This time, the opening was as normal as a cup of plain water, unlike the last time when the System seemed as enthusiastic as a wet blanket about revealing Alan’s non-existent secret.
[Hey, guess what?
I’ve got a teensy-weensy secret about Grandpa Zhou!
It might not be a big deal to us, but for him, it’s like a nuclear bomb of a secret!!]
[Oh my gosh!
Spill the beans already!!]
The suspense this time was shorter than a goldfish’s attention span.
The suspenseful background music in Everly’s ears faded away faster than a snowflake in a sauna before the screen popped up, filled with a long, juicy text.
[Actually…
Grandpa Zhou has a major case of daughter complex!
He adores his only daughter so much, he’d spoil her rotten if he could!
When Anna was born, he was over the moon.
He even used to sneak into her room at night and plant little kisses on her chubby cheeks.
Back in the old days, sons were considered the be-all and end-all, so even though he loved Anna to bits, he had to keep his feelings under wraps because of good old-fashioned shame.
Every single thing Anna wore from the time she was a tiny baby to a rebellious teenager is still carefully preserved and displayed in a secret room like it’s a museum exhibit!
He even wants to hand over his entire business empire to Anna, but she’s having none of it!
The bottom line is, Grandpa Zhou is just itching to spoil Anna~]
[Psst…
to be honest, Everly was just a convenient excuse for them to come here.
He’s been dying to see Anna, and he’s probably itching to give her a big, fat hug right now!
And Everly’s lucky because she’s got a face and a personality that are spookily similar to young Anna’s, so Grandpa Zhou is already warming up to her like a cat in a sunbeam!]
Everly’s mind was a whirlwind of confusion after reading the text.
Was this revelation heartwarming?
Disturbing?
Just plain weird?
She was completely at a loss.
She finally turned to look at Grandpa Zhou, her expression a comical mix of amusement and pity.
So…
the bottom line is that my stern-looking grandpa actually has a soft spot for my mom?
Oh my goodness!!!
Didn’t that mean Grandpa Zhou was a total tsundere?!!!
When he’s in front of Mom, he might says, ‘You’re not only a disappointment, but you also look like a circus clown.
I’d disown you if i could!’ But on the inside, he’s probably squealing, ‘Kyaaaaaaaaa, Anna is the most beautiful and precious thing in the world!!!
My little girl is amazing!!!
Muah!
Muah!!!’ And then after saying all that mean stuff to Mom, Grandpa would stomp into his room, huddle in the corner like a grumpy old bear, and cry his eyes out over his own foolishness, regretting every harsh word?
The scenarios playing out in Everly’s head were so absurd that everyone, already bewildered by the sudden invasion of Everly’s thoughts, was left completely speechless.
No one in their wildest dreams could picture the stoic, iceberg-like Grandpa Zhou squealing kyaaaaaaa~ and crying while huddled in a corner.
That was a horror show they never wanted to witness!!!
“What on earth is that…”
Wanda started to ask, but Sylas quickly clamped his hand over her mouth.
He couldn’t help but grin at the thought of Everly getting a tongue-lashing from Grandpa Zhou for coming up with such outlandish ideas about him.
Anna, on the other hand, was completely stunned.
As one of the few who knew about Everly’s ability to read people’s secrets, she knew that what Everly was thinking was the truth.
She stared at her father with a complex expression.
Who would have guessed that her father, who had always been so harsh and cold towards her, secretly adored her?
Grandpa Zhou’s face turned as pale as a ghost, and he fixed Everly with a glare that could have melted steel.
His grip on her hand tightened unconsciously, like a vise.
“You…
how could you…?”
“Ouch!”
Everly winced in pain as her hand felt like it was being crushed.
Zack, still completely bewildered by the fact that he could hear Everly’s voice even though she wasn’t speaking, noticed her discomfort.
He quickly reached out and tried to pry Grandpa Zhou’s hand off Everly’s.
“Father, you’re hurting her!”
Just as Zack’s hand touched hers, Everly resigned herself to the inevitable.
And sure enough, a screen materialized above Zack’s head.
[Name: Zack Zhou
Age: 54
Relationship: Uncle]
The opening screen appeared once again, and as Everly read it, a sense of suspicion began to creep over her.
[Do you want to know a little something about Zack Zhou?
Tsk tsk…
He’s truly Grandpa Zhou’s son!]
[Huh?
What on earth does that mean?
Don’t leave me hanging!]
The system, seemingly in a hurry, skipped the suspenseful background music and immediately displayed the screen revealing Zack’s secret.
Everly instantly understood why.
[So…
it turns out Zack isn’t all that different from Grandpa Zhou!
He’s got a major case of sister complex!
Ever since Anna was born, he’s been head over heels for his little sister.
In his eyes, Anna is the cutest thing on the planet, and she needs all the love and protection in the world.
Even when Anna was a rebellious thug, Zack was right there by her side, cheering her on.
For him, his sister had to be strong and never let anyone push her around.
She was the queen in this world!
He and Grandpa Zhou used to have epic battles because Grandpa Zhou wanted Anna to be a proper little princess, but thanks to Zack’s over-the-top spoiling, Anna turned into a wild child who loved racing and rock bands. This chapter is updated first at novelping.com.
Of course, he ended up having to shell out a small fortune to keep Anna’s thug past a secret when she started chasing after Charles like a deranged stalker.
And get this—his sister complex is so extreme that he has a basement with two whole halls filled with Anna’s stuff, from her baby days all the way to the present!]
[And here’s the scoop…
want to know why Helen gets so sour every time she sees Anna?
Well, she’s well aware of Zack’s obsession, and they’ve had more than a few heated arguments about it.
But the kicker—when he lays eyes on Everly…
it’s like he’s looking at a younger version of Anna!
Remember that handkerchief Everly used for the DNA test?
Yeah, Zack’s got it now!
So there’s a distinct possibility that he’s developed a mild case of niece complex now!]
“…..”
“!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
NOOOOOO!!!!
Please, please, please don’t let them have a niece complex or a granddaughter complex!
I don’t want to end up with a museum filled with my used handkerchiefs, used tissues, and cut hair!
Everly didn’t really care if they were obsessed with Anna, but she definitely didn’t want to get caught up in a obsession triangle that turned into a obsession quadrilateral!
She stared at her grandpa and uncle with a look of pure horror, her eyes wide as saucers.
Everly took a deep breath and spoke in a tone so serious it could have cracked the floor.
“Grandpa!
Uncle!
Please, for the love of all things normal, love me like a regular granddaughter and niece!
Not like you love my mom, okay?”
The words echoing in their minds had already left them all thoroughly bewildered.
It was like trying to make sense of a crazy dream.
And now, with Everly’s strange plea to be loved normally, the situation was becoming more and more surreal.
Helen’s eyes narrowed into slits as she glared at Everly.
Despite the bewildering voice echoing in her head, she convinced herself it was just a figment of her imagination and focused on lashing out at Everly’s words.
“Hmph!
You, who’s only been back for a few measly days after living a wild life in some orphanage, think you’re so special that you believe everyone is head over heels in love with you?
Your daughter is a disgrace, Anna.”
Helen let out a disdainful snort.
Usually, Anna would have fired back at Helen’s insults, but this time she was lost in her own thoughts.
Meanwhile, when Everly heard Helen’s venomous words, she looked at her with a gaze filled with pity.
Poor Aunt Helen…
At first, I was scratching my head, wondering why someone as kind as Uncle Zack would marry a woman who’s more sour than a lemon.
But it turns out her life is a total disaster…
being the third wheel because her husband loves his sister more than her…
Helen’s face turned as red as a tomato when she saw Everly’s pitying look, as if she were a helpless puppy abandoned in a river.
And the thoughts from Everly’s mind almost made her explode with rage.
How dare this snot-nosed brat pity her?!!!
Zack and Grandpa Zhou were left completely dumbfounded.
These two seasoned business veterans, who had weathered decades of cutthroat deals, were now faced with the mind-bending realization that they could hear Everly’s thoughts.
While the how of it was baffling enough, what truly left them speechless was Everly’s apparent knowledge of their deepest secret!
Zack quickly snapped out of his daze and rushed to reassure Everly.
“Of course I’ll love you in a perfectly normal way, Everly.
You’re my precious niece, after all.”
He’d been planning to create a mini hall dedicated to Everly’s things, but since she’d caught wind of it and made it clear she wasn’t keen…
well, maybe a secret mini altar wouldn’t hurt?
Grandpa Zhou, on the other hand, remained silent for a moment, his eyes boring into Everly like lasers.
Then, he finally exploded.
“Insolent child!
What do you mean, love you normally?
Have you no manners at all?
Alan, take her to the garden’s ancestral hall and make her kneel there for two hours while praying to our ancestors!”
After delivering his scathing rebuke, Grandpa Zhou stood up abruptly.
But just as he was about to leave, he leaned in close to Everly and whispered, “By the way, your great-grandma is still alive, and she’s 95 years old.
You didn’t even realize you were ‘killing’ her and made me seem like an orphan earlier.
Your punishment is far too lenient.”
Everly’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Her great-grandma was still alive?
It took her a moment to process the implications of Grandpa Zhou’s words.
This punishment wasn’t about her plea for normal love; it was about his mother.
Grandpa Zhou then turned and walked away, barking orders over his shoulder.
“Zack, Anna, come with me.”
Zack and Anna immediately jumped to their feet and followed Grandpa Zhou.
As Anna passed by Everly, she gave her a gentle pat on the back, leaving Everly even more confused.
Alan could only sigh in resignation.
Helen, meanwhile, scowled andmuttered under her breath, “The punishment is too light.”
Sylas burst into a fit of mocking laughter, pointing at Everly with a sneer.
“You got what you deserve, you barbarian girl!
Grandpa was way too soft to only give you two measly hours!”
Wanda, meanwhile, regarded Everly with a blend of curiosity and disdain, her eyes flitting over the young girl as if she were an uninteresting trinket.
Calvin, for his part, furrowed his brow at Everly for a brief moment before returning to furiously typing away on his cell phone, clearly unimpressed.
Only Freya wore an expression that was truly peculiar.
She stared at Everly with an intensity that bordered on the obsessive, her eyes unblinking and filled with a strange longing, as if there were a thousand words she desperately wanted to spill but couldn’t quite bring herself to utter.
Alan remained silent as a tomb.
He grasped Everly’s wrist with a firm yet gentle grip and swiftly led her out of the opulent mansion and into the sprawling back garden.
As they finally arrived in the garden, the air thick with the scent of blooming flowers and the distant hum of insects, and found themselves alone at last, Everly couldn’t contain her curiosity any longer.
“So, I’m supposed to kneel down? This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
It’s like something out of an old-fashioned punishment that keeps popping up even in modern-day novels!!
Is that creepy shrine-like hall over there where they keep all the dusty old memorial tablets of our long-dead ancestors?”
“Well, sort of…
In this family, when someone steps out of line, they’re made to kneel in there for hours on end, or even days if they’ve really messed up.
Sylas and Nathan used to get their knees bruised and battered from all that kneeling when they were kids.”
Alan paused for a moment, looking at Everly with concern.
“Everly, next time, try to think before you…
ah, no, next time, try not to speak out of turn, even if you think there’s something odd about someone else…”
Alan felt a bit awkward giving this advice to Everly.
After all, it was tricky to tell her to think first when everyone could hear her thoughts.
And knowing Everly, her mind was a wild whirlwind.
If he told her to think before speaking, she’d probably have everyone seeing red and spitting blood from the sheer audacity of her thoughts.
“Haaah…
But…
Alan, you won’t believe this.
Grandpa actually whispered to me that our great grandma was still alive…
and he’s punishing me for calling him an orphan.
I was almost convinced he was punishing me for telling him not to love me like a crazy stalker.
But it turns out that’s not it at all?!”
She was all set to launch into a full-blown rant, but then she remembered it was her own fault for underestimating her great grandmother’s remarkable longevity.
Alan, who had been walking beside her with a resigned expression, stopped in his tracks and stared at her for a moment.
Then, a slow, amused chuckle escaped his lips.
“Everly, it seems like grandpa is just slapping on a punishment randomly, so the others won’t think he’s playing favorites.
You see, the great grandma he’s on about is just an evil stepmother that grandpa doesn’t even acknowledge.”
But deep down, Alan couldn’t shake the suspicion that there was more to this punishment.
Maybe grandpa was sending Everly here to keep everyone from hearing the secrets she had blurted out in her mind.
Everly’s jaw dropped so fast it could have broken a world record.
And then, her face contorted into a comical expression of crankiness.
Being punished because of an evil stepmother?
That made her punishment seem even more pitiful than a one-legged duck trying to dance the tango!
When they finally reached the ancestral hall, the servant who had been dozing off while pretending to clean quickly jumped to attention and fumbled with the keys to unlock the door.
The two siblings stepped inside.
Everly had never set foot in the ancestral hall before.
She was in awe of the room, which looked like it had been plucked straight out of a history book.
There were rows of ancestral tablets, an altar table that seemed to hold centuries of secrets, and an ancestral shrine that gave off an otherworldly glow.
Alan reached out and ruffled her hair affectionately.
“I can’t stay here with you, so I’ll come back in two hours to get you.
If you don’t feel like kneeling…
well, you can take a seat…
just make sure no one catches you slacking off…”
Everly couldn’t help but break into a mischievous grin.
She hadn’t expected Alan to give her such a lenient tip.
Soon enough, Alan left, leaving Everly all by herself in the hall.
At first, Everly managed to stay in the kneeling position for a whole five minutes.
But after ten minutes, she was rolling around on the floor like a human rolling pin, her limbs flailing in all directions.
This is so mind-numbingly boring!!!
But with boredom gnawing at her like a ravenous beast, her eyes wandered out the window.
And what she saw was like a vision from a fruity paradise!
The garden of the mansion right next to the Zhou family’s was a veritable cornucopia of mouthwatering fruits.
They hung from the trees like jewels, glistening in the sunlight and practically begging to be devoured.
Everly’s mouth started to water so much, it was a wonder she didn’t flood the ancestral hall.
And to make matters worse, she hadn’t even had lunch yet.
Talk about cruel and unusual punishment!
Suddenly, a wild idea popped into her head like a jack-in-the-box.
It was so crazy, it just might work.
Everly quietly cracked open the door and peeked out.
To her delight, she saw the guard and the Zhou family chef in a rather…
compromising position.
Let’s just say they were a bit too busy “tasting each other’s recipes” to notice her escape.
Taking advantage of their distraction, Everly slipped out like a ninja and made a beeline for the high fence.
With the agility of a parkour pro (or at least a very determined monkey), she scaled the fence and landed on the other side with a soft thud.
Then, she repeated the process to get into the neighboring mansion’s garden.
I’m really sorry, mysterious mansion owner.
I’ll totally pay you back for these fruits.
I’m just…
helping you with your over – production problem.
And I’ll even throw in some extra cash for the trouble!
Her eyes were so fixated on the colorful fruits that she didn’t notice the figure smoking under the trees near the fence.
As she jumped down, it was like time slowed to a crawl, just like in a cheesy romantic drama.
She looked down and saw a pair of startled eyes staring back at her, realizing there was an unexpected guest in the garden.
Holy smokes, he’s super handsome!
If I came here to steal fruit, did he show up here to steal my heart?
But wait!
No time for swooning.
I’m about to turn that handsome face into a human doormat!
Everly suddenly realized that one of her feet was about to land right on the poor guy’s face.
Oh boy, this was going to be one awkward landing.