"Lord Situ, you don't seem to like Lord Lin either? You even dare to call him by his name directly."
Situ Yun said with an unfriendly look on his face, "Such a despicable person. My Chu family would never deign to associate with him. If it weren't for the favor he received from the Empress back then, the Lin family would just be an insignificant little clan."
After saying that, Situ Yun glanced at Zhao Shuning.
He continued, "I know that, technically, Lin Feng can be considered your relative, but—"
"He's not."
Before Situ Yun could finish his words, Zhao Shuning interrupted him with these three words.
"What did you say?"
"I said Lin Feng is not my relative. The Lin family is a large and powerful clan, while my Zhao family is just an unknown little family. How could we ever hope to climb up to such a high - ranking family?"
"You're really an odd little girl," Situ Yun said.
Zhao Shuning grinned in response.
"However, Lord Situ, why did you bring me back with you? I can see that you're a decisive person. Aren't you afraid that I might have ulterior motives towards your Chu family?"
As if recalling the past, Situ Yun said with a sigh, "I can see her shadow in you."
Zhao Shuning knew who "she" was.
In this world, the only person who dared to call Situ Yun "Little Yunyun" was Ye Ling from the previous life.
She still remembered the first time she saw Situ Yun. He was following the siblings Chu Wen and Chu Nuan obediently and politely.
She casually asked, "What's your name?"
Situ Yun immediately knelt on the ground and replied, "My name is Situ Yun. I'm the steward and protector of the Chu family."
He looked as if Ye Ling was a tiger.
Chu Wen said at that time, "Your Majesty, Situ is a proper and law - abiding good person. Please stop teasing him."
Ye Ling laughed and said, "Get up already. Look, your master is complaining for you."
After Situ Yun got up, his hands were still trembling slightly.
To ease his embarrassment, Ye Ling said, "Little Yunyun, I'm not a tiger. I won't eat you. Don't worry. People might really think I'm an evil person looking at you like this."
Chu Nuan also laughed and tried to smooth things over, saying, "Situ, you don't have to be so constrained. Don't believe those rumors outside. Your Majesty is a good person. My brother and I know this very well."
Seeing Situ Yun smiling respectfully, Ye Ling added, "Chu Wen, Chu Nuan, this Little Yunyun of your Chu family is really cute."
Just because of this word "cute", Situ Yun remembered it until now.
Zhao Shuning waved her hand in front of Situ Yun. Only then did Situ Yun scowl and say, "What are you doing?"
"Lord Situ, since we're so fated, could you do me a favor?"
"Little girl, do you really think my Chu family is a shelter? I let you stay here because I think your actions in Qingning don't seem like those of a bad person. But if you think you can order me around, it's impossible."
"Little Yunyun, please—"
"Out of the question!"
"Little Yunyun, please, please—"
"Not possible!"
"Little Yunyun."
"Stop!"
The three words "Little Yunyun" were the most unbearable for Situ Yun in his life. At that time, he was already an adult, yet he was called "Little Yunyun" by a girl younger than him. Since then, these three words had been deeply engraved in his bones.
So every time he heard these three words, his bones would go soft and his hands would tremble uncontrollably.
"Little Yunyun—"
"Shut up. Don't call me that again. Just say what you want."
Zhao Shuning blinked her big eyes, looking aggrieved.
Situ Yun deflated. He was a man in his thirties. Why was he getting angry with such a little girl?
"Tell me, but I have a lot of things to do now. I may not be able to help you."
Zhao Shuning nodded.
Then she said, "I want to go to the Lin family."
Situ Yun, who had just calmed down, instantly blew up and roared, "Are you crazy? Absolutely not."
"Could you help me meet Lady Xiang?"
"I can't do that. That would be like making an enemy of Lady Haitang."
"I'll go by myself. I definitely won't involve the Chu family."
"What do you want to see Lady Xiang for?"
"Little Yunyun, Lady Xiang is my grandmother. When I was a child, I heard my mother talk about her a lot. Now that I'm in Zhou Jiangchang and know that she's so unpopular here, of course I have to go and see her. Little Yunyun, do you want me to be a heartless, despicable and ungrateful little girl? If so, wouldn't I be very different from your old acquaintance?"
Situ Yun turned around, not wanting to look at Zhao Shuning.
It wasn't that he didn't want to help her, but he knew Zhao Shuning's strength. If she entered the Lin family and met tough characters like Lady Haitang and Beauty Xiao, how could she possibly come out alive?
"Don't worry. I'm sure I can come out alive."
"Little Yunyun, I know what you're thinking."
"I'm not worried about you. You're an ignorant girl. Sooner or later, someone will teach you a lesson."
Zhao Shuning raised three fingers and smiled even more brightly. "I know. I've learned my lesson. I'll wait."
These nine words instantly made Situ Yun laugh.
"Do you know why Lady Xiang is so out of favor in the Lin family?"
Zhao Shuning nodded and replied, "Of course I know. She only has my mother as her child. Unfortunately, my mother violated the family rules back then and insisted on marrying my father."
"You know about their past grievances, yet you still dare to go to the Lin mansion? Aren't you just going to your death?"
"It's not necessarily going to be my death."
After all, Lady Xiang ended up in such a miserable state because of her mother's stubborn elopement. If Zhao Shuning hadn't met this situation, she could have just ignored it. But now that she knew Lady Xiang was living a hard life, as Lady Xiang's granddaughter, a granddaughter who had never met her, she felt that she had the obligation to help Lady Xiang.
"What identity do you want to go in with?"
"Whatever identity Lord Situ uses to join Lady Haitang's camp, I'll use the same identity to join Lady Xiang's camp."
"You'd better think this through. Throwing arrows into a pot and horse - racing are easy, but in the red - makeup competition and the spiritual power competition, you're bound to lose."
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. At least, I don't want Lady Xiang to stumble now. If I don't do anything, I'll feel sorry for my own bloodline, because after all, my blood also comes from Lady Xiang."
Zhao Shuning didn't call Lady Xiang "grandmother". After all these years, she didn't have many feelings for a person who had never visited her.
The reason she wanted to help her was just that she was her mother's mother.
"Are you sure you want to go in?"
"Sure."
"What if there's a conflict later?"
"Lord Situ and I are in different camps. Lord Situ, you don't have to worry about me."
Situ Yun was touched seeing the serious look on this little girl's face.
"Are you serious?"
"More serious than ever."