...
After listening to Xuan Hao's insightful and easy-to-understand analysis, Ning Rongrong, Dugu Yan, and the others all looked thoughtful and nodded seriously, silently memorizing these "knowledge points" about the power struggles of human nature.
"I see."
Ning Rongrong stroked her chin.
"Since going directly to find Tang San now would seem too deliberate and hasty, and could easily arouse his resentment and suspicion, let's hold back for a few days and wait for this storm to pass before making any moves."
"Why..."
Xuan Hao sighed helplessly again, rubbing his temples.
"After all this talk, why have you gone to the other extreme again?
I said you can't just force the emperor to abdicate, but I didn't say you should just sit here and do nothing!"
"Tang San is currently in a period of profound upheaval in his values and emotions."
If you do nothing now and completely let him calm down on his own, then once the anger you've stirred up in him has completely subsided and reason has regained its footing, Yu Xiaogang can seize the opportunity to play the victim and appeal to his emotions.
All your hard work tonight might just be for nothing!
"What you need to do is not to attack directly, but to use indirect means and influence to keep Tang San's doubts, anxieties, and resentment alive, like a frog being slowly boiled in water!
You absolutely cannot let his emotions completely return to calm!"
Ning Rongrong was getting a headache from his tongue-twisting tactics of telling her to stop one minute and maintain the status quo the next, and complained with a strange expression:
"No... Brother Xuanhao, can you stop taking such long breaths and just finish what you've got?
Can't you just tell us exactly what to do next?"
"I'm guiding you to think for yourselves, not treating you like puppets to be directed, okay?"
Xuan Hao rolled his eyes. "If I chewed everything up and fed it to you, you'd never graduate in this lifetime."
Just as the group was lost in thought, Na'er, who was slowly munching on pastries, suddenly put down her teacup, and her cool voice rang out from the table:
"Actually, what you mean is easy to understand. Our frontal assault is complete, and continuing with a direct attack is definitely not going to work.
Since we can't progress on the main quest for the time being, we can try to push through the side quests."
"For example, we need to find a suitable person or create a suitable opportunity to take over and amplify Tang San's current anxiety that has nowhere to go."
"However, this process must not appear deliberate, nor even a trace of coincidence. It must be a forced situation!"
Na'er leaned forward slightly and explained in a simple and easy-to-understand way:
"Or to put it more bluntly, what happens next must be driven by Tang San himself, based on his own subjective will!
Make him feel that he is the one in control of the situation and the one who is looking for the answer."
Seeing the still somewhat confused looks on everyone's faces, Na'er tilted her head and gave a relatable example:
"It's like... when your brother gives you a full-body massage in the room."
The atmosphere at the table instantly became awkward after these words were spoken.
Na'er, however, acted as if nothing had happened and continued her analysis in a serious tone:
"Every time, my brother would first use his techniques to tease your emotions and bodies until you were neither too excited nor too upset, and then at the most crucial moment, he would suddenly stop and back away."
At this point, you'll definitely feel empty inside, and might even feel angry and dissatisfied because of his irresponsible pause.
"Just when you're about to get angry, your brother will immediately lower his stance and put on an innocent and ingratiating look to admit his mistake.
This is actually deliberately satisfying your desire to dominate!"
"This will subconsciously give you the illusion that the services he continues to provide are things you actively asked him to do, and that you are in control of the whole process!"
Furthermore, in your sense of satisfaction from wielding power, your subconscious perception of your brother's slightly offensive probing and transgression will become insignificant, even taken for granted.
Na'er crossed her arms and rested them on her chin.
"But ultimately, if you step back and think about it carefully, you'll find that the initiative in this matter has been completely and utterly in the hands of the older brother from beginning to end!"
"He simply used a clever tactic to make us mistakenly believe that we were the ones who truly held the power of decision-making."
Simply put, in the older brother's theory, this method of controlling people's minds is called "pulling and tugging"!
"If I pull you, your instinctive reaction will definitely be to pull back in the opposite direction.
You think you have successfully resisted and that you have taken the initiative."
But in fact, the very act of pulling back, and even the force with which you pulled, was entirely under my precise control!
After hearing Na'er's vivid, even "revealing" firsthand account, the area around the table fell into a deathly silence.
Ning Rongrong, Dugu Yan, and Ye Lingling, the girls who had been "served" by Xuan Hao, had strange and interesting expressions on their faces.
Even Tang Yuehua, who had been sitting to the side with an air of seniority, pretending to be invisible, began to dart her eyes away.
She stared intently at the teacup in front of her, two suspicious blushes appearing on her fair cheeks without her noticing.
Depend on!
Everyone cursed in their hearts at the same time.
Thinking back carefully to all the little things I did with Xuanhao in the past, it seems...
It really is true!
Every time it comes to a crucial moment, this bastard uses this shameless tactic of playing hard to get to completely control me!
That bastard Xuan Hao… He's really gone to such extremes, using all this scheming and psychological manipulation in every aspect of his daily interactions with them, even in their intimate moments?!
Seeing the women's eyes gradually shift from shock to embarrassment and anger, and even a hint of gritted teeth, the surrounding air seemed to freeze because of this rising "killing intent".
Sensing the anger rising among everyone after learning they had been tricked, Xuan Hao remained completely calm.
He put down his teacup, shrugged innocently, and spread his hands:
"Please, can you guys be reasonable? With so many people of such different personalities living together all day, there's bound to be all sorts of emotional friction and ulterior motives in our daily interactions."
"If I don't go to such lengths to carefully plan and guide your emotions, what if your negative emotions accumulate and suddenly explode?"
Xuan Hao looked at them and said, "Moreover, deliberately giving in on those matters and satisfying your desire to take the initiative, isn't it all ultimately to make you happy and make you feel safe?"
Hearing this frank and even somewhat "aggrieved" analysis, the girls' anger faltered, and their expressions became somewhat unnatural.
Thinking about it carefully... it seems that's really the case.
In fact, Xuan Hao's all-encompassing "scheming" can be seen from another perspective as him going to great lengths to please them and take care of their feelings!
After all, it's impossible for so many proud and outstanding girls with different personalities to live under one roof without any competition or minor conflicts among them.
But looking back over the past few years, there has never been any uncontrollable arguments at home.
Whenever the atmosphere became somewhat awkward, it was Xuan Hao who acted as a "lubricant," subtly mediating between them.
He skillfully resolved their negative emotions and eliminated the conflict by using various jokes or playing hard to get.
He was actually very attentive and cared a lot about their relationship and everyone's feelings, unlike his usual casual attitude of "letting things take their course."
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