Emotional Consultation

Lin Xiaolu's words make a lot of sense, or rather, her words are the correct argument.

Indeed, as he said, even last year, during the peak of the cold war between father and daughter, the two of them still managed to have a New Year's Eve dinner together. Although Lin Xiaolu barely made any noise except for "um" and "oh" throughout the whole process, it was only Lin Yun who was talking.

If Lin Yun had heard Lin Xiaolu's words last year, saying she would have been moved might be an exaggeration, but she would definitely have been very comforted. In fact, even now, hearing them would still make her feel very happy.

The problem is that this statement doesn't sound like something Lin Xiaolu would say at all, and in this context, it's even somewhat puzzling.

"Your whole team was together, even the people from Bai'an City came, all the magical girls were together, and yet you were the only one who didn't go over for the New Year?"

He looked at Lin Xiaolu as if he were seeing his own daughter for the first time. "Is this really necessary?"

"Larkspur is an adult now. Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan don't need to go home. They're different from me. They don't need to worry about where to go. They just need to stay with the other team members."

Lin Xiaolu lowered her gaze slightly. "But I do have my own family, after all. Teammate relationships are important... but shouldn't we spend holidays with our families?"

"Even if the holiday is spent in the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau's office? I can't bring the New Year's Eve dinner in there, you'll have to eat in the cafeteria with me."

Lin Yun tried to keep a calm expression and said slowly, "Moreover, the nature of the work at the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau is very special. In fact, everyone should try to avoid entering the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau with their families. So even if I can take you there, you can only visit with other employees or stay in the office with me."

"Is there a problem?" Lin Xiaolu asked, puzzled.

Lin Yun shrugged. "It'll be boring."

Lin Xiaolu was speechless for a moment, as if making up her mind, before finally speaking again, "It doesn't matter, I'm not afraid of being bored."

"But your teammates are all happily celebrating the New Year together at the same time."

Lin Yun bluntly hit Lin Xiaolu's sore spot. "Everyone else is playing, but you're the only one keeping me company while I'm on duty. Dad doesn't have any objections, but you'd better think about it again."

"This, um... ah... mmm..."

With her eyes narrowed and lips pursed, Lin Xiaolu was clearly going through a fierce internal struggle. After a while, she nodded heavily and said, "I've made up my mind, I'm going!"

This resolute choice only made Lin Yun more confused.

Before he could ask any further questions, Lin Xiaolu made an even more surprising statement:

"Also, our school's final exams are coming up soon after the New Year holiday! I plan to focus on studying during this time, so I'll be moving back home until the exams!"

Am I dreaming?

Struggling to suppress the urge to smile, Lin Yun fell into thought.

Lin Xiaolu's words actually touched him deeply. At first glance, he could say he was very gratified. But as happy as he was, he could clearly sense that his daughter wasn't telling the truth.

That's not entirely the truth, at least not.

The reasons are quite simple: firstly, Lin Xiaolu always likes to avoid eye contact when she lies; secondly, this statement does not conform to her daughter's usual behavior.

Having spent more than half a year with Lin Xiaolu under the alias Larkspur, Lin Yun now has a deeper understanding of her daughter's personality. Whether you call it awkward or not frank, in short, Lin Xiaolu often finds it difficult to express herself directly.

Even now, with the father-daughter conflict thawing and their relationship gradually improving, she would probably find it difficult to express such thoughts.

After all, although the father and daughter appeared to be having dinner together at the same table with little distance between them, there were still layers of barriers between them.

There are two reasons for this. First, the effects of the Cold War have not yet disappeared. Although Lin Xiaolu now knows a considerable part of the truth and no longer harbors so much resentment towards her father, this does not mean that the two will be as close as ordinary parents and children.

Rather, even without Anya's passing, the relationship between the Lin Family father and daughter had never been very good.

Lin Yun was indeed not a good father in the past. He almost abandoned his emotional attention to his children under the guise of work, and he always used a cold and harsh approach to ask his daughter to do this and that. From the child's point of view, this almost gathered most of the elements of an "annoying father".

If we were to use a score to describe the relationship between father and daughter, with a maximum score of 100, then the Cold War period would probably be around 0 points, and even when Anya was still alive, it would only be around 40 or 50 points, not even reaching the passing grade.

This has led to the current awkward situation between the two. They both know very well that the other is their only family in the world, but they still don't know how to ease the awkwardness or even truly open up to each other.

There's never been a close relationship between them, and there's not even a reference sample, so how can it be restored?

The second reason, which Lin Yun could sense, was because he had "revealed his identity as a member of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau."

For Lin Xiaolu, no matter how unsatisfactory her father was in the past, he was someone she had lived with day and night since birth, someone she was extremely familiar with, and there was no gap between their lives.

However, this dynamic was disrupted when Lin Yun revealed that she was actually a member of the Anomaly Countermeasures Bureau. This sudden revelation only left Lin Xiaolu feeling alienated and bewildered.

This is evident from her recent frequent remarks such as, "Aren't you the bureau chief?"

In a typical family with a close parent-child relationship, this wouldn't be a problem at all; the child wouldn't change their opinion of their parents because of a little bit of estrangement. But the Lin Family wasn't exactly a model family to begin with, so the distance between them increased.

Due to these two factors, Lin Yun and Lin Xiaolu are still in a state of mutual testing, trying to gradually figure out a more comfortable way of getting along through repeated interactions.

This is also one of the motivations for Lin Yun to encourage and even push Lin Xiaolu to go to the magical girl base for a training camp under his dual identity—as the saying goes, distance makes the heart grow fonder, and reducing the frequency of meetings between father and daughter may gradually fade the negative impression in his daughter's mind.

At present, the relationship between father and daughter has clearly not improved to the point where it is better than that of the Fangting City Squad, enough for the daughter to give up her gathering with the team just to spend the holiday with her family.

Given the current situation, even Lin Yun himself wouldn't offer such advice, because in his mind, these suggestions would only add to his daughter's burden of making choices, without any real meaning.

Logically speaking, Lin Xiaolu had even less reason to propose such a solution.

If she truly only considered her father's feelings during the Chinese New Year and wanted to take this opportunity to get closer to him, she would never have used such a direct approach.

In other words, anything that Lin Xiaolu can openly talk about is definitely not what she cares about most.

The most likely explanation is that Lin Xiaolu herself never considered the possibility of this "bringing the father-daughter relationship closer," and she simply subconsciously chose this method for some other purpose.

Why is that?

Lin Yun remained silent, but his thoughtful yet inquisitive gaze made Lin Xiaolu feel uneasy. She instinctively asked, "What's wrong? Why are you staring at me like that...?"

"Did you run into any problems with your team?"

After a moment's thought, Lin Yun decided to get straight to the point. "Who did you argue with? Or are you feeling stressed? Is that why you want to separate for a while to cool off?"

His first thought was White Thistle from the Bai'an City Squad, since Lin Xiaolu had been depressed because of her conflict with White Thistle. But upon closer inspection, that seemed unlikely. After all, White Thistle had lost to Lin Xiaolu in the subsequent competition, and after a good cry, they had temporarily reconciled, so it was unlikely that Lin Xiaolu would still be holding a grudge.

So who could this person be? Xia Liang? Bai Jingxuan? Or Asō Madoka? It couldn't be because she said something wrong when she was Larkspur, could it?

"... That's not true."

Faced with Lin Yun's question, Lin Xiaolu visibly wavered, but simply shook her head in denial, refusing to communicate. "I just want a change of scenery."

"If it's for school exams, I remember Larkspur said she's been tutoring you."

Lin Yun continued to soften her tone, reducing the pressure from her questions. "The same goes for the final exams last semester and the exams this semester. Just for the sake of exams, wouldn't it be more convenient to stay at your team's base?"

This statement is naturally based on evidence. After all, he had already prepared the review materials and practice questions for the final exams, just waiting to give Lin Xiaolu and Xia Liang a crash course after the New Year.

He didn't see anything wrong with pointing out this fact, since it was something that had already happened objectively, and there was no judgment involved.

But to his surprise, Lin Xiaolu's expression changed immediately after he finished speaking, becoming noticeably more complicated.

Was there anything in what I just said that made you feel conflicted? I only mentioned the final exams briefly; do I really hate exams that much?

Lin Yun was confused once again.

In fact, compared to the beginning of the semester, Lin Xiaolu's grades haven't improved much, but they haven't dropped much either. Although it's indeed difficult for a magical girl to focus on her studies, with Larkspur helping her with tutoring, getting a mid-to-lower grade shouldn't be a problem.

While the term "middle to lower tier" might not sound appealing, it represents a stark contrast to Lin Xiaolu's previous academic performance. At least the teachers at school are quite satisfied with the result, and even occasionally offer Lin Xiaolu a few words of praise.

"... Convenient as it may be, that's not what I'm considering."

On the other hand, Lin Xiaolu also responded to Lin Yun's doubts, "In short, I'm just moving back to live here for a while, don't overthink it."

"It's really not because of a conflict with someone?" Lin Yun asked suspiciously.

"No, it's really not!" Lin Xiaolu puffed out her cheeks.

"So what's the reason? Since you're just killing time anyway, why don't you tell me and let me analyze it for you?"

Lin Yun placed her chopsticks on the rim of the bowl and looked at her daughter leisurely. "You don't need to worry about whether what I'm saying is right or wrong. Even if I'm wrong, what if it gives you some inspiration?"

"I'm not free. I need to do my homework after dinner. I don't have time to chat idly here."

"You really don't want to talk about it?"

"... In no mood."

"Even if I'm the only one who can listen to you?" Lin Yun said calmly.

Just as the conflict between father and daughter couldn't be resolved by Lin Yun's identity, only Larkspur could subtly understand her daughter's feelings and prescribe the right remedy. Similarly, if Lin Xiaolu's current worries come from the Magical Girl Squad, perhaps only she, as an insider, can act as an "advisor."

Clearly, this statement hit the nail on the head, so Lin Xiaolu fell silent once again.

Holding a rice bowl in one hand and chopsticks in the other, she stood still for a long time with a rather comical expression. After a while, she followed Lin Yun's example and put down her bowl and chopsticks.

Bump.

The porcelain bowl made a dull thud as it touched the wooden tabletop.

She picked up a napkin from the table, carefully wiped her mouth, then wiped her hands, tossed the napkin into her bowl, crossed her arms, and leaned back in her chair.

With her head down, her lips first pressed tightly together, then slightly parted, her fingers gripping her arm, pulling at her sleeve, then gradually relaxing.

"Can you promise you won't tell Larkspur and the others?"

Finally, she looked up, her gaze towards Lin Yun filled with doubt, yet also mixed with a hint of anticipation.

"If that's your request, I can certainly keep it a secret for you." Lin Yun nodded expressionlessly.

After all, the moment she found out, Larkspur already knew; there was no need for her to specifically convey the message.

Thinking this, he maintained an indifferent expression and gestured for Lin Xiaolu to continue.

So Lin Xiaolu took a deep breath, composed herself, and slowly told Lin Yun the reasons why she suddenly decided to move back home.

His first impression was that Lin Xiaolu's communication skills needed improvement.

She spoke slowly, her order was somewhat disordered, and her logic was quite chaotic due to the large amount of personal emotion mixed in. Her personal feelings and the course of events were intertwined, making her statements difficult to understand at times.

However, as his account went on and became more detailed, Lin Yun gradually came to understand the whole story.

Then, his expression also became complicated.

If he initially approached the situation with the intention of understanding the problem and helping to analyze its causes and solutions, then after listening to Lin Xiaolu's account, that intention had almost completely vanished.

Instead, there was a strong sense of embarrassment and bewilderment.

"So, I feel like I can't go on like this. If I continue to subconsciously rely on Larkspur, it's irresponsible. Continuing to make unwarranted expectations will only put more pressure on her, and then I'll just become an annoying clingy person. Rather than letting myself go that way, I'd better move back now, calm down, and think about what I should do next..."

On the other side, Lin Xiaolu was still rapidly stating her thoughts like a cannonball, her speaking speed changing from slow at the beginning to a torrential downpour, pouring out her emotions like a real rainstorm.

She talked on and on until Lin Xiaolu throat felt dry, then finally stopped and looked at Lin Yun with a hint of anticipation. "So? That's about it. What do you think I should do?"

Faced with this question, Lin Yun really couldn't answer it for a while.

Let alone giving an answer, even asking him to quickly accept the information in Lin Xiaolu's words is a bit of a stretch.

To summarize what Lin Xiaolu just said, here's the gist:

[I know you and Larkspur are no longer in a romantic relationship, but I personally want this stepmother. If there's no ethical connection between you two, what methods can I use to accept her as my stepmother, and how can I be sure I'm not just imagining things?]

To be honest, he felt that his daughter wasn't speaking human language.

But now that things have come to this, what's the best course of action?

Lin Yun's gaze shifted slightly upwards, fixing on the incandescent light bulb on the restaurant ceiling.

Now, the problem is being troubled by two people instead of one.