Chapter 375 - Ill Tidings (2/2)

Yun Shuang gave him a long look. Her smile deflated and she picked up the book in sadness.

Zhuo Fan shrugged and asked like nothing happened, “Now, what have the factions been up to these days?”

“I didn’t look!”

Yun Shuang pouted, then stomped away, “To save the people, you must have a righteous heart. Until you’re re-educated, I won’t even peek!”

“You…”

Zhuo Fan gnashed his teeth and spat, “Then what are you still doing here if you aren’t looking? I’m taking you back. We’re going to Yun Xuanji and having him look!”

Zhuo Fan pulled her outside. Yun Shuang was so distressed, tears welled up in her eyes. Dragged around, her feet left deep marks in the ground.

Luo Yunchang and the princess were chatting merrily when they saw them whiz by and caught up in distress.

“What’s going on?”

Luo Yunchang only had to see Shuang’er in tears to know. Zhuo Fan must’ve shown his evil side again.

Zhuo Fan did the same thing back then, at the foot of Blackwind Mountain. Though these crass and harsh outbursts had tended to die down over the years of spending time around his clansmen.

While to outsiders, he had no restraint whatsoever, the vilest of the vile.

Yun Shuang hadn’t been around him long enough to see this side. Anyone who’d witnessed one of his rage episodes would be just as frightened.

Shielding Shuang’er, Luo Yunchang glared at Zhuo Fan, “Steward Zhuo, what did Shuang’er do for you to scare her like this?”

“Yeah, Shuang’er is so kind, doing everything you ask of her. You must be at fault here to pick on our Shuang’er.” Princess Yongning puffed out her chest, hugging Yun Shuang close, “Apologize this instant, or I’m telling imperial father!”

Zhuo Fan looked at the three of them and sighed.

[It hasn’t been that long and these girls are already a clique?]

Shaking his head, Zhuo Fan took a long breath to cool his jets, “Princess Yongning, are you going to His Majesty to get me punished? Tell me then, has the second prince’s matter settled?”

“Of course. But that is all because of the third brother asking you to take it as the second brother’s fault. The Imperial father wouldn’t have wasted words with you and would’ve had you!” The princess looked mighty pleased.

Zhuo Fan snickered inside.

[Fatty’s request was only to save the emperor’s hide.]

In the current state of things, where all factions were at a stalemate, if the imperial family moved against the Luo clan, Regent Estate would be celebrating.

It was waiting for the Luo clan and the imperial family to fight so it could deal with them both in one fell swoop. The imperial family wasn’t about to blow all pretense for a mere second prince only to suffer in the end.

Zhuo Fan was sure of it. Only this ignorant princess was still delusional, thinking that the emperor was the number one in the world.

Zhuo Fan turned to Yun Shuang, having vented his earlier rage, turned serious, “Miss Shuang’er, when your grandfather put you in my care, he said many things. But one thing he did stress, that you are useful. If you can’t help me, what reason do I have for keeping you? Our clan doesn’t need two bickering matrons.”

Luo Yunchang’s eyes went red and she glared at him, yet positively giddy inside.

The bickering matron he was referring to just now had to be her.

Whether unintended by the speaker, or by the listener’s delusions, for Zhuo Fan, who was the steward, to say matron, she took it as if it was more than that.(StarReader: it’s a pun. 管家 is steward and 管家婆 lit. means steward’s wife, but also busybody, housekeeper.)

When Luo Yunchang looked at Zhuo Fan, her gaze drifted and her heart fluttered.

Zhuo Fan, though, only had eyes for Yun Shuang, waiting for an answer.

Yun Shuang broke out of the princess’s and Luo Yunchang’s hug, then stormed out of the door. Zhuo Fan sighed.

[This works out just as well]. With Yun clan neutral, he didn’t fear that Holy Maiden would end up in another faction…

Yun Shuang opened the door and bumped into an eight-year-old child, throwing him to the ground.

Yun Shuang cried, “Xiao Dongzi, what are you doing here?”

“Sister Shuang’er!” Xiao Dongzi sobbed, “Grandfather is… is dead…”

[What?!]

Yun Shuang seized and paled. The calm Zhuo Fan also froze and then an incredulous look appeared on his face.

[Someone killed Four Pillars’ High Priest, Demigod Yun Xuanji?]

[Who dares commit such an outrageous crime in the heart of the empire…]