When she received the message, Jiang Yunlu was completely dumbfounded.
Was it time for a showdown?
If she wants to meet, then let's meet!
Who's afraid of who!
Deep down, Jiang Yunlu didn't actually have any grievances against Xie Yuling, but she just felt that Xie Yuling was her rival.
Even though they had eaten together and slept in the same bed.
That didn't mean their relationship would improve.
However, in her eyes, perhaps she thought Jiang Yunlu was no longer paying attention to Lin Mo, which meant her own chances would be greater.
This thought wasn't entirely impossible.
Before Lin Mo left, the three of them had been in a cold war mode at school.
So Jiang Yunlu didn't know if Lin Mo and Xie Yuling had completely made up.
But Xie Yuling knew that Jiang Yunlu and Lin Mo had already reconciled.
After all, Xie Yuling possessed divine sense and could easily see what everyone was doing on their phones.
It was just that Xie Yuling didn't have a habit of voyeurism.
After school in the afternoon.
The school gate was crowded with people, and the honking of cars echoed one after another.
Jiang Yunlu didn't say a word and walked straight toward a black sedan parked by the road. Xie Yuling followed unhurriedly, half a step behind her.
A thin veil of silence hung between them, and neither wanted to pierce it.
Finding a cafe to sit and chat had been the original plan.
But what Xie Yuling wanted to say was truly unsuitable for any place with a third ear listening.
Jiang Yunlu's family car was undoubtedly the best choice.
An absolutely enclosed and private space.
Click.
Jiang Yunlu pulled the car door open. The warm-colored leather interior came into view, along with a figure sitting right in the middle of the back seat.
Situ Yunshu.
Xie Yuling didn't even bat an eyelid, showing not the slightest bit of surprise.
As early as when they were walking over, her divine sense had already taken in everything inside the car.
Getting into the car, the back seat was spacious. Even with three people sitting there, there was more than enough room.
The moment the car door closed, the noise from the outside world was completely shut out.
This is my mother.
Jiang Yunlu's voice was a bit dry as she took the initiative to introduce her, If you don't want her to hear what you have to say, my mom can go sit in the front.
Jiang Yunlu put on a look of complete magnanimity.
Hearing this, Situ Yunshu immediately put on a gentle and proper smile, nodding slightly at Xie Yuling.
She was wearing an exquisitely tailored suit skirt. Her every movement exuded a carefully maintained aristocratic demeanor (faked), as if she were trying hard to play the role of a perfect mother.
But this perfect facade shattered the moment Xie Yuling spoke her next sentence.
I have met you before, Auntie.
Xie Yuling's tone was very flat, as if she were commenting on the nice weather today.
At the Situ family.
These few words were like invisible steel needles, instantly piercing the oppressive atmosphere that had just been built up inside the car.
The smile on Situ Yunshu's face visibly stiffened. It was the astonishment of having a carefully painted mask exposed on the spot.
Even Jiang Yunlu abruptly turned her head to look at Xie Yuling, her breath stopping for a second.
Xie Yuling, however, acted as if she hadn't seen their reactions. She took a small slip of paper from her pocket and casually tossed it upward.
The slip of paper hovered eerily in the cramped space, spinning slowly, and finally floated back into her palm like a feather that had lost all its weight.
That night, when we were saving Auntie, I was actually there too.
It's just that none of you could see me. But I was definitely there.
These words rolled across Jiang Yunlu's heart like muffled thunder, stirring up an indescribable bitterness.
So she was there that day too.
Situ Yunshu took a deep breath. That stiff smile on her face finally vanished completely, replaced by a complex sense of relief.
She looked at Xie Yuling, her eyes holding a bit of scrutiny and a bit of understanding.
I knew it.
Situ Yunshu's voice was a bit hoarse. Last time at school, the way you looked at me wasn't right. I guessed right then that you definitely knew me.
Xie Yuling nodded noncommittally, having no intention of dwelling on this topic.
She just checked the time, remembered she had to go home for dinner, and not wanting to drag things out, said directly:
That's enough idle chatter.
Xie Yuling withdrew her gaze and finally cut to the chase.
I came to find you today to talk about Wang Qin.
Hearing this, Jiang Yunlu's thoughts were quickly pulled back.
Wang Qin?!
The moment this name came out, Jiang Yunlu instantly snapped back to reality. The sight of Wang Qin looking like she had lost her soul all day immediately surfaced in her mind.
Do you know what happened to her?
The air inside the car seemed to quiet down a bit.
Xie Yuling's gaze fell outside the car window, her voice lacking any fluctuation: It's Zhou Nianqian. He probably used some shady methods to force Wang Qin to betray you. From the looks of it, Wang Qin herself is still wavering.
She paused, turned her head, and her gaze landed on Jiang Yunlu's face.
With your family's capabilities, it won't be hard to investigate clearly.
Xie Yuling said these words straightforwardly, without any superfluous emotion, as if she were merely stating the fact that the weather was nice today.
I understand. Jiang Yunlu nodded heavily, already forming a plan in her mind.
As she spoke, she looked up at Situ Yunshu.
Situ Yunshu consistently wore that calm smile. Receiving her daughter's gaze, she merely nodded gently, Don't worry, your dad and I will definitely support you fully, and we aren't afraid of him playing dirty.
Situ Yunshu indeed had the strength to say such things.
After all, nowadays, the entire Situ family's properties in Yangcheng, along with those deeply rooted overseas assets, had long been directly transferred into Situ Yunshu's name under the operations of Liu Zheng and the others. It was just that outwardly, Situ Dingyi was still at the helm.
Whether it came to fists or deep pockets, they were not afraid.
Seeing that the message had been delivered and her goal achieved, Xie Yuling decisively pushed the car door open, got out, and headed home for dinner.
The entire process was as smooth as flowing water, without a single word of nonsense.
Hey, you...
Jiang Yunlu had just wanted to open her mouth to ask for more details, but a warm hand rested on her arm. It wasn't heavy or light, but it prevented her from making any further movements.
Don't press her.
Situ Yunshu withdrew her hand, her tone carrying a bit of playfulness. She has no obligation to explain everything clearly to you. Nannan, on this point, you fall short of her by more than just a little bit.
With that, she reached out and pulled Jiang Yunlu into her arms, rubbing her hair just like when she was little.
Jiang Yunlu lifted her head from her mother's embrace, feeling a bit unconvinced.
How do I fall short of her?
In many ways.
Situ Yunshu chuckled softly and pinched her daughter's cheek. Take just now, for example. She faced the two of us, mother and daughter, at the same time with such composure, not to mention the decisiveness with which she left as soon as she finished speaking.
From beginning to end, she controlled the rhythm and always held the upper hand, my silly Nannan.
Jiang Yunlu felt even more aggrieved, her mouth slightly puffing up in a pout.
Didn't you just say I only fell short by a little bit?
Situ Yunshu looked at her daughter's appearance, her smile deepening.
Well, all of these added together count as a little bit.

lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...

ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!

m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!

transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”