Sigh.
Even though Ming Shu decided to investigate Lady Ye, she had no means to do so. Right now she was only 10 years old and didn't have the age or the connections required to dig someone's sweet past.
'Should I talk to Mother?'
Her Mother has the age and the connections, but not the willingness or else she would not had pass the last decade as a neglected wife.
Who else can help her? Right! Even if her Mother didn't use her connections, it didn't meant that she couldn't use either. And what better connection than her Grandfather? Although she couldn't arrive at his house and ask for through check-up, she could pretend that her Mother sent her there and ask for help. She was sure that her adoring Grandpa wouldn't deny the request.
Smiling and praising herself for her wits, Ming Shu made her way to the General's Household.
Leaving her carriage, Ming Shu could see a magnificent gate that brought her many memories. She remember the many days of glory that it had seen and how happy she was in the past life when she saw these gates that took her out from the suffocating prison that was her home back then. She also remembered how, after she lost most of her use to Zhao Song after entering the palace, these gates had not half the glory or magnificence that it had in the past. She remembered how guilt she felt when she saw the tattered state that they were.
Li Zhiqiang had just left his house to compliment his favorite grandchild and saw the scene where she was tearing up while looking at the gates of his house. He immediately got flustered and angry. Who dared to bully granddaughter so much that she would cry like that?! His baby Shu'er didn't even cry when she did his training or play with the five bear children from his home! He will first appease her and once he finds out who the pest is, it will be removed very swiftly.
Almost running, General Li came in front of Ming Shu and before she could come back from her memory land and compose herself, she fell in a warm and strong embrace. Not really sure why would her taciturn Grandpa, who seldom displayed affection in public, was hugging her, Ming Shu decided that the best course of action was hug him back. The unexpected hug, took all the sadness that washed over her and gave her a safe and familiarity feeling, that she decided to enjoy as much as she could.
Seeing that the little one had calm down only with his hug Li Zhiqiang felt relieved and smug. Relieved for the fact that if she wasn't coaxed by this gesture he didn't know what else to do and smug by the fact that his baby Shu'er was sticking to him like a glue.
Enjoy the feeling of having her in his arms, he decided to not let her go and carried her inside thinking that he would brag about this later with the two brutes that he raised. Fufu~ just think about the envy feeling their faces, the small smile that he had was getting bigger and bigger.
The warm scene totally contradicted how his subordinates saw him. If they saw it, they would would get the scare of their life's just like the one that were in the gates.
Later the day, all the barracks knew that the General has a granddaughter that he hold dear and that to be in his good graces they should try to get in her good side first.
When Ming Shu visited the barracks in a much later date for training, she was astonished on how polite and lovely the soldiers were. She easily hoped two subordinates from there... but well this is a story for a later date.