Songtang took Aicao's hand and led her home.

Although she knows she can go anywhere, right now she just wants to stay at home.

Her home was not the Song Mansion—she had neither relatives nor a place to stay there. Only this place, this small courtyard she had just rented, was her home.

Songtang sat listlessly by the bedroom window.

Their trip to Song Mansion didn't take long; it was still early.

Ai Cao asked, "Would you like to go for a stroll in the capital?"

Songtang shook her head. She had been sitting silently for a long time, so long that Ai Cao thought she would just sit there like a stone.

After thinking for a moment, Ai Cao sat down next to her and said, "Then I'll stay with you."

She also looked out the window.

There was nothing special outside the window; it was just the same flowers and plants they had seen yesterday, the same ones kept in the yard. The flowers and plants were no different today than yesterday.

The trees are green, the flowers are vibrant, and the grass is verdant. The fragrance of the flowers drifts into the room on the breeze, bringing with it the sound of the wind rustling through the leaves.

He Songtang sobbed softly.

Songtang thought that the mugwort was still by her side.

Artemisia was a relative she had chosen herself. Even though there was no blood relation between her and Artemisia, she had already witnessed firsthand how vulnerable blood ties were in the face of self-interest.

The mugwort quietly kept the pine and crabapple company.

After crying for a while, Songtang wiped away her tears with her sleeve and composed herself.

With red-rimmed eyes, she asked Ai Cao, "Where are we going to have lunch?"

Ai Cao thought for a moment and asked, "In the capital?"

Songtang asked again, "Then where in the capital are we going?"

Ai Cao pondered. The system thoughtfully marked the locations of the restaurants on the map for her, but didn't write down the diners' opinions next to those marks. After all, the system could only collect what it could hear and hear; it couldn't actually delve into the minds of the diners.

Seeing that Ai Cao was silent, Song Tang smiled and took her hand, saying, "Shall we go for a walk and then grab something to eat together?"

The mugwort nodded.

Songtang happily changed into some comfortable clothes and went out with Aicao.

On their way to the eatery, they happened upon a market and went in to browse and buy some snacks. By the time they reached the eatery, Ai Cao had already eaten most of the snacks that Song Tang couldn't finish.

Song Tang patted her stomach, looked at the restaurant entrance, and said, "Let's go eat something together."

She only said that she wouldn't move her feet at all.

Ai Cao patted her belly. Her belly was full of snacks that Song Tang couldn't finish, and she also had several bags of candies of different flavors in her hand.

Songtang only opened the bag and ate one of each, and two of her favorites, giving the rest to Ai Cao. She no longer needed to be given candy to eat something so sweet—she also realized that she didn't really like candy that much.

These sugars were enough to veil her past bitterness with a sweet veil.

Artemisia looked at the completely motionless Pine and said with a smile, "I'm full." She suggested, "Shall we go back?"

Song Tang looked at the restaurant with a conflicted expression. They had walked quite a distance to get here, and it felt a little strange to go back now.

She needed to bring something back with her. She stared at the entrance of the eatery.

There were only diners coming and going there.

Ai Cao didn't know what Song Tang wanted by standing there, but she respected Song Tang's idea—she stood quietly behind Song Tang, opened the bag of candies in her hand, and put two candies into her mouth.

A puppy peeked out from the doorway. Its fluffy ears lay softly down, and its round, dark eyes darted around cleverly in all directions.

Then came another equally fluffy puppy, and then another one.

Three identical puppies lay down in the corner of the doorway, curiously peering at the world outside.

They saw the pine and the crabapple, and the pine and the crabapple saw them.

Songtang asked the mugwort in a low voice, "What are they?"

Artemisia pondered what words to use to describe those fuzzy things.

She said, "They are... dogs. Animals that will treat you well if you truly love and treat them well."

She wasn't sure how much to describe, so she only picked out what she thought was important.

Songtang's eyes lit up. She looked at the puppy and asked, "Can we have a dog?"

Ai Cao touched the top of her head.

Ai Cao said, "They need food and a yard to move around in. Do you have enough energy and money to feed them?"

Song Tang hesitated.

She thought about the rent for the yard and the money she earned from selling herbs. She calculated her income and expenses over this period and realized with some frustration that although she still had savings, she didn't have a way to consistently earn money.

Songtang asked, "Can't you pay for me?"

Ai Cao shrugged: "You're the one who wants to raise me, not me. So I won't go out and earn money to pay for you—I'm still eating under your nose."

She crouched down to be at eye level with Song Tang: "Of course, you can let me go out and earn money, and then use that money to pay for the dog's expenses."

“But if you take it in too easily, then you need to be responsible for its future,” Ai Cao said calmly. “For example…would you be willing to leave it alone in the house?”

Songtang shook his head vigorously.

She had been through that time herself—she knew how painful and difficult it was.

Artemisia smiled slightly.

She raised her hand and patted Songtang's head again, saying, "If you haven't thought these things through yet, we can wait until you've figured out how to solve them before coming back here to ask if we can adopt a puppy."

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