Chapter 7: My Lord, She Is Seducing Your Subject! (Seeking Monthly Votes)

The candlelight flickers in the antique-style room.

Xie Qingwu sits before the vanity reading a book, while the fat, chubby Li Jiangjun squats on the vanity, staring at Xie Qingwu with bright eyes, occasionally glancing away toward her back, where a maid is bringing in one dish after another of delicious, fragrant food and placing them on the table.

"Madam, you may dine." After placing a pot of warm wine, the maid reminds her softly.

"Mm, you may withdraw." Xie Qingwu says without looking back, her eyes fixed on the casual book in her hands.

The maid acknowledges and leaves, closing the door.

Only then does Xie Qingwu put down the book, lifting her brows to look at the fat cat before her with a beaming smile, her vermilion lips parting to release a faint, pleasant fragrance, "Would you like to eat something together?"

She wants to get on good terms with this Demon cat; the fat cat looks none too bright and should be easy to fool.

"Trying to bribe me with the desires of the flesh?" Li Jiangjun's large, round eyes are full of disdain; it jumps down, walks to the dining table, leaps up, and lowers its head to take a bite of the braised carp, saying in a muffled but righteous tone: "The food I see is food I eat; I never need an invitation, so don't expect to make me owe you a favor with mere gluttony."

Xie Qingwu has black lines on her forehead; truly, like master, like cat—both are shameless, and neither is a good thing.

But she does not give up.

She puts a sweet smile back on her face, rises, and with light, lotus-like steps, walks to Li Jiangjun's side, using her fair hand to lift the pot and pour it wine, saying softly: "Li Jiangjun has misunderstood this young woman. How could I not know that a fierce and extraordinary Demon such as yourself could be bribed by me? I merely admire you, General. Have a cup of wine, don't choke."

"Don't try to use a beauty trap on me." Li Jiangjun, mouth full of grease from gnawing on the fish head, remains vigilant, casually grabbing the wine cup to drain it in one gulp; after setting the cup down, it lets out a satisfied burp and adds: "I have no interest in hairless creatures like you, unless you find a pure white female cat to please this General."

Of course, even if the other party really found one, it could mate with a female cat, but it would certainly not do the job; a loyal subject does not serve two masters, and in its heart, there is only its master, the sun!

Xie Qingwu is enraged again; this dead cat.

Besides, who says I don't have hair? I have plenty!

"Hmph!" Seeing that it is impervious to reason, she can only temporarily shelve her plans and sit down to eat, as she has been hungry all day. "Leave some for me, I haven't eaten yet."

When Pei Shaoqing pushes the door open and enters, the human and the cat are already wined and dined; Xie Qingwu continues reading, while Li Jiangjun lies on its back at the head of the bed, picking its teeth with its legs crossed.

"The master is back!" Upon seeing Pei Shaoqing, it drops the toothpick and leaps up, rushing over to point at Xie Qingwu: "Master, this woman is no good. She just tried to bribe me and even attempted to seduce me, but I am loyal to you—how could I let her have her way? I was not moved by her food or her beauty in the slightest!"

As it speaks, it stands on its hind legs, patting its chest with a paw, its cat face full of solemnity.

"Heh, seducing a cat—I really didn't realize you were open to beastiality." Pei Shaoqing teases Xie Qingwu while casually closing the door.

Relations between humans and beasts have existed since ancient times, so the meaning of the two words "human-beast" is not hard to understand here.

"I did not seduce that dead cat!" Xie Qingwu's face turns dark at these words as she corrects him, then retorts with a sarcastic jab, "Besides, if I were really into beastiality, wouldn't I just go for you?"

"Good, I just happen to like a sharp-tongued bitch like you." Pei Shaoqing's eyes are playful as he unscrupulously appraises her voluptuous and graceful figure.

Hearing him insult her as a bitch, Xie Qingwu's face instantly flushes red; she stands up in shame and anger, hurling the book in her hand at him, "Presumptuous! You are lewd and shameless!"

"But you were the one who insinuated I was a beast first; why are you getting worked up just because you can't win the argument?" Pei Shaoqing catches the flying book and glances at the cover, *Record of Strange Flowers and Herbs of Jiuzhou*, and looks up in surprise, "I didn't expect a lady of your standing to read such eclectic books."

Xie Qingwu does not want to deal with him; she sits down alone, sulking with a dark face, her full, soft breasts heaving.

"Li Jiangjun." Pei Shaoqing tosses the book onto the table.

The fat cat immediately stands on its hind legs, "This subject is here!"

"Return to the mountain stronghold immediately and tell the Second Leader to enter the city tonight to meet at the usual spot." Their stronghold is large and well-established, and they have a foothold in the city as well.

"Understood!" Li Jiangjun accepts the order and leaves, but just as it reaches the door, it turns back, jumps onto the table, and grabs a leftover fried chicken leg, "Before the troops move, the provisions must go first; I'll take this leg as dry rations for the road."

Pei Shaoqing waves his hand with a dark face, signaling it to get lost quickly.

Li Jiangjun leaves fast and returns fast; after telling it to continue watching Xie Qingwu, Pei Shaoqing goes alone to the city stronghold to see his right-hand man and good brother.

The manor is full of Zheng Xuancheng's eyes and ears, so he naturally cannot leave through the front gate; scaling walls and vaulting over roofs is easy for a dignified Martial Artist at the Condensing Qi Initial Stage.

……………………………

Pei Shaoqing vaults over the walls all the way into the inner courtyard of "Huangji Dangpu"; this is their stronghold in the city, primarily responsible for gathering intelligence and fencing stolen goods.

"Great Leader." The pawnshop manager, Old Huang, has been waiting for a long time and greets him, "The Second Leader is inside."

Pei Shaoqing waves him away and walks familiarly to a room, pushing the door open to enter; inside, a woman in her twenties is drinking alone.

Her height is visibly over two meters, a head taller than Pei Shaoqing, with an oval face, slightly sharp facial features, and a compelling, heroic air; her long black hair is tied into a high single ponytail with a ribbon, hanging down her back.

She wears a white dress, and her towering, massive breasts are quite substantial; at her height and build, her waist is not exactly slender, but compared to her plump buttocks as she sits on the stool, she appears graceful. Although the two long legs under her skirt are not visible, one can imagine how voluptuous and slender they are just by looking at her height.

She is the Phoenix Mountain Second Leader, Ye Hanshuang.

"Big Brother." Seeing Pei Shaoqing enter, Ye Hanshuang immediately drops her wine cup and stands up to welcome him, her voice cold.

"Sit." Looking at his imposing "good brother" who has stood up, Pei Shaoqing quickly tells her to sit, and he follows suit, taking a seat opposite her, "You should know everything by now; tomorrow I plan to..."

"Big Brother, I killed Chen San." Ye Hanshuang suddenly speaks, interrupting Pei Shaoqing.

Pei Shaoqing raises an eyebrow, staring at her without showing joy or anger, and spits out two words: "Reason."

Chen San is the subordinate he sent back to the stronghold to report to Ye Hanshuang outside Tongzhou City during the day.

Ye Hanshuang meets Pei Shaoqing's gaze calmly without a hint of guilt, her eyes cold and her tone devoid of any fluctuation as she says: "Since you, Big Brother, intend to replace the real Pei Shaoqing, then to ensure there are no slip-ups, no one who knows the truth can be left alive.

Not just Chen San, but the other nine who followed you and survived the day, and even the twenty-some people remaining in the stronghold must all be silenced.

After all, they have seen your true face; once they discover that the new Jing'an Guard Small Flag looks exactly like their Great Leader, complications will inevitably arise."

Pei Shaoqing listens to her words and slowly shakes his head.

Ye Hanshuang continues: "After all, they are brothers who ate from the same trough; it is normal for you, Big Brother, to feel reluctant, so just leave the killing to me."

"You know I am not that kind of person." Pei Shaoqing shakes his head again, picks up Ye Hanshuang's wine cup, and drains it in one gulp, "In the entire stronghold, there is no one I care about except you. Those nine must be killed, but they must be killed strategically; after all, in Zheng Xuancheng's eyes, those nine are my guards, so they must die without causing ripples, and their deaths must be reasonable and logical."

He had long since thought of killing them to silence them.

The Phoenix Mountain horse bandits are a group of fierce thugs who rob and plunder, banding together for profit; they certainly have some loyalty, but definitely not much. Including him and Ye Hanshuang, not one of them can be called a good person. Expecting them to be loyal and keep their mouths shut forever is a pipe dream, so he truly has no soft heart for killing them, nor does he feel any guilt.

Pei Shaoqing says a lot, but Ye Hanshuang only hears the phrase "In the entire stronghold, there is no one I care about except you." Despite her tomboyish image, her face flushes slightly, her eyes flicker, and she quickly changes the subject.

"By the way, Big Brother, there is one more thing. Jing'an Guard Hundred-Household Office Small Flag Xu Zhiyong just came up the mountain in person with ten thousand taels in silver notes to see you. I wore a mask and pretended to be you to receive him. He said that tomorrow morning you will lead men into the mountains to suppress the bandits and asked me to kill you; for the sake of caution, he will also disguise himself as one of our men to assist."

"Heh, as expected." A mocking smile curls at the corner of Pei Shaoqing's mouth, and cold light flashes in his eyes as he says coldly: "Tomorrow, not only will I kill the bandit leader Xu Yuanqing to earn merit, but I will also kill that Xu Zhiyong to vent my anger, and I will kill everyone in the stronghold to eliminate future trouble. Tomorrow, we will do this... and this..."

The room is dim; Pei Shaoqing speaks unhurriedly, and Ye Hanshuang listens attentively, their shadows dancing on the wall with the flickering candlelight.

A real man must drive a big vehicle!

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(End of chapter)