Unwilling To Lose

Gu Anxi attentively served her husband. She had already mastered the things he liked to eat, and had placed them closest to him. But Yang Chenning seemed absent-minded the whole time.

"Husband seems to be in a dilemma." She said with a gentle smile.

Yang Chenning heard her and turned to look at her, but didn't say a word.

"Husband is always so carefree, I wonder what it could be that put such a deep frown on your face."

General Yang inwardly scoffed. "Madam won't be able to help even if I told you." He said with a tone full of sarcasm.

Gu Anxi knew he looked down on her the most and frowned. But she wasn't ready to give in. "Who knows? Even people learn from animals, maybe you could learn a thing or two from me."

Yang Chenning chuckled. It was the first time he had done so while they discussed alone. Before all they exchanged had been a few polite words and so the atmosphere would mostly be very dull. That time, Gu Anxi avoided getting deep into discussion especially because she had been unfamiliar with him. But after some time spent together, she found it boring to only say a few sentences here and there, and would occasionally prolong the conversation.

"Is husband laughing at me?" Her brows creased, as she asked.

He was indeed laughing at her. Such a difficult situation how could she, who had been sheltered all her life, have any solutions for him?

It didn't make sense at all to him.

But how could he admit it? "Madam must be joking."

"Humph, why don't you try then, maybe I might prove you very wrong."

Yang Chenning was a bit speechless by this sudden provocation. No wait that wasn't the point. Since when had their conversation become this lighthearted?

He thought against answering her, but the provocative Gu Anxi along with the provoking look she gave made him concede, "Alright, if you really can help me sort this problem, I'll promise you one thing."

'So generous?' Or was it that he couldn't believe she could help him?

Actually, Gu Anxi had only been bluffing. With Yang Chenning's normal attitude, she guessed he would have just laughed at her and probably curse her in his mind a few times. She didn't expect he'd agree so easily.

"Alright. It's a deal then, husband should better keep his promise."

Yang Chenning nodded, as he held a cup to his lips.

"There's a criminal on the loose, very dangerous person. But this person has a backer, we have a suspect but he's quite idle, doesn't go out much, but when he does, he's at the brothel."

At the mention of the word, Gu Anxi's eyes shook, she asked cautiously, "Did husband follow him to the brothel?"

"Do I need to? I have my men." Yang Chenning replied passively.

Gu Anxi secretly released a sigh of relief. If she had any fear at all, it would be that another lady would suddenly appear in the General's mansion.

Of course she didn't really worry about it before, after all, General Yang still loved her sister, it was because of this he maltreated her. She also had confidence in the love the people in the mansion had for her. But how long could she feel this secure? She really had no idea. It was this oblivion that scared her.

Gu Anxi noticed her husband had gone silent.

"And then what?" She asked curiously.

Yang Chenning's brows creased. "That's it, that's all I can tell you, the rest is confidential."

Gu Anxi: ???

How was she supposed to deduce anything form this small piece of information?

"You…You're clearly making it hard on me on purpose."

"Madam must be joking. If you can deduce anything useful out of this piece of information then you could consider yourself to have won."

No matter how speechless Gu Anxi was, she knew she had dug this pit for herself, she couldn't back out now.

She put her hand on her chin as she thought about what Yang Chenning had just said.

After a while of thinking, she finally gathered up her courage to speak. Hoping she wouldn't get laughed at. "If I only have to judge based on this alone, then I'd say there's either something going on with him and the brothel, or it might be that whatever he does, he doesn't need to go out and has his men do it for him, just like you do."

Yang Chenning had a bored look on his face, of course he had already thought about it. But hadn't found much after so much investigating.

Seeing her husband's expression, Gu Anxi felt a little embarrassed, had she overestimated her intelligence? After all her husband was 'the' General Yang, his achievements were countless, how could she Gu Anxi that had only been thought to be a tool to help her family climb up the ladder of society by marriage, compare herself with him?

"Husband isn't satisfied with my first deduction…give me some time, and I'll give you an appropriate explanation." She was a bit unwilling to admit defeat.

Yang Chenning had at least expected this ending, it was boring, and he didn't want to hear more about it.

"No need, I knew you couldn't do it, but since you had insisted, I decided to give you a chance. Let's stop here, no need to make a joke out of yourself." With that he stood up and left.

Watching his back, Gu Anxi's heart suddenly became uneasy. It was anger. She couldn't believe she had made such a silly mistake and talk more to this man, and now because she was so stubborn, she had ended up being insulted by him.

She scolded him a lot in her heart until she was satisfied, before asking the servants to take away the remains of the food.

This incident she won't forget.

Wasn't it just investigating? As the wife of her husband, it was her duty to share his burden. She would get to the bottom of this. And when she does, she'd have Yang Chenning serve her for a day, see how that proud man is when he suffers such defeat.