Chapter 37: Warmth
Li Xin cursed inwardly. How could she have forgotten that Qi Mo wasn"t someone whom one could sway with persuasion? He took whatever he wanted. Treating him as if he were a good person was her own fault. She shook her head vehemently, refusing to let him take her earring.
"If you keep moving, I"m going to cut your ear off." Qi Mo scowled at her. He was not in the mood for games.
She froze at his words and felt an icy shiver spread through her ear. She widened her eyes at him in disbelief.
Her earring was made up of multiple parts chained together — it took Qi Mo a while to get it off her ear; but eventually, he managed, and tossed it over to Red Falcon, saying, "Give it to White Falcon to investigate."
Li Xin glared at him sullenly with her head lowered, her gaze filled with anger and misery. "I"ll pay you back," Qi Mo said to her while patting her back in consolation.
Truthfully, although misery was etched all across her face, inside, she was less angry than expected. It wasn"t as if she was unaware of what kind of person Qi Mo was — getting angry at someone like him was a waste of time and energy. She was long used to his antics by now. Besides, she had customized the device personally, and it wasn"t something that just anyone was capable of deciphering. It was pointless for them to try. And not to mention, she had another one. She briefly wondered if Qi Mo had left her other earring alone on purpose out of sympathy, then quickly dismissed the idea from her mind.
She was still deep in thought when a man came from outside, holding a card in his hands. "Boss, someone sent us an invitation letter," he said. The doctor, who sat closest to the entrance, took the card and inspected it suspiciously. When he determined that there was nothing suspicious about it, he opened it up and began reading.
"Ha, Boss. The Wind Clan is hosting a banquet tonight and is asking you to attend," he said with a sarcastic smirk after he finished reading.
Qi Mo raised his eyebrows and the corners of his lips quirked up as well. Yellow Falcon set down the wine gla.s.s in his hand and turned to him. "The Wind Clan… isn"t that the Blue Clan"s lackey?" He asked curiously. "I wonder whose territory they"ve taken control of that would give them cause to hold a celebratory feast."
The overlord smiled coldly. "Some prestigious clan"s Southeast Asian territory, I suppose. Though I don"t believe this is a celebratory feast," he commented. "They"re informing us that the place they"ve taken up residence is their territory. It"s more likely they"re asking us to be flexible and not fight them for it."
These days, the Qi Clan was sweeping the region clean from left to right, establishing itself as the apex of the crime world. Even if the Blue Clan took a prestigious clan"s territory, it would not be enough to affect Qi Mo in the slightest. So the only thing they could do was let got of their pride and throw a banquet in honor of the Qi overlord.
"They don"t even have the means to request your presence," Red Falcon said. "They think that just because the Blue Clan has their back, they can ask us to set aside our reputation and show up, what a joke."
Qi Mo sat impa.s.sively, listening closely to the opinions of his closest advisers. Finally, he turned to the woman glaring daggers at him and asked, "Your thoughts?"
She stared at him strangely. What was his problem? It wasn"t as if she"d ever stepped foot in the world of organized crime. All this bloodthirsty fighting over territories was beyond her comprehension. Why was he even asking her? Not to mention she"d only ever heard of the Qi Clan and the Blue Clan; she had no inkling of what other groups existed out there and had no idea what she was supposed to say.
The other men at the table were looking at her as well, though they were clearly shocked. She narrowed her eyes. "I have no thoughts."
Qi Mo"s face darkened. "If you say that again, I"ll send you to the underground prison in Africa."
She threw him a blank look.
"The underground prison is a concentration camp run by the Italian mafia," Yellow Falcon offered helpfully.
Li Xin stiffened. Just because she had refused to offer any insight? She doubted anyone came back out of such a place once they entered. After a few moments of battling internally with herself, her face relaxed into a laid-back smile in an attempt to appease Qi Mo. Next time she didn"t have any insight, she would make one up.
"There"s no reason not to go," the man was saying. "The Wind Clan has nothing on us. Since they want me to show up, then I"m not going to turn away from this opportunity." He laughed coldly, a bloodthirsty grin spreading across his face. He hadn"t intended to take their territory, but since they had offered, he wasn"t going to leave it alone.
Qi Mo"s men had followed him for a long time; they understood what their boss meant to do, and they too found themselves grinning devilishly. The Wind Clan was nothing.
Li Xin laughed along with them as her hands reached inconspicuously for a piece of crab meat and stuffing into her mouth hurriedly, hoping that Qi Mo didn"t notice. Territorial expansion was more important than her stealing a piece of meat, after all.
"Who said you could eat that?"
Failure.
Qi Mo glared at her, white-hot anger simmering dangerously in his eyes. Li Xin hadn"t even had a chance to swallow when she felt pain bloom against the nape of her neck as he slapped her against the back, causing all the food in her mouth to come out. She sputtered, coughing, her chest vibrating with the force of his hand.
She coughed until her face was red; both her hands were being held behind her back by Qi Mo, her wrists tightly grasped in his hands. She fell back, her breaths coming short and fast.
"You are prohibited from eating these things for the next two months. If I find out, I will make sure you can never use your hands again," he warned severely.
"Why?" Li Xin suddenly burst out. She felt all her suppressed resentment bubbling to the surface at his tone. "Even if I did something wrong, I have to know. What the h.e.l.l did I do that you won"t even let me eat?" Anything else, she could handle, but what gave him the right to deprive her of her only hobby?
"Seafood is not conducive to fast wound recovery," the doctor chimed in then. "It"s best that you stick to bland, light foods so that you recover faster, especially since you were injured near your heart." He laughed silently at the sight of the two people fighting before him.
Li Xin stopped short. No one had ever told her there were things one couldn"t eat that affected recovery. All her life, she had gotten over injuries by just dealing with them until they healed naturally. No one provided medication and no one cared; she had spent countless nights clenching her teeth through the pain until it was over. The thieves were like that — the organization had too many children in the same situation as her and so no one paid any attention.
The only thing any of them could do was bear with it and fight. They had lived co-ed —if a girl meant to survive, she needed to be able to triumph over the stronger, faster boys. During mealtimes, they had to fight harder and longer for a morsel of food.
This was precisely the reason why Li Xin loved eating. She knew how necessary it was. A child that was injured and starving would inevitably die. She wanted to live, so she knew from the time she was young the importance of food. It was something that had stayed with her all this time.
She raised her eyes and stared at Qi Mo. His eyes were still glinting with barely concealed ire. "I understand. I"ll obey," she conceded, her voice unexpectedly soft. "Let go of my hands now, it hurts."
The overlord grunted and let go of her hands, then reached over to grab her abandoned bowl of porridge, slamming it down in front of her. "Finish it," he ordered.
She tilted her head ever so slightly, nodding subtly. As she began spooning the thin gruel into her mouth, she discovered that for the first time, it didn"t taste so bad after all.