Chapter Eighty-two Understanding

  In the evening, Zou Ze sent Ji Xin'an back home. Although it was already dark, the two of them were still walking at a leisurely pace. It wasn't that they weren't tired, but rather they had been busy all day and hadn't exercised much, so they took this opportunity to take a stroll.

  "Alright, thank you." Zou Ze lowered his head and walked, suddenly looking at Ji Xin'an and saying sincerely.

  "How did you also get infected by them and become so polite?" Ji Xin'an smiled casually, having heard such words countless times in the past few days that she was already fed up with them.

  "I'm not thanking you for taking care of my dad, but for improving our father-son relationship. You know, since I was a kid, my father has always been a strict stranger to me. He's rarely home and when he is, he never even gives me a smile. All he does is demand that I do my best. So, I've never been close to him since childhood. But these days, our relationship is the best it's ever been - no arguing, no confrontation, sometimes we even sit down and talk quietly." Zou Ze said with emotion, he had never imagined a day when they would be sitting together chatting and laughing.

  "Actually, your father should care about you very much. It's just that he was busy with his career and neglected you, and because he didn't participate in your growth, he didn't know how to communicate with you. And you misunderstood him for various reasons, which led to the conflict between you two all these years." Ji Xin'an smiled after hearing his words. These two people who loved each other but didn't know how to express their familial affection can finally interact like a normal father and son now.

  "Yes, I was too young at that time and didn't understand things. I thought he didn't like me at all, and even wondered if I wasn't his biological son when I was little. So whenever he wanted me to do something, I would think of ways to resist, and if I failed, I would get very angry, but if I succeeded, I would feel a great sense of accomplishment, as if I had defeated him. Actually, I didn't dislike the idea of joining the army or attending military school that much, it's just that I loved music too much and was used to opposing him, so I told him that even if I didn't like music, I still wouldn't join the army. He got furious that time and almost hit me, but in the end, he restrained himself. Now thinking about it, he never hit me all these years." Zou Ze seemed to want to share this secret he had kept hidden for so many years with someone, and Ji Xin An was undoubtedly the best person to share it with.

  "Now it's finally okay, Master has figured it out and won't force you to do things you don't want to do anymore. And since you can understand these things now, your relationship will definitely get better from now on." Ji Xin'an smiled, genuinely happy for him, that their relationship could ease up with this opportunity was the best thing ever.

  "Yes, now we can be like a normal father and son too. An An, all of this is because of you. Before I met you, whenever I saw him, he would hardly speak to me, let alone laugh and chat with me like this." Zou Ze smiled, looking at Ji Xin An with even more admiration, never expecting that his normally serious father could be so easily won over by her.

  "It's not as exaggerated as you said, in the past, the reason why we didn't get along was mainly because we had too little contact with each other. This time, due to injury, you were always by my side taking care of me, and naturally, we spent more time together and talked more, which allowed for better communication and understanding of each other. That's how he came to know your thoughts better." Ji Xin'an smiled slightly, Zou Ze overestimated himself, she didn't have the ability to make Zou Wei Guo change his opinion about someone.

  "That's why even if we're together, it's still necessary to talk, and without you by our side, we might not have made such rapid progress. You are the bridge between us, allowing us to go from just simple jokes at first to now being able to discuss his affairs and ideals with me. These things were unthinkable in the past.

  In this period of time, the two of them may have said more words than they had in all these years combined, and what they gained was not only no longer ignoring his wishes and forcing themselves to do things they didn't like, but also gaining a regained sense of kinship."

  "You two are really similar, both stubborn and dedicated to your ideals. You care about each other but never say it out loud. Maybe that's why you have so many conflicts." Ji Xin'an suddenly realized the truth, thinking that Zhou Wei-guo had suffered such a severe injury for his ideal without regret, while Zhou Ze had even broken up with his family in order to pursue music and only returned home after achieving some success years later. If the two people were pursuing the same thing, it would be fine, but since their ideals are contradictory, conflicts naturally arise.

  "Maybe, but my impression of him has really changed this time. I used to think he was just a workaholic who didn't care about his family for the sake of his career, but after listening to your conversation, his image in my heart completely changed, suddenly becoming much more impressive, making me feel like even looking at him is like looking up to him. It wasn't until now that I realized, having been his son for so many years, I had never truly understood him." Zou Ze thought back to how calm his dad was when he woke up and faced his crippled leg, and what he said to Ji Xin An, all of which had a huge impact on him.

  "Master is indeed great, can be said to be my idol, but you are not bad either. Ideals do not distinguish between size, people with ideals are happy people, so we are all happy and great." Ji Xin'an smiled, Zou Ze seemed to be going to two extremes, either disdain or worship, don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

  "Isn't that indirectly boasting about yourself?" Zou Ze smiled and looked at Ji Xin'an's somewhat haggard face in the darkness.

  Ji Xin'an ignored his teasing, "The relationship between you two has improved, I think the happiest person must be your wife. All these years stuck in the middle of you two, she must have been very embarrassed. But now it's all good, although Master is injured, but from now on as long as he wears a prosthetic limb, nothing will affect him, and he won't have to worry every day anymore. Your father-son relationship has improved a lot, and in the future days, she must be very happy." They say being a soldier is not easy, but actually being a soldier's family member is even harder.

  "Yes, my mom has had a tough time over the years. From now on, I'll definitely take good care of them and be filial to both of them. By the way, aren't you still developing villas in 'Xanadu'? Once it's completed, please reserve one for me, so they can also enjoy themselves." After going through this experience, Zou Ze has matured a lot and now knows how to repay his parents.

  "That's no problem, but the money will be deducted from your dividend." Ji Xin'an smiled greedily, but in fact she had already made arrangements for the villa that needed to be left behind, and of course, there were also Master's.

  "What's the dividend, the principal is all yours to dispose of, you can deduct as much as you want." As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately felt that these words were a bit ambiguous, fearing that Ji Xin'an would get angry, and quickly changed the subject. "An An, after talking for so long, everyone else is happy, but why hasn't anyone mentioned you?"

  Ji Xin'an smiled and knew he was unintentional, so she didn't pursue it. She went along with his words, "Of course, I'm also very happy because Master will be at home often in the future, your family will have meals together every day, and my family will have one less person to eat and drink for free. How can I not be happy?"

  Zou Ze's face fell, "An An, do you really dislike me that much?" His tone was filled with sadness.

  Ji Xin'an panicked a bit when she saw him like this, thinking that her joke had been taken seriously by him. "No, Zou Ze, I was just joking, don't..."

  Ji Xin'an didn't finish speaking, because Zou Ze burst out laughing, only then did he realize that he had been fooled by Zou Ze. "Good for you, Zou Ze, you dare to fool me, just wait and see how I'll deal with you."

  "You were the one who started joking around, don't play if you can't take it." Zou Ze saw that Ji Xinan had seen through him and immediately ran away from his side while shouting.

  "How can I play with you anymore? Your sister is coaxing me to play now." Ji Xin'an gritted her teeth and chased after him viciously.

  Two people laughed and joked on the empty road.

  "An An, is that you?" Just as the two of them were running with all their might, they suddenly heard someone calling out to her.

  Ji Xin'an stopped immediately after hearing this and only then realized that he had already arrived at his own home's entrance. Looking in the direction of the voice, it was his father Ji Liang.

  "Dad, what are you doing here?" Ji Xin'an suddenly felt that he should really buy a lottery ticket or something, otherwise why would he always get caught red-handed? Although this time it was nothing serious, he still couldn't avoid having to make some excuses.

  "It's getting late, I'll come out and pick you up." He said, looking at Zou Ze with a meaningful gaze.

  "Oh, Dad, this is Zou Ze, he's my master's son. It's getting dark, so he specially came to send me back." Ji Xin'an didn't have anything to be guilty about this time, so she introduced Zou Ze with ease. She had previously told her parents in detail about her master after Zou Weiguo got injured, and although they were both puzzled by Ji Xin'an suddenly having a master, they didn't object to her taking care of Zou Weiguo once they knew the whole story.

  "Uncle, we were just joking around, nothing's going on, we're just ordinary friends." Zou Ze heard that it was Ji Xin'an's father and suddenly became a bit flustered, hastily explaining himself, afraid that he would misunderstand, although he hoped for this kind of misunderstanding, but didn't want Ji Xin'an's dad to blame her because of this.

  "Hello, Zou Ze. You must be tired. It's so late, why not send An An back home safely?" Ji Liang saw the calm and composed expression of Ji Xin and the eagerness of Zou Ze to explain, and believed that there was nothing between them, and only then did he feel at ease.

  "Uncle, you're being too polite, if anyone should be thanked, it's me who should thank her. I still need to go back to the hospital, so I'll take my leave first and come visit you another day." Zou Ze had passed the recent tension with a fairly decent response.

  "Okay, I'll definitely come over to play another day." Ji Liang smiled and nodded.