Lu Qinyi and Fei Li were alone. It was a very rare occasion but Fei Li was expecting a guest soon, one he wanted Lu Qinyi to meet. Zhao Mei had locked herself in her room and told Lu Qinyi to go meet them alone, and Yang Xun had retired early for the evening. He had no need to be involved in these things anyway as it was no concern to him.
Lu Qinyi had no wish to make conversation and Fei Li left the silence between them.
There was a quiet knock at the door. Lu Qinyi’s gaze turned to the direction of the sound.
“Enter.” Fei Li’s voice called out.
The door slid open with no hesitation and a woman entered. She was remarkably beautiful. Her dark hair was half pinned up, adorned with delicate hair pieces, while the remaining strands trickled down to brush along the fair skin of her neck. Both her lips and the corners of her eyes had been reddened to enhance her features to give her a more alluring look, and she wore an elaborate dress of fine flowing fabrics. Everything about her appearance gave away hints of her identity. From her countenance to her dress of sweeping silks, accented by a sash that pinched at her waist before trailing down with a neckline that revealed such fair skin and defined collarbones. She was a courtesan. But by Lu Qinyi’s assessments of the detailed embroidery of her garments and the sparkle of the gems in her hair, she wasn’t an ordinary one. A Yiji then? That didn’t explain why she was here.
The fair lady sat on the edge of Fei Li’s desk and leaned closer. “Fei, it’s been so long since you last invited me to your home. Does this mean you’ve finally decided to accept my offer to spend another night together?” She drawled as she reached out to drag a few strands of Fei Li’s hair between her fingers.
Ah. Well that explains it. Lu Qinyi thought as he gave Fei Li a flat look. “Don’t tell me you called me here for this? I didn’t know you had such a strange sense of humour.” Lu Qinyi said dryly.
“Don’t misunderstand.” It was uncertain whether that was directed at Lu Qinyi or the woman. Perhaps both, as Fei Li followed his words by evading the woman’s touch and swatting at her like an annoying fly. “Don’t play around. I called you here for work, as always. I’m not one to change my mind, Miss Song.” He gestured to Lu Qinyi as if to direct her attention back to the task, but Miss Song was already looking at him. She tilted her head thoughtfully as her gaze slowly looked him over.
“This would be…” Her eyes widened and filled with delighted interest. “General Lu! This is the fallen General of the South, is it not?” She gathered her skirts to stand up and walk closer to him. “My! He really is as handsome as I’ve heard.” Song Lin ran her fingers along the lapels of Lu Qinyi’s robes, smoothing out the creases.
Lu Qinyi didn’t even know what to say. In his shock at her sudden advances, he didn’t even have the chance to hide the horror and disgust that passed his face. “Are you insane, what makes you think you can just touch me as you please? Hands off!” Lu Qinyi was in such a rush to move away from her, his words didn’t have the bite he meant for them to have. To add insult to injury, Song Lin laughed, even while Lu Qinyi glared at her.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“What a rude thing to say to a lady. He’s even colder and more heartless than you are, General Fei Li.”
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“That is like asking snow not to be cold and sun not to be warm. Just like it is in the fox’s nature to be playful, it is in mine as well.” Song Lin replied with a languid ease as she sat down on her knees with her skirts pooled around her. Her hands that peaked beneath her expansive sleeves were neatly folded on her lap, creating the illusion of elegance, grace and propriety. But the meaningful gaze she cast in Lu Qinyi’s direction made his skin crawl.
Fei Li knew the other well enough to know Lu Qinyi’s patience was waning so he finally said. “This is Miss Song, given name Lin. She is my informant, and has been the source of many of my spies. I have worked with her many years now, and I can personally attest to her capabilities. Anything you need to know, she can find for you. I thought it would be more effective if you could directly request any information you need about the rebellion forces.”
Song Lin winked at him and Lu Qinyi refused to let her have the satisfaction of seeing his disgust again. He strained to keep his face neutral even as his lips twitched. He hated to admit it, but Song Lin would actually be very useful. In the talks that Zhao Mei, Lu Qinyi and Fei Li had been having, it had been evident that they still lacked enough information. The better your information, the better your plans and the better your preparation. It was the difference between a fight won and a fight lost. Currently, they only vaguely knew each of the groups involved. They did manage to find out about the various hideouts and strongholds of the more careless rebel groups. But despite all of this, it just wasn’t enough.
Finally, Lu Qinyi sighed. “I’m going to give you a list of names of my soldiers that stood out the most. Some because they were skilled, but others because they were regularly disciplined or showed the most signs of disloyalty. I’ll ask Zhao Mei to add or confirm, but she has never been strong at names and faces. This would be so much easier if Yang Xun was willing to help… Anyway, I need information on whether they’re still alive, where they are, and what they are doing. Things like if they have been re-employed, what for and who for. Can you do that?”
“That can be arranged.” Song Lin then looked at Fei Li. “And payment?”
“Same as usual. You’ll be guaranteed protection to continue your work and my resources are at your disposal. Do as you please.”
Lu Qinyi was silently wrapped in his thoughts. Eventually he continued. “I’ll write the list later. Are we done here? If so, I’m leaving.”
Fei Li nodded and gestured to the door. Lu Qinyi passed him and the door slid shut behind him.
Fei Li then asked, “You’ve never seen him before. How could you be so sure?”
“It isn’t common knowledge that you’re sheltering not one, but three war criminals. But uncommon knowledge is my specialty.”
Fei Li clearly wasn’t accepting such a vague answer by the unamused look he gave her, so she continued. “You’re a rather consistent man, General Fei. You keep the same servants. As long as there are no issues, you won’t change them. It’s easy to recognise them, and easy to recognise a new face. Especially three of them. I had heard that you had spent some time in their captivity during the war, and you already know the kinds of rumours about that. Rumours start from somewhere and some truth, no matter how warped the rumour has become. Who else would these new people so quietly entering your home be? So now I know the identities of the three new faces, I have a one in three chance of being correct. He is a bit different to the different descriptions I’ve heard of him, he was always described as more grand or more monstrous. But he has that look in his eyes, like the one you have. So I guessed it was the General and not his lieutenants.”
Although this answer made a lot of sense, Fei Li frowned. “I’m still not convinced you haven’t bought out one of my servants to act as your spy.”
Song Lin laughed. “Even if I did, how could you possibly figure out who? Even if you fired them all, which you won’t because it will take new servants time to adjust and there would be mistakes and complications, I could always place another.”
Fei Li rubbed at his temple. “You’re giving me another headache. Leave already, I’ll call for you when General Lu has finished his list.”
Song Lin stood and bowed to him. “It’s been a pleasure as always, Fei.”
As she walked the hallways, she didn’t seem surprised to see Lu Qinyi leaned against a wall, waiting for her. “Was there something else, General Lu?”
“Not a general. Just call me Lu.” He cast a glance and confirmed no one was around before continuing. “I want to make a personal request.”
“Oh? And what would that be for?”
“…” He pondered, trying to decide what to ask for first. It had to be something low stakes to begin with, a test of the woman’s skills. “There is a woman named Chen Chyou. I want to know what happened to her after the war ended.”
“And how do you intend on paying for that? My services are quite expensive.” Her eyes narrowed and her lips curled into a smile. “And you don’t have any money.”
Lu Qinyi was hardly one to be intimidated. He wasn’t one to be embarrassed either. “You knew that already, but you still asked what I wanted. You wouldn’t have bothered if there wasn’t something you wanted from me. So, what is it?”
Song Lin’s smile widened and her gaze looked him up and down. Lu Qinyi’s calm confidence was gone in an instant as he pulled his lapels tighter and barked “Not my body! What the fuck is wrong with you?!”
Song Lin laughed and waved her hand. “It was only a suggestion. I’ll settle for another payment then. How about… General Fei Li’s hair comb. That should be a fair price.”
Lu Qinyi looked at her in shock. “His what?”
Author’s Notes:
I survived my mid semester crunch! 5 assignments and an exam. If I have to write another essay or read another line of code, I might go cross eyed. Thank you for your patience, this chapter was actually finished maybe two weeks ago, and our beloved Raevynne had it edited within a week. I didn’t have a chance to review and post it until now since my last assignment for now has been submitted. Thank you all for your patience!
I have been excited for MONTHS to introduce this character. Song Lin is such a wild card, and she brings a whole lot of fun and chaos. I greatly enjoyed finally getting to write her in. Let the shenanigans (and stealing) begin!
I hope everyone has a lovely week~
OOOHH, I’m really liking Song Lin! (also congrats on surviving the mid semester crunch – that stuff is brutal)
I’m glad you like her Knightmare! I was hoping you guys would also find her as fun to read as she is to write. Thank you! It is but it didn’t get any less busy 😭 I only just got a weekend off now. Life is such a bully!
Congratulations for surviving your crunch! I hope have some time to rest from all the assignments now and everything went satisfactorily. Funnily enough, my crunch is also coming to an end – just one more exam and a deadline to meet. I’m always happy to see your replies to my replies as well, it means a lot! I’m so happy to see your passion for this novel stays up! I really really like it! ❤
Hope you have a wonderful week and rest a lot!
why his hair comb lmao im curious
Hi Taka! Genetic cloning, probably. Kidding~ Maybe. 😌
Thanks for the chapter and congrats on surviving your mid semester crunch! That can be really brutal, I get it!
But why the haircomb? 😮
Keep the chapters coming! Who’s gonna steal who?
Hi Miyori! Thank you very much! Oh truly, I swear education institutes are trying to drive us to insanity.
Hehehe 🤭 Only Song Lin knows. We are all at her mercy.
I most definitely will! Its just about trying to find the time to write in all the busy-ness. I have the ambitious hope of writing two chapters today so I can put them both in with editor Rae for review. I don’t know whether to release them together, or one this week and one next week.