How do you reject someone's feelings in a dignified way? And at the same time, minimize the hurt?
Zero had no clue. After finishing the meal with Jingliu, he hurriedly said goodbye, went back to the archives, and sat down at his desk, completely stuck.
It wasn't that he hadn't thought about asking someone for advice, but…
All his colleagues in the Divination Commission were skilled in calculations. If he asked, and they turned around and divined everything, what would he do then?
Zero just wanted to reject Jingliu.
Rejecting her was already hurtful enough. But if the whole world found out about it… wouldn't that be even crueler?
As for his friends in the Jade Abacus, their circles happened to overlap a lot with Jingliu's.
If it were someone random, that would be easy, just reject and block.
But Jingliu…
He had to think of a gentler, more dignified way to refuse.
The friends in his contacts list were no help, so he had to rule them out.
As for Hua, who supposedly had a close connection with him…
According to Aha's words, and based on his fragmented memory, the two of them could barely be considered mentor and student?
But asking a junior about this kind of problem… wasn't that way too embarrassing?
Since Zero couldn't come up with an answer himself, he could only pin his hopes on the forum Hua had shared with him before.
Surely, the all-powerful netizens would know a high–emotional intelligence way of rejection.
He deliberately blurred out the real details between himself and Jingliu, cut and edited their interactions, and posted them from the perspective of "a friend."
If an acquaintance happened to see it, wouldn't his cover be blown in minutes?
Zero waited for a while and found the netizens' reactions a little different from what he expected.
The first thing they asked was, "This friend… isn't that actually you?"
No one answered his question. Instead, they started speculating about his gender. After an intense round of debate, they decided he was female.
Zero, '???'
Most people surfing the forum were women, and very few men posted there.
Them mistaking his gender… actually seemed pretty normal?
After thinking about it, Zero decided to give up on correcting them.
Ways to reject someone's confession should be universal, right? Gender shouldn't matter, right?
Besides, since he had blurred the key details, there was no way an acquaintance could spot the truth.
After deciding on his "gender," the netizens carefully reread everything he'd written.
Some said he was being delusional.
Others angrily called him a scumbag.
Zero, '???'
He tried to argue back, and then got cursed at even more.
[You picked out food for the younger one and grilled meat for them.]
[When they got drunk, you personally took care of them.]
[You bought milk tea and asked the younger one to deliver it to your place.]
[They sent you money, and you said out of politeness you returned a five-figure gift.]
[They couldn't treat you to expensive meals, but within their means, they took you to the cafeteria for something tasty.]
[Young people's love isn't something for someone like you to trample on!]
[You clearly shared ambiguous moments with them, and yet you still want to reject their feelings?! Where do you get off being such a scumbag?! Think having money makes you great?!]
After scolding him to their heart's content, the netizens finally gave Zero a suggestion.
[It's simple. Just send this post directly to the person. Let them see your true colors clearly.]
Zero, "…"
'Directly send it to Jingliu? Wouldn't that crush her heart?!'
Another netizen asked him, [Do you just lack a sense of security? If you didn't care about her feelings, why bother posting here? To be honest, maybe you actually like her too. Why not just go for it? Why insist on rejecting her?]
Zero, "..."
'What does this have to do with a sense of security?!'
The reason he wanted to reject Jingliu was simple.
On the one hand, the age gap between them was way too big.
On the other, his past life was far too complicated.
He'd sorted through his previous experiences more or less, but if it came to romance, there was no way anyone could accept all that, right?
He didn't know yet what kind of contingencies he might have left behind. Judging from the attitudes of the Memory Aeon and the Joy Aeon, they didn't seem to have any intention of killing him.
But what if? What if the Aeons suddenly decided to kill him again?
Just thinking about it, his "artillery PTSD" started acting up.
Zero pulled himself back from his thoughts and looked at the post again, only to find that after that one "sense of security" comment, the netizens suddenly all agreed and threw a collective question at him.
[You wrote down all your interactions in detail, but never once described your own feelings. Could it be… you actually like this younger one a little, don't you?]
Seeing that the forum wasn't giving him any reliable solution, Zero had no choice but to set aside his pride about asking a junior and put his hopes on Hua instead.
Too lazy to type everything out again, he just shared the forum post with Hua directly.
[Hua: …]
[Hua: Check your account first. Did the money go through?]
Zero opened his account and saw that the balance had gained several extra zeroes.
So many that he couldn't even quickly count the exact number.
He glanced at it, then went back to the chat app to wait for Hua's reply.
[Hua: My advice is... wait.]
[Hua: Wait until that person is willing to listen to their innermost voice, instead of looking at everything through reason and objectivity.]
Zero sighed helplessly.
What he wanted to know was how to reject a confession…
[Zero: Answered the wrong question. Bad review.]
[Hua: Relax a little sometimes. That person no longer needs to suppress their emotions, no longer needs to keep giving absolutely correct orders.]
Zero stared at Hua's message, but didn't reply for a long time.
He froze there for quite a while, then slowly tapped on the jade communicator.
[Zero: Is there a possibility… that person just wants to be human?]
Hua replied with a question mark.
[Hua: Has that person ever even been human?]
After sending that, Hua didn't wait for Zero's response. She set the jade aside.
She began tidying up the room, putting all the scattered items into the storage boxes one by one.
Beside her, the Strategist was also cleaning up. When he saw her expression, he asked, "You look… kind of happy?"
Hua put down what she was holding and couldn't hold back a laugh.
"He asked me how to reject, in a dignified way, the feelings of a woman who liked him. He seemed quite troubled by it."
The Strategist, "…"
'Troubled? Someone capable of troubling the former Marshal, is that person even still alive?!'
'For someone like him to feel troubled, to the point of lowering himself and asking Hua, a junior, for advice…'
'That alone was a huge problem!'
'That man's controlling nature was terrifying, he would never tolerate any instability beyond his expectations.'
'Normally, he would deal with anything troublesome or problematic in a blunt, forceful way.'
'But this time, he actually had concerns. He was even considering others' feelings…'
'Something is wrong. Very wrong.'
Looks like the iron tree was finally blooming.
The Strategist frowned tightly, turned around, and picked up the jade.
"In that case, I'd better check on the Interstellar Peace Corporation's operations. Maybe it's time they shut down too."
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