novellhall Chapter 156 Yesterday's Shadow
Chapter 156 Yesterday's Shadow
Chapter 156 Yesterday's Shadow
A rare guest arrived at Li Mengling's apartment where she lived alone.
Looking at the dishes on the table and her daughter sitting opposite her, Wang Tingshi felt as if it were a dream. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten face-to-face with her daughter like this.
Three years? Or five years?
Sitting across from her, Li Mengling was quietly eating her lunch. Knowing her mother was coming today, she had specifically canceled Ye Jun and Qin Xiaoling's tutoring sessions to free up her time.
She wasn't wearing her glasses, and she seemed very serious while eating. Wang Tingshi felt somewhat uncomfortable with her daughter's attitude.
Before Mengling, she would never eat with herself.
Noah's daughter underwent this change after that person arrived.
The thought of that name filled Wang Tingshi with mixed feelings.
As a veteran who had worked in the Civil Defense Bureau for over a decade, she believed she had seen enough storms. However, the silver-haired girl from the future and the impact she caused still caught Wang Tingshi completely off guard.
The first member of the Human Defense Bureau that Noah came into contact with after arriving in this world was herself—and it seems that she will have a connection with her in the future?
However, after Wang Tingshi reported Noah's existence to the Council of Seven, a high-ranking body, Noah basically stopped contacting her.
The next time I heard news about Noah was when she was being hunted down in the future world, and when her daughter left the Human Defense Bureau to become a registered magical girl and joined Noah's side.
She found it incomprehensible.
After confronting her daughter, she received an even more shocking piece of news—her daughter had gained memories of the future world.
In the future world, Noah is her daughter's comrade-in-arms. Now that her comrade-in-arms is in trouble, she must stand up for her.
Wang Tingshi felt that all of this was too absurd.
Why did things turn out this way?
More than a decade ago, she was just a researcher at the institute. At that time, she devoted all her energy and talent to that grand and crazy plan—the "Magical Girl Awakening Project".
She is obsessed with exploring the essence of magic and longs to personally uncover the secrets of "awakening" and transform this miracle into technology that humanity can control.
She sacrificed everything for this.
She sacrificed her responsibilities as a wife and her tenderness as a mother. She did nothing during her daughter's childhood.
Forget about seeing her daughter, she would only come home once every few months at that time. This resulted in her daughter completely lacking the concept of maternal love in her childhood, and she treated her mother like a complete stranger.
Although it hurts, as long as this research is successful, I can spend more time with my daughter.
Wang Tingshi kept comforting herself like that.
Until the "unexpected natural disaster" struck.
That catastrophe not only destroyed Guangyang City, but also shattered her dreams. The project was forced to stop, the research institute fell apart, and she, as one of the people who knew about that "dark history," was transferred to Yuehua City to serve as the head of the branch office.
She accepted it all. Because she knew she owed too much. Now that she was free from her role as a researcher, she could use the rest of her time to try to make up for it all.
Indeed, as Wang Tingshi spent more time with her daughter, their relationship improved considerably. Although the director's work was also very busy, at least he could go home and see his daughter every day.
This is enough for the mother and daughter to get along.
Seeing all this, Wang Tingshi was very gratified.
The family is back on track. I hope my life will continue to be this happy from now on.
Until the day her daughter becomes a magical girl.
She was well aware of the responsibilities that magical girls bore and the dangers they actually faced. She had devoted half her life to studying this group, never imagining that her own daughter would also walk down this thorny path.
That was the first time the two sides argued.
"I absolutely disagree!"
"Magical girls may seem glamorous, but the dangers they face are unimaginable. Mengling, you don't need to bear all of this. Just be an ordinary person!"
Being a magical girl is a dream for many girls, and Li Mengling naturally didn't want to give it up.
However, the imagined scenario of "the girl breaking with her mother to protect her dreams" did not unfold. In the end, the argument ended with Li Mengling listening to her mother's advice.
The daughter put away all her magical girl persona; she no longer transformed, trained, or fought. She quietly became an ordinary person.
But unexpectedly, a sudden change occurred, disrupting everything.
The daughter and her husband were attacked by a monster while shopping.
The monstrous beast attacked the two directly. The daughter tried to transform, but she was still unable to stop it, and both father and daughter were seriously injured.
Fortunately, other magical girls came to the rescue, preventing an even greater tragedy.
Since then, her daughter has completely distrusted her.
"If you hadn't stopped me from becoming a magical girl, I would have had the power to protect Dad long ago! Otherwise, how could he have ended up like this?!"
"I don't want to listen to you anymore! I want to be a magical girl!"
The relationship that the two sides had painstakingly repaired has now been completely shattered.
Then one day, her daughter found her, without her glasses. She told her about gaining memories and a personality from over a decade later, and how she would fight alongside Noah.
Wang Tingshi instinctively wanted to object again—it sounded even more dangerous than the path of a magical girl.
However, when she looked into her daughter's eyes, all the words she wanted to say were stuck in her throat.
Her gaze wasn't born of a momentary, impulsive act, but rather the result of a "choice" made after weathering many storms and seeing through everything.
.
Wang Tingshi realized at that moment that she could no longer interfere with her path.
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"----mom."
A familiar voice pulled Wang Tingshi back from her memories.
She looked up and saw her daughter quietly watching her.
"Let's eat. I worked so hard to make this."
"?" Wang Tingshi realized that she had been reminiscing about the past. Faced with a rare opportunity to have dinner with her daughter, she had just sat there blankly.
"I'm sorry." Wang Tingshi picked up her chopsticks and put a piece of meat into her bowl. "I was just thinking—you actually agreed to come—you never welcomed me before."
The daughter, who gained a future personality, seems to have treated herself much better.
"No, the other me," actually also wanted to have dinner with you. Li Mengling smiled gently, "It's just that she's a little reserved. So, let me do it. But sooner or later, 'you' will make up."
Seeing her "daughter's" unwavering certainty, Wang Tingshi couldn't help but want to ask her to find out the truth.
"How are things going for us in the future? How did we reconcile?"
Upon hearing this question, Li Mengling slowly put down her chopsticks.
"We did reconcile in the future, didn't we?"
"The reason for this—is probably because you fully supported me in becoming a magical girl."
?
Wang Tingshi was stunned.
Although I'm not entirely against my daughter becoming a magical girl now, I wouldn't say I support it either.
Will my future self—actually fully support my son—in becoming a magical girl?
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