Luo Xiao had never been very good at socializing. When he was at the Cloudsoar Royal Academy, he was only close to Jin Chuan and Jiang Bai, and while he considered Jin Chuan his friend, they were both quiet people who liked to focus on their own things.
Jiang Bai, on the other hand, was the center of his group, and everywhere he went, others would gather around him and treat him and flatter him with countless words of admiration due to his identity as a prince of the Demon Empire.
As such, Luo Xiao's social skills had only been trained recently by getting long with Ye Chao and Ye Feng, but they were not the best people for such training either.
Ye Chao would not speak much and was quite similar to a wooden puppet that followed around and only interfered when necessary, while Ye Feng was constantly speaking, and generally did not care about whether or not Luo Xiao was listening.
This kind of getting along was very pleasant to Luo Xiao, as everyone was genuine and simply stayed true to their own personalities, but he also knew that now he had arrived at the Gu family, he would have to do his best to get along with the rest of the younger generation.
He did not need to fawn over them, nor did he need to flatter or be subservant as many others would when living under the roof of another family, but he still felt the need to be polite and also try to make friends.
Luo Xiao was well aware that the rank needed to ascend to the upper realms was much more than what he could achieve within a year or two. During the time where he was still cultivating, he would have to depend on the Gu family, so for the future peace, he still did his best to fit in among the others.
Although he had been prepared beforehand, he had not expected that these other youths would accept him this quickly, and he was able to feel welcomed quite swiftly. The feeling of belonging made him wonder if this was what a big family was truly like.
Luo Xiao had grown up in the small village of Jinwei alongside his adopted father. The two of them were alone, and his father had to go out every day to work and procure the resources needed for their survival.
Even though many of the villagers liked Luo Xiao, no other child played with him. They would, at most, stop by his window and exchange a few words, before they would rush to another group of playmates to find something else to do with their time.
Throughout many years, Luo Xiao had been sitting by the windowsill observing the lives of others. Although he had encountered his aunt, Qin Zhaolu, and understood his heritage, Luo Xiao was still not a member of the Qin family.
Now that he had arrived at the Gu family and they welcomed him like this, he genuinely felt overwhelmed, but also a mixture of sourness and sweetness began to emerge in his heart. He felt saddened after knowing that his own family would never welcome him like this, but at the same time, happy to see how they were kind to him here.
"Cousin, my father prepared a courtyard for you already. You brought a pair of servants with you, and he should have already shown them the way to the courtyard where they are waiting for you.
"Why don't we take you around the Gu family ground and introduce the various locations, after which we'll help you to find your own courtyard again?" Gu Tianhu was still as eager for attention as before. He had already lost his steady and overwhelming personality, so he no longer tried to keep up a pretense and just let his feelings go.
As a matter of fact, although Gu Tianhu lived up to his name as a heavenly tiger, with fierceness and intimidation, he actually prefered to be a naughty kitten and willing to examine the world. His previous personality was crafted by himself with his identity in mind.
As the future patriarch of the Gu family, many responsibilities landed on his shoulders, and Gu Tianhu was well aware that he had to live up to these beliefs.
Even so, Gu Tianhu was not much older than Luo Xiao, and thus he naturally felt youthful and energetic within. He had the same excitement about the world and unknown things as any other, but he had to keep himself and his curiosity under control to appear dignified.
However, unknown to him, his current behavior had not made the other youths feel that he was less mighty. Instead, they were greatly impressed by him when they thought about how much he did for their family. To them, Gu Tianhu would always be their idol.
"Please." Luo Xiao could not help but smile as he looked at the group of young people surrounding him. He had never felt like this either, so he was happy to accept their invitation to show him around.
The Gu family compound was massive. It was located within the capital of the Xiumeng Empire, and it was the largest compound in the entire capital. The whole land was bordered with a great wall, and each entrance into the compound had magnificent gates that were constantly guarded by strong guards. Even the top of the walls were patrolled regularly.
The inside of the compound had many courtyards, and the Gu family branches each had an area within the compound where the courtyards would belong to their members.
The more outstanding members would have a Siheyuan, courtyard house, on their own, while the less powerful would share one with their wives and children.
Even so, each Siheyuan would usually have the parents living in the principal house, while the children would live in the east and west wings, while the servants would either live in the servant quarters or in the siderooms.
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