A moment later, the court assembly ended, and the assembled ministers dispersed.
Ju Fufu led Arden as she began the kingly operation of "winning hearts."
First targets: the tuxedo cat and the Siamese cat.
Ju Fufu found the two subjects resting on a bench and started persuading them.
"Meow meow meow… what do you two think?"
"Meow—?"
"Meow meow~!"
"…."
With meows flying back and forth, Arden felt completely lost.
"Fufu, when did you learn cat language?"
After all these years together, Arden genuinely hadn't known that Ju Fufu could speak cat.
"Heh heh!"
Hearing that, Ju Fufu planted her hands on her hips proudly. "We're all felines—our languages aren't that different. Between tigers and cats, it's just an accent difference. It's like New Eridu's 'English' and Waifei Peninsula's 'Cantonese'—you get used to it and you can understand."
"…."
Arden's eye twitched.
English and Cantonese… you can understand them just by getting used to it?
He seriously doubted that.
Well… forget it.
After thinking for a moment, Arden swallowed his urge to complain.
"Meow meow—meow meow?"
"Meow meow!"
"Meow meow meow?"
"...."
The three big and small cats continued their exchange.
Although Arden couldn't understand a word, he could tell that Ju Fufu was making a very earnest effort to turn the two subjects.
"Hah~~!"
After quite a while, a bored Arden yawned.
"Fufu, how about… trying Beast Ration Pills?"
Arden offered a suggestion.
He had successfully won over the Qingming Bird with Bird Feed Pellets, narrowly passing Yixuan Shifu's disciple assessment. Given Ju Fufu's obsession with Beast Ration Pills, they should be extremely effective in this situation.
"How could that be acceptable?"
Ju Fufu immediately rejected the idea. "A king wins hearts with virtue! Fufu must rely on her own tiger charisma to conquer the kitties—how could I resort to external aids?"
"Subjects bought purely with benefits will surely be bought away by someone offering greater benefits!"
"That's not necessarily true."
As he spoke, Arden teased the Qingming Bird on his shoulder.
Chirp chirp~~!
The Qingming Bird rubbed against Arden's finger affectionately.
In a way, the Qingming Bird was a 'subject' Arden had won over with benefits. A year later, it hadn't been bought away by anyone else, and the bond between man and bird had only grown stronger.
"Uuu~"
Ju Fufu couldn't refute that. A hint of wavering appeared in her big eyes.
"Really not using Beast Ration Pills?"
Determined to push a little more, Arden poured out a few Beast Ration Pills from the gourd he carried and displayed them. "Balancing grace and authority are also the way of kings."
"Gulp~!" ×3
Three distinct swallowing sounds.
"Well… that actually sounds somewhat reasonable?"
Ju Fufu wavered even more.
"Trust me—you won't go wrong. Let's do it this way!"
"T-Then… I'll listen to you, Brother Arden."
In the end, Ju Fufu chose to compromise.
She took the Beast Ration Pills from Arden, then pulled out catnip from her bosom.
"..."
Watching this, the corner of Arden's mouth twitched.
You say you won't rely on external aids, but you already had catnip prepared, didn't you?!
"Meow meow~~!"
"Meow—meow!"
Enjoying the Beast Ration Pills and catnip, Arden could feel the subjects' affection toward Ju Fufu—and their support for the king's return.
This should count as a successful defection, right?
Arden thought to himself.
"Excellent! The action plan is progressing very smoothly."
Ju Fufu nodded in satisfaction. "Let's go—the other subjects are still waiting for my benevolent rule."
"Uh… this somehow feels a bit cruel!"
Watching the 'subjects' following behind Ju Fufu, the new king, Arden felt something stir in his heart.
"The road of kings has always been this cruel!"
Ju Fufu put on an expression of 'who else but me under heaven'.
As her words fell, Ju Fufu turned and left amid the crowd of subjects. A trace of desolation seeped from her back.
Perhaps kings had always been lonely like this…
"….."
Arden shook his head, tossing all that messy sentiment out of his mind.
...
Following Ju Fufu and using the same strategy, Arden helped her quickly sway all the subjects—until only the Shiba Inu remained.
However, when the two of them found the Shiba Inu, they discovered that the king (the tabby cat) was there as well.
"Meow—! Meow meow!"
The moment the tabby cat saw Ju Fufu, she flashed her claws!
"Damn it… we've been discovered!"
Ju Fufu bit her lip, looking exactly like someone whose scheme had been exposed.
"Meow meow!"
"Woof woof—?"
Ju Fufu, the tabby cat, and the Shiba Inu faced off tensely, like one of those troublesome scenarios where you're caught red-handed trying to sway someone else's subordinates.
"Everyone, let me say something fair!"
Seeing that a 'great battle' was about to erupt, Arden stepped forward on his own initiative.
"Meow? Meow meow—!"
The tabby cat seemed to say something to Arden, but he didn't understand it.
Arden couldn't understand cat language—but someone could.
"How outrageous!"
Ju Fufu suddenly flared up, revealing her tiger claws in a threatening pose. "You can say anything you want about Fufu, but you can't badmouth Brother Arden!"
"Uh… what did she say about me?"
Arden was genuinely curious about what nasty thing the tabby cat had said.
"She… she said…"
Ju Fufu's pretty face flushed, and she looked a bit bashful. "She said she often sees Brother Arden on the streets of Failume Heights, shopping with different human females, acting all lovey-dovey, with absolutely no human decency!"
"...."
Arden was speechless. He never imagined that one day he'd be lectured by an tabby cat.
Granted, he did often stroll around Failume Heights with Ju Fufu, Yixuan Shifu, Yiji, Sweety, Astra Yao, Evelyn … and occasionally ask out Miyabi, Ellen, and the like.
But that wasn't that many… right?
He narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint flashing within.
"This is my private business. It's none of a cat's concern!"
"Woof woof—woof!"
At that moment, the Shiba Inu barked at the tabby cat a few times.
"Did you hear that? Even your imperial guard has opinions about you!" Ju Fufu chimed in as well.
"So, it really is an imperial guard!"
Arden wanted to complain about the fact that Ju Fufu could apparently understand dog language too, but instead focused on the phrase "imperial guard."
Moreover, there were fragments of Beast Ration Pills scattered in front of the 'imperial guard'. It seemed the road of kingship truly was filled with both open and hidden struggles.
"Meow—meow…"
Suddenly, the tabby cat's presence weakened.
The former 'king' seemed to lose interest in the undercurrents of court intrigue. After one last look at the 'returning king' Ju Fufu, the 'Waifei Peninsula's number one fierce general' Arden, and the 'traitorous guard' dog, the tabby cat turned and disappeared into the street.
Though Arden couldn't quite understand how such complex emotions could show in a kitten's eyes, perhaps this was the destiny of a 'king'.
"Heh heh! Did she flee in panic, cowed by the king's majesty?"
Ju Fufu's smugness lasted only an instant. "Hey, hey, don't run around, little kitty! What if you get hit by a car?!"
The benevolent king seemed concerned for the former king's safety and chased after the tabby cat's escape route.
"…."
Arden followed after Ju Fufu as well. To be honest, he quite liked that tabby cat.
"Big Tabby! You're welcome to come to Suibian Temple anytime—there's free Beast Ration Pills there, and no kings, no subjects… no cats or tigers. Everyone's an equal friend!"
And so, before long, Suibian Temple gained a new regular—a tabby cat.
Perhaps one mountain doesn't necessarily have to reject two tabbies… or tigers?
===BREAK===
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