The two chatted as they walked, and before they knew it, they had arrived at the entrance of the Lin Mansion. The two soldiers guarding the gate were astonished to see Lin Yun and Lu Bingning walk through the gates, laughing and talking together.
'To think our young master actually managed to sweet-talk the number one beauty of Iron Gate Pass into coming home with him!' Their faces filled with worshipful expressions. 'To be a real man, you really have to learn from the young master.'
They made their way to the main hall. Soon after, Zhang Jingxiang heard the news that Lin Yun had brought Lu Bingning home and rushed over. 'This boy... How did he get mixed up with that girl from the Lu Family?' she wondered.
When she first faced Lu Bingning, Zhang Jingxiang was naturally quite cold. After all, she knew about the relationship between Lu Xiong and Lin Xiaotian. The fact that Lu Bingning was Lu Xiong's daughter left Zhang Jingxiang with a sense of unease.
But as the old saying goes, put three women together and you have a play. Under Lu Bingning's sweet-talking bombardment of one "Auntie" after another, Zhang Jingxiang was soon defeated.
Her gaze toward Lu Bingning was now filled with affection. The two beauties, one older and one younger, quickly fell into conversation—about women's topics, of course.
Sitting off to the side, Lin Yun felt the corner of his mouth twitch. 'My mother sure changes her tune fast. One minute she couldn't stand the sight of her, and the next, she looks like she wants to adopt Lu Bingning as her goddaughter on the spot.'
"Mom, uh... you two go ahead and chat. I'm going to head back to my room. Just call me when dinner's ready." Feeling utterly bored sitting there, Lin Yun stood up to leave.
Hearing that Lin Yun was about to leave, Lu Bingning's smiling face instantly fell into a pout, giving her the look of someone who had been deeply wronged.
Seeing this, Zhang Jingxiang took the hint. Her expression darkened, and she snapped at Lin Yun, "You little brat, how can you be so impolite? It's not every day that Bingning comes to visit, and you don't even know how to keep her company? You're forbidden to leave. Sit back down."
'What the...?' Lin Yun was at a loss. 'Me, keep Lu Bingning company? It doesn't seem like this has anything to do with me. You two are talking about makeup and perfumes. What's a man like me supposed to do sitting here?'
He was incredibly frustrated, but faced with his mother's firm command, Lin Yun had no choice but to bite the bullet and sit back down.
He endured. For a full hour, Zhang Jingxiang and Lu Bingning's conversation only grew more and more animated. Meanwhile, Lin Yun, sitting to the side, was treated as if he were thin air; they had no intention of paying him any mind.
Another half an hour passed before Lin Xiaotian finally returned home. Never before had Lin Yun felt so desperate to see his father. He had spent the entire afternoon in a stupor.
"Dad, you're back!" Lin Yun rushed out to greet him before Lin Xiaotian could even step through the door, calling out happily.
Sensing that his son was acting unusually, Lin Xiaotian was puzzled. But Lin Yun didn't give him a chance to dwell on it, shouting loudly to Zhang Jingxiang inside, "Mom, Dad's home! I'll go tell the kitchen to prepare dinner!"
With that, he shot off toward the kitchen like a gust of wind, leaving a bewildered Lin Xiaotian in his wake.
"What's gotten into that little brat today?" Lin Xiaotian muttered to himself as he walked into the main hall. However, the moment he stepped inside and saw Zhang Jingxiang with Lu Bingning, he froze. A split second later, he turned to beat a hasty retreat.
Knowing Zhang Jingxiang as well as he did, Lin Xiaotian instantly understood why Lin Yun had been in such a hurry to flee.
But while Lin Yun had escaped, Lin Xiaotian wasn't so lucky. He had just turned around, not even having taken a single step, when Zhang Jingxiang's voice stopped him.
"Where do you think you're going? Can't you see we have a guest? As the master of this house, have you forgotten all your manners?" Zhang Jingxiang said, clearly displeased.
Hearing this, Lin Xiaotian turned back around with a sheepish grin and laughed, "Haha, Bingning! This is your first time visiting, isn't it?"
Seeing Lin Xiaotian's slightly comical display, Lu Bingning couldn't help but let out a giggle. To think that Lin Xiaotian, one of the three most famous Grand Generals in Yanhuang Country, was actually henpecked.
"Bingning, don't mind him. Your uncle is just that sort of person," Zhang Jingxiang added, landing another blow.
What happened next was entirely predictable. Lin Xiaotian took Lin Yun's place. While Zhang Jingxiang and Lu Bingning chatted animatedly, Lin Xiaotian sat beside them, glumly sipping his tea.
'You little brat, how dare you set your old man up! Just wait, I'll deal with you later,' Lin Xiaotian had already cursed Lin Yun dozens of times in his mind.
"Jingxiang, dinner seems to be taking a while. I'll go check on it." Unable to bear it any longer, Lin Xiaotian made up an excuse, hoping to flee the main hall.
But his hope was quickly dashed. "Yun'Er already went," Zhang Jingxiang said. "What would you be going for? Bingning is right here. Don't you know how to host a guest?"
At her words, Lin Xiaotian gave up completely. It was clear Zhang Jingxiang was determined not to let him get away.
Finally, just as the sky was beginning to darken, dinner was ready. The moment Lin Xiaotian heard a servant announce that the meal was served, he was so overjoyed that he practically ran to the dining hall.
At the dining table sat the Lin Family and Lu Bingning. After an entire afternoon of conversation, Zhang Jingxiang's opinion of Lu Bingning had undergone a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn. She now found the girl absolutely delightful.
The two women nibbled daintily at the dishes on the table, while the father-and-son duo, Lin Yun and Lin Xiaotian, were self-aware enough to keep their mouths shut and simply focus on eating.
"Lin Yun, eat a little slower. No one's going to steal it from you," Lu Bingning said with a laugh, seeing him wolfing down his food. As she spoke, she picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks and placed it in his bowl.
Watching Lu Bingning serve him food, a glint flashed in Zhang Jingxiang's eyes. A plan concerning the great matter of Lin Yun's future marriage began to sprout in her mind.
The meal was a pleasant affair. Afterward, at his mother's firm insistence, Lin Yun escorted Lu Bingning out of the Lin Mansion, and the two began walking toward the Lu Family's estate.
After Lin Yun had left to walk Lu Bingning home, only Zhang Jingxiang and Lin Xiaotian remained in the main hall. Zhang Jingxiang smiled at her husband and said, "That Lu Bingning is so beautiful, isn't she? She's a good girl. It would be even better if we could have her marry into our family and become our daughter-in-law."
Upon hearing this, Lin Xiaotian was so shocked that he spat out the tea he had just taken a sip of.
"My dear wife," Lin Xiaotian said helplessly, "you know full well what the relationship is between our Lin Family and their Lu Family. Aren't you just trying to stir up trouble?"
"Hmph, what do you know?" Zhang Jingxiang paid his objection no mind. "Lu Bingning is beautiful and has a wonderful personality. Besides, I've heard that even many Princes have taken a liking to her. If our Yun'Er could win over a woman like that, I'd wake up laughing in my sleep."
In her heart, she couldn't care less about the Lu Family or the Lin Family. What mattered was that she liked the girl, Lu Bingning. Furthermore, from Lu Bingning's behavior today, Zhang Jingxiang had seen a promising sign: the girl clearly had feelings for Lin Yun.