Robbery in Broad Daylight

Evan Xiao took a deep breath. "Consider it your consultation fee."

"A consultation fee is just a few coins! Two taels are more than enough," Chloe Zhu shook her head thoughtfully. "I can't deceive myself like that."

Evan Xiao's gaze turned cold. He reached out, and Chloe Zhu was pulled toward him as if she were a metal drawn to a magnet—"whoosh," she was caught in his grasp.

Her neck was caught in his hand.

"Lily Bai, what do you want?" Evan Xiao glared at Chloe Zhu, his eyes as sharp as ice, asking each word distinctly.

"General, please calm down!" Chloe Zhu pried at his hand, pretending to be terrified. "I... I just can't accept a reward for no reason. For my mother's illness, I was planning to sell myself as a servant at the Prime Minister's residence—"

"I'm asking what it'll take for you to treat Sophie." Evan Xiao interrupted her.

"How about you wait a few days? Once I'm in the Prime Minister's residence, you can talk to the master there and have them send me over—"

"Now." Evan Xiao interrupted her again.

"Now... I really can't," Chloe Zhu said. "I've already made an appointment. If I miss this chance, I'll never find another family willing to pay so much!"

"Shut up!" Evan Xiao lost his patience. "Do you believe I'll strangle you right now?"

"Or, or how about this!" Chloe Zhu said again. "Your pay is high too. If you let me go back and keep working as your maid, I won't go to the Prime Minister's residence."

"Impossible!" Evan Xiao replied.

"Then... then I really have no choice. You might as well just strangle me!" Chloe Zhu closed her eyes.

"Come with me!" Evan Xiao dragged her away.

Just then, a sickly-looking middle-aged woman hurried out, trembling as she walked. She grabbed Lily Bai and shouted, "Xiaoyu! My Xiaoyu! Someone help! Robbers! Broad daylight, and they're kidnapping a girl!"

"No, madam!" Louis Lin wiped sweat from his forehead and quickly explained, "This is the General!"

"General?" The nursemaid looked at the imposing man, clutching her mischievous young lady by the neck, and thought, why do they look so well matched?

"Yes! He's the General!" Louis Lin said quickly. "You—"

"General, what are you doing? Are you trying to strangle my daughter?" The nursemaid interrupted Louis Lin, wailing and crying, "Oh heavens! Oh earth! Who will save my Xiaoyu? If anything happens to her, I won't go on living!"

"Sister, sister!" Hope and Claire Bai were crying as well. "Who will save our sister!"

Evan Xiao's ears buzzed from all the noise. He blurted out, "Fine! I promise you! You can go back to being a maid! Happy now?"

Happy!

Very happy!

A glimmer of triumph flashed in Chloe Zhu's eyes. She cleared her throat and said, "Alright then, General, please let go of me first. I need to talk to my mother and sisters."

Evan Xiao let her go a bit roughly and turned away, taking a deep breath.

Grace rubbed her sore neck and said to her mother, "Mom, please stop crying. I'm fine! Who is the General? He's the Iron-blooded War God of Blue Moon Kingdom! Our protector! How could he possibly kidnap a girl in broad daylight, right?"

"Then why was he grabbing your neck just now?"

"He wasn't! If the General had really grabbed my neck, would I still be alive? Just now, there was some medicine residue on my neck, and the General helped me brush it off!" Grace explained.

"Really?" The nursemaid squinted suspiciously.

"Really! Now, I'm going back to work as the General's maid. He said that from now on, no matter what mistakes I make—as long as I don't kill or set fires—he won't lay a finger on me! And, he said he'll pay me ten taels a month, four more than before!"

As she spoke, she looked at Evan Xiao, "General, is that right?"