“Ah, Miss Daoyan, are you planning to leave already?” Hearing Daoyan’s words, Yan Zhenyi quickly stood up from the sofa and asked.
Faced with her father’s question, Daoyan looked at him and replied, “Yes, since you’ve already learned the cultivation technique, there’s no point in me staying here any longer.”
Hearing this, Li Caifeng walked over and said with a pleading tone, “Miss Daoyan, couldn’t you leave a little later? At least wait until my daughter comes home so we can have dinner together as a family of three.”
Hearing her mother ask her not to leave early and to wait for her original self to return for dinner, and not wanting her original self and her clone to meet in front of her family to avoid a state of mental split, Daoyan quickly shook her head and politely declined the invitation. “Mrs. Li, I have a lot of urgent matters to attend to right now, so I really can’t accept your invitation to stay and have dinner with your family of three. I’m truly sorry.”
Hearing Daoyan’s polite refusal and knowing she really intended to leave, Li Caifeng, though feeling very disappointed, didn’t insist any further. She just looked up and said, “Since you insist on leaving, Miss Daoyan, I won’t keep you. But if you ever have time in the future, please remember to visit us.”
“If I get the chance, I will definitely come visit you,” Daoyan said with a smile, then added, “Well, I’ll stop here for now. Mrs. Li, Mr. Yan, I’ll be going.”
“Alright, let me see you out,” Yan Zhenyi said, stepping forward to walk Daoyan to the door after his wife finished speaking.
“There’s no need to trouble yourself, Mr. Yan. I can leave on my own,” Daoyan quickly said, stopping her father’s gesture and indicating she didn’t need him to see her off.
Hearing this and knowing she meant it, Yan Zhenyi didn’t insist. Instead, he smiled slightly and said, “Since you insist, I won’t see you off. But please be careful on your way.”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Yan, I’ll be very careful.” After saying this to both Yan Zhenyi and Li Caifeng, Daoyan turned and walked toward the front door, leaving.
Watching Daoyan’s departing figure, Li Caifeng couldn’t help but show a hint of reluctance on her face. Remembering the strange, familiar feeling she had experienced while interacting with Daoyan, she turned to her husband and asked, “Honey, when you were with Miss Daoyan, did you also feel something strange?”
“A strange feeling?” Hearing his wife suddenly mention this, a look of surprise flashed across Yan Zhenyi’s face. But as he thought back, he also vaguely sensed something.
To confirm if his feeling was the same as his wife’s, Yan Zhenyi asked, “Caifeng, when you say ‘strange feeling,’ do you mean that sometimes Miss Daoyan acted very much like our daughter?”
“Yes, that’s exactly the strange feeling I’m talking about. Did you feel it too?” Li Caifeng asked.
Hearing his wife’s question, Yan Zhenyi organized his words and replied, “Before you mentioned it, I hadn’t really noticed that strange feeling. But now that you’ve brought it up, I can clearly sense it too.”
Getting her husband’s confirmation, Li Caifeng continued, “Since you felt the same strange feeling, how do you think it came about?”
“How it came about? I don’t know. After all, Miss Daoyan isn’t our daughter either. Do you have any ideas?” Not knowing how to answer his wife’s question, Yan Zhenyi simply tossed it back to her.
Faced with her husband’s question, Li Caifeng replied, “If I had any ideas, I wouldn’t be asking you this question.”
Just as Yan Zhenyi and Li Caifeng were feeling utterly confused by the almost identical feeling they got from Daoyan as they did from their daughter during their usual interactions, Daoyan, who had successfully imparted her cultivation technique to both of them, had already transformed back into a card and returned to her original self, Yan Qi.
“Great, this means I won’t have to worry about my parents’ safety for a long time to come,” Yan Qi said happily to herself, glancing at the Daoyan Empress transformation card in her card inventory and knowing she had successfully enabled her parents to gain supernatural powers.
“It’s getting late now. Time to head home.” Closing the system interface, Yan Qi, who had spent the entire afternoon idly sleeping on the squad office sofa, said this to herself before standing up.
Noticing Yan Qi’s movement, Zhao Liang—who had been given half a day off by Shen An’an to look after her due to the morning’s incident—asked, “Xiao Qi, why did you suddenly stand up? Is something wrong?”
“Oh, I’m getting ready to go home. What, are you planning to head home now too?” Hearing Zhao Liang’s question and realizing there was still someone else in the office, Yan Qi didn’t hesitate to ask, while also answering his question.
Hearing her words, Zhao Liang was taken aback for a moment before saying, “Xiao Qi, you want to go home already? Isn’t that a bit early?”
“It’s not early at all; it’s almost six o’clock. I promised my mom I’d be home before six every evening.” Remembering the vow she had made in front of Bai Yuling yesterday, Yan Qi used this as her reason.
Hearing her response, Zhao Liang, who clearly wasn’t aware of this, was stunned for a moment before quickly picking up his phone to confirm with his squad leader. After learning the details from Shen An’an, a look of realization finally dawned on his face. He then put down his phone and looked over at Yan Qi.