Chapter 3: Absurd

Tai Nuo’s breath brushed against Li Yang’s earlobe. His voice was low and hoarse, a faint, sinister smile hanging on his face like a demon come to collect a soul.

The woman’s legs gave out. She collapsed onto the floor.

Li Yang didn’t take Tai Nuo’s knife.

She buried her face in his broad palm, her voice soft with grievance:

“Shao Yao doesn’t know how to use knives. Just looking at it is exhausting~”

She dragged out the last syllable, acting spoiled, playing the part of a fragile girl who couldn’t survive on her own.

Hearing that, Tai Nuo tossed the dagger to the ground and said to the woman, “Then do it yourself.”

The woman’s face went chalk white. She cried and begged for mercy.

“What, you want me to do it?” Tai Nuo smiled, his crimson lips curving upward on his pale face.

“I suggest you do it yourself, because…” His thumb gently stroked the slightly swollen red mark on Li Yang’s cheek.

“I’m the blind one here. It wouldn’t be good if I accidentally cut your artery.”

The smile slowly faded from his fair, gloomy face.

Stunned and terrified, the woman’s face grew even paler. Trembling, she picked up the dagger from the floor.

“Sir, I faint at the sight of blood.” Li Yang “weakly” rested her head on Tai Nuo’s shoulder.

“Don’t want to watch?” Tai Nuo turned his head, the tip of his nose brushing the fuzzy crown of her hair.

“Don’t want to,” Li Yang said.

“Alright, let’s go back to our room.” Tai Nuo stood up.

Li Yang supported him as they left.

Before walking away, she cast one deep look at the woman.

***

Three in the morning. Crows circled over the hill behind the manor. Li Yang stood alone in the shadows.

She flicked out a throwing knife with crisp precision, killing the noisy crow mid-flight.

Her face under the night sky lacked the heavy, dull makeup from the daytime, revealing her striking bone structure.

Beside her, a middle-aged man with a face full of stubble clicked his tongue in disgust:

“Keep it down. You’re Shao Yao right now. Don’t break your fragile little persona.”

Li Yang wasn’t polite. “It’s three in the morning.”

Meaning she had a bad temper when woken up, and didn’t feel like pretending anymore.

“So what if it’s three?! You’re an undercover agent! Can you have some professional ethics?! That book I gave you, *On the Self-Cultivation of an Undercover Agent*, did you even open it?!”

Li Yang didn’t answer. She just yawned widely.

Hu Jianming hadn’t forgotten the mission for this meetup. He handed a bug to Li Yang:

“This. Plant it in his study.”

Li Yang glanced at it, hands shoved in her pockets. “I can’t get into his study. He’s extremely suspicious. Give up on that idea.”

“Then think of something!” Hu Jianming panicked. “Don’t forget your identity. You’re a public servant of the people, a pillar of the nation. The safety and health of the masses all depend on—”

“Hey, don’t elevate this! Back then I just wanted an iron rice bowl that even explosives couldn’t blow up…”

Li Yang shrugged in disgust. “Who knew the iron rice bowl actually came loaded with explosives.”

According to Hu Jianming’s words back then, if she didn’t accept this undercover mission, she’d be expelled from the police academy.

So she disguised herself as one of Tai Nuo’s maids, “Shao Yao,” and had been lying low in the manor for almost two years.

Hu Jianming: “Get this done, and I’ll apply for your year-end commendation.”

Li Yang raised an eyebrow: “How much is the bonus?”

Hu Jianming: “Enough to satisfy you.”

Li Yang didn’t say anything else. She snatched the bug with one hand, threw on her cloak with the other, then turned around and headed back toward the manor.

Hu Jianming watched her figure grow distant. He closed his mouth, lowered his eyes, and stayed silent.

Li Yang felt her way back to her room in the dark.

Before she could even turn on the lights, she sneezed twice in a row. Her heart tightened involuntarily.

“It’s so late. Where did you go?” Tai Nuo’s voice rang out from the darkness.