"You are no longer a child. You know in your heart what should be done and what shouldn’t be done." Zheng Xilin’s tone seemed to be full of confidence in his eldest son, "Besides, you’re not a fool."
Hearing Zheng Xilin say this, Zheng Rang didn’t know whether to be happy or to find it ridiculous.
"Father, I really don’t understand the forces in the capital. Are you really not going to tell me anything?" He was also not familiar with the affairs of the court.
"If you don’t understand, then go find out." Zheng Xilin smiled gently, "Only by figuring it out yourself will you understand many things. If I told you, you might get confused about certain things."
This made a lot of sense, and Zheng Rang found it irrefutable.
"You haven’t given me any instructions. If I go to support the Crown Prince or Prince Dai or another Prince, do you have no objections?" He didn’t quite understand the situation at court, but he knew that the Crown Prince and Prince Dai were like dragon and tiger fighting each other.
"No, I don’t interfere with your ideas." Zheng Xilin remained gentle as ever, "Just do what you want to do. If you want to support the Crown Prince, then go support the Crown Prince. If you want to support Prince Dai or another Prince, then go support them."
"Father, do you truly not care at all?" Zheng Rang understood the implication of his father’s words, yet he still found it hard to accept. He hoped for some guidance from his father.
"Even though I am your father, I cannot interfere in your life." Zheng Xilin laughed, "I just hope you won’t regret the choices you make. You have grown up and must take responsibility for the path you choose."
"Father, are you saying that if something happens to me and my second brother in the capital, you won’t intervene and will let us be responsible for our own choices?" Sometimes Zheng Rang felt that they three brothers were of no importance to their father at all.
Zheng Xilin seemed to be taken aback by his eldest son’s words, looking at Zheng Rang in shock, "How could I possibly not intervene if something happened to you?"
"Father, you give me the feeling that even if we died in the capital, you wouldn’t care about us."
"Why do you think that? Do you really think your father is such a heartless person?" Zheng Xilin was startled by his eldest son’s thinking and couldn’t understand why he would think that way.
"Because you don’t seem to care about us going to the capital."
Seeing his son misunderstand, Zheng Xilin smiled helplessly, "As a father, how could I not care? I just don’t want to interfere in your lives. I hope you won’t consider me or worry about anything else and just go and do what you want to do."
"If you succeed, as your father, I will be happy and proud of you. If you fail, as your father, I will always be home waiting for you to return."
"You are still young. If you don’t go out and experience the world, if you don’t hit a few walls, you will never grow."
Hearing this, Zheng Rang finally understood his father’s good intentions.
"Father, we will be responsible for our choices. We will never do anything that we would regret."
"Even if you regret it, it’s okay; you can always start over from scratch."
"Father, are you really not going to tell us about the matters in the capital?"
"You need to see, hear, and explore them yourself, because that way you will truly understand some things." Zheng Xilin chuckled lightly, "Back then, I also went to see, listen, and explore on my own."
"Father, why are you unwilling to return to the capital and continue assisting the emperor?" Zheng Rang hurriedly added, "I don’t believe a word of the reasons you’ve mentioned before."
Zheng Xilin was amused by his son’s last remark, "Since you don’t believe them, why keep asking me?"
"Then I will give you a new reason: that is I am very lazy."
"What kind of reason is that?"
Zheng Xilin laughed, "Believe it or not, it’s up to you."
Zheng Rang: "..." Father indeed is hard to understand.
"It’s getting late; you should go back to your room and rest."
Zheng Rang did not immediately head back to his room obediently but instead asked, "Father, what do you think about my youngest brother saying his master is in the capital?"
"Let him be." Zheng Xilin said, "I hope he truly finds his master, which means we are saved."
His father was quite right in saying this.
"Don’t worry about Qian’s affairs," Zheng Xilin instructed, "He is no longer a child, and you don’t need to treat him like one. Even if he gets into trouble in the capital, you don’t need to bother with it. It will be good for him to suffer some hardships." With the youngest son, Zheng Xilin had given up on controlling him. Even if he wanted to, the youngest son wouldn’t heed his directions.