After thinking for a moment, Ai Cao said, "If you really like one of them and want to get one right now..."

Song Tang shook her head and whispered, "I... want to wait until I'm old enough to raise it."

Artemisia smiled.

She stood up and asked calmly, "Shall we go home now?"

It wasn't that Ai Cao particularly wanted to go home. Rather, she was unfamiliar with the capital and didn't want to offend the imperial relatives, which would incur the crime of exterminating nine generations of her family.

That would require her to kill a lot of people, which would be too tiring.

Song Tang glanced at the group of puppies again. The puppies tilted their heads and looked at her, then pricked up their ears and shrank back behind the threshold one after another.

Song Tang smiled slightly, shook her head seriously, and said, "I want to go to the Song residence. I think the master and mistress of the Song residence should have already repaired the gate and are ready for my visit again."

Ai Cao raised an eyebrow.

She noticed Song Tang's choice of words earlier and asked, "Don't you consider them your parents anymore?"

Song Tang shrugged and playfully stuck out her tongue: "They are the master and mistress of the Song family, and I am not a young lady of the Song family. So of course I can only call them master and mistress."

Ai Cao was amused by her: "Well... but the blood ties are hard to erase."

Song Tang glanced towards the threshold. Although she knew she couldn't adopt a puppy right away, she still looked forward to seeing those fluffy little animals again.

Song Tang withdrew her gaze. She said, "I want to follow my bloodline and take what is rightfully mine."

Song Tang thought for a moment and then said, "At least, I'd like to be able to keep a puppy."