Chapter 597 - 600: Picking Flowers and Provoking Grass

Chapter 597: Chapter 600: Picking Flowers and Provoking Grass

The other three all looked at Li Ji.

Yue Niang looked stunned.

’Hasn’t he gone without food for two days? How is he still so strong?’

Then came another CRACK.

Yue Niang immediately turned her head toward the sound and saw that the chopsticks in Hua Manman’s hand had also broken.

Hua Manman looked astonished. "The quality of these chopsticks is terrible. How did they snap just from being held?"

Li Liao instantly understood what she was doing. He secretly circulated his Inner Strength and snapped his own chopsticks as well.

He chimed in, "It’s true! These chopsticks are as brittle as tofu. They break with the slightest pressure."

With three pairs of chopsticks broken in a row, Yue Niang was a little dazed. ’Could the quality of this restaurant’s chopsticks really be that bad?’

Li Liao summoned a waiter. He first righteously berated them for their shoddy chopsticks, then had them bring three new pairs of clean, high-quality ones.

The new chopsticks were brought over quickly.

To prevent Li Ji from snapping his chopsticks again, Li Liao shoved a spoon into his hand this time.

"You’re too weak right now. You probably can’t hold chopsticks steady. Just use a spoon; it’s better for you."

The little incident with the chopsticks thus passed.

Hua Manman continuously placed food on Yue Niang’s plate, all while chatting with her about trivial everyday matters.

The two of them got along wonderfully.

At first glance, they looked like a match made in heaven.

CRACK!

The spoon in Li Ji’s hand had been snapped in two.

Yue Niang’s eyes widened in shock. She stared at him in disbelief.

’That was a ceramic spoon!’

’An ordinary person couldn’t possibly break one.’

’Especially not someone who has been starving for two days and can barely even stand.’

’How did he snap it?!’

This time, before Hua Manman could act, Li Liao immediately picked up the spoon in front of him, secretly channeled his Inner Strength, and with a SNAP, broke it.

He remarked with feigned dismay, "The quality of these spoons is even worse than the chopsticks."

Yue Niang was still half-convinced, half-skeptical.

Hua Manman suddenly spoke up. "You have a bit of scallion by your mouth."

Yue Niang’s attention was immediately drawn to her.

"Where?" she asked, raising a hand to her mouth.

Hua Manman said, "Not that side, the other... Forget it, let me help you."

With that, she reached out and wiped the scallion away with the pad of her thumb.

The warm pad of her thumb brushed across delicate skin.

The gentle touch made Yue Niang’s heart involuntarily quicken.

She froze, staring dazedly at Hua Manman.

Until Hua Manman spoke again. "See? It’s gone."

She even deliberately waggled her thumb.

Yue Niang’s gaze followed to her thumb, where she saw a tiny fleck of green scallion on the pad.

Yue Niang also noticed that this young master’s hands were exceptionally delicate. His fingers were fair and slender, his nails neatly trimmed. They almost looked like a woman’s hands.

Yue Niang found them very beautiful, more so than the hands of any man she had encountered before.

Other men’s hands only ever tried to find their way into her clothes.

But the hands of the young master before her would lift the carriage curtain for her, tuck back a stray lock of her hair, serve her soup, and wipe the corner of her mouth...

In his eyes, she saw no contempt or desire, only gentleness and kindness.

Yue Niang responded softly.

"Mm, thank you."

Li Ji: "..."

He had never heard of anything happening between two women.

But he wasn’t blind. The atmosphere between these two was clearly off, no matter how you looked at it!

Especially that woman, Yue Niang. When she looked at Hua Manman, the sweetness in her eyes was practically overflowing!

Li Ji couldn’t take it anymore!

He was going to flip the table! He was going to kill someone!!

Just as his hand landed on the table, a large hand reached out from under it and pressed down firmly on his knee.

The person holding him down was Li Liao.

Li Liao placed a bowl of rice porridge in front of him and said in a low voice,

"Don’t do anything rash."

Li Ji looked at his father, his eyes filled with fury and accusation.

’Look at what you’ve done!’

’Not only did you kidnap your own daughter-in-law, but you’re also taking her out to flirt and carouse!’

’What kind of father-in-law acts like this?’

’Are you trying to make your son even more of a cuckold?!’

Li Liao, feeling guilty, gave an awkward cough.

’He hadn’t expected things to turn out like this either.’

’His original plan was to have Manman deliberately flirt with Yue Niang, leading Yue Niang to discover her identity as the Princely Heir and lure out Lu Kai.’

’Who knew Manman would be such a good actress that it almost seemed like she was turning the act into reality?’

’And to make things even more absurd, Li Ji had shown up too!’

’What an utter mess!’

Li Liao poured a cup of chrysanthemum tea, placed it in front of Li Ji, and persuaded him in a low voice.

"Have some tea. Cool your head."

Li Ji picked up the teacup and drained it in one gulp.

But as soon as he set the cup down, he saw Yue Niang leaning in to whisper in Hua Manman’s ear.

He didn’t know what they were saying, but they were both laughing happily.

The hand Li Ji was using to hold the teacup began to tremble.

Seeing that the cup was about to be crushed, Li Liao hurriedly snatched it from his hand and sighed with a look of feigned sorrow.

"On our way here, we saw many commoners fleeing. After asking, we learned it’s because Prince Yu wants to recruit soldiers. We’re just simple folk who don’t understand the great affairs of state, but those refugees look so pitiful. I’d like to donate some money and grain to help them, but I don’t know who to approach about this."

Now that the conversation had turned to proper business, Li Ji calmed down slightly.

Yue Niang looked at Li Liao and said gently,

"Sir, you truly have the heart of a Bodhisattva. I am deeply impressed. There is a merchant’s guild in Lingxi City. The guild often organizes people to distribute congee to the poor. You could discuss this matter with them."

Li Liao was overjoyed. "I’ll go find the guild later. Thank you for the suggestion, young lady."

Yue Niang quickly replied, "It’s nothing worth mentioning. As long as I could be of some help, I am content."

The restaurant they were in was located next to a river.

Because it was cold, and the wind by the river was strong and damp, the windows facing the water were all closed.

Suddenly, someone outside shouted.

"Look! There’s a dead person in the river!"

Everyone in the restaurant heard the shout and rushed out to see what was happening.

Even the Shopkeeper couldn’t resist his curiosity. He temporarily set aside his work, pushed open a window, and craned his neck to look outside.

Sure enough, he saw two bodies floating in the river.

The Shopkeeper was badly frightened and quickly had a waiter go notify the government.

In just a moment, government soldiers arrived at the scene.

They borrowed two small boats and retrieved the two floating corpses from the water.

Just then, Hua Manman and her three companions finished their meal.

They paid their bill and walked outside.

The soldiers held back the crowd of onlookers, clearing a path. Then, they placed the two corpses on stretchers and loaded them onto an oxcart.

The oxcart passed slowly in front of Hua Manman’s group, escorted by soldiers at the front and back, and followed by a large crowd of curious onlookers.

The biting winter wind lifted a corner of the white linen cloth covering the bodies.

It happened to expose the grotesquely swollen head of one of the corpses.

The surrounding crowd was terrified by the sight.

Yue Niang’s face instantly turned pale.