The Qin Xiaolei of this moment did not yet know that she had already been "put up on the block for sale" by Zhao Ruyue — awaiting only a single nod from the buyer, Zhao Chen.
She liked the atmosphere of this place very much; there was none of that excess sense of distance from her among them.
Though those who knew her would, on their lips, address her with a "Your Highness the Princess," the relationship was more like the sort one has among friends.
Suddenly, Qin Xiaolei took notice that, at the edge of a table along the rim of the grounds, a pair of hands was groping about — and the next second, a plate of food vanished without a trace.
She walked over to have a look.
There she saw two dwarf women, hiding beside the table; before them were, by now, no small number of empty plates, along with two backpacks each the size of a person.
One of the dwarf women she knew: her name was Annie.
She was the Owl Dragon Legion's chief engineer.
Annie was, just then, ceaselessly directing the dwarf woman beside her, one somewhat similar to her in looks.
"Not that one — don't take that; that's too cheap. If we're taking, we take the most expensive! This dish! See it? This dish is dirt-costly! It'd run an ordinary crew member 10 days' worth of the meal-standard. Press the meal-box down tight; don't go letting it spill later."
Nana, watching her sister's manner — for all the world like a fierce wolf let loose among a flock of sheep — said in a small voice, "Sister… isn't this rather not-quite-right of us? The Lord Commander invited us here to eat, and here we are taking it back home…"
"What's not-right about it! This of ours is called not wasting food. And besides, it isn't our money — it's that great villain's money; not taking it would be taking nothing for nothing!" Annie said, righteous and self-assured.
At the mere thought of the T3 Furnaces being expanded to 300, and of how the workload would then be greatly increased, Annie wanted to grab a few more bags besides.
"What are you two up to here?" Qin Xiaolei asked.
"Ah… no… no… nothing at all…" Nana, guilty of conscience, bowed her head, and half-consciously made to hide the backpack behind her.
But that backpack was stuffed full of things, already a full size larger than her own little frame — there was simply no hiding it.
"You're one of the crew invited to the feast too, I take it? Whoever lays eyes on it gets a share; hurry and take a good deal more back yourself." Annie, seeing Qin Xiaolei, on the contrary hailed her, unconcerned, to throw in with them.
Qin Xiaolei knew Annie, but Annie didn't know Qin Xiaolei.
"Take it back? Why not eat it here?" Qin Xiaolei asked, not following.
"How much can you eat, eating it here? Take it back and you can eat it all later on. And besides, I can share it out with my mom and dad, and my little brothers and sisters. Though they can eat plenty of good things now too, the good things here are things ordinary folk can't get their hands on!" Annie said, in a boastful sort of way.
"Then just ask Zhao Chen for it directly — would Zhao Chen really not give it to you?" Qin Xiaolei asked, half-consciously.
To her way of thinking, Annie was the Owl Dragon Legion's chief engineer; surely so small a request as this couldn't go unmet.
Annie was, all at once, stunned.
It seemed she… had indeed never asked Zhao Chen for anything directly.
From some point on, she'd taken a particular liking to spiriting things away from Zhao Chen's — and yet, every single time, Zhao Chen had never "noticed." Before she'd known it, this had become a hobby of Annie's.
So much so that each time after being ground down under Zhao Chen's thumb, Annie would scheme by every means to eat her way back at him, to come out ahead!
"Uh, uh, uh…" Annie's little baby-brain couldn't work its way through it just now; she simply couldn't be bothered to think about it, and said outright, "It's not important; taking it is the right of it, whatever the case. If you don't want any, then help me take some over."
Thereafter, Qin Xiaolei became Annie's little helper, helping her take the tastiest and most costly food from the various tables.
Nor did Qin Xiaolei mind it; she liked this naive feel of Annie's very much.
In fact, these little maneuvers of Annie's were all taken in by everyone else's eyes — only, no one paid them any mind.
For the food on the grounds was truly plentiful; even were some of it to run short, a mechanical server would come at once to replenish it.
Lilith, who had originally been chatting away merrily with her own tribespeople, suddenly found her handheld terminal lit up; she tapped it open to look, and her face knit slightly.
She left her tribespeople, and walked briskly over this way, toward Zhao Chen.
"Commander, there's an important matter I must report to you," Lilith said.
"Go ahead," Zhao Chen said lazily.
"We've just received the latest word. Qin Ming, who is managing the Empire's affairs in the imperial capital's stead, has investigated and found that the unidentified interstellar fleet that attacked Qin Hu's fleet back then was suspected of being fitted with the T3 Blizzard distinctive to our Owl Dragon Star System — along with several other similar classes of interstellar warship. And so they suspect our Owl Dragon Star System is connected to the mastermind behind the attack on Qin Hu's fleet, and demand that the North Wind Star Region Governor hand you over, to be brought to the imperial capital to submit to investigation. And they'll, besides, dispatch a fleet to our Owl Dragon Star System to investigate the whereabouts of the defector Princess fleet. They suspect that it is we who have hidden the little Princess away," Lilith answered gravely.
Zhao Ruyue, who had not left Zhao Chen's side, changed color abruptly, and looked at her younger brother in worry.
Zhao Chen, his expression unchanging, said with a light laugh, "By the look of it, they've likely had this clue in hand for a good long stretch of time, and have deliberately chosen this moment to make the news public. In all likelihood, they've already made ready to bring pressure to bear on the Chu River Star Region and the North Wind Star Region. As for me — I'm no more than a fitting pretext they happened to find."
"Then what do you mean to do now? If you're taken off to the imperial capital at a time like this, then the odds bode grim indeed," Zhao Ruyue said, her look turning grave.
"Go to the imperial capital?" Zhao Chen gave a cold little smile.
"The Starlight imperial capital, I will go to — but not now."
Zhao Chen pondered a short moment, then inquired of Lilith, "And what's the North Wind Governor's stance?"
"The North Wind Governor has adopted a course of delay toward the imperial capital's directive; he's all along withheld any direct response to it. As for the Chu River Star Region's Chu family, they were the first to issue a response — declaring that this is all mere suspicion, that there is no direct evidence, and that one cannot go and carry off an imperial marquis on suspicion alone!" Lilith answered.
"Get in touch with the North Wind Governor for me — now," Zhao Chen said.
"Yes." Lilith at once went to see to it.
Once the connection was made, Zhao Chen sent Lilith and Zhao Ruyue away, and conducted the video comm with the North Wind Governor alone.
"Zhao Chen, you're worried over this business of the imperial capital summoning you, aren't you? Set your heart at ease — this isn't the imperial capital's star system; it's not a place where that Prince Faction lot call the shots. To carry a man off from my turf — not a chance." The North Wind Governor came straight to the point, stating his position outright.
"Governor, I understand your meaning. But at present, I don't wish for the North Wind Star Region to stand directly against the imperial capital," Zhao Chen said.
"Then can it be you want me to hand you over to the Prince Faction? You must understand — this wanting you there of theirs is a thing that'll have your very life!" The North Wind Governor knit his brows.
Zhao Chen said with a light laugh, "I know their intent. My notion is this: that you, Governor, are well advanced in years and poor in health; that there are some matters you truly cannot handle, cannot see to across the board, and that you require rest and recuperation. For, after all, the Prince Faction's hands have already reached into the North Wind Star Region, haven't they? Set against the Chu River Star Region, the North Wind Star Region's internal situation is somewhat tangled; and to lay one's plans for what may come to pass in future, some of the wood-worms must be cleaned out. I hold that this is a rather good opportunity."