Chapter Thirty-Seven Roster

  Diana took a look and then stepped forward towards the mansion.

  Niya looked at her back, she knew very clearly that Diana and herself did not know that... uh... fox-like woman before. She didn't understand why Diana thought the woman was Ye Feng's wife and treated her with courtesy.

  She stood there blankly, thinking for a long time.

  Diana took two steps and saw that she wasn't following, turned around and said: "Why are you still there? Come back quickly."

  Nia bit her lip and hastily followed up.

  The crowd watching outside the government office saw that there was no more show to see and dispersed with a loud noise.

  A few people came to the hall, Diana waved her hand and let the maids retreat. The hall was left with only the four of them, and it immediately became quiet, with only Oola's crunching sound of eating an apple.

  She suddenly turned around, her eyes fixed intently on the woman, and Chen Sheng asked: "Miss Aphrodite, what are you up to?"

  Euler was shocked and choked, with an apple stuck in his throat. His face turned red and his neck swelled as he coughed desperately for half a day before finally spitting out the apple.

  The woman laughed softly and removed the veil from her face. Nia looked intently, that stunningly beautiful woman, wasn't it the renowned Aphrodite, then who was she?

  Aphrodite smiled: "Captain Diana, how did you recognize me?"

  Diana walked up to one of her maids and said, "Lina, I haven't had a chance to formally express my gratitude to you, why did you leave without saying goodbye?"

  Ling Na hastily retreated a step, glanced at Aphrodite and said: "I just acted on behalf of my family's young lady, it was merely a small effort, not worth your attention."

  Niya furrowed her brow, just about to ask a question. Then she heard footsteps and Ye Feng came in, clean and spotless, like a precious baby.

  He looked at the three Aphrodites and exclaimed, "Huh? Didn't they say there was only one wife? How did two more appear? Is this the legendary 'buy one get two free' deal?"

  The maid beside her was frantic, she jumped out from behind Aphrodite and pointed at Ye Feng's nose, saying: "What nonsense are you talking about? Don't even look at your own disgusting toad-like appearance. My mistress had no choice but to do this for the sake of secrecy."

  Nia suddenly realized that this was indeed the case. For someone as famous as Aphrodite, if she wanted to sneak into the Duke's mansion without being noticed by others, there was only one way - by pretending to be related to Ye Feng.

  Ye Feng looked at the maid and winked, saying: "Miss Lina, next time we have a chance, I'll continue to tell you the story of how I defeated the great evil dragon back then."

  The maid rolled her eyes, snorted coldly, and quickly moved her feet, hiding behind Aphrodite with a 'zip' sound.

  Ye Feng turned his head and said to another maid: "Miss Lenna, we really have a good fate, it's been so long since we last met, and now we meet again."

  Lingna didn't answer, she just slightly bowed and stood behind Aphrodite again.

  Ye Feng opened his arms shamelessly and said to Aphrodite, "Come on, wife. To celebrate our long-awaited reunion, let's have a passionate hug."

  Aphrodite didn't expect Ye Feng to be so direct and take advantage of the situation, she was stunned on the spot. Just as Ye Feng was about to succeed, Diana came over and grabbed Ye Feng with one hand, while using her other hand to pinch a piece of flesh at the back of his waist and twisted it hard. Under Diana's Medusa-like fingers, Ye Feng was directly petrified and was pressed onto the chair beside him.

  Niya looked at Ye Feng being defeated by Diana and said to Aphrodite: "Miss Aphrodite, you're not really here looking for a husband, are you?"

  Afurou curtsied and said, "I've lost my composure. Lord Ye is still as humorous as ever. To avoid drawing attention, I had no choice but to do this. Please don't mind me, miss."

  Nia smiled easily and sat down at the table, saying: "This is natural. After all, the agreement between us is still not visible to the public now. It's just that I didn't expect you to be so anxious and come over right away. It feels a bit sudden."

  "Thank you, miss." Aphrodite curtsied and then let out a soft sigh, saying: "There's no time to lose. Those refugees are waiting for food to fill their bellies."

  Diana stepped forward, relying on her height, coldly looking down at her and said: "Don't forget, the first clause of our agreement told us that Xinya colluded with pirates as an internal traitor."

  Aphrodite handed Nia a piece of parchment from her bosom and said, "The two people at the top of the list are the ones who colluded with the pirates, but there are others who conspired against the Duke. According to our knowledge, they are all on the list. Consider them as gifts from us to show our sincerity."

  Nia opened it, took a glance, and then slapped the scroll shut. She stared tightly at Aphrodite's eyes and said: "How can you guarantee that what is written on this is true? Without any fake ingredients?"

  Diana took the scroll, unfolded it and took a cold breath, only to see many names written densely on it, with several long names dating back to the thirteen elders of the founding year.

  Aphrodite smiled and said, "Most of these were collected by us. Those big shots' mouths are really not strict, and some related to pirates were provided by General Hannibal. The generals have always had a good relationship with the pirates."

  "Diana snorted in derision, 'What a good relationship? They and the pirates are basically wearing the same pants. If it weren't for Galtai supporting them from behind, the Norman Navy would have cleared them out of the sea long ago.'"

  She paused for a moment, understood, and thoughtfully said: "So all of these are true."

  Aphrodite shook her head slightly and said: "I dare not guarantee this, but as far as I know, the top few names are indeed connected to the pirates."

  Niya remained relentless, pressing on with her questioning: "Then why did you hand over such important intelligence?"

  "Didn't I say so? General Hannibal needs a stable Syracuse, but these people are like termites in Syracuse, ready to ruin it at any moment."

  Ye Feng took the parchment and saw that the first two names on the list were Dolabella and Ossius. He said, "Nia, it seems that you guys don't have a good relationship with people in Xinya, huh? Tsk tsk. There are so many people who don't like you. But looking at this, yesterday's fight wasn't for nothing after all. The duke has already taken revenge on Dolabella."

  Nia hummed and didn't say anything.

  For years, the duke has been doing nothing but eating and drinking wildly. Many nobles are also eager to move, staring at the position of Governor of Sichuan like a dog seeing a bone, wanting to replace the duke's position. Of course, they don't like this duke who occupies the governor's position and doesn't come down. Diana stood up and said, "I'll go gather soldiers now, according to the list, and arrest all those people."

  Ye Feng pulled her back and said, "You'd better take a rest. Although I've only just arrived, I also know that these guys are all powerful slave owners with their own troops. You'd better be careful or you might get caught by them."

  Diana knew that Ye Feng's words were reasonable, and she sat down again, saying: "Can't we just watch them get away with it?"

  Ou La chewed on an apple beside him, saying: "What's the big deal? Anyway, we have evidence in our hands. When we become more powerful and have more younger brothers in the future, it won't be too late to clean them up. It's just like raising pigs, fatten them up before killing them, same thing."

  Nina didn't expect Oola to say something so reasonable, and she couldn't help but turn her head back, carefully sizing up Oola as if she almost didn't recognize him.

  Oola saw this, and couldn't help but secretly stick out her tongue. This was just a slight modification of his strategy to endure their bullying for now and plan to retaliate later. If Nia knew what he was thinking, who knows what kind of trouble he'd be in again.

  Afro's face was smiling, but in her heart she had some misgivings. She recalled Hannibal's evaluation of the policy of the Duchy of Sina: it was sufficient to defend what they already had, but insufficient to make new gains.

  Her heart was secretly disappointed, if their vision was only to this extent, and it was just a little better than those brainless and fat Norman nobles. She began to have some doubts in her mind, whether Hannibal's choice of them as trading partners was not a mistake.

  Ye Feng looked at the names written on the paper and his heart skipped a beat. He asked, "Are these people all living in their own villas outside the city?"

  Niya leaned over and took a look, saying: "Not bad, if they don't have an estate outside the city, how can their subordinates support so many people?"

  Diana pressed her hand on the hilt of her sword, sneered twice and said: "If they lived in the city and dared to make trouble, we would have razed their doghouse long ago."

  Ye Feng glared at her fiercely and said, "Girls shouldn't always be thinking about fighting and killing. I hate things that have no technical value."

  Diana suddenly stood up, her beautiful apricot eyes wide with anger as she stared at him.

  Ye Feng continued staring at the list, without lifting his head, and slapped the table, saying: "What are you looking at? Sit down."

  Ou La immediately retreated a few steps, keeping a distance from Ye Feng. He closed his eyes and thought to himself: This Ye Feng is really asking for trouble, actually provoking Diana when she's angry.

  He waited for a while, but couldn't hear any movement. He found it strange and opened his eyes slightly, then suddenly widened them, almost popping out of their sockets. All he saw was Diana, who had been fiery and temperamental in his impression, now sitting there with her head hung low, looking like a timid little wife, not making a sound, completely losing the majestic aura she used to have as a human-shaped dragon.

  Ola rubbed his head, looked at the apple in his hand again, and then flipped his hand over and bit down hard on the back of it. A wave of intense pain shot up from the back of his hand along his arm and all the way to his brain, hurting so much that he had tears in his eyes and almost cried out loud.

  Lena, standing behind Aphrodite, saw this scene and suddenly turned bright red, saying: "You... you..."

  Ye Feng and Diana shouted in unison, "Shut up!"

  Ling Na saw the murderous gaze in their eyes and immediately took a step back, her mouth shut as if frozen.

  Niya felt strange in her heart, her willow eyebrows furrowed, seeing Diana's two eyes darting around everywhere, but not daring to look into her own eyes, with a guilty conscience, just about to speak up and ask.

  The duke's voice was heard outside the door.

  The duke pushed open the door and said angrily, "Ye Feng, I heard that your wife has come from afar to find you? This is not right. I remember when you said you weren't married, so I felt at ease letting Nia interact with you. If you have a wife..."

  He looked up and saw Aphrodite, and was stunned, saying: "Miss Aphrodite?"