Sang Qien and Zhang Dan both returned the greeting. “The empress dowager speaks too highly of us. Anyone would have helped in that kind of situation.”0

Even though that was what they said, in reality, if not for her relationship with Zu An, perhaps they wouldn't have taken such a huge risk.0

“What empress dowager? You two are acting like strangers.” Liu Ning held their hands as she sat down. “I'm only a bit older than you. If the two of you don’t find it too excessive, you can just call me big sister in the future.”0

“We absolutely cannot! With the empress dowager’s respected status, what if some high officials or other palace people heard us? It would really be disrespectful.” Sang Qien immediately refused.0

Zheng Dan forced a smile. 0

Is the empress dowager telling us to call her big sister because we saved her, or because of Zu An?0

Hmph, if we're really talking about the pecking order,...1