Chapter 094: Which Poison?

When Wang Jianming saw me, he set down the pipe he had been holding and rose to his feet. He was not especially old, yet his hair had already gone shockingly gray. When Wang Yazhuo saw him, she hurried over to his side and took hold of his arm.

But Wang Jianming gave a sudden cold snort and ordered someone to take her away. Wang Yazhuo stared at him in disbelief. It was clear that he had never treated her this way before. Wang Jianming’s attitude remained hard and unyielding; in the end, Wang Yazhuo stamped her foot and followed them off in a rage.

Only then did Wang Jianming begin to size me up again. For the next half minute, his gaze never left me. He circled me, looking me over from head to toe, and it made me deeply uncomfortable. In the end, it was Sun Yuxiao who reminded him before Wang Jianming finally spoke.

His first words were to ask who I was. I smiled faintly and had not yet answered when Sun Yuxiao hurried to apologize on bended knee, saying that he had failed to bring Luo Feng himself and had only managed to invite Luo Feng’s brother, and asking Wang Jianming to punish him if he wished. Wang Jianming waved a hand, then fixed his eyes on me again. With a dry laugh, he said, “Luo Feng has many men under him. Are you sure you have the right to come here in his place? My courtyard is not a place where any stray nobody can just walk in.”

Wang Jianming was not easy to deal with. The moment he opened his mouth, he spoke in a thoroughly unpleasant manner. My heart tightened, but I forced myself to endure it. Calmly, neither servile nor overbearing, I replied, “I am not Luo Feng’s subordinate. Master Ming, you misunderstood. I am Luo Feng’s brother.”

A trace of approval flashed through Wang Jianming’s eyes. He nodded. “Not bad. Very few people can still speak with that kind of nerve after seeing me. Luo Feng is still young, yet he has already fought his way from the Harbor District to the Capital. To be able to call him brother, you really are no ordinary man.”

He waved me to sit.

After I sat down, I picked up the tea Wang Jianming had prepared for me, but before the cup reached my lips, he asked again, “Have I met you before?”

I paused with the cup near my mouth, then took a light sip anyway. After setting it down, I smiled and answered, “Master Ming, this is the first time I’ve seen you.”

Wang Jianming studied me for a long time, thinking for a long time as well, and said I looked strangely familiar, as though he had seen me somewhere before. But I did not admit it, and in the end he had no choice but to let it go. Only I knew the truth: I had seen him, and he had seen me too. It was just that, back then, I did not know he was Wang Jianming, and he had not paid me any mind at all. Perhaps he had only cast an absent glance in my direction.

Wang Jianming’s men stood stiffly at the side. Where there are rules, there is order, and that is doubly true of a criminal empire that has managed to survive to this day without leaving the police enough evidence to pin it down. Wang Jianming picked up his pipe and began smoking again. For several minutes, not a single person in the hall spoke.

From time to time, I would steal glances at Wang Jianming. I knew he was deliberately keeping silent. If Luo Feng had been sitting here today, Wang Jianming would likely have come straight to the point. Any sensible person would know that leaving someone sitting there in the cold was rude, let alone when I was here in Luo Feng’s place.

Luo Feng called Wang Jianming “Master Ming” simply because Wang Jianming was older than he was. Given Luo Feng’s standing in the Harbor District, he was fully qualified to sit on equal footing with Wang Jianming. Some gangs on the mainland could not possibly be compared with those in the Harbor District; the mainland was strictly policed, and the authorities would never allow such powers to exist openly. Wang Jianming had managed to build his influence to this extent in a city as special as the Capital, which was proof enough of his ability.

After more than ten minutes of silence, I glanced at my watch and stood up. At that, Wang Jianming laughed. “What’s wrong, young man? You can’t sit still any longer?”

I fixed him with a cold stare. “Master Ming, I don’t know what you mean. My time is precious. I don’t have the leisure to sit here with you doing nothing.”

The moment the words left my mouth, one of Wang Jianming’s men barked at me, but Wang Jianming stopped him at once. Wang Jianming said that for many years no one had dared speak to him like this, then asked what urgent business I had.

“If it weren’t urgent, I could sit here with you for a whole day and still endure it. But I am in a hurry. Since Master Ming went to such lengths to invite Luo Feng, and even ordered your men to make sure he came, you must have something very important to discuss. If you won’t say it, then my trip here today was for nothing.”

I began to press Wang Jianming to come straight to the point.

If not for Luo Feng, I truly would not have dared to speak to Wang Jianming this way. After all, this was Wang Jianming’s territory. He was a drug lord, and if he did not have a few lives on his hands, no one would believe it. But once I was here representing Luo Feng, everything was different. Wang Jianming would not easily move against me, and that was why I dared to face him alone.

Wang Jianming told me not to be impatient. He said he only wanted to see whether I was truly fit to represent Luo Feng.

I curved my lips. “Since I am here, of course I can represent Luo Feng. Just treat me as you would Luo Feng. Every word I say can stand for his decision.”

Wang Jianming was visibly surprised. “It seems your relationship with Luo Feng really is unusual.”

I was growing a little impatient. “Master Ming, I told you already. Luo Feng and I are brothers. I’ll ask you only one thing: why did you invite Luo Feng to your home as a guest?”

Wang Jianming did not care about my tone. He again told me not to be anxious, and said that inviting Luo Feng over truly was for an important matter they needed to discuss. But then he stopped halfway through his own sentence and said the kitchen had already prepared the meal, so we might as well talk at the table.

I did not refuse again. Sun Yuxiao even asked whether Wang Yazhuo should be invited to join us, but Wang Jianming gave a cold snort, and Sun Yuxiao did not dare speak further. There had to be a reason Wang Jianming had suddenly taken such an attitude toward Wang Yazhuo. While I was thinking this, Wang Jianming had already told me to begin.

I was not polite either. I symbolically took a bite, and after swallowing it, Wang Jianming suddenly said, “Aren’t you afraid I’ve poisoned the food?”

I smiled faintly and shook my head. “If you wanted to kill me, would you need to go to all this trouble?”

Wang Jianming’s voice suddenly turned colder. “Have you even considered what kind of poison I meant?”

I set down my chopsticks, and a chill rose through me. My hand had already slipped into my pocket, where the gun Luo Feng had given me was hidden. Wang Jianming had truly awakened my killing intent. His words carried an implication. The poison he was talking about was not poison at all, but drugs—the narcotics he trafficked in.

After Wang Jianming and I stared at each other for several seconds, he suddenly burst into hearty laughter. “Young man, you’re still too young, too impulsive. Compared with you, Luo Feng is far more skilled.”

The men beside Wang Jianming laughed along with him. Someone even jeered, “It’s only a bit of drugs. Look how scared you are.” Their behavior had Wang Jianming’s tacit approval. His attitude already made it clear that he had indeed been trying to frighten me, and allowing his men to mock me seemed to be his way of throwing his weight around.

Before speaking of any major matter, one either shows sincerity or gives the other side a warning. That has almost become an unwritten rule in this world. More often than not, the latter means the other party is determined to get what he wants.

In truth, Wang Jianming was wrong. I was more patient than Luo Feng. It was only that he had already crossed my bottom line. Luo Feng had asked me several times why I hated drugs so much, and I had never told him. Yet now, Wang Jianming had actually tried to frighten me with them.

“Is that so funny?” I said coldly, and the laughter stopped at once. I looked at Wang Jianming. “Master Ming, whether the one sitting here today is me or Luo Feng, neither of us will tolerate being treated like this. Do you really think we are afraid of you?”

As I spoke, I drew the gun from my pocket and slammed it hard onto the dining table.

The hall fell into complete silence. Every move I made had been thought through.

Luo Feng was not afraid of Wang Jianming, and if I kept yielding, I would only let him push further.

Wang Jianming stared at me fixedly. His men were also growing restless. In the end, though, he took a deep breath and told me to sit down.

I sat back down. “I hope this time, you won’t beat around the bush again.”

Wang Jianming put down his chopsticks. He had never intended to eat with me in the first place; these dishes were only for show.

At last, Wang Jianming began to speak. But the moment he opened his mouth, I suddenly felt that something was off.