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Crunch
Most distinguish a poison by two things, a toxin or from-
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- a venom. Toxins are poisons produced by organisms in nature, and venom are toxins inj-
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-ected by a bite or sting, exclusive to animals. The difference between venom and other poisons is the delivery method.
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ShuNing slammed both his hands on the desk in front of him, whirling his attention round to the other body in the room. The previously elegant stranger who he thought was a silent, ethereal mystery, now lay reclined on one of the sofas within the library- eating ShuNing's sweet biscuits that Mianmian had prepared for him earlier that morning.
Hearing the sudden sound, ZhangFeng looked over. He had long since taken the younger man's sweeties hostage, chomping on them happily as ShuNing flicked through the thick books that the other had provided him. The room had been relatively silent, torturously so, as a few hours swept by, but ShuNing knew the distinct sound of his favourite beverage, right down to the crumbly crunch, but he wasn't the one enjoying it.
He had feigned ignorance for so long, trying to maintain his generous-hearted image in front of the distinguished individual, but ShuNing was becoming bitter as his stomach began to rumble.
Though, after hitting the desk, he paused. His furrowed expression lightened when he realised that he was scowling at his golden-ticket. Gulping down the sour words that threatened to overflow, shoulders slumped, he turned back to the aged-pages of the book in front of him.
The devastatingly handsome man caught the expression loud and clear. In fact, he was waiting for it. Behind ShuNing, he heard the telltale sounds of the man getting up. Though he was paying acute attention, ShuNing gave a convincing image of someone deeply gripped by the book he was reading.
"Did you wish to saying something to me?" ZhangFeng enquired, his honeyed voice close to ShuNing's ear. The younger man willed himself to remain focused, but as a deep blue strand of hair fell over his shoulder his body tensed.
The man's larger form emanated warmth, especially when practically encasing his much smaller, lithe one. ZhangFeng also carried the light scent of incense that ShuNing couldn't place. But he liked it.
As his thoughts became scrambled, his chest tightening as his imagination went rampant, he quickly wondered how he should respo-
Crunch
And this time, crumbs landed on the table. ShuNing snapped.
Shooting up from his seat, ShuNing spun around to see the man had already bounced back with a pleased expression. "Do you mind? Not only are they my biscuits, I am trying to find something that will literally save my life." He screeched, his words carrying an echo throughout the empty library.
ZhangFeng's lips curled up into a satisfied grin. Such a dirty expression before now wouldn't have fitted his image in the slightest, but as it seemed natural, ShuNing had to wonder if this man's personality was a tad more complex than he originally suspected.
"Now where did that innocent little sweet-talker disappear off to?"
ShuNing's brows pinched together. "Probably in the direction of where the beautifully elegant, sophisticated individual went." He mumbled.
"Fortunately for you, I'm still all of those things."
"Beautifully elegant doesn't work with gluttonous."
ZhangFeng shrugged his shoulders, sauntering back over to his seat and plopping down, finishing off the remainder of the biscuit that was in his clutches. "Then you shouldn't have offered them to me in the first place."
"Excuse me? I was being polite" he defended, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Then take this as a lesson, don't offer up a fraction of something you truly desire if you cannot guarantee the other person isn't going to take its entirety." As the man sat back, his long hair cascaded down himself and the chair naturally. The owner didn't appear bothered, which was a stark contrast from when they first met.
With each encounter, ShuNing noticed the man's particular break-of-character. He was well aware that ZhangFeng was deliberately allowing him to see his true personality, this wasn't something he had accidentally let slip.
"I am no fool, there is no chance of leaving myself vulnerable with anyone else. And for records sake, you were the one that chose my sweets as a bargaining-chip for the books. I believed that fair, but now I'm hungry and you haven't even been polite enough to offer me one. If anyone should be disappointed, it's me."
The one being scolded mulled over the few new terms that were thrown his way before debating whether or not he had been a little harsh. Though, he quickly concluded- that he hadn't.
With a loud huff, ShuNing turned away from the stubborn ass and mustered up any remaining focus he had. The book in front contained names and definitions of a large variety of different poisons, and over the time he had been reading, he sprouted goose-bumps multiple times as he read the side effects. Some even had gruesome illustrations. Though, after much eye-rubbing and page flicking, there still wasn't one that sounded like the one in his system.
He feared for the wellbeing of the children, whose conditions had massively improved since the first he met them, but were still rapidly declining. Even if he couldn't identify the poison, he still hoped to find something that could be used as a temporary antidote.
Tengfei had already concluded that this was one of the most effective and deadly types, he had classified it as an A-type. A-types, after some research, meant that they were hard to acquire, and harder to find information about. Which meant in terms of finding an antidote, they had slim chances.
What also classified it to be in the top branch, was how it was almost untraceable. Not that ShuNing knew at the time, but it was only because of Tengfei's experience in this field, that he was able to pinpoint this poison. For any other medicinal cultivator or herbalist it could go undetected right up until the victims death. After years of suffering.
"Here," ZhangFeng's voice startled him and as he turned his head, his cheek was prodded with something. Reeling back, ShuNing eyed one of the crumbly biscuits that was being offered to him. He could smell the sweet aroma, almost taste the delicacy as it melted in his mouth.
Hesitating for only a moment, ShuNing gently took the biscuit from the man's fingers. As soon as it was taken, ZhangFeng looked to the papers scattered around on the desk. At first he appeared uninterested, his usual flat-faced expression returning, before he snatched a parchment.
"What is it?" ShuNing asked, wondering if the man who had lived in this world far longer than himself, had picked up on something. ZhangFeng scanned the paper before looking to the young man who was staring up at him with an eager expression. He felt a strange desire to want to bully the pretty youth.
"I just noticed.." he started, bringing his other hand up to cup his chin, ", that your writing is hideous."
ShuNing almost dropped his biscuit in the speed he went to snatch the paper. ZhangFeng easily evaded his attack, lifting the item up high so the shorter man couldn't reach it. In the time that ShuNing huffed, growling at him to return the paper with steam almost shooting out of his ears, ZhangFeng had noticed something.
"Mm even with your writing I can see you have missed a section of poisons."
ShuNing stopped. "What do you mean?"
ZhangFeng shot him a raised brow, "It wasn't deliberate?"
Shaking his head, ShuNing gestured to see the page, and the taller of the two dropped it onto the desk. He then tapped one of his long fingers at a section of the parchment. ShuNing had copied everything down word from word because he wasn't able to take the Golden-Level books from this library. He had only scribbled down a few pointers, but the part that ZhangFeng gestured to was a section he had found most interesting, so he ended up copying each word. So he could read it again later on.
"This book has each poison in alphabetical order, but you have skipped from the beginning of X, straight to the beginning of Y."
ShuNing looked to his writing, and he was correct. "But I copied this straight from the book, " He emphasised, grabbing the book that was still laid open. Flicking through, he found the poisons that started with X. ", see?"
ZhangFeng took the book directly, dropping it in front of him. He flicked through, looking back and forth and ShuNing was taken by surprise as he witnessed the stubborn man's expression grow serious.
"You are not wrong, you did copy it correctly. It seems that the rest of the section has been ripped out."
Whilst the suddenly alert youth grabbed the book, looking back and forth between his own notes and the scripture where he'd originally got them from, he was oblivious to the expression that ZhangFeng was now revealing.
"Shu Ning," He looked up, finding the sudden use of his formal name quite chilling. ", there is more to this than you have told me. Not just anyone can take pages from these books, and if its the same person who has poisoned yourself and the other illegitimate children, then it would be in your best interests not to keep this to yourself."
For a moment, ShuNing wondered whether or not he should reveal a hint leading to XeWife, but he knew better than to immediately place his trust in someone. With a wide-eyed expression, ShuNing looked up at the older man.
"Other than knowing I was poisoned-"
"How do you know its the same poison?" ZhangFeng cut in, his eyes drilling into ShuNing, making sure he didn't miss a thing.
"In XeTown," ShuNing lowered his gaze and entwined his fingers together, "I sought out a healer, I doubted the clan's one would care very much if I came to him asking for help. The healer in XeTown spotted the toxin in my body, but even he struggles to identify what it was. When I later expressed my concern about the children's condition he suggested I bring him a sample of blood to observe. From there he was able to outline the identical properties of this anomaly in our systems."
ZhangFeng listened quietly, taking in his every word.
"And this healer in XeTown, is he trustworthy?"
"As much as the next person, I suppose," ShuNing shrugged
"Explain"
Lifting his gaze to the raven-haired man, who was watching him so intently, ShuNing felt a little on edge. He was finding it increasing difficult to gauge this man's personality. Since he knew the plot line of this world, he was relying on that when making his every move, but as he had no clue as to who this stranger, who seemed to have such a deep effect on him, was he felt hesitant.
"We have spoke about it before, elder brother, how it's in your best interests to look after yourself. The same could be said for the healer in XeTown. He doesn't necessarily trust me, nor I him, but he is doing his job of trying to diagnose a patients. Nothing more, nothing less."
ZhangFeng watched him, his purple eyes gradually looking all over his face before breaking the gaze. "You speak mature words, but your actions don't match." He concluded, to the surprise of ShuNing.
"How do you mean?"
"Just as it sounds. You have adapted well, speaking how every individual perceives you to speak, but that will not work on me. Just like from the beginning, watching you become irritated by me eating your biscuits, or pointing out a flaw of yours which you're evidently self-conscious about." He gestured to the parchment with ShuNing's scratchy writing on it.
"So?"
ZhangFeng suddenly brought his hand up and when ShuNing flinched, thinking he was going to be slapped, the other simply took a strand of his black hair. He entwined it lightly around his finger, "You talk about how you can't trust anyone, and that no one should trust you. But in reality, you want that attachment."
"You're wro-"
"Your little servant, Mianmian right? You have a close bond with him, even though you should be wary because of how the old servants treated you. Yet it is clear you cherish him."
ShuNing stepped back, ZhangFeng's hand dropping, his strands of hair slipping from his fingertips. "You have been watching me?"
"Not me personally, but yes. How else would I know that you hadn't been purposefully sent here to find me?"
"You think too highly of yourself. I don't know who you are." ShuNing grumbled.
ZhangFeng actually grinned. "I'm aware of that."
Feeling particularly grumpy, ShuNing looked to the desk beside them, where all the information he should be reading, was provided. Every time he went off on a tangent, he felt guilty that he wasn't solely focusing on finding the antidote for the children.
Noticing ShuNing's downtrodden expression, ZhangFeng seemingly dropped his teasing attitude and decided to help. He placed his hand on the open book, running a finger down the middle section where the page was once sewn in. With his expert eye he could see the slight fraying of the stitching, a clear sign of tampering.
"If this is all connected, then someone with a high position within the clan must be involved. They have clearly covered their tracks, but they likely didn't expect you to react as you have. So I suggest you tread carefully."
ShuNing nodded, "Are there any other books where the missing poisons would be listed?"
"There is one place."
With sudden twinkling eyes, ShuNing looked up to the handsome man. Only for his expression to turn down as the elder of the two grinned, tapping the side of his head.
Out of the corner of his eye, ShuNing spotted his abandoned biscuit, so he generously offered it up to ZhangFeng in hopes this would buy the information from the man. ZhangFeng cocked his head, looking at what the boy had to offer. He happily took it, popping it into his mouth with a satisfied expression.
For a few torturous moments ShuNing had to watch as the man gobbled up the last of his biscuits. His stomach grumbled in protest, but he mentally promised he would feed his belly soon.
"Thank you for the biscuit, but I was going to help you anyway."
"..."
ZhangFeng's smile broadened, watching as the other's little attractive face became crimson with anger. ShuNing mourned his biscuit.
ZhangFeng, with all his smugness, ushered ShuNing out of the way before taking a seat at the desk. He grabbed a fresh parchment and acquired some prepared ink. Tapping the excess he brought down his hand and started noting down the conveniently-missing poisons.
ShuNing watched over the man's shoulders, his expression becoming increasingly perplexed as the aristocrat went on. Black lines began to form and only when ZhangFeng had finished did he notice the other's expression.
"What a strange face you're making, what's wrong?"
ShuNing looked to him, before looking back to the parchment that was now filled with writing.
Absolutely illegible, child-like writing.
And he dared to criticise his?
[ TBC ]