Do You Like Me That Much? Miss Villainess

Feng Qi's expression didn't change in the slightest.

He didn't believe this mysterious "Secret Investigation Bureau" messenger before him at all, so when the other party spoke of matters, he remained extremely cautious, refusing to take the bait.

In fact, if not for the distance between them, he would have already struck to capture this person.

—A Secret Investigation Bureau messenger, how could they be so casual?

He guessed the person across from him was eighty percent fake.

The remaining twenty percent was respect for this bold little thief who dared impersonate the Secret Investigation Bureau.

Mu Qinglan also knew that Zhu Yan couldn't possibly gain Feng Qi's trust. She didn't know the contact codes, had no advance notice, and secret agents maintained single-line contact—it would be strange if he believed her.

But none of this mattered. She only needed to deliver the information.

Whether it was really the Secret Investigation Bureau or not, she'd let Feng Qi figure that out himself. Anyway, she was just giving him a lead. As long as he became interested, that would count as victory.

"Why should I earn merit?"

Feng Qi asked back, testing how much the other party knew about his situation.

"Who doesn't want to earn merit?" The dog-head figure avoided answering directly, saying something meaningless.

"Why me?" Feng Qi asked again, his caution not diminishing at all.

The dog-head figure's tone was calm:

"You're just one of many. Secret Agent Feng, don't think too highly of yourself."

Hearing this, Feng Qi's wariness actually decreased somewhat. He stood in place, maintaining vigilance while beginning to consider the feasibility of what the other party had said. Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by NoveI-Fire.ɴet

If what she said was true, if he could really investigate concrete evidence of this matter, it would indeed be a great achievement—exactly what Feng Qi desperately wanted.

But he had to consider the possibility this was a trap.

Could this be the Crown Prince's political enemies trying to frame him? No, Feng Qi shook his head. This had nothing to do with him. He only needed to consider whether this matter benefited him, whether there were traps, and whether he was capable of handling it.

As a secret agent directly loyal to the Emperor, Feng Qi couldn't care less about the Crown Prince.

"Secret Agent Feng, I'm just informing you. I need to leave now."

"Wait!"

Feng Qi frowned and asked: "What evidence do you have?"

The dog-head figure laughed: "Secret Agent Feng, evidence is something you need to investigate yourself—that's where the merit lies. I'm only providing general information."

Feng Qi immediately understood that the other party probably didn't have much evidence either and was just trying to use him. He nodded indifferently: "Then you may go."

The dog-head figure bowed: "Until we meet again."

The black robe swayed slightly, and the dog-head figure on the wall instantly vanished. Feng Qi stared at where she had disappeared, thinking silently:

'Much weaker than me, but her qinggong is decent. A scout?'

'Having such a person contact me, the people behind her probably aren't too strong either.'

Of course, Feng Qi didn't dare relax at all.

His cohort of secret agents had died batch after batch, and only he had survived to the end—relying on caution.

Careful sailing makes for a thousand-year voyage.

Returning home nervously, after confirming no one had been in his room, he finally sat in his chair and breathed a sigh of relief.

"To go or not to go?" Feng Qi's expression was gloomy as he talked to himself.

In the past, he would have been inclined not to go, because his talent was decent. As long as he had resources, he could slowly grow stronger step by step. With good luck, even fourth-rank wasn't impossible.

But now it was different. Being suppressed by the chiliarch, without some opportunity, he might be stuck at sixth-rank for life!

Who could accept that?

The room was dim, with a few rays of sunlight streaming in, yet it still felt bone-chillingly cold.

'Let's see. I'll observe for a couple more days.'

Feng Qi sighed, wiped the sweat from his palms, walked to the window, and like a statue, contemplated for a long time.

○

After finishing everything, the sky had already darkened.

Returning home, after Zhu Yan changed clothes, Mu Qinglan pulled her into the room and whispered instructions: "Go to Six Bureaus and help me deliver a letter to Shen Yao. Curfew is approaching, so I won't go out."

"What about the files?" Zhu Yan remembered something and mentioned it.

"Oh, I would have forgotten if you hadn't said anything," Mu Qinglan was stunned for a moment, then said: "Send them together."

Zhu Yan took the envelope, put on her coat, and went out. It was quite a while before she returned with a report.

She also brought back Shen Yao's reply.

Mu Qinglan opened the letter. The first thing that caught her eye was Miss Shen's elegant handwriting. Though somewhat hasty with some connected strokes, she could clearly see what she wanted to express.

"Look," Mu Qinglan pursed her lips and smiled: "Isn't this an opportunity?"

She handed over the letter: "Take a look."

"In a few days, the Divine Guards need to submit their annual performance reports... Among the centurions, those at the top get rewarded while those at the bottom get punished. Are you saying he'll definitely be given a hard time?" Zhu Yan asked.

"He needs the information I'm throwing out there." Mu Qinglan leaned back in her wheelchair, eyes half-closed, the light in her pupils dim and unclear.

"That's his only chance."

Zhu Yan fell silent, nodded, and said nothing more.

The moon rose to the treetops, the chill gradually intensified. When the room became somewhat cold, Mu Qinglan sleepily rubbed her eyes and sent away the menacing assassin lady.

If she stayed any longer, the assassin lady would probably launch a night attack on her.

This was non-negotiable.

Although she often bullied people, played pitiful, and even PUA'd the villain girls in the plot, Mu Qinglan had always considered herself a pure child who couldn't bear to see such filth.

○

Three days after meeting that mysterious secret agent, inside the Divine Guards, a notice was posted.

It was about the year-end rewards within the Divine Guards.

Those ranking high would receive generous rewards with opportunities for promotion and salary increases, while those ranking low would get nothing but a scolding.

Below the notice, Feng Qi stared at the announcement for a long time without speaking.

His eyes gradually became gloomy.

Since you treat me this way, don't blame me for seeking other opportunities. Although the information about the Crown Prince's questionable authenticity was doubtful, if I could investigate it, I would definitely receive praise from within the Secret Investigation Bureau.

Because the Secret Investigation Bureau was directly loyal to the Emperor, not to any particular prince.

As for that mysterious person? Just ignore her. Although the other party might still be plotting something, as long as he was careful, avoiding it shouldn't be difficult.

Beside him, a colleague saw his absent expression and nudged his shoulder with an elbow.

"What's wrong? Did the old man give you trouble again? Why don't you go home and rest today? There's nothing much to do anyway."

"Thank you for the trouble."

Feng Qi nodded heavily, took another hard look at the notice, turned around, and walked toward home.

"Who are we to each other!" The colleague laughed and walked away humming a tune.

Evening.

Feng Qi changed into ordinary coarse cloth inside, put on a robe outside, and covered his face with a mask. After ensuring no one could recognize him, he quietly slipped out.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

He could still hear the continuous evening drums in the distance. Once the sound faded, Heyang City would enter curfew.

In the past, Heyang had no curfew.

But recently, with so much chaos on the east side of the city, demon spies, and demon clan movements, the valuable areas in the city center had been arranged with curfew.

To protect the lives and safety of high officials and nobles.

Feng Qi glanced at the patrolling guards and sneered inwardly. Who could these incompetents protect? They were just putting on a show.

As palace guards, he best understood the mindset of those city guard colleagues.

Stepping on wall tops to infiltrate near the Crown Prince's mansion, Feng Qi's breathing became increasingly faint.

The Crown Prince had two residences: one inside the imperial palace called the Eastern Palace, and another in the city called the Crown Prince's mansion. The Eastern Palace was inside the imperial palace, making it inconvenient for private meetings or developing influence, so crown princes generally preferred living outside.

Many other princes did the same.

He had learned methods of concealing his aura and wasn't easily discovered, but he still stayed far from the study and bedroom to avoid being detected by secretly guarding experts.

Circling the mansion walls, Feng Qi investigated all the way.

But after secretly observing for a long time, until the third watch gong sounded, he hadn't discovered any flaws.

Returning home, Feng Qi's face was gloomy. Could it be that his investigation direction was wrong? Well, if the Crown Prince's flaws were so easy to find, he would have been killed by secret agents long ago.

Not finding anything was normal.

But if that person hadn't deceived him, where should he start?

He had already ranked last in evaluations for three consecutive years. If he ranked last again this year, it would probably be very difficult to transfer away.

'Crown Prince... Prince Qi's mansion, Li Wang's mansion, demon clan…'

Feng Qi tapped the table, his brow deeply furrowed.

Croak—

A bird outside cried for some unknown reason, disturbing his peace of mind.

But Feng Qi really did think of where to investigate: 'The Crown Prince's side has no flaws, but didn't that person say Prince Qi, Li Wang, and the demon clan were also cooperating with him?'

'I can't find the demon clan, but Prince Qi and Li Wang have such large mansions there. I should be able to find some clues, right?'

'If I still can't…'

Feng Qi thought this way, got up, and strode out the door, calling to wake a servant: "Go call Zhang San and Li Si."

The servant opened his eyes in confusion. Seeing his master's fierce expression, he trembled all over and ran out without even dressing properly.

Before the morning bell rang, Zhang San and Li Si came rubbing their eyes.

As soon as they arrived, they asked:

"Boss, what's the matter?"

"There's a job to do. Give it to the ruffians under your command. Secretly watch Prince Qi's mansion and Li Wang's mansion. See who they interact with frequently." Feng Qi said quickly.

"Got it!" Zhang San responded, then hesitated:

"But boss, the brothers can't stay in the city at night. There's a curfew."

Zhang San and Li Si each had a group of ruffians under them—all subordinates Feng Qi had secretly recruited during his years in the capital.

He provided protection, and they worked for him.

According to Feng Qi's knowledge, many secret agents ran similar operations, just varying in size. They left the dirty work that couldn't see daylight to these people—convenient and clean.

Feng Qi thought for a moment: "Don't bother at night then. Go watch in the morning, but be careful."

He pushed several banknotes on the table forward. Li Si took two and asked:

"Boss, where does Old Zhang go? Where do I go?"

Feng Qi recalled the information and decided decisively:

"You have more people, so you watch Prince Qi's side. Let Zhang San watch Li Wang's side. Both of you keep a close eye on them!"

Li Si took the banknotes and patted his own face.

Feeling the beautiful banknotes slapping his face—cold and refreshing—Li Si felt his mood become wonderful. He smiled and said:

"Just rest assured!"

○

Morning bells fell, evening drums ceased.

Three such cycles passed.

Li Si stood in Feng Qi's study, bowing at the waist, excitedly reporting to the man in official robes behind the desk:

"Boss, you're really divine!"

He was beaming with joy, almost spitting as he spoke:

"Guess what? Every morning, an unmarked carriage comes out of Prince Qi's mansion, circles the south city once, then goes to the east city and stops for a while at the door of a shop under the Crown Prince's control."

"Another person in the afternoon."

"And all of us city ruffians know that His Highness the Crown Prince has been much more settled than he was a few months ago."

"Don't you think there's something wrong with this?"

Feng Qi nodded slightly but didn't respond. Instead, he looked at another person in the room and said indifferently: "Zhang San, you speak."

"Chief, there's nothing much to say about this." Zhang San said with a bitter face: "Li Wang's mansion had a carriage enter the Crown Prince's mansion two days ago. What else is there to say?"

Mm, indeed nothing to say.

This matter had been reported two days ago. Having nothing new to report today was normal.

"Each of you go collect a banknote, then go back," Feng Qi's tone relaxed a bit as he dismissed them: "Oh, and remember to keep watching."

The door slammed shut with a bang.

Feng Qi held the Secret Investigation Bureau's token, looked at it, but finally put it back hesitantly.

There were too few clues now. Reporting this would probably yield no merit. He'd wait a bit longer, until the day he caught evidence of those three families' wrongdoing...

○

Prince Qi's mansion.

Miss Mu Qinglan, who the ruffians believed was colluding with the Crown Prince, was holding a cup of hot tea, sticking out her little tongue to sip the tea water twice, squinting her eyes as she assigned work:

"Continue going to that shop these next few days. Since it needs to open anyway, go inside and browse around, and make some ambiguous gestures."

"You're asking if you should go to other places?"

"No need. Going there is enough. Visiting too many places would seem deliberate. Remember to leave through different side doors each day, and vary the timing."

"Mm, mm, you may go."

After speaking with her subordinate, Mu Qinglan finally shed what little dignity remained and melted into her wheelchair like Garfield, fully enjoying the assassin lady's shoulder massage.

You really had to say, the assassin-born Miss Zhu Yan was also skilled at massage.

Perhaps there were psychological factors involved too.

After all, this was a massage from someone with an innate destiny trait! Probably not many people in the world could enjoy this.

Over these past few days, Mu Qinglan had arranged many things, preparing to use this opportunity to stab that beloved Crown Prince His Highness in the back while she was at it.

When she initially said Li Wang was also colluding with the Crown Prince, it naturally wasn't random slander.

In fact, the Crown Prince indeed had a good private relationship with Li Wang, with secret dealings between them.

Because they were both firm troublemakers.

You could say they were like a turtle looking at mung beans—they hit it off at first sight.

And coincidentally, Li Wang was also Miss Shen Yao's most hated enemy. She couldn't move against him now, but she could still make small moves against his subordinates. Of course, she hadn't told Shen Yao about this yet—she was waiting until the matter was accomplished to give Shen Yao a surprise.

Hehe!

Although Miss Shen Yao had rejected her, she loved Miss Shen Yao deeply!

She wondered if that iceberg would feel guilty.

Mu Qinglan smiled wickedly in her heart, feeling the timing was right. She casually picked up a letter from the table and said:

'It's been three days. Feng Qi's little movements should be impossible to hide now.'

"Zhu Yan, help me deliver this letter to our Divine Guards' Chiliarch Huang. Tell him that his subordinate Centurion Feng is secretly doing something behind his back."

Zhu Yan accepted the order, took the envelope, and went out.

Before leaving, she glanced at the table.

There lay another envelope identical to the one in her hand, quietly resting there, pressed under a paperweight made of pear wood at the corner of the desk.

Zhu Yan couldn't help but feel curious.

Who was that letter meant for?