Chapter 963: Poison

Looking over his social network, Meng Mingshu found that he had lost all of his friends. Everyone had betrayed him, and he had betrayed everybody. Like a half-starved stray dog, he lay prostrate before the first one who beckoned to him, even if this man had just teased him, and even if there was an evil intent hiding behind his smile.

Pang Jing, who was from the Central Plains, was the initiator of the conspiracy. Meng Mingshu was eager to grab his collar and question him. "There's no animosity between us. Why did you frame me?"

But he didn't dare. When news came that Mo Chu had returned to the city and taken over the Governor's mansion, he had found a spark of inspiration and publicly invited his foe over to live with him. When Pang Jing agreed, he even had to obsequiously express his gratitude.

The Central Plains was so powerful that it was like the Heavenly Mountain in the north. No matter how many evil deeds it perpetrated, nobody was able to retaliate against it. Meng Mingshu didn't dare retaliate against Pang Jing, and he also didn't have the heart to punish himself, so he instead shifted all of his anger onto Xiao Fengchai.

The more he thought about it, the more justifiable he found it. Pang Jing was the one who had originally formulated the plan, and Lü Qiying was the one who had originally came to him to persuade him. But the ultimate reason why he had fallen for it was because he trusted Xiao Fengchai. He loved that woman, and the money that he had spent on her during all these years was enough to convince a princess of a small country to marry him. However, she had repaid his love with exploitation and betrayal.

'Shameless!' Meng Mingshu quivered from head to toe with indignation. He put down the letter and said to the visitor, "Okay. Tell your master that I'll be there on time."

Lü Qiying had written him a letter, politely inviting him to a consultation. He implied that there would be another participant. Naturally, that person would be Xiao Fengchai.

Meng Mingshu had just suffered a heavy loss, so he had regained a part of his senses. He took the letter to Pang Jing and asked him for advice. Meanwhile, he beat around the bush during the conversation, trying to figure out the relationship between this Central Plains man and Xiao Fengchai.

Pang Jing let out two laughs. Currently, his focus was not on these insignificant people, so he answered casually. "She works for the Dragon King. I have nothing to do with any of her businesses."

Meng Mingshu regarded this remark as a tacit permission. That night, he went to Retention Alley to rendezvous, only bringing two attendants with him. Surprisingly, after he made up his mind, he didn't feel afraid at all when he entered the jurisdiction of the Department of Guards.

Butterfly counted as a famous prostitute in Retention Alley. In her prime, she had a naive and natural appearance when acting cute before whoremasters, which was why she had had a very high success rate in seducing them.

Second Young Master Meng was one of her regulars. When he came to her place, Butterfly was both delighted and annoyed. Pulling at his sleeve, she first put on an air of anger and pinched him repeatedly, but she barely used any force. Though she kept saying, "Get out of here," her grip on him was very tight.

Meng Mingshu was surprised to see how much Butterfly had changed. Last year, she had still been slightly inexperienced, spoiled, and cute; the longer she had affectionately tried to resist him, the more sexually excited he had become. But now, she began to show her greedy, hateful side. Her skills remained the same. Actually, she was even more skillful now. It was just her appearance that had changed. Butterfly was maturing quickly, and if she didn't change her style soon, then it was very likely that she wouldn't be able to stay in Retention Alley any longer.

'Most women's beauty is as transient as that of a flower. It blossoms, lasts a short time, and then fades away.' Meng Mingshu sighed secretly and then immediately recalled Xiao Fengchai. This woman was the only one whose beauty had endured the test of time, truly a miracle.

The thought caused Meng Mingshu sharp pain. He blandly pushed Butterfly aside. "Where's Lü Qiying? Has he arrived yet?"

Lü Qiying's voice came from upstairs. "Oh. Second Young Master Meng has arrived. Please come up here."

In Butterfly's room, the air was filled with a suffocating cloying fragrance, and there was a huge fire blazing in the fireplace. A tableful of food had been prepared beforehand, along with wine. Casually sitting in the host seat, Lü Qiying smiled. "Second Young Master Meng, let's have a few goblets of wine first. And then, you can tell me how you're going to thank me."

"Thank you?" Meng Mingshu sneered. "What don't you tell me on whose behalf you're talking for this time? That Central Plains guy? The Dragon King? Golden Roc Castle? Or Xiao Fengchai? You must have a master. How else would a mutt like you dare to come here and bark?"

Butterfly didn't have to be very smart to figure out that something was wrong, so she intimately leaned against Meng Mingshu and called out "Second Brother" in a saccharine voice. However, her dear "Second Brother" was completely indifferent to her efforts, and abruptly said, "Get out."

Butterfly was stunned. Unused to a man giving her the cold shoulder, she didn't know how to react.

The smile on Lü Qiying's face remained unchanged. He raised his goblet and said to Butterfly, "We'll call you if we need you. You may leave us."

Butterfly stamped her feet and then left the room angrily. "He's already squandered all of his family's money, but he's still pretending... "

"Now that you've come, you might as well sit down, Second Young Master Meng." Lü pointed at the seat on his left side.

"What about Xiao Fengchai? Where is she?"

"Don't worry. Lady Xiao will be here soon. Let's talk first."

"I have nothing to say to you," Meng Mingshu said angrily as he walked up to the table, took the wine pot, inverted it, and poured all of the wine onto the table, ruining the food. "Did the Dragon King send you here to kill me? I doubt that you have the balls to do it. Tell me. Did you poison the wine or the food?"

Lü Qiying didn't answer him directly. He raised the goblet to his lips, gulped down the remaining wine, picked up a piece of fish with his chopsticks, and started chewing on it. "Is the Second Young Master Meng very afraid that the Dragon King will kill you?"

"Heh. You should be more afraid than I am. The Dragon King is not going to let you and that bitch get away with what you've done."

"Aren't I still alive? I'm not even afraid of drinking poisoned wine and eating poisoned dishes."

"That's because the Dragon King wants to use you two people one last time. I heard about it. During the last two days, you and Xiao Fengchai have been busy repaying the Dragon King's debt. That must have cost a fortune, right? How much longer can you keep doing it?"

The moment the name "Fengchai" formed on Lü Qiying's lips, rage surged inside Meng Mingshu, who then smacked his fists onto the surface of the table. "You think that you're eligible to call her by her first name?"

Lü Qiying raised his palm that had only four fingers left, seemingly appreciating its ugly aesthetic. "Not only my mouth, but even this hand of mine is worthy of her. She's just a prostitute, Second Young Master Meng... "

Meng Mingshu instantly transferred his anger from Xiao Fengchai onto Lü Qiying. He walked half a circle around the room, planning to teach this old guy a lesson.

As he watched Meng Mingshu walk towards him, Lü Qiying said, "There are hundreds of thousands of people who have slept with Xiao Fengchai. Do you think that you can kill all of them?"

Meng Mingshu had clenched his fists, but he didn't launch an attack. Instead, he murmured, "A bitch is a bitch after all. She's heartless, ungrateful, and cares for nothing but money."

Lü Qiying shared his opinion, empathetically sighing, "But men never learn. They race to jump into the trap and won't realize how stupid they are until they're covered in cuts and bruises."

Meng Mingshu watched Lü Qiying in confusion. He never expected that this old man in his fifties or sixties would have also suffered the same pain that he had. "You also... "

"Yes," said Lü Qiying, his face no less indignant than Meng Mingshu's. "I was fooled by a bitch. I labored and worked for her, but eventually, when I was trying to escape, she betrayed me."

Meng Mingshu sat down dejectedly, the look on his face alternating between anger and dejection. "Yes. We were all fooled. Xiao Fengchai is the cause of all this. Why didn't that Central Plains guy take her away?"

Meng Mingshu had been asking himself this question all along, but didn't dare directly ask Pang Jing.

"Why? Because that Central Plains guy likes men."

Meng Mingshu raised his head in amazement, thinking that Lü Qiying must be joking. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Are you saying that... I should have noticed this earlier. This kind of person is not rare in Jade City either. I'm so stupid... So, Xiao Fengchai was fooled as well."

"She was, but she deserves it."

"Ha-ha. She deserves it!" Meng Mingshu let out two loud laughs and with that, his face darkened. "Why exactly did you invite me here?"

"To take revenge."

"Take revenge?"

Lü Qiying fished out a small packet from his front pocket and held it in his palm. "This poison is from the Waning Moon Hall. It takes effect three hours after ingestion. Originally, I was planning on putting this in your goblet, but I'm more willing to see it take effect on Xiao Fengchai."

This was indeed a trap. Thinking about the heartlessness of Xiao Fengchai, Meng Mingshu became furious, but he managed to control himself. "Do you think that you can survive after killing Xiao Fengchai? The Dragon King is not going to spare you again."

"You said it yourself. The Dragon King won't let me get away anyways. There's no doubt that he will kill me after the situation stabilizes. So, I came to you to seek shelter."

"I can't even protect myself. How am I supposed to shelter you?"

"Jade City is not safe. Even if someone else obtains the position of Lord of Jade City, the Dragon King will still be able to kill us. We can only flee to the Central Plains, where the Dragon King won't be able to find us. You still have half of the Meng family's money. The Central Plains will surely welcome you."

'Half of the Meng family's money.' Meng Mingshu seldom thought about the things in the vault of the old mansion. He was uncertain about who those gold ingots belonged to exactly. "When will she come?"

"Soon."

Meng Mingshu snatched the pack of poison away. "Why not use a poison that takes effect instantly?"

"Xiao Fengchai wanted you to die on Butterfly's bed so as to shift the blame onto her."

Meng Mingshu snorted. He deeply felt the authenticity of the saying: a woman's heart was the most wicked.

Lü Qiying walked to the doorway and summoned Butterfly to clean the table and bring more food and wine, but Butterfly sourly refused. She claimed that she was not a handmaid and kept nagging them even as two handmaids quickly cleaned the table and then brought some dishes from outside.

An hour later, Xiao Fengchai arrived. She was wearing men's clothes and a cape, and had only brought only one attendant with her. She was an old rival of Butterfly, but Butterfly failed to recognize her. Finding that more and more men were showing up at her place, Butterfly couldn't help but complain. It was not until Lü Qiying paid her more silver ingots that she finally shut up and quietly stayed downstairs.

After taking off her cape, Xiao Fengchai appeared delicate and attractive, though she was wearing men's clothes. Meng Mingshu's determination to kill her wavered for a time. After all, they were all pawns of other people who had no choice but to follow their orders. 'What's the point of committing cannibalism?' But this thought only lasted a very short time in his mind. When Xiao Fengchai called him "Second Brother" with tearful eyes, Meng Mingshu reaffirmed his determination to take revenge. 'This bitch is trying to trick me into drinking poisoned wine. The more pitiful she acts, the more venomous her intentions actually are."

Lü Qiying took the hint and walked to the doorway. "I'll give you some privacy. Call me if you need me."

And with that, the door was closed. Xiao Fengchai said in a tender voice, "Second Brother, I really didn't know about that Central Plains guy's conspiracy. He fooled me too."

"I understand... " Meng Mingshu desperately wanted to continue his acting, but with so many conflicting emotions churning inside him, he lost his composure and put the little pack in his hands onto the table. "Do you know what this is?"

Xiao Fengchai's face changed. "What is it?"

"Lü Qiying said that this was poison, that you were going to use it to kill me."

"That was nonsense... "

"Yes. He was talking nonsense. This is not poison but rather an antidote. The wine itself is poisoned. The reason why he pretended to side with me to seek shelter was because he wanted to trick me into lowering my guard and drinking the poisoned wine, while giving you the antidote. This is your plan, isn't it? Why did he go downstairs? To poison Butterfly and my attendant? Heh. You fooled me once. Now do you want to fool me again?"

Staring at Meng Mingshu, Xiao Fengchai stayed silent. She had to confirm what this man was thinking about first before reacting.

Meng Mingshu smiled, realizing that his guess was right. He strode behind Xiao Fengchai in a single step, tightly wrapped his left arm around her neck, drew a dagger with his right hand, and pointed it at her heart as he said, "My plan is very simple: kill you directly."

Surprisingly, Xiao Fengchai calmed down. "This is the Dragon King's turf. You won't be able to make it out of Retention Alley alive if you kill me. You still have half of the Meng family's money. Do you have the heart to give that up?"

Meng Mingshu gently moved his left hand upwards, clamped it onto Xiao Fengchai's mouth and whispered into her ear, "Do you think that I don't know? All of the gold ingots in the old mansion are counterfeits. The real ones are in the Governor's mansion, and I'll never be able to get them. I've been meaning to kill myself for a long time, but I love you so much that I can't bear going to hell alone. I have to take you with me. Even death will not do us apart... "

For the first time, fear arose inside Xiao Fengchai. She couldn't understand this man's thoughts, just like how normal people couldn't understand madness.

She struggled and tried to yell, but the dagger ruthlessly sank into her heart.

Meng Mingshu held her in his arms until the body went cold.

"Lü Qiying," he called out.