Ai Cao followed Song Tang back to the entrance of the luxurious mansion where they had been turned away before.

Song Tang said, "I am clearly their child too, and I also have the surname Song."

Songtang said, "We're all flesh and blood of our mothers, why am I the only one left there! This isn't fair!"

Song Tang said, "They...they still like me, right?"

Ai Cao squatted down, looked at Song Tang who was about to cry, and patted the top of her head. Today, Song Tang had chosen what she thought was her best dress, but compared to the people in the capital, it still looked somewhat shabby.

Song Tang had asked the guard at the gate several times, but as soon as the guard saw it was Song Tang, he turned his head away with a displeased expression. No matter what Song Tang said, he pretended not to hear.

A few people gradually stopped and watched in silence as Songtang tried to strike up a conversation with the guard, attempting to glean images of his parents from his words. Some of them also looked at Ai Cao—but Ai Cao paid no attention to their gazes.

Artemisia asked softly, "What do you want?"

Song Tang's eyes were red: "I want to see my parents."

Ai Cao continued, "Is there any more?"

Songtang sniffed and said, "...I want to live with them."

Artemisia smiled and said, "If you could only have one wish granted—which one would you want? Or do you have other wishes?"

She raised her index finger and emphasized again, "There's only one for now."

She deliberately used the [Disguise] skill to imitate the tone of voice of the bishop from the previous world. After all, people are just children in front of God, and Song Tang is just a child in front of her too.

Songtang sniffed again.

Her bewildered gaze gradually hardened. The once soft and gentle little girl seemed to have been honed into sharp edges by the atmosphere of the capital, or perhaps it was just that her childishness had temporarily overshadowed her reason, finally causing her to lose her temper.

Song Tang pointed to the gleaming golden plaque bearing the words "Song Mansion" hanging above the main gate. She forced back the tears that were welling up and cried out, "Why should I be the only one suffering? I want them to pay the price!"

The crowd fell silent.

Ai Cao smiled and looked at the plaque, asking gently, "What price do you want them to pay now?"

Song Tang gritted her teeth: "I want this plaque and the gate to be destroyed! I want to step on the rubble of the door and plaque to get in!"

Her childish voice fell silent.

A thunderclap suddenly sounded out of nowhere.

A crack appeared on the plaque she was pointing to. The crack quickly widened, covering the entire plaque. Two breaths later, a crack also appeared on the gate.

Song Tang was stunned.

She hesitated before lowering her hand, but the existing cracks did not disappear. Like a fine spider web, they swiftly and efficiently devoured every inch of the plaque and the gate.

A small piece of sawdust popped out.

The two doors fell apart.

Its collapse was quite dramatic, yet not a single piece of wood or splinter was splashed on anyone. Song Tang stared at the now-vanished gate, mouth agape, and was about to speak when the shaky plaque broke into several pieces, which fell down one by one.

Silence reigned.

Songtang whispered to Aicao, "...Did the Queen Mother of the West hear my prayer?"

Ai Cao patted her head and said, "You heard what you wanted."

She walked over, stepping on the scattered pieces of wood, and asked Songtang, "Do you want to walk over by yourself, or should I carry you?"

Songtang tried stepping on the stacked wooden blocks and said, "I can walk over by myself."

Ai Cao smiled and reached out her hand. She took Song Tang's hand, and together they stepped across the wood chips.

Song Tang glanced at the guard who was half-buried in the wooden blocks but not seriously injured, then looked around at the various objects in the house. She shook her head, walked back to the wooden blocks alone, and said, "It seems there's nothing good inside."

Ai Cao smiled and agreed, then followed Song Tang out of the Song residence.

There were many more people outside Songfu than before. Those who were already there embellished what they had seen and told the stories to the newcomers.

The system exclaimed, "My code... No wonder this world collapsed after the female protagonist died..."

The mugwort didn't respond, so the system continued to sigh, "Whatever the female lead wants, she gets. This is the first time I've seen karma come so quickly."

"She didn't want anything before?" The system said, then became a little confused. "Before you went, she seemed to eat fish every day... Was eating fish all she wanted?"

There was indeed only a small river next to Songtang's residence.

The river was crystal clear. When Ai Cao first saw the river, she didn't see a single fish. But later, when she went fishing with Song Tang, no matter where Song Tang cast her line, a group of fish would vie to take her bait.

“That was before,” Ai Cao said. “No matter what Song Tang wanted to do, he would do it.”

"Provided that...she really wants to."

“If her ‘Queen Mother of the West’ doesn’t appear, then I’ll kick the sign and the door away,” Ai Cao continued. “If Song Tang doesn’t have the ability to destroy them for the time being, then I’ll be her helper.”

The system was silent for a moment, then said, "What will happen to the female lead when you leave this world?"

Ai Cao shrugged: "Look, she can already walk across the wooden mountain by herself. I just need to show her the path and let her see that it exists, and that's it."

"She can walk the rest of the way on her own."

The crowd grew increasingly noisy.

The carriage has arrived.

It forcefully carved a path through the crowd and stopped at the entrance of Songfu.

A man and a woman stumbled down from the carriage, which was adorned with magnificent jewels and gold and silver.

The middle-aged man who jumped off the carriage first saw the collapsed gate, and his vision went black as he fainted on the spot; the middle-aged woman who got off the carriage later also saw the mess, but still moved to the gate and knelt in front of the "Songfu" sign.

Then, a boy who was about the same age and looked like Song Tang, but with a very round face and figure, got off the carriage. He pushed away the maid's hand that was helping him up, and swaggered off the carriage, looking around.

His gaze swept over the mess in front of him several times, and he shouted angrily, "Dad! We're not home yet!"

His father, who had just opened his eyes, was so angry by his words that he fell backward, closed his eyes, and no matter how the servants shook him, he did not respond.

Songtang whispered, "They look so old."

Although the middle-aged couple did not neglect their appearance, they did look much older than Songtang remembered.

Ai Cao glanced at it twice and nodded.

"You little hussy..." The middle-aged woman heard Song Tang's voice, gritted her teeth, and turned to look at her.

Upon seeing this, she was stunned.

Her eyes darted away.

Songtang smiled.

She said, "Mom, it's been so long!"