"You are the only son of Baron Lionsmith, right?" A slightly childish voice came to his ears. Lanchester turned his head and saw a young man in a dark green tuxedo walking towards him with a dignified and steady pace, with a calm smile on his face. "Sir?" Seeing that he was a stranger but revealed an extraordinary demeanor, Lanchester took him seriously, put down his wine glass and asked with a smile. "My name is Wadin, the second son of Baron Silk Carpet." The young man introduced himself politely. "I am currently training on this land. I just arrived in your city yesterday. Today, I heard that Baron Iris was going to hold a dinner party, so I came to visit." "The Silk Carpet Family?" "An ancient family that has been passed down for 150 years. The first head of the family was a powerful and glorious 'Knight of the Title'. The family mansion is located in the 'Third City of Grace'." As he spoke, Wadin took out a parchment scroll from his coat pocket and spread it out in front of him: "This is the certificate given to me by the family, please take a look." "The Third City of Grace, I remember that the Hodge-Tongzhongkai family's main branch is there." Lanchester examined the scroll and confirmed that there was nothing unusual. He nodded thoughtfully, "I am Lanchester Lionsmith. I apologize for not welcoming you in person."
"Don't worry about it." Wadin took back the scroll and put on a tolerant and generous look on his face, but a trace of contempt flashed in his eyes. The residents of this poor and remote mountain area are simply ignorant, and even the nobles are no exception. It is totally unreasonable that I have never even heard of the name of the Silk Carpet Family. Although the title of the head of the Silk Carpet Family is a baron, which seems to be lower in rank than a baron, the value of a title in a large inland city and a title in a small border town is not the same. In terms of power and financial resources within the fiefdom, Wadin thought that the Lion Craftsman Family was not much stronger than his own. "By the way, does your city have a very powerful wizard?" Wadin asked casually as he looked at the guests who came to the backyard one after another. Mingming had just encountered an incident at noon. The bodyguard that the family had hired at a high price turned out to be a wanted criminal from another country. He also kidnapped him and almost killed him. Not only that, this guy was captured by someone else and the family was unable to punish him. It was so embarrassing that just by recalling it, Wading felt so humiliated and frightened that he blushed. However, just a few hours later, he came to eat as if nothing had happened, which seemed a bit strange. However, he had good reasons for doing so. First, as a descendant of a noble family, it was basic courtesy for him to pay a visit to other nobles when he came to their sphere of influence. Secondly, because of the betrayal of the bodyguard, Old Iron Whip, this "training" would definitely not be able to proceed normally. His current plan was to return to the Silk Carpet Manor in the Third Gift City as soon as possible and cry to his father about the hardships he had experienced on the journey. In order to ensure his safety on the return journey, he must recruit a few more reliable extraordinary people to replace Lao Tiebian and escort him. It would be most appropriate to seek some help from the local dignitaries. After all, as a local boss, his network of contacts must be much wider than mine, and the people he recruited would be more reliable. At least he would not make the same mistake as Old Iron Whip. Finally... he wanted to use the connections of the local nobles to find out the news about the mysterious magician who had been haunting him. If possible, he wanted to appoint her as his second bodyguard. According to his observation, although the black-haired female mage was extraordinary in strength, strangely enough, she did not seem to have much power. Otherwise, there would be no need to lower oneself and go to a poor and broken guild to accept a commission just for a few tens of thousands of Ferums. This is completely inconsistent with Wadin's imagination of high-level extraordinary people. The strong should be high above and give grace to the poor and weak with a condescending attitude, and deserve their respect and service, instead of hanging out with them and polluting their own status. What's the difference between this and having a sedan chair but having to get out of the way and walk through the mud, getting your shoes, socks and clothes dirty?
Anyway, since the other party is short of money, it's easy to deal with. As a son of a noble, the last thing he lacks is money. Doesn't this round and hard thing come from the vault? "A powerful...mage?" Lanchester looked at him in confusion. "Although Stio is a border city and its rejection of mages is not as strong as inland cities, a mage who can be called 'powerful'..." He swirled the glass, staring at the swirling crimson liquid in it, and thought: "Sorry, I didn't think of it. Maybe it's because I didn't pay much attention to this aspect. You can ask someone to go to the Adventurer's Guild to ask." "Okay." Seeing that the other party didn't know, Wadin was a little disappointed, but he quickly adjusted his state of mind: "Well, I have a trivial request to trouble Master Lionsmith..." "Mr. Lanchester and Mr. Silk Carpet, you two are really good at talking." He was just about to ask Lanchester to help recruit a few loyal warriors with clean criminal records, at least in the early stage of righteous mindfulness, so that he could form a new guard team, when an old voice came through. The two looked in the direction of the voice and saw Old Edward walking towards them with a cane in one hand and a kind smile on his face: "Did I disturb your conversation?" "Hello, honorable Baron Iris." "Why are you out? You just recovered from a serious illness, so you need to rest well." Wadin greeted him in a proper manner, while Lanchester said something ambiguous in an incomprehensible tone. "Haha, it's great to be young." Old Edward's face was still kind. He stretched out his hand without the cane behind him and pulled a slender figure to his side. "You also need to get along better with your peers!" The one he grabbed was Lancy. She looked at Lanchester reluctantly and said weakly, "Well, we meet again..." She didn't want to meet him in the first place, but old Edward pulled her over with an extremely tough attitude, completely ignoring her thoughts. As a warrior, she certainly couldn't be defeated by a sick old man in terms of strength. But she couldn't really resist, because this was her father, and she couldn't hurt him no matter how bad their relationship was. "It turns out to be Miss Lunxi." Lanchester raised his chin, "Is there anything you want to talk about?" "Um...you two continue chatting, I'm just passing by to say hello, I won't disturb you..." Old Edward suddenly glared at her fiercely: "Young people should be sociable! Lanchester, you and Lancy have been friends since childhood, and you are older than her, so you should take care of her!" He forced Lancy to appear before Lanchester, which made both of them feel awkward. In the past, Lanchester might have gladly accepted it and tried to find a topic to talk to Lancy and win her favor. But now it's different, his vision has been raised! After meeting Qi Ji, all he could think about was the petite figure with long black hair, and his target had long since shifted from Lun Xi. Although she is indeed quite pleasing to the eye in this outfit... To ease the embarrassment, he pretended to look around to see the scenery. When his eyes swept across a place, his eyes suddenly widened, and the hand holding the wine glass trembled, almost shaking out the wine. It was a food delivery truck, ordinary and located at the edge of the field, so no one would pay attention to it. Therefore, no one noticed the figure that Lanchester had always dreamed of standing next to the food delivery truck. There, a young girl in a beige coat was standing quietly, holding a kettle in her delicate white hands, observing attentively. Her serious and persistent expression was very endearing.
As Lanchester looked over, the other party seemed to notice the gaze on him. He slowly put down the kettle, turned his head, and their eyes collided in the air. ========================= It's Monday, don't forget to like and support before going out (??▽??) Chapter 39 Water in the Cup "It seems that everyone is almost here. As the host, won't you go out and meet them?" As night fell, Qi Ji sat in the flower hall, his figure obscured by shadows, watching the brightly lit backyard gradually become lively. "This isn't a formal banquet." Lun Xi leaned against the wall with his hands behind his back, somewhat listlessly. "We're just here for a meal. There's no need to take it too seriously." "Why do I feel like you hate him?" Qi Ji pointed out the window with his eyes. At the end of that direction, Lanchester was dealing with some people who came up to talk. "I can't say I hate him. I just don't like his... uh, overly persistent pursuit of the opposite sex... personality." Lunxi felt that it was immoral to speak ill of someone behind their back, so he used conservative words: "If he could spend less time in the red-light district in the North District and use his excessive enthusiasm for his career instead of women, he would be considered an outstanding heir to the family." "To put it simply, that guy is a teddy bear, right?" Qi Ji was not used to her euphemistic criticism and said bluntly, "That's disgusting." "What, what Teddy?" Lunxi was confused when he heard the unfamiliar term. "Nothing, just a kind of energetic dog from my hometown." Qi Ji shrugged, "So do you want to stay here forever?" "That's not the case. I'm going to go say hello to the people from the Hodge-Tongzhongkai family later." She smiled innocently and said, "Besides, I still have to eat dinner." "Miss, this lady, would you like some tea?" At this time, a maid came out of the house pushing a food delivery cart, passed the flower hall and headed for the backyard. When she passed by the two of them, she stopped and asked. "Pour it." Although he was not thirsty, after talking for so long, Qi Ji subconsciously wanted to drink some water to moisten his mouth. The maid picked up the kettle and filled the two people's cups on the small round table with tea, then pushed the food delivery cart away. As soon as the maid left, Old Edward walked slowly into the house and asked sternly: "Lunxi! Why are you still here?! Everyone is here, why are you the only one staying in the room?!" Lunxi was halfway through her tea when she was almost choked by the sudden rebuke. "Father, Father!" She quickly put down the teacup and wiped the water stains on the corners of her mouth with the back of her hand. "I'm going out now!" After saying that, he stood up in a hurry and walked out quickly. "Wait a minute!" Old Edward snorted coldly and tapped his cane hard. "Don't think I don't know what you are up to. Come with me and get along well with Lanchester!" "Ah, this..." Lunxi stopped in embarrassment, thinking about a solution with a bitter face, and old Edward walked over, clamped her wrist with his skinny hand, and pulled it out without saying anything: "This matter is not negotiable!" "Eh, eh??? Wait, uh...Okay, okay, I'll go with you, no need to hold me! Be careful not to fall!..."
"You, you, I really can't understand, why are you so resistant to him? What's wrong with him? He is the inevitable heir of Baron Lionsmith, a genius in cultivation, and has strong ability to handle affairs. Look, how many people want to get close to him?" Old Edward said half earnestly and half commandingly. "I, I've told you many times, I really don't have any feelings for him..." "You still don't feel anything? You've grown up, it's time to be more realistic and stop being so childish! Besides, feelings are something that can be developed slowly over a few years, right? Well, he is a bit playful, but all men like to play when they are young, you have to understand..." Old Edward pulled the staggering Lunxi towards Lanchester, without even looking at Qi Ji, as if he didn't even notice her existence. The old baron's eyesight was also blurry. Although he was not very conspicuous sitting in the shadow, it was really outrageous that he could miss a living person in such a small area. Watching this scene, Qi Ji also understood why the father-daughter relationship was so stiff. The basic situation is that old Edward intends to bring together Lanchester and Lancy. Whether it is letting her go hunting in the mountains with Lanchester, or forcing her to have an awkward chat in front of Lanchester, he is trying his best to create opportunities for the two. Of course, Lunxi refused, but for some reason, Old Edward was very tough and insisted on having the mantle. Qi Ji couldn't understand why he was so anxious to send his daughter away, and to a playboy, scumbag and sex offender like Lanchester... Isn't this like a sheep walking into a tiger's mouth? "Tsk, do you want to help her?" According to simple feelings, Qi Ji's first instinct was of course to sympathize with Lun Xi. But this was someone else's family affair after all, and as an outsider, intervening in someone else's emotional dispute... seemed a bit unreasonable. "Even if I want to help, how can I help? I can't beat Lanchester up, right?" She suddenly felt a headache. Having been single for nearly thirty years in his previous life, Qi Ji is really bad at dealing with such emotional matters, or rather, he has no idea at all. "Oh... it's really difficult." She sighed depressedly, watched Lancey being dragged in front of Lanchester and Wadin who was talking to Lanchester, and picked up the teacup to drink tea. "……Um!?" As soon as her lips touched the rim of the cup, her movements suddenly stopped and her thin and beautiful eyebrows wrinkled. Putting down the teacup and looking at the still steaming tea, she suddenly touched the surface of the liquid with her other hand, and a layer of liquid covered the tip of her slender index finger. "..." She rubbed her index finger and thumb back and forth, feeling the wetness on her skin, in silence. This seemingly ordinary cup of tea... Contains spirituality. "Tsk, tsk, things are getting interesting." She leaned over and took Lunxi's teacup across from her, sniffing the untouched tea. “Yes, and the features are exactly the same.” Putting down the teacup, she stood up and quickly searched the crowd at the banquet. She instantly found the maid who had served the food before. She was now filling the cups of every guest with tea. "It's not the cup that is spiritual, but the tea itself..." In other words, almost everyone on the field drank the "specially treated" tea.
"Mass poisoning? No, the possibility is not high." Qi Ji's mind was working rapidly, "The spirituality in the tea is not negative. This dosage is not enough to cause harm to the body." It's not like she hasn't seen ingestible things that contain spirituality. The medicine that the fugitive hired by Ghost Wolf gave herself, and the poison that later killed him, were both spiritual things that affected the body when taken internally. However, the effects of these two drugs, one is an anesthetic that puts people into a deep coma, and the other is a poison that kills people, are both negative in a sense. But this time it was different. After launching the "ingredient analysis" for analysis, Qi Ji found that although she could not determine its specific function, she could feel that it was not harmful to the body. Moreover, logically speaking, the guests present at the banquet were all descendants, representatives, and companions of local dignitaries. Who would be so bold as to kill this group of people indiscriminately? "Let's first check if there are any other clues in the cart," Qi Ji decided, "and then investigate if there is anything wrong with the maid..."