Dad, open the door. I'll bring your mistress back for you.

"Hiding from people? Hiding from Bai Yu?" Shen Chuning stared at Shen Qingyuan curiously, blinking her bright eyes and asked.

Upon hearing this, Shen Qingyuan, who was taking a sip of tea, suddenly choked, and the tea in his mouth spurted out uncontrollably, triggering a violent and continuous coughing fit.

"Cough cough cough..." His face flushed and he covered his chest with one hand, trying to relieve the sudden discomfort.

Shen Qingyuan took a few deep breaths and retorted intermittently: "Don't... cough... don't talk nonsense... cough cough... I'm not familiar with him..."

However, his flickering eyes and slightly trembling voice while he spoke made him seem a little guilty.

Seeing this, Shen Chuning curled her lips and said suspiciously, "If you're not familiar with me, then so be it. Why are you so excited?"

"I'm not excited! I just accidentally choked on the tea." Shen Qingyuan hurriedly explained, and at the same time unconsciously shifted his gaze elsewhere, as if trying to avoid Shen Chuning's inquiring gaze.

After calming down a bit, he looked at Shen Chuning again and asked doubtfully, "By the way, how did you get to know Bai Yu?"

"He is my master!" Shen Chuning raised her chin and answered proudly.

Shen Qingyuan's eyes widened after hearing this, and he exclaimed in disbelief: "What? You're his disciple? You learned the piano from him? With your lack of musicality, didn't you piss him off to death?"

Faced with Fourth Uncle's doubts, Shen Chuning was immediately furious. She shouted indignantly, "Who said I don't understand music? I'm just not good at playing the qin, but when Master taught me to play the dongxiao, he praised me for my talent!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, our little Aning now has some talent." Although Shen Qingyuan said this, his suspicious eyes showed his true thoughts without any concealment.

"If you don't believe me, I'll play it for you." Shen Chuning smiled confidently and reached for the bag at her waist with gentle and skillful movements.

She carefully took out an exquisite flute from it.

However, just as she was about to raise the flute to her lips, a big hand suddenly reached out and snatched it away in the blink of an eye.

"Where did it come from?" Shen Qingyuan frowned and asked in a serious tone while carefully looking at the flute in his hand.

"Master gave it to me, what's wrong?" Shen Chuning looked at Shen Qingyuan puzzledly.

Shen Qingyuan snorted coldly, a mocking smile playing on his lips, "Okay, okay, Bai Yu is really generous! Back then, when this flute was just completed, he himself was reluctant to play it, but now he just casually gives it away."

"Fourth Uncle, I'm not just anyone!" Shen Chuning became unhappy when she heard this, and retorted with a pout.

Shen Qingyuan did not respond to Shen Chuning's dissatisfaction. He just silently handed the flute back to her, then waved his hand and said, "Forget it, I won't listen to you play today. I'm not in the mood."

Shen Chuning took the flute and carefully put it back into the bag.

Then, as if she remembered something important, she stared at Shen Qingyuan with a sharp gaze and asked curiously, "Fourth Uncle, what exactly is going on with this Lingshan?"

After hearing these questions, Shen Qingyuan, who was originally in a low mood, instantly became energetic and told Shen Chuning about his great achievements.

As far as he knew, the founder of Lingshan should be a member of the royal family of the previous dynasty.

After the fall of the previous dynasty, these people brought their property and quietly came to Lingdao and settled there.

They were obsessed with the idea of making a comeback one day, so they carefully cultivated all kinds of talents and let these people find ways to infiltrate the homes of officials at all levels.

Some were responsible for collecting confidential intelligence, while others were responsible for inciting people and sowing discord in an attempt to disintegrate Dayong from within.

But after nearly a hundred years of iteration, the descendants of the previous dynasty’s royal family have long disappeared from Lingshan.

Today, Lingshan has evolved into a huge intelligence agency.

And as long as you can come up with enough silver, there is almost nothing that cannot be done in Lingshan.

The reason why Shen Qingyuan was able to sit in such a high position as the second-in-command on Lingshan Mountain was because of his quick mind and deep insight and accurate grasp of the habits of officials.

Every time someone is sent out, they basically hit the target on the first try and rarely miss.

At this moment, Shen Chuning couldn't help but wonder, "Does everyone who leaves Lingshan know witchcraft? I've noticed they always come up with some magical talismans and elixirs, and sometimes they actually work."

Shen Qingyuan couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. "Look at how powerful your fourth uncle's strategy is! Those aren't talismanic pills at all. In fact, Ling Island has a former master of the Divine Doctor Valley who's skilled in poisons and medicine. He simply packaged those potions as talismanic pills. After all, immortality items are always more likely to inspire awe than ordinary potions."

Upon hearing this, Shen Chuning's eyes widened, her face filled with surprise: "You actually managed to invite the Valley Master of the Divine Doctor Valley here?"

Shen Qingyuan raised his eyebrows complacently and said with a smile, "How difficult is this? As long as the other party has something to ask for, I can use it to my advantage. The current Valley Master of Divine Doctor Valley is the junior apprentice of the previous Valley Master. In order to seize the position of Valley Master, he resorted to all means to murder the previous Valley Master's son, resulting in him still missing. The previous Valley Master needs to use the intelligence resources we have to find his son, and we can make full use of his superb medical skills to deceive him. In this way, both parties get what they want. Isn't it wonderful?"

After hearing this, Shen Chuning couldn't help but be shocked, and secretly sighed in her heart: I didn't expect that my fourth uncle could talk about lying so openly and confidently.

So, she complained angrily, "Humph, you're already second in command, why do you still want to place spies around your own family? You know, I suffered a lot because of that person!"

Shen Qingyuan frowned tightly, his face full of suspicion, and said, "I have never assigned anyone to the Shen family! Did I make a mistake?"