Soon, Miao Yi Niang returned, carrying a large tray. On it were several exquisite dishes, which she placed onto the table. She also took out a pot of warm wine and placed it between the two men. "Please enjoy, gentlemen, I have other matters to attend to…"

"Hold on." Xu Erfu quickly said.

"Huh?" Miao Yi Niang shot a frigid glance at Xu Erfu and casually said, "Are you planning to flirt with me again?"

Xu Erfu shrank his neck and glanced at a 300-year-old porcelain vase that he'd casually placed on the window sill, his mouth twitched as he spoke. "Chu Mo has something he wants to talk to you about."

"Oh?" Miao Yi Niang glanced at Chu Mo. "Have you finally come around? Willing to accept me as your maid?"

"..." Chu Mo facepalmed, exasperated. "Where did that thought come from?"

Xu Erfu made a jealous face at them. "Listen... Sister Miao, do you have to be like this? I was one of the people who saved you back then! Why have you always fixated on repaying Chu Mo? This is so unfair!"

Miao Yi Niang glanced at Xu Erfu, then sat down next to Chu Mo. The scent of her perfume wafted over. Chu Mo subtly moved closer to the window.

With a sorrowful expression, Miao Yi Niang said, "See? Now do you understand why?"

"Isn't that just perverse..." Xu Erfu couldn't help rolling his eyes. "You're saying it's because he's been avoiding you all this time that you're so grateful? Fine, I'll keep my distance from you starting tomorrow, too!"

"I would be honored and grateful!" Miao Yi Niang replied.

"..." Xu Erfu was fuming, he poured himself a drink and drank it in one gulp. He then said, "I get it now, you're just not into me. It's heart-breaking. You'd deny a handsome man like me and prefer Chu Mo?"

Miao Yi Niang let out a soft laugh, paying Xu Erfu no mind and turned to Chu Mo, the twinkle in her eyes landing on his face. "Does it have to do with this?"

Chu Mo shook his head. "Sister, you come from honorable heritage, why this self-abasement? I said it back then, I saved you out of opportunistic coincidence, and never expected any gratitude. Over these years, you've done more than enough! Without you, there wouldn't be a Gluttonous Pavilion; without you, I wouldn't have escaped from Yanhuang City. Back then Xu Erfu wasn't there, and neither was my grandpa. You were the only one."

"So strictly speaking, I saved you once, you saved me once. We're even. Even if you decided to leave now, Xu Erfu and I couldn't say anything."

Miao Yi Niang looked at Chu Mo and gave a charming smile. "I like how serious you are."

Thud!

Just as Xu Erfu was taking the first bite, he almost choked. He glared at Miao Yi Niang. "I see what's going on here. The two of you are clearly having an affair!" He swung his gaze at Chu Mo. "Chu Mo, I've been wrong about you. The innocent loser who's never touched a woman? Yeah, right! You are clearly an experienced rogue! Well played, mate."

Chu Mo shot a calm glance at Xu Erfu. "Let's stick to the topic."

"Er..." Xu Erfu was deflated by Chu Mo's three words. He wrung his hands in misery. "Fine. If I lose a wife, so be it. It is what it is."

At this moment, Miao Yi Niang was looking at Chu Mo intently. "Just tell me what you need me to do. After all, even if you don't acknowledge me as your maid, in my heart, you are my master."

"And me?" Xu Erfu anxiously awaited Miao Yi Niang's response.

"You are my master's brother, and also my employer." Miao Yi Niang gazed at Xu Erfu and smiled sweetly.

"Hand me a bucket. I feel like vomiting blood!" Xu Erfu grumbled with rolled eyes.

Chu Mo chose to ignore the fool and said to Miao Yi Niang, "I want to establish an organization of my own!"

"Hmm?" Miao Yi Niang's eyes shone as she watched Chu Mo.

Chu Mo carried on, "Once this organization is fully operational, I hope that they can help me with many things! But at this stage, I just need them to get me any type of intelligence."

Miao Yi Niang looked at Chu Mo with some surprise, "How come you've changed your mind so suddenly? Are you not afraid of causing trouble for your grandpa? Oh dear, my dear master, this is not an easy task. But since you've already thought it through, how about the thing about me being your maid…"

"Can we not talk about that?" Chu Mo looked helpless.

"Okay, you're the master, and your word is law!" Miao Yi Niang seemed very happy, her face full of smiles: "Tell me, what do you want me to do?"

"I want….you to be in charge of this." Chu Mo said: "After all, neither Xu Erfu nor I are suitable for exposing ourselves to the public in such a manner."

Miao Yi Niang thought for a while, then nodded, "Okay, there's no problem with that. But I have a question too."

Chu Mo looked at Miao Yi Niang pitifully: "As long as it's not about you being my maid…"

Miao Yi Niang giggled, gave Chu Mo a glare, and grumbled: "Of course it's not about that! My question is, how far do you want to take this organization? Just tell me straight, what's your ambition? Overthrow the monarchy? Or do you want to become the king of the underworld?"

"Overthrow the monarchy? No, I didn't think about that. But establishing a powerful organization and becoming the king of the underworld...that's plausible!" Chu Mo responded calmly, deliberately pronouncing each word. An ineffable aura exuded from his body.

Even Xu Erfu, who had been absent-minded the whole time, was taken aback, whispering: "The guy...has really changed…"

Miao Yi Niang's beautiful eyes sparkled, she smiled: "I can see you must have been through a lot during these six months! Your mentality has undergone such a major change, however, I like it!"

Chu Mo kept a straight face but was secretly laughing bitterly: Sister, you have no idea what I've been through in the past half year. Xiaoyu left this world because of me. Although the person who caused her departure is already dead, the root cause lies in Great Qi!

What is Great Qi? Great Qi is one of the hegemons of the Azure Dragon Continent!

A powerful empire that isn't inferior to Great Xia in terms of comprehensive strength!

Although he had never confronted Great Qi head-on, their enmity... it was deadly enmity!

Chu Mo also didn't believe he could keep his identity hidden forever. One day, Great Qi would find out that the person who disrupted their twenty years of arrangements... their century-old grand scheme, was the grandson of a general from Great Xia.

Would they let him go at that time?

Chu Mo was never the type to sit and wait for the enemy's attack. The bravery and pride etched in his bones were something ordinary people could not understand.

"I think this plan is feasible!" Miao Yi Niang looked at Chu Mo, then glanced at Xu Erfu: "With both of you young masters anchoring it, I believe... it won't be hard to achieve!"

"As for the specifics, I'll have One-Armed Uncle contact you later. He controls many elite soldiers who have retired from the military. Their loyalty is unquestionable and their abilities extraordinary. They can form the initial core of our organization."

Miao Yi Niang nodded: "Sounds good!"

Xu Erfu suddenly said: "In that case, I think it's time for our Gluttonous Pavilion to begin expanding on a large scale! It can not only make us money but also provide an ideal shelter!"

"That's true, but... do we have enough money?" Chu Mo asked, feeling a pang as he thought of his primordial stones.

"The money we currently have in our account is more than enough to open dozens of branches." Miao Yi Niang said with a smile: "You two young masters merely handed this business over to me, not even asking a single question. If I had the intention, I would probably already be one of the richest women in Great Xia by now!"

"Hehe, we're all family here, why be so formal?" Xu Erfu ever the one to take advantage without shame.

Miao Yi Niang shot Xu Erfu a glare, saying: "Keep your mouth shut! Or I won't mind tossing you out the window."

"Why so fierce, I didn't mean it that way…" Xu Erfu weakly retorted.

Miao Yi Niang picked up the wine jug, poured a cup for Chu Mo first, then Xu Erfu, and finally filled a cup for herself. Raising the cup, she looked at them both, a hint of emotion in her voice: "To be honest, although I'm quite a bit older than you two young masters, you were the ones who saved my life! Thus, your matters are my matters. Rest assured, I promise to devote all my efforts to this."

With that, Miao Yi Niang drank the entire cup of wine in one go.

Chu Mo and Xu Erfu looked at each other and also downed their cups of wine.

Xu Erfu said: "Brother Hei is right; back in the day, it was simply a matter of being at the right place at the right time. Once we were involved, it would have been impossible not to intervene."

Chu Mo nodded.

Xu Erfu went on: "Not to mention sis is so beautiful!"

"..." Chu Mo and Miao Yi Niang both gave Xu Erfu a speechless look, their faces filled with exasperation.

"Ahem… What I mean is, even if it had been someone else in that situation, they wouldn't have sat back and done nothing either." Xu Erfu hastily explained.

Chu Mo looked at Miao Yi Niang, her eyes rimmed with red, and remembered the events of those years.

As for Miao Yi Niang, her story began four years ago.

In that year, both Chu Mo and Xu Erfu were only nine years old.

In a typical family, they might have been considered simple children. But at nine years old, these two had already achieved things many adults would never dream of.

Yes, that was the year Xu Erfu bought a courtesan's freedom from the most lavish brothel in Yanhuang City.

Because of this incident, Xu Erfu experienced significant pressure, both from his family and outside forces. The brothel that could claim to be Yanhuang City's biggest must have strong backing, and it was rumored that its secret owner was the crown prince, Xia Jing.

Nevertheless, Chu Mo and Xu Erfu both knew that it was no rumor.

For a brothel to groom a courtesan, it required at least seven to eight years, even up to a decade. During this process, significant financial and emotional investment was required to produce a proficient courtesan.

The effort to nurture the most popular one... even more needless to say.

Despite that, for a top-tier brothel, it wasn't a loss they couldn't handle. The most popular courtesan was built up to that status. If one left, they could just create another. But if this situation occurred frequently, as with the likes of privileged officials like Xu Erfu demanding courtesans, the brothel would certainly face disaster.

In just a few years, the brothel may have to close its doors.

So, they fiercely resisted Xu Erfu's request, while using every method possible, forging many relationships, and requesting that Xu Erfu give up on the courtesan.

But the person who most supported Xu Erfu taking the courtesan at the time... was Chu Mo!

Because back then, if Xu Erfu didn't take the courtesan with him, her fate... it would have been very grim!

The courtesans in the brothel were, in theory, only selling their artistry, not their bodies. They each possessed remarkable talents, proficient in zither, chess, literature, traditional Chinese paintings, knitting, and embroidery.

The most popular one, naturally, was the one with the best talent.

However, these courtesans only selling their artistry was merely a theory, because if a powerful figure took a liking to one of them, those restraints would disappear, just like a thin layer of paper.

The person who took interest in the courtesan at that time was none other than the most powerful man in the Great Xia Kingdom, next to the emperor -- Xia Jing!