"Is it Mistress Lin?" The other party's tone was affirmative, despite the questioning phrase. Lin Qingwen smiled and bowed to the other party from where she stood by the carriage shaft.

  Not everyone in this world can command an army, let alone a woman in this era.

  Zhong Ruying saw her attitude, slightly raised an eyebrow, and dismounted to walk in front of the carriage, clasped his fists in greeting, "I was going to visit my sister after passing through Suzhou, I didn't expect to run into you as soon as I entered the city, it's a coincidence."

  Lin Qingwan smiled slightly, "I didn't know sister was coming, otherwise I should have gone out of the city to welcome her."

  She looked down at the carman, who didn't dare to slack off and quickly moved the stool down.

  Lin Qingwan got off the carriage and stood in front of Zhong Ruying, sizing her up before saying: "If sister isn't in a hurry to rush on her journey, why not stay at my estate?"

  Zhong Ruying directly looked over her shoulder and met a pair of shining eyes in the car, Lin Qingwen turned around to look back, and then waved at Lin Yubin in the car, introducing: "This is my niece Yubin."

  Lin Yuhong hastily got off the carriage and greeted Zhong Ruying with a bow, "Greetings, Princess."

  Zhong Ruying smiled and said, "Your aunt and I are sisters, so you can also call me Aunt. Otherwise, when you call 'Guangzhu', I don't know if you're referring to your aunt or me."

  Lin Yuhong smiled awkwardly and obediently called out "Auntie Zhong".

  Zhong Ruying looked at him with a sigh of admiration in her heart, what a clever and obedient child, unfortunately, he was not from her family.

  "General," aide stepped forward in a low voice: "It's getting late."

  Lin Qingwan heard this and smiled, asking, "Sister, would you like to stay at my estate?"

  Zhong Ruying thought for a moment, glanced in the direction of Cishi Mansion, and then nodded: "Then let's disturb sister."

  "It's an honor for my sister." Lin Qingyan smiled and invited Zhong Ruying to get on the carriage.

  Both of them had long heard of each other's great names, how Zhong Ruying didn't know Lin Qingyuan, but she was very admiring of this Zhong Ruying, and she didn't hide her admiration at all.

  Lin Yuhong often heard his aunt praise Zhong Ruying, and when he looked at her, his eyes were also full of admiration.

  Zhong Ruying hadn't been looked at with such pure eyes for many years, which made her very happy.

  She knew that many people admired her, both men and women, but these people always had something else in their eyes when they admired her. Her confidants would sometimes worry about her on her behalf, feeling that this couldn't go on like this, and would constantly think of ways to persuade her to remarry, even if it meant bringing in a new husband.

  It's as if she would be pitied more if she didn't have a man.

  The courtiers in the palace also looked at her with a hint of condescending sympathy, as if this widow was having a particularly hard time.

  She didn't like that kind of gaze.

  Zhong Ruying leaned back against the car wall, took over the tea handed by Lin Qingwen and took a sip, smiling: "This clear tea is well brewed."

  "Haven't you ever drunk before, sister?"

  "I've had it before, but there's always a strong bitter taste in the ones they make, not as good as those made with ginger and salt."

  Lin Qingwan twitched the corner of her mouth and said, "I'm not used to drinking that kind of tea. If you like drinking clear tea, I'll have Bai Mei teach your people next time."

  "Then thank you, sister." She turned her head to look at Lin Yuhbin sitting quietly beside her and sighed: "It's really good to have such a well-behaved niece."

  Lin Qingwan smiled slightly and pushed the pastries on the table towards her.

  Zhong Ruying snorted twice, "Is this to show off to me? Wait, I'll turn around and take a look too, see if I can also find some nephews or nieces."

  Lin Yuhong blinked her eyes and couldn't help but look at her aunt, Zhong Ruying's attitude was a bit too much for her to adapt to, hadn't they met before?

  "It's hard," Lin Qingyan said with an unchanged expression: "My niece is someone that ordinary people can't compare to?"

  Lin Yuhong's face turned slightly red, but Zhong Ruying burst out laughing and patted her leg, saying: "Well said, our niece is not someone ordinary people can compare to."

  Zhong's family soldiers followed behind the horse carriage with worried faces, their general had another bout of diarrhea, hopefully they wouldn't scare off Lin County's young mistress, after all, they still needed to borrow a place to stay from her.

  The horse carriage went out of the west city gate and soon saw the Lin family's villa. The Zhong family soldiers saw the Qingfeng Teahouse set up at the crossroads, and their eyes involuntarily dimmed as they glanced at the small house on the second floor without saying a word.

  Yu Zhu, who was still on the watchtower, did not see Jiang Nan's warning signal and remained motionless, allowing the cavalry to escort the horse carriage into the avenue of the other courtyard.

  The horse carriage stopped at the gate of the other courtyard, and Lin's steward came out to greet them. Seeing the murderous aura surrounding the horse team, he was taken aback for a moment. He lowered his eyes, and when he raised them again, his expression had returned to normal, and he smiled as he went forward to pay respects to Lin Qingwan.

  Lin Qingwan introduced Zhong Ruying, "This is the young lady of Ruying County. She has come to arrange for two courtyards to be given to General Zhong's subordinates and to have the kitchen prepare food."

  Lin Guan's family responded and hurriedly went to greet Zhong Ruying's attendants.

  A little kid who ran over to watch the commotion was caught in their gaze and let out a loud wail.

  The attendants' faces stiffened and they hastily averted their gaze.

  Zhong Ruying's face was slightly pale, and she explained to Lin Qingyu: "Just came down from the battlefield, the evil spirit is a bit heavy, scared the child."

  Lin Qingwan smiled and said: "Don't worry, you are all fighting for the country, I won't refuse to give you dinner just because you scared the child."

  Zhong Ruying smiled upon hearing this, and her complexion improved a lot.

  Mrs. Xie was in the mansion when she heard that Zhong Ruying had arrived, and hastily brought Yang to pay her respects.

  Zhong Ruying didn't expect Lin Qingwan to bring her mother-in-law along, and was taken aback for a moment before stepping forward to support Mrs. Xie, saying: "It should be the younger generation who pays respects to you, madam, how could we dare let you return the courtesy."

  "The county master's concubine has been subdued, and not being able to go out to welcome her is already a breach of etiquette." Madam Xie didn't dare underestimate Zhong Ruyun, this was someone who could even control her own mother-in-law.

  Zhong Ruying smiled and was about to make polite conversation, but Lin Qingwan said: "Alright, alright, Mother and the Princess are not outsiders, why be so formal? You've had a long and tiring journey, why don't you go wash up first, then we'll have dinner?"

  She could tell Zhong Ruying didn't like small talk, so why bother saying some pointless pleasantries?

  Isn't Mrs. Xie also very stubborn?

  Mrs. Xie and Zhong Ruying heard Lin Qingwen say that, and simultaneously let out a sigh of relief, smiling and making way for each other.

  Zhong Ruying took her two attendants to the guest house to wash and rest.

  The sword servant opened the trunk and found a set of women's clothes for her, "General, you should dress more gently, it's not on the battlefield, there's no need to be so heroic, haven't you seen that Lin County is staring at you without blinking?"

  Zhong Ruying glanced at the clothes in her hand and thought for a moment: "It's okay, anyway we'll be staying here for a few more days."

  The sword-wielding man was taken aback, "But aren't you supposed to stay for a few more days, General? Didn't you decide to head back to the capital tomorrow?"

  Zhong Ruying relaxed and leaned on the couch, saying: "What's the hurry to go back? I don't want to go back and see those people fighting for credit. Why not just stay in Suzhou for a few more days?"

  She turned her head and smiled: "You're always saying that this Lin Junzhu is awesome, I just met her, it's really interesting, so I plan to stay a few more days."

  The sword-wielding guard was tongue-tied. She had indeed spoken highly of the Lin family's young mistress, but she hadn't meant for them to keep the general here. The Emperor was still waiting for them in the capital.

  All along the way, General Su has already passed Yangzhou, but they are still wandering around Suzhou. Is this slow pace going to get them impeached by the court officials or not?

  Zhong Ruying didn't take it to heart, she still had a grudge in her mind. After just capturing the capital city, they replaced her, was she really not worthy of trust?

  The swordsman wiped away cold sweat and went to find Sao Hong, "You'd better hurry up and persuade the general, this year the general has been impeached quite a few times."

  He didn't take it seriously, "Impeachment is just impeachment, the general won't lose a piece of flesh, those are all unrelated and painless things, they can scold if they want."

  "But this time it's the Emperor himself who has summoned you back to the capital. If the General doesn't hurry back, those ministers will say that our General is disrespectful to the Emperor again."

  "The Emperor is only worried that the General will clash with the Great Chu army, as long as the General leaves the southern border it's fine, who cares if he returns to the capital?" Xuan Hong brought in a bucket of hot water and said to Zhong Ruying, who was lying on the couch with his legs raised: "General, please wash up quickly, we are guests, can't let the host wait for too long."

  Zhong Ruying jumped up, walking towards the bathroom while undressing, "How can Lin Guizhu's mother-in-law live with her? I remember there are many people in the Xie family?"

  Hong swept a glance at the corner of his eye and said: "Xie Daren is still alive, Xie Furen has another son, you say her family is not big?"

  The sword servant also came to serve, Bagua said: "I think they get along well with each other, if it wasn't for Mrs. Xie's good temper, then it must be that Lin Guizhu is particularly formidable."

  "Stop making wild guesses," Scorching Red glared at her and explained to Zhong Ruyin, "The situation with Lin Junzhu is different from the general's. She married after Xie Erlang's death, so Xie Erlang can be buried in his ancestral tomb. It's said that she even sent her wedding dress in to accompany him, and there's still a coffin chamber left inside."

  Zhong Ruying's hand paused for a moment, "It's rather deep."

  She only knew that she had an adopted sister who was Lin Jiang's sister, because Lin Jiang donated most of his family property to be sealed, and recently there was the matter of bamboo paper and grass paper.

  Seeing her dare to confront the ministers who impeached her in the morning, Zhong Ruying was still very happy. She just couldn't stand those ministers who fought for power and profit, and randomly impeached people for their own private interests.

  But she didn't know more than that.

  Zhong Ruying sat down in the water, comfortably closing her eyes and said: "Is there any other news to tell me?"

  The sword-wielding guard was also staring at Sa Hong with eager eyes, as this kind of thing usually fell under her responsibility.

  Scanning red also did not disappoint, said in a low voice: "General, I think this Lin Jun Zhu is a bit like you."

  Zhong Ruying raised an eyebrow.

  "Look at her gentle and elegant appearance, but her methods are ruthless. Last winter, a large number of refugees flooded into Suzhou City, and someone instigated the refugees to surround Lin's villa. She personally stood on the wall and persuaded more than 100 people to retreat, and killed all the remaining 400 people without leaving one."

  Zhong Ruying suddenly opened her eyes and sat up straight, "Does the Lin family have a military guard?"

  "There were none, only twenty or thirty guards, who led the long workers from the government office."

  Zhong Ruying lowered her eyes and said: "Can a young worker who has never been on the battlefield kill more than 400 poor and evil refugees?"

  "She snorted and said: 'Those long workers have been trained.'"