C12 Feng Wuqing's Probing
The scope of espionage here is quite broad, including enemies, agents from the Yan Country itself, and, of course, those of King Ximu.
Ximu Longchen glanced at him indifferently. "The new guy—how can you be sure he's not a spy?"
"Well," Xiao Zhu was momentarily at a loss for words. "If I had to say, maybe it's just a gut feeling."
Ximu Longchen gave Feng Wuqing a knowing look. Feng Wuqing nodded and headed towards the kitchen in the backyard.
Lo Li had just finished tidying up and was pouring out a basin of water when Feng Wuqing entered.
"You're Lo Li?" Feng Wuqing asked with a mischievous grin, circling Lo Li with his arms crossed.
"Yes, what do you want?" Lo Li replied coldly, having overheard their earlier conversation and not having a good impression of Feng Wuqing.
Feng Wuqing stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Nothing really, just curious about what you actually look like." As he finished speaking, he suddenly reached out and pulled off the veil covering Lo Li's face.
"Whoa, what the heck! How did you end up looking like that? I mean, it's one thing to be unattractive, but scaring people is just not cool," Feng Wuqing exclaimed loudly. You couldn't really blame him for being startled; the face before him was truly shocking.
The ugliness wasn't due to her features but rather the countless scars crisscrossing her face, clearly showing they had been there for many years.
Lo Li glared and snatched the cloth from Feng Wuqing's hand, quickly covering her face with it.
"Please, sir, show some respect. I know I'm not much to look at, but I'm covering my face. I didn't ask you to stare."
Feng Wuqing was momentarily speechless.
"Sorry, sorry, I was just joking around," he said, turning to leave. But after a few steps, he suddenly spun around and reached for Lo Li's lower half.
Lo Li saw his move but couldn't dodge in time.
"Ah!" she exclaimed, slapping Feng Wuqing across the face.
"What's wrong with you?"
Feng Wuqing chuckled slyly, "I was just checking your size. We're both men, so what's there to be shy about? Want to grab mine too?" He thrust his hips forward suggestively.
Lo Li glared, "Get out!"
"Alright, alright!" Feng Wuqing obediently turned and left.
He had noticed the scars on Lo Li's face and suddenly had a flash of insight, suspecting she might be Princess Mingyue. As the head of the Wind Cloud Pavilion, he wasn't one to overlook details. That grab was his way of confirming her identity.
Once Feng Wuqing was gone, Lo Li let out a deep breath and pulled a squashed ball of dough from her pants.
Fortunately, she had a sudden stroke of genius and stuffed the leftover dough from making noodles into her pants. Otherwise, she couldn't even imagine the consequences. She had originally planned to use that dough to make some soup noodles in the morning, but now that was clearly out of the question.
This incident reminded Lo Li that if she was going to disguise herself, she needed to go all out. Dough was definitely not the answer—it was too soft, deformed easily, and would harden quickly. Lo Li stroked her chin thoughtfully. It seemed like a trip to the farmers' market in the morning was in order. An eggplant might be a good choice. Of course, it couldn't be too fresh, as it would be too firm and awkward to walk with. A slightly wilted one might just do the trick.