abnabooks Chapter 44 The "Rouge Tiger" in the Warm Pavilion
Chapter 44 The "Rouge Tiger" in the Warm Pavilion
Manager Zhao looked disdainful.
"That kid, he's got slicked-back hair and a pretty face, like a young lady."
"But he was too weak. He would be out of breath after singing just a couple of songs. Before Fourth Concubine could even do anything, he was already exhausted and collapsed."
"That's just a showy spearhead, all show and no substance."
"The fourth concubine keeps him around just to keep him as... a lapdog-like thing, just for the novelty."
The conversation turned.
Manager Zhao looked at Lu Cheng with the same gaze he would give a piece of uncut jade, or rather, a piece of fine meat.
"But you're different."
"Boss Lu, you look terrible..."
Manager Zhao looked Lu Cheng up and down.
With sword-like eyebrows, bright eyes, and a high, straight nose, his features were as if carved by a knife and axe.
Especially his masculine aura as a martial artist; you could feel the warmth even through his clothes.
She is the complete opposite of Xiao Shengyun, a effeminate actress.
"You have such sharp features, you exude a real manly air!"
"And look at your energy, your physique..."
"I guarantee that if Fourth Concubine sees you, her eyes will pop out."
"The commander-in-chief's appreciation of your martial arts skills this time is official business."
"But what if I could also win over the fourth concubine..."
Manager Zhao stretched out two fingers and rubbed them together.
"That's just pillow talk!"
"At that time, you won't just be performing in a play; you'll be on a meteoric rise to fame and fortune!"
"Boss Lu, this is an opportunity that so many people would kill for. You have to seize it."
Lu Cheng listened, his face still bearing that gentle smile.
But the smile didn't reach his eyes; instead, it carried a chilling undertone.
Pillow talk?
Trying to please?
What do you take Lu Cheng for?
He was treated like Xiao Shengyun, a male concubine who relied on selling his body and fawning over the powerful to gain wealth.
"Manager Zhao."
Lu Cheng spoke slowly, sending a chill down the spine of Manager Zhao, who was still chattering in front of him.
"In my life, Lu Cheng will only kneel before Heaven, Earth, the Sovereign, Parents, and Teacher."
"As for this opportunity to rise to prominence..."
Lu Cheng shook his head.
"I still prefer to fight my way out with this gun in my hand."
Manager Zhao was stunned, and the smile on his face froze.
He saw Lu Cheng's eyes through the rearview mirror.
Deep within his pupils, a flame seemed to burn—a defiant and arrogant disdain for the powerful and wealthy.
"this……"
Manager Zhao's heart skipped a beat.
broken.
This is hardly an obedient lapdog.
This is clearly an untamed wild wolf!
If he were to enter the Marshal's mansion and run into that capricious fourth concubine who was used to being fawned over...
That's like Mars colliding with Earth!
"Boss Lu, please don't be so stubborn..."
Manager Zhao was about to offer a few more words of advice.
The car jolted and came to a sudden stop.
"arrive."
The driver shouted coldly.
Outside the car window was a vermilion gate, with two rows of heavily armed soldiers standing at the entrance.
The plaque above the gate bears the inscription: "[Ma Mansion]".
A chilling, murderous aura swept over us.
After getting off the car, Lu Cheng stood at the entrance of the Marshal's Mansion, carrying a large gun.
He looked up at the tall gate tower, then at the two snarling stone lions at the entrance.
Sharp Eyes Activated.
In his view, the entire Marshal's Mansion was shrouded in a faint crimson hue.
That's malevolent energy.
It's the accumulated aura of war and... the aura of wronged souls that has been building up in this mansion over the years.
"Boss Lu, please."
Manager Zhao had lost the enthusiasm he had shown in the car and reverted to his usual businesslike gloom.
Instead of going through the main gate, he led Lu Cheng around to a side gate.
"Well... you know the rules."
"With the commander-in-chief absent, and entering the inner quarters, men are not permitted to use the main gate."
Lu Cheng didn't care about these things, nodded, and followed him inside.
We walked through several corridors and across two gardens.
Along this route, there was a guard every three steps and a sentry every five steps.
Those soldiers weren't carrying fire pokers; they were all carrying German-made MP18 submachine guns, commonly known as "flower guns."
With that kind of firepower, let alone a martial arts master, even a company of regular soldiers would be riddled with holes if they charged in.
Lu Cheng remained outwardly calm, but the [Toad-Hunting Force] within his body was already operating secretly.
The lungs contract slightly, blood and qi begin to accelerate, and the senses are amplified to the extreme.
He memorized the blind spots of every sentry post and the height of every wall.
It's instinct.
It is the fighting instinct of a martial arts master when entering dangerous places.
at last.
We arrived at a courtyard called "Tingyuxuan".
Before even entering, I could hear a soft, melodious singing coming from inside—the tune of the Kunqu opera "The Peony Pavilion".
Her voice was soft and melodious, yet it carried a hint of weakness, as if she hadn't eaten enough.
"Such a beautiful day, such a lovely scene, yet what a pity! Whose courtyard enjoys such delightful pleasures..."
Lu Cheng frowned as he listened.
Is this the young Sheng Yun?
What kind of rubbish is that! The breath isn't coming from the diaphragm; it's all just bobbing around in the throat. It's only good for fooling laymen.
"Boss Lu, please wait a moment while I go in and inform him."
Manager Zhao had Lu Cheng stand under the eaves, while he himself, hunched over like a shrimp, lifted the heavy brocade curtain and slipped inside.
Lu Cheng stood in the cold wind.
He didn't feel cold.
On the contrary, I felt that the air in the courtyard was so cloying that it made me nauseous.
It was a scent that mixed expensive cosmetics, incense, and some kind of... decadent aroma.
A short while later.
A woman's voice, extremely lazy yet tinged with a habit of giving orders, came from inside the room.
"Oh, so Master Lu, who can handle the sled, has arrived?"
"Let him in."
"I also want to see if this thing that scared the Qinghe Class to death really has three heads and six arms."
The curtain was lifted.
When Manager Zhao came out, he gave Lu Cheng a wink, meaning: Be very careful and don't say anything carelessly.
Lu Cheng straightened his clothes, picked up his spear, and stepped inside.
boom!
As soon as you enter the room, a wave of heat hits you.
The underfloor heating in this room is burning so brightly, it's practically a steamer.
Lu Cheng looked up.
The warm chamber was extremely large, with thick Persian carpets covering the floor, which felt soft and yielding underfoot.
The surrounding area was filled with valuable porcelain and jade carvings, and the walls were adorned with calligraphy and paintings by famous people of dubious authenticity.
In the very center, there was a huge daybed, covered with a whole white tiger skin.
A woman is lying half-reclined on a tiger skin.
The woman was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, wearing a bright red silk cheongsam with a very high slit, revealing a section of her snow-white thigh.
She was holding a jade pipe and puffing out smoke.
That face was indeed beautiful.
She had an oval face, almond-shaped eyes, and bright red lips. Her eyes and brows exuded charm, or rather, a kind of allure that emanated from her very bones.
This is Yao Hong, the fourth concubine of Marshal Ma.
And on the footrest of that Luohan bed.
A person is kneeling.
It was Xiao Shengyun, who had been missing for two days.
At this moment, where is the slightest bit of the arrogance that Xiao Shengyun had when he was in the Qinghe Class?
He was dressed in a thin gauze dress that resembled a theatrical costume but wasn't quite right, and his face was covered in incongruous makeup. He knelt at Yao Hong's feet like a dog, holding a fruit plate in his hands, and fawningly feeding Yao Hong grapes.
That scene made Lu Cheng's stomach churn.
That's not human.
This is just a piece of junk!
"This humble citizen, Lu Cheng, greets Fourth Concubine."
Lu Cheng did not kneel down like Xiao Shengyun.
He simply clasped his hands in a fist salute, bowed slightly, and performed the customary courtesy of a peer in the martial arts world.
He currently holds the title of Chief Instructor of the Big Sword Squad, which is the rank of Major. Logically speaking, there's no need for him to perform such a grand ceremony with a concubine.
"Um?"
Before Yao Hong could even swallow the grapes in her mouth, her almond-shaped eyes narrowed.
She exhaled a smoke ring and, through the smoke, sized up Lu Cheng.
From those not-so-expensive cloth shoes with multi-layered soles, to that neat black long gown, and then to that angular, neither humble nor arrogant face.
Especially those eyes.
Bright.
It's too bright.
Unlike Xiao Shengyun, who had a fleeting, ingratiating look in her eyes, with a hint of flirtatious charm.
Lu Cheng's eyes are unfathomable; when he looks at you, it's as if two knives are stabbing into your heart.
Yao Hong's heart skipped a beat.
Having worked in the sex industry for so many years, she's seen all sorts of men.
Some were greedy, some were lustful, some were fierce, and some were cowardly.
But someone like Lu Cheng...
She had never seen a man who stood there motionless yet exuded a strong sense of oppression.
Is this... the demeanor of a martial arts master?