[T/N: This is the continuation of Chapter 290 IF Line]
Akivili's drowsiness instantly faded by more than half.
His close friend was someone with a strong sense of boundaries. If it weren't something important, how could he call so abruptly in the middle of the night?
Akivili had no intention of exposing his friend's lie. In a gentle tone, he asked, "This friend of yours, what kind of problem did they run into?"
On the other end of the long-distance transmission, Zero fell silent.
Akivili waited patiently. After a while, the Xianzhou Marshal, who was decisive outside and absolute inside, spoke hesitantly, "My friend… how should I put it…"
After a long pause, it was as if Zero had made up his mind, and his tone became firm.
"Akivili, I'll use an inappropriate example. It's like..."
"You find out Pom Pom likes you..."
Akivili: "…Huh?!"
The Aeon couldn't believe his ears and asked uncertainly, "Pom Pom… likes me?"
Akivili's mouth twitched. "That example of yours… really is inappropriate… I think I can understand your friend…"
Zero couldn't help but sigh. "Yeah, you understand me..."
He paused almost imperceptibly, then added awkwardly, "...my friend's thoughts, right?"
Akivili nodded hard on the other end.
If you compare it, isn't it like the successor his friend carefully chose... Hua... falling for him?
Who wouldn't lose it in that situation? Not just his friend, even that strategist named Guanliang would probably go crazy too.
The Aeon nodded for a while, then realized the other side couldn't see him, so he continued, "I understand. How did your friend find out?"
Zero fell silent again.
Jingliu had only brushed his cheek with her fingertips… just one look… and he could tell… How was he supposed to say that?
He said dryly, "Anyway, my friend figured it out."
Akivili: "…Alright. Your friend is quite impressive. May I ask when they met? How old was she at the time?"
His friend replied, "At that time… she was under two hundred."
Akivili understood instantly.
A young woman who didn't fully understand love.
A powerful leader who was calculating and full of personal charm.
If the two stayed together… wasn't it only natural for the former to fall for the latter?
She had earned the chance to meet his friend at a young age. She must have had exceptional talent.
With his friend's personality, he wouldn't treat someone he saw as a child harshly. Most likely, he would tease and take care of her.
After thinking for a moment, Akivili asked, "Then what does your friend think? Accept her?"
His friend seemed to be triggered by those last three words. He didn't even have time to hide the so-called "friend's" identity and blurted out to the Aeon, "What would I accept?! She's even a few years younger than Hua!"
As soon as the words fell, both god and man fell silent.
Akivili held the communicator, listening to the clearly unsteady breathing from the other side, wanting to speak but stopping himself.
After thinking it over, he decided to give his friend some face.
He would just pretend he hadn't heard that sentence.
"In the past, when your friend encountered this kind of situation, how did he handle it?"
His friend replied without hesitation, "Reject them."
Akivili guided him further, "Exactly. But this time, why is it different? Why isn't your friend rejecting her like before?"
"Is it because of her identity? Because she's a junior your friend watched grow up? So he's asking for help, hoping to refuse her in a gentler way? Or…"
Akivili paused, then asked seriously, "Or is it because, in your friend's heart, she's special? So special that he can't bear to hurt her? Does your friend… perhaps have some feelings for her? Like her without realizing it?"
His friend didn't speak.
Through the transmission, Akivili heard footsteps.
He guessed his friend was walking toward the floor-to-ceiling window.
Then came the sound of a lighter.
Zero hurriedly said goodbye to Akivili.
After hanging up, he faced the window, lowering his head to stare at the flickering light between his fingers, lost in thought.
Zero thought this was his fault.
He had been too lacking in boundaries.
From the very beginning, he should have kept his distance from Jingliu.
Even if the average age of the guard was several hundred years, even if Jingliu was the youngest member… he shouldn't have checked on her so often or chatted with her so casually.
This relationship had been wrong from the start.
Zero hadn't guided Jingliu onto the right path. Instead, because of his position as an elder and his experience, he had caused her to develop feelings she shouldn't have.
This was his dereliction of duty.
But Jingliu wasn't some child who could be manipulated.
At first, she had been a qualified Cloud Knight, and later, the Sword Champion of the Luofu.
Jingliu was a swordsman one might not see even in ten thousand years.
If she had been just a girl in her early twenties… Zero could have handled this easily.
By the time one cigarette burned out, he finally came up with a solution.
Hua probably wouldn't mind having an extra little sister.
With that in mind, Zero immediately picked up his jade communicator and contacted Hua, who was stationed on Yaoqing.
After waiting more than ten seconds, just as the call was about to disconnect automatically, Hua picked up.
She sat up from bed and ran a hand through her long hair, turning it into a messy bird's nest.
Hua was on the verge of collapse. "…Do you even know what time it is?!"
Zero ignored her complaint and said directly, "Do you want a younger sister?"
Hua instantly became alert. "Why are you suddenly finding me a younger sister? What, wasn't it enough that you abducted me to Yaoqing? Now you're going to kidnap a kid from the Luofu too?"
Zero decided to hide the truth.
"No, not a child."
"She's a few years younger than you."
Hua had a faint guess. Wanting to confirm it, she asked softly, "Who is it?"
Zero thought for a moment and replied, "Do you remember that girl who was allowed to join the guard as an exception?"
Hua thought, 'As expected.'
'It's Jingliu.'
The moment she figured out who it was, Hua instantly understood her father's intention.
'So you're trying to reject Jingliu!'
'What kind of logic is that?! You actually came up with something this ridiculous!'
'Father, what kind of shock did you go through?! What exactly did Jingliu do to you?!'
Hua's thoughts uncontrollably drifted back to Yaoqing several hundred years ago.
A few days before Jingliu went to the Luofu to take up her post as a Cloud Knight, a banquet had been specially held for her.
After the crowd dispersed, her father, slightly drunk, went to the pavilion in the courtyard to sober up.
Before Hua could even instruct the attendants, Jingliu volunteered and followed him.
She had seen subordinates crying and begging not to leave her father before, so she didn't pay much attention.
With Jingliu's personality… she wouldn't cry like that anyway.
Perhaps she just wanted to take the chance to say something to her father.
Hua quickly put the matter aside. After giving instructions to the attendants, she turned and went back to her own courtyard.
Her courtyard had been renovated several times and had become a small building of five or six floors. Standing on the balcony dozens of meters high, she could easily see the neighboring courtyard.
Hua looked down and felt like she'd been struck by lightning.
If someone under two hundred years old on the Xianzhou kissed the Xianzhou Marshal, how should that even be punished?
In five thousand years, this was the first time. There wasn't even a precedent.