Soon after Xie Yue finished playing with Ning Rongrong, he said to her:
"Rongrong~ enough playing, let's go and eat lunch."
"Ah~ Ok, Brother~" Ning Rongrong said sweetly.
Xie Yue then picked her up and headed in the direction of Ning Fengzhi's house while carrying Ning Rongrong in his arms.
...
Inside Ning Fengzhi's house, around the dining table...
"Father, eat more meat," Xie Yue picked up some meat and placed it on Ning Fengzhi's plate.
"Yes, Father, you should eat more," Following Xie Yue, Hu Liena also picked up some meat and placed it on Ning Fengzhi's dish, smiling beautifully.
"Hahaha..." Ning Fengzhi laughed heartily and started eating with relish. He was used to their care.
"Big sister~" Ning Rongrong called out cutely, waiting for Hu Liena to give her some meat too.
"Here~ little Rongrong," Hu Liena understood what Rongrong meant and gave her some food as well.
"You two kids, where's the meat for this old man?" Bone Douluo asked angrily.
"Here, here... Grandpa Bone, eat more meat. How can I forget? You're the one who needs to eat more. See how thin you are..." Hu Liena joked as she put some meat on Gu Rong's plate. Xie Yue also followed suit and gave Gu Rong some.
Don't misunderstand. It's not that these old men couldn't pick food for themselves; in Douluo Dalu's culture, sharing food during a meal is a way to show affection and closeness to one another. It's also an etiquette in royal families.
Seeing Sword Douluo, who was silently eating without saying anything, Xie Yue also picked some vegetables and placed them in Sword Douluo's dish, saying amusingly, "Grandpa Sword, are you thinking how heartless I am to forget you? Don't worry, I didn't forget you."
"You brat...." Chen Xin was embarrassed after being seen through by Xie Yue. He had indeed been worried they would forget him during the meal.
"Hahaha... Old Sword, how can you be this petty just because Ning Yue didn't give you meat before me?" Bone Douluo didn't miss the opportunity to tease Chen Xin.
Hearing Gu Rong, Chen Xin also rebuked him with a red face. The two began arguing again without a care. Listening to their argument, everyone smiled while eating.
Ning Fengzhi and others ate together at least twice a week. This was a rule set by Ning Fengzhi's late wife. After her death, Ning Fengzhi placed even more importance on her wishes. He didn't want any of his family members to distance themselves from him. The loss of his wife had affected him the most.
Over the years, little by little, Hu Liena's attachment to the sect and the people there grew. Even though she longed to leave the sect and see the outside world with her brother, Ning Fengzhi's and the two Title Douluos' genuine care moved her heart.
She was already over 11 years old, and she could understand why they didn't allow her and her brother to leave the sect. She knew what would happen to them once their talent became known to the world.
Even though Xie Yue didn't want that to happen and tried to stop her growing attachment to the sect, in the end, he decided against it. He didn't have an effective way to stop it.
He couldn't speak ill of Ning Fengzhi and the others, right?
While Hu Liena would believe his words, she was not like Xie Yue. She couldn't act flawlessly. What if she believed Xie Yue's words and completely distanced herself from Ning Fengzhi and the others?
In that case, it would arouse suspicion. Ning Fengzhi and the others would surely wonder why Hu Liena was treating them like villains, even after all their care and love. So Xie Yue couldn't stop her or interfere with her feelings.
Although he had tried to teach her the correct values and taken precautions against sect brainwashing when she was younger, he didn't go overboard, knowing the impact it would have on her attitude and reactions toward them.
So after all these years, feeling their genuine love for her and her brother, Hu Liena started to open up to them. It was her own choice, and Xie Yue couldn't control it. She would have her own ideas as she grew, and that was a gradual character development. It couldn't be entirely controlled by Xie Yue.
The current Hu Liena was an acceptable result for Xie Yue. At least his painstaking efforts hadn't gone to waste. She was his puppy.
Although the current Hu Liena considered them family and listened to them well, she still loved her brother more and trusted his words more. Her brother was still her whole world and the love of her life.
But that didn't mean Xie Yue could misuse her trust. She loved him, but that didn't mean she was a mindless puppet without a brain.
'Douluo's love-minded women would sacrifice their lives for you if needed, but they would also try to correct their lover if they were walking the wrong path. They will have their own opinion about what is good and what is not. That is learned from the world. Their views can't be changed just because they love someone.'
'And if their lover is a bad guy, that won't stop them from loving him and sacrificing their lives for him if he doesn't change. Love is like this. It's not easy to understand,' Xie Yue thought to himself and felt a little headache.
...
After they finished eating, maids came and cleaned the table. Afterwards, they started talking about some casual matters among them.
"Father, I've already read all the medicine and poison books you brought from the Broken Clan. You can return them if needed," Xie Yue said as he handed over some books.
"Haha, these are just copies of their original books. There's no need to return them. What they gave me isn't their complete knowledge. They still kept some of their inheritance. I only brought what could be bought with money," Ning Fengzhi said.
'Even though they didn't give Father the complete knowledge, I still got what I needed from these books,' Xie Yue thought.
As early as a year ago, Xie Yue had finished reading all the books on medicine knowledge available in his sect, so he requested Ning Fengzhi to buy books from the Broken Clan.
Xie Yue wanted to fool Dugu Bo completely, so he put more effort into learning medicinal and poison knowledge.
Ning Fengzhi also supported Xie Yue's little hobby. He knew his son had somehow become interested in medicine, and it was a good thing since it would prove useful.
As a good father, he had to support these small hobbies of his son, so Ning Fengzhi spent a large amount of money to buy most of the Broken Clan's knowledge in this area.