"However, a batch of that cargo was recently smuggled into Jiangnan, so I asked a contact to get a little. Ning Chen is always eating at that barbecue place, so let's fix him up a treat, hehehe..."
Afterward, the henchmen led a stray dog in from outside.
Yang Kai put on gloves, crushed the Ghost Hand Qing, mixed it into the dog food, and fed it to the stray dog.
Before long, the stray dog began foaming at the mouth and collapsed dead on the ground.
Its entire body turned a terrifying greenish-black, blood poured from its seven orifices, and it died a wretched death.
"Hiss! It's that poisonous?" Ma Kun, standing to the side, shifted his expression slightly.
Bai Xiao laughed heartily and instructed Yang Kai to handle the matter well. It had to be done without a sound, and ideally, the blame should be pinned on Li Mei.
"Ning Chen, oh Ning Chen, open your eyes wider when you reincarnate in your next life. Not everyone is someone you can afford to cross!"
Chapter 20: There's Poison in the Soup
7:00 PM.
Ning Chen took a taxi to the InterContinental Hotel, where a waiter led him to a luxury private dining room on the sixth floor.
Xu Shuyan, Aunt Qiao, Xu Shuyan, and Jiang Tang had all arrived, along with Butler Fan Yi.
"Hi, Big Brother Dali!" Jiang Tang waved excitedly.
"Xiaotang," Ning Chen replied with a smile.
But upon seeing Xu Shuyan and her father Xu Jingshan, the smile on his face noticeably faded, and he only politely greeted Xu Jingshan as "Uncle Xu."
"Xiaochen, sit down."
Aunt Qiao had purposely saved a seat for Ning Chen right next to Xu Shuyan.
Then she began to scold her daughter, "Why didn't you bring Xiaochen along with you? You made him take a taxi."
"Why would I bring him along!" Xu Shuyan said petulantly.
"You child, you have zero manners."
Aunt Qiao glared at her in annoyance, then smiled at Ning Chen. "Don't mind her, Xiaochen. We've completely spoiled this child."
"Mommy!"
Xu Shuyan stamped her little foot in frustration.
She even suspected that Ning Chen might be Mommy's illegitimate son from outside; otherwise, why else would she be so good to him?
"Alright, let's serve the food."
At Xu Jingshan's command, Butler Fan behind him gave the waiter a look, and the latter quickly contacted the kitchen to bring out the dishes.
"Xiaochen, I heard about what you did at school today." Xu Jingshan looked at Ning Chen with a smile.
"Uh..." Ning Chen frowned slightly. How did Xu Jingshan find out?
"Honey, what happened?" asked Qiao Jing with curiosity.
"On his very first day of official classes, this kid beat up a few upperclassmen. I heard they were from the sanda club, and a few of them ended up in the hospital," Xu Jingshan laughed.
"What?" Qiao Jing was startled.
"..." Ning Chen felt he had worried for nothing.
The matter involving Duan Shuliu and Iron-Foot Qi had already been suppressed by Old Wen.
If word of such a thing got out, it would reflect very poorly on the school.
Xu Shuyan and Jiang Tang exchanged a shocked look.
"Didn't you say you ran into the principal and they let you go?" Xu Shuyan asked Ning Chen.
"Obviously, I lied to you." Ning Chen said.
"You..." Xu Shuyan grew furious.
Jiang Tang, however, was amused by Ning Chen's attitude.
"Xiaochen, how could you fight at school?"
Qiao Jing put on a stern face and reprimanded him, "You worked so hard to get into Qingzhou University. If you get expelled, how heartbroken your mother would be?"
"Aunt Qiao, they started it..." Ning Chen smiled wryly.
"That's still no excuse for fighting!" Qiao Jing said.
"..." Ning Chen offered no defense.
"Hahaha, it's fine. Our country advocates martial arts nowadays, and practicing martial arts is the trend. It's totally normal for young people to fight a bit."
Xu Jingshan waved a hand. "Wife, I was thinking—with Xiaochen's incredible skills, wouldn't it be great if he became Shuyan's bodyguard?"
*Looks like he still hasn't given up.* Ning Chen secretly shook his head.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Qiao Jing frowned. "For a college student, studying is the primary task."
"Jingjing, you have to think about our daughter too. Shuyan is so pretty—how many guys have harassed her growing up?"
Xu Jingshan turned serious. "Here's what I'm thinking: Xiaochen's family isn't well-off. Now that he's grown up, he needs to learn to make his own money and ease the burden on his family."
"I'll offer him a salary of 20,000 a month. That figure alone beats 90% of white-collar workers in Qingzhou. Once he graduates, he can even come straight to work at the Xu Corporation."
"Besides, Xiaochen is someone whose background we know inside and out, so he's much safer to use. What do you think, honey?"
After listening, Qiao Jing felt that what Xu Jingshan said made some sense.
Shuyan was pretty, loved dressing up, and loved to play; she had attracted more than her fair share of creeps over the years.
Yet, she worried about hurting Ning Chen's self-esteem, so she probed cautiously, "Xiaochen, what do you think?"
"Oh, Mommy, Daddy, I don't need any bodyguard!" Xu Shuyan pouted unhappily.
"Shut up, you have no say in this!" Xu Jingshan glared at her fiercely.
Ning Chen pretended to ponder for a long time before finally shaking his head.
"I'm sorry, Uncle Xu, I'm still not interested in the position of your daughter's bodyguard."
"Xiaochen, can you tell me why? If it's a matter of salary, we can still negotiate..." Xu Jingshan refused to give up.
"It's not about the money; it's mainly because Shuyan and I don't get along." Ning Chen answered truthfully.
"..." Jiang Tang was somewhat speechless. Big Brother Dali was much too honest.
"Let me correct you—it's I who don't get along with you!" Xu Shuyan said indignantly.
"Well, if it were someone with Xiaotang's personality, I'd be her bodyguard for free, no salary required," Ning Chen added.
"Big Brother Dali, you... why are you suddenly flirting with me? So annoying." Jiang Tang's face flushed a rosy red, looking very cute.
Ning Chen was, of course, just joking.
Even if the Ruler of Earth showed up, they wouldn't qualify to have him as a bodyguard.
"You... you're actually driving a wedge between our friendship as best friends! You're shameless!" Xu Shuyan pointed at Ning Chen and scolded, almost crying from anger.
"Shuyan, is that any way to speak?" Qiao Jing reprimanded.
"Sigh, forget it, forget it." Xu Jingshan waved his hand, brushing the matter aside, though in his heart he always felt that Ning Chen did not know what was good for him.
Soon, the dishes were served.
Ten dishes and one soup, every single one of them a feast of color, aroma, and flavor.
Xu Shuyan was too angry to eat a single bite, but Ning Chen ate with great gusto.
At that moment, a waiter pushed a small cart and brought in yet another dish.
"We didn't order this dish."
Butler Fan glanced at it and saw it was an extremely fragrant mushroom soup.
"Sir, this is a complimentary dish from our hotel, available only when a certain spending threshold is reached," the waitress smiled and said.
"Alright, serve it." Butler Fan nodded.
The waitress complied.
Since the soup happened to be closest to Ning Chen, he immediately ladled himself a bowl.
"Huh?"
The moment Ning Chen took a sip, he sensed something was wrong.
The savory fragrance in the soup was actually mixed with a potent, concentrated toxin!
"Wait!"
Seeing that Xu Shuyan was also about to ladle a bowl, he quickly snatched it away from her, wearing a dead-serious expression.
"What are you doing??"
Xu Shuyan glared at him in bewilderment. "Why are you snatching my soup? There's plenty left, can't you ladle your own?"
"There's poison in the soup," Ning Chen said with total sincerity.
"Pfft!" Jiang Tang laughed so hard she spat out her food.
"Are you out of your mind?!"
Xu Shuyan had tolerated Ning Chen for a long time and lashed out immediately. "I think you're the one who's poisoned! Hand it over!"
With a flick of his hand, Ning Chen poured the soup out.
"You..." Xu Shuyan was almost angry enough to faint.
Chapter 21: You've Finally Stopped Pretending
"Xiaochen, what on earth is going on?" Qiao Jing cast a puzzled look his way.
"Aunt Qiao, Uncle Xu, this bowl of soup really is poisonous. Trust me." Ning Chen looked completely certain.
Qiao Jing and Xu Jingshan exchanged glances, both feeling rather awkward and finding it hard to believe.
"Sir, please rest assured."
At that moment, the waitress stepped forward to offer reassurance. "The base ingredient for this mushroom soup is the 'seeing-hand green' mushroom from Lingnan. It does indeed carry a certain degree of toxicity, but after professional processing by our head chef, the toxins have been completely removed. You can enjoy it with peace of mind."
"Xiaochen, you heard her, it's fine." Qiao Jing smiled to comfort him.
"Such a country bumpkin who hasn't seen the world. Pufferfish are poisonous too, aren't they? People still eat them..." Xu Shuyan muttered in annoyance, then ladled herself another bowl.
To her surprise, this bowl was snatched away by Ning Chen once again.
"You... give it back to me!" Xu Shuyan yelled in fury.
Ignoring her entirely, Ning Chen walked straight over and handed the soup to the waitress. "You said there's no poison? Fine, drink this bowl yourself."
"This..."
The waitress pulled a difficult expression. "I'm sorry, sir, our restaurant has rules..."
"I'd say it's not about rules, it's that you don't dare..."
Ning Chen stared fixedly at the waitress.
Just moments ago, when Xu Shuyan was ladling the soup, this woman's eyes had clearly flashed with an unusual look.
"Enough, Xiaochen!"
Xu Jingshan was growing displeased. "The InterContinental is a five-star hotel; the head chef wouldn't make such a rookie mistake. Sit down, eat your meal properly, and stop stirring up trouble!"
"Big Brother Dali, didn't you just drink a bowl earlier? You look fine," Jiang Tang asked curiously.
"..." Ning Chen was at a loss for words.
Before entering the Chunyang Wuji Palace, he had studied four centuries of medical arts, and he was entirely certain the poison in this soup was strong enough to kill an elephant.
As for why he was unharmed, it was twofold: first, the physical body of a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator was immensely powerful; second, he had once consumed the snake pellet of a Black-Scaled Serpent Emperor, granting him a constitution immune to all poisons.
If he explained it that way, however, he would definitely be treated as a lunatic.
"I think he's a clown sent by the monkeys!"
Seeing Ning Chen speechless, Xu Shuyan let out a cold laugh.
At that moment, Ning Chen shifted his gaze to Xu Jingshan, scanned him a few times, and said, "Uncle Xu, you've probably had nosebleeds within the last three days, haven't you?"
"You... how do you know?!"
Xu Jingshan froze, finding it utterly incredible.
The morning before yesterday, when he got up to wash, he indeed had a nosebleed, but he hadn't mentioned such a minor detail to anyone.
How could Ning Chen know something even the person sleeping next to him didn't?
Could he read fortunes?
"Because, Uncle Xu, you're a bit hollow!" Ning Chen dropped a bombshell.
The expressions of Xu Jingshan and Qiao Jing shifted in unison, their gazes turning unnatural.
"What are you saying? You're the one who's hollow!" Xu Shuyan scolded angrily.
"If I guessed correctly, you've recently been taking a tonic, and a very precious one at that."
Ignoring Xu Shuyan completely, Ning Chen continued on his own:
"But you've overdone it, leading to an excess of internal heat. Aside from nosebleeds, you also suffer from swollen and painful gums, insomnia with vivid dreams, a bitter taste in your mouth, and a dry tongue. Am I right?"
Shock washed over the faces of Xu Jingshan and Qiao Jing!
Every single symptom Ning Chen mentioned was spot-on!
"Xiaochen, how on earth did you know all this?" Aunt Qiao asked incredulously.
"I studied traditional Chinese medicine."
With that, Ning Chen's gaze returned to the mushroom mushroom soup. "Therefore, I can state with one hundred percent certainty that this soup is poisonous! And it's a fatal, lethal poison!"
"..." The couple was somewhat dumbfounded.
The waitress's eyes flickered twice.
"Daddy, Mommy, what he said... can't be true, right?" Xu Shuyan's pretty mouth gaped open.
"The symptoms really do match..." Qiao Jing still found it hard to believe that a kid who had just started college could possess such high medical skill.
"Old Fan!"
Seeing how resolute Ning Chen was, Xu Jingshan decided to have Fan Yi thoroughly investigate. "Find a lab and test the ingredients in this soup."
"Yes, Chairman." Fan Yi immediately took the bowl of soup away.
"I still don't believe it!"
Xu Shuyan crossed her slender arms, leaned back in her chair, and said to Ning Chen, "Since you claim the soup is poisonous, why are you fine? You just drank three big gulps of it."
"I never expected Miss Xu to pay such close attention to me, even keeping track of how many gulps of soup I had." Ning Chen teased.
"Who... who's paying attention to you? Don't flatter yourself!" Xu Shuyan's lovely face flushed red, and she turned away in a huff.
"Alright, back to the point. The reason I didn't get poisoned is because..."
Ning Chen was trying to think of a plausible excuse.
Suddenly, the waitress's voice rang out. Gone was the timid demeanor from earlier; instead, it carried a biting chill. "Young man, your medical skills are impressive—to actually be able to neutralize the poison of the Ghost Hand Qing."
"Oh? You've finally stopped pretending." Ning Chen looked at her.
"Since everyone's leaving anyway, there's naturally no need to pretend anymore."
As she spoke, the waitress reached out, pulled a silencer-equipped pistol from beneath the catering cart, flipped the safety off directly, and aimed it straight at Xu Jingshan.
"Ah!" Seeing the gun, Xu Shuyan let out a terrified shriek.
"Don't make a sound, or I'll blow his brains out!" the waitress threatened.
"Okay, okay, okay, I won't make a sound, don't shoot! Don't shoot my daddy! Wuwuwu..." Xu Shuyan cried out.
Jiang Tang and Qiao Jing nearby were also frightened pale, losing all color in their faces.
Xu Jingshan maintained a modicum of composure, pressing his hands against the table as he said with a dark face, "A diversion!"
"That's right!"
The waitress jammed the pitch-black muzzle of the gun against the back of Xu Jingshan's head.
"Iron Fist Hundred Victories Fan Yi is an Internal Force expert. Who knows how heavy a price we'd pay for a direct confrontation, so we had no choice but to resort to a few dirty tricks."
"Don't move!"
The waitress was also an expert; as she spoke, her eyes constantly tracked the movements of everyone else.
She swung the muzzle toward Xu Shuyan and said viciously, "Take your phones out!"
Xu Shuyan didn't dare disobey.
"And yours!"
One, two, three, four phones were tossed onto the table.
Only Ning Chen remained standing where he was, unmoving.
"Little brat, didn't you hear me? Take your phone out!" The waitress pointed the gun at Ning Chen.
"Shuyan! Run, both of you!!" Xu Jingshan suddenly lunged forward in a desperate burst.
Yet he possessed no martial arts skills, while the waitress was an External Force martial artist, kicking him flying four or five meters away.
"Daddy!"
"Honey!"
Xu Shuyan and Qiao Jing cried out in panic.
Unfortunately, the private dining room was heavily soundproofed; even if a shot was fired inside, nobody outside would hear it.
"Courting death."
The waitress sneered coldly, walked up to Ning Chen with the gun, and demanded, "Phone! Hand it out!"
"For an assassin, you're really quite unqualified." Ning Chen suddenly spoke up.
"What did you say?" The waitress was taken aback.
Death was at the door, yet this kid was talking nonsense.
"You talk way too much. You probably aren't a professional assassin." Ning Chen's tone was indifferent.
"None of your business!" The waitress sneered, holding the gun. "As long as the mission gets done, having a little fun on the side, what's wrong with that?"
"Then I'm sorry, you won't be finishing this mission."
With those words, Ning Chen opened his palm and reached straight for her pistol.
Chapter 22: The Ghost Hand Qing Appears
"You're asking for it!"
Seeing Ning Chen dare to disarm her, a flash of cold light crossed the female assassin's eyes, and she pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Bang!
A gunshot echoed through the private room.
Unlike in the movies, despite the silencer, the sound of the pistol was still quite loud.
"Ah!!" Xu Shuyan, Jiang Tang, and the others let out terrified screams.
Yet the scene of flying flesh and blood they imagined did not happen.
Ning Chen cupped his palm around the barrel of the gun. His entire hand remained completely unscathed, with only wisps of smoke drifting out from between his fingers.
"How is that possible?!" The female assassin's eyeballs nearly popped out of her skull.
"This..." Xu Jingshan couldn't make sense of it either.
How could a human hand block a bullet?
"What the hell!"
Without hesitation, the female assassin pulled the trigger again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three shots in rapid succession. The female assassin was certain the bullets had fired, but for some reason, Ning Chen's hand was completely fine, and his expression remained utterly blank.
She tried to yank the gun back, but Ning Chen's grip was immensely powerful, making it impossible.
"I don't believe this!!"
The female assassin tried to pull the trigger once more, but the pistol suddenly "bang!" exploded in her grip, blowing her hand into a bloody mess as she collapsed to the ground screaming.
"Ahhhh... My hand, my hand!!"
Clutching her bleeding right hand, the female assassin shrieked endlessly on the floor.
The Xu family and Jiang Tang were all dumbfounded. What... on earth was happening here?
"Don't look."
Ning Chen walked over and covered Jiang Tang's eyes.
Jiang Tang's delicate body trembled slightly, a wave of warmth instantly rising in her heart.
"X-Xiaochen, are you alright?!"
Only then did Qiao Jing snap back to her senses, hurrying over to check Ning Chen for injuries.
Yet on Ning Chen's clean palm, let alone bleeding, not even a layer of skin was broken.
The crisis averted, Xu Jingshan immediately grabbed a chair, knocked the female assassin unconscious, and then rushed over to check on Ning Chen.
Meanwhile, Xu Shuyan pulled out her phone to contact Fan Yi.
"Xiaochen, your hand..."
Xu Jingshan turned Ning Chen's hand over and over, shock written all over his face.
"Uncle Xu, Aunt Qiao, luckily this fellow's gun jammed. I'm fine." Ning Chen took the initiative to explain, putting on a look of relief.
"You silly child! If anything happened to you, how could I ever face your mother!" Qiao Jing cried openly, pulling Ning Chen into a lingering hug of terror.
"The situation was urgent, I didn't have time to think..." Ning Chen smiled wryly.
A short while later, Fan Yi hurried over, panting, apology written all over his face.
"I'm sorry! Chairman, this was my dereliction of duty!"
Sitting in his chair, Xu Jingshan waved a hand. "It's not your fault; I fell for their diversion tactic. Oh, and Old Fan, that mushroom soup."
"It's definitely lethal poison!"
Fan Yi glanced at Ning Chen nearby. "According to the lab technicians, the mushrooms in the soup are Ghost Hand Qing from Lingnan. It's the most toxic kind of mushroom! Sales were banned locally years ago, and even the locals in Lingnan wouldn't dare touch it..."
The entire family stared at Ning Chen in shock.
Xu Shuyan in particular recalled her earlier remarks, and her face burned fiercely, turning beet red.
"Xiaochen, so everything you said was true. I'm sorry, Uncle Xu misunderstood you." Xu Jingshan apologized sincerely, now fully convinced that Ning Chen truly possessed extraordinary abilities.
"Gosh, Big Brother Dali, you are so amazing!" Jiang Tang looked at Ning Chen with even deeper admiration.
"Just a coincidence," Ning Chen smiled faintly.
"No way! With such a toxic mushroom, Xiaochen, I have to take you to the hospital for a checkup!" Qiao Jing strode over, preparing to take Ning Chen away.