The Vampire Empress: Blood Queen & Her Kings

It took just a few hours for the rumor of 'Blessed Silk' getting a new owner to spread all around the Capital City. People were excited to see the person who finally dared to buy that jinxed shop.

Though no one dared to say it out loud, they all knew that Lin family had been eyeing the 'Blessed Silk' for quite some time, and they had from time to time created troubles for Gu Chen Xi to make him sell the shop to them.

In the past two years, the Lin family had overpowered the clothing market with the help of the Prime Minister and other high officials. Currently, the 'Lin Garments Shop' was the biggest and most popular garment store in the entire Capital City.

While everyone was busy discussing the identity of the new owner of 'Blessed Silk', Jiang Ying Yue was negotiating some important rules of the contract with Gu Chen Xi.

"You are not serious, are you?" Gu Chen Xi asked as he pointed at the fifth clause on the third page of the contract.

"Why not?" Jiang Ying Yue asked in return, staring at the young man with a confused look on her face.

"What do you mean by this? Of course, it's not possible. You are asking me to lend you all my servants. But then what about me?" Gu Chen questioned the girl as he refused to back down this time.

"Can you not act like a spoiled brat? You have clearly been exploiting these poor souls. You can't pay them, you can't protect them and you even want them to serve you 24/7. I'm trying to employ these devoted servants of yours. They deserve proper salaries and benefits for their loyalty and hard work. How dare you question my benevolence?" Jiang Ying Yue hurriedly tried to put forward the bigger picture.

To her surprise, the young man not only smirked at her words but even dared to chuckle as if she was telling jokes. Before she could question him about it, the man already started speaking.

"After yesterday, I've realized that you are someone who loves saving money and would try her best to get things done without wasting a single copper coin. So, you don't have to act in front of me. You are clearly not worried about my servants. You just want to save money for hiring new servants for the shop." 

Ying Yue was silent for a few seconds as she sipped the herbal tea while observing Gu Chen. The young man was sure a sharp observer and it was hard to trick him.

"So what? Even though I'm thinking for myself, in the end, my offer is still going to provide help to your servants." She finally spoke as she looked at the man with raised eyebrows, challenging him to refuse her offer.

Gu Chen stared at the woman for a few seconds before he turned his attention to the papers of contract that were lying on the table. He would not deny that so far, Xiao Yue's offer seemed to be the best thing that happened to him and his family in the past two hours but he still was having a hard time deciding if he should trust the girl or not.

Letting out a deep sigh, he pulled the papers closer, and once again looked through all the clauses before he signed them. If he was being gifted with this sudden chance to change his ill fate then he was ready to grasp it. He just wished that he won't regret it in the future.

A small smile appeared on Jiang Ying Yue's face as she accepted one set of the contract papers and safely tucked them in her sleeves. She was one step closer to her mission of earning lots and lots of money.

"Since the contract is settled, let's go and visit the shop. I'm sure it needs a lot of cleaning after being abandoned for such a long time." She said with enthusiasm and stood up to head out of the tavern where they had met to sign the deal.

Gu Chen didn't question her and just followed behind along with his team of servants who seemed half excited and half afraid of what was awaiting them in this new deal between their Young Master and Miss Yue. 

***

"You are looking tired." Silver commented as soon as he noticed Jiang Ying Yue entering her bed-chamber.

It was after six in the evening and she just returned after spending over seven hours cleaning and reorganizing the 'Blessed Silk' with the help of the servants of Gu Chen.

"Don't talk. I'm about to pass out. I so badly want to enjoy a luxurious bath and sleep in a soft bed for at least tonight. Unfortunately, that luxury has been snatched away from me." Jiang Ying Yue recalled her memories of the previous life when she used to enjoy her life like a damn Queen and now she was reduced to a peasant. 

Silver stood up from where he was sitting next to the window and went closer to where his mate was standing in the center of the room as she massaged the sore muscles of her arms.

"Come here. Let me help you." He offered but was immediately rejected coldly when the girl stepped away, putting space between the two of them as she stared at him with a sharp look in her eyes.

"Don't even think about tricking me this time. I'm not going to let you take advantage of me this time. We need to keep our distance until I either complete my bond with at least one of my soul mates or find the third one. There are no negotiations!" She added the last line hurriedly as she saw him opening his mouth to object to her.

"You are so cruel." Silver muttered as he returned her cold stare and after scoffing at her ridiculous restriction, he teleported out of her room.

A sigh left Jiang Ying Yue's lips as she felt a little sad for once again creating distance between the two of them but she needed to think about Silver's safety. Their desire and longing for each other were so intense that they could easily lose control and end up hurting each other by breaking the time rule that was ticking over their mate bond. 

She shook her head to get rid of the thoughts and took off her outer robe before slipping out of her shoes. She let her hair loose and took off her dress which left her in a thin inner robe but it was still covering her from top to bottom.

She sat down on the floor with her back resting against her bed as she closed her eyes and let her body relax. Her mind pulled on the images of her secret desire as she tried to recall how great a nice long bath felt.

It did not take long before her imagination made her feel like she was indeed sitting in a tub of hot water that was not only helping her get rid of all the dirt but was also making her sore muscles loosen up. 

The feeling of warm water touching her skin made a sigh escape her lips and that was when her eyes flew open as she felt water rushing into her mouth. 

As she tried to stand up, her head finally emerged out of the water and she started coughing out loud while trying to grasp as much oxygen as possible in the meanwhile.

It took her some time but she finally got herself under control. Jiang Ying Yue hurriedly looked around and realized that she was standing in some kind of swimming pool but it did not seem to be one of the modern times. 

She was in the middle of assessing her surroundings when her gaze landed on the person who was silently standing on the other side of the pool with a dumbfounded expression on his handsome face. 

"What... What are you doing here? H-how did you come here?" The man asked as he finally found his voice. One moment he was enjoying a bath all alone and the very next second an unexpected guest emerged out from under the water. 

He waited for the girl to answer his questions but Jiang Ying Yue was too busy to pay any attention to his questions. 

She felt her throat drying up as her eyes trailed all over the naked upper body of the man. Beads of water were trickling down the fine muscular arms and chest, making her gulp down her saliva as she tried her best to not appear like a pervert. But it was definitely not an easy job.

"What are you looking at? C-can... Can you not look at me like that?" Wang Shu tried to cover his chest with his arms, completely forgetting for a moment that he had spiritual powers that could make clothes appear through thin air. He was just too flustered to get caught in a similar situation by the girl for a second time.