[T/N: 🎊 HAPPY NEW YEAR chaps! 🎊 May this year be Healthy and Productive for you! Enjoy~]
When a person starts to reveal their true feelings to you, it means they already trust you enough.
Xu Yuan naturally understood this principle, so that was why he wanted to take a risk and test Notch a little. It was also equivalent to giving Notch a bit of a mental preparation first.
Those two friends of Notch inside the Void had always been a knot in Notch's heart.
Sooner or later, Notch would have to face them. If he had no psychological preparation when facing them, then the probability of Notch losing control was still somewhat high.
If they could let Notch have some mental preparation beforehand, it should be much better.
Besides, Xu Yuan also wanted to know exactly what Notch's attitude toward friendship was.
Everyone has a different attitude toward friendship. Some find friendship precious and cherish it greatly, while others don't take it seriously at all.
Judging from the fact that Notch lost his memories after learning of his friends' deaths, Notch definitely belonged to the former type.
Generally speaking, people who value friendship very much will often show some double standards without meaning to.
For example, you're an upright person who is loyal and faithful in relationships, and you hate scumbag behavior with a passion.
However, one day, when you're eating with your good brother, he brings a strange girl along, and this girl isn't his girlfriend.
At that moment, you suddenly receive a call from his girlfriend, asking whether he is eating with you and who else is at the table.
Faced with this situation, the vast majority of people would definitely hide the truth for their good brother without hesitation.
If the good brother adds a bit of persuasion, then most people would even choose to continue helping him hide it from his girlfriend.
But this kind of covering-up doesn't seem to prove that your own values have a problem.
Because you yourself didn't do such a thing, and you wouldn't do such a thing, and even if you help your brother cover for him, it doesn't mean you agree with this kind of behavior. You won't change because of it, you'll still remain faithful.
Even though you're unhappy about your brother's behavior, you're still willing to help him hide the truth, simply because you don't want to lose a brother over such a small matter.
This kind of double standard behavior can appear in all sorts of big and small situations.
Small ones like telling a harmless lie; big ones like hiding a crime.
Precisely because of this, Xu Yuan needed to determine Notch's attitude toward friendship, or in other words, Xu Yuan wanted to confirm whether Notch would subconsciously show double standards.
Although Xu Yuan had already made up his mind, this matter was still somewhat difficult to handle.
Even though Notch had already opened his heart to Xu Yuan, Xu Yuan definitely couldn't suddenly bring up friendship out of nowhere, doing that would be too stiff.
So Xu Yuan had to find an entry point.
While listening carefully to Notch, Xu Yuan also searched for a point to transition the topic.
Just then, he saw Black Blade and Grayfist walking over from afar.
Notch saw this and knew that Black Blade and Grayfist were here to report something, so he closed his mouth and looked at Xu Yuan, saying, "I'll step aside first, you go ahead."
Actually, Notch didn't need to avoid them at all. After all, in that previous conversation Xu Yuan had basically already told Notch the plan.
Since Xu Yuan allowed him to stay in the rainforest, that already meant he acknowledged Notch as a member of the rainforest.
But because the other animals, monsters, and players in the rainforest still seemed somewhat wary of him, this made Notch subconsciously feel like he was an outsider.
So when he saw Black Blade and Grayfist coming over, he instinctively wanted to avoid them.
Just as Notch was about to leave, Xu Yuan stopped him.
"It's fine, no need to avoid."
Xu Yuan no longer treated Notch as an outsider at all, so of course he didn't think Notch needed to avoid anything.
Hearing Xu Yuan's words, Notch didn't know why, but his heart instantly felt warm. He didn't act polite with Xu Yuan and nodded, staying behind.
Though Notch stayed, he still felt a little worried.
He was somewhat afraid that after Black Blade and Grayfist came over and saw him there, they would exchange some kind of meaningful glance with Xu Yuan.
But Notch quickly realized he was overthinking.
After Black Blade and Grayfist arrived, Black Blade glanced at Notch, nodded as a greeting, and didn't show any strange expression at all.
Seeing this, Notch finally let out a breath of relief.
After greeting Notch, Black Blade was about to begin reporting to Xu Yuan.
"Sir..."
But then they heard a "pa" sound, the sound of a bone hitting the ground.
The source of the sound was Grayfist beside them. He had lowered his head, dropped to one knee, and his posture was unusually stiff. It was obvious how inexperienced he was.
After kneeling for a while without getting any reaction, Grayfist finally raised his head for a look, and when he saw Black Blade still standing there perfectly fine, he was completely stunned.
In Grayfist's view, Black Blade always saluted Xu Yuan when reporting information, so he wanted to use this chance to show some loyalty. He didn't expect Black Blade to completely act outside the script.
Grayfist's eyebrows instantly squeezed together, staring at Black Blade in confusion, the words "Huh? Why aren't you kneeling?" were pretty much written across his face.
Seeing Grayfist's expression, Black Blade was also dumbfounded.
There had never been a rule in Xu Yuan's camp that people must kneel every time they meet Xu Yuan.
Black Blade didn't kneel every single time either, if there was business to handle, he handled the business first.
The reason he didn't salute this time was also because of Grayfist.
Previously, Grayfist didn't want to salute, and Xu Yuan gave him a way out.
In Black Blade's view, since Grayfist hadn't interacted much with Xu Yuan yet, he shouldn't be expected to quickly get used to their way of saluting.
So this time, when coming to report, Black Blade didn't salute.
For one, he didn't want Grayfist to feel awkward; and second, since Xu Yuan had already given Grayfist one way out, and since Grayfist was someone Black Blade brought back, if Xu Yuan had to keep giving him face-saving exits over and over, even if Xu Yuan didn't mind, Black Blade himself would feel guilty.
At this moment, though Grayfist was no longer looking at Black Blade, Black Blade could already read his thoughts from the glance he had given earlier.
Thinking of this, Black Blade immediately kneeled down as well.
There's a saying, people who aren't from the same family don't enter the same house.
Black Blade and Grayfist really did have a bit of tacit understanding with each other.
But at the very moment Black Blade knelt down, Grayfist suddenly stood up.
The two of them moved practically at the same time.
Now, looking at each other's actions, both of them were speechless.
Neither said a word, but their expressions perfectly conveyed their thoughts.
'Grayfist, Huh? Why are you kneeling?!'
'Black Blade, Huh? Why did you stand up?!'