Murong Yun Shuâs mind was still full of emotion when the waiter approached with food and drink. He laid them out on the table, muttered some niceties, and left.
Murong Yun Shu glanced over the tableful of food before picking up her chopsticks to eat. Everyone else started to eat too. The man telling stories continued, mostly sharing stories about fights and gangs. More or less the content was that so and so would end so and so, or so and so intended to end so and so. Eating and listening to the stories, everyone in the group was quite relaxed.
Unfortunately, the more people are there to admire the view, the more likely it is that a few people will pop up to destroy it.
Murong Yun Shu set down her chopsticks and raised her eyes, looking at the five huge figures that blocked her view. âWhat are you five here for?â she asked politely.
âWeâre here to capture you,â One of them said, hands on hips.
Glancing at the arms that were thicker than both her legs combined, and the four skinny green-shirted guards in her part, Murong Yun Shu felt that she didnât have much of a chance. So instead she picked up her bowl and chopsticks and kept eating.
âHey! Iâm here to capture you, are you listening or not?â
She chewed slowly, until she had swallowed the last bit of food. Only then did she put her chopsticks down with a calm expression. âHow much do you want?â
âWhat do you mean?â
âAre you not here to kidnap me for my money?â
âWhat? Weâre not petty thieves like that!â
Murong Yun Shu thought a bit longer. âOr are you here for my body?â
Everyone around her couldnât help but make faces. How could she say something like that so calmlyâŚ
They laughed. âWeâre not interested in someone like you. Skinny without an ounce of fat, thereâs nothing there to even grope.â Their laughter was stupid, their voices thick.
Suddenly, there were a few ringing slaps. The laughter stopped, and each of the figures had a red handprint on their faces. At the same time, the Southern guard that had taken action pressed a hand to his chest, vomiting a few mouthfuls of black blood, a dark coloration rippling across his face as well.
Murong Yun Shuâs heart sank. Things were not going well here.
âSouth!â The Western guard hurried to help him force the poison energy out. Unexpectedly his energies backfired and the poison attacked him as well. He spat out blood that was the same shade of black.
The Northern guard was about to help, when Eastern guard stopped him. âDonât do it, or youâll be poisoned just like them.â
âThereâs poison in the food?!â
The Eastern guard nodded with a grim look.
âThen, madamâŚâ Northern guard glanced at Murong Yun Shu fearfully.
âIâm fine.â Murong Yun Shu said calmly. âItâs only effective toward those who have inner energies.â
âWhen did you learn that?â
âWhen I was drinking the tea.â
The Eastern guard face faulted. âWhy didnât you tell us?â
âI thought you knew.â She didnât know that her impressive-looking guards couldnât even tell that something was poisonedâŚ
The corners of the Eastern guardâs mouth twitched. âMadam, youâŚreally think highly of us.â
A similar look came over the faces of the other guards. Madam, if you knew that there was poison in the food and wine and watched us eat it all up, how could you bear your conscience!
Murong Yun Shu was actually a bit guilty, so she spoke up to comfort them. âThis isnât really such a bad poison. Worst case scenario you lose all your fighting skills, but you wonât die from it.â
The four guardsâ faces turned white. Losing all your skills wasnât fearful? For guards who helped establish such a powerful force and made enemies everywhere, losing your powers was even worse than death. So many people out there were keen to feast on their flesh and drink their blood that if they ended up being vivisected or torn to shreds, that would be a merciful way to goâŚ
Seeing the looks on the four guardsâ faces, Luâer understood that her madam had once again failed miserably at trying to impress. And after she had told her so many times not to comfort people without thinking! This wasnât even the worst that had happened. One time Fourth Auntie accidentally broke her leg. Her response was, âDonât worry about it. The worst that can happen is that you wonât be able to walk again. We have plenty of servants in the family that can just lift you wherever you need to go.â That was enough to convince Fourth Auntie that she was going to be crippled for life, and she wailed for the whole night.
Not everyone could comfort others. Luâer glanced at her mistress with a subtle look and whispered, âMadam, silence is gold.â
Murong Yun Shu nodded quietly in agreement. She glanced at the tall figures next to her whose eyes bulged out of their heads. âThe antidote.â
Those eyes bulged bigger and bigger in anger, while the rest of their faces stayed still like they were made of wood.
âTheyâve been hit by Southâs blood handprint. Other than their eyes, if they move their faces ever so slightly they will suffer the pain of a thousand fire ants chewing on their hearts, a pain worse than death.â Eastern guard explained.
The men didnât understand why opening their mouths hurt them so much. At the sound of the words âblood handprintâ, their legs gave out beneath them. They collapsed onto the floor with an earth-shattering âboomâ. The bowls and chopsticks on the table shuddered.
If these five had been born as pigs, theyâd be worth quite a pretty penny. Murong Yun Shu stared down at them from above and said again, âThe antidote.â
They clambered up, glancing at each other, then made the motions of grabbing Murong Yun Shu.
âHold on,â she said, âItâs fine if you want to capture me. But can you tell me the reason first?â
They glanced at each other again. Then one of the men pointed at his own mouth to indicate that he couldnât speak.
âSouth, is there a way to negate a blood handprint?â Murong Yun Shu asked.
âYou would need very strong internal energy,â said Southern guard, âBut none of us can use that right now.â
Murong Yun Shu nodded and asked, âHow about Sir Feng?â
âHe should have enough. But isnât he also poisoned?â
Murong Yun Shu smiled. âYou think that ârising above Hua Tuo*â is a title he gave himself? If he couldnât even see through a poison of this grade, how would he even walk the streets without embarrassing himself?â