Qin Feng met her gaze without the slightest hesitation, walked over to a redwood armchair, and sat down. Then he leisurely lifted his teacup and took a sip.
"Had enough?"
Qin Feng set down his teacup, a hint of lazy amusement in his eyes.
Qian Renxue gave a soft snort and turned her head away.
"Don't flatter yourself."
"I'm just curious what means you used to learn so many of my secrets."
Qin Feng rose unhurriedly and walked step by step to the stairs in front of Qian Renxue.
The distance between them shrank in an instant.
Qian Renxue's breath caught slightly, and her body instinctively leaned back, only for her to realize her back was already pressed against the hard chair.
"I don't just know your secrets."
Qin Feng looked straight into her golden eyes, bright as dazzling stars. His voice was gentle, yet his words struck right at her weakness.
"I also know you've had a harder time than anyone these past years."
At those words, Qian Renxue's delicate body trembled violently.
The strong shell she had painstakingly maintained for years cracked under the weight of that seemingly casual remark.
Qin Feng did not pause. His voice continued to echo through the hall.
"From the moment you were born, you never knew the warmth of a normal family."
"Your father died when you were young, and your mother saw you as a great disgrace, wishing she could get rid of you."
"Your grandfather protected you, but he also saddled you with the heavy burden of stealing the Heaven Dou Empire. All these years, you've been alone in this cold, austere palace, walking on thin ice."
Every word, every sentence, pierced precisely into the softest corners of Qian Renxue's heart.
She clenched her teeth, her eyes involuntarily reddening.
She had never breathed a word to anyone about the hidden pain of her family.
Even the two elders closest to her, Pufferfish and Snake Lance, only knew that she was carrying out an infiltration mission. They had no idea of the despair and loneliness that haunted her midnight dreams.
Qin Feng raised his right hand and gently patted Qian Renxue's somewhat slender shoulder.
"You're starved for affection."
"So you always armor yourself with an aloofness that keeps everyone at arm's length, hiding the emptiness inside."
"But beneath that disguise, you long for someone to favor you and you alone more than anyone else."
Qian Renxue's body stiffened, but she did not pull away from his broad hand.
Feeling the warmth on her shoulder, the grievances she had bottled up for years surged out like floodwaters bursting through a dam.
As she looked at the handsome young man before her, her defenses were crumbling layer by layer.
They stood very close, their breaths mingling in the air.
An ambiguous feeling neither of them could quite name rapidly grew more intense in the brief silence.
After quite some time, Qian Renxue finally forced herself to steady her churning emotions.
She drew in a deep breath of air scented with dragon's-breath incense and forced back the moisture in her eyes.
Her expression regained some of its usual haughty defiance.
"Don't go acting all compassionate."
"Just because you've uncovered a little of my past doesn't mean you can lecture me as if you have every right."
Then she abruptly changed the subject, narrowing her beautiful eyes with a hint of danger.
"Since you claim to understand women so well, why don't you explain something?"
"What's going on with that vixen, Hu Liena?"
"And that Dugu Yan who just left—she looked at you like she wanted to throw herself into your arms!"
Qian Renxue folded her arms across her chest. Her voice carried a heavy note of jealousy that even she hadn't noticed.
When she had secretly gathered information about the brat, she'd already discovered that he was always surrounded by women.
And seeing Dugu Yan's lovestruck expression with her own eyes in the hall had stirred up an inexplicable irritation in her.
Qin Feng raised an eyebrow and spread his hands innocently.
"What's there to explain?"
"We've always been perfectly innocent. We're just friends with benefits—kissing benefits, that is."
Qian Renxue froze, her brows drawing together.
"What do you mean, 'kissing benefits'?"
Qin Feng's lips curled upward, revealing a row of white teeth.
"Friends who chat, and every now and then kiss when the mood strikes."
The moment he said that, the spacious hall fell deathly silent.
Qian Renxue's eyes widened. Her head buzzed, and it took her a good while to fully grasp what he meant.
Two crimson clouds rose visibly across her fair cheeks, spreading all the way to her crystal-bright ears.
"You!"
"Shameless scoundrel! You lecher!"
Qian Renxue snatched up a teacup from the table and hurled it straight at Qin Feng's face.
How dare this guy describe such an indecent thing in such a high-minded, matter-of-fact way!
Qin Feng casually raised his hand and caught the flying teacup, then set it back on the table.
"Don't get so worked up."
"We're all free-spirited souls. Wouldn't it be better to take things easy?"
Qian Renxue felt as if her whole worldview had taken a brutal blow.
That strange feeling inside her grew stronger, like a cat's claws scratching at her heart.
But despite her anger, the reason she had honed through years in a position of power eventually suppressed her emotions.
She took several deep breaths to calm herself, and her expression grew serious again.
"You made a huge splash in the imperial palace today. That old Dugu Bo must have his eye on you now."
"Among all the Titled Douluo, his strength may be at the very bottom, but his unpredictable poison techniques are vicious."
"You're only level forty-five. If he secretly trips you up and poisons you, you won't even know how you died!"
Her voice was full of undisguised urgency and concern.
Seeing how she looked as if she were facing a formidable enemy, Qin Feng couldn't help laughing softly.
"So worried. Are you concerned about me?"
Qian Renxue immediately turned her head to the side, stubbornly refusing to admit it.
"Who has time to worry about you!"
"I'm only afraid you'll die too soon and that Chat Group will disband!"
Qin Feng idly toyed with the ring on his thumb, still looking perfectly at ease.
"Put your mind at rest."
"Old Dugu looks like a vicious, unapproachable brute, but deep down he's an honest fellow through and through."
"Once you understand his temperament, not only will your life be in no danger, you might even be able to win an incredible stroke of fortune from him."
At the description "honest fellow," Qian Renxue felt as if she'd been struck by lightning.
She stared at Qin Feng as if he were an idiot.
Poison Douluo? An honest fellow?
Was there even half a copper coin's worth of connection between those two?
That Old Poison had a strange temper and had killed countless people. He was famous as a fiend among the upper circles of the entire Heaven Dou Empire.
The brat must have been blinded by his own overconfidence to call a blood-soaked monster like that an honest fellow.
Meanwhile, in a heavily guarded, luxurious estate in Heaven Dou City,
Dugu Bo sat with commanding ease in the seat of honor in the main hall.
He lifted a cup of steaming premium tea and drained it in one go, feeling every pore on his body relax.