Chapter 128

Chapter 128

The two had only just separated when someone knocked. The door opened, and maids entered carrying food boxes. Eyes lowered, they began arranging the meal without looking around. Only after finishing did they bow and say, “My lord, please enjoy your meal.”

Then they stood to one side, ready to serve at any moment.

Shengsheng Zhou found it strange. Why did these maids address the City Lord merely as “my lord”?

Was it an abbreviation of “Lord City Lord,” so they simply called him “my lord”?

Fusheng Duan’s expression returned to its former languor. He told Shengsheng, “Sit.”

Shengsheng waved a hand and said sweetly, “City Lord, I’m not hungry. Please eat first.”

The instant she finished speaking, a loud growl came from her stomach. It was so clear that even the maids waiting nearby could not help raising their heads to glance at her.

Although they wondered why this young woman called the lord before them “City Lord,” compared with that, holding back their laughter seemed far more important…

Only a day earlier, this lord had suddenly arrived in Heping City with a young woman and asked to see the City Lord. At first, the City Lord had thought little of it. Yet upon seeing the black bird on the lord’s shoulder, he had actually performed a grand salute before everyone.

The crowd was stunned. After learning why this lord had come, the City Lord offered up his own residence, and the finest resources in the city flowed toward the lord without pause.

From that moment, everyone understood that he must be an extraordinary figure. Heping City lay far from the capital, almost beyond the imperial family’s reach. The current City Lord was also extremely capable and inevitably rather proud of his talents. Even if a member of the imperial family came in person, he might not show them much favor.

One could therefore imagine what kind of figure this lord had to be to reduce the City Lord to such fawning servility.

Naturally, Fusheng had no time to care about the rumors outside. His reason for choosing Heping City as a temporary base was very simple.

The City Lord of Heping was one of their people. That was all.

If nothing unexpected happened, the barbarian army had already reached the walls of Dazhang City.

And so, partway through the meal, Shengsheng noticed the black bird on the City Lord’s shoulder fly away.

“My lord, what will you do after the meal?” Handle official documents, for example.

I’m excellent at grinding ink. I can stand beside you, admire your beauty, and peek at secrets at the same time!

Fusheng set down his silver chopsticks. First he thought, then glanced at the blazing sun outside and smiled. “Take an afternoon nap.”

Shengsheng’s hand paused while picking up food.

“???”

Had she heard him wrong?

They had only just started eating. How had they already reached the afternoon-nap stage?

But the proper training of a spy told her not to reveal her confusion. She needed to act natural and leave this man thinking, *Oh? This woman is rather interesting!*

“I see. Then may I stay beside you?” Shengsheng feigned shyness and lowered her head.

This was the second time today that Fusheng had seen “shyness” on Shengsheng’s face.

Truthfully, it was quite novel.

But…

“Sorry, my fiancée. I’m afraid not.” He waved a hand for the servants to clear the table, his lazy expression tinged with casual indifference.

Refusal seemed as easy and ordinary to him as eating a meal.

Shengsheng’s heart lurched. So he was not as easy to conquer as she had imagined?

“I see. I was presumptuous.” She decisively adopted a delicate, vulnerable expression, her voice sounding somewhat hurt.
The supposed City Lord, Fusheng Duan, curved his lips into a smile, propped up his head, and watched her with a languid expression. “Because I’d rather have you sleep with me.”

Shengsheng Zhou froze, and a cheerful background tune inexplicably began playing in her head.

It was attraction~

Oh no, her eyes could not hide~

Her heart raced for him without reason~

A-Pang sat atop Fusheng’s head with a constipated expression, unable to bear watching.

If he had said a line like that, even a lunatic would have laughed and called him crazy.

And so Shengsheng, who had intended to seduce someone, was muddleheadedly led by her own prey to the comfortable-looking couch that had appeared beside the window at some unknown time.

Mr. Prey contentedly embraced “Hunter” Shengsheng and closed his eyes.

Shengsheng: “…”

Was something not quite right here?

Feeling the broad, firm male body pressed against her back, radiating heat, Shengsheng did not know what to do.

Had the progress bar malfunctioned? How had they ended up on the same couch within a few short hours of meeting?

Still, he smelled wonderful. How could a grown man be even more fragrant than her?

But this scent was so familiar.

She seemed to have smelled it somewhere before…

The hand at her waist abruptly slid upward, instantly interrupting Shengsheng’s thoughts.

Holy shit, where was he touching?!

“City… Lord?” Shengsheng called softly.

The person behind her gave no reaction.

Feeling the even breaths of the man buried against the hollow of her neck, Shengsheng decided he must have fallen asleep. She quietly caught his dangerously positioned arm and shifted it lower.

But within a few minutes, it slid upward again and even went further… settling somewhere it absolutely should not.

Shengsheng’s face flushed bright red. Yet firm in her conviction that she was the hunter, she refused to surrender.

Maintaining their overly intimate distance, she turned around and “inadvertently” placed her hand against the chest of the man before her.

That was the texture, hehehehe–springy and firm. It would be even better if she could slip her hand inside and touch it.

With her eyes closed, Shengsheng reclaimed the advantage and congratulated herself.

A-Pang, who had been sitting above their heads in boredom, silently flew away at the sight.

After personally watching Fusheng have the black bird carry away a packet of something unknown, A-Pang’s wariness had finally eased. To spare himself the effort of flying, he had chosen Fusheng’s head as his perch.

Well, this was wonderful. The consequence was that he, one lone panda, had to endure these eye-searing scenes. Boohoohoo.

Shengsheng, you disloyal bastard who forgets your friends at the sight of beauty! A-Pang will be waiting for the moment you remember everything and want to crawl into a crack in the ground from shame!

The imperial palace of the Zhu Kingdom.

“Empress Dowager, His Majesty hasn’t visited Noble Consort Duan in a long time…” a eunuch reported respectfully.

Yan Yu looked thoughtful, then said, “Tell the substitute not to lower his guard. Who knows what sort of tantrum the Emperor is throwing now? He will probably recover in a few days.”

The eunuch nodded, then turned to business. “Following your instructions, we’ve located that party. Should we…?” He made a throat-slitting gesture.

Yan Yu revealed a chilling smile. “No. Continue watching them. If they find that object, then we’ll have to thank them properly.”

Since ancient times, while the mantis stalked the cicada, the oriole waited behind.