Su Xiao covered his mouth after what he blurted and revealed a fearful gaze.
"Lord San Shen? How did that leak?" I wondered, conjuring countless possibilities in the process.
Kong Duan's face came to mind. I did knock him out at Feiyun Hall after he overheard Guardian Long's conversation with me, deleting two hours' worth of his memories, but… I missed out what he said before that because I was busy engaging General Manager Bai in a verbal spar. If my memory did me justice… Su Xiao was standing over Kong Duan after I knocked the latter out. Su Xiao was commended and promoted thanks to that.
I contemplated if Kong Duan told Su Xiao about Lord San Shen before he passed out. I was on the edge of my seat, but I didn't know how much Su Xiao knew or if he told anybody else. It was too dangerous on many levels; hence, I wore on an aggressive expression and tried to pry it out of him: "What do you know?!"
Su Xiao stubbornly argued, "I don't know! I have nothing to say!"
Su Xiao tried kicking me, biting me and clawing me fruitlessly because calling it ticklish would be exaggerating. I pinned his hands down and moved on to pinning other limbs until he behaved. I demanded, "Speak! I just heard you mention Lord San Shen! Speak!"
"Wh-Wh-What are you talking about? I said I don't know. Release me now!" Su Xiao started fighting back again. His face was red as a result of his painstaking effort. Failing over and over, he began to pant. He brayed, "Ming Feizhen, I'm reporting you to His Majesty for bullying me and reporting you to Vice-Captain to cut your salary!"
'This kid is more and more audacious by the day!'
"Spill it if you don't want to suffer!"
Su Xiao puffed his cheeks and looked away: "Hmph! I don't know anything! I… I refuse to speak!"
Su Xiao annoyed me, but his mistake was funny.
"You slipped up. If you don't know anything, what are you refusing to speak about?"
Su Xiao had no response. Thus, he resorted to shutting his eyes. Seeing the view of his calm expression, I had to repeatedly remind myself he wasn't a girl. Since I couldn't pry the information out of him, he smirked: "How useless can you be? You can't force me to speak. You're only good at one thing: blowing your trumpet!"
'You would've pulled a funny face if I didn't have you restrained, huh? You think closing your eyes will save you?! Lass, you're too naïve!'
I forced Su Xiao's thin forearms together and restrained his wrists with a single hand. His arms were long, but his wrist circumference was so tiny nobody would believe he was a male. I commented, "No masculinity at all."
Su Xiao shot me a glare: "Big Brother Ming! Prank me if you will, but don't insult me!"
"You think this is a joke?! Either spill it or you can suffer!"
Scared, Su Xiao began to struggle again to no avail. To add, the narrow space of my one hand meant it would hurt when he tried to wriggle inside. A red circle was visible on his wrists from all the friction. Meanwhile, I was oblivious to Zha Pi's approaching footsteps outside the window.
Zha Pi pranced his way to the room to thank me. He already thanked the heavens for finally relieving him of gardening duty with Sir Sui Tuwan. When he arrived at my door, he heard, "Ow! Big Brother Ming, it hurts!"
Zha Pi froze in place. The corner of his mouth twitched. Next, he heard me rage, "Then, behave yourself! Cooperate or you'll suffer even more."
Zha Pi put on his thinking face, for he believed he chanced upon an extraordinary case…
"It hurts. Stop, okay? Let's stop playing around."
"I said I wasn't playing. Now, behave."
Zha Pi touched his chin. Sweat collecting on his forehead… He realised he was witness to a major case. He thought, "One of them is my big bro, while the other one is a good buddy. This is awkward as fuck… Hmm, how do two men…"
Zha Pi then heard Ming Feizhen say, "Hmph, still tight lipped, huh? I have my ways of prying open your mouth! Open it and we're still brothers."
Zha Pi finally understood how two men did it. He never thought of that! That's bloody genius, he thought!
Out of breath, Su Xiao pitifully pleaded, "Big Brother Ming, it hurts. It really hurts. Stop, please…"
"Hehe, it hurts now, but you're going to be enjoying it soon."
Zha Pi's mind: "Now that's why he's my big bro. What the elite can't do, he can do."
Zha Pi didn't practice martial arts; however, he did read. Plus, he was known for being witty… and always thinking about women. He once considered becoming a scholar. Alas, he was usually too occupied with devising scams and lies to be bothered with education. After finding inspiration from his big bro's enlightening recital, he had a creative urge. He sneaked off. Nobody ever knew he visited. A beautiful and lecherous story gradually penned itself in his mind. The day he put the story from his mind to paper would be the day the pugilistic world knew of his noble contribution to literature…
I had no idea an author was born outside my door and continued on with my interrogation. Still holding Su Xiao's hands with my left hand, I poked his sides with my right fingers. Upon making contact with one of his four laughing meridians, I imbued true qi into him, causing him to erupt into laughter. My true qi resembled countless small hands tickling him, so it was a hundred times rougher. He laughed so hard that his body convulsed.
"Hahahaha, Big Brother Ming, I can't take it! I can't take it! Stop it! Hahahaha! It's funny, but it sucks, hahahaha!"
"If you refuse to talk, I'll keep going. The technique is called Three Days of Laughing Plus After Effects Epic Technique. Keep laughing and you'll never be able to close your mouth again. When you eat, you'll drool."
Su Xiao loved being clean, bathing several times daily and using skincare products. He'd be devastated if he drooled whilst eating. Thus, my threat was effective.
"You going to talk or not?"
"I can't tell you. I really can't! It's an important matt-, hahahaha, er!"
"That's exactly why you need to tell me! If you don't tell me, I promise you hell."
"No, hahaha, I, hahaha, everyone will be in trouble if I say it, hahahaha! I don't want you to be in danger, hahaha!"
That was touching. Su Xiao chose to stay silent when he might've discovered I was Lord San Shen, stressing himself out. The fact he didn't rat me out proved he cared about me. He was an upright kid who believed in justice. I couldn't imagine how he'd feel upon learning I was a member of the Demon Sect and was Lord San Shen… It finally made sense as to why he avoided speaking to me when we met. I really shouldn't have been harsh on him.
Switching to an affable tone, I asserted, "Just tell me. I won't be in danger. The type of people who could put me in danger… are outside your world of comprehension."
"I won't tell you, hahaha. I can't, hahaha. You'll be in danger. I don't want to put you at risk, hahahaha. Let me speak to him first, hahahaha!"
"Speak to him?" I stopped: "Who? Lord San Shen?"
"Yes…" Su Xiao panted. He looked as if was a slovenly kid after laughing and struggling. He finally managed to find some comfort after all that laughing and continued, "I'm going to ask Lord San Shen if he intends to change his ways. Big Brother Ming… stay out of this one. We're buddies, so I'm sure we can talk some sense into him."
"We… are… Lord San Shen's… buddies?" Not even I knew what I was saying. I pondered, "Lord San Shen and we are buddies? The only people we both know and consider brothers would be Su Xiao, Tang Ye and me."
"You mean Tang Ye is Lord San Shen?"
"Hey… Don't make wild guesses! Don't go sniffing him out even if you're right!" Su Xiao covered my mouth and said. "I knew you'd pry it out of me sooner or later."
I was utterly speechless.
"Kong Duan told me. He said he couldn't remember Lord San Shen's real name, but he said Lord San Shen was a youth, tall and the strongest among us…"
'Kong Duan said that?!'
Well, I wasn't surprised Kong Duan didn't remember my name since I was insignificant to him. Actually, he probably didn't remember any of our names.
I put on the look of a confident detective and thumped my chest.
"See? I was there at the time, so it couldn't have been me. Your martial arts are a piece of shit, so who else could he be besides Tang Ye? I'm certain… Tang Ye is Lord San Shen!"
I was dumbfounded. What could I say? All I could do was tip my hat to Su Xiao.
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