"Father... what happened to He An? Has something gone wrong?"
Ding Wenruo hesitated, but her worry for the person buried deep in her heart finally prompted her to ask softly.
She lowered her eyes to the porcelain shards scattered across the floor, her fingertips nervously twisting the tassels on her sleeve.
"Oh..." Ding Feiyong suddenly came back to himself. Forcing down the raging waves in his heart, he mustered his usual gentle smile. "Master Cheng was just speaking of that boy He An. He praised his outstanding performance in the Northwestern Army and his repeated military achievements."
He deliberately kept his tone light. "He said the boy has made great strides in both martial cultivation and military strategy. Even General Ling Wenyue thinks highly of him. For someone so young to accomplish so much is truly rare."
How could he speak of that earth-shattering truth now? Never mind his daughter-even he was still reeling in the aftershocks of that thunderbolt.
Ding Wenruo abruptly raised her head.
The candlelight flickered just then, illuminating her cheeks as they flushed crimson. The blush spread from the roots of her ears to the corners of her eyes and the tips of her brows, like early-spring peach blossoms dipped in water, like wisps of cloud steeped in sunset.
Radiance swept across her lovely face, and it was as though stars had suddenly fallen into her eyes, making them dazzlingly bright.
"He... he was always destined to be extraordinary."
She spoke softly, the corners of her lips lifting unconsciously into a small smile. Then, realizing she had betrayed herself, she hurriedly hid her face behind her sleeve, yet could not conceal the joy spilling from the corners of her eyes.
Ding Feiyong watched his daughter in silence.
He recalled that youth of rustic origins yet exceptional