The rain still poured gently across the stone courtyard of the Jun Residence, trickling over tiled roofs, pooling in the uneven cracks between stone slabs, whispering quietly of sorrow, healing, and fate.
Guan Dong Liu stood motionless beneath it.
His once-proud stature now looked like a sculpture worn smooth by time and grief. The cold rain ran freely over his face, but it couldn't wash away the anguish deep in his expression.
He stared at his daughter. And behind those stormy eyes was a father barely holding himself together.
He had no answer.
Not for her sharp words, nor for the sorrow that clung to her like the rain. None at all. His lips trembled as he bit down on them to keep from shaking. But his body betrayed him, a sharp spasm surged through his chest, and he instinctively clenched his fists, his muscles twitching as if trying to contain the rising guilt inside.
Guan Qing Han looked at him quietly, her voice soft and cold:
"As a daughter, I just want to know what my father has planned for now…"
Her voice wasn't just a question... it was an accusation wrapped in silk, laced with disappointment, raw and exposed.
Guan Dong Liu exhaled heavily.
"Jun Wu Yi has already answered that question," He murmured. He raised his head, eyes filled with a tired, bitter smile.
"As things are now… even if we withdraw this marriage, we'll only be able to send you to the Li Family over the corpses of the Jun Family."
His voice was calm, but heavy, like the tolling of a bell before a funeral.
He scoffed at himself then, exposing a self-deprecating smile that wrinkled his face further.
"I may be Guan Dong Liu... master of the Guan Family… but I cannot touch the Jun Family. And I dare not provoke the Li Family either."
His eyes lowered again, but this time, they avoided hers.
"Moreover… you were right. The Jun Family is our benefactor. I will not kick my benefactor in the teeth."
There was a pause, but then suddenly, his voice grew stronger, deepened with resolve.
"This was my decision. I chose to renounce my own daughter for the sake of my clan. I stood by and said nothing when the Jun Family protected you. I allowed the Xue Hun Manor to shame and insult you… because I thought that the family's future was more important."
His voice cracked. His hand clenched at his side.
"I've wronged you for a lifetime, Qing Han..." He inhaled sharply.
Then, his gaze lifted, and there was fire in it.
"But now... I want to act as a father!"
His voice thundered. It was not loud, but powerful, resonating from deep within.
"I want to act as a father again!"
The moment the words escaped his lips, it was as if a mountain had been lifted off his back. His shoulders loosened. His eyes cleared. The suffocating weight in his heart dissipated in the cold rain.
Yes. Screw life and death.
That Jun brat had been right. If a family has no backbone, it will crawl at death's door forever. And what kind of father was he, if he didn't have the courage to stand for his own daughter?
Better to die on his feet… than live like a dog.
"Daddy…" Qing Han's voice trembled. Her entire body shuddered as she looked at him, not with anger, not with sadness, but with stunned disbelief… and hope.
There was light in her eyes again.
Guan Dong Liu saw it and smiled deeply.
"Qing Han… The Jun aren't the only men in this world," He said with pride. "The Guan… are men too."
Qing Han's lip quivered. She had always kept her pride, always maintained her cold composure. But this… this was the father she thought she'd lost forever.
"I never knew my father had such an indomitable spirit inside him…" She whispered.
Guan Dong Liu chuckled dryly.
"Your little brother-in-law… Ah, I suppose I should say Mo Xie now. Since… well, he's your husband now, isn't he?"
He looked at her knowingly, teasingly, for just a flicker of a moment. It was the kind of look fathers gave their daughters when they saw through the pretense.
"That boy has the aura of someone dependable," He continued, his tone thoughtful. "A real man. Your father has finally understood… some things are more important than the big picture. And protecting you… was one of them."
He laughed twice both times softly but then tilted his head with a slightly puzzled expression.
"You used to say he was a worthless debauchee, didn't you? Yet that boy isn't like that at all."
Qing Han shook her head, a faint blush rising to her pale cheeks.
"Even I was fooled by his act," She admitted, her tone far gentler now. "He suffered silently for years… carrying the burden of his family. He pretended to be weak so he wouldn't be noticed… so he could grow in the shadows."
Her voice trembled at the end, heavy with emotion. "He's not a debauchee… he's a protector."
Guan Dong Liu nodded solemnly.
"He followed the fall of the Jun Family from the start… and now he's lifting it again. That kind of man… your father owes him a bow."
Suddenly, Qing Han noticed how the rain clung to her father's shoulders, how his clothes clung to his skin, how the lines of age were more visible under the curtain of cold water.
"Daddy, come in," She urged gently. "You'll catch a cold in this autumn rain…"
Guan Dong Liu gave a bark of laughter, his voice warm with teasing.
"Ah? Now you care, do you?" He said, rubbing his arms. "The rain's already seeped into your daddy's old bones. But… this rain was good for me."
He lifted his face to the sky, eyes glinting.
"It washed away my cowardice. It won me back my daughter's heart. And it woke me up… woke me from a long, shameful sleep."
His gaze settled on her again, his eyes filled with gentle and proud expression.
"I was about to trade your future for a few more years of survival for our clan… but that kind of life isn't worth living."
He turned around slowly, his back straight, each step heavy, yet firm.
He walked through the wind and rain as a father.
Guan Qing Han stood in place, unable to move. Her eyes blurred again, tears merging with rain as they slid down her face.
But this time, they didn't hurt.
A few meters away, another figure stood quietly beneath a shadowed corridor.
Jun Wu Yi's expression was unreadable, stone-faced, and rigid, but his eyes betrayed him.
He'd heard everything.
A quiet smile pulled at the corner of his lips as he spoke softly under his breath:
"Guan Dong Liu… you've only ever been a patriarch to me..."
The corner of his mouth curled higher.
"But today… You're a father. And an iron-blooded man."
His eyes followed Guan Dong Liu's retreating figure through the rain.
"Mo Xie… that brat left without saying a word… but I can feel it. Something big is about to happen."
He narrowed his gaze. The rain hissed as it hit the ground around him.
"What are you planning, boy…?"
He sighed. A soft pulse of silver light shimmered briefly around his body.
Then, without a trace, he vanished into the rain.
---- ✦ ✦ ✦ ----
Spoilers for the next five chapters!
Chapter 119: Game of Passing
Chapter 120: The Dance Ends
Chapter 121: Free Lesson
Chapter 122: Snatched
Chapter 123: Shadows After Battle
--- ✦ ✦ ✦ ---
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