Father... Father

"Right, the Side Courtyard is too run-down. Have someone repair it, and give them all the allowances due to members of the family."

At the doorway, Dai Hao looked back once more. Dai Yutong was looking up at Ye Tianming and asking him quietly,

"Brother Tianming, who is that man?"

Ye Tianming stroked her head and said softly,

"That's your father."

Dai Yutong froze. She stared wide-eyed at the tall figure's back, then nodded as if she half understood.

Dai Hao's steps faltered for a moment before he strode out of the Side Courtyard.

That afternoon, everyone in the Duke's Mansion sprang into action.

First, an assistant from Herbal Hall delivered a basket filled to the brim with fine medicinal herbs. There was ginseng, Fo-ti, and everything else they might need.

Then the steward arrived with craftsmen to take measurements. He said they would replace the Side Courtyard's windows and repair its roof and grounds.

After that, Auntie Zhang from the kitchen personally brought over a food box containing chicken soup stewed until tender and several delicate side dishes. She said the duke had ordered it himself.

The servants of the Duke's Mansion were all sharp-eyed. The duke had personally taken an interest in the Side Courtyard; the signal could not have been clearer.

That mother and daughter were about to see their fortunes change.

Dai Yutong crouched in the courtyard, watching the craftsmen bustle about, still struggling to take it all in.

She tugged at Ye Tianming's sleeve and asked quietly,

"Brother Tianming, are they... are they fixing our house?"

Ye Tianming crouched and tucked a windblown lock of hair behind her ear.

"Mm. You and your mother won't have to freeze in winter anymore."

Dai Yutong bit her lip. Her eyes slowly reddened, but she sniffed hard and forced back her tears. Then she held out her little finger to Ye Tianming.

"Brother Tianming, pinky promise."

"Promise what?"

Dai Yutong looked at him solemnly and said, one word at a time,

"Pinky promise. You have to promise you'll never go back on your word or be mean to me."

Ye Tianming could not help smiling at her earnest little face. He held out his little finger and hooked it around hers.

"Okay, pinky promise. I won't go back on it for a hundred years."

Dai Yutong immediately protested.

"A hundred years isn't enough. Ten thousand!"

"Fine, ten thousand years!"

The two children hooked their little fingers together and shook them, sealing a promise neither took seriously, yet both would remember for the rest of their lives.

Before winter arrived, the Side Courtyard had been completely transformed.

If no one had told a visitor it was the Side Courtyard, they might have mistaken it at first glance for one of the rooms near the main hall.

Ye Tianming also had a stone table and two small stools placed beneath the old locust tree in the courtyard. On fine days, they could sit outside and bask in the sun.

Huo Yun'er took her medicine on schedule, and with better food, her complexion grew rosier by the day.

By the time the first snow fell, she could even get out of bed and walk around.

Dai Yutong changed the most.

Ye Tianming had a tailor make her two new padded coats, one jujube red and the other pale yellow.

The day they were finished, Dai Yutong spun several times before the mirror, clutching a corner of her coat as she looked at the front, then twisted around to see the back.

"Brother Tianming, do I look pretty?" Dai Yutong looked up at Ye Tianming, her eyes sparkling.

Ye Tianming nodded gently.

"You do. Our Yutong is the prettiest."

Dai Yutong's face flushed at once. She hurriedly lowered her head, though she could not stop the corners of her mouth from lifting.

All her life, she had worn old clothes altered again and again. She had never owned a new outfit made just for her that fit properly.

She reached out and gingerly touched the knotted buttons on her padded coat, as though they were some rare treasure.

That night, she lay on the warm brick bed beneath her new quilt, sighing with contentment.

Through the door, she spoke softly to Ye Tianming outside the bedroom.

"Brother Tianming, my bed is so warm!"

Ye Tianming was reading a beginner's book on Soul Masters. He chuckled and nodded.

"If you're warm, go to sleep. We have to get up early tomorrow."

"Mm!"

Dai Yutong answered. After a while, she spoke again in a small voice.

"Brother Tianming, this is the first time I've ever slept in such a warm bed!"

Ye Tianming paused with his hand on the page. He did not answer that. Instead, he softened his voice further.

"It'll be this warm every year from now on. Go to sleep."

The Side Courtyard bedroom fell quiet for a moment. Then Dai Yutong's contented, sleepy voice drifted out.

"Okay..."

A little later, all he could hear was her even breathing.

Ye Tianming set down his book and looked at the bedroom door. Suddenly, he felt that crossing over into this world and changing this little girl's fate was far more interesting than his original plan to become a god.

On the days when the snow fell heaviest, the two children stayed tucked away indoors.

Ye Tianming roasted chestnuts over a brazier until their shells split open, revealing the golden kernels inside.

He peeled one and popped it straight into Dai Yutong's mouth.

Dai Yutong sat beside him on a little stool, eating roasted chestnuts while she listened to his stories.

As someone who had crossed over from another world, Ye Tianming naturally had plenty of stories in his head.

He took turns telling her tales from Journey to the West, the Three Kingdoms, and all sorts of modern fairy tales.

Dai Yutong loved stories about the Great Sage Equal to Heaven most. Whenever she heard about Sun Wukong wreaking havoc in Heaven, her eyes grew round as saucers.

Still chewing a roasted chestnut, she mumbled,

"Brother Tianming, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven is so strong. Is he even stronger than a Titled Douluo?"

"He sure is."

Dai Yutong clenched her little fists, her face lighting up with excitement.

"Then I want to be like him! If anyone dares bully my mother or Brother Tianming, I'll wreak... Well, I'll wreak havoc, that's what!"

Ye Tianming laughed and ruffled her hair.

"Sure, but you'll have to eat properly first. Look how skinny you are."

"Mm!"

Dai Yutong nodded vigorously and stuffed another chestnut into her mouth. Her cheeks puffed out like a little squirrel storing food.

Huo Yun'er sat on the brick bed doing needlework, smiling all the while as she watched the two children banter.

The charcoal crackled indoors and heavy snow swirled beyond the window, yet the room was as warm as spring.

At times, it hardly felt real to her. Just a few months ago, she had thought she and her daughter would waste away in that dilapidated courtyard until their lamps burned dry.

She had also thought she would never see that man again for the rest of her life.

She had never expected their lives to change like this in the blink of an eye. She knew it was all thanks to Ye Tianming.

That child was a blessing to her and her daughter.

Near the end of the year, Dai Hao returned from the Military Camp for the New Year and made a special trip to the Side Courtyard.

He saw Huo Yun'er on her feet, her complexion rosy, then looked at his daughter in her new padded coat, now able to raise her head and meet his eyes. After a long silence, he said only one thing.

"Take care of your health."

As Dai Hao left, he gave Dai Yutong a small jade pendant. She turned it over in her hands, watched his retreating figure, and suddenly called out softly,

"Fa... Father."

(P.S. The author thinks that, in the original, it was mainly the Duchess who kept bullying Huo Yuhao and his mother. Dai Hao was away for years and didn't even know Yun'er had died until the end. I want to write a truly perfect Douluo II fanfic! Tell me what you wished had happened, and I'll make it all turn out perfectly ╰(´︶`)╯)