On the Starnet, some people once compared fathers and sons to rulers and ministers.
They talked about not daring to take a cigarette from their father.
Not having the courage to drink with their father.
Not daring to look their father in the eye.
And how the thing they desired most in their lives was a word of praise from their father.
Those kinds of statements... were a bit too exaggerated.
Guanliang didn't know how to judge them.
What exactly had their fathers done to make their children so obsessed with a single compliment?
In Guanliang's view, Zero wasn't a qualified father.
Other powerful families across the universe all had their own ways of raising children.
They planned their children's paths before they were even born.
After choosing an heir, they would let them study, continue their education, enter the family business, and eventually take over.
As for the other children, they would be given money regularly and allowed to do whatever they wanted.
You can't put all your eggs in one basket.
The same applies to investments.
They invested in different fields.
So what if one of their companies went bankrupt?
The family could still provide support.
Even if the immediate family went bankrupt, the larger clan could still provide funding.
Taking it one step further, even if the entire family went bankrupt, it didn't mean the parents' families would go bankrupt too.
Chasing high returns meant accepting high risks.
Only by repeatedly trying and failing could the chances of success improve.
The children of such families would not obsess over a single compliment.
Zero's way of raising a child was obviously different.
He had only one child.
As a result, Hua bore pressure far beyond what ordinary people experienced, and from time to time she also had to endure Zero's nonsense.
Zero had said many nice things to Hua and praised her many times.
Yet he had never acknowledged himself as her father, never encouraged her as a father.
Thinking about it now, Hua must have regretted it deeply.
A careless remark from childhood had stayed in Zero's mind for so many years.
Before Zero left, the two had never truly talked as father and daughter.
She had never even heard praise from her father.
Guanliang sighed inwardly.
It was all Zero's fault.
Hua lowered her eyes.
When she looked up again, she had already regained control of her expression and once more became the calm and capable Marshal of the Xianzhou.
She looked at Guanliang for a long moment before saying out of nowhere, "If I ever changed my surname, it definitely wouldn't be the same as yours."
The corner of Guanliang's mouth twitched.
What? Was she planning to take his surname?
He reached out and pressed the back of his hand against Hua's forehead before saying seriously, "You don't have a fever either. You really should go see the Chief Healer..."
Before he could finish, Hua stood up and hugged him.
His body stiffened.
His lips parted several times, but in the end he said nothing.
Guanliang let out a deep sigh and gently patted Hua's back like he was comforting a child.
A thousand years ago, Hua had methodically handled the aftermath, taken on the position of Xianzhou Marshal, and faced both internal scrutiny and external challenges.
Back then, Hua was overwhelmed with work.
She didn't even have time to miss her father.
Only after she gradually became familiar with the strategists and the other nine generals could she think of him during quiet late nights.
What does it feel like to part with a loved one?
Death does not stir up a violent storm inside you.
You attend the funeral and formally say goodbye.
It is in every moment afterward when you think of them that you realize their departure is an endless polar night without daylight.
It is autumn rain falling on your body.
It is a damp chill that seeps into your bones.
Hua wasn't sleepy at all.
She repeatedly studied the bloodstained fragment.
How was she supposed to break the deadlock?
She had no clue.
Sometimes Hua felt that her father had never left.
Just like when she was a child.
She attended classes at the academy while her father stayed in the Marshal's Manor.
When she returned to the Marshal's Manor, he had already followed an Aeon away from the Xianzhou.
Her father hadn't left.
He had simply always missed her.
For a long time, Hua regretted many things.
She regretted speaking carelessly.
She regretted learning too quickly.
She regretted not noticing anything unusual when they parted.
Most of all, she regretted that from beginning to end, she had never called him Father.
Whenever Hua wanted to cry, she would think of her father.
He once said, "I hope the only reason you cry is because you're happy."
"I hope you're not a Marshal, not a superior. I hope you're simply yourself."
As time passed, Hua came to understand something.
Never regret.
She had to take responsibility for her own actions.
Every choice she had made up to now had been the best decision she could make with the knowledge she had at the time.
She needed to put herself first.
Not criticize or deny her past self.
The most important thing was to focus on the present.
Guanliang patted her for a while, but Hua still didn't let go.
He laughed.
"You're already grown up. Why are you still acting like a child?"
Hearing this, Hua returned from her thoughts and stepped back.
She looked into the eyes of the elder who had accompanied her for nearly a thousand years and smiled.
"Am I not?"
"In front of family, am I not a child?"
Guanliang froze for a moment before bursting into laughter.
"Yes, yes, you are."
Half-jokingly, he said, "Then do you need me to tell you a bedtime story?"
Hua pretended to think about it.
After a moment, she nodded.
"Sure."
Guanliang looked around.
Not far away were strange rock formations, a lake, and covered walkways.
They were beautiful during the day, but now that night had deepened, the dim lights made the scenery feel a little eerie.
Guanliang casually put away his resignation application.
"Let's go somewhere else."
Hua readily agreed and followed him toward the main building.
At the entrance, the attendants were busy with their work, gathered in the hall preparing things.
After entering and taking a closer look, they saw the attendants were preparing gift bags for the guests.
The attendants immediately put down what they were doing and stood to greet them.
One attendant picked up a document bag from the side and handed it to Guanliang.
Hua's attention was drawn to what another attendant was holding.
She subconsciously stepped forward.
"Red envelopes?"
The attendant immediately nodded and proudly displayed the checks and red envelopes.
Hua smiled.
"Leave them to me."
She took the bag filled with checkbooks and red envelopes and headed to the top floor with Guanliang.
The attendants, having received advance notice, had already prepared tea, fruit, blankets, and scarves.
Two attendants stood quietly by the staircase with blankets and scarves draped over their arms.
The moment they saw Hua and Guanliang, they hurried over and helped them put on scarves.
"The wind is strong at night. Please take care of yourselves, Marshal Hua and Lord Guanliang."
The attendants then guided them to their seats.
Hua smiled and nodded.
She placed the bag on the table, adjusted the scarf over her shoulders, stopped a subordinate from covering her with a blanket, and waved for them to leave.
Guanliang sat across from her and openly opened the document bag.
Hua clearly saw the ID photo on the paper.
The face looked very familiar.
After a moment, she remembered.
The man had once been the Chief Healer of the Alchemy Commission on Yaoqing.
It seemed he was the first person to discover the secret hidden within her father's flesh and blood.
Guanliang stared at the photograph in silence for a long time.
After leaving the Alchemy Commission, the Chief Healer had opened a clinic.
After his death, his descendants inherited it.
Guanliang had been busy handling Zero's affairs and could not attend the man's funeral.
After he and Hua moved to Xuling, they never returned to Yaoqing.
He hadn't even burned a stick of incense for him.
Fortunately, Guanliang wasn't short of money.
After investigating, he learned that the clinic was highly trusted by the people of Yaoqing.
Only then did Guanliang begin donating to it regularly under a hidden identity.
He took out his jade abacus communicator, hesitated briefly, and said to Hua, "Wait a moment."
Guanliang dialed a number he had kept for a long time.
"I am... one of your grandfather's patients."
"He helped me a great deal."
"Now I want to build a statue for him. I need his information and photographs."
Hua smoothed the blanket over her legs.
She took out the checkbook and placed the remaining red envelopes in front of Guanliang.
The attendant immediately understood and handed her a pen.
Hua picked up the pen.
After writing only a few words, she paused.
Guanliang ended the call and asked, "What is it?"
Hua sighed.
"I wrote the wrong number."
Guanliang reassured her.
"It's fine. The largest unit on those checks is one hundred million."
Hua lowered her head and continued writing.
After writing for a while, she suddenly stopped.
"What happened to the bedtime story you promised?"
Guanliang stuffed a check into a red envelope.
"I'll tell you about his days as a general."
"He especially liked visiting people with his subordinates."
Hua looked surprised.
"Visiting people?"
Guanliang nodded.
"Yes. He said he wanted the people of Yaoqing to be satisfied and wanted to solve their problems."
Hua had worked within the Six Commissions since her teens and had met all kinds of people.
She knew how difficult that was, and her expression became serious.
After thinking for a moment, Guanliang said, "For example, visiting the orphans of Cloud Knights."
"As for other issues... there were all kinds."
"Like a child going missing. Then we'd arrive and discover it was just a parrot stuck in a tree refusing to come down."
"And there were love triangles and relationship disputes. The relationships were so tangled they looked like Daiyang itself."
Guanliang frowned.
"Most people were reasonable."
"As for a small number of them... how should I put it?"
"People on the Xianzhou today probably can't imagine their ancestors arguing endlessly over ownership of a few credits."
Hua nodded as well.
"And they probably can't imagine that a few credits could bring the General himself to their doorstep."
Guanliang slowed his movements.
"They argued for ages and said all kinds of nasty things. At one point I almost wanted to pay the credits myself."
"We mediated from daytime until night before they finally reconciled."
"Later, Zero said it wasn't their fault."
"If survival itself is a struggle, then what room is there for law and morality?"
Hua's expression shifted slightly as she slowed her writing.
Guanliang skipped over the topic and continued:
"They also helped Yaoqing residents search for lost geese."
Hua's hand shook, and she accidentally wrote a nine instead of a zero.
Rather than correcting it, she simply changed all the numbers into nines.
It was truly hard to imagine...
Hua laughed.
"He really was going around visiting people."
Guanliang was filled with emotion.
"Yes."
"It was as if... he treated them as his own people."
"When he first took office, he almost used up half of Yaoqing's resources for the Colossus Project."
"I thought he was one of those rich young masters who had no idea how ordinary people lived."
"I never expected he'd be willing to do things like that."
"Now, he doesn't remember any of it."
The two chatted for who knew how long.
Only when the darkness began to fade and the morning light appeared did Hua realize they had talked through the entire night.
She lowered her head and solemnly picked up her pen.
On the final check, she signed her name.
The morning breeze brushed against her face, causing a strand of hair near her ear to fall loose.
Hua casually tucked it behind her ear, removed the blanket from her lap, and counted the red envelopes together with Guanliang.
By the time they finished collecting the red envelopes, the sun had already broken through the clouds and shone with dazzling brightness.
The sunlight hurt her eyes, forcing Hua to raise a hand to shield them.
The damp chill that had seeped into her bones was now completely gone.
From this moment on, daylight filled the sky.
Guanliang narrowed his eyes slightly and muttered, "...There's one last thing left."
Hua turned to him.
"What thing?"
His face was filled with unconcealed happiness.
"You'll find out when the time comes."
After waiting and waiting, he had finally reached the day of Zero's wedding.
Even while helping Hua welcome guests, his mind kept wandering.
Only when a company shareholder led a group over did Guanliang come back to his senses.
He glanced over them.
All men.
Hua looked helpless on purpose.
"Why bring gifts? We're not strangers."
The shareholder answered flawlessly, "That's true, we're not strangers. But even at the edge of the universe, you don't visit elders empty-handed."
The two exchanged pleasantries while their subordinates handled the gifts.
Hua looked like she wanted to say something but instead let out a sigh.
"By all rights, I should have contacted you a year in advance..."
As usual, the shareholder put himself down and praised her a few times.
Finally, in the tone of someone who had been through it all, he said, "I understand. Young people are always like this."
Hua frowned deeply and bit her lip, trying her hardest not to laugh.
Guanliang instinctively looked at Hua.
'So you did that on purpose!'
But in the shareholder's eyes, the scene looked completely different.
After seeing the names of the couple on the invitation, he had immediately investigated.
One was the Sword Champion of the Luofu.
The other was an obscure Diviner from the Divination Commission.
The moment the shareholder saw the age difference, his scalp went numb.
'The Xianzhou was too strange!'
'Why os everyone here in age-gap relationships?'
He immediately ruled out bringing any women and only brought men this time.
He had originally assumed the Xianzhou Marshal was attending as a relative of the bride.
Now it seemed... the Marshal was a relative of the groom.
Could such a perfect and powerful leader really raise someone who was love-struck?
The shareholder offered comfort.
"Don't worry. He'll understand someday that you're doing this for his own good."
Thinking he had discovered one of the Xianzhou's secrets, the shareholder also revealed some family gossip.
"It's completely normal."
"Especially age-gap relationships."
"There are plenty of examples in our family."
"The women always end up falling in love with men thousands of years older than themselves."
Hua, "..."
Guanliang, "..."