New Beginning and Future

Chapter 85: Generals, Grandfathers, and the Line He Draws

Summary: When two small voices topple an iron-willed patriarch without warning, the hill house witnesses a transformation no one was prepared for, as legacy softens into laughter and even the most disciplined authority bends for family. ZGDX remains overprotective in every room they enter, Chessman remains territorial without apology, and when it concerns his girl, he is not a threat spoken lightly but the warning itself. Through candlelit dinners, playful rivalries, and quiet reassurances in the dark, one truth stands steady: strength in this family has never meant control, it has always meant choosing each other, again and again.

Notes:

⚠️ Author's Note: He is melted.

Disclaimer: The Muse would like to remind everyone we do not own FIYS nor the beloved characters nor any dialogue from either the show nor the book...the Muse is very sad and not pleased with this continued reminder that they do not own them and never will!

Chapter Eight-Three

Yao had grown up with a very clear understanding of who her grandfather was, a man carved from iron discipline and old-world authority, a man whose voice alone could quiet boardrooms and whose gaze could reduce seasoned executives to obedient silence, a man who did not bend, did not soften, did not indulge in visible sentimentality, and so when the day came that her twins, now steady enough on their legs to cross rooms without falling, toddled toward him with bright determination and shouted in unison "Yeye," she was wholly unprepared for what followed.

They had gathered in the main living room of the hill house, sunlight spilling across polished floors, Lan seated elegantly on the sofa while Lu's father lingered nearby pretending indifference to the toddlers' movements, Wei was keeping an eye on her son he was playing a game on an iPad, Yeon leaning against the wall mid-conversation with Ming, Li sprawled carelessly in a chair, and Yue hovering with the kind of chaotic energy that usually preceded something questionable, while Hsia Yìchén stood near the window in his usual immaculate suit, posture straight, expression controlled.

The twins spotted him at the same time.

Their daughter pointed first. "Yeye."

Their son echoed immediately, "Yeye."

Then they both began the determined march across the room, tiny legs pumping with unwavering focus, arms slightly lifted for balance, as though crossing a battlefield toward a general they intended to conquer.

The room quieted without instruction.

Hsia Yìchén stiffened slightly, as if uncertain whether the summons applied to him. They reached him at nearly the same moment, their daughter clutching at the crease of his trousers, their son reaching up with impatient insistence. "Yeye," they repeated with growing confidence.

For a heartbeat, nothing moved.

Then the unthinkable happened.

Hsia Yìchén bent. Not slowly, not reluctantly, but fully, his hands lowering with surprising gentleness as he gathered both children into his arms with a careful precision that suggested he had studied how to hold them properly before attempting it, and the severe lines of his face softened in a way that made Yao blink as if her vision had malfunctioned. "Yeye is here," he said quietly, his voice lower, warmer, entirely different from the tone that commanded corporate empires.

The twins beamed as though they had achieved something monumental.

Yao stared.

Yeon's mouth fell open. "What in the world?"

Wei's brows lifted slowly. "Did someone replace him?"

Li leaned forward in his chair, eyes wide. "I have never seen that face before."