I quickly went up to the stone lion statue at the eatery across the street. In a soft voice, I said to the individual behind it, "Yes! Your Highness, I am here."
"Finally!" Her Highness' pretty face appeared from behind the stone lion. She grumbled, "Why didn't you respond when I called you before?"
"I was a little busy conversing with Tang Ye."
"About what?" Her Highness wore on an unhappy and stern look, "Last night, you said you'd seize the initiative to strike, and you end up bringing me to a brothel… Why exactly have you come to such a place?"
Her Highness didn't seem to think well of the word 'brothel'. She's the type who easily goes red in the face, and therefore didn't voice it. However, she expressed his displeasure for it to me.
Only after explaining to her the general plan, did she feel relieved, "I see now. You really do have some talent. Yiren said that you'd definitely turn Liu Shan Men on his head and inside out when she left it in your hands upon leaving. However, she also said that despite the grief you will bring it, you wouldn't be so bad that you'd let someone bury it. And now it seems…"
Her Highness glanced over to Divine Fragrance Garden and nodded, "That she was right."
'So, was Boss praising me…?'
Her Highness looked a little pale. Eating the mouldy meat bun last night resulted in her having to make multiple trips to the toilet last night. Not only did she not get to eat, but even ate mouldy food. It's no wonder why she's not looking too well now.
Noticing me looking at her face, Her Highness knew what I was thinking, "I'm fine now. Nevertheless… thank you for last night."
"Huh? Oh, oh, it was nothing. I was just doing what I should have." I touched my head then determinedly said, "If you have… have a need to visit the washroom, Your Subject will not hesitate."
Her Highness needed to use the toilet yesterday, but she couldn't accept using the toilets that the crude bunch at Liu Shan Men used; she'd rather hold it and die than use it. Thus, I had no choice but to unlock the door and let her use Boss Shen's washroom.
'You two are definitely best friends.'
With that said, I didn't dare to tell her that I actually destroyed the lock on Boss' door with a palm strike.
'If Boss comes back to find her iron lock destroyed and learnt that someone used her washroom, will I die…?'
Upon hearing my loyal commitment, Her Highness somewhat struggled to utter, "Uhm, uhm, all right. Thank you."
'Hmm? How come it sounds as though she doesn't believe me?'
"Believe me. I will definitely find a washroom that is suitable for your usage even if it happens again!"
Since I spoke so loudly, Her Highness looked around and pretended that she didn't know me, "S-Stop talking about it."
"What I meant was, even if it's this street, as long as you need to use a washroom, just as I did last night, I can…"
Her Highness palmed me on my head! With red flushes on her face, she exclaimed, "I told you to stop talking about it!"
An old fat gramps passing by the eatery looked at us with bewilderment.
Her Highness only hid behind the stone lion to avoid Tang Ye catching sight of her, not to avoid other people on the street. That said, she couldn't help but feel nervous when people noticed her. The old gramps stared at us while he also looked back at him. I prepared a punch while Her Highness seemingly prepared her sabre. In spite of that, the old grandpa, who was almost about to go and see the King of Hell, didn't react. He just shook his head and sighed. To our great surprise, he said, "It's a busy street, yet the wife dares to hit her husband here in broad daylight. What has this world come to? Well, I guess it makes sense; women can even be officials now, so what else would they not do? I miss my grandpa's era. How awesome walking down the streets with your wife and concubines was. *Sigh* Public morals are declining by the day, and moral degeneration gets worse by the day."
"Wh-Who are you calling his w-"
Her Highness was eager to explain the situation, but then struggled to explain what the two of us were doing. As a result, she had to bear with it. She shot me a glare. I wasn't sure if she was thinking about the fact that I was her Fuma candidate or not, but she blushed.
"What are you standing there for? Explain it!"
'Miss… how do you expect me to do that? Just let it go, and you'll be fine, no? There are hundreds of people coming and going from this eatery. You expect me to explain it to all of them one by one?'
Her Highness kicked me over and wore on a stern expression, "This is wrong; not being in a relationship with you means that I'm not in a relationship with you. We can't ignore it just because they're people passing by. I don't care about reputation, but I do care about the truth."
I wore a bitter expression, "We were getting along just fine. What happened out of the blue…? It must be due to using the washr-, okay, okay, okay! I'll go, okay? What are you drawing your sabre for?"
'Sheesh. Everything has to be by the book with you.'
I suddenly thought of something.
'Not only did Her Highness mistake me for Lord San Shen when she was drunk, but even took the initiative to have a fake marriage with me, and she's now avoiding having any relationships with any men before marriage. That's because she hasn't totally given up on… Wait. She must still have feelings for Lord San Shen.'
'At present, Her Highness is missing a piece of her heart. Said piece is with Lord San Shen, who she doesn't know the whereabouts of.'
'In saying that… that should be the best outcome, right? If Her Highness falls for me and we're in a fake marriage, I'll be the one who's in trouble. The sun would rise from the other side if Shiyi doesn't butcher us two bitches - despite us being completely innocent… Her Highness has a target of affection. While her target of affection is me, it's most advantageous for me if she doesn't know that.'
I lowered my heard and ran over to the old grandpa to block him off, "Gramps, let me explain to you. I…"
The old gramps looked up at me. He then glanced over to Her Highness, who was behind me, and patted me on my shoulder.
I felt really awkward with him patting my shoulder. He solemnly said, "Brother, you have to keep your woman in place. How can you let your push you around?"
The old gramps then suddenly saw Divine Fragrance Garden, "Oh!"
An epiphany suddenly hit him. He gave me a sympathetic look that said, "Brother, I can't save you."
Having suddenly found one who walked the same path as myself, I nodded and made a hold fist gesture, "Thank you for understanding, Brother!"
Just as Gramps and I were conversing about the misery of a strict wife, Her Highness quickly ran up to me and booted me. She raged, "Get to work!"
Her Highness' kick sent me stumbling. I then pathetically ran back to where Tang Ye was from the eatery.
The punk was standing up straight and stationary.
'Good. I thought he'd run off. I guess he was scared that I'd drag him back. Good, good, good, let's hurry inside while it's still early.'
"Okay, done. Follow me."
Tang Ye didn't budge, but wore a hopeless expression, instead.
Puzzled, I asked, "Let's go. What are you standing around for?"
"Oh? Where are you going, Big Brother Ming?"
"Heavenly Fragrance Garden! Flirt! Picking flowers!"
'Wait. Why does that voice sound a little annoyed? That's not Tang Ye's voice…'
"So you told me to go patrol Apricot Flower Brothel so that you can go to Heavenly Fragrance Garden, huh?"
Su Xiao came out from behind Tang Ye. He looked at me with his eyes narrowed and a smile. I could see black flames accompanying the evil smile.
"Big Brother Ming, hello."
"Xiao… H-Hi."
"Hmph! I'm amazed you have the shame to greet me!" Su Xiao widened his large eyes and thundered, "Speak! What are you here for?! What are you here for?! What did you just say you were doing?"
I wiped my cold sweat on my forehead. I twiddled my fingers and replied, "Art and chess research…"
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