𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲'𝐬 𝐇𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 || 敵の旦那様 (𝐁𝐋) ✔ [COMPLETE]

26. As Good as an Unmarried Man

"It's been so long since I've seen you, Imperial General," she chirped, hugging his hand so tight that her red nails were digging into his forearms. "Did you gain muscle since then?" she said, releasing Haoran "And you've grown a bit more handsome too... especially these lips and hands." She tried to graze her palms over the General's lips, her fingers outstretched like spider legs. "The last time I tasted them they were as delicious as ever."

He imperatively avoided her hand. "And your mouth is as obscene as ever." "What, obscene? It takes two lips to kiss you know?"

"Stop that." He said, his voice full of a threatening edge, "Unless you want a repetition of last time."

"Don't be so serious about it General," she replied coyly, her heavy red-tinted lips stretching from all corners when she finally saw Fu Lin, "Oh my! If it isn't the Seventh Prince of Silver Mountain." She deliberately enunciated the word 'Silver Mountain' to make Fu Lin seem like an outsider and bowed down, her eyes not leaving his face. "My apologies for not greeting you earlier, it's just... your attire and disposition look exactly like that of a servant! I am the daughter of the Minister of Revenue of Blazing Sun, and my given name is Jing Hui. My apologies even though it's not my fault you look like a servant."

Fu Lin, who was forgotten all this time, nodded his head amicably, indicating he didn't mind.

"The thing is..." She looked at the General adoringly, her cleavage rubbing at his side continuously. "The General in my eyes is still as good as an unmarried man, even if the entire world considers him wedded. You... get it right?"

Fu Lin's eyes widened in realisation and the next second he was looking at them with amused eyes. He hid the smile that he was about to break into and signalled with his hands for the General to carry on, walking toward the dining table.

General Haoran's eyes dimmed down as he stared after the retreating figure of Fu Lin and his hand that was trying its hardest to release itself from Jing Hui's clutches stilled. He couldn't believe that Fu Lin would do that and walk away.

What did Fu Lin think he was?

A man dishonourable enough to harbour thoughts of infidelity towards his spouse? This was preposterous!

General Haoran was a man who didn't want his reputation tarnished and couldn't stand the fact that anybody in this world dared to think he was dishonourable. Hence, he was so irritated with

what happened so much that he threw the spider leg-like hands of the woman away, almost pushing her down in the process and heading directly in the direction that Fu Lin sped.

The woman, who was astounded by the completely unforeseen rejection, asked angrily "Why... Why do you always reject me?!"

The General didn't bother to look back. "Because you smell bad."

With that, his feet scraping heavily against the carpeted floor walked over to where Fu Lin was. Upon the surface of a long sandalwood table with carven patterns, jugs and bowls that were shaped as swans and lotus leaves held delicacies such as soup infused with smoked beef and fried glass noodles. Fu Lin was seated at its edge, nibbling away at the food while the Minister was seated at the head of the table 'entertaining' him.

"So I heard that Prince Fu Lin from the Zhou Manor is quite proficient in flashing underwear?" Fu Lin tasted a bit of the coloured liquid on the table, ignoring the man.

"Also, apparently you burned the Zhou Manor's kitchen down, not knowing how to cook. Are you an idiot?"

Fu Lin continued to eat, ignoring his complete existence as if the spicy pastry he was eating was a hundred times more interesting than a pregnant-look-alike's face.

"I also heard that you ran away on your wedding night. Could it be...that the General went so hard on you that you had to run for your life?"

At this Fu Lin spat the tea he was drinking directly on the Minister's face. Before he could react or do anything about what happened, the Minister got up, extremely furious and red in the face "What in the absolute hell?! My dress is completely ruined because of this ludicrous clown that belongs to the Zhou family! I'm definitely going to complain about this to the Emperor!" Before

he could storm out, however, Fu Lin stood in front of him as if he wanted to pacify the pot-bellied man.

When Fu Lin got up, the chopsticks with which he ate fell down with a clatter and rolled over to where they stood. After screaming and yelling when that old man tried to walk on, pushing Fu Lin aside, he tripped on the chopsticks that fell down and almost kissed Fu Lin's feet.

Remembering how he'd insulted Fu Lin for falling down before his feet earlier, the minister's face dripped down with shame.

Looking at Fu Lin and how he dealt with things, the General really couldn't help but hook up his lips slightly. After looking at this scene for a time unknown, he had almost forgotten the actual

objective of visiting this vulgar man's horrible manor. He cautiously gazed at the Minister who was still too busy shouting decent 'profanities' at Fu Lin.

Good. If the Minister was to stay distracted with Fu Lin, then he could get to the mission at hand.

The Imperial Majesty ordering the Minister of Revenue to host a meal for the General was not a baselessly lenient punishment to the Minister- this was a calculated move from the Emperor to give an opportunity for the General to infiltrate the Minister's Manor that is often heavily guarded. Although the Emperor never specified it, the General was quite certain that the Emperor too suspected the Minister to be the mastermind behind the arsenal burning down. That was probably the reason the Emperor kept quiet, allowing the Minister to trash the General so that he could create an opportunity in the form of a punishment as this to collect any evidence about the incident.

He couldn't afford to waste it, and hence immediately got to work. He began from the furthest corner of the mansion and looked into almost all the places that he thought could be a hideout or a secret pathway that would lead into a room with documents about his misdeeds. But there was none. He searched and went through all available information for some clue, even if it was not related to the arsenal incident, but all the records were completely clean. The accounts, taxes and revenue balances were completely in line and there were no records of what could be considered a suspicious dealing.

It was no use. Searching anymore would only be a waste of time. If the Minister had been careful enough to not let a single account slip, then whatever financial fraud and remaining evidence of the arsenal were hidden somewhere outside the Manor or already destroyed.

Just as he was about to depart, a sneaky hand snaked around his forearm once again and when the General raised his head, he saw Jing Hui's foxy face peering at him.

"Ah, darling," she purred against him. "I know you didn't mean what you said earlier."

As the General looked at their interlocked hands, his eyes widened in realisation. Maybe... he wouldn't mind using a bit of her company.

He tightened his arms around her and said, "I didn't." 

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*Pulls out gun* Nah, uh. We don't do that here General (↼_↼)