Chapter 424 - Your Daughter

Seeing him genuinely happy, Xiang Wai was amused. It was just as her brother always said. It was too easy to make their father happy. Even the smallest of things would make him happy. 

He wasn't a perfect father, he knew it himself and she knew it, as his daughter as well. But he wasn't completely hopeless either. He had been trying his best to be a good father. Once upon a time, he was also oblivious to the way around the kitchen. But today, his movements were skilled. All because he wanted to do everything to make her and her brother happy.

"How long are you staying?" Xiang Hulin broke Xiang Wai's daydreaming.

"I don't know," answered Xiang Wai honestly.

Xiang Hulin only smiled in reply but didn't say anything else. He could tell that she really didn't know how long she was staying. In fact, her life had always been spontaneous. She did things willfully. 

One day she wanted to be a ballet dancer and the next day she came to tell him that she passed the test for the military academy. He didn't even know what to do with her mood swings. For her, life was just like that. 

Oftentimes looking at her, Xiang Hulin was reminded of his dearest sister, Mu Chenyan. Back then, that woman also was just like that. She also had no goal or aim in life. For Mu Chenyan, life was just spending each day to the fullest. Oh, and wreaking havoc every day to make him clean up after her.

For Xiang Wai, it wasn't much different. She also had no goals in life. And she had also created a lot of trouble in her early years. The only difference was, Xiang Wai would only tell him about her own troubles after she'd have cleaned it all up. Actually, there was another difference.

Mu Chenyan was a strong person. As for his daughter, Xiang Wai... Although she pretended to act strong, she wasn't. She was just too good at putting up a front. But as her father, how could he not know that she was just an emotionally damaged child. She always let her emotions influence her thinking and her life in every way possible.

"It actually doesn't matter how long you're staying," said Xiang Hulin. "I'm just happy to see you home. It's not every day that my daughter would find time to come and see her old man."

"Papa, don't act like you don't know that I got suspended," said Xiang Wai.

Xiang Hulin paused for a moment and looked up at her, "I heard about it. But I promise I wasn't trying to keep an eye on you. It's just that someone mentioned it to me yesterday. But I didn't try to dig deep into this matter."

Xiang Wai suddenly felt a pang in her chest when she heard him speaking cautiously to her. Well, she couldn't blame him at all. When she first joined the Special Forces, she had lashed out at him that he was treating her like a baby and keeping a track of her actions. She was also the one who told him that she didn't need his help and neither did she want him to pry into her matters.

Since then Xiang Hulin had indeed stopped intentionally looking into her matters. But since he was a General and people knew that Xiang Wai was his daughter, it was inevitable that some people would tell him certain things. He couldn't possibly do anything regarding that.

"Then should I assume that you don't know why I got suspended?" asked Xiang Wai.

"I only heard that you offended someone you shouldn't have," replied Xiang Hulin. It was as he had heard from people. Although he was really curious to know about this person whom his daughter offended, he had stopped himself from asking unnecessarily. "But I've been really curious to know about this person who even my daughter isn't allowed to offend."

Xiang Wai raised her brows at him as mischief twinkled in her eyes, "Your daughter."

"Huh?" Xiang Hulin didn't understand her meaning.

"I said I'm not allowed to offend your daughter," elaborated Xiang Wai.

Xiang Hulin was left stunned. He couldn't even process it for a moment. He hesitated before questioning, "You mean... Yenay? Did you meet her?"

Xiang Wai noticed the complicated emotions swirling in his eyes and answered, "I believe no one calls her Yenay. Her name is Raelle Xiang. But you have always called her Yenay so even I didn't connect Raelle's name with Yenay in my head at that time." She took a pause and added, "And in my defense, I did not offend her. I was just doing my job. Before this, no one ever had an issue with how I handled my missions. But this time, everyone had a problem."

Xiang Hulin had a thoughtful look on his face and said, "I don't think your sister is behind it though."

"Papa, do you even know her?" asked Xiang Wai.

Xiang Hulin's face immediately fell and Xiang Wai bit her tongue, noticing how she just said something wrong. The biggest regret in Xiang Hulin's life had to be this sister of hers whom they didn't watch growing up. Her own feelings towards this sister of hers were complicated but that didn't mean she didn't understand her father's feelings.

"I'm sorry, Papa!"

Xiang Hulin shook his head and gave her a comforting smile, "There is no need for that. You're right. I really don't know her at all. But I'll look into this matter if you want me to." He placed the scallion pancakes in front of her, saying, "Enjoy this. I'm gonna work on your tofu pudding now."

"Papa, I think this would be enough," stated Xiang Wai.

"I don't think so," disagreed Xiang Hulin. "Don't worry about me. It's easy to make tofu pudding. It'll be ready in no time.." He wanted to touch her head but considering how he had oil on his hands, he put his hands back down.