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West-Resisting City’s City Lord’s mansion.

My return to West-Resisting City help me once again realize how warm being at home was: I could eat a plateful of meat and fish, I could wear clothes made out of silk and satin, I could sleep on a soft bed with a golden velvet blanket, I could ride horse-drawn carriages whenever I wished to go out, there would be beauties surrounding me, every day of my life was delightful——

It would’ve been great if it really were that way.

Not long after I returned to West-Resisting City from Sky Star City and closed the doors of my City Lord’s mansion, an excited voice resounded in each corner of the hallway:

“Li De, I’m telling you today that I’m done with it all. My, Moon’s, decision to follow you must be the scourge of my past eight generations!”

I instantly wore a smiling face as I slid myself over to Moon’s side and flattered her:

“Aiyah aiyo, isn’t this my chief internal affairs officer? What’s wrong, what has you in such a temper, is it that time of month?”

Moon pointed at me with a trembling finger and shouted:

“Don’t you know that in order for me to cooperate with Fang Yuan to attack Sky Star City, I had to basically spend all of our money here? In the first place, the taxation we impose isn’t high and the levy on foodstuffs isn’t much! This time, I’ve spent everything on foodstuffs and apart from that, I had to hire some mercenaries from Yun Hai because our army is insufficient. Do you know what those mercenaries were like? They ate our food, took our soldier’s pay, required several times our soldier’s pension, and still demanded extra money for their work! Just because of your command to attack, I had to stay in my room to calculate the spendings for so long, yet the result, you’re telling me, is that you gave the three cities that I conquered to someone else??”

I certainly knew how great Moon’s efforts were during this time’s attack on Sky Star City. Even though it is the dream of many people to have both the military and government under their grasp, the prerequisite for such a thing to occur is for there to be many capable subordinates under them. Otherwise, if everything is done by one person, it will go from being one burden to two burdens. The consequences of such a thing happening is clear if we take a look at how Fang Thirteen was back then, when she was spitting out blood as she worked.

This matter was my fault, so naturally I would openly accept whatever complaints he had. I sincerely stated:

“Yes yes yes, it’s my fault, blame me.”

Who would have known that these words of mine made Moon even angier. She exaggeratedly threw her arms around with no intention at all to patch up the quarrel:

“Blame you! I blame her, it’s all that Fang Thirteen’s fault! Do you understand? This wasn’t us exchanging three cities for Fang Thirteen but rather sending away our three cities after Fang Thirteen agreed to be one of us! Does she really think of herself as a person affiliated with West-Resisting City? Step aside, I need to go question her!”

Seeing the ordinarily cool-headed and unhurried Moon appear like a puffed up bag of air, I couldn’t help but think that it was a little funny, but on the surface, the words coming out of my mouth were:

“Let it be, I’ve just come back to West-Resisting City, so let me rest a little. If any matters pop up, we can take it over slowly.”

Moon gave me a harsh stare and said:

“You’re still defending her? Have you really been fascinated by her?”

Just as I was thinking about what reason I would use to explain to her, the sudden sound of the door behind me creaking open sounded out. I turned my head to take a look and found Tila slowly pushing Fang Thirteen over. Fang Thirteen’s hands were on her legs as she wore a tranquil expression on her face.

By the way, when Sky Star City’s people moved over to West-Resisting City, Tila also followed them over. Even if Fang Thirteen had driven away this former maid of hers, this former maid still wanted to be by her side. And so, Fang Thirteen also didn’t request for another maid and said that Tila alone was able to take care of her.

But now was clearly not the time to mind about this topic. Fang Thirteen lifted up her head with closed eyes as per usual and asked Moon:

“There’s no need to make things difficult for sir City Lord, the one who raised the request was me. In return, I will immediately assume control of the eastern military front line and conquer five cities for Li De. Is this okay?”

Moon snorted and replied:

“I’m making things difficult for him? It’s obviously him making things difficult for me! Doesn’t fighting for cities in the east require rations and fodder? Doesn’t it require troop funds? Doesn’t it require weapons and equipment? Doesn’t it require money for finding out information? Right now I’m poor and broke, where am I supposed to get the money to help? Sure, we have gotten many things from Sky Star City this time, but I’m telling you now, it will only last for two months at most. If we can break into a city within two months, we will have no other choice but to withdraw and reorganize.”

Fang Thirteen still had her eyes closed as she responded calmly:

“I know.”

“Furthermore, I’m truthfully telling you this now, as long as I, Moon, am in West-Resisting City, I will not give you anything less than you deserve. As someone who does things in a businesslike manner, I won’t make things difficult for you just because I’m unhappy, but count on me to give you a good attitude. Whether Li De spoils you or pampers you, I don’t care, but I do loathe people who don’t respect the results of another person’s labor.”

With a magnificent flick of her sleeve, Moon walked away feeling indignant.

I was still standing in my original position feeling that things wouldn’t turn out well no matter whose side I stood on. So first, I consoled Fang Thirteen:

“Moon is the one in charge of internal affairs and that in itself is a very exhausting job. This time he had to be a part-time military commander as well, so I reckon she hasn’t had much rest during this time. She’s probably still very tensed up and that’s why she’s so angry. But he’s the type of know what’s important and what’s not, so she won’t make things difficult for you in terms of army provisions and so on, rest assured of that.”

Fang Thirteen exposed a gentle and soft smile as she gently responded:

“Mm, actually, having him supporting the internal affairs side of things is already the greatest help as far as I’m concerned. Moreover, I already mentally prepared myself for this before I came, so I’m fine. You should first go chase after her, don’t let the problem escalate.”

I put both my hands together and made an appreciative gesture towards Fang Thirteen. It was my first time seeing Moon so angry. In the past, she would always talk and laugh to dispel any issues that arose between anyone. It would make anyone feel ‘oh, this person is very smooth’ and I was also used to this reassuring side of his.

I made haste to chase after Moon. Moon’s pace could be said to be as vigorous as the wind and you could tell at a glance that she was angry. I wasn’t annoyed by it and just followed behind him the entire time. After the two of us went 5 or 6 times around the City Lord’s mansion like a “warden parading a prisoner through the streets”, Moon finally turned her head and I could see that the expression on her devastatingly beautiful face was much more relaxed. It was obvious that most of her anger had already disappeared, but she still pulled a long face and asked me with a displeased tone:

“Why are you following me? Rest assured, I’m not as weak as you think I am and also not a narrow-minded person. I’ll be fine after being left alone for a while.”

Although these were the words that came out of her mouth, how could I dare just walk away? I swiftly took a few steps forward and pulled on his arm. Moon didn’t struggle but also didn’t walk, instead choosing to blink her eyes as she stared at me.

I spoke with great solemnity:

“Come come come, Moon, let me treat you to a meal. Treat it as my apology to you.”

Moon replied straightforwardly:

“We’re already dirt-poor yet you still have thoughts to treat me to a meal? Where?”

“Rare Taste Building! Money can be made if we’re out of it, even if 1,000 gold coins are spent, we can make it back! I have an additional secret stash of money, just treat it as giving me face.”

Moon snorted and commented:

“Your secret stash? Then let’s go, I won’t be going back today unless I eat it clean.”

Eat! It! Clean!

I quivered in fright, but after giving it some more thought, I reckoned that Moon should have used up all of my leisure money that I had stored in West-Resisting City, so it’s impossible for her to really eat my secret stash clean. Rare Taste Building’s spending level is also on the generally low side of the spectrum. With this in mind, I felt relieved in boldly pulling Moon over to Rare Taste Building.

Moon followed closely behind me without saying a word.