"Are all the maids from another world actually fierce warriors?" Yuan quietly sipped his snow-topped coffee, picking up a spoon for his snow ice cream on the side, starting to fiddle with the snow cap. "You don't seem very surprised," he said.
Having completely changed from her maid appearance… well, she didn't look much like a maid to begin with, Miss Maid was now standing at the door of the shop. She kicked off the decorative gloves and the pretty yet impractical leather shoes. With her white stockings stepping on a guy who had just rushed in, that guy, who didn't know whether to pity or envy him, had completely lost consciousness and lay on the fallen door.
"After all, this shop wasn't very normal to begin with... I'm used to it." Yuan glanced at the big guys coming out of the kitchen and lounge on the other side, tearing off the overly gruesome maid costumes like cat ears and changing into normal clothes for ease of movement.
As he said this, Yuan couldn't help but admire his own resilience in his heart. Should I say I truly am something? Despite scaring away so many customers, I could still eat all the food without changing expression.
Or maybe it's just a sense of pity for money...
Speaking of which, what kind of shop is this? Why are the staff members so strong? The only girl is fierce enough to kick a rampaging troublemaker out of the shop and onto the street.
"Um, do you mind if I ask what you guys do here?" Yuan took another spoonful of snow ice cream, swirled the spoon around, and asked.
Miss Maid cast a strange look at him, expecting Yuan to be shocked by what he saw. However, the boy who even seemed a bit fragile was quite calm. "It's best if you pretend you haven't seen us, it's not good for you." After leaving behind those words, Miss Maid walked out of the shop towards the outside, and the other tough staff members in the shop also ignored Yuan, one by one quickly leaving.
After watching them leave, Yuan closed his eyes, focusing on his ears. Amid the noisy sounds outside, the footsteps of the Maid Café group unexpectedly stood out due to their orderly pace.
"Hey Ling, did you notice that kid's expression just now? Especially when he kicked that guy out, his jaw almost hit the floor."
"Shut up! If you idiots hadn’t begged the general so persistently during the distribution, how could I have ended up in this place?!" she said impatiently.
"A Maid Café without a single real maid? That's just absurd!"
"Get lost! I never pretended to be one in the first place!"
...Ah, is that so?
Yuan somewhat regretfully propped his face and lowered his head. What kind of luck do I have? Just taking a break and wanting to hold the hand of a maid, I could encounter some hidden forces lurking in the shadows. It’s really too unreasonable.
No wonder these foods always give off a strange feeling when eating them. Now Yuan finally understands what this feeling is. It's just... not refined at all. It doesn’t have the feeling that a bourgeois café should have, whether in presentation or taste, it's all full of the feel of military mess hall food!
Although he doesn't know how those guys managed to infuse the feeling of mess hall food into desserts and drinks, that feeling is right on.
"Seriously, isn’t the timing just too tight? They don't give people any chance to relax at all."
Having gulped down all of his iced coffee in one go, Yuan reluctantly abandoned the remaining snow ice cream in his cup. He pushed back his chair and walked out.
"Things have gotten so chaotic; it no longer has the appearance of the first city of the Celestial Empire. There are still many places I want to visit... But, it suits me just fine." Yuan glanced at the streets filled with looting and the unfortunate ones lying on the ground and shook his head with regret, "Let’s wrap this up quickly."
...
Wu-- Wu-- Wu--
Inside the city of Luojing, chaos reigns as the riots in the slums and the city guards' attack on the imperial palace have plunged the city into turmoil. Meanwhile, outside the city, there is no respite as three well-organized heavy armored formations slowly approach the city gates, signaling the start of the battle with three long blasts of the horn.
As the defense of the imperial capital city, Luojing, is not weak, although it doesn't need to be fortified to the extent of a border fortress due to years of peace, there are still plenty of heavy weapons like crossbows and cannons. However, in order to ensure the capture of the palace, more than half of the city guards have been redeployed, leaving just about ten thousand troops to defend the city walls—a task not easily accomplished.
Unlike the city guards, the army summoned by Xiangji brought along a variety of military equipment, as they originally used the excuse of heading north to the border regions. Their heavy weapons aimed at the city defenses are as potent as those of the city guards, and within five minutes, they had turned the western gate of Luojing into a sea of flames using stone-throwing trebuchets loaded with oil pots.
Most importantly, with a significant number of the city guard's archers reassigned to the palace, they found themselves in a situation similar to the imperial guards—able to fight back but powerless to stop the assault on the city gates.
The only stroke of luck was that the thickness of the city gates was not on par with those of the imperial palace, and the solid iron gates, once dropped, were nearly impregnable, providing a brief respite in the defense.
The roaring flames on the city walls sent smoke billowing into the sky, visible even from within the imperial palace. Now, even the ordinary maids and servants in the court understood the gravity of the situation. While there was no chaos thanks to the management of Wu Shengchen, anxiety still lingered in the air.
"Prime Minister!"
Xiangji rushed into Wu Shengchen's study from Wuding Gate, only to find Wu Shengchen sitting behind his desk, massaging his temples with a troubled expression.
"Your Highness, the Crown Prince."
Upon seeing Xiangji, Wu Shengchen set aside his headache and rose to pay his respects.
"Xiang Liang has launched an attack on the city, and the Imperial Guards are struggling to hold on. How should we respond?"
"The question you ask is identical to that of the commanding officer earlier."
"Uh..." Xiangji was taken aback, unsure of what Wu Shengchen meant, so he decided to cut to the chase and express his thoughts directly, "I wonder if there are any forces outside the Imperial Guards that can resist in case the palace is breached. Once that happens, the safety of the Emperor..."
"You need not worry about that, Your Highness," Wu Shengchen said, stroking his beard. "If Your Highness is loyal and filial, please keep the city guards outside Wuding Gate."
"But—"
"Please, it's come to this. I have no more strategies to offer," Wu Shengchen gestured, indicating his clear intention to be left alone.
"...Understood. My apologies," Xiangji fell silent for a moment, bowed, and left the room.
Once his back was turned to Wu Shengchen, Xiangji's expression immediately darkened. No more strategies? Who would believe that? Leaving aside everything else, even though his own father was sick, the command of the Qingyu Guards, a level higher than the imperial guards, must be in Wu Shengchen's hands.
Originally, he had planned to wait for his younger brother to make a move first to leverage the part of the palace troops directly loyal to the Emperor, but now it seemed that, aside from the Imperial Guards, Wu Shengchen had no intention of providing more help.
That stubborn old man!
Wu Shengchen was well aware that even if Xiang Liang breached the palace, the Emperor and the old courtiers would not be harmed, as this usurper had no legal claim to the throne. However, Xiangji and his faction of courtiers might not fare so well.
The current situation was a race against time—whether his private army outside the city would breach the walls of Luojing first or the imperial palace would fall. If he were to die here, even if his army managed to enter later, it would be of no avail.
Yes, it is crucial not to die, and not to wait inside the imperial city.
With this in mind, the Crown Prince suddenly had a flash of inspiration and turned back in a hurry just a few steps out of the study: "Master Wu, are there any secret passages leading outside in the imperial city? Uh?"
Xiangji witnessed an unbelievable scene.
Strolling, running, rolling…
Ahem ahem! Of course, it's not that exaggerated, but the act of holding his head low, supporting his head with elbows on the table, and pulling his hair frantically was something he had never seen in this veteran minister from three dynasties.
What's this? What's going on? The Crown Prince's mind was filled with question marks.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the study became somewhat awkward.
Master Wu Shengchen's movement stiffened for a moment, then slowly straightened his body.
"Why did you come back?"
Xiangji saw a murderous intent in the old man's eyes.
"It's, it's nothing, I was impulsive, I take my leave, I take my leave."
The Crown Prince with cold sweat left the room.
"Your Highness, what do we do now?"
Asked one of the guards.
"...Send a few people to check if there are any secret passages, the rest of you, go help on the city wall," the Crown Prince said somewhat dejectedly.
Meanwhile, inside the room, the Prime Minister, who just drove the Crown Prince out, was still very worried, not because of the commotion outside, everything so far had been within expectations regarding the actions of Xiangji and Xiangliang. The problem now was that Qiao Qiao had disappeared!
She was the daughter of his friend, and honestly, Wu Shengchen had a special affection for this girl. He had originally kept her in the study to protect her because he knew that even if Xiangliang breached the city, he wouldn't harm him, at least giving Qiao Sida an explanation.
But now, with Qiao Qiao missing, at this time when the palace was in chaos, he might not be able to know immediately if something went wrong.
"Where on earth did that girl run off to..."
...
At this moment, the "girl" the Prime Minister mentioned was wandering in the northeast corner of the imperial city.
This area was where the palace servants lived, and the buildings were still in line with the surrounding style, but the layout was obviously more cramped compared to other areas, giving it a bit of the feel of a slum in the palace.
Qiao Qiao was hiding in the courtyard of a kitchen. Because the city guards were attacking, most of the palace servants had been ordered back to their homes by Wu Shengchen, so there were still quite a few people in this area. Fortunately, they were all obediently staying indoors, so basically no one noticed her.
Qiao Qiao even managed to sneak into the kitchen and grab two pieces of mung bean cakes to eat, strolling around while enjoying her snacks.
Hmm... she wasn't just idling away her time, Qiao Miss was actually thinking very seriously about how to escape from the palace.
After learning about the city guards attacking from passing maidservants, she slipped away. Even though grandpa said he could guarantee her safety, her mother was still at home. With things so chaotic outside, who knows what could happen.
Yes, she had to go back.
