Chapter 161: How Am I So Excellent?
Chapter 161: How Am I So Excellent?
After lunch, Lin Shengnan went upstairs to take a nap. Tang Qing also went to the guest room to catch up on the sleep she missed last night. Only Li Zian and his daughter Li Xiaomei were left in the large living room.
Li Xiaomei sat on Li Zian’s lap, happily eating a chocolate ice cream cone. Her little mouth was stained a dark brown color.
Li Zian sat quietly, but his mind was running at full power. He racked his brains, thinking about how to break the situation.
This was almost a hopeless situation.
If he reported to the police, Kang Haichuan and Kang Xin would die.
If he didn’t report to the police, Kang Haichuan and Kang Xin would also die, because regardless of whether Huang Bo got the “Celestial Incense” or not, as people who had come into contact with the secret, the father and daughter were Huang Bo’s targets.
Even he himself, if he was not careful, could face a disastrous end.
“I can’t report this to the police. If I do, Kang Haichuan and Kang Xin will die. Huang Bo’s next target will be the people around me. If I don’t report it, they still have a chance to live. But if I don’t report it, I don’t have any helpers by my side. How can I deal with Huang Bo and his men?” Li Zian pondered.
Li Xiaomei finished eating the last bit of the cone and then started sucking her fingers.
Li Zian gently patted his little cotton-padded jacket’s head. “Don’t suck your fingers. It’s not clean.”
Li Xiaomei raised her hands for Li Zian to see. “Daddy, look, my hands are very clean.”
Of course they were clean, she had just sucked them.
You little glutton.
Li Zian felt a bit speechless. “Daddy will take you upstairs. You play by yourself for a while, okay?”
“Mm-hmm.” A child who had eaten ice cream was very well-behaved.
Li Zian carried Li Xiaomei upstairs and into her room.
Li Xiaomei played with her toys by herself, using her excavator toy to dig up her Barbie Doll.
Li Zian stayed in the room for a few minutes before leaving. He returned to his own room and continued thinking.
He was still at a loss. Thinking too much made his head feel heavy and dull.
Li Zian got up and lit a stick of sandalwood incense. He then sat cross-legged on the floor, watching the incense stick as he continued to think.
The sandalwood incense smoke rose in a thin wisp. A strand of the smoke drifted into Li Zian’s nostrils.
Boom!
The Great Sluggish Cauldron awoke. The Incense Burning State arrived instantly.
Countless faint sounds flooded into his ears like a tide.
In the adjacent guest room, Tang Qing was sleeping soundly.
In the room upstairs, Lin Shengnan turned over, then turned back again. It was hard for old people to fall asleep.
Next door, mysterious sounds of water reached his ears, followed by rustling noises. Then, Taozi’s voice was heard: “Lucky I didn’t get pregnant, or I’d be doomed. You heartless guy, you never wear a condom when you come to eat my peach. Sooner or later, I’ll give you a little monkey. Let’s see what you do then…”
Li Zian smiled, but also felt a bit confused.
Do you need to wear a condom to eat a peach? What kind of condom?
“Vroom, vroom, surrender! You are not Snow White, I am! Dig, I’ll dig…” Li Xiaomei’s voice talking to herself.
Li Zian’s heart felt warm. That was his little cotton-padded jacket, the apple of his eye.
Then, his mood turned heavy again.
How could he allow anyone to harm his peach, his little cotton-padded jacket?
The Incense Burning State brought him superhuman hearing, and his thinking became more agile.
Li Zian suddenly opened his eyes, staring at the sandalwood incense stuck in the glass cup. He watched the wisp of blue smoke drift towards him and enter his nostrils.
A spark of inspiration suddenly flashed through his mind.
Celestial Incense, Celestial Incense…
It should be an incense.
Huang Bo had been searching for over a decade, but he had never actually seen it either.
But since it was an incense, it should look like one. Even something as bizarre and mysterious as the Great Sluggish Cauldron looked like an incense burner, didn’t it?
“I don’t have the Celestial Incense. Why don’t I use the Movement-Halting Ointment to make an incense stick? Then, on the incense stick, I could draw a few symbols with ink. No, I should use green paint or pigment mixed with fluorescent powder to write. I’ll say that’s the Celestial Incense. Huang Bo has never seen the real one. Even if he doubts it, he would need to get the incense to check it. If I light the fake Celestial Incense right in front of him, wouldn’t he fall for it?” Li Zian thought to himself.
This plan needed to prove one more thing.
Li Zian quickly got up, fetched the alloy toolbox, opened it, and took out the matchbox-sized piece of Movement-Halting Ointment wrapped in a plastic bag, along with a small knife. He shaved off a little bit of the Movement-Halting Ointment with the knife and carefully brought it to the burning tip of the sandalwood incense.
Being an ointment, the bit of Movement-Halting Ointment quickly caught fire when it touched the red-hot incense tip. A wisp of blue smoke rose.
Li Zian leaned over, sniffed, and inhaled the wisp of smoke into his nostrils.
The toxic smoke entered his lungs, and a numbing sensation immediately spread through them. A second later, his nerves reacted. Li Zian’s vision became slightly blurry, and in the haze, it seemed like a white-clad woman was walking towards him.
What the heart thinks, the mind conjures.
The person Li Zian most wanted to see right now was actually Gushi Dayueer. Now that he was hallucinating, he saw her.
However, both the numbness and the sudden hallucination disappeared as soon as his Zhenqi mobilized. The speed of the clearance was like wind blowing away fallen leaves; it was gone in an instant.
Li Zian then shaved off a larger piece and brought it to the red-hot incense tip to light it. The toxic blue smoke rose, and he took several consecutive whiffs, but the previous numbness and hallucination did not reappear.
Finally, he simply picked up the larger piece of Movement-Halting Ointment, stuck out his tongue, and scraped a small piece into his mouth.
The taste was strange, a bit like mung bean cake.
The small piece of Movement-Halting Ointment melted in his mouth. The numbness spread from the tip of his tongue throughout his body. But before any hallucinations could appear, the numbness faded away.
Smelling it wasn’t effective enough, but even eating a little bit directly was fine!
“I really am immune to all poisons. I probably could even eat the Body-Poisoning Ointment without any problem.” Li Zian’s gaze fell upon the Body-Poisoning Ointment in the corner of the alloy toolbox.
Theoretically, there was a 99% chance he would be fine.
However, he still dismissed the idea of personally tasting the Body-Poisoning Ointment.
Testing the poison on himself was only to prove one thing: that he wouldn’t be poisoned by the Movement-Halting Ointment. But Huang Bo didn’t have immunity like his. In the same environment with the poisoned incense lit, he would be fine, but Huang Bo would be affected!
Li Zian smiled and couldn’t help but slap his own thigh.
How am I so excellent?
Li Zian extinguished the sandalwood incense. He pulled the wooden toolbox out from under the bed, opened it, and took out the large stock of Movement-Halting Ointment and the large stock of Body-Poisoning Ointment stored inside. He placed them into the alloy toolbox, then left the room, heading straight for the guest room door. He impatiently pushed the door open and walked in.
If you asked him to perform divination, he could do it. If you asked him to plant some cabbages in a field, he could do that too. But asking him to make an incense stick? He couldn’t do that.
He still needed Tang Qing’s help for this matter.
Tang Qing’s skillful hands could even create awesome props for movies. Making an incense stick would be even easier for her.
However, after entering the room, Li Zian froze.
Tang Qing was lying on her side on the guest room bed. Her black bodycon skirt was already short, and this pose had caused it to ride up even more.
The camel bells in the desert didn’t ring.
But the camel had arrived silently.
The chubby camel toe was half-hidden and half-revealed, making one yearn for the mysteries of the desert and to explore its stories.
Li Zian was also a polite person. He accidentally took a glance, then immediately retreated, closing the door behind him. He then reached out and knocked on the door.
Rustling sounds came from inside the room.
Li Zian was still in the Incense Burning State. The sounds of Tang Qing getting up, putting on her shoes, and walking were all within his “control.” Even the sound of her breathing was not missed.
The door opened. Tang Qing saw it was Li Zian and subconsciously tugged at her bodycon skirt, saying a bit awkwardly, “Brother Zian, I’m sorry, I fell asleep. What’s the matter?”
Li Zian said, “I need an incense stick. Can you please make one for me?”
“Make an incense stick?” Tang Qing repeated, a bit confused.
Li Zian said, “This is very important. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been in such a hurry to wake you. I’ll tell you what kind of incense stick to make once we get to the workshop.”
“Okay, let me wash my face first,” Tang Qing said.
Li Zian said, “I’ll go get Chuntao to come over and help watch the child.”
He wasn’t comfortable leaving the little ancestor alone at home to play without an adult watching her.
Li Zian left home and arrived at Taozi’s door.
Sure enough, Mu Chuntao hadn’t left the door unlocked. He reached out and pressed the doorbell.
Footsteps approached. The door opened, and Mu Chuntao appeared at the doorway. As soon as she saw Li Zian, a flower-like smile bloomed on her face. “I knew it was you. You really came to cook me instant noodles?”
Li Zian remembered what he had overheard her saying to herself earlier, how she shamelessly wanted to give him a little monkey. He also smiled. “I came to ask you to go to my house and help me watch Xiaomei. I need Tang Qing to help me make some props, so I have to go to the workshop with her.”
“Okay, let me go grab something, and I’ll be right there,” Mu Chuntao said, turning and going back inside.
Li Zian didn’t follow her in. If he went in, they might end up hugging and being affectionate for a while. Right now, he couldn’t afford to waste a single second.
Mu Chuntao came out quickly, holding a box of chocolate.
Li Zian said speechlessly, “Why are you bringing so much chocolate?”
Mu Chuntao leaned close to Li Zian’s ear, breathing hot air as she said, “Xiaomei knows Yu Meilin is her mother, but she doesn’t know I’m her little mom. I need to please her. If you don’t let me bring the chocolate, I won’t go.”
Li Zian: “…”
Just then, Tang Qing came out from Li Zian’s home. Her eyes immediately landed on Mu Chuntao, who hadn’t had time to pull her head back. Tang Qing then turned her face away, pretending she hadn’t seen anything.
Mu Chuntao hurriedly pulled her head back and said loudly, “Brother Zian, wait for me next to the door. You’re standing right in the middle; we almost bumped into each other.”
Li Zian quickly moved out of the way, awkwardly saying, “Sorry, sorry. Then I’ll trouble you.”
“Ah, don’t be so polite. You guys go ahead,” Mu Chuntao said.
Li Zian turned and walked towards Tang Qing. “Xiao Tang, let’s go to the workshop.”
“Okay,” Tang Qing responded and walked ahead of Li Zian, a smile she couldn’t quite hide playing on her lips.
Some things are clear and obvious to outsiders, but the people involved deceive themselves.
When will the ostrich that buries its head in the sand realize that its rear end is an even bigger target?
Mu Chuntao went upstairs and entered Li Xiaomei’s room. She hid the box of chocolate behind her back with both hands and called out cheerfully, “Xiaomei.”
Li Xiaomei, who was in the middle of taking apart her Barbie doll, looked up. Seeing it was Mu Chuntao, she pouted. “Auntie Tao, are you here to see my daddy? He went to Mars. He’s not here. Go to Mars to find him.”
“I’m not looking for your daddy. I’m here to see you,” Mu Chuntao said.
“I won’t play with you,” Li Xiaomei said with a look of disgust.
Mu Chuntao brought the box of chocolate out in front of her. “Xiaomei, look what this is?”
Li Xiaomei’s eyes instantly lit up. She immediately scrambled up, ran over to Mu Chuntao, and hugged her leg. “Auntie Tao, I missed you so much. Let’s play together.”
Mu Chuntao: “…”