Chapter 113: I Don’t Want to Like You
The boss’s authority was challenged. His face turned iron-blue as he reached behind his waist for his gun.
…Huh?? Where was his gun?!
Chi Qian’s waist bulged slightly, hiding her achievement.
“You’re rebelling against me?!” the boss roared, glaring at the underling carrying Chi Qian. “I brought you into the organization, and now you betray me too?”
The underling said tactfully, “Boss, you’re great. But he needs me more—his legs aren’t good, he still needs me to carry him.”
Boss: “*%#￥%!!”
The other underlings surged forward, beat him down, and tied him up.
Then they bowed deeply to Chi Qian, “Boss, please lead us from now on! If you tell us to steal chickens, we won’t even touch dogs!”
“Boss!!”
One “boss” after another—enough to make anyone feel soft.
Chi Qian put on a moved expression. “Since you brothers trust me so much, I’ll take the lead and split the immortality pills among everyone!”
[Wait, what? How long has it been, and she’s already gone from sidekick to boss?!]
[Baby Qian never makes a move—but when she does, it’s a ten-year sentence]
[Unreal. Everyone else is plotting to rescue her, meanwhile she’s hanging out with terrorists, calling them brothers. Who’d believe she doesn’t have a criminal record?]
[You did. Just like when God handed out brains, you hid.]
Her generous act of dividing the pills completely won their loyalty.
“Boss, what about you?”
“You eating these pills is more useful than me. And as your boss, it’s my duty to work for everyone’s benefit,” Chi Qian said solemnly.
The underlings were so moved they nearly knelt to kowtow.
“Boss, if anyone dares mock your prosthetic leg, I’ll beat them to death!”
“Boss, even if you’re only 1.2 meters tall, in my heart you’re taller than 2.8 meters!”
Chi Qian: “……” Thanks, but you just shaved 30 cm off me.
The men were about to swallow the pills, but Chi Qian stopped them. “Better to wait until we’re outside. Something so valuable shouldn’t be eaten carelessly.”
If they keeled over in here, who would carry the gold and jewels for her?
That’d be a terrible deal.
So when Chi Fengxiao and the others finally arrived, what they saw was Chi Qian commanding a band of terrorists to haul treasure.
They were all stunned.
What the heck?
Shen Jiashu whispered, “Dad, didn’t you say the princess would be scared if she was alone? She looks really happy.”
Shen Jing: “…Son, that’s called putting on a happy face to hide inner fragility.”
Chi Fengxiao: “……” Thanks for the excuse, but she’s just plain happy.
She’d even managed to recruit all the terrorists as her underlings. Truly impressive.
And when Chi Qian spotted them, she lit up with even more joy.
More hands to carry treasure, +1, +1, +1…
Just like that, they were roped into the terrorists’ team, helping to move crates.
With his regular workouts, Chi Fengxiao’s strength was top-notch.
Chi Yanliu was even more capable than Chi Fengxiao; he could lift a whole chest full of jewels by himself.
Chi Fengxiao was still sulking when he suddenly heard Chi Qian call out to Chi Yanliu, “Big sister, do you feel like eating green peppers today?”
He nearly choked.
This brat—who was she trying to flirt with now?
Wait… could it be that Baby Qian still didn’t know Sixth Brother’s true identity?
It seemed Sixth Brother didn’t want to tell her.
Chi Fengxiao quickly sorted it out in his head and decided to pretend he hadn’t heard a thing.
They carried around ten heavy chests and stacked them in the courtyard. The gems that spilled out glittered dazzlingly.
Suddenly, Chi Yanliu said, “We should find a way out. There’s only water here, no food. We can’t stay long.”
Chi Qian replied, “There’s a rope ladder outside the walls. We can climb out.”
“But how do we take all these chests with us?”
“Just toss them down. It’s all sand outside anyway.”
[I’m heading straight for the Kemiya Desert right now to pick up gold!]
[Baby Qian gets rich first, then leads everyone else to wealth. All the guests are about to become millionaires.]
[How are they even going to move all that gold? Let me come! I can carry it and run!]
Chi Qian remembered what Golden Noodle had told her—there was a lift mechanism beneath the castle walls, basically an ancient elevator.
That way, they wouldn’t have to drag the chests up and down the rope ladder, working themselves to death.
After they had hauled all the chests up to the castle walls, Chi Qian suddenly remembered something. She tossed out, “Wait for me a moment,” then ran back toward the palace.
She pushed open the door that sealed in Golden Noodle.
“You really came back to play with me!” Golden Noodle spiraled down around the pillar, joy bubbling in its childlike voice. “I thought you’d lie to me like the others did!”
Chi Qian shook the little bell in her hand. “I brought you a gift. The bell on your tail is too old. Let’s replace it with a new one.”
Golden Noodle shyly swished its tail and obediently held it out. “It’s the first time anyone’s given me a gift… Here, you tie it on.”
Before, when people decorated it, it was always with ulterior motives. This time, it felt different.
Chi Qian unfastened the rusty ribbon bell and replaced it with a new silver one.
Its golden scales made the silver accent at the tip of its tail stand out brilliantly.
Golden Noodle swished the new bell happily and in its excitement, tied itself into a neat bow.
Surprisingly perfect.
[!! Wait, is Baby Qian actually bonding with this thing?!]
[Any snake that can tie itself into a bow—how could it possibly be a bad snake?]
[But I’m still terrified it’ll just open its mouth and swallow her whole. Baby Qian wouldn’t even be enough to fill a tooth gap.]
Golden Noodle passed her a golden whistle with its tail tip. Whoever blew it could command all of its kind.
It was a return gift.
Chi Qian accepted it, stroked its beautiful tail, and said, “I have to go.”
Golden Noodle’s voice fell, dejected. “Will you come back?”
“I don’t know.”
Golden Noodle turned its head away. “Hmph. Go then. I’m used to it. Since you gave me a gift, I’ll grudgingly remember you for a couple more days… then forget you.”
Chi Qian: “Okay then, bye-bye.”
“Hmph.”
Not long after she left, sobbing echoed through the palace.
“Bad person… If you didn’t want to play with me, why give me a gift?”
“I hate you, hate you, hate you.”
“I don’t want to like you…”
Chi Qian took the lift mechanism up to the castle walls, where Chi Fengxiao and the others were tossing down chests.
“Baby Qian, you go down with them first. We’ll follow after.”
Chi Qian replied, “Uncle, you go ahead. I’ll cover the rear.”
“Hm? Why?”
“I… I just want to look at the scenery here a little longer.” Chi Qian tucked her hands in her sleeves, pretending to be deep.
Chi Fengxiao thought she was reluctant to leave, so he patted her head in comfort and let her be.
As soon as they went down the rope ladder, Chi Qian climbed up to the very top spire of the castle.
She pried off several gem-encrusted golden tortoises that were fixed along the edges.
Her wishing fountain couldn’t go a day without turtles. These were just perfect!
She wasn’t about to be polite about it.
[LMAO, she never changes. Forever young, forever in love with her big turtles.]
[Baby Qian isn’t wrong—the turtles are just too flashy and seductive. Who could resist them?]
After stripping off the tortoises, Chi Qian stepped onto the rope ladder to climb down.
But from above came a grating laugh.
“Betray me, and you still think you can leave?” The former boss slashed at the rope ladder with a dagger. “I treated you like a brother, and you stole my position. Is this how a man acts?!”
“Go die, die, die!”
He cursed as he sawed viciously at the rope.
Chi Qian shouted up at him: “If you cut it, you’ll never escape either! You’ll be trapped here forever. The castle’s full of treasure, but you’re just trash. Let’s see how long you survive!”
The boss snarled, “Bullshit! There must be another way out!”
Before he could say more, a cold gun barrel pressed against his temple.
Chi Yanliu had appeared behind him without a sound. His voice was icy, “Drop the knife, or I’ll blow your brains out.”
The boss’s hands shook. He quickly threw the dagger away.
Chi Qian beamed. “Big sister, you’re amazing! Doesn’t matter if you like green peppers or not, right now you’re my god!”
Chi Yanliu: “…I don’t eat green peppers.” He used to like them, but after this, never again.
Yanliu knocked the boss unconscious, holstered the gun, then leaned out over the wall to grab the rope ladder.
The muscles in his arms tensed as he gripped it firmly, ready to hold it steady until Chi Qian made it down.
Crack.
The rope ladder suddenly snapped in the middle without warning.
Chi Qian dropped like a puff of cotton candy—duang—straight down.
