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"So, after listening to you talk about your mother's situation, I made up my mind to help you and your mother."
Huo Yuhao took a deep breath. He didn’t expect that there was such a coincidence behind all this.
At this point, Xu Jiujiu's eyes were already misty. She looked up at Huo Yuhao and trembled as she said, "Yuhao, can you hug me like you did before?"
Chapter 408 Mutual Recognition of Feelings
After hearing Xu Jiujiu's request and looking intently into her star-like bright eyes, Huo Yuhao fell silent.
Xu Jiujiu, Her Royal Highness the Princess, made such a request to him in person and was the first to reveal her true feelings, which took great courage.
In this situation, he could no longer ignore and reject it. Regardless of whether he admitted this feeling or not, he had to respond for a long time at this moment.
Huo Yuhao did not say anything. He just sat beside the bed and gently opened his arms.
Xu Jiujiu sat up on the bed, tilted her upper body, and slowly leaned into his arms.
After years of growth, Huo Yuhao is no longer the same as when he was a child. Although he does not have strong and developed muscles, he has a strong and heavy sense of power. For Xu Jiujiu, it is already very spacious.
Xu Jiujiu also did not speak, but just quietly felt the temperature in Huo Yuhao's arms. It was not warm, but rather a different kind of cool and refreshing.
Nestled in Huo Yuhao's arms, she felt an inexplicable sense of peace and comfort.
Huo Yuhao slowly closed his arms and gently stroked Xu Jiujiu's back with his left arm. He was also slowly savoring the touch at the moment.
After recovering from a serious illness, Xu Jiujiu is very thin, but unlike before, his body is now full of vitality ready to burst forth.
Today was the first time he hugged Xu Jiujiu.
Yin Lex watched from the side, smiled casually, and returned to the sea of spirit.
In the sea of spirituality, Tian Meng lay straight on the ground, buried his face in the snow, and made an unclear voice through the snow: "Yuhao has never hugged me like this..."
"Shut up."
Bingdi on the side kicked her impatiently.
Tianmeng arched his back in the snow and wisely stopped talking.
Huo Yuhao and Xu Jiujiu have known each other for more than ten years. Today, they finally hugged each other. There were no direct words, but they both acknowledged their feelings for each other.
"Is this love?" Xu Jiujiu's voice was very soft.
“Let’s not talk about love.” Huo Yuhao seemed to be relieved of a heavy burden. He was no longer so serious and smiled. “Whether this is love or not, I still want you to be well and alive.”
Xu Jiujiu whispered: "I used to think that it was difficult for me to have real feelings."
"why?"
"Because I am a princess of the royal family, I have seen too many political marriages since I was a child, whether it is my father, mother, brother, or the families of other ministers."
Xu Jiujiu's expression looked a little sad.
"In front of others, these couples look very glamorous, but in fact, there is not much affection between them. Rather than being lovers who are in love with each other, they are more like actors performing together."
"Everyone knows that they are a tool used to strengthen the relationship between the two families. Even they themselves know it, but they still have to pretend to be in love and harmony."
"Once they give birth to a child with the blood of both families, their mission will be completed, and they will just be strangers living together."
"My brother and his wife are probably the most loving couple I've ever seen. Not every family has a marriage contract that has been passed down for thousands of years like the Dai and Zhu families."
Huo Yuhao was silent for a moment after hearing this, and said, “This can’t be helped. As a child of a large family, I have enjoyed the family’s welfare since I was young, so naturally I have to make some sacrifices for the family’s interests.”
Throughout history, there are countless examples of stories about arranged marriages, both in literature and in historical records.
As a tool for political marriage, young talents born in large families rarely truly fall in love with each other. The ancestors of the Dai and Zhu families ten thousand years ago were one of the few such pairs.
Xu Jiujiu said softly, "But my mother is different. Ever since I was old enough to understand, I have always seen her sitting alone by the window, staring at the starry sky in a trance, smiling foolishly and telling me which stars in the sky look like my father's star crown."
"She always said this to me when I was little, Jiujiu, I really hope that the star crown you awaken in the future will be as beautiful as your father's."
"When my Star Crown Martial Spirit awakened, the first thing she cared about was what the stars on the crown looked like. When she saw that the stars were exactly the same as my father's, she was really happy and cried while hugging me."
Huo Yuhao frowned slightly and asked, "But you said that your father doesn't love your mother."
Xu Jiujiu nodded gently: "Yes, even if she hadn't given birth to me, because of my grandfather and uncle, my mother would still be a noble concubine and receive high treatment. But my father always treated her with courtesy. Later, my father took the initiative to summon her more and more often, but basically it was to see me."
"Even so, she still greeted her father every day, and returned to her own bedroom contentedly after receiving a few lukewarm greetings from him."
Having said that, Xu Jiujiu paused and asked, "Yuhao, do you think my mother is very hypocritical?"
Huo Yuhao asked: "Why?"
"Because compared to your mother, she is in such a good condition. She has people to serve her no matter what she does. Moreover, the emperor is not stationed at the border all year round. We can see each other in the palace almost every day."
"But she still lives a depressed life, trying her best to please my father, even though he always responds to her with a polite smile. A compliment can make her excited for days."
If Huo Yuhao was just a mere bystander, he would have snorted in disdain, thinking that this could never be love and that there was probably some other agenda.
Maybe Jiujiu's mother wanted to perform well in front of the emperor and seek more resources and rewards for the family.
But looking at the serious expression of the girl in his arms, he believed that the motivation for all this was really out of the illusory feeling of love.
Xu Jiujiu continued, "When I was very young, I was very confused. My father clearly didn't love my mother at all, so why did she miss him so much every day?"
“No amount of words can explain it clearly. Maybe it’s all because of love.”
Huo Yuhao sighed helplessly. He had just come out of Qiankun Love Valley not long ago and was very sensitive to the word love.
The voice in the Qiankun Valley of Love believes that love only comes when one is willing to sacrifice one's life for the other. But isn't it also love if one is willing to wait passionately for the other?
Maybe many people think that this kind of love is a little stupid, but there is no denying that it is certainly love.
The manifestations of love are inherently subjective and varied.
"However, not long after, my father passed away and my brother succeeded to the throne. Since then, my mother has been grief-stricken and has been bedridden. Even the Fairy Medicine Grandma was helpless against her illness, saying that it was a heart disease and that a person with a dead heart cannot be cured."
"She was ill for several years, and my mother passed away to meet my father."
After Xu Jiujiu, the subject suddenly changed, his tone extremely heavy, and then he raised his head slightly, his face very close to Huo Yuhao.
"Not long after that, I met you. When you reluctantly talked about your mother's suffering, I seemed to see my own mother. When she was sick in bed, she kept repeating my father's name."
"At that time, I seemed to hear my mother telling me to help your mother and help her meet her beloved. At least let the White Tiger Duke know that there is such a passionate woman waiting for him in this world."
"Compared to my mother, she is so pitiful. Not only is she weak, but she also has no family support. She can only endure it all by herself."
"Fortunately, Duke Baihu still had your mother in his heart and responded to her with his true love. But until the death of your father, he may not have truly had your mother in his heart."
The sadness in Xu Jiujiu's eyes became even more intense, and it was unclear whether it was because he was thinking about his mother or Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao listened quietly and thanked him again softly: “Thank you, Jiujiu.”
The address was no longer the respectful "Her Royal Highness the Princess", but just two words without a surname, "Jiujiu".
"Yes, Yuhao."
Xu Jiujiu leaned his upper body again and pressed tightly against Huo Yuhao's chest.
"I was moved by you when I first saw you. Your mother doesn't have the support of your father and brother, but she is lucky because she has you, who is willing to stand up for her when she has nothing. This has strengthened my determination to help you."
"Although your innate soul power is only one, it doesn't matter. It is enough to serve as an official in the court."
Huo Yuhao was filled with emotion.
Although people nowadays tend to be more and more critical of the system of selecting filial and honest officials, in fact, selecting filial and honest officials has always been a highly politically correct system, both in ancient and modern times, in China and abroad.
Especially in a feudal society like Douluo Continent, the power of being a filial and honest person even earned him a lot of strong support from the outside world, which changed his fate to a great extent.
The fact that a young child challenged the powerful for his helpless mother is so powerful.
He continued to tell the story for a long time.
"Later, I heard that you went to Shrek Academy. I was worried that you might drop out because you failed the rigorous assessment there, so I thought about keeping a place for you in Xingluo Academy forever."
"But then, I saw you at the first tournament. You led Shrek Academy to defeat one team after another. I was sincerely happy for you because you finally showed enough talent, but I was also afraid."
"When that teacher from Shrek said that your efforts to combat the evil spirit master had resulted in serious injuries or even sacrifices to the regular team members, I vaguely sensed that something was amiss."
Huo Yuhao asked again: "Why?"
"I have a feeling you'll experience many similar dangers in the future."
Xu Jiujiu replied in a low voice.
"Sure enough, you were later taken away by the Body Sect, and then you went to the Sun-Moon Empire."
"After we parted, I haven't seen you for several years. The next time we met, you brought back the news that you had entered the Holy Spirit Church and become a Holy Son."
She asked softly, "Don't leave Xingluo again, okay?"
"The Holy Spirit Church is very dangerous. Don't go back there, okay?"
These two consecutive questions expressed all of Jiujiu's concern.
Huo Yuhao said in a deep voice: “The Holy Spirit Church is no longer something to be feared.”
Xu was stunned for a moment and looked at him in confusion.
"I used the ninth-level fixed-type soul guide shells to kill almost all of their Title Douluo leaders. The two Ultimate Douluos are already old. At least before they train the next generation of leaders, they don't have the confidence to come out."
Huo Yuhao smiled faintly, acting nonchalant, as if killing so many Titled Douluo-level evil soul masters was a piece of cake.
"Really?" Xu Jiujiu couldn't help but beam with joy.
Evil soul masters are the common enemy of the entire continent. This super evil soul master organization, whose power far exceeds that of the Xingluo Royal Worship Hall, has been a sharp sword hanging over the heads of the Three Kingdoms since the news first appeared. The threat is even greater than that of the Sun and Moon Empire.
After all, the invasion of the Sun-Moon Empire was only on the front battlefield, and generally speaking, war etiquette still had to be observed, but these evil soul masters really had no bottom line, would do anything to achieve their goals, and were hard to defend against.
"Great!"
Xu Jiujiu smiled from the bottom of his heart and hugged Huo Yuhao tightly.
Although Huo Yuhao acted very casually, she knew in her heart what a shocking achievement this was!
Unknowingly, this young boy who once had only level one innate soul power has grown to the point where he can decide the life and death of a Titled Douluo with just a wave of his hand.
A Soul Sage with the ultimate ice attribute and a unique martial soul is already enough to rival a Titled Douluo.
Xu Jiujiu chuckled and joked, "Yuhao, are you planning to enter the Imperial Worship Hall next? I can be your introducer."
"The Holy Spirit Church has been destroyed, and Xu Tianran's plan to contain the Three Kingdoms' talents has also failed. He may temporarily tolerate it in the next few years, but we can't let our guard down."
"Yuhao, you'd better grow up quickly and cultivate to the Titled Douluo as soon as possible, so that Xingluo will have another trump card to confront the Sun-Moon Empire."
At present, Xu Jiujiu has already regarded Huo Yuhao as the most powerful high-end combat force in Xing Luo's future.