Chapter 140: I Want This Maidservant

Chapter 140: This Maid I Want

Sisi struggled to support the feigning drunk Zhao Changhe back to the guest courtyard, dumping him onto the bed.

But Zhao Changhe was too heavy, and his arm casually wrapped around her, pulling her onto the bed and pinning her down firmly.

Sisi angrily struggled: "I said I'm just here to do chores and attend to your rest, not to warm your bed!"

Zhao Changhe, playing the drunkard, deliberately pressed his mouth against her face and lips, mumbling indistinctly: "Your master won't treat a little maid like you badly..."

Sisi struggled, using her hand to block his mouth: "I heard you were a chivalrous hero! How can you bully us poor folk like this?"

Zhao Changhe's feigned confusion turned real: "Where did you hear I'm a hero? Doesn't everyone say I'm a bandit?"

Sisi seemed to realize she'd slipped up, and began struggling again, as if racking her brains for an excuse.

Zhao Changhe found it amusing and deliberately said: "Anyway, aren't little maids always scheming to seduce young masters? Why suddenly so chaste?"

Sisi snapped angrily: "Would you go to the young master and ask for me to be yours, so I can follow you from now on?"

Zhao Changhe was taken aback.

Sisi struggled even harder: "You're just playing around, having your fun and then discarding me. Have you ever thought about what will become of us afterward?"

Zhao Changhe asked: "What will become of you?"

"We maids also want to keep our purity. Whether we're taken as concubines by some young master or married off to a male servant by the family, what's the point of being toyed with by a guest? Who would want me after that? Will you take responsibility for my life?"

This role-playing was so immersive...

So immersive that Zhao Changhe was left speechless. After a long pause, he pretended the alcohol was hitting him, thumped his chest, and said: "Then I'll ask for you to be mine, and you'll follow me from now on. Will you submit?"

Sisi was stunned for a moment, her struggling weakening: "Th-then you can't lie to me... If you really can take me away, I, I..."

She gritted her teeth and turned her head away: "But I still won't go with you! The Tang family is refined and elegant, every young master is graceful and charming. Why would I follow a scar-faced brute like you into the martial world? Let me go!"

"Ah Zhu thought Qiao Feng was better than Murong Fu..."

"What's that?"

"A story from the martial world. Ah Zhu was a little maid who was very good at disguise."

Sisi's eyes widened, and she stammered: "Never heard of it! What does someone else's story have to do with me? Let me go!"

This time, her struggle was unusually fierce. Zhao Changhe, playing a drunkard, couldn't use his skills recklessly, so he let her kick him off and rolled to the side.

Sisi scrambled off the bed, standing nearby, panting: "Are all men like this? Pretending to be drunk and trying to take advantage of women!"

Zhao Changhe lay sprawled on the bed, mumbling: "Just wait. Tomorrow I'll go to Tang Buqi and ask for you."

Sisi: "..."

Soon, Zhao Changhe's snoring began.

Sisi bit her lower lip and watched him for a long time, as if analyzing whether he was really asleep or faking it, truly drunk or pretending.

Hard to tell. This guy's acting was actually pretty good. Last time, he pretended to be a lecher and went after Yue Hongling, and it looked convincing enough! Luckily, the real Yue Hongling took the brunt of it. If she hadn't come, wouldn't it have been me he was mauling?

And that's not all. He had suspected Wan Dongliu ever since the Hu people started causing trouble, but he never showed it until the very end when everything was settled. If you thought he was just a scar-faced brute, he'd have you fooled.

Sisi hesitated for a long time. She reached out as if to feel for something in his clothes, but ultimately didn't dare, pulling her hand back. She sat down pitifully, hugging her knees.

How miserable—playing a maid meant not only risking being forced to sleep with someone, but even if he did nothing, she had to stay by his side, ready to attend to him if he vomited or needed washing.

Too tragic.

Actually, from Zhao Changhe's perspective, his acting today was mediocre, mainly because he wasn't in the mood.

Tang Buqi's behavior had left Zhao Changhe somewhat disheartened, and he couldn't muster much enthusiasm, so he just went through the motions.

If she were that fake Heavenly Maiden, she should have been teased when she was pretending to be the Heavenly Maiden. But back then, the real Yue Hongling had taken that role. Now, by bad luck, she had become a maid serving guests in the guest courtyard. Karma truly circled around—it seemed fate had destined her to be teased. Who told her to love disguising herself as others? She could only suffer in silence.

But at this moment, Zhao Changhe was even more confused than Sisi. He was now uncertain whether this person was the fake Heavenly Maiden. If she wasn't, it wouldn't be right to tease her randomly. He'd better stop and pretend to sleep, to see what she would do next.

After all, his eyes were closed, but his back wasn't. A slight turn of his head could keep her actions in full view.

She did move her hand, as if to reach for something, but hesitated and withdrew.

Then she sat pitifully with her knees hugged, leaning against the wall to rest. As she leaned, her head kept drooping, and she actually fell asleep.

Zhao Changhe: "..."

Now it was Zhao Changhe who was pitiful. Whether Sisi was really asleep or faking it, he didn't dare to sleep.

If he fell asleep and she stole something or stabbed him, that would be truly unjust.

So, a little maid who should have been pitiful slept soundly, while a man lying comfortably in bed stayed awake all night.

Mutual torment.

...

The next day, at the break of dawn, Sisi's head was still nodding as she slept. Zhao Changhe couldn't take it anymore. He pretended to wake up from a deep sleep, stretching and getting out of bed.

Sisi still hadn't woken up.

His stretch was in vain—no one was watching.

Zhao Changhe grumpily went to wash his face and brush his teeth, then picked up his dragon sparrow blade and went outside to practice.

The sound of washing and the whistling of the blade finally woke Sisi. She rubbed her eyes and stood up groggily, looking out the window at Zhao Changhe's sweeping blade light.

She watched silently for a while, noticing that his practice had abandoned Chi Li's spirit fox blade intent and no longer contained the spring water sword intent. It was still his bloodthirsty blade technique, but now infused with a hint of Yue Hongling's sunset desolation. His technique was becoming more refined, taking on its own character.

Although Zhao Changhe no longer used those intents, Sisi still couldn't understand how he could learn a trace of someone else's blade or sword intent in such a short time. Even if what he learned was shallow and minimal, it was beyond what a normal human could achieve by merely observing others' battles. And then there was the Ultimate Bliss Technique—how had he learned it so quickly? It was truly strange.

She wanted so badly to steal something from him!

Controlling him was probably out of the question. On the day he first learned it, there might have been a chance. Now, he was probably more skilled than she was. If they fought, who would control whom was uncertain. So she had to refuse, to play the role of a pure and proud little maid.

She had infiltrated the Maitreya Sect and accidentally learned about the bloodthirsty treasure. She had come to the Tang family to search for it, and who would have thought this guy would show up too.

But his arrival had brought her an advantage: originally, pretending to be a marginal maid in the guest courtyard was meant to avoid attention, but it had its drawbacks—her status was too low, and she couldn't even enter the Sword Pool. Now, with him here, she could use his influence to get into the Sword Pool.

She didn't dare to go into the water to explore, afraid of arousing his suspicion. She could only skim the edges, dipping her feet in to see if she could sense the bloodthirsty aura.

Let him drink my foot-washing water.

She wondered if this man was here to cause trouble for her or to help...

Sisi's eyes darted around, and she was about to say something when Tang Buqi's voice came from afar: "I was too drunk last night, too drunk... You're practicing so early!"

Zhao Changhe sheathed his blade and laughed: "Didn't you say you'd seal your mouth if you couldn't kill me? You sound pretty spirited to me?"

Tang Buqi said: "So today, I'll call myself Tang Buqi (Don't Cry)."

"Huh?" Zhao Changhe said: "Why not go all the way and call yourself Tang Buquan (Don't Bark)?"

Sisi couldn't help but laugh.

Zhao Changhe turned to look at her, then said to Tang Buqi: "Hey, little nephew Buqi, if I ask you for something, will you give it?"

Tang Buqi said: "As long as it's not my aunt, I'll consider it."

Zhao Changhe pointed at Sisi: "I want this maid. Give her to me."

Sisi's smile froze on her face. Are you serious?