Warm, early morning sunshine poured past the patterned window. Fei Li soaked in the warmth as he blew gently at the steaming cup in his hands. The restaurant was as small as the town was, and it was all but deserted at these early hours of the day. And so instead of scanning his surroundings, his gaze fell to the rascal of a man who sat across from him.
He sipped at his tea while the server laid out a bowl of fresh noodles in front of Lu Qinyi. Lu Qinyi picked up his chopsticks and inspected them for cleanliness.
“I see why your lieutenants couldn’t tolerate you now,” Fei Li commented mildly. He wasn’t sure what drove him to rile Lu Qinyi up with such a comment. Maybe he was still feeling a bit miffed about the indignant way he had been dragged around.
“Go die.” Lu Qinyi cursed at him without missing a beat, his gaze not even lifting from the noodles he was stirring with his chopsticks.
Surely if anyone else had been around to hear, they would have been appalled, outraged even. But Fei Li actually… smiled a little. Afterall, there was no bite to Lu Qinyi’s words now. He went back to sipping his tea quietly while Lu Qinyi ate his meal.
After he had finished his meal, Lu Qinyi placed down his chopsticks neatly before speaking again.
“They should be nearly completed with their mission by now. I don’t imagine a cave full of drunk idiots could pose a challenge for Mei Mei. Be sure none slipped by, and that they don’t get any communication out when you imprison them. Oh, and keep your men from bragging. The other rebels will catch onto our actions soon, but it will give us more time if we delay them finding out what happened here.”
Fei Li couldn’t stop the surprised furrow in his eyebrows. How could Lu Qinyi switch from abandoning the mission to get noodles to suddenly caring enough to give well thought out advice?
Lu Qinyi, of course, just rolled his eyes without any idea why people doubted him. “Just because you’re an idiot doesn’t mean that I am.”
“Why do you act like one then?” Fei Li retorted. Lu Qinyi stared at him this time since Fei Li often didn’t say anything, even when Lu Qinyi purposefully insulted or provoked him. He then humphed and sat back in his seat.
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.
“I wasn’t the one who acted like a dead chicken when someone came to rescue him. Should you thank someone who comes to save your ass?”
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“Ccv sbe kbeivc’a yf bea bo la klatbea wf flatfg. Zjsyf P rtbeiv tjnf ifoa sbe atfgf.”
“Ccv sfa sbe vlvc’a.”
Oe Hlcsl ogbkcfv jcv mgbrrfv tlr jgwr ugewqlis. “Zs wlrajxf,” tf ugewyifv, cba jqqgfmljalcu tbk wemt rjrr Mfl Ol tjv abvjs.
“Your mistake.” Fei Li agreed, finding Lu Qinyi’s childish complaints a little funny. He placed his empty tea cup aside and stood from the table. “If you’re satisfied with your meal, then we should go.”
Following the success of Zhao Mei and Xi Ming’s mission, they were able to return to the Fei estate. However, Fei Li himself had to report on the progress, Zhao Mei retired to her room to “sleep for the next day or two. Or three.”, and Yang Xun had been out of the home when they arrived. That left Lu Qinyi walking back to his room alone. However, the door was ajar. Lu Qinyi’s steps paused. But then he continued forward, pushing the door completely open.
Song Lin sat in his room, flashing a smile as he entered. Lu Qinyi slid the door shut behind him.
“Aren’t you going to take a seat?” She asked sweetly but Lu Qinyi only gave her a distrusting look. She sighed softly but the smile never left her lips. “What if I promise to behave? Then will you take a seat?”
Lu Qinyi came to sit across from her with the promise in place. “So?”
Song Lin placed a neatly folded stack of papers on the table between them. She slid them across to Lu Qinyi with a flick of her long painted fingernails. “There was nothing. He has no friendships or relationships to speak of, there is no one he is known to be close with. The only family members he has any contact with are his father and mother. Any connections he has are strictly professional. It’s quite disappointingly boring.”
Lu Qinyi frowned as he scanned through the pages one by one. When he finally got to the end, he placed them back down. He restlessly tapped his finger at the hard wood of the table’s surface. “There has to be something. What about lovers?”
“Anyone he does share a night with will be treated as if nothing ever happened the next morning, and there is nothing of note about any of them. The only similarity is that they approached him first, much like myself. There isn’t anything interesting there either.”
Lu Qinyi thought of the look in Fei Li’s eyes the time the other had gone out of his way to visit him in prison. There had been no reason to go see him. They didn’t have a bond to speak of, and Fei Li had already gotten Lu Qinyi out of his death sentence. That paid back the time Fei Li himself had been saved. And there was definitely no reason for Fei Li to look at him the way he did.
“There has to be something.” Lu Qinyi repeated. He picked the papers up to read another time.
Song Lin watched him with curiosity of someone observing an interesting show. “And why is that? He’s known to be infallible. After all, he’s a hero.”
“He’s nothing more than another person, and people aren’t infallible. What is it you found about his career? The history of it.”
She leaned forward, looking even more intrigued as she propped her chin on her hand. “Largely a smooth path to success. He was impressive from a young age and produced great results. A few hiccups that didn’t go too well, especially at the start of his career, but all minor and uninteresting. What is it you’re looking for anyway? Blackmail? Do you want to bring shame to him?”
Lu Qinyi flipped to another paper. “You don’t sound worried that I might be. Don’t you have any loyalty? I thought you had worked with him for years.”
She held a finger up to her lips before giving a coy smile matched with an innocent tilt of her head. “Strictly professional. I’m just a bystander.”
“Look further into his early career. And look into it more deeply, without a doubt they would have tried to cover up anything that did happen.” He folded the papers and slid them back to Song Lin.
She slipped them into her sleeve before placing her hands together and bowing to him gently. Song Lin then gathered her skirts and stood, but she turned to him with a question before leaving. “He’s surely noticed our little meetings by now. I’m curious as to what excuse you gave him.”
Lu Qinyi took on a lazier posture and replied with nonchalance. “I didn’t say anything to him. With someone like him, you don’t need to. He’s clever, he’ll come up with a reasonable explanation himself. He might think I’m looking for information on my parents or friends. The last thing he’ll think I’m investigating is him, so unless you tell him…” His voice dropped into one of warning as he narrowed his eyes at her.
“Of course not. My livelihood is built on my word, now why would I compromise that?”
“Then he shouldn’t know any better.”
Song Lin hummed and took her leave, but not without calling out over her shoulder. “I’ll expect my next payment shortly.”
Lu Qinyi grimaced. He sighed deeply, knowing he was going to have to go steal from Fei Li again.
Author’s Notes:
This chapters mostly just some fun banter, some bonding between the two frenemies and setting up some future plots.
Have a lovely week all!
Thanks for the chapter! This was super cute 🤭
Miyori, the speed with which you comment after an upload is both terrifying and highly impressive. Thank you for the comment!
I’m glad. We need some wholesome and some giggles right now
As soon as Song Lin started her speech, it was evident that she’s talking about Fei Li lol. Aaah, he’s so pitiful. Me – Wiping tears because the chapter is already over.
He is, my poor boy. He will get his happy ending though!
Sorry! It was a short one this time but there is a lot coming up so don’t worry, the following chapters will get longer!
🤗
Aah. I’m here again to check for an update. 🥲
This author is very sorry 😅 I tried very hard to get the chapter ready early but its out now! Please enjoy!