Chapter 467: The Beast Husbands’ Little Actions Under the Table

Sensing the hostility from the other male in the room, Xie Youchen furrowed his brow slightly.

He sat down across from Jiang Qingli. Noticing she was looking at a map, he was about to start a discussion with her when he saw something unusual about her lips.

The crease between Xie Youchen’s brows deepened, and he shot a displeased glance at Baili Jing.

’Can’t he see that Jiang Qingli is working?’

’Their female master is working diligently, yet he’s disturbing her for his own selfish desires.’

’And this kind of person dares to call himself the primary husband?’

’Having a male like him in the family, who’s always thinking of seducing her, will definitely affect official business in the future.’

’Once I’m officially part of the family, I’ll discipline these people properly so she won’t be troubled by such trivial matters.’

In a flash, both males had already sized up their rival and made plans for the future.

Jiang Qingli’s gaze lifted from the map. She picked up her glass of water, took a sip, and asked Xie Youchen, "We’ll be arriving in the Eleven Cities this afternoon. Are the deployments over there ready?"

"Everything is ready." When his eyes turned to Jiang Qingli, a hint of a smile had already appeared in them. "Commander-in-Chief."

Jiang Qingli cleared her throat and glanced around. "You don’t have to call me that when we’re alone."

For this operation, Jiang Qingli was the person in charge. Xie Youchen had boarded the train in secret and was only assisting from the sidelines; his involvement would not be officially recorded.

If the mission was completed successfully, Xie Youchen would receive no commendation.

He had come along purely because Jiang Qingli was here.

The thought made Jiang Qingli’s heart soften.

She smiled at Xie Youchen, her eyes curving, then enlarged the screen to discuss the next steps with him.

Baili Jing didn’t leave; instead, he joined the discussion.

Once the train entered the Ninth District, Baili Jing and a contingent of officers would deal with the assassins from the Baili family.

The small meeting between the three of them concluded as it neared noon.

Xie Youchen pressed the call button on the dining table, and a server walked in unhurriedly from outside, asking in a low voice what they would like to eat.

There wasn’t actually a chef on the train; everything was pre-prepared. Still, the ready-made meals were far more delicious than those nutrient solutions with their thousand and one strange flavors.

After Jiang Qingli finished ordering, her gaze shifted to the side, and she paused.

Yi Nuo had come in at some point without her noticing and was standing right behind her like a shadow.

For this operation, Yi Nuo, just like before, was considered an unofficial member of the team.

He hadn’t been assigned a mission; his greatest mission had always been to serve as Jiang Qingli’s close-protection bodyguard.

After Baili Jing had tidied up Jiang Qingli’s bedroom earlier, Yi Nuo had gone in to check it again. There were certain small details about Jiang Qingli that only he, her butler, knew. So, with a sense of pride, he had meticulously rearranged things before coming over.

"Why don’t you come and sit down?" Jiang Qingli said. She had been so focused earlier that she hadn’t even noticed Yi Nuo arrive.

Meeting Jiang Qingli’s gaze, Yi Nuo gave a slight curve of his lips. "I am fine standing behind you, Miss."

"You’re one of our main combatants now. You need to rest well and replenish your strength."

Jiang Qingli called out to the departing server, adding two more dishes and a main course to the order. Then, she patted the seat beside her.

The two young men sitting across from her froze.

A moment ago, they had both chosen to sit opposite Jiang Qingli, wanting to meet her eyes whenever she looked up and also to keep an eye on the other male.

They hadn’t expected this to leave the seat right next to her open.

And now, the usually taciturn Gray Wolf Butler was sitting down at her side.

Braving the glares of the two males, Yi Nuo didn’t shrink back in the slightest. He simply nodded at Jiang Qingli and sat down beside her.

While they waited for the food, Jiang Qingli glanced out the window.

At that moment, the hover train was traveling through the suburbs of the Twelve Cities, near the border with the Eleven Cities.

The Imperial Twelve Districts were all vast in area, and their landscapes varied greatly depending on the level of pollution they had suffered.

The climate of the Eleven Cities was hot and arid. Although modern technology had improved its desert landscape, most of the area outside the main urban center was still dry desert, which also affected the Twelve Cities.

Jiang Qingli had been in a hurry when she first came this way and hadn’t paid close attention to the various districts.

Now that she had calmed down, she found a certain unique charm in gazing at the cacti and withered trees on the ground below.

As she was admiring the view, something suddenly brushed against her ankle.

It seemed someone had stretched their leg out.

Through the fabric of her uniform trousers, a firm, muscular leg was gently rubbing against her calf, surreptitiously stoking the flames of desire.

Jiang Qingli pulled her leg back slightly and picked up her water glass with her right hand.

But the other person, as if they had eyes under the table, followed her. This time, it wasn’t a rub; the tip of their shoe tapped her calf gently before sliding all the way down...

Jiang Qingli’s fingers, holding the water glass, went rigid.

She took a sip of ice water, using the moment to glance at the two men sitting across from her.

Xie Youchen was sitting ramrod straight, studying the information on his screen with a slight frown.

Baili Jing was messaging his agent, turning down an invitation to some variety show, seemingly too preoccupied to be distracted.

’Neither of them looks like the culprit... No, wait, they both look equally guilty!’

’There’s so much space under the table, yet they’re still stretching their legs over to my side. I don’t even want to call them out on what that implies.’

’They’re so old, yet they’re not as well-behaved as Yi Nuo.’

Jiang Qingli shot an appreciative glance at the young gray wolf beside her, giving him a small smile.

At just that simple smile, his eyes widened, and then—POP!—his wolf ears suddenly sprang out from his head.

Jiang Qingli: !!!

’Baili Jing and Xie Youchen can’t see this!’

She quickly reached out to press Yi Nuo’s ears down.

However, the moment her fingers touched the tips of his fluffy wolf ears, Yi Nuo shuddered from head to toe. His eyes suddenly went vacant, as if she had seized his vital point and robbed him of his ability to think.

Jiang Qingli quickly retracted her hand and gave him a meaningful look.

Yi Nuo pressed his lips together and managed to retract his ears. He looked at her apologetically, but a fiery light danced in his eyes.

Jiang Qingli pulled back her gaze and sat up primly.

When she had reached over to press down Yi Nuo’s ears, her body had tilted, and the males across from her had lifted their eyelids to glance in their direction.

They only saw the girl turned to the side, a flustered look on her face, while the tips of Yi Nuo’s ears beside her were slightly red.

’What happened in that short half-minute?’

’He’s just a butler. For now, he’s not even a rival.’

Baili Jing narrowed his eyes slightly. He lifted his leather shoe under the table, about to try the same trick again, but stopped abruptly mid-motion—

Under the table, his shoe had bumped into another leather shoe.

Baili Jing glanced sideways at Xie Youchen. The latter was still looking down at his screen with a focused gaze, but a disdainful smirk played on his thin lips.

Within two seconds, both males retracted their legs in unison, letting out barely audible, scornful huffs.

Jiang Qingli studied their expressions but couldn’t decipher anything, so she gave up trying to figure it out.

’Then again, should I just step on both of them and see how they react?’

Just as Jiang Qingli was contemplating the consequences of such a prank, a warm touch brushed against the fingers she had resting on the seat.

Long, slender knuckles gently grazed the back of her hand.

Jiang Qingli glanced down and immediately wanted to take back her previous thought.

The Gray Wolf Butler, whom she had just been thinking of as so well-behaved and sensible a few minutes ago, was now, right in front of her other Beast Husbands, secretly hooking his finger around hers under the table...