Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Pei Yuming dragged him over and tapped the tip of the knife against his chest. “How many?”

Lu Dong swallowed nervously and kept trying to hold out. “It really is just a work phone.”

Not a single person present believed him.

“You’re violating my privacy…” Lu Dong tried to reason with them. “Honey, can’t I show it to you alone once we get home?”

“No.”

“No!”

This time, Su Jin and Bai Xue spoke at the same time.

Seeing how firm they all were, Lu Dong gritted his teeth and said to Pei Yuming, who was pinning his arm beside him, “Then kill me.”

So there really were people who refused a toast only to drink a forfeit, Pei Yuming thought.

Just when everyone thought that, after Lu Dong had gone that far, Pei Yuming would surely have no way to deal with him, Pei Yuming raised the knife and brought it down, slicing straight across Lu Dong’s palm.

Pei Yuming was a professional, all right. His cut was frighteningly precise. He deliberately avoided the major blood vessels, making the wound long and straight. It looked like torn flesh and splattering blood, but it had missed anything vital.

Of course he couldn’t kill Lu Dong outright. Even if he badly wanted to, he still remembered how, the last time he had accidentally killed Bai Xue, he had immediately triggered a Flashback to the interrogation room. Things still hadn’t been cleared up. He couldn’t go back yet.

“Ah! Ah! Ah!” Whether from pain or fear, Lu Dong suddenly started howling, loud enough to bring Lu Zixuan out from the guest room where he’d been sent.

Pei Yuming shot his brother a look, signaling him to stop the boy.

“It’s fine, Zixuan. Go back to your room. This has nothing to do with kids.”

While his brother coaxed Lu Zixuan on that side, Bai Xue and Su Jin were both frightened as well. The two of them started scolding Pei Yuming at once.

“Are you serious?” Su Jin said.

“Are you insane?” Bai Xue came over to shove him, only for him to push her aside instead.

Pei Yuming said nothing. He twisted Lu Dong’s arm around and forced him to look at his own palm, then raised the bloodstained boning knife and threatened, “Are you going to talk or not?”

Now Bai Xue and Su Jin were both getting anxious.

“Stop it!”

“Someone’s going to die!”

Pei Yuming ignored their pleas. He already hated Lu Dong to the bone, and especially when he saw Bai Xue defending him at every turn, it felt as though all the blood in his body was burning with hatred. If not for the fact that he still hadn’t found the poison, he would have loved nothing more than to stab him right now just to vent some of it.

Just as Pei Yuming was about to bring the knife down again, Pei Yucheng, who had just locked Lu Zixuan back in the guest room, came over. He reached out to stop his brother and suggested, “Why not try his fingerprint?”

“Right, right!” Bai Xue was the first to agree.

Su Jin reacted too. “Yuming, try his fingerprint.”

The two Pei Family brothers held Lu Dong down and tried three fingerprints in total. The last one finally unlocked the phone.

Once it was unlocked, Pei Yuming did not look at it right away. Instead, he handed it to Su Jin. “Su Jin, you look.”

Su Jin hurriedly took it. “Okay.”

Beside her, Bai Xue pulled Su Jin off to one side. “I’ll help you look.”

“Hmph.”

Pei Yuming let out a breath through his nose. Of course he knew exactly what Bai Xue was trying to do, but he had more important things to deal with right now, so he ignored her.

With his brother’s help, Pei Yuming searched Lu Dong, who had already given up resisting and was slumped in a chair clutching his hand. Strangely enough, though, he did not find that vitamin bottle.

“How can it not be here?” he muttered. “That’s impossible.”

Pei Yuming stared hard at Lu Dong, as if he meant to bore two holes through him with his gaze.

“W-what are you doing?” Lu Dong backed away nervously, but Pei Yucheng held him in place.

Could it be Bai Xue?

He glanced at Bai Xue across from him, who was whispering something to Su Jin, and his eyes grew complicated for a moment. If it was Bai Xue, that would be troublesome. She could have hidden the poison in any corner of this home.

Still, he dragged Bai Xue aside.

“What are you doing?!” Bai Xue was startled by Pei Yuming’s sudden move.

“Come with me.” Pei Yuming pulled Bai Xue toward the bedroom. “I have something to ask you.”

Given that he was holding a knife, Bai Xue did not dare resist. Su Jin only made a token attempt to stop him. Her attention was clearly still on the phone in her hand.

“What exactly are you trying to do?” Bai Xue retreated warily, moving to the other side of the bed.

Pei Yuming swept his gaze around the bedroom and asked her, “Where did you hide the poison?”

“Poison?” Bai Xue stared at him in astonishment. “What poison? What are you talking about?”

“Potassium cyanide, in a bottle used for vitamins.” Pei Yuming glanced at his watch. He had less than forty minutes left and no time to play guessing games with her, so he could only lay his cards on the table. “Since it wasn’t on anyone else, it has to be you. Tell me now, and I promise I won’t make things difficult for you.”

“Vitamins?” Bai Xue asked, confused. “You were looking for vitamins just now?”