Dou Junwan pulled her sister’s arm, wondering what this girl was talking about.
"Sorry, perhaps my sister thinks you’re a nice person!"
Zhang Pingfan forced a smile.
"It’s alright, I’m just across the street. Call me if anything comes up!"
"Okay, then we won’t bother you anymore!"
Zhang Pingfan nodded and left Dou Youyou’s home.
Watching Zhang Pingfan leave, Dou Junwan finally breathed a sigh of relief. If this continued, her sister might even give herself away.
"Youyou, what are you doing? I don’t know him. When did you meet?"
Dou Youyou said, "We met a long time ago, about a month ago!"
"How is that possible? We’ve been playing games at home all this time. Where did you meet someone?"
"None of your business. Go clean the room!"
Seeing her sister’s happy demeanor, Dou Junwan guessed that she was likely attracted to the man.
"Who is this guy? A month ago, my sister wasn’t even an adult. Although she’s an adult now, it still feels… off somehow!"
Soon, Dou Junwan found Zhang Pingfan’s information.
"Zhang Pingfan, such an ordinary name. I haven’t heard of him being a young master from any prominent family. How did he meet Youyou? It’s getting weirder and weirder!"
When Zhang Pingfan returned to his villa, he felt a complex mix of emotions.
Back then, when he first entered the game as an NPC, Dou Youyou was the only silly girl brave enough to follow him; everyone else had avoided him.
Then, she was tricked by him into becoming his disciple.
Ultimately, it was Dou Youyou’s rise that made him a sought-after NPC in the game of Mythology.
He never expected to encounter her outside the game, and not just once or twice, but now she was living right across the street from him.
"Heavens, you sure know how to joke. This kind of joke can be fatal!"
"Ding! I think that young lady is quite interested in you. Why don’t you take her? Such a large villa certainly needs a girlfriend!"
"Get lost! Don’t talk nonsense. She’s my disciple, how can I do that? Although she’s pretty, but…"
"Ding! But what? You’re just a coward!"
"Uh, saying it like that ruins the fun!"
"Ding! Your fans, like Yan Zu and Yi Fei, are eagerly waiting to see you two meet in reality. You’re still dawdling here. Be careful, or they might drop the book!"
"...Let me reconsider. It just doesn’t feel like the right time."
Zhang Pingfan tidied his thoughts and returned to the game.
Since completing his mission yesterday, Zhang Pingfan had been a bit lax. However, he still possessed two Guild Tokens, and with one more, he could equip the three major guilds.
Zhang Pingfan decided to have the three major guilds create their guilds simultaneously, believing this might have a good effect.
While players were busy leveling up, something happened in the real world.
The Dou family, which had been thriving recently, suddenly found itself seemingly obstructed by an invisible hand. All their recent projects and businesses had stagnated.
Dou Jianhua’s phone had been ringing off the hook today. Everyone either said they were busy or had other matters to attend to, essentially delaying their cooperative projects.
The longer the delay, the greater the loss for the Dou family.
"Jianhua, what’s going on?"
"Dad, I don’t know. Everything was fine until recently. These past few days, they’ve started deliberately and progressively neglecting us."
Dou Guomin pondered for a moment.
"Did Youyou offend someone in the game? Or have you become arrogant lately and offended someone in the business world?"
"How is that possible? In the game, Youyou has her master to back her up; who would dare offend her? In reality, I haven’t offended anyone recently. Everyone has been polite to me, and I had no reason to deliberately make things difficult for them. I know how hard-won our current situation is; I’m not that foolish to become arrogant!"
If it wasn’t either of those, then someone was deliberately targeting them.
Who could it be? Only the major families in the capital could do this to them. But weren’t the major families in the capital always trying to appease them?
"Go and check if Youyou’s master in the game did something to those major families. If that’s the case, it will be a big problem!"
"Understood, I’ll go and check again!"
Indeed, he had been busy with business recently and rarely paid attention to matters in the game, especially since he had such a capable daughter and didn’t need to worry about anything.
"I found out. The major families in the capital wanted the Village Chief to help them with the guild tokens, but he refused. Perhaps they’re holding a grudge against the Dou family because of this!"
Dou Guomin pondered again. This matter was difficult to handle, as they had no way to command the Village Chief.
Youyou’s current achievements were all thanks to her master.
"Continue to investigate who made the move!"
"Understood!"
This investigation took longer, but he finally managed to extract a bit of information from an old friend.
"The news is in. It’s the Ouyang family in the capital. After all, the two largest families in the capital, the Ouyang family and the Nangong family, were always on equal footing. Ever since the Village Chief took disciples from the Nangong family, the Ouyang family has been unhappy."
"That makes sense. I’ve also learned about the guild tokens; they are indeed rare. So far, it seems only Youyou and her group have one!"
"Yes, but it’s already been used. What do we do now? We have no chance against the Ouyang family. It also seems that we’ve offended all the families in the capital this time, yet only the Ouyang family has come forward to suppress us covertly!"
"It’s fine. Have Youyou mention it to her master. Perhaps there’s a solution. After all, her master wouldn’t want to see Youyou’s family in trouble. Although this approach is somewhat dishonorable, it’s all we can do right now!"
"Alas, when will we be able to stand on our own? Relying on an NPC all the time feels unreliable!"
"Our Dou family’s scale is what it is; we can only wait for time to pass. Moreover, Youyou is currently the only Awakened with a Heavenly-grade rating nationwide. As long as she becomes stronger, our Dou family will have real influence. Relying on the Village Chief now is a last resort. Ask Youyou to treat the Village Chief kindly!"
"Understood. I never thought I, Dou Jianhua, would have to rely on my daughter someday. Alas!"
If the Village Chief didn’t intervene this time, the Dou family would suffer immeasurable losses and might even collapse.
For the sake of the Dou family, he had no choice but to humble himself and ask his daughter for help.