Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Lu Yunqi was so freaking done. Why did he keep ending up in these stupid misunderstandings!

But unexpectedly, Murong Jie, who was striding ahead, suddenly stopped. Lu Yunqi bumped into his back, his nose stinging like hell from the impact.

He grunted, clutching his nose and mumbling sulkily: "Quit being jealous. He and I were just talking business—I asked him to help me find some trustworthy folks among the refugees. You know, if I did it out in the open, your old man would get suspicious, so I had to do it on the down low."

Murong Jie just went "oh" and turned around, asking, "What do you need people for?"

Lu Yunqi flashed a sly grin. "To help you out, obviously! I know what you're thinking. Your dad's a piece of shit, so no one can blame you for going behind his back. With our Lu family's 600,000 elite troops behind you, taking power would be a piece of cake, right?"

Murong Jie said in a low, serious voice, "Quit bringing that up all the time. The walls have ears."

Lu Yunqi's eyes lit up and he raised a brow. "Oh wow, so you're worried about me?"

Murong Jie frowned. "Think whatever you want. And I don't need your damn help."

Lu Yunqi scoffed. "Don't even joke. How could you not need it? Instead of trying to kill me and my dad, I'm handing everything to you on a silver platter. What more do you want? You think my dad's easy to kill? Even my brother alone would be a pain in the ass to deal with. And those uncles and old-timers in the Lu family army aren't easy to handle either. Even if you did take them out, how many troops do you think you'd actually get? At least half would be gone, right?"

Murong Jie stayed quiet, so Lu Yunqi kept going. "See, if I hand it all over, you get full command of the Lu family's 600,000 troops. And I'll even give you a son—call it a late-life blessing. Anyone can do this math, and you're a smart guy, so you know what the right choice is. Sure, you're capable and could pull it off alone, but saving some effort is always better. Don't you think?"

Murong Jie finally looked at him and said, "You're a man. Stop joking about having kids."

Then he turned and walked off, ignoring Lu Yunqi.

Lu Yunqi, on the other hand, let out a sigh of relief. Since Murong Jie wasn't giving him the cold shoulder, it probably meant he'd gotten through to him.

Ugh, this was such a pain. What a ridiculous damn mission!

He and Murong Jie were doomed to be tangled up together—two people with zero feelings for each other, forced to sleep together and pop out a kid. How was that not some kind of

torture?

But after nine lifetimes, he'd finally made some real progress.

Even in the last life, Murong Jie would've wanted to eat his flesh and drink his blood the moment he saw him.

Back in the room, Yuan Pingya looked at Lu Yunqi all flushed and shy, and said quietly, "Young Lord, is the Young Lord's Consort jealous of me? I... I can go explain things. I'm willing to serve him as a concubine, as long as he'll accept me."

Lu Yunqi: ...Damn, why are you butting in on this?

Wait, a normal guy being sent off as a male concubine wouldn't react like this, right?

They might not be dying of shame, but they'd at least be resistant. Could Little Yuan be gay too?

Lu Yunqi rubbed his chin and looked at Yuan Pingya. "Little Yuan! You naturally into guys? And... you're the bottom?"

Yuan Pingya's face went bright red, and he covered it with his hands. "You noticed? So... so, Young Lord, I'd be totally willing to be your concubine."

Lu Yunqi slapped a hand to his forehead and waved the other. "No... no, I can't take you in. Not at all."

Yuan Pingya was shocked, eyes going wide. "What? Why? Is it 'cause I'm not handsome enough, so you don't like me?"

Lu Yunqi cleared his throat and made two O's with his fingers. "We're both this. How am I supposed to take you in? I look at hot guys the same way you do, you know. We're... the same type!"

Yuan Pingya was stunned, totally speechless for a long moment. Finally he asked, "So... so... you're saying... you're also... the bottom?"

Lu Yunqi figured he really needed to clear this up, otherwise working together later would be awkward. So he nodded hard. "Exactly! So it's not 'Young Lord's Consort,' it's 'Young Lord's Husband.'"

Hearing that, Yuan Pingya immediately started pacing around like crazy. If there'd been a patch of dirt under him, he'd have stomped it flat by now. He muttered to himself, "What do I do, what do I do? This misunderstanding is huge now. Is the Young Lord's Husband gonna think I'm trying to steal his wife? Oh, this is just awful!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Lu Yunqi stopped him again. "Little Yuan, your logic is seriously messed up, I'm telling you. Even if he were the 'Young Lord's Consort,' wouldn't you still be trying to steal his man? Love is personal—it can't be shared!"

Yuan Pingya stood there frozen, then finally bowed respectfully to Lu Yunqi. "I've learned my lesson."

Lu Yunqi sighed. "So don't ever bring up being my concubine again. You deserve someone who actually loves you."

Yuan Pingya nodded, looking ashamed. "Understood. Thank you for the advice, Young Lord."

Lu Yunqi gave a satisfied "mm," thinking the kid was teachable, then added, "Alright, I've got nothing else to say. Go help me recruit people. Remember, only take folks with loyalty above eighty percent; anything below that, we don't want. The more the better—families are fine too. Oh, one exception: if they're a kid under ten, you can drop it to seventy percent."

Because kids can still be molded, and their environment can shape their values.

But once they're past fourteen, most people's values are already locked in, and even if they could change, it'd take some serious life experiences.

But Lu Yunqi's base was still just getting started, and he couldn't afford any screw-ups.

Yuan Pingya nodded firmly. "Don't worry, Young Lord. I'll get it done."

Lu Yunqi asked, "Aren't you gonna ask why I need so many people?"

Yuan Pingya shook his head. "No need. You gave my brother and me a second chance at life. Ningya and I owe you our lives, and you gave us a place to stay. I... I also want to confess something, Young Lord. Actually... Ningya isn't my brother. She's my sister. But traveling with a sister while fleeing was too dangerous, so I dressed her up as a boy to avoid trouble. Now that we're in the capital and she's getting older, it's not good for her to keep wandering around with me. Thanks to your kindness taking us in, I can raise her right. If possible, I'd like to find her a decent husband. Then I'll have no regrets in this life."

Lu Yunqi got it now. A brother under twenty, dragging a sister of about ten along, carefully dodging danger all the way to the capital, only to find they couldn't even get in and were about to starve. Meeting Lu Yunqi really was their saving grace.

But it was also because Yuan Pingya was a grateful guy that he earned Lu Yunqi's trust.

Lu Yunqi gave him a long look and said, "Alright, go. Work hard, and I'll give you a decent future."

Yuan Pingya bowed and left to carry out his task.

To Lu Yunqi's surprise, the guy was pretty efficient. In just one afternoon, he'd rounded up dozens of refugees.

Lu Yunqi checked—every single one had loyalty above eighty percent.

What surprised him was that people with high loyalty usually had families with high loyalty too. Birds of a feather flock together, he guessed.

Lu Yunqi had Yuan Pingya put them up in the western courtyard. Once they hit a hundred, he'd arrange to send them to the Wanping Wasteland.

That evening, Liu Bao rushed in to report: "Young Lord, I found out! That groom really is a wanted outlaw! Eight years ago, he killed a family of seven and fled up to the capital, going by the name Zhang Da. Since he was good with horses, he managed to land a job as a groom at our estate. He hasn't done anything in these eight years, but that family of seven died horribly. From a seventy-year-old grandma to a baby in diapers—none of them were spared. Too cruel, seriously too cruel!"

Lu Yunqi asked, "You know why?"

Liu Bao replied, "It was over a land dispute. One side said the other took their land, and the other said they dug up their crops. It wasn't even a big deal, but over something so stupid, he killed an entire family of seven. And he's been at our estate for seven years—it's scary to think about. Good thing it was just a villa, or your safety would've been in real danger."

Lu Yunqi thought to himself, yeah, keeping a vicious criminal like that around was a ticking time bomb.

After listening to Liu Bao go on for a bit, Lu Yunqi asked, "What about His Highness Prince Cang?"

Liu Bao answered, "He's been in his room the whole time and hasn't come out. Want to go see him, Young Lord?"

Lu Yunqi shook his head. "I wanna eat something good today. Go buy some fresh beef and mutton, slice 'em thin, and get some seasonal veggies. I'm making hot pot."

"Hot pot?"

Before Liu Bao could ask what hot pot was, Lu Yunqi waved his hand. "Don't ask, just go get it ready. And get me two jars of good—actually, never mind, I'll handle the wine myself. Just get the ingredients; I'll bring the pot."

It wasn't that he didn't want to explain to Liu Bao, but he'd been reborn nine times and explained nine times. Every single time he wanted hot pot, he had to explain it twice.

This time, however, was different—he could buy a professional hotpot charcoal brazier from the system, and even pick up some leafy greens and sprouts from Wanping Wasteland through it, which were incredibly fresh.

Once he had the hotpot ready, Lu Yunqi sent Liu Bao to fetch Murong Jie.

He’d already steeled himself for having to go get him in person, but to his surprise, Murong Jie actually showed up—his long hair down, dressed in a plain silk robe, looking like he’d just stepped out of a bath.

Lu Yunqi whistled at him and chuckled, saying, "Damn, you look good."

Murong Jie sat down across from him and asked, "What did you call me over for?"

Lu Yunqi pointed at the hotpot in front of him and said, "Here, I made this myself—let's have hotpot together. I also brought two jugs of grape wine, a fine vintage you won't find around here. Go on, give it a taste."