Scourge Messenger

Chapter 178 This is what you call an attack
There was absolutely no way to salvage the situation.

For this group of thieves who would be causing trouble in someone else's base camp again in a few days, going to the secret realm for training was an extremely important matter. Yan Qing couldn't very well stop her by saying, "You have to keep buying me food," could he? The other person hadn't said they wouldn't eat together in the future; they were just busy these few days and would make plans to meet up later.

However, often, 'later' is equivalent to 'never'.

Alright, from now on I'll be eating lunch alone again. Yan Qing composed herself and said, "Be careful. I have plenty of blood-replenishing pills; you can just ask me if you need any."

Instead of saying goodbye as he had mentioned, Shang Xinlei pointed to the three dishes in front of him and asked, "Is it good?"

"Hmm?" Yan Qing glanced at the nearly finished shredded pork with garlic sauce, eggplant with minced pork, and fried tofu, and after a moment of thought, commented, "Compared to the other dishes, it's rather ordinary. It doesn't meet my expectations of a top chef at all. It's just a decent home-style dish, good for eating with rice."

"So it's still delicious?" Shang Xinlei pressed.

"It's as delicious as a home-style dish," Yan Qing emphasized. "It wouldn't be worth the price if it were expensive."

"If you ate this kind of food every day, could you accept it?" Shang Xinlei asked, looking somewhat nervous.

“It’s not that I can’t, but—” Yan Qing was about to say that now that he was well-off, he could eat whatever he wanted, and there was no need to be stingy in this regard. But then he suddenly realized something and pointed to the empty plate, asking, “This…you made this?”

“Yes,” Shang Xinlei said somewhat embarrassedly, “I’ve been learning for a few days, and although my brother said it’s already very, very good, I know there’s still a big gap between me and the chefs at Chef God’s Restaurant.”

Why did you suddenly want to cook?

“Because I’m going to Jingxin Xiaozhu, the chef there usually cooks large meals for the servants, so it’s not very refined or fancy. So I was thinking…” Shang Xinlei said, her face slightly flushed, staring at the fish head on the plate, “I’ll just cook for myself for the next few days.”

"……Oh."

"What are you 'oh'ing about?" Shang Xinlei immediately became very annoyed, put her hands on her hips and asked, "Anyway, I'll be able to come up with this dish soon. Are you willing to eat with me or not? Give me a straight answer. If you're not willing, then forget it. I even made a little less food. You have such a big appetite."

"You make it sound like you don't have much of an appetite..." Yan Qing thought for a moment and said, "Actually, someone in Jiangnan City helps me buy food."

"Who?" Shang Xinlei was shocked: "Xiaoyu? Impossible, she's with me all the time... Could it be Jie Yuanshao? Did you hook up with her through Jiang Shi?"

"What nonsense! Of course they're my subordinates," Yan Qing retorted. "Do you think every young lady loves to eat as much as you do?"

"You make it sound like you haven't eaten at all..." Shang Xinlei raised an eyebrow: "You wouldn't have deliberately sent one of your subordinates to be stationed in Jiangnan City just to buy you food, would you?"

“Of course he won’t just buy me food in Jiangnan City!” Yan Qing said, “He will go to all sorts of places in the future, and he will send me a portion of any delicious food he finds.”

"Isn't this still buying food?!" Shang Xinlei exclaimed in shock. "I never thought that you, the leader of a mysterious organization who hides in a thief's den all day, would become so extravagant and debauched, actually sending people to search for delicacies all over the world! Huang Quan, you really are... get me a portion too!"

"Okay, okay, we won't miss you."

“Hey, wait a minute, since you have someone in Jiangnan City to buy food…” Shang Xinlei glanced at the food on the table: “Then even if I go to Jingxin Xiaozhu, you can still buy delicacies from Jiangnan City.”

“That’s true,” Yan Qing nodded, “but we’ve been eating too much meat and fish lately.”

"Spit it out!" Even Shang Xinlei, with her good temper, grew impatient: "What exactly do you want to say!?"

“If you insist on cooking yourself, I can accept that,” he said slowly. “But if you suddenly crave something or are too lazy to cook, I can help you buy some extra food from Jiangnan City.”

Shang Xinlei looked at Yan Qing, and Yan Qing looked at her; their eyes met. "Are you deliberately teasing me?" she said through gritted teeth.

“You did the same thing last time, so it’s the same for both of you.” Yan Qing’s lips curled up.

"As the saying goes, it's better to offend a gentleman than a cook. Aren't you afraid I'll spit in the food?"

"Actually, we don't use serving chopsticks, so our saliva has already soaked into the food."

Shang Xinlei gritted her teeth in hatred, then turned her head to drink the cordyceps flower and black-boned chicken soup. The subtle atmosphere dissipated imperceptibly, and the words she couldn't say before could now be spoken.

"Why have you been talking less lately?" Yan Qing asked curiously. "Can cooking have this effect?"

"Didn't you say you weren't interested? You'll get annoyed if I keep talking about it." Shang Xinlei pouted and muttered, "Besides..."

For some reason, after that day, whenever she came to the Thieves' House for a meal, she always felt a little reserved. She started to pay attention to her appearance and demeanor, subconsciously maintaining the manners of a well-bred young lady, and always concerned about whether she was presenting her best self.

Whenever I want to say something, I feel like it might be too outspoken or unreserved, so I hold back.

“I’m not really interested,” Yan Qing said, “but what you’re saying is quite interesting, and I don’t mind listening to you talk.”

Shang Xinlei tilted her head. "Would it kill you to say you like me? Be honest."

"I wouldn't say I like it that much..."

"Then I said it?"

"Go ahead."

"Do you possess any tokens related to hypnosis, brainwashing, or personality distortion?" Shang Xinlei asked seriously. "Otherwise, it's hard to explain why someone like you can trust your subordinates who are stronger than you. It can only mean that you have full confidence in controlling people who are far stronger than you."

"I just asked you to speak, not to attack me."

"Making reasonable guesses is considered an attack? You're so hard to please."

After taking a few bites of vegetables, Shang Xinlei suddenly remembered something: "By the way, what were you trying to say to me earlier?"

"Hmm?" Because the topic had been veered far off course, it took Yan Qing a while to recall her original thought: "Oh, I was just saying that your legs look very nice."

After saying that, Yan Qing realized that he had been a bit too blunt. He looked up and saw that Shang Xinlei was staring at him with wide eyes, her chopsticks tightly clenched in her mouth, her face full of shock.

Then she silently turned around and hid her legs from an angle where Yan Qing couldn't see her.

"I guess I'm not really good at initiating conversations," Yan Qing thought to herself.

Suddenly, Yan Qing felt two light kicks on the outside of his thigh. He looked down and saw a pair of feet in white pantyhose pressing against his thigh.

“Now that’s what I call attacking you.” Shang Xinlei pulled her legs back, her eyes sparkling, a faint blush rising on her cheeks, and she gave him a provocative sidelong glance.

(End of this chapter)