"I don't have to cultivate or go to work. I can eat, drink, and bask in the sun every day, occasionally dump my workload on that powerhouse, Bibi Dong. Now that's the retirement life I've always dreamed of."
Nan Feng stretched lazily and sauntered into the garden with a swagger that said he didn't care what anyone thought. He found the white jade rocking chair Bibi Dong liked best and flopped into it without a shred of decorum. Then he plucked a glistening purple grape from the fruit plate beside him and tossed it into his mouth.
"Mm... sweet!"
Feeling the juice burst across his tongue, Nan Feng narrowed his eyes in contentment.
That was one of the benefits of the Soul Blood Pact. This clone, which had originally been nothing more than a mass of condensed energy, now possessed senses almost identical to those of the original.
Of course, there was a price.
As the grape slid down his throat and into his stomach, its physical presence vanished at once. The Spider Emperor Soul Power within him, steeped in the aura of death, broke it down into nothing but drifting ashes—not even a scrap remained.
"What an appetite. It really does eat people without spitting out the bones."
Nan Feng sighed. He was just about to stuff another pastry into his mouth and enjoy this rare bit of slacking off.
Suddenly, he stopped.
A surge of Soul Power, sharp as a bitter winter wind, entered the Saintess Hall's range of perception, accompanied by the tender yet sacred aura of Angel Soul Power.
Nan Feng slowly opened his narrowed eyes and sighed in resignation.
"Level ninety-six... That aura must belong to that one-eyed old man, Guangling Douluo, right?"
"And that milky Angel Soul Power... Qian Renxue?"
"Ugh..."
Nan Feng looked at the pastry in his hand and sighed. With an expression of utter despair, he tossed it back onto the plate.
"I just got off work and now I'm back on the clock. Even the donkeys on the production line don't get worked this hard."
"Her real father just died, and instead of going to the funeral hall to mourn him, she's come to her stepmother for comfort?"
"What a mess. I want a vacation too. Why do I have to work overtime babysitting?"
Though he was a hundred times unwilling, Nan Feng adjusted his posture for the sake of the bigger picture—and his own life.
He didn't get up to greet her. He stayed sprawled in the rocking chair, but his expression instantly shifted from "lazy fish" to that of a "kind mother," tinged with confusion and tenderness.
Among the flowers, a little golden head cautiously peeked out from behind a towering Roman column.
Qian Renxue's eyes were red. She clutched the edge of the stone column, her small body trembling slightly.
She didn't dare rush out. No matter how badly she longed for her mother's embrace, the fear that had sunk into her bones still made her instinctively watch from a distance first.
Looking through the flowers, she saw a familiar figure.
"Bibi Dong" wasn't sitting upright at her desk, handling official business as usual, nor was she cultivating. Instead, she was sprawled without a shred of decorum in the white jade rocking chair.
One foot even dangled over the side, swinging idly. She held a half-eaten mung bean cake in her hand and squinted at the sun, basking in its warmth with a lazy air.
At the sight of this, half of Qian Renxue's anxious heart somehow settled.
If this were the cold, hateful "real Mommy," she would never show such a relaxed, lazy side.
Only the gentle "new Mommy," the one who had lost her memory, would be so carefree.
"M... Mommy?"
Qian Renxue called tentatively, her voice thick with tears and trembling faintly.
On the rocking chair, Nan Feng paused in the middle of enjoying his "retirement."
He slowly sat up, tossed the half-eaten mung bean cake back onto the plate, and turned around. His purple eyes held just the right amount of surprise and confusion.
"Xue'er?"
Nan Feng looked at the small figure hiding behind the column, too afraid to come closer. He furrowed his brow slightly, his voice full of natural concern. "What brings you here? Why are you hiding over there?"
At the sound of that familiar, gentle voice, the last barrier in Qian Renxue's heart crumbled.
"Mommy!"
She could no longer worry about testing the waters or behaving properly.
With a cry of grief, Qian Renxue ran out from among the flowers on her short legs, stumbling as she threw herself into Nan Feng's arms.
"Waaah... Mommy..."
She clung tightly to Nan Feng's waist, burying her face in his faintly fragrant embrace. Tears streamed down her cheeks like beads from a broken string.
Just moments ago, her second granduncle had told her that her father was dead and had already been buried.
She hadn't even seen him one last time, and she had nothing left to remember him by.
She wanted to cry out, to tell Mommy that Daddy was dead, to say how sad she was.
But... the words reached her lips, and she forcibly swallowed them back.
She couldn't tell her!
Absolutely not!
A few days ago, to hold on to this hard-won motherly love, she had told Mommy with her own lips, "Daddy died a long time ago. That Pope isn't my daddy."
If she now cried and said, "Daddy just died," she would be admitting that she had lied.
Worse still, if Mommy learned the truth, could it upset her again and make her turn back into that cold, hateful version of herself?
She had already lost her father. She couldn't lose her mother too!
"Waaah..."
Qian Renxue could only cry, sobbing as hard as she could while biting her tongue and not explaining a thing.
"Oh, dear, what's wrong?"
Feeling the little girl trembling violently in his arms, Nan Feng reached out and gently patted Qian Renxue's back.
"Why are you crying so much? Who bullied our Xue'er?"
Nan Feng asked gently, pretending not to know. "Was cultivation too tiring? Or did some fool upset you?"
Qian Renxue shook her head desperately, burying her face even deeper and tightening her grip.
"N... nobody bullied me..."
Qian Renxue sobbed, her voice coming in broken snatches. "I just... just missed you, Mommy... Waaah..."
"You missed Mommy?"
Nan Feng chuckled softly. He cupped Qian Renxue's tear-streaked face and gently wiped away her tears with his thumb.
"Silly girl. If you missed Mommy, you could have come to see her. Why cry?"
"Mommy's right here. She isn't going anywhere."
As he spoke, Nan Feng drew Qian Renxue back into his arms and rested his chin on top of her head. But his gaze passed over the garden wall, settling on a figure concealed in the distance, hidden in the shadows.
Guangling Douluo.
Guang Ling hadn't come closer. He was crouched on the branch of a tall parasol tree, his one eye fixed on every movement in the garden. The Light Feather Divine Bow in his hand flickered in and out of view. He was clearly on high alert.
If Bibi Dong so much as acted strangely or showed the slightest sign of wanting to hurt Qian Renxue, he would immediately step in to save her.
But...
The scene before him left the naturally exuberant guardian silent.
The gloomy, cold-hearted Bibi Dong he remembered was nowhere to be seen.
In her place was a gentle, patient mother, her affection tinged with indulgence.
"So this is... another personality after a cultivation deviation?"
Guangling Douluo watched Bibi Dong gently pat Qian Renxue's back and listened to her soft words of comfort. He felt a jumble of emotions.
"Big Brother was right... This might really be a good thing for Xue'er."
"The lucid Bibi Dong is a lunatic. But this confused Bibi Dong... is a mother."
In the garden,
Nan Feng looked away.
He knew Guang Ling was watching. He also knew Qian Daoliu was surely keeping an eye on things.
That was exactly the effect he wanted.
As long as the "kind mother" persona stuck, then no matter how cold and ruthless Bibi Dong's real self was, Qian Daoliu would go easy on her to keep this "motherly clone" around.
This clone was Bibi Dong's best get-out-of-death-free card.
And a shield for him to go berserk from now on!
It was called "holding Qian Renxue hostage to command Qian Daoliu"!
"All right, all right. No more crying."
Nan Feng picked up the half-eaten mung bean cake from the plate beside him and held it to Qian Renxue's mouth, speaking as though he were coaxing a child:
"You must be hungry. Here, have a piece of cake."
"Mommy saved this especially for you. It's sweet."
Qian Renxue looked at the mung bean cake with a bite taken out of it. Her tears hadn't dried yet, but she couldn't help bursting into a laugh through them.
It was Mommy's leftovers...
But she didn't mind at all.
She opened her little mouth and obediently took a bite. Its sugary flavor melted on her tongue, easing the bitterness in her heart a little.
"Is it sweet?" Nan Feng asked with a smile.
"Mm... sweet." Qian Renxue nodded, still sniffling.
"That's right. It's sweet."
Nan Feng patted her head and said meaningfully:
"Life is always bitter, so we have to learn to find our own sugar."
"If your heart ever feels heavy, come to Mommy."
"Mommy's got... plenty to go around."