Chu Overlord, Fool Overlord, Jia Overlord

The next morning.

Sun Shaozong groggily opened his eyes, only to find that he had been sprawled on the dining table all night. Jia Lian was nowhere to be seen, presumably sent back to his bedroom by the servants to rest.

So, while massaging his throbbing temples, he couldn't help but complain about the Jia household's biased treatment of servants.

Actually, he was wronging them. Last night, four or five servants tried to lift him from the table, but he casually flung them off, knocking several over. After that, who would dare to touch him?

As Sun Shaozong was complaining in the hall, he heard hurried footsteps outside. Looking up, he saw Ruan Rong approaching quickly, followed by a delicate-looking maid.

Their eyes met, and Ruan Rong, seeing the bloodshot eyes and the still-drunk appearance, felt both pity and annoyance. However, with someone else present, she couldn't say anything harsh. She pointed to the tea table and said, "Zijuan, put the things down and go back to your young lady."

Zijuan, holding a basin of water, curiously sized up Sun Shaozong. Hearing Ruan Rong's words, she quickly said, "Miss Ruan, what are you saying? If I leave like this, how can I explain it to my young lady?"

With that, she placed the copper basin on the table, wet a towel, and was about to wipe the dirt from Sun Shaozong's face.

Sun Shaozong tilted his head back and dodged, laughing, "I can do it myself. I feel awkward being served like this."

Zijuan was stunned, turning to look at Ruan Rong. Seeing that she had no objections, she allowed Sun Shaozong to take the towel and wash himself.

By the time Sun Shaozong finished washing, Zijuan was nowhere to be seen. Presumably, seeing that he didn't need serving, she had returned to Lin Daiyu.

Thinking of Daiyu, Sun Shaozong's heart stirred, and he couldn't help but ask softly, "What does that Miss Lin look like? Jia Lian was drunk yesterday and kept praising her to me."

Although he hadn't read Dream of the Red Chamber, Sun Shaozong knew that the novel was famous for its beautiful women, with Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai being the most outstanding. Therefore, the curiosity in his heart swelled like a balloon, impossible to suppress.

Hearing him ask this, Ruan Rong initially felt a little wary, but then, thinking about Daiyu's age, she relaxed and smiled, "Daiyu is naturally very beautiful, and her character and talent are impeccable. Otherwise, why would I have recognized her as my god-sister?"

"What? You recognized her as your god-sister!"

Sun Shaozong was stunned and blurted out, "But you only met her yesterday, didn't you?"

Ruan Rong rolled her eyes, reached out and pinched his arm, feigning anger, "What about one day? Didn't I only spend one day with someone before deciding to entrust my life to him?"

Sun Shaozong was speechless.

It had to be said that Ruan Rong was truly a 'decisive' person. First, she took a liking to him in just one day, and now she had spent only one day to 'kidnap' a Lin sister.

Seeing Sun Shaozong rendered speechless, Ruan Rong couldn't help but chuckle, "My sister is only eleven or twelve years old, so don't think about her randomly. Besides, she has a brilliant mind and probably wouldn't look up to a rough man like you."

"What?!"

Sun Shaozong pretended to be shocked: "It's enough for you to know in your heart, why tell the little girl?!"

Ruan Rong was initially confused, but then suddenly realized what he meant, and, thoroughly embarrassed and annoyed, she pounced on him, scratching wildly. Sun Shaozong dodged and, in turn, wrapped his arms around her, laughing triumphantly.

Ruan Rong bit him lightly on the chest a couple of times, but couldn't hold back her laughter, leaning back and forth in his arms.

However, this was not a secluded place, so after laughing together for a while, they quickly separated.

Sun Shaozong instructed, "I'm going to help Second Brother Lian deal with the remaining trivial matters first, so we can set off back to the capital as soon as possible. I'm afraid you'll have to stay here for a couple of days—fortunately, you just recognized a sister, so you won't feel lonely in this official residence."

After a pause, he added, "Don't forget to ask your sister what's fun in this Yangzhou City. Before we leave, I'll take you around to see the sights."

Seeing that Sun Shaozong, even with a hangover, still remembered to take her to the city, Ruan Rong was naturally delighted. She flirted with him for a few more words before reluctantly returning to the backyard.

At the same time, Zijuan was telling Daiyu about Sun Shaozong.

"Girl, you didn't see it."

Then she rolled up her sleeves, her hands making a circle in the air, estimating the size of a water bucket: "That Captain Sun's arms are as thick as this, and just one of his thighs is probably bigger than our Second Master Bao's entire body!"

It turned out that Lin Daiyu had sent Zijuan to serve Ruan Rong, partly out of consideration for her, but mainly to see what kind of man had so deeply captured her sworn sister's heart.

Listening to Zijuan's exaggerated description, she silently pieced together an image in her mind, then suddenly frowned and said, "If he's as you say, isn't that Captain Sun somewhat similar to Brother Xue?"

Xue Pan had left a terrible impression on Lin Daiyu, practically a filthy piece of mud. Connecting the two, she couldn't help but feel a sense of transferred dislike, feeling greatly unworthy for her sworn sister Ruan Rong.

"Young Master Xue?"

Zijuan was taken aback at first, then quickly shook her head like a rattle-drum, anxiously saying, "How can they be the same?! That Fool Overlord is just barbaric and unreasonable, how is he like an Overlord in any way? But this Captain Sun is broad-shouldered and imposing, he really has some of the Chu Overlord's presence."

As she spoke, she lowered her voice somewhat coyly and whispered, "To be honest, girl, Captain Sun's slightest movement makes his long gown bulge, as if it's not flesh and blood inside, but blocks of iron! Yesterday, when I heard Miss Rong talking about his fight with the thieves, I thought it was an exaggeration, but now it seems it might be true."

"Chu Overlord..."

Lin Daiyu murmured these three words, and in her mind, she pieced together a scene of 'Sun Shaozong embracing Ruan Rong affectionately, while laughing and talking, the thieves scattered at the mere sight of him'. For a moment, she couldn't help but be a little infatuated.

After a while, Daiyu couldn't help but substitute herself into the scene, even replacing Sun Shaozong with Baoyu—but she couldn't imagine the heroic image of 'Jia Overlord being brave and unstoppable, instantly repelling the thieves'.

If she and Brother Bao were to encounter such a situation, wouldn't it be more likely that they would hold hands and run away with their heads in their hands?

Thinking like this, Daiyu couldn't help but laugh so hard that she leaned back and forth.

Zijuan accompanied her, but couldn't help but feel a little emotional. It had been a long time since she had seen Daiyu laugh properly—just for this one big laugh, this sworn sister was worth it.