I was just playing tricks, how come I became Bai Yueguang

Meanwhile, in Spring Garden.

Shen Rang wandered around the gate for a long time, wanting to enter the garden but was hesitant. Just as he was pacing back and forth, the door of Chunyuan suddenly opened from the inside, and Shen Mianzhi slowly walked in.

"Dad, are you looking for me?"

Shen Rang quickly restrained his expression and walked forward with a forced smile, "Why didn't you go to school today?"

Shen Mianzhi, "I've taken a leave of absence and am waiting for you at home."

Shen Rang's smile froze slightly, and he looked at the girl in front of him with uncertain eyes, "You...are waiting for me here on purpose?"

"Yeah." Shen Mianzhi nodded, her bright little deer eyes looking exceptionally calm.

Shen Rang shook his neck uncomfortably, his eyes swaying around before returning to Shen Mianzhi. "Zhizhi, do you... have something to say to me?"

"Yeah." Shen Mianzhi stepped out of the door, her tone as gentle as usual, "Dad, come in and talk."

Shen Rang was a little stunned. After thinking for a moment, he shook his head and said, "Zhizhi, forget it. Dad suddenly remembered that there is something else." After that, he pretended to be in a hurry to leave.

"Dad." Shen Mianzhi grabbed the corner of his clothes and invited him again, "Don't pretend, we are father and daughter, there is no way to hide."

Shen Rang's back was stiff, and he struggled for a long time before he mustered up the courage to look back. Suddenly, he seemed to see the little girl holding the teddy bear and crying, asking him not to leave.

His daughter would always be the softest part of his heart. Shen Rang thought about it and finally did not refuse. He waved his hand and said, "Come in."

Although the scenery of Spring Garden is not as dreamy and gorgeous as that of Chrysanthemum Garden, it is full of vitality and has a poetic and picturesque feel.

There is a grape vine planted in the middle of the courtyard. The fruit harvest season has passed, the leaves have turned yellow and fallen, and the sunlight shines through the dense vines, casting mottled light.

Bathed in the half-light, Shen Mianzhi pointed at the tea chairs under the grape trellis. "The grapes are growing well this year. I've made a lot of wine. Dad, do you want to try some?"

Shen Rang looked at the grape trellis in front of him with a hint of nostalgia, and the sour feeling that had just subsided surged up again without warning.

The person in my memory also liked to eat grapes, especially after she became pregnant, she kept asking for them all day long. Later, he planted a grape vine in their little home.

Shen Mianzhi poured the grape wine she had prepared in advance. Shen Rang took it with both hands and stared at the clear soup for a long time. Finally, he sighed heavily and put down the teacup. "Zhizhi, just ask whatever you want. There's no need to get Dad drunk."

Shen Mianzhi smiled and said, "I don't have such thoughts. I just want to honor you."

Shen Rang glanced at her, picked up the wine glass and took a sip. The taste was sweet and strong, with some of the taste in his memory.

He was slightly dazed.

Considering Shen Rang's current experience, it would be inappropriate for him to show such an uncontrolled expression.

After a long pause, he put down his teacup and said, "Tell me, what do you want to discuss with me?"

Shen Mianzhi, "There are a few questions that have been bothering me. I just can't figure them out, so I want to ask my father for confirmation."

Shen Rang closed his eyes, "What's the problem?"

"Why did you kill the steward of Juyuan? Dad, you obviously have nothing to do with Shen Zhi."

Shen Rang suddenly raised his eyes and looked at her without saying a word.

Shen Mianzhi, "I have placed spies among the people you sent to Xiangying."

Shen Rang was stunned, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. It had only been two years since Shen Mianzhi took over the Dark Hall branch, but she had already become so capable as to place spies around him.

He suddenly became curious, "Zhizhi, how do you know that the person colluding with Shen Zhi is not me?"

Shen Mianzhi said, "Shen Garden's safety has always been protected by Dad and Shen Zhi. If you were really in cahoots, how could you use such a powerful trump card against Shan Shan, who has no inheritance rights?"

Shen Rang's eyes were slightly relieved, and he was about to nod when Shen Mianzhi suddenly said, "Brother Lan Xi and the others must have used this reason to exclude Dad, but I didn't. I have other grounds as a daughter."

"My father would never be so cruel as to harm a friend who once showed me warmth."

When she was very young, Shen Rang always went out early and came back late because he had to go out on missions. Because she felt the lack of companionship, Shen Rang bought her many beautiful dolls. Among them was a teddy bear doll that she liked very much and she hugged it to sleep every night.

When she grew up a little, she understood the difference between dolls and friends, and she forgot about the teddy bear doll.

But one day, she accidentally saw her burly father using an embroidery needle to mend a broken teddy bear. She was puzzled and told Shen Rang that she no longer needed the teddy bear. It was just a toy, not a real person.

This is what Shen Rang said to her at the time:

"Zhizhi, you will have many friends in your life. Most of them are temporary and will only accompany you for a part of your journey. Just like this little bear, it has accompanied you throughout your childhood. Although it has no life, you cannot deny the value of its existence."

"Just like you will eventually say goodbye to a friend who has been with you for a certain period of time, you cannot deny his existence just because he is missing from your future."

"My first understanding of friends came from you. How bad could my father be if he could say such words?" This is what she relies on as a daughter.

Shen Rang had a complicated expression, with slightly reddened corners of his eyes.

Seeing this, Shen Mianzhi whispered tentatively, "Dad, can you tell me why you did this? Is there any unavoidable reason for you to do this?"

"Hardship?" Shen Rang savored the word carefully. "There's no last resort. It's just a personal choice."

He sighed gloomily and said seriously, "Zhizhi, there are some things I've already made choices about and there's no going back. Just pretend you don't know anything. Everything is fine with you now, and Dad doesn't have to worry..."

"Dad, are you going to sever the father-daughter relationship between us?" Shen Mianzhi asked softly.

Shen Rang's eyes widened, and he was a little confused for a moment. "Zhizhi, I am doing this for your own good. Some things are better left unseen. Ignorance is not a crime."

Shen Mianzhi's eyes were firm. "Dad, have you forgotten what I said to Grandpa when I applied to join the Dark Hall?"

"...I want to be a hero, too. I want to wield the sharpest sword in the world to protect the general who will eventually grow old. Dad, I don't want to be a princess. I want to be a knight who slays dragons."

Suddenly, Shen Rang recalled the midsummer night two years ago and the girl who vowed to be a dragon slayer.

This made Shen Rang very worried. Everyone had witnessed Shen Mianzhi's transformation in recent years, and he no longer dared to underestimate her protective feelings.

But if I tell you, more and more people will be involved...

Shen Mianzhi saw Shen Rang's struggle and saw that he was reluctant to speak, so she could only use her last trump card. "If you really don't want to talk, then I can only ask Fourth Uncle for advice."

"?!" Shen Rang's eyebrows jumped, his eyes trembling with fear. "How...how do you know that it was your fourth uncle who was colluding with Shen Zhi?"

Shen Mianzhi looked calm, "I just suspected it originally, but now I'm sure."

In Shen Mianzhi's reasoning structure, she first excluded her father and Shen Jiao. As for whether the traitor was Shen Yuan or Shen Che, she was still unsure. The question just now was just to trick Shen Rang, but she didn't expect that the answer would be revealed by the trick.

"..." The corners of Shen Rang's mouth twitched. How could the soft and gentle child become so cunning?

Upon learning that the traitor was Shen Che, Shen Mianzhi quickly built a related information network in his mind.

After a moment, she frowned and asked a second question, "Father didn't participate in the Qiuyuan Hunt, but he helped Fourth Uncle clean up the mess. Why?"

Shen Rang opened his mouth and hesitated for a long time, not knowing what to say.

Shen Mianzhi observed Shen Rang's expression and probed, "Did Fourth Uncle come to you on his own initiative? Father has always had a good relationship with Fourth Uncle and Aunt. Did Fourth Uncle know that the matter was about to be exposed and asked you for help?"

Shen Rang was about to nod.

"That's not right." Shen Mianzhi answered his own question, immediately shaking his head in denial. "Given your personality, father, even if you cared about brotherly love, you would only plead with grandfather on behalf of Fourth Uncle. There's no need to resort to murder to silence him."

Suddenly thinking of something, Shen Mianzhi's face darkened. He slowly raised his head and looked at Shen Rang, "Fourth Uncle threatened you. Do you have something in his hands that forces you to surrender?"

Shen Rang was shocked. He never expected that Shen Mianzhi could find the key point of the matter in just a few words.

She had thoroughly understood every word he had said since he entered Chunyuan. Previously, he had been puzzled as to why the old man had made an exception and allowed Shen Mianzhi to enter the Dark Hall. Now, he finally understood: the old man had seen through everything, and it was he, the father, who had underestimated his daughter's abilities.

Shen Mianzhi didn't know how much of a shock she had brought to Shen Rang. But when she looked at his face, she knew that she had guessed right again, and her expression became even more solemn.

"Dad, now that things have come to this, are you still going to hide it from me? You've seen it too, I can't just say 'ignorance is blameless'."

Shen Rang was in a dilemma. After a long silence, he finally spoke, "Do you remember when Shen Nian was driven out of Country A by the old man eight years ago?"

No matter how meticulous Shen Mianzhi was, she had never expected that what Shen Rang was going to say would be related to Shen Nian, who was the first person to be expelled from the family.

Shen Rang said, "Everyone thinks that the old man expelled Shen Nian from Country A out of hatred for his incorrigible behavior. But there's actually a hidden story. Shen Nian was dissatisfied with your grandfather's decision to flee the country, so he was instigated to poison your grandfather. If Doctor Meng hadn't discovered it in time, your grandfather would have been in great danger."

Hearing this, Shen Mianzhi broke out in a cold sweat, and a horrified tremor instantly surged into his heart, "What does this have to do with you, Dad?"

Shen Rang paused, "I... am the one who provoked Shen Nian."

"!" Shen Mianzhi had actually guessed it, but when she heard Shen Rang admit it himself, she still couldn't accept it. "Impossible... How could it be?... Why? Why, Dad?"

Shen Rang couldn't bear to face his daughter's disappointment, and forced himself to be respectful. "I can't let go of your mother, and I can't face you. I also want to put down the bloody clothes on my body and accompany you, even for one day. But I can't. Everyone tells me that I owe this to the Shen family, and I must pay it back."

"I thought so at first, so I worked hard, but they are greedy! Even though my daughter's spine was crushed by them, they still poked me in the back and said that I owed it to the Shen family. But what do I owe them? In the end, it was me who lost my wife, and it was my child who lost his mother."

"Later, I went from being a hardworking and uncomplaining person to being filled with resentment. I wanted to break free from the shackles of the Shen family, but once evil thoughts grow, human nature cannot withstand the test. I saw Shen Nian's hatred for the old man, so I took the opportunity to instigate him to poison the old man. It just so happened that the Dark Hall was on duty at Qin Garden that day, so it was easy to replace the tea the old man drank."

Shen Mianzhi slowly lowered her eyelids, not knowing what emotion to use to face all this.

She originally thought that there was some misunderstanding, or at most Shen Rang had foolishly annexed the Dark Hall forces, but now there was indeed a real assassination.

One is her father who holds her in the palm of his hand, and the other is her grandfather who never gives up on her. How can she choose?

Shen Rang raised his eyes and quietly watched the light and shadow moving under the grape trellis, his tone calmed down a lot.

"After Shen Nian was ordered to leave Country A, he has been using this incident as a handle to extort money. He has a big appetite, and in order to shut him up, I had no choice but to embezzle the operating capital that your aunt invested in the Dark Hall. I originally thought that the money would keep Shen Nian quiet for a few years, but I didn't expect that he was actually involved with your fourth uncle."

"He told Shen Che about the poisoning, and Shen Che immediately came to me. If I didn't help silence him, everyone in the Shen family would know about it. I had no choice but to let him do what he wanted."

"No! You have a choice!"

Shen Mianzhi replied with a firm tone.

She suddenly recalled the rooftop when she was seventeen. She held the hand of destiny, and her chaotic consciousness broke through the shackles. That was the first time she felt the world so intuitively.

She remembered the first time she argued with Xiao Lanlan, remembered Jiang Huashan saying that she was one in a million, and remembered the warm invitation she had given her on that starry night.

All the images are like broken silver mirrors, reflecting every scene with spots.

At that time, she also told herself that she had no choice, because she herself was a puppet of this world, and the puppet had been labeled from the moment it was created.

But, is there really no choice?

On the elevated embankment, she chose to accept the medicine handed to her by Jiang Huashan; realizing that the hero was about to die, she chose to pick up a sharp knife and become a dragon slayer. When she was mentally paralyzed, she chose to hold the hand of fate and break free from the shackles...

Every step she took was a choice, and because she was brave enough, she was lucky and met Jiang Huashan.

A sudden inspiration struck Shen Mianzhi, who spoke slowly with a gentle gaze, "Dad... the biggest mistake in the world is telling yourself 'I have no choice.' It's the beginning of paralyzing your mind and the excuse you make for doing evil. We are human beings, not seeds blown away by the wind, taking root wherever we land. Can we decide where our roots lie?"

She paused, and at that moment she seemed to understand what "good" was. It fights against evil and inspires people to have infinite courage to fight against mistakes.

"Father, it's not worth it to spend a lifetime covering up one mistake. Let's go confess to Grandpa."

As soon as she finished speaking, the broken mirror in her heart automatically repaired itself along the cracks, becoming whole again and intact.

……