Chapter 289: Not Wronged!
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
Staring out into the pitch blackness before her, Ling Lan could no longer keep calm. Through gritted teeth, she said, "Dear father, are you planning to demolish our living quarters? And then let us sleep on the streets?"
Ling Xiao's anger which had been about to explode deflated rapidly under this question of Ling Lan's, scattering to the winds. The entire hall was eerily silent for a few seconds, and then Ling Xiao could be heard to say carefully, "This ... I really could not control it. I'm sorry, son, I'll take care next time."
Next time? There would still be a next time? Ling Lan felt her head start to ache. She had known that her dad coming here would definitely not be calm and peaceful, but it still should not be to the extent of breaking her house down, right?
In a very bad mood, Ling Lan's entire body was giving out endless cold air, dropping the temperature of the room instantly by several degrees, making the others in the room shiver involuntarily in the dark.
Ling Xiao naturally knew that this was a sign that his daughter was truly enraged now, and so he could only ask hesitantly, "Then, this ... what should we do?"
"What to do? Of course we'll need to fix it? And also, father, do you expect me to fix it personally?" Ling Lan stretched out a porcelain hand with a cold expression, waving it in front of her dad's face.
Ling Xiao naturally could not bear for his beloved daughter to do this kind of rough work, and so he said quickly, "I'll fix it, I'll fix it ..." Taking care of one's daughter was the solemn duty of a dad, not to mention that this accident was his fault anyway — he could not shirk the responsibility.
"Sir, let us handle it," His bodyguards quickly stepped up to volunteer. If they let General Ling Xiao do such menial things himself, they could forget going back and just kill themselves here and now for the crime of doing so.
"Uh ... then I'll leave this to you both. Thank you for the trouble." Ling Xiao knew that if he insisted on doing it himself, these two bodyguards would definitely disembowel themselves and use their deaths to pay for the 'crime'. In order to save two lives, he could only let them help him.
"We'll help too." Although the two men who had volunteered were bodyguards, the insignia on their shoulders clearly marked them as majors. How could Qi Long and the others just sit around and watch the two majors repair their things? They quickly leapt up to lend a hand.
In the face of the students' eagerness, the two bodyguards naturally would not refuse. Just like that, the few of them begun to clean up the mess Ling Xiao had made. In fact, the villa had its own self-automated sweeper and cleaning device, but unfortunately, Ling Xiao's burst of power had also destroyed those things as well. Thus, the group could only do things manually unless they sought out someone from the administration to come solve this, but that would be even more troublesome.
Once everyone had begun busying themselves with their respective tasks, all of them leaving the hall, Ling Xiao turned to look at Ling Lan and said, "Do you want me to do anything? Son?" Even though Ling Xiao really wanted to call his child 'darling daughter', as level-headed and rational as he was, he would never commit such a base mistake and bring possible trouble to his daughter.
"What can you do?" asked Ling Lan with a quirked brow.
"They'll probably apply for enlistment, right? Even if I cannot influence the other divisions, for the 23rd Division at least, I have the ability to refuse them," said Ling Xiao with a smile on the corners of his lips, still appearing as kindly and gentlemanly as ever. It was as if what he was saying had not one whit of personal motive leading to his abuse of power.
Ling Lan decisively shook her head and said, "No need!"
"Why?" Ling Xiao was shocked by her response. He was sure his daughter must be angry at those who bullied her, and he truly wanted to help his daughter vent some of her anger.
"This is between us students. There is no need to escalate things!" said Ling Lan evenly, "Besides, even if they managed to qualify for the 23rd Division and become my rivals in the future, I'm not afraid of them now, and I won't be afraid of them in future either." Ling Lan stated all this with conviction, the confidence on her brow moving Ling Xiao greatly. Boo hoo hoo, my daughter is just too amazing, she is just too aspirational ...
Inside Ling Xiao's mental landscape, his Twenty-four Filial Exemplars dad mode was officially activated. He was all kinds of emotional inside, weeping freely and copiously. However, on the surface, he was as composed as usual. After a brief silence, he nodded and said, "That's how my son should be like. If they really apply for enlistment to the 23rd Division and pass, I'll take them all in, and as for the grudge between you and them ..." Ling Xiao's eyes gleamed brightly, "I'll let you handle it personally."
As if not sensing the sudden spike in the pressure coming from Ling Xiao's body, Ling Lan continued to stand tall and replied steadily, "What I have said, I will do."
Ling Lan's behaviour made Ling Xiao both proud and sad at the same time. He was proud that his daughter was so independent and strong, but also sad over all the hardship his daughter had had to suffer to support the entire Ling family for these past 16 years. If he had not disappeared for those whole 16 years, how could Ling Lan have turned out like this? Believing that she had to handle everything herself?
At this thought, Ling Xiao was filled with regret. In a low voice, he said, "I'm sorry, these past years have been hard on you."
What these words were referring to, both Ling Xiao and Ling Lan understood very well without needing any further explanation. Ling Lan's heart throbbed, a complicated emotion stealing over her heart. For a moment, she did not know what to say, and the silence stretched out between father and daughter.
Finally, Ling Lan raised her jaw and replied proudly, "I do not feel wronged. I feel that, this shall be one of the most colourful parts of my life. I am glad that I could experience all of that."
Yes, if she had not impersonated a man, would she have made friends with this bunch of steadfast companions and become their boss, working hard and growing up together? At most, she would only have been able to become a girl much like Luo Chao or Han Xuya 1 , chatting about the things girls liked to chat about, fantasizing what their future husbands would look like 2 ... but was that sort of life really what she wanted?
Ling Lan mentally shook her head. She had already gotten used to her current thrilling rollercoaster life with its dramatic ups and downs — a tranquil life would probably feel strange to her now. At the very least, she just could not imagine becoming that kind of sweet and delicate girl like Luo Chao — becoming a tomboy like Han Xuya was perhaps a more likely possibility. At this thought, she began to miss those two girls, wondering how they were doing at the Federal Co-ed Military Starship Navigation Academy ...
"Alright, Ling Lan, You must remember what you've said today. I, Ling Xiao, am proud of you." A trace of emotion brushed across Ling Xiao's eyes. With a daughter like this, how fortunate was he? If he could, he would laugh wildly up into the skies, to better express the full swell of his happiness.
"Father, I will not disappoint you." Ling Lan reeled back her nostalgic thoughts, speaking to Ling Xiao with a serious expression.
Ling Xiao nodded in satisfaction, but his heart was weeping, 'Daughter, if you switch that 'father' into 'daddy', I'll be even happier ...'
Right at that moment, the villa's hall was abruptly lit up. It turned out that Qi Long and the others had finished repairing a small part of the light sources. The greatest contributor was Lin Zhong-qing — he lived up to his role as the team's logistician, repairing all those devices at soonest notice. After that, under the intense repair work of these reactivated devices over the course of 10 minutes in the dark, Ling Lan's entire villa was once again restored to the light. Of course, not everything was as good as it had been previously, but at the very least, the lights were back on, and that was a good thing.
Seeing this, Ling Lan felt that she could not keep her dad, this king of destruction, here any longer in order to save her villa from further catastrophe, so she said, "Father, the assessments begin tomorrow. You had better go back earlier and rest."
Ling Xiao was touched. His daughter was really too considerate, fearing that he would become tired ... in any case, he would not admit that his daughter was sick of him and wanted him out of her house.
Though he was touched, Ling Xiao could not bear leaving his daughter so quickly. He was just about to say that he was not at all tired when Ling Lan suddenly lifted a brow and sent an icy look straight at her father, saying, "Don't you think so too, my father?" In particular, the two words 'my father' was greatly emphasised, pretty much squeezed out from between clenched teeth.
Those phoenix eyes filled with an air of desolation, the subtle warning in her words, that demeanour and tone, was exactly alike when Lan Luofeng was warning him.
And so, Ling Xiao succumbed to tragedy, because he just godd*mn had no resistance at all to this kind of tone and demeanour ...
In the end, Ling Xiao could only leave Ling Lan's villa with a bellyful of resentment and reluctance. Of course, when he left, he did not forget to remind his daughter to report to the assessment point bright and early tomorrow. For a week from now, all of Ling Lan's time had been claimed by this shameless dad, Ling Xiao, and he seemed rather comfortable ordering his daughter around.
After they had sent Ling Xiao off, Ling Lan let out a silent breath. Finally, this great bundle of trouble, her dad was gone ...
When she turned around to see those countless pairs of starry eyes, Ling Lan's headache became worse. It turned out that her troubles were just beginning. She still had to settle these five obviously overexcited and curious little followers before her eyes.
At this thought, Ling Lan could not help but sigh long and loud. Other dads helped their daughters settle problems, so why was it that when it came to her, she as a daughter had to clean up the messes her dad made? As expected, she was not a winner in life in this world. She was not a global sweetheart, a female lead showered with the love of the masses. This was why her life was so tragic, filled with trials and tribulations.
********
After Ling Xiao and the two bodyguards left Ling Lan's villa, they very quickly arrived at the nearest hover car stop, and waited for the next hover car to come.
At this time, one of the bodyguards suddenly spoke up, "Sir, Young Sir Lan is very strong." It was the one who had been closely watching Ling Lan and the others from his position in the corner of the hall all the while.
"Don't call him Young Sir Lan. Just Ling Lan will do," replied Ling Xiao with a subtle smile, "In future, he will be a soldier just like you all. At that time, the both of you will be his senior officers."
"Yes, Sir!" said the two bodyguards in unison. Respect shone from their eyes — General Ling Xiao was just this sort of person, treating every single soldier objectively without caring about their personal statuses.
Soon, the hover car arrived, and the bodyguards opened the door to the backseat, and Ling Xiao boarded the car and sat down. Then, the bodyguards split up. One sat at the back with Ling Xiao while the other sat in the front and swiftly entered the address of their lodgings in the military academy, and the hover car sped off ...
Seated inside the hover car, Ling Xiao still maintained that typical trademark smiling face of his, but the bodyguards by his side could clearly sense his unusually excellent mood.
Ling Xiao was indeed very happy, because today's meeting had proven that Ling Lan's disguise was impeccable. After living with Qi Long and the other boys for so long, they had still not discovered that she was a girl. Just this ability alone would make it much harder for any outsiders to discover Ling Lan's secret; this caused a worry which had been weighing on him all this while to disappear.
She only needed to endure for four years and it would all be over! When she reached her fifth year, he would definitely enlist his daughter into his army division and protect her from close quarters, and then provide her with a life that would truly belong to her ... Ling Xiao mentally clenched a fist and made a promise to himself.