Qia Yun elegantly brushed stray strains of hair out of the way, trying to delay the inevitable. Xiao Li shifted her weight to her left leg, showing her clear discomfort. He was so young, perhaps a few years older than Qia Yun, he had a whole life ahead of him, how could they abruptly disrupt whatever plans he had and announce to him that his life was going to be cut short? Qiang Li raised his full eyebrows, why were his guests seemingly so uncomfortable? Clearing his throat, he leaned towards Qia Yun.
" How did you know that I was pretending? I don"t think my acting is that bad, " Qiang Li asked, remembering the main reason he invited them here, " I fooled the entire town, even my brother, actually, were you sent by my brother?"
Qia Yun gave a slight chuckle.
" I was not sent by your brother. I merely noticed your miserable fail at acting. The townspeople were fooled because they did not have a good look. It was mostly hearsay that you are frivolous, and they didn"t dare to focus on the shadows where you obviously was directly at the window and not in fact on the bed."
Qiang Li was stunned. Was his acting really that poor? Putting on a confident face, he continued, " Then why were you so intrigued by what I am doing that you would stare at the window of a brothel? Why are you here? I have never seen you before."
Qia Yun sighed, she wondered if she could reveal to him the real reason she had come to the Feng Continent. Could she trust him?
Looking back up to Qiang Li"s sharp eyes, she decided to go with the truth.
" Your family has something I want, called the Lightning Stone. When I realised that you were from the Qiang family, I decided to take what belongs to me."
Qiang Li nodded n.o.bly. He had heard of the Lightning Stone, it was nothing but a valuable antiquity to the Qiang family. Apparently, some elder of a branch family was killed by the head of the Qia family, but that elder was unimportant to the family so his father let it go. The elder had also started the fight and it was a miracle that the Qia family would gift something to apologise.
" You do realise why the Lightning Stone was taken away in the first place, right?"
Qia Yun stiffened, as she was wondering how to reason, Li You who had been standing protectively beside her spoke up.
" You"re going to die and we may be the only way you can survive."
Furrowing his eyebrows, Qiang Li gestured for Li You to explain further.
" You have been poisoned by your brother. It"s the Yin Poison. Didn"t you realise that the tea is a little too sweet? Doesn"t it remind you of the wine you were served at your Grandmother"s banquet? Do you even know about this poison?"
Li You stared Qiang Li down. Breaking eye contact, Qiang Li cleared his throat. Although he had never heard of the particular poison, he was certain that his general antidote would be effective against it. He was not too worried.
" You do not have the antidote to this poison. It is a very special poison that released a parasite that slowly destroys your internal organs. That parasite is immune to most types of antidotes. The only proven antidote is somewhere only we know. We are here to offer you a deal for the Lightning Stone."
Standing at the back, Xiao Li was shocked at Li You"s straightforward and convincing manner. She was way too used to him being playful and flirty. She quickly looked back at Qiang Li, wondering what response he would have. It wasn"t every day that someone out of nowhere appeared and announced that you were going to die.
Sh.e.l.l shocked, Qiang Li stayed motionless. Di Long stared suspiciously at these foreigners. Who knew if they were telling the truth or faking it? He lifted the teapot up and opened it, smelling it. Indeed, it smelled overwhelmingly sweet reminding him of the banquet where he had gotten a whiff of the wine"s scent. Gripping the teapot harder, he wondered why he had not realised this bizarrely distinctive scent in the wine and warned Qiang Li before he ingested if. Cracks formed on the teapot as it crumbled under the harsh pressure Di Long was inflicting on it.
Hearing the sudden crash of porcelain, Qiang Li finally processed the fact that he might die soon.