Chapter 426: The Confused Child
After managing to slip away from the Thunder Prison Hall, at Notorious Mountain, under the supervision of Young Master Sang’s true form, the array set up around them was already taking effect one by one.
Worried about the Little Princess’s situation, Young Master Sang had no choice but to shed tears and give up his sweet time with Little Ying, choosing instead to return first to the courtyard where the two were renting.
“I’m back—”
As soon as he entered the house, Young Master Sang choked on the second half of his sentence.
Long Huan, wearing one of those back-revealing sweaters, gave Young Master Sang a love-struck wink: “Zhe Er, you’re back~”
“Not back. You have the wrong house, sorry.”
“Eh! Don’t! Mom specially prepared this outfit for you! You don’t like it?”
“Hello, I’m not a pervert.”
In the end, under Young Master Sang’s adamant request, Long Huan reluctantly changed back into a normal nightgown.
While having dinner, Long Huan suddenly said to Young Master Sang:
“Zhe Er, how about we move back?”
“Why?”
“Mom feels like this village has some problems!” she said in a mysterious whisper.
Young Master Sang was startled, his first thought being, could it be that Yan Rouwan’s subordinates have been revealed?
“Mom went to the tailor shop today and found out that one of the tailors actually had a Communication Device level magical treasure.”
“And it’s not just the tailor; almost everyone in the village has a Communication Device, even the little kids.”
“Mom feels like this village is suspicious; we should leave.” She glanced warily out the window.
“Uh, that’s actually pretty normal,” Young Master Sang explained, sweating profusely. “This kind of Communication Device is said to be a magical treasure, but its production cost is low, so it’s quite popular among the Human Clan—almost as common as pots and pans in every household.”
“Eh… is that so? So Human Clan’s magical treasure crafting has become that mature and widespread?”
Long Huan blinked in confusion.
Of course not.
Although Communication Devices are common among cultivators, regular mundane families still can’t afford them.
The reason everyone in the village has one is simply because the Demon Cult gives them as year-end bonuses to employees.
After all, since the Floating Splendor Commerce provides them, why not take them?
But the current situation didn’t matter; it was best to just brush it off for now.
“Speaking of which, didn’t I give Mom a Communication Device? She can play around with it when she’s bored,” Young Master Sang added, of course, after deleting all the inappropriate content downloaded by Bai Ming and installing a teenager mode version.
“Ah, Mom always forgets to use it.”
Long Huan smiled and shook her head: “As long as I know you had that thought, Mom is already very happy.”
Looking at Long Huan’s smiling face at that moment, Young Master Sang could clearly feel that her happiness was genuine.
He didn’t expect that just a Communication Device could move her so much.
She probably really has taken him as her indispensable son.
“Hey, Nian Nian, if the Little Princess continues like this, when the hypnosis wears off, is it really going to be okay?”
“It should… be fine, right?”
“Should?”
“Cough, anyway, we’re already this far,” Nian Nian’s voice rang in his ears. “It’s too late to backtrack now; let’s just charge forward blindly.”
Young Master Sang curled his lip.
Though Nian Nian said that, deep down, she was just as worried.
…Ever since hypnosis first started, raising Long Huan’s affection level to fifty percent.
These past few days, that affection level has been as still as Si Jingzhu’s chest when running—no movement at all.
Clearly, the information he has is fine, but he just couldn’t figure out why the favorability wouldn’t budge.
Did he miscalculate somewhere?
Could it really be about to flop?
Just as Nian Nian was fretting, Long Huan was casually chatting with Young Master Sang at the dinner table.
“Zhe Er, do you have many friends at the academy?”
“Um… it’s alright, I have a few good buddies.”
“They’re all good kids, right? They won’t lead you astray?”
“Of course not; we’re usually in class. Even when we hang out, it’s just chatting during breaks or playing chess and practicing riding.”
“Is that so?” Long Huan smiled at him, “That’s quite nice.”
…Hmm?
Nian Nian suddenly noticed that Long Huan’s affection level had actually increased a bit just then.
“Mom can be quite contradictory.”
“On one hand, she hopes that Zhe Er has many close friends so that you won’t be lonely. On the other hand, she worries that having too many friends might lead to bad influences that could harm you,” Long Huan mused.
“If it were you, Zhe Er, what would you do?”
Young Master Sang bit his chopsticks in silence for a moment, then suddenly smiled broadly.
“I think that kind of worry is a bit unfounded.”
“Like attracts like. Since someone can become my friend, they ought to be similar to me, sharing the same aspirations. If there were bad friends, I would have long kept my distance.”
“Choosing who to be friends with should be up to myself. What others prepare for you or filter for you, even if they seem right, are still ‘other people’s friends’—they may not resonate with you.”
“I think Mom should trust me a bit. I’ll choose the right friends for myself.”
After hearing Young Master Sang’s words,
Long Huan’s eyes suddenly flashed with a hint of confusion.
…Friends she chooses herself.
She recalled that day when an inexplicable image of a little monster getting its hands and feet broken and tossed off a mountain floated into her mind.
If only friends could be chosen freely, how nice would that be?
On the other hand.
After Young Master Sang’s words, Nian Nian looked at Long Huan’s affection level in shock; it unexpectedly shot up by five percent.
Huh?
So it turns out that the key to winning over the Little Princess lies here?
How is it possible that there’s nothing related to friends in her information—
Suddenly, while scrolling through information, Nian Nian froze for a moment, their eyes gradually lighting up.
So that’s it!
No wonder they couldn’t find a way to raise the Little Princess’s affection before.
It was as if they just couldn’t figure out what this child was truly thinking.
But actually, the reason was surprisingly simple and funny.
…Because Long Huan herself doesn’t even know what she wants.
That girl, who had long been accustomed to the pampered life created by her parents, didn’t even realize where her true hopes and pains stemmed from.
She was still too young, in the midst of her most confused times.
Feeling lost, she would only charge around aimlessly like a little beast.
Rebelling against her parents, causing trouble, trying to hide her tempestuous exterior behind her clueless heart.
But in fact, the answer to her confusion was surprisingly simple.
“Young Master Sang, listen to me, do exactly as I say next…”
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