Chapter 14: The Bully's Poison? No, That's a Throat-Protecting Divine Soup!
Lu family second floor, at the end of the hallway.
"Bang!"
Lu Zhirou's bedroom door was slammed open.
Lu Shixuan rushed out like a startled rabbit, scrambling and crawling, his clothes disheveled and his collar wide open, revealing a large expanse of his cold-white chest.
He tidied his clothes as he ran, cursing under his breath.
"Crazy woman! She's a complete lunatic!"
"Talking about exploring human anatomy, then she pulls out a needle that long and tries to stab me in the kidney! She's trying to murder her own brother!"
Inside the room, Lu Zhirou leaned against the doorframe, twirling a silver needle as thin as a cow's hair between her fingers. As she watched her brother flee in a panic, a meaningful smile played at the corners of her mouth.
This silly boy, that was the Root-Strengthening Needle Technique from the Taiyi Divine Needle set. Countless people would beg for it and never get it, yet he was so terrified it was as if he were about to be castrated.
Lu Shixuan dashed all the way to the first-floor hall before patting his chest, still shaken.
"Scared the hell out of me!"
Second Sister's gaze was too terrifying, like she wanted to eat someone alive.
"Even though I know she wants to help condition my body, my health is fantastic. Why the hell would I need conditioning?"
"I bet she just wants to use me as a lab rat to practice on."
"System, I can't stay in this Lu house anymore; it's too dangerous."
"I need to find an excuse to go out and lay low for a while."
Just as he was thinking this, a series of intermittent coughs drifted over from the music room in the side hall.
The sound was kept very low, as if someone were deliberately suppressing it, yet it still sounded heart-wrenching.
Lu Shixuan's ears perked up.
This voice... is it Fifth Sister Lu Sisi?
He lightened his footsteps and quietly moved to the door of the music room, peeking inside through the crack.
He saw Lu Sisi slumped over the piano, clutching a bottle of water tightly, her entire body trembling.
Her originally sweet and lovely face was currently as pale as paper, her forehead drenched in cold sweat.
She tried to open her mouth to make a sound, but could only produce a raspy, unpleasant wheeze.
Lu Shixuan's brow instantly knit into a deep furrow.
"Holy crap!"
"Her throat is ruined!"
"Congested vocal cords, swollen nodules—it's almost bleeding!"
"Is she trying to kill herself?"
"I remember now, tomorrow is the first stop of her concert tour!"
"For this concert, she's been rehearsing for three months straight, sleeping only four hours a day."
"This silly girl, her throat is in this state and she's still practicing?"
"If she dares to get on stage and force herself to sing tomorrow, she'll never be able to make a sound again for the rest of her life!"
"No, I have to stop her!"
"I must make her shut up!"
Lu Shixuan took a deep breath, adjusted his expression, and kicked open the music room door.
"Clang!"
The loud noise startled Lu Sisi, and the water bottle in her hand almost fell to the floor.
She turned back in a panic, and seeing it was Lu Shixuan, a flash of fluster crossed her eyes as she subconsciously covered her throat.
"A... A Xuan..." Her voice was as raspy as a saw cutting through wood.
Lu Shixuan walked in with his hands in his pockets, swaggering with an expression of extreme disgust on his face.
He walked to the piano and extended a finger, pressing down heavily on a set of keys.
"Vroom—!"
The harsh dissonance echoed through the room.
"So noisy! So noisy!" Lu Shixuan covered his ears with an impatient look. "What's with all this ghost-wailing in the middle of the day? Don't you know This Young Master wants to take a nap?"
"Was your throat kicked by a donkey? You sound as bad as a quacking duck! You're still holding a concert with this level of skill? Stop embarrassing yourself. If I were you, I'd have found a block of tofu to bash my head against and die already!"
Lu Sisi was stunned.
She looked at her fierce-looking brother, and her eyes instantly turned red.
It wasn't because she felt wronged, but because... she heard it.
She heard the voice of his heart, which was so anxious it was practically on fire beneath his irritable exterior.
"Stop talking!"
"I'm begging you, stop talking!"
"Every single word is wearing down your vocal cords!"
"Do you want to become a mute?"
"System!"
"Quickly exchange for that 'Heavenly Voice Throat-Protecting Soup' reward from the 'God-level Medical Skills'!"
"I don't care if it uses up all my villain points!"
"Even though this soup tastes like swill, it works fast!"
"Drinking it will reduce swelling and pain, and even repair the damaged mucosa."
"Hurry up!"
"This girl is about to open her mouth to explain again!"
Seeing that Lu Sisi was about to speak, Lu Shixuan pulled a dark thermos from his pocket—something he had just urgently exchanged for in the system mall.
He roughly unscrewed the lid, and an indescribable bitter smell of Chinese medicine instantly filled the music room.
"Drink it!"
Lu Shixuan thudded the thermos onto the piano and commanded fiercely.
"This is the leftover medicine This Young Master brewed yesterday. I originally planned to feed it to the dog, but even the dog wouldn't drink it. Seeing as your voice sounds about the same as a dog's barking, I'll just bestow it upon you!"
"Drink every last drop! If you dare to spit it out, I'll smash this multi-million dollar piano and use it for firewood!"
Lu Sisi looked at the thermos, and smelling that pungent odor, her tears finally couldn't help but fall.
"So... he specially prepared this medicine for me?"
"To make me drink it, he even went as far as saying it was leftovers for a dog?"
"A Xuan, why are you always so silly?"
Just as Lu Sisi reached out a trembling hand to take the thermos.
An untimely voice suddenly rang out from the doorway.
"Wait! Sister Sisi, you can't drink that!"
Ye Chen rushed in with an anxious look.
He had been eavesdropping outside the door just now, and hearing Lu Shixuan say it was something "even a dog wouldn't drink," he felt his opportunity had come.
"Sister Sisi, this thing smells so strange, it must be spoiled or some kind of random folk remedy!"
Ye Chen stood in front of Lu Sisi and righteously accused Lu Shixuan: "Lu Shixuan, you've gone too far! Sister Sisi is a public figure; her voice is her life! You're giving her this dubious stuff to drink—what if something goes wrong? Can you take responsibility for that?"
Lu Shixuan looked at the suddenly appearing Ye Chen with a gaze like he was looking at a buzzing fly.
"Why is this guy everywhere?"
"Are you a damn human leech?"
"This 'Heavenly Voice Throat-Protecting Soup' is a system product; it's bound to be top-tier!"
"The Ten-thousand-year Snow Lotus and Deep-sea Ambergris inside are worth more than you; you couldn't afford a single gram even if you sold yourself!"
"And you call it a random folk remedy?"
"Truly, ignorance is fearless."
"But fine, since you've come to my door looking for a scolding, I won't be polite."
Lu Shixuan sneered and directly reached out to shove Ye Chen aside.
"Get lost! Do you have any right to speak here?"
"Even if what This Young Master gives her is poison, she has to smile and drink it down! That is the rule of the Lu family!"
After saying that, he turned to Lu Sisi with a fierce gaze: "What are you still standing there for? Drink! Do you want This Young Master to pour it down your throat?"
Ye Chen was pushed and stumbled, but he was inwardly overjoyed.
Lu Shixuan was simply seeking his own death!
As long as Lu Sisi refused to drink it, or if something went wrong after she did, he could immediately contact the media and expose Lu Shixuan for abusing his own sister!
"Sister Sisi, don't be afraid. With me here, I won't let him hurt you..." Ye Chen prepared to continue his act.
However, in the next second.
Lu Sisi bypassed Ye Chen and picked up the thermos with both hands.
She tilted her head up to look at Lu Shixuan, her tear-glistening eyes filled with trust and reliance.
"I'll drink it."
She said softly in a raspy whisper.
Then, under Ye Chen's shocked gaze, she tilted her head back without hesitation and drank the incredibly bitter medicinal soup in one go.
Gulp, gulp.
Not a drop was left.
After finishing, Lu Sisi's brow furrowed from the intense bitterness, but she gave Lu Shixuan a brilliant smile and held up a thumb.
Lu Shixuan felt a sigh of relief in his heart, but on the surface, he still maintained his look of disgust.
"Tsk, like a pig devouring Ginseng Fruit. Fine, now that you've finished, shut up and rest. Don't make any more noise here. This Young Master is leaving!"
With that, he snatched back the thermos and turned to leave, his pace so fast it was as if a ghost were chasing him.
"Phew... she finally drank it."
"The effects should kick in within five minutes. By tomorrow, her voice should be back to its peak state, maybe even better."
"Sigh, for this bowl of soup, I spent 500 villain points!"
"It's breaking my heart."
"But as long as she can successfully sing tomorrow, this loss-making business is worth it."
After Lu Shixuan left.
Only Ye Chen and Lu Sisi remained in the music room.
Ye Chen looked at Lu Sisi and asked cautiously, "Sister Sisi... are you okay? Should I call a doctor? That stuff..."
"Shut up."
Lu Sisi suddenly spoke.
Though her voice was still a bit raspy, it was significantly better than the tearing pain from before. She could even feel a cool current spreading through her throat, and that burning sting was rapidly fading.
Divine medicine!
This was absolutely a divine medicine!
Lu Sisi looked coldly at Ye Chen, her gaze no longer holding its former politeness.
"Ye Chen, from now on, even if what A Xuan gives me is truly poison, I will take it happily."
"As for you... if you ever dare to sow discord between us siblings again, don't blame me for disregarding our family ties."
After speaking, Lu Sisi turned and sat back at the piano, her fingers dancing lightly across the keys, playing a string of pleasant melodies.
Leaving Ye Chen standing there alone, his face turning various shades of blue and white.
He had lost again.
And he had lost for no apparent reason!
That was clearly something that looked like swill; why did Lu Sisi get angry at him after drinking it?
"Lu Shixuan... just what kind of magic potion did you give them?"
Ye Chen clenched his fists, his fingernails digging deep into his palms.
He wasn't reconciled!
Tomorrow's concert was Lu Sisi's moment of glory.
Since he couldn't win in a head-on confrontation, then he couldn't be blamed for doing something behind the scenes at the concert!
...Back in his room, Lu Shixuan had only been lying down for two minutes when his phone vibrated.
It was a WeChat message from Fifth Sister Lu Sisi.
There was only one image.
It was two front-row VIP tickets to the concert.
The caption: "Tomorrow night, you must come. This is an order."
Lu Shixuan looked at his phone and rolled his eyes helplessly.
"Not going!"
"I won't go even if it kills me!"
"That kind of noisy environment is practically torture for my eardrums."
"Besides, what would I even do there?"
"Wave glow sticks for you?"
"How embarrassing!"
"System, is there any task that would let me sabotage the concert?"
"Like pulling the speaker plugs or something?"
"I think that would be quite a project!"
Ding!
"Detected host's strong desire for destruction."
"Issuing new task: Go to the concert venue and 'crash the show' in front of millions of fans."
"Specific requirements: During the climax of the concert, rush onto the stage, seize the microphone, and deliver an extremely narcissistic speech."
"Reward: God-level Musical Instrument Proficiency (Ultimate Edition), 10 million in cash."
Lu Shixuan's eyes lit up, and he leaped up from the bed.
"Crash the show? I'm an expert at that!"
"Tomorrow night, I'm going to turn Lu Sisi's concert into my personal stand-up comedy special!"
"Tremble, entertainment industry!"