Chapter 137: Chapter 138: The Mistress

“Please sit and have some tea.”

As soon as Qi Yue finished speaking, the four persons of varying heights and builds sat down in unison and started drinking tea.

All four lifted their masks and picked up their tea cups almost simultaneously.

It was as if they were controlled by the same puppeteer’s strings.

But once they put down their cups, none of them could remain composed.

The chubby man, grinning widely, continuously gasped for air, “Host, another cup, please!”

The skinny one quickly added, “The host’s water is truly like a sweet spring, it would be great to have a few more bowls.”

The tall one didn’t want to be left behind, “This tea’s aftertaste lingers; one sip makes one want more.”

The short one simply flashed his empty cup and said roughly, “I want more, this water is delicious!”

…

Qi Yue raised an eyebrow.

Sure enough, they had been feigning indifference all along!

She motioned for her maid, Xiaolian, to continue pouring tea. It was just tea made with Spiritual Spring Water, of which she had plenty.

The group didn’t stop until they had finished a whole teapot.

“Host, just tell us what to do,” they said.

All four stood up simultaneously, once again moving in concert.

Qi Yue smiled slightly.

“I never said I needed you four to do anything!”

The four men were suddenly confused, their coordination faltering.

The chubby one said, “You invited us into your house, served us tea, that means you’ve hired us!”

The skinny one stated, “Host, we are loyal, and each of us has a special skill. Employing us would not be a loss.”

The tall one added, “Host, with us here, your house won’t be troubled by thieves anymore.”

The short one said, “We’ll work without wages, a pot of tea a day will suffice.”

Pointing at the teapot on the table, he added, “Just like this one here.”

“…”

Qi Yue couldn’t shake the feeling that these four had come prepared.

They couldn’t possibly be here so brazenly just to scout the place.

She quickly signaled for the old servant to come over and spoke softly, “Repeat to me the specifics of how you found them.”

According to the old servant, as soon as she mentioned hiring skilled people through the black market, these four were recommended.

“Miss, that person said, these four are top-notch experts who, due to some circumstances, find themselves needing to guard houses and serve as protectors,” she explained.

Upon hearing this, Qi Yue understood.

She had noticed as soon as they entered the house that each of them had various degrees of severe injuries, which is why she had them sit in the hall.

Thinking back on what they had just said, they seemed eager to take up the job of guarding and protecting her house.

Clearly, they knew something was amiss at her place.

Quite intriguing indeed!

Seeing them whisper among themselves, the short one couldn’t hold back any longer.

“Host, just employ us. Four pots of this tea a day as our wage,” he burst out.

Upon hearing this, the other three exchanged looks but none objected.

Qi Yue pursed her lips.

They were clearly after her Spiritual Spring Water.

This was getting more interesting by the moment.

“It seems you all are particularly interested in the tea here in my residence?”

At this, the four visibly flinched.

However, quickly, the tall one stood and spoke up.

“Not hiding anything from you, host, the four of us have been ambushed and poisoned with a mysterious toxin that is incurable. We heard about the miraculous properties of your water and originally planned to ask for it directly, but coincidentally, you needed protectors.”

“So,” Qi Yue curled her lips, “you purposely followed me, to panic me, then headed to the black market to lure me into inviting you in?”

The four swiftly waved their hands, swearing and denying this.

“Host, we haven’t done such a thing. If we had, we would have admitted it.”

“Yes, host, we were also worried about how to approach you directly when your associate arrived.”

“Please believe us…”

“….”

Qi Yue figured it out, they seemed sincere and straightforward, not cunning enough for such schemes.

It seemed that the person secretly following her wasn’t one of them.

Otherwise, the tall one wouldn’t have openly admitted to knowing about the benefits of her tea.

“How did you know the water at my residence had healing powers?”

The chubby one chuckled with a grin.

“It’s related to the previous diarrhea situation among the townsfolk.”

The tall one promptly took over the conversation.

“At that time, everyone in the city was in agonizing abdominal pain, suffering immensely, and even other pharmacies were not spared. Only the people at your place were full of energy, tirelessly brewing medicine for days without showing signs of fatigue or poisoning.”

The short one eagerly interjected, “;…..After some investigation, we also found out that a girl named Baoshuang in the pharmacy had been poisoned after going home.”

“Putting it all together, we concluded the water in the residence was unusual, and indeed so it was upon drinking it today. Please, you must accept the four of us as your household protectors!”

Finally, the thin one concluded decisively, his voice as light as the wind, making Qi Yue feel chilled.

“Please, you must accept us!”

“Please, shelter us!”

“…”

Qi Yue tugged at her lips.

These four were indeed very forthright, and their words logically made sense, but why did she feel something strange about it?

Speaking of being poisoned, she hadn’t noticed it at all; it was clearly just severe injuries, and those were external.

Furthermore, she couldn’t believe these four didn’t know of her reputation as Divine Doctor; they could have easily sought her treatment, but they completely avoided mentioning it, obviously hiding something odd.

Yet at this point, it seemed impossible not to keep them around.

Firstly, they already knew the secret of her water; secondly, she wanted to use their help to find the person following her.

Thirdly, she had heard that Hu Chengxuan was returning and might seek people to confront her, along with the mysterious person from the black market books theft…

However skilled she was, she still only had two hands and two eyes.

“Alright then, you may stay. As for the tea, help yourselves daily.”

“Thank you, my lady.”

All four responded together and joyfully went downstairs.

The chubby one even took the teapot from the table, saying he was worried he might not find a teapot later.

“My lady, are these people trustworthy? Did I make a mistake again?”

Zhang Popo’s usually calm face looked a bit worried.

“No worries, it’s quite interesting.”

“Could it really be akin to letting wolves into our house?”

“I don’t think so, these people are likely just not telling the whole truth.”

Qi Yue spoke lightly, but her mind was pondering, maybe she needed to stock up more Small Fragrant Melons from the market.

If throwing one or two doesn’t kill a Martial World expert, wouldn’t ten do the job?

Meanwhile, Cai Wei had arranged accommodations for the four men, tall, short, fat, and thin, following Qi Yue’s instructions.

The group grabbed a teapot and sat under the eaves chatting.

As soon as they saw no one around, they tossed their masked scarves and hats to the ground, revealing four very different faces.

Two fat and two thin, they were actually two sets of twin brothers.

“This really wasn’t easy, the lady of the house is not easy to fool!” the chubby one sighed.

The thin one drank a sip of tea and nodded.

“Indeed, she is the woman our master likes; we almost got completely exposed.”

“If not for my quick reaction, could you still be sitting here drinking tea?” the tall one boasted.

“You?” the short one snorted, “You almost spilled that we were sent by our master.”

“What do you know, that’s called mixing truth and deception, the imaginary and the real!”

“Stop arguing, let’s quickly drink the tea. The master was right, the lady’s water can indeed heal our wounds.”

“Let me tell you, the lady is smart and alert. Don’t keep calling her ‘the lady’ so casually, or we might slip up eventually.”

“You better watch your own mouth first!”

“Exactly, just now, you were the least helpful! We almost couldn’t stay!”

“That was called biding my time, waiting for the best opportunity.”

“You can drop it, if you fail to protect the lady, the master will deal with you, and we won’t help.”

“…”