Here, the family finally settled down.
After Gu Chaobei convened a family meeting and obtained unanimous agreement, he solemnly asked for Mi Guo's opinion: whether he was willing to be adopted.
If not willing, they would interact as juniors. If willing, he would become an adopted son.
Upon hearing this, Mi Guo could finally have his own parents and sister, so how could he refuse? He immediately nodded, fearing they might go back on their word.
Hu Lanfang had always wanted a second child, not to ensure lineage, but because she feared that after their passing, Qingcheng would be lonely, with no one to share her thoughts with. She wished to have another child to accompany her, regardless of gender.
However, during Qingcheng's birth, Hu Lanfang had a difficult labor, and Qingcheng was eventually born via C-section. Gu Chaobei, being a doctor, had immense psychological trauma and hesitated to have another child.
As time passed, they reached middle age, and that idea faded.
Unexpectedly, arriving here, they could have another son. Qingcheng would not be alone in the future. Everyone was happy.
Seeing Mi Guo's willingness, the couple said:
"Since that's the case, let's have a formal ceremony to establish kinship."
A sense of ceremony would let Mi Guo know they wholeheartedly welcomed his inclusion.
Thus, after some preparations, Gu Chaobei set up an altar in the hall, adorned with offerings, incense, candles, and the ancestral tablet of the Gu family elders, naturally his paternal grandparents. After lighting incense and informing the ancestors of their adoption of a son, the couple sat in front of the hall, having Mi Guo respectfully kowtow three times, calling them mother and father, and Qingcheng sister.
They also gave Mi Guo a red packet containing a gold bar as a token of changing his address.
From then on, they had an additional son, and Gu Qingcheng gained a younger brother.
Mi Guo officially settled down and lived with the Gu family.
Just as Mi Guo kowtowed and called Gu Chaobei and his wife parents, Gu Qingcheng suddenly received a system notification:
"Family and Friend Loyalty Testing function has been activated. Host, do you wish to activate it?"
Activate.
Although Gu Qingcheng didn't understand, she intuitively felt it wasn't a bad function and readily agreed.
"Mi Guo's loyalty test requires one 'thrill point.' Do you wish to test?"
Test.
Gu Qingcheng was surprised. She hadn't expected such a function. Well, let's try it!
Deducting one 'thrill point,' Mi Guo's loyalty test: Excellent. Loyal and trustworthy.
The golden finger quickly provided the answer.
Gu Qingcheng smiled.
This test was not beyond her expectations.
But honestly, the system having this function was quite satisfying!
"Can all people be tested for loyalty from now on?" Gu Qingcheng asked.
"Only family and friends closely associated with the host can have their loyalty tested," the golden finger mechanically chirped.
"I see. What are the loyalty test levels? Can you explain them in detail?"
For some reason, Gu Qingcheng could sense the golden finger was in a good mood and seized the opportunity to inquire.
"Loyalty is divided into three levels:
Excellent: Loyal and trustworthy.
Passable: The host can satisfy the individual's needs, and they can be trusted.
Fail: No loyalty, avoid deep association.
The host can use this to judge whether to associate with an individual.
However, loyalty is dynamic. It's possible that you test someone as only passable, or even excellent, but certain events may cause them to change in the opposite direction of their original loyalty. Therefore, the host needs to test frequently to ascertain their loyalty."
"I understand. Those with excellent loyalty can be core individuals, completely trusted, like Mi Guo. For those who are passable, interactions should be on a case-by-case basis, like with Steward Zheng. Those who fail, and there are many such people, generally won't have loyalty."
Gu Qingcheng understood.
As for loyalty changing, Gu Qingcheng could adapt to it. A person's thoughts at eighteen would certainly differ from their thoughts at ten.
If their Gu family did something wrong to someone, their loyalty would naturally change.
However, if unexpected events occurred in that person's life, their loyalty would also change.
These things were beyond her control.
The most important thing was for the Gu family to do their best. If the other party then wronged them, they couldn't blame the Gu family.
Loyalty was indicated by a red heart icon in the upper right corner of the system. When Gu Qingcheng needed it, she could click the red heart to see the loyalty list.
Currently, only Mi Guo was on the list, marked as Excellent.
Only those who had been tested would appear on the list, allowing for easy tracking.
Honestly, Gu Qingcheng felt that the system's sudden activation of this function held a deeper meaning. It suggested that the system was playing a larger game behind the scenes.
Recently, Gu Qingcheng had been obtaining 'thrill points' in her daily life. Moreover, thanks to Prince Xia's generosity, she didn't need to exchange 'thrill points' for silver to cover her living expenses here, so she had accumulated quite a few. Counting them, she had over 1200 'thrill points.'
This seemed like a lot, but it was still far from what she needed to exchange for large items like a speedboat. Fortunately, the flood was still a year away, so she had time to accumulate more 'thrill points.'
Gu Qingcheng did not tell her parents that she had activated the loyalty testing function.
It was better for her to know about such a function herself and not to misuse it.
Because, people's hearts could not withstand constant testing.
When it was necessary, she would activate the test.
For now, it was enough that their family of four could live together in mutual trust.
Although Mi Guo greatly enjoyed his current life, Gu Qingcheng told him that the present ease was temporary. They would have a larger migration plan in the future, heading south, and would not reside here long-term.
Mi Guo didn't understand why they would embark on a difficult journey south when they were living so comfortably here, but he unconditionally supported Gu Qingcheng's decision, saying:
"Wherever you go, I will go."
"You'll follow us, no matter how hard or tiring it is?" Gu Qingcheng smiled.
"Of course. Having no family is the hardest and most tiring thing," Mi Guo said decisively.
He cherished his kind parents and sister immensely.
Gu Qingcheng was very pleased, but at the same time, she increased the demands on his physical fitness. Having become part of the Gu family, Mi Guo didn't get to relax and enjoy himself; instead, he entered a mode of devilish training.
Gu Qingcheng's training plan required him to draw a bow 1000 times daily. After 10 days, he had to reach 2000 times daily, and not only perform the archery movements but also achieve an accuracy rate of over 80%.
In addition, weightlifting could not stop, and running had to be maintained daily. Life never stops, and exercise never ceases!
Mi Guo didn't understand why everyone was training so diligently, but he was sure there were reasons, so he persevered without question.
On the first day, Mi Guo drew his bow 1000 times, and his arm swelled considerably. But on the second day, he still strove to meet the training requirements...