Forensic Imperial Concubine novel Chapter 73

Maxwell quickly drank a cup of tea. Seeing that, Harper stood up and refilled his cup. But he drank it up soon again, and she refilled his cup one more time. Seeing that he was about to drain another cup of tea, she stopped him and said, "General, I suggest you taste the tea carefully with your tongue."

"For me, it tastes the same. I drink solely to relieve my thirst. I don't care whether it's tea or water." After drinking the tea, Maxwell stared at Harper with his tiger-like eyes.

Harper touched her face, convinced that there was nothing on her face. "General, I don't think you invited me here to enjoy the tea."

Maxwell remained silent for a while. Harper was patient. She didn't urge him to say anything. Instead she continued drinking tea. Finally, he opened his mouth and asked, "Harper, can I trust you?"

"What did you mean by that, General?" asked Harper in confusion.

"If all the physicians in the world say that a person is healthy, but you check his body and figure out that he is actually sick, what would you do? Would you consider him sick or not?" Maxwell asked, in order to make sure whether Harper was a trustworthy person to him.

"Of course he is sick!" Harper replied decisively.

"What if you will be killed on claiming he is sick? Would that deter you from speaking the truth?" Maxwell asked further.

"In that case, I would tell the patient that he is actually sick. On the other hand, I will hide this fact from others. That would be perfect! The patient is given the truth whereas others are given what they want to hear. It would be like hitting two birds with one stone. Does that sound like a good solution?" As she spoke, Harper adopted a low voice. If it weren't for the fact that Maxwell's hearing was excellent, he would have barely heard her.

"Would you insist on this solution even if that patient is a powerful person and may kill you after hearing what you have to say?" asked Maxwell in a low voice.

"General, I think you have a short fuse," Harper said. What she just said seemed to be irrelevant to the topic they were talking about. However, when Maxwell realized Harper was talking about something else to remind that someone might be watching them secretly, he stiffened for a second. He then stood up all of a sudden and swept the desserts on the table to the floor. He grabbed Harper's wrist and pulled her closer to him. Her other hand grasped his wrist in order to keep herself from falling down.

"General, what do you think you are doing?" Harper said in a seemingly anxious tone. She seemed to be in a panic.

"Harper Chu, you should feel grateful when I show you my respect!" Maxwell shouted. He was a man of authority and was used to speaking in a loud voice. "Let me tell you this. I want to take you as a concubine! I think you should feel honored!"

'Holy shit!' was Harper's thought. Harper put a little strength on his wrist which almost made him cry out with pain. But he was relieved to have asked her this question. He knew that Harper had a bad reputation, so it took him ages to come up with this idea. Yes, he said those words deliberately to avoid the spy who was watching and listening to them secretly from knowing what they were truly talking about.

"General, despite my low status, I am determined to never marry a man as his concubine! Never!" Harper said arrogantly. "General, you'd better not force me! That's not what a gentleman is supposed to do!"

"Do you have the right to say no? If I tell the emperor about my desire, he will immediately agree. In that case, you will have no right to refuse me!" Maxwell roared so loudly that almost everyone on the street could hear him. Harper really wanted to give him a big blow, and she really did it.

Harper slapped Maxwell in the face so hard that all the onlookers on the second floor heard it. It took everyone by surprise. They had never expected that Harper would be bold enough to hit the general. General Maxwell was the favorite subordinate of the emperor. The emperor thought highly of him. Everyone thought that Harper should feel extremely lucky and honored to be favored by Maxwell.

Having never anticipated this slap, Maxwell was dumbfounded for a few seconds. But soon, he regained his senses and was about to hit Harper. But someone stopped him.

"Hello, General Maxwell."

Maxwell turned around and saw Zack standing not far from them. On his face, a gentle and warm smile was plastered.

"Nice to meet you, Zack." Maxwell loosened his hand which had been grasping Harper's wrist firmly. Taking this opportunity to escape, she quickly pulled herself away from Maxwell. Harper rubbed her wrist which had been bruised from Maxwell's grasp. Her beautiful face had turned crimson red. 'What an asshole!' she thought angrily.

Zack took a look at Harper and then at Maxwell. "General, nice to meet you. Would you like to have a cup of tea with me?" he suggested as he continued to smile.

The most unbearable thing for Maxwell was to deal with people who smiled a lot. In his list of contacts, Franklin was the man with whom he disliked conversing. And Maxwell was sure that Zack, being Franklin's son, would also turn out to be as difficult as Franklin to deal with!

"Enough! I'm a vulgar man. I can't drink such elegant tea with a gentleman like you!" After he finished his words, Maxwell gave a stern look at Harper. Writhing with rage, he left the place.

Lowering her head, Harper rubbed her wrist as if she was thinking of something. Zack walked up to her and asked softly, "Did he hurt you?"

Harper shook her head and continued to rub her wrist. "Thank you for your help, Mister Zack."

"You're welcome. How did you manage to make him so angry?" he asked. But Harper didn't give him any reply. Looking around, he realized all eyes were on them. Since it was inconvenient for them to talk in public, Zack invited Harper to a private room. That way, they could discuss this matter without having people overhear them.

There were only two of them in the private room. After pouring a cup of tea for Harper, Zack said, "Maxwell is not a gentleman. He is not the kind who will take care of ladies. You'd better stay away from him."

Harper nodded her head a few times as a reply. She held up the teacup in front of her and drank it in silence. The red mark on her wrist was really dark. As Zack noticed it, his eyes darkened, but he didn't speak about it.

"Mister Zack," Harper said all of a sudden. "Could you please do me a favor?" Her face was full of expectation.