A Gentleman's Desire

Lin Luo nodded slightly.

She invited him into the courtyard.

"There's no need for that. I'll talk to you for a while. I'm in a hurry to go to the next house." The official licked the tip of his brush and opened the booklet to write. "Miss Lin, you were born on the first day of the new year. You're already 18 this year, but you're not married yet, right?"

Lin Luo nodded.

"Then you have to hurry up and marry yourself off. Otherwise, you'll be dragged to the military camp after the new year."

"Let me tell you, military prostitutes don't have it easy."

"Hurry up."

With that, the official placed the brush on his ear and asked Lin Luo, "Do you have a cousin called Lin Ying? She's almost 18 years old, so I have to rush her. Where does her family live? In the courtyard beside your house?"

Lin Luo shook her head and gave the bailiff directions.

The bailiff's expression darkened. "Why does she live so far away?"

-

Yan Su and the others left Little Bay Village, but they didn't go to town.

Instead, after disguising herself, she followed the coastline to the west and arrived at the garrison of the White Sand Floating Beach.

"The new batch of pirates were released from the West Coast by this group of heartless people." Rong Guang gritted his teeth.

The new army guarded the unguarded coast tightly. However, who would have thought that not only was the new county magistrate in cahoots with the pirates, but even the coastal defense army was on the side of outsiders?

"Master, should we catch someone to ask?" Qi Zhou asked with a frown.

Nothing good would come of the pirates coming ashore. It was unknown what the new county magistrate and the coastal defense army were up to, but they actually ignored this and even covered up for them.

Yan Su said in a cold and emotionless voice, "If you want to ask, you shouldn't ask them." Yan Su was wearing a smiley mask at this moment.

"Tell our people to be careful. Don't let the pirates harm ordinary people."

With that, Yan Su turned around and left.

Qi Zhou and Lin Herong looked at each other. Qi Zhou said to Yang Zheng, "The pirates are cunning and cruel, so the new army will have difficulty resisting them. When can General Yang start training the new army?"

Yang Zheng waved his loose embroidered robe. "I was about to say that. The new army doesn't even have a suitable weapon, yet you guys want them to fight against the pirates with scimitars? You guys are delusional."

"What's the use of training these new recruits without weapons? To send them to their deaths?"

"I can't do this sort of thing."

Qi Zhou sighed. He also knew that the new army lacked weapons, which was why they had targeted the iron ore mountain of Black Wind Mountain. However, who would have thought that Black Wind Mountain would suddenly collapse and be exposed to the authorities?

Salt and iron were strictly regulated. Without iron ore in hand, how could they make weapons?

After Yan Su pondered for a moment, he said with a solemn voice, "Hurry up with the training. We have some progress on obtaining weapons."

"That's more like it." Yang Zheng snorted.

Even if he was no longer the commander-in-chief of a country and had to stay in this small fishing village, he definitely wouldn't let the soldiers under him suffer.

The group removed their disguises and went to the town. When they sat down in the Heaven Immortal Tower, Lin Herong said with disinterest, "In my opinion, it's better to let Miss Lin cook than eat outside. Even the feces Miss Lin cook will definitely be delicious."

Everyone was speechless. Was he praising Miss Lin or insulting her?

The shopkeeper of the Heavenly Immortal Tower was also speechless.

Yang Zheng agreed. "After eating Miss Lin's food, I realized that I've been suffering for most of my life. That pot of steamed pork was so delicious that my teeth were about to fall out."

"Miss Lin's culinary skills are indeed superb."

"Last time, I ate two bowls of noodles with Miss Lin's prawn sauce."

"What's impressive about eating two bowls of noodles? I ate three bowls of rice with the pickled vegetables Miss Lin made last time!"

Yang Zheng clicked his tongue. "No wonder I keep seeing Miss Lin staring blankly at the rice tank at home. She must be regretting attracting you good-for-nothings."

Everyone else was also speechless.

"Ahem, we paid Miss Lin."

"With Miss Lin's culinary skills, if my mother hadn't forbade me from courting out-of-town girls, I would have married her."

Yan Su glanced at that person gloomily.

Yan Su's cold glance sent a chill down that person's spine.

After this conversation, everyone missed Lin Luo's culinary skills even more and felt a little disappointed. The shopkeeper of the Heaven Immortal Tower almost gritted his teeth. If they din't want to eat here, get lost. Why praise others in front of her?! How enraging!

Fortunately, there were many people and they ordered a lot of food. This made the shopkeeper a little happier.

The meal was very bland to them. Just as they were about to leave, there was suddenly a commotion outside.

When the group walked out, they realized that there were many people outside. Lin Herong found a man and asked, "What happened?"

"Someone died!" The man's face was pale. "The person who died was a girl. Her fiancé provoked someone he shouldn't have, so she was killed with a single slash on the streets!"

Lin Herong frowned. "Really?"

He took a few glances, but then the authorities evacuated the crowd and pulled the corpse away.

Lin Herong returned to Yan Su's side and reported in a low voice, "Master, judging from the wound, it's a dagger stab, not that of a scimitar. It probably wasn't the pirates who did it."

As Yan Su stared at the bloodstains on the ground, he pursed his lips in silence.

-

It was almost dark when Lin Luo finally heard movement outside.

After she opened the door and walked out, she saw Yan Su standing at her door in a daze.

Yan Su was in a daze and her eyes were a little red.

His raised eyebrows and the redness at the corner of his eyes were very arresting.

Lin Luo waved her hand in front of him. "Are you drunk? Did you go to the wrong courtyard?"

Yan Su glanced at her. "I'm not drunk."

He raised his hand and revealed the unsightly tinfoil bag that had been stepped on as he said, "The Peak of Sunset Snow from Heavenly Immortal Tower is very delicious, so I brought you a portion. On the way back, it was accidentally trampled on by Lin Herong."

His tone seemed very calm, but Lin Luo felt that he sounded a little aggrieved.

Lin Luo couldn't help but laugh.

After she took the tinfoil, she suddenly remembered what the bailiff had said during the day.

"Yan Su, do you like me?"

Yan Su's pupils dilated and his heart raced. When his fair skin blushed, it looked like peach blossoms blooming. He looked very charming.

He had drunk two glasses of wine, but he shouldn't be so drunk that he was hallucinating, right?

"As expected, drinking delays things," Yan Su said as he calmed down.

He turned around and walked towards his house.

He was a well-mannered gentleman and walking around drunk was unseemly, so he had to go back and study in order to sober up.

Lin Luo tugged at the corner of his shirt and smiled widely.

"Dumb scholar, you're not hallucinating."

When did she fall for him?

Lin Luo couldn't explain it clearly. At first, it was only because of this person's handsome appearance and him taking care of the original host for three years in the past that Lin Luo admired and treated him well.

But later on, this fool forced himself to stay up all night because of her offhand remarks.

What goes around comes around. She never took others' kindness for granted.

Lin Luo couldn't tell if she was lusting after Yan Su because of his handsome looks or because of his character.

However, Lin Luo knew one thing.

If she had to find someone to spend the rest of her life in this vast sea of people…

She hoped that this person was Yan Su.

"Hey, it's not gentlemanly to make a lady wait too long." Lin Luo pretended to be calm under Yan Su's hazy gaze, but her ears were burning.

Taking the initiative to ask was her way of getting an explanation for these feelings, but in her two lifetimes, Lin Luo had never been in a relationship.

A breeze blew and Yan Su smelled the faint incense on Lin Luo.

She was wearing the sachet he had given her.

Yan Su suddenly felt an irresistible urge.

A graceful lady was a good match for a gentleman.