The noises of summer cicadas were something that left most people fidgety.

Gao Yanan’s mood was instead calm and happy.

She faced a great river, reclining on a pile of grass, currently reading a letter.

“So even you knew to apologize to me? ... If apologies were useful, why would we still need a small Judicial Sector official like you?”

She said this quietly, as if she was speaking badly about the one who wrote this letter.

However, there wasn’t a trace of anger visible from between her pretty brows. This was especially when she thought about the expression this person had when writing the letter, thought about how this person was already no longer a Judicial Sector Town Police, she couldn’t help but smile.

A silver-clothed scholar suddenly ‘walked’ from the river.

This silver-clothed scholar ‘walked’ extremely quickly, extremely calmly, not even the guards on the distant corner beams noticed him.

Gao Yanan only suddenly noticed him when this silver-clothed scholar already arrived within fifty to sixty feet of her.

This was a middle-aged man with lean facial features, his appearance quite handsome, sharing a bit of similarities with Gao Yanan’s face. He gave off a natural sense of righteousness and dignity.

There were two thin sheets of wood beneath his feet that seemed to be stuck to his feet. While walking across the great river, his black cloth shoes didn’t even become wet.

This was a cultivator who was almost inhumanly powerful.

However, when Gao Yanan saw this awe-inspiring silver-clothed scholar, she wasn’t too shocked, only putting away the letter in her hands and standing up. The happiness and sweetness on her face also disappeared following her movements, now replaced with seriousness.

This silver-clothed scholar walked up to her, calmly looking at her.

“Father.” Gao Yanan calmly greeted him respectfully.

A hint of faint hidden anguish flashed past this silver-robed scholar’s eyes, saying quietly, “I came to visit you, you are not happy?”

Gao Yanan didn’t say anything either, but she didn’t hide it, nodding.

The silver-clothed scholar understood Gao Yanan’s temperament the best, but he similarly felt the most helpless before this type of temperament.

“I only didn’t allow you and your mother to remain at my side out of worry for your safety.” The silver-clothed scholar looked at Gao Yanan for a long time, in the end finally releasing a sigh, having Gao Yanan and himself sit together in front of a grass pile.

Gao Yanan sat down, looking into the river and saying, “I know.”

The silver-clothed scholar said with a bitter smile, “However, you still hate me.”

“I merely do not like you.” Gao Yanan shook her head.

The silver-clothed scholar looked at Gao Yanan’s brows, at her already grown appearance, loving her even more the more he looked at her. However, when he thought about how they couldn’t be close like normal fathers and daughters, he only felt even more distress inside. “Then what is it that makes you dislike me?”

Gao Yanan turned around, looking at him seriously and saying, “This is something your respected self should consider. With your daughter’s level of ability and wisdom, how could I hope to teach your respected self anything?”

“These are just words spoken out of anger.” The silver-clothed scholar said helplessly.

“Then what does your respected self feel like I should do?” Gao Yanan looked at him and said, “I’ve even already forgotten what you looked like. Even when mother passed away from her illness, your respected self still didn’t come back. Does your respected self hope that just by visiting me once, speaking a few lines with me, I will feel happy, forget everything, become close with a father who is almost completely estranged?”

The silver-clothed scholar looked at Gao Yanan with a blank expression.

In his eyes, she was always a little girl, but now, he understood that she already truly grew up. Her words and her reasoning indeed didn’t leave him any room to argue against.

The silver-clothed scholar sighed inwardly, saying quietly, “I know that you are exchanging letters with an academy student named Lin Xi. Do you like him?”

Gao Yanan didn’t deny it, saying with a slight frown, “I do.”

“It is best if you do not have too many interactions with him.” The silver-clothed scholar also frowned, saying seriously, “His way of doing things is too bold and sharp, easily snapped like a steel blade. Moreover, there is a good chance that he will be transferred to a dangerous place in Dragon Snake.”

Gao Yanan’s brows furrowed even tighter, but her expression still remained extremely calm, saying, “Thank you father for telling me this. However, not a single member of Green Luan’s Self Defense Department will fear danger.”

“There are many powers in this world, how is it something a single person’s strength can contend against?”

The silver-clothed scholar shook his head and said, “Previously, Imperial Censor Jiang also came into contact with Lin Xi, because of you, I have also specially met with him. His greatest assessment of Lin Xi was the line ‘fear of all not present in his eyes’. Even if Lin Xi can continue living without dying prematurely, he will become the ambitious and ruthless type like Respected Cang Yue. That is why he isn’t a good match. Before you two get too close, you can still stop here. Otherwise, I fear that you will suffer even more.”

Gao Yanan turned her head.

During the past few years, she had long learned how to accept and reject some things with a calm manner. That was why from the moment she saw this silver-clothed scholar, her attitude had always remained calm. However, when she heard him up to here, anger instead appeared on her face for the first time, ice-cold mockery appearing, “If Lin Xi isn’t a good match, then who is? Is it that crown prince Changsun Tuojiang who the current emperor had always been hiding, unknown where he was sent off to for cultivation? I previously heard mother say that the emperor always had plans to have me betrothed to him.”

The silver-clothed scholar also controlled his mood, seriously and gently saying, “I understand the prince well. In terms of his heart, he is indeed much more suitable than Lin Xi.”

“Also, if I am married to him, I fear that the current emperor would feel even more relieved in having your respected self as a Grand Secretary, distinguished father!” Gao Yanan turned her head around, her face a bit deathly pale. She furiously said, “These things… are all your respected self’s thoughts, your respected self believes these to be correct, that this is what’s good for us. However, has your respected self ever considered our own wishes? Has your respected self ever thought about what we want, what we like?”

The silver-clothed scholar’s expression became sluggish.

Gao Yanan’s angry voice continued, “We all know that there are many people who wish to assassinate you or your loved ones. The reason why your respected self doesn’t wish for others to know of our existence is indeed for our safety, but does your respected self know that not being able to see each other every day, the worries from being far away each day… are far more painful than spending our days together in danger? Does your respected self know that mother would rather accompany you in Imperial City, even if she was ultimately assassinated? In the end, this would still be better than spending her final days of sickness coldly alone… If she didn’t care so much about you, perhaps it would have been much better, perhaps she would have been much happier. However, she cared about you, Grand Secretary great one! When others in this world say that this world has many powers, that it isn’t something one can face, I don’t mind too much. However, when your respectful self says this, it really is a bit laughable.”

Gao Yanan lowered her voice a bit, saying, “The key only lies in whether you are willing or not, whether you are willing to consider how to make me happy.”

The silver-clothed scholar opened his mouth. Gao Yanan gave him a look, and then his words were stuck in his throat, only able to smile bitterly.

The emperor was on one side, his own daughter was on the other. This decision, no matter how he looked at it, wouldn’t be easy.

The silver-clothed scholar thought about many things in this instant, suddenly feeling a great amount of indescribable emotions. Perhaps when every man became a father, they would inwardly produce many mysterious changes. When he thought about that woman who he had always worried about as well, but whom he could already no longer ever see again, and then looked at the stubborn daughter before him, his mood felt damp like the misty rain of the sunny south, but his brows and the expression on the corners of his lips instead became serious and resolute.

“Alright, I respect your decision.” He seriously looked at Gao Yanan, and then honestly pledged, “I will do what I can.”

Gao Yanan turned around again, as if she didn’t expect him to give her this type of reply. However, when she saw his expression and saw him nodding again, her nose suddenly felt a bit sore.

“Okay.” She was a bit hesitant, knowing that it was better to love than to hate. She also knew that the love her parents felt for her was true, so even though she was a bit hesitant, she still reached out a hand, extending her pinkie towards the silver-clothed scholar. “Let’s make a pinky swear.”

The silver-clothed scholar was indescribably pleasantly surprised. He stared blankly for a moment, and only then did he react, reaching out a hand.

“She really did grow up in the end.” He sighed inside. When he touched his daughter’s finger, the world within his heart suddenly produced many more new colors, everything in his eyes seemingly becoming a bit more lively.

The river water in front of him became calm, everything around him and Gao Yanan seemingly extremely beautiful.

…

Girls coming of age needed to consider marriage.

Yunqin’s marriage age wasn’t great to begin with, mostly starting marriage talks around fifteen to sixteen years of age, arranging the fate of their lives.

In this scorching hot summer day, among Green Luan Academy’s female students, the ones who were discussing this great event of their lives weren’t limited to Gao Yanan alone.

Qin Xiyue was coincidentally also discussing marriage affairs with an old butler.

There was a common saying that even the doorman of a first rank general should at least be seventh rank. Qin Family had already followed Yunqin for six generations, the old butler of this influential family naturally carried an exceptional presence.

This old butler whose hair and beard were all white, on his head a light muslin cap, was extremely respectful even before Qin Xiyue, but his tone carried an indescribabl serious and grave expression. “Young miss… the decision your respected self has made is something the master will definitely not approve of.”

Qin Xiyue looked at him and said, “I will not change my decision.”

The old butler frowned. “I will pass on young miss’ intentions… However, regardless of whether it is Xu Family or Zhou Family, their influence is much greater than our Qin Family, those two princes will definitely have great accomplishments in the future. Could it be that young miss has someone else you admire already? If you do, I can inform master, perhaps he will consider it.”

Qin Xiyue shook her head, her face that didn’t have a single area that wasn’t pretty flickering with cold radiance. “It isn’t because of this, it is because I don’t want to rely on a man to live… I am a cultivator, so I can become a government official or general.”

The old butler nodded, releasing a sigh. “Young miss, you can think like that, but others might not necessarily do the same. Zhou Family is still fine, but Xu Family… in the future, if you do have someone who you are fond of, he might take his anger out on that person.”

“That is something to think about in the future.” Qin Xiyue sneered. When she thought of Xu Zhenyan and Lin Xi, she couldn’t help but gently shake her head, thinking that perhaps Xu Zhenyan already hated Lin Xi.