"Heh, did he really say it was on my orders?" Zhao Ling couldn't help but laugh out loud.
For someone like Zhao Ling, even if he wanted to kill an infant still in swaddling clothes, or wipe out the entire Heaven Dou royal family, it would be nothing more than a flick of the wrist.
He really didn't expect someone to try to slander him through such absurd means. Clearly, his position as a royal protector must have threatened someone's interests.
No wonder Ning Fengzhi had just now made those seemingly random comments about the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan trusting him and being willing to stand with him.
It seemed the whole Heaven Dou imperial city was already in an uproar over the matter. That meant tomorrow morning, he couldn't go to the market to buy carrots for that girl Xiao Wu. He had to head to the palace and see what Emperor Xue Ye and Prince Xue Xing had to say about this.
"By the way, with things blowing up like this, has anyone caused trouble at the mansion these past days? Have Yin'er and Long'er been affected?"
Remembering that Ah Yin and Liu Erlong had stayed in the residence these past few days, Zhao Ling quickly asked Housekeeper Qian.
Butler Qian nodded with confidence.
"Master, please rest assured. No matter how wild the rumors are, no one dares stir up trouble here. After all, this mansion used to be His Majesty's residence. That's why the two ladies likely haven't heard anything about this."
"That's good… You may go."
Zhao Ling nodded slightly and dismissed Butler Qian.
Once he left, Zhao Ling headed toward the courtyard with Xiao Rou and Xiao Wu in tow.
In the courtyard, Ah Yin and Liu Erlong were sitting at a stone table playing cards.
As soon as they saw Zhao Ling entering with a beautiful young woman carrying a white rabbit in her arms, both their eyes lit up as they jumped to their feet and rushed over.
Zhao Ling spread his arms, ready to embrace them both, but awkwardly, the two of them brushed right past him and ran straight to Xiao Rou, their eyes glued to the rabbit in her arms.
"Wow, what an adorable little bunny…"
"It looks so fluffy! I bet it feels amazing to touch."
"It's seriously too cute. I feel like my heart is melting just looking at it…"
Ah Yin and Liu Erlong began gleefully petting Xiao Wu's soft rabbit fur.
Their uncontrollable urge to "rua" (rub) the rabbit had them practically petting Xiao Wu bald.
Zhao Ling turned around in disbelief to watch the two women go wild over Xiao Wu, suddenly feeling as if he had fallen out of favor.
These two girls saw him return and didn't even throw themselves into his arms—yet they practically worshipped the rabbit instead?
Zhao Ling felt an immediate imbalance in his heart. What was so great about petting a rabbit? What fun was that? Why didn't they come pet him instead?
Xiao Rou and Xiao Wu, meanwhile, were both stunned by the overwhelming enthusiasm of the two women. Especially Xiao Wu—she was getting manhandled so much, she nearly cursed out loud, but forced herself to endure it.
On the way here, her mother had warned her to act like a normal rabbit. Under no circumstances could she let anyone realize she was actually a hundred-thousand-year spirit beast—it would be extremely dangerous.
Once Xiao Rou recovered from her initial shock, her beautiful eyes locked onto Ah Yin.
She could clearly sense that Ah Yin, like herself, was a spirit beast in human form—and also still in the juvenile phase.
Yet the other party could live peacefully here without being hunted down, turned into a spirit ring or soul bone.
This confirmed that her and her daughter's instincts were correct—Zhao Ling truly bore no malice toward hundred-thousand-year spirit beasts like them.
"This little sister, could I hold that bunny in your arms? It's just too cute…"
Ah Yin now looked at Xiao Rou, her tone warm and free of any hostility.
"This big sister, I want to hold the bunny too. It's so soft and fluffy—I'm dying from the cuteness…"
Even Liu Erlong gazed longingly at Xiao Rou, completely lacking her usual fierce demeanor.
Xiao Rou hadn't expected that the two women would not only be welcoming, but even call her "sister" or "little sister." She felt a bit overwhelmed by their kindness.
Without hesitation, she passed her daughter into Ah Yin's arms. Since she could sense Ah Yin's identity as a hundred-thousand-year spirit beast, it was likely Ah Yin could sense the same about her and her daughter.
Because of this, she felt a natural closeness to Ah Yin. And seeing how Ah Yin and the woman beside her got along harmoniously, she assumed the other must be a kindhearted human, so she didn't hold much wariness.
Only Xiao Wu felt utterly miserable—being passed around and smothered by two strange women. Who wouldn't feel annoyed?
Of course, Zhao Ling was also quite displeased and immediately pulled up his diary interface to vent.
[Diary Entry]
I'm speechless… What kind of situation is this? Yin'er and Long'er saw Xiao Rou holding Xiao Wu and immediately forgot about their husband. They just went up and started calling Xiao Rou "big sister" and "little sister," all while cuddling and petting Xiao Wu like crazy!
Honestly, if I didn't know for a fact these two girls are both female and like men, I'd start wondering if they have some kind of special kink.
Could this be what they call "fated affinity"? In the original story, Xiao Wu was Yin'er's daughter-in-law and Long'er's goddaughter.
In some ways, that makes both of them Xiao Wu's moms. Maybe that's why they're so drawn to her?
I don't get it—completely don't get it. All I know is, I'm jealous. I want Yin'er and Long'er to kiss and cuddle me too!
After all, it's been several days since I left Sea God Island and returned to the Heaven Dou imperial city.
And with Xiao Rou, such a beautiful and seductive young woman, by my side since yesterday, it's crazy that I haven't made a move yet.
But I only just met Xiao Rou. I can't just pounce on her like a madman—that'd scare her half to death. And now that I'm home, Yin'er and Long'er are completely ignoring me. I'm really ticked off.
Fine, I'll endure. But tonight, I'm definitely going to give those two a good lesson. Ignoring me like this? They're asking for it. Hmph.
Once his venting was done, Zhao Ling tapped the diary to upload it.
The system responded with a B+ rating and a reward: Character Summoning Card—his eyes lit up immediately.
Another summoning card? But this one looked different from the last.
After careful inspection, Zhao Ling discovered that this particular card was limited to characters from the "Douluo Dalu II: Unrivaled Tang Sect" timeline. In other words, he could only summon someone from over ten thousand years in the future.
Still, recalling the last time he used a summoning card to call forth Qian Renxue, the damned system had said it wanted him to fulfill its dream of becoming Qian Xunji's son-in-law.
So it arranged for a parallel timeline version of Qian Renxue to reincarnate three years later into the womb of Qian Xunji's future wife.
Which meant Zhao Ling would have to wait at least three years just to see a newborn Qian Renxue.
That in turn meant it would take over a decade—maybe even twenty years—for him to fulfill that ridiculous son-in-law dream.
Truly, this system was unbelievably annoying.