He would let them think that.
Because the moment anyone laid a finger on his daughter's happiness, he'd remind them exactly who he was before he became a father.
Behind them, in the manor's upper corridor, Xu Meilin stood before Grandfather Chi's study door, trying to compose herself before knocking.
Her painted lips were tight, her pride wounded as she opened and closed her mouth, no word coming out from them.
Inside, the old man's voice was cold. "You have failed."
Xu Meilin froze.
"I told you to persuade him," Grandfather Chi said slowly, "not to provoke the child."
"I— I didn't mean to, she—"
"Enough." The old man waved his hand dismissively. "Leave it. The more you push, the more he'll resist. Let him be. For now."
And though he said it with a sigh, deep down, even he knew, for the first time in a long while, that Yuanfeng's defiance wasn't something he could control anymore.
Not when it came to that little girl who looked at him as if he hung the stars.
***
