章 48: Evil Breeds Evil

"Because evil breeds evil," Wei Kangnuan stated as he looked into her pure black eyes. "Those people that died were either useless or arrogant fools. Aside from damaging the reputation of the noble families, they did nothing to contribute to the clan name."

"I heard that about three of them were from common families though?" Peng Mingzhu mentioned with confused eyes.

"They are disabled men that were dependent on alcohol to get through the harsh days," Wei Kangnuan told her without even a flicker in his eyes as he talked.

"Oh…" Peng Mingzhu mumbled under her breath. "What a waste of my time."

"Right?!" Wei Kangnuan suddenly exclaimed upon hearing her words. "Since we agree with each other, how about doing something fun?"

Shaking her head, Peng Mingzhu rejected his offer, "No, I can't. I have some business that I need to work on."

"That is fine. Surely I can tag along. I mean, with me along, there would not be a single person in the capital that would dare to deny your request," Wei Kangnuan tried to tempt with twinkling eyes.

Once again, she shook her head resolutely, "No, I have a meeting. It's not to deal or discuss with people from the capital, but to handle the affairs of my people. Anyhow, I should leave now."

"Why are you always in such a hurry to leave when you are with me?" Wei Kangnuan held her hand and asked her with an almost begging voice.

"You just happen to always come when I'm busy. What can I say? You have bad luck?" Peng Mingzhu shrugged and then released her wrist from his hold.

"Wait, hold up!" Wei Kangnuan tried to hold her back one more time. "Where are you and your people meeting at? Maybe I can give you guys a more private place if you want one? Or maybe I can come? I mean, I am the prince, so if you need any information about my country, I can definitely help out."

"Hm…" Peng Mingzhu put her hand to chin and hummed while thinking. 'Should I? Or should I not? Hm… I'll ask Qiang-gege first.'

When she put her hand down from her chin, Wei Kangnuan immediately went closer to her with bright eyes and asked, 'So? Can I come?"

Again, she shook her head to say, "No, not yet. Let me ask them first."

Hearing her reject him three times already, Wei Kangnuan finally gave a sad sigh and relented, "Alright… But if you guys need any help, come to me, alright? Staying in the capital, I really have nothing to do."

Nodding her head, Peng Mingzhu said, "Okay. I'll make sure to ask you if we need anything from you."

Then, Peng Mingzhu turned around with the thought to quickly head back to the inn. However, before she could even move, her hand was once again grabbed by Wei Kangnuan.

"Haha… How about allowing me to escort you back to the inn?" Wei Kangnuan asked with a sheepish smile on his face.

Sighing to show her resignation, Peng Mingzhu answered, "Fine. It's not like I can stop you anyhow."

Once she spoke those words, she tried to remove her hand from his grasp. Only, the more she pulled, the tighter his grip was on her wrist.

"You… How long do you plan to hold my hand?" Peng Mingzhu asked through gritted teeth.

"You already promised me that I could hug you and hold your hand," Wei Kangnuan justified with a proud smile.

"I said in private! Private!" Peng Mingzhu exclaimed in a quiet voice while looking around to see if any of the passersby were staring at them. "Do you not know what private stands for?"

Thankfully, there seemed to be an agreement or consensus amongst the ordinary people because even though they were being quite rowdy in the street, no one stared at them with interest or strange eyes.

"Of course I do!" Wei Kangnuan answered with a light chuckle. "But there is no way I will behave so courteously towards you! If I do, how am I so sure that I will be able to romanticize your heart?"

"Wei… Kangnuan… I'm giving you a warning now. Let go in 3 seconds, or I will…" Peng Mingzhu threatened, her sentence not finished yet when Wei Kangnuan instantly let go of her hand.

"Goodness, so threatening…" Wei Kangnuan remarked with a grin still strong on his face.

"Like I said, in public," Peng Mingzhu coughed out with a blush. "Anyways, let's hurry along already."

"Yes, yes," Wei Kangnuan immediately replied in return obediently like a good pet, which of course he was not.

After walking along the same route and about the same distance, the two finally reached the inn entrance. At that point, Wei Kangnuan really did not want to see her walking forward to enter the inn.

He really hated seeing her back walk off towards the farther distance. For some reason, he was able to imagine that she would be leaving forever, never returning again.

Then again, he may just be having trauma from the last time she left with no traces at all. He knew that they were too young at the time, but to the lonely him, her company was the best thing he had ever known and had.

Feeling his passionate stare at her back, Peng Mingzhu turned around and left a message with a deep shade of red, "I'll be cooking again once I'm done with my meeting… If you don't want to leave yet… You can ask Manager Bai to give you a private room. I'll head to your room once I'm done cooking…"

Wei Kangnuan thought that he would have to leave again after spending a super short time with her, but suddenly, he was granted amnesty.

Originally, he was just about to frown in disappointment. However, now he was smiling so wide that even his eyes were smiling along with his lips.

Of course, before he could even respond to her invitation, she already entered the inn and speedily walked to her room with a calm face as though she did not just blush at the front entrance.

Naturally, this elicited a loud chuckle from Wei Kangnuan causing the onlookers to look at him strangely. Only when they discovered that the person laughing was their second prince did they quickly look away in order to not land in any trouble.

'So cute…' Wei Kangnuan mindlessly muttered in his mind with a big smile showing on his face before he also entered the inn himself to go ask Manager Bai for a private room.

Going up the stairs of the inn after passing the dining area, Peng Mingzhu entered her room and then opened up her system menu to call the Communication Center.

She thought that she would have to wait a while before someone answered since the time was currently lunch break, but amazingly, they answered just as soon as she called.

"Xiao Nai, you're free today?" Xiao Qiqiang immediately asked as soon as he answered her call.

"I thought that I'd have to head out to the city to find the big clans, but apparently they were unneeded people in their clans. Already abandoned, I guess you can say," Peng Mingzhu explained with a sigh.

"What are your next plans?" Xiao Qiqiang asked with a serious voice.

"I've recently taken a subordinate in this world. I've been thinking that I could possibly set up business on the port," Peng Mingzhu answered the question that he posed.

"Business at the port? Will it be successful? What's famous there?" Xiao Qiqiang began to ask the important details.

"Even though the country has great ships to sail with, they don't utilize it much," Peng Mingzhu informed him on the things she has learned from the books. "They don't know how to cook many seafoods and many of the shellfish that we eat, they don't. I'm thinking about setting up a seafood restaurant at the port."

"A seafood restaurant?" Xiao Qiqiang repeated carefully. "It'll be a good business considering that you're a great cook. However, how do you plan to get the manpower to get enough ingredients to use everyday?"

"Hm… When are you coming?" Peng Mingzhu asked while thinking about his question.

"Should be in about a month or so," he answered. "Why?"

"When you do, bring some more things that I can auction for high amounts of money," Peng Mingzhu told him. "I've already scanned the books about the most rarest and expensive things in the world, so you can look over it to help you see what can give us more money."

"Okay, that's it, right?" Xiao Qiqiang asked.

"Hm… And bring over a few men," Peng Mingzhu told him.

"How many?" Xiao Qiqiang continued to ask.

"Not many," Peng Mingzhu answered as she thought about the most important people she needed. "I need you to bring someone to handle training customer service, filleting and cooking, how to fish shellfish, how to fish other marine animals, an architect master, an oriental interior designer, and any other people that would be essential to building my restaurant. Also, bring over Team S."

"Team S?" Xiao Qiqiang repeated with obvious surprise in his voice.