Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 55

The three women had not noticed the newcomers.

“Waiter! Another mutton hotpot! This isn’t enough!” Xiao Yaqing shouted.

“You three, keep deboning! There’ll be more when the next pot comes.”

Gnawing a lamb spine, Chuqing protested, “Stop making them do it. I can gnaw faster than they debone. They’re slowing me down!”

Xia Heng slapped the table and tried to stand.

“Exactly! I haven’t eaten enough!”

The man behind her chuckled, caught her before her head fell into the pot, and fed her a bite of mutton.

It took Xia Heng a moment to realize what had happened; then she began to chew.

He glanced at those who entered, paid them little attention, and wiped her mouth.

Dongfang Wei had endured enough.

“Send these men away and bring sobering soup.”

The waiter obeyed, dismissed the male attendants, cleared the disastrous table, and quietly closed the door.

At Cang Chuli’s glance, Qiulin and Mo Bai dragged the three women to one side of the table.

They leaned against one another crookedly, hiccupping.

“Where’s my meat-deboning person? New pot, new people? Fine…” Xiao Yaqing muttered.

“Disposable attendants? Such advanced service! How many employees do they have?” Xia Heng added.

“No more. I’ll gnaw it myself! My teeth are fastest!”

Chuqing lunged toward the table, but Mo Bai hooked her collar and pulled her back.

Every man in the room looked unusually troubled. Qiulin lowered her head.

Cang Chuli and Dongfang Wei sat opposite the women.

The waiter returned with sobering soup and poured a bowl for each.

Xiao Yaqing’s drunken bravado surged again.

“Sisters! I feel great affinity with you both. The mutton is fragrant today. Why don’t we become sworn sisters?”

Xia Heng and Chuqing agreed in unison.

They raised their soup bowls. Qiulin wanted to interfere, but at least they would drink the soup.

Xiao Yaqing spotted Cang Chuli and Dongfang Wei sitting solemnly.

Dongfang Wei watched her with complicated emotions, wondering whether she could recognize him after so many years.

Before he spoke, her eyes lit. She pointed at him.

“Look! The Jade Emperor!”

Then at Cang Chuli.

“The Queen Mother of the West!”

One sentence offended both men. Their expressions darkened.

“Why doesn’t the Jade Emperor have a beard? Could he be fake?” Xia Heng inspected him suspiciously.

“And why does the Queen Mother look familiar?”

Cang Chuli stared expressionlessly.

“Never mind!”

Xiao Yaqing knelt.

“Jade Emperor and Queen Mother above! I, Xiao the Eldest—”

Xia Heng and Chuqing knelt too, too fast for Mo Bai.

“I, Xia the Second!”

“I, Chu the Fourth!”

The other two looked at Chuqing.

“No, you’re Chu the Third!” Xiao Yaqing corrected.

Chuqing scratched her head.

“I feel like someone is missing.”

Her gaze landed on Qiulin. The others followed and understood.

“I, Xiao the Eldest!”

“I, Xia the Second!”

Qiulin remained silent, so Xia Heng continued,

“She, Qiu the Third!”

She glared at Qiulin.

“Please forgive her, Immortals. Qiu the Third is shy.”

Qiulin finally understood despair.

“I, Chu the Fourth!”

“Today we become sworn brothers, though we bear different surnames!”

“We ask not to be born in the same year, month, and day, but to die in the same year, month, and day!”

Xiao Yaqing roared with passion, moving Xia Heng and Chuqing to tears.

“May we die on the same day!” Xia Heng repeated to the “deities.”

Chuqing could barely open her eyes.

“Same!”

“Second Brother, Fourth Brother! I’ll drink first!”

“Eldest Brother! I’ll join you!”

“Eldest Brother, Second Brother! Me too!”

Mo Bai and Qiulin nearly buried their heads in the floor.

Why were others behaving shamefully, yet they could not raise their faces?

Dongfang Wei watched the woman he had missed for years mistake him for the Jade Emperor and bow three times.

Cang Chuli sneered.

“Good. Very good.”

Fengyue Pavilion’s sobering soup contained garlic and scallions. Finding it too pungent, Xia Heng secretly spat it back.

Qiulin darted forward, held the bowl to her mouth, and poured.

“No. It’s disgusting. Swallow!”

Everyone listened to Xia Heng gulp helplessly.

Under everyone’s stares, Qiulin forced herself to say,

“We’ve sworn sisterhood. If you won’t drink, are you looking down on me?”

Xia Heng blinked and obediently finished.

Then Xiao Yaqing whispered to Chuqing,

“Qiu the Third is a tsundere… and a little violent.”

Chuqing nodded seriously.

Qiulin was tired. Let the world end.

“Xia the Second, you can’t handle it! Waiter, another jar of Drunken Spring Breeze!” Xiao Yaqing shouted.

Mo Qing silently ordered another pot of sobering soup.

After a second bowl, the three finally quieted. Chuqing and Xiao Yaqing fell asleep, but Xia Heng remained awake.

Dongfang Wei and Cang Chuli reordered the mutton hotpot while the others took turns eating. The group had originally planned to dine at Lehua Tower, but now they wanted to know why this dish had made the women forget themselves.

Xia Heng crept over to Cang Chuli and stared.

“Queen Mother, you look like someone!”

No one answered.

“You look exactly like our general!”

Cang Chuli finally glanced at her.

“Oh?”

“Our general is the General of the Northern Pacification!”

She stared at the meat on his plate.

“So what?” he asked.

Xia Heng looked astonished.

“He’s so cool!”

“What does ‘cool’ mean?”

She raised both thumbs.

“It means excellent! Very, very excellent!”

She leaned closer.

“So did one of your avatars descend to the mortal world for a trial and become our general?”

“Why would it be a trial?” Dongfang Wei asked.

“Because his life is miserable! Our general has it so hard!”