Liu Yinyin struggled to tear her gaze away from Jiang Ci's face. Jiang Ci's current situation was vastly different from what she had imagined, and this sense of disconnect made her unconsciously clench her hands tightly.
She forced a smile, pretending not to care, but her words carried an urgent tone as she asked, "Who is that woman? How come she's with your grandfather?"
Looking at Liu Yinyin's face, Danfangdu felt that she didn't look well.
He shifted his gaze to the woman Liu Yinyin had mentioned, and said softly, "That's Jiang Ci. She's a diplomat."
Liu Yinyin's mind was buzzing.
diplomat?
How could Jiang Ci possibly be a diplomat?
How could she possibly be a diplomat!
"Yin Yin, do you know her?" Dan Fangdu asked her. "Why did you notice her?"
Liu Yinyin bit her lip, offering a clumsy rebuttal, "How could I know her?"
Her face was pale, and she forced a smile. "I was just a little curious. Everyone here is a man, so why is there a woman here? She's with your grandfather, and I thought she was a relative of yours..."
With this explanation, Danfangdu concluded that Liu Yinyin was worried that Jiang Ci was the person her grandfather had arranged for him, which was why she reacted so strongly.
Once he understood, Dan Fangdu's gaze towards Liu Yinyin softened even more. He lowered his voice and said, "What is Jiang Ci? Her family has no background at all. She only managed to become a diplomat by relying on others to come to Beijing. My grandfather was just using her. Our family doesn't care about her at all. Don't worry."
Upon hearing Shan Fangdu's explanation, Liu Yinyin couldn't help but look at Jiang Ci again.
Was the grandfather in front of Jiang Ci really just using her, given how kind he was to her?
She was uncertain, but still smiled considerately and said, "I understand."
Danfangdu really wanted to pull Liu Yinyin along, but with so many people watching, he had to hold back and continued to say to Liu Yinyin, "Let me take you to meet my friend, and we can also see my grandfather's treasures."
Liu Yinyin: "Okay."
Danfangdu took Liu Yinyin to meet his cronies.
His status was what it was; perhaps those old guys were displeased that he had brought a woman along for no reason, but his friends wouldn't be.
When his friend saw Liu Yinyin, he immediately praised her beauty and inquired about their relationship.
Danfangdu's ambiguous answer, coupled with Liu Yinyin's shy and embarrassed expression, elicited ambiguous and meaningful laughter from Danfangdu's friends.
The adoration from her friend finally warmed Liu Yinyin's body from the coldness she felt upon seeing Jiang Ci.
She looked at Jiang Ci again and found that Shan Shengshuo had already left her side and was talking to someone else.
Jiang Ci stood there alone, unnoticed and ignored.
It seems she wasn't as popular as she had imagined.
Perhaps she happened to run into Danfangdu's grandfather talking to Jiang Ci when she arrived, so they mistakenly thought she was very popular...
With this thought, the slight imbalance deep in Liu Yinyin's heart finally dissipated, replaced by arrogance and disdain.
Even if Jiang Ci came to this kind of occasion, what difference would it make? She still couldn't compare to me.
A smile spread across Liu Yinyin's lips as she leaned even closer to Dan Fangdu.
Noticing Liu Yinyin's closeness, Dan Fangdu was overjoyed, and Yinyin finally emerged from her low mood.
It's all Jiang Ci's fault for giving Yin Yin such a big fright.
Danfangdu looked up at Jiang Ci not far away. He didn't have much affection for this woman to begin with, feeling that letting such a lowly commoner into their home was already dirtying the threshold.
Right now, Liu Yinyin is frightened again because of her, and keeps glancing in her direction. Dan Fangdu believes that Jiang Ci has committed an unforgivable crime.
He suppressed his dislike for Jiang Ci and continued walking forward with Liu Yinyin.
If Jiang Ci knew what these two brilliant strategists were thinking, she would definitely feel wronged.
Your grandfather from your hometown sent an invitation to invite people over, and your mistress got frightened and it became her fault. I've never seen anyone with such a unique and domineering mindset.
Having finally found a moment of peace so that others wouldn't notice her, Jiang Ci showed no intention of moving forward to talk to anyone. She sat quietly in a corner by the window, out of the sunlight, watching the people around her.
She observed the actions of those around her, her gaze finally settling on Liu Yinyin, a thoughtful look flickering in her eyes.
After learning that Shan Shengshuo's family possessed this jade seal, she subtly inquired about its origin during her last visit.
Shan Shengshuo said this was a family heirloom, a family treasure passed down from his ancestors.
Jiang Ci didn't believe a word of it. "It's something passed down from your ancestors. Could your Shan family have been royalty before?"
The imperial seal was found in the mountains behind the Shanding Brigade and was brought to the capital.
Tracing back to the source is indeed difficult, but there are options available.
Now that we've encountered Liu Yinyin here, if Liu Yinyin had seen that jade seal before, she would definitely show a different expression.
Jiang Ci didn't bother with dealing with people; she was just waiting for Liu Yinyin to see the jade seal and to see her expression.
She toyed with a celadon teacup in her hand, her gaze slowly and calmly falling on Liu Yinyin.
Before long, Liu Yinyin was indeed led by Shan Fangdu to the jade seal.
Liu Yinyin was stunned when she saw the jade seal.
“This is a family heirloom. My grandfather told me that the origin of this jade seal can be traced back to the time of my ancestors hundreds of years ago. After they obtained this jade seal, they always regarded it as a treasure. Over the years, this treasure has never been shown to anyone.”
The unilaterally proudly introduced their home, exaggerating its merits to an extreme degree.
Liu Yinyin remained completely skeptical of what Dan Fangdu said.
She brought this jade seal from Zhongmo Town.
It was a gift she gave to Guo Zhen, a gift she gave with great pain, in order to rescue Xia Lei from prison.
Liu Yinyin knew very well the origin of this jade seal, so how could she possibly believe Dan Fangdu's words?
Back when she was in Shanding Brigade, she impulsively begged Xia Lei to take her up the mountain.
Xia Lei couldn't resist her nagging and took her up the mountain, even though they hadn't originally planned to go deep into the mountains.
Liu Yinyin encountered a nest of white rabbits, but because she was clumsy, the rabbits ran away. Xia Lei saw that she wanted them, so he led her towards the deeper mountains. She couldn't walk any further, so Xia Lei carried her on his back.
Later, she didn't know where they ended up. Xia Lei put her down and went to catch rabbits. She found a tree to rest under and accidentally saw the marks on the opposite tree that were covered by grass.
Liu Yinyin became interested and went over to part the grass leaves, and sure enough, she found traces left on the tree.
Those weren't marks left by animals; they were more like... marks left by humans.
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