Zero looked at his subordinate, a smile in his tone, "Of course you can."
Zhenzhen replied with a smile, "…That's good."
Very soon, Hua deleted part of Zhenzhen's memory, then turned around and returned "Feather Dust" to Zero.
Zero put the item into the system backpack, lowered his head again, and happened to meet Zhenzhen's gaze.
The subordinate nodded as if understanding, then loudly said, "I get it, you must be my dad..."
Zero moved quickly, covering Zhenzhen's mouth and stopping the half-spoken title.
He withdrew his hand and said with a smile, "I'm your superior."
Zhenzhen pretended to feel wronged. "The Crown Princess can call you that, but I can't? That's so unfair… you're playing favorites…"
Zero and Hua both froze.
He shook his head. "Hua has never called me that."
Zhenzhen paused, then pushed his luck, "Since the Crown Princess doesn't call you that, then I should call you daddy even more..."
Zero rejected it with a cold face. He pressed his subordinate's shoulder and turned her around.
"Alright, alright, I'll braid your hair. You should be heading back to Zhuming soon."
Zhenzhen sighed first, then happily voiced what she wanted.
"I want the same hairstyle as the Crown Princess."
Zero raised his hand and untied his subordinate's hair ribbon.
"Okay, okay."
Before this, Zero had unlocked many hairstyles for Hua and had even pulled out quite a few strands of hair.
Thanks to that earlier practice, he now had quite a bit of experience.
His hands moved fast. Soon he braided two small braids for his subordinate, then tied a high ponytail just like she asked.
Zhenzhen subconsciously raised her hand, wanting to touch the braids.
She suddenly stopped, as if afraid of messing up the hairstyle, reluctantly lowered her hand, then turned around with a serious expression, her tone like a Cloud Knight making an oath.
Zhenzhen made a promise to Zero, "I'll protect it well."
Zero, "…That's not necessary, really not necessary."
As they were about to part, he thought Hua and his subordinate should get used to each other earlier, so he asked her to see Zhenzhen off.
Hua was younger anyway, so letting her escort the Xianzhou general for a bit made sense.
With a group of guards accompanying them, the two started chatting.
Zhenzhen said with a smile, "In a few days it will be the Crown Princess's coming-of-age ceremony. Besides flowers, I also prepared a set of antique jewelry. I hope you'll like it."
Hua thanked her first, then sighed. "It's just a coming-of-age ceremony. General Zhenzhen really spent too much…"
Zhenzhen kept smiling, sounding emotional, "Time really flies. The Crown Princess is already eighteen in the blink of an eye."
Hua nodded.
During these years living with her guardian, her life had been very full.
Except for occasionally having spending restricted, she had been very happy.
This was not only her eighteenth year, but also eighteen years of happiness.
After the polite talk, Zhenzhen changed the topic and asked about matters related to the marshal.
Hua chose her words carefully and first talked about the Labrador her guardian kept.
That Labrador was named Mimi.
Her guardian said that just hearing the name, no one would think Mimi was a dog.
When Mimi was only three or four months old, they got along especially well.
Mimi would often run toward its owner, or rush into the bedroom and lie on top of him.
The guardian spoiled Mimi a lot and never stopped it.
But as time passed, the puppy's body grew bigger and bigger, its weight shot up, and the tail that helped it turn and keep balance in water became even stronger.
What could a little dog have in its head? It had no awareness of its own weight. Other than swimming in the courtyard pond, all it wanted was to circle its owner and happily wag its tail.
Because of this, many people suffered.
The first to bear the impact was the guardian.
When Mimi was swimming and saw its owner appear, it would immediately swim ashore, shake off the water, then charge forward like a wild boar.
The guardian's severe cleanliness habit actually improved a lot because of Mimi.
As for the others… they mainly suffered because of that tail.
That extremely strong tail, strong enough to count as controlled equipment, not only hit the guardian's calves, but also hit Guanliang and Hua.
Even "The Reignbow Arbiter" did not escape.
Maybe the Aeon never expected a dog's tail to be that strong, so He did not dodge and got hit once by Mimi.
Fortunately, Xianzhou people have very strong self-healing ability, and the purple bruises on their calves would disappear quickly.
Hua naturally could not tell the truth. She simplified it a little, summarized the guardian and the puppy in a few sentences, and finally said, "Mimi's tail hit a stone bench and got fractured. It's hospitalized recently."
Then Hua talked about her guardian's preferences, saying he recently liked formal wear more than round-collar robes, and afterward mentioned Akivili, who showed up on the Xianzhou from time to time.
Soon the two reached the destination. After another round of polite words, they parted.
Only after the star-destroying ship disappeared from sight did Hua turn around with the guards and leave.
On the day of the coming-of-age ceremony, before departure, Hua met her guardian, Guanliang, and "The Reignbow Arbiter."
Zero handed her a bag. "This is your first gift."
Hua hesitated. "Can I open it now?"
Zero nodded.
Hua opened the gift box in the bag and saw a satin dress.
She felt relieved and closed the lid.
Facing her guardian, Hua could not directly express thanks, so she only asked, "What about the other two gifts?"
Zero replied, "I'll give them to you later."
Hua, "…"
She relaxed too early.
Next was the Aeon.
Lan said, "I'll accompany you to the coming-of-age ceremony."
Finally, it was Guanliang.
He asked, "Are you sure you want to take his position?"
Before Hua could answer, Guanliang continued, "Don't think those generals being close to you now means anything. Later… that may not be the case."
"The only one they truly recognize is the marshal, not you."
Zero frowned slightly, clearly unhappy. "Guanliang, that's prejudice."
Guanliang glared at his superior, anger with nowhere to vent.
Then an idea struck him.
The marshal really could not handle praise. Last time Hua praised him, he froze on the spot.
Guanliang gave the Aeon a look, then showed a bright smile to his foolish superior, "He's overbearing and stubborn, self-centered and willful, but there is one thing I won't deny."
"That is, in these thousands of years, no one has done better than him."
Zero, "…"
Lan had received the signal earlier. After hearing Guanliang's words, He looked at the marshal.
He wanted to imitate Guanliang's tone, but after becoming a god He did not have many emotions, so he calmly said, "Yes, no one has done better than you."
Lan paused, recalling the past.
Before becoming a god, the marshal once asked Him, "Do you think I'm a qualified superior?"
At that time, Lan was near death and could not speak, so He could only answer in His heart.
What He wanted to say was exactly this sentence.
The Aeon added one more line, "I wanted to tell you this long ago."
Zero, "..."