's because you rely on him too much. Hong, by nature, isn't good at expressing himself and can even seem cold. He's a man of action, not words. His cold exterior has even made you overlook the things he actually does to show that he cares..."
"Women naturally want reassurance. You need to keep receiving affirmation to feel secure."
"So you're too afraid of losing Hong... and that's what gave rise to these twisted feelings. You lost everything when you were young, and Hong came into your heart like a ray of light..."
Yaorao fixed her tear-filled eyes on Zhou Ze, looking utterly vulnerable, torn inside.
"Daughters are their fathers' little treasures..."
"With Hong's state of mind, he sees things clearly. He knows this could very well happen if things continued this way. But compared to the other option, he'd rather choose this one..."
Yaorao's expression was calm. "No matter what you say, I just can't let go. And the Hall Master and I aren't related by blood. He's single, too..."
Before you continue