Nan Zhiyun remained silent, leaning against Yu Jingchen with teary eyes. Yu Jingchen held her, "Shouldn't you be happy?"
"I am happy, I just want to thank Your Majesty," Nan Zhiyun mumbled.
"But from now on, when Nan Qing resigns, Yun'er will no longer be the daughter of a general holding considerable military power, so you'll have no backing," Yu Jingchen joked. Perhaps it was because he no longer cared, but he could now make such jokes freely.
"I can do it myself. I will also support my father," Nan Zhiyun clung to Yu Jingchen's arm.
"Silly girl, wouldn't it be good for me to be your backing from now on? Besides, Nan Qing will always support Yun'er," Yu Jingchen looked at Nan Zhiyun, who had lifted her small face, and gently tapped her nose.
"Okay, so Your Majesty will only support me from now on, right?" Nan Zhiyun asked.
"Naturally." Yu Jingchen was very pleased with Nan Zhiyun's current ease of manner, a temperament he had cultivated for a long time.
Nan Su watched their interaction, perhaps happy in his heart.
"Yun'er was spoiled a bit too much when she was young, and she's quite naive. I beg Your Majesty to bear with her." He was a military man and didn't know how to express himself, but all he wanted was for his only beloved daughter to be happy and healthy.
As long as she was happy, anything he did was worthwhile. When Yun'er was young, he hadn't spent enough time with her. Now that Yun'er had grown up, he also felt guilty for not taking good care of his father. In reality, it was mutual, and the reason for thinking this way was simple: they loved each other. Father loved daughter, and daughter also loved her father, but neither of them had ever spoken it aloud.
When they left the General's Mansion, Nan Su personally escorted them to the door, then watched his daughter get into the carriage. Nan Zhiyun lifted the curtain and looked at Nan Su. Nan Su waved at Nan Zhiyun, and Nan Zhiyun smiled back.
For a moment, Nan Zhiyun realized that her father seemed to have grown old. Nan Su also knew that his daughter had grown up.
When she was little, Nan Zhiyun always looked forward to growing up. But if she had known earlier that the price of growing up was her father growing old, she would have been willing to remain a little girl forever, held in her father's arms. The measure of growing up was the white hair appearing at her father's temples. Nan Zhiyun's eyes welled up as she looked at Nan Su's receding figure. Why couldn't she have noticed sooner?
The empty General's Mansion was occupied only by her father. When eating, her father must have wanted her company.
Nan Su felt the same way. His gaze remained fixed on the slowly disappearing carriage, unable to retract. There were clearly other people at the General's Mansion's entrance, but it felt so desolate.
When Yun'er was little, he didn't spend much time in the mansion either. At that time, it was just him and Yun'er, but he always felt the General's Mansion was lively because the little girl's laughter and joy filled the entire residence.
Nan Su turned to go back inside. In a daze, he saw his little Yun'er running in the courtyard, laughing as she ran, her bell-like laughter filling his ears. And her riding on his neck, him taking her to fly a bamboo dragonfly...
"If only Father could go back in time. Then I wouldn't be an official, and I'd spend every day with you, playing and fooling around, wouldn't that be wonderful..." Nan Su murmured. The scene before his eyes vanished, but ultimately, there was no such opportunity.