The night is low and the stars are shining brightly.
Inside the Pope Palace's Side Hall, the lights are bright.
Bibi Dong is working hard at his desk, and the mountain of official documents is enough to make any workaholic feel desperate.
The aftermath of the war, the reorganization of the Clear Sky Sect, the negotiations between the two empires, and the balance of internal forces... everything required her to do it personally.
She also thought about asking the so-called "think tank" Nan Feng to share some of the burden, but when she thought of this guy's arbitrary style of doing things and always wanted to "kill people to solve problems" or "turn over the table", she decisively gave up the idea and kicked him out with his chair.
At this moment, the "exiled" Nan Feng is slumped on a rocking chair in Imperial Garden without any image, enjoying a rare leisure time.
He was holding a bright red fruit in his left hand and a delicate sweet-scented osmanthus cake in his right hand, which he ate quite boldly.
"Well... this is life!"
I have been living and dining outside for a month, and now I am back at the Pope Palace. The treatment is like going from hell to heaven.
Anyway, this Spider Emperor Avatar body is a bottomless pit. It can digest as much as it eats, so there is no need to worry about being stuffed to death.
Just when Nan Feng was having a great time eating.
Rustling...
A soft sound of footsteps came from behind the flowers.
A petite golden figure sneaked in cautiously like a thief.
Qian Renxue.
We haven't seen each other for a month. The girl who always held her head high like a proud little princess now looks a little haggard, her eye circles are slightly red, and her exquisite palace dress also looks a little wrinkled.
She hid behind a big tree, stuck out her little head, and nervously observed the figure on the rocking chair.
When she saw the imageless "mom" who was eating with her legs crossed, a gleam of light suddenly lit up in her big, dark eyes, and her anxious heart finally relaxed.
It's that "good mother"! Not that cold Bingbing Pope!
"Mom!"
Qian Renxue had a delighted smile on his face. He no longer cared about etiquette and trotted over while holding up his skirt.
However.
To her surprise, the "mother" who used to open her arms when she saw her, and even pick her up and spin her around, did not turn around in surprise when she heard her voice. Instead, she turned away suddenly as if she was electrocuted!
He even took a big bite of the fruit in his hand, making a crisp sound like "I'm very busy, don't pay attention to me".
Qian Renxue's footsteps suddenly stopped and stopped a few steps away from the rocking chair.
"Mom... Mom?"
No response.
Nan Feng acted as if he didn't hear her. He still turned his back to her, minding his own food, and even deliberately made the chewing noise loud. His posture seemed to say: I am very angry, and the consequences will be serious. Don't come over to bother me.
Qian Renxue was a little panicked.
She didn't know what she had done wrong, why did her "mother" who always doted on her suddenly ignore her?
Could it be... is it because she hasn't visited her mother this month?
But... but grandpa didn't let her go! Grandpa said that mom had gone to fight bad guys and it was very dangerous, so he locked her up in the Worship Hall and wouldn't let her come out.
"Mom..."
Qian Renxue bit her lip, tears began to well up in her eyes. She carefully moved forward two steps, stretched out her little hand to pull Nan Feng's clothes:
"Mom... I am Xue'er..."
"Are you... are you angry with Xue'er?"
"Hmph!"
Nan Feng finally responded.
He snorted heavily, his voice full of grievance and resentment.
"Before, in the Side Hall, who held my hand and vowed to me?"
"Who said to me, 'Don't be afraid, no one can hurt you as long as I am here'?"
"What's the result?"
Nan Feng suddenly crushed the sweet-scented osmanthus cake in his hand into pieces, and the crumbs fell down:
"You turned around and brought that old guy to force me to death! I had to blow myself up on the spot to save my life!"
"That's amazing, Miss Qianda."
Nan Feng turned his head, his strange-colored eyes full of mockery and coldness:
"If you want to kill me, just say so. Why do you have to go so round and round? How about playing a loving mother and a filial son? What about playing reluctant to leave?"
"What? Did you disappoint your grandfather that you didn't kill me when you self-destructed last time? Or are you unhappy in your heart, so you came here specifically to do a last-ditch attack today to see if I would blow up again?"
"No! No!!"
Qian Renxue's little face turned pale instantly, tears burst into his eyes, and he shook his head desperately:
"No...Xue'er didn't want to harm mom!"
"That was an accident! Grandpa... Grandpa did it for Xue'er's safety, so..."
"Safe?!"
Nan Feng interrupted her abruptly, her voice rising suddenly, full of sarcasm:
"Ha! Yes, safe!"
"I'm a madman, I'm a monster, and I'm the biggest danger when I'm around you! Your grandpa is absolutely right!"
Nan Feng stood up and pushed away the little hand extended by Qian Renxue:
"Since you think I will harm you, since you think I am dangerous, then what are you doing here now?!"
"Are you looking for death?!"
"Go back to your Worship Hall! Be your canary under the protection of those old immortals! That's where it's safe! There's no lunatic like me there!"
After saying that, Nan Feng didn't even look at her anymore, turned around and left.
"Mom!!"
Qian Renxue was completely panicked, and the fear of being abandoned again instantly overwhelmed her. She didn't bother to wipe her tears, and chased after her with her short legs:
"Mom, don't go! Xue'er is wrong! Xue'er is really wrong!"
"Mom--!!"
She cried, reaching out her hand to grab Nan Feng's floating hem.
However.
Just when her fingertips were about to touch the purple-gold hem.
Nan Feng suddenly stopped.
He turned around and looked down at the little girl who was crying into tears.
At that moment, the joking, grievance, and anger in his eyes all disappeared.
Instead, there was a despairing strangeness and indifference.
It's like looking at an unrelated stranger.
Qian Renxue was so frightened by this look that he froze, his little hand stretched out in the air stopped stiffly, and his cry was choked in his throat.
"Don't call me mom." Nan Feng said calmly.
"I'm not your mother, and I can't bear this title."
"Don't come to me again in the future."
As soon as he finished speaking, Nan Feng's body flashed with purple light, and his whole body instantly turned into an afterimage and disappeared into the depths of Imperial Garden.
Qian Renxue was left standing alone, looking at the empty darkness, his little body trembling violently in the night wind, and finally he collapsed on the ground helplessly, crying loudly.
Within the Pope Palace, Side Hall.
Bibi Dong paused with the pen in her hand. Although the faint cry in her ears was subtle, under her strong mental perception, it was like an explosion in her ears.
That is the cry of Qian Renxue.
Despair, helplessness, and even a desolation of being abandoned by the whole world.
"Shua--"
A flash of purple light flashed, Nan Feng returned to the hall, sat on the chair next to him with an unhappy look on his face, grabbed the teapot on the table and took a big sip.
"What's going on?" Bibi Dong put down the pen and frowned slightly.
Nan Feng spread his hands, with an innocent look on his face, "Of course, in accordance with your highest instructions, I drew a clear line with that little troll Qian Renxue, and seriously told her not to bother me in the future. How about it? It's efficient, right?"
"Then why is she crying?" Bibi Dong's tone was a little cold.
"Sister, do you have any misunderstanding about the word "drawing a line"? Nan Feng rolled his eyes, "Do you think this is playing house? If you say you don't want to play, you won't play anymore?"
"If she had never had such a good mother and never experienced the feeling of being pampered and protected, she might still treat you as a cold symbol and an unreachable pope as she did before."
"After all, she is already nine years old. In two years, when she grows up and is instilled with more righteousness by that old man Qian Daoliu, she may really no longer need this maternal love."
"But just a few days ago, she had it. That good mother would watch the stars with her, tell her stories, and protect her in times of danger."
"It was like a ray of light suddenly came to her in the dark night."
"But what now?"
"This beam of light was not only extinguished, but it was also extinguished by the grandfather she was closest to. It was even denied and pushed away by that good mother."
"It's more heartbreaking to have something and lose it than to never have something."
Bibi Dong was silent.
When she listened to the faint crying outside, she felt an inexplicable irritation and... stinging feeling in her heart.
She thought of her despair when she was locked in the secret room, and of the kind of collapse that was originally full of hope but was thrown into hell overnight.
Qian Renxue may feel the same now as she did back then?
"Nan Feng."
Bibi Dong took a deep breath, suppressed the unnecessary emotion, and ordered coldly:
"Go out and coax her."
"Don't let her cry here. It won't sound good if it gets spread."
"Ha?!"
Nan Feng laughed in anger.
"Bibi Dong, are you really schizophrenic?"
"You were the one who refused to let me get close to her before, and insisted on forcing me to draw a clear line with her. Now it's you who can't bear to hear her cry, and you're the one who wants me to coax her as a babysitter!"
"One makes me think of a villain, and the other makes me think of a good person."
"Don't you think you are contradictory and ridiculous?!"
"I..." Bibi Dong was speechless.
"Don't go!"
Nan Feng placed the tea cup heavily on the table and crossed his legs:
"I have become the bad guy, and the persona of that good mother has been shattered by my own hands."
"Now you want me to go out? What do you say?"
"Say, 'Oh, I was teasing you just now'? Or, 'Actually, I was forced to do so'?"
"Come on!"
"Once some damage is done, it cannot be undone."
"And, isn't this just what you wanted?"
"Let her hate me, let her stay away from me, let her completely stop thinking about maternal love."
"Isn't this the protection you always wanted?"
"Since you want to be that cruel mother, then be cruel to the end!"
"Don't pretend to be soft-hearted there!"