"What? You're not going to admit it?" An Yu'er pretended to be angry, lightly stepping on the top of Yan Qianfan's foot and pressing down with a bit of force.
Yan Qianfan smiled ruefully. "Yu'er, no matter what, they are still Huang'er's grandfather and Huang'er's brother. Especially Qingsang — when all of that happened, he was still a little brat. What could he possibly have known? You're not holding a grudge against Qingsang too, are you?"
Hearing her father speak this way, Huang'er also looked at her mother with complicated eyes. She gently took her mother's arm and looked up with a pleading expression.
"Mother, whatever faults the Yan family may have had, the retaliation Grandfather has already dealt them has made them pay back more than tenfold. These years… Grandpa has actually suffered bitterly on the inside. He blames himself. He feels guilt. He believes he failed to protect his son and failed to protect his granddaughter. But… that last time, for Huang'er's sake, he didn't hesitate to fall out with the entire clan. He made it possible for me and Brother Chen. He was even sent by the clan head to be assassinated…"
Huang'er felt that the Yan family had already received sufficient punishment. She didn't want her mother to go on living trapped by hatred, and she especially didn't want her mother and grandfather to remain forever unable to untie this knot in their hearts.
Over the years, An Yu'er had accumulated quite a few grievances. But seeing the helpless, imploring look in her daughter's eyes, the full weight of her resentment dissipated in an instant.
If anyone had the right to feel wronged, could she possibly have it worse than her daughter?
Her own grievances were, after all, the result of choices she had made herself. She had chosen Yan Qianfan. She had chosen to face every hardship alongside him.
But her daughter? Her daughter had never had a choice. From the moment she was born, she had been cursed by fate, enduring endless suffering from childhood onward.
It could be said that her daughter's suffering exceeded even her own. They — the parents — had endured hardship, but at least they had been together.
Her daughter, though, had grown up without either parent to watch over her. She had been bullied relentlessly within the clan, met with nothing but cold stares.
Under such circumstances, if anyone had the right to feel wronged, truly no one had more cause than her daughter.
And yet, if her daughter could let go of the past and cease to bear a grudge against her own grandfather, what was there that she, as a mother, still couldn't let go of? What was there she still couldn't come to terms with?
An Yu'er let out a soft sigh and pulled Huang'er into a tight embrace.
"Huang'er, Mama was wrong. Mama hasn't let it go. Mama needs to learn from my daughter — learn your broad-mindedness, learn your magnanimity. Mama promises you: from now on, this matter will never be brought up again. And I won't make it difficult for your father anymore."
Hearing this, Huang'er was overjoyed. "Now that's my wonderful mother! I knew it — back when you followed Papa without a second thought, that showed what a generous woman you are. You were always bound to see through this eventually."
An Yu'er's spirits lifted even further at her daughter's praise.
Seeing her husband beside her, practically bursting with joy — and noticing the slight redness around his eyes — An Yu'er felt a pang in her heart. She didn't want her husband stuck in the middle, unable to play his part as either son or husband.
"Qianfan, let's let these things be behind us. In a moment, I'll say a word to Father, and later we'll take our daughter to pay a visit to your father."
Once An Yu'er had made up her mind, she was a person of reason and understanding.
Yan Qianfan was now enveloped entirely in happiness, feeling like the most fortunate man in the world. He had such a virtuous wife and such a broad-minded daughter.
In truth, everything that had transpired here had been perceived by God Lord Kasyapa.
He did not object to his daughter unburdening her heart. After all, a person who lived consumed by hatred could never be happy. That his daughter was able to see things clearly and untie that knot — this was by no means a bad thing. Otherwise, with that knot still binding her, the shadow it cast would have tainted both her relationship with her husband and her relationship with her father.