Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo' Chapter 1343 623: Life and Death in a Single Thought (Part 2)

Luo Yanjun was a bit displeased: "Sis, I'm not against us studying it later, but we should at least finish this deal, right? If you back out halfway, how are we supposed to keep dealing with Li Qi in the future?"

Luo Lijun said, "We'll first make the potion, then slowly talk price with him. Once we've got leverage in our hands, that's better than always being under his thumb. Sha Jun, hurry up and spit it out."

"I can't spit it out anymore." Luo Shaohua answered in a small voice.

Luo Lijun snapped, "What did I tell you yesterday!"

Luo Shaohua said, "You say so much every day, how am I supposed to remember it all? Besides, my whole body was itching like hell, finally got medicine to take, I got anxious and just swallowed it all down."

"You damn hooves, you're begging for a beating!" Luo Lijun swung her feelers and lashed Luo Shaohua a dozen times. Luo Shaohua cried in grievance, and Luo Yanjun stepped in to stop it.

After a few words of persuasion, Luo Lijun went off to look for the Contract Book. As she left, she still didn't forget to curse Luo Shaohua: "How did our family end up with an idiot like you!"

Luo Yanjun glanced at the sniffling Luo Shaohua and secretly admired her in her heart.

Whatever about other things, on this one the little sis wasn't being stupid at all. Finishing the business honestly is good for both sides.

The next morning, the two sides met again. Luo Lijun brought the Contract Books for all three.

Before, she'd made it sound difficult—that was just to make things secure, and to haggle over price with Li Banfeng. With Luo Lijun's status, she had plenty of channels to get Contract Books.

Li Banfeng carefully inspected the three Contract Books, then had Feng Daiku outside the workshop help verify them once more.

Once he was sure there was no mistake, Li Banfeng had Cui Tiq hand the potion to Luo Lijun and Luo Yanjun, and Cui Tiq followed the same procedure, drawing the lesions out of the two of them.

Luo Lijun wanted to take the potion away, but Li Qi wouldn't agree. If they didn't drink the medicine and yet the disease was gone, the whole thing would be exposed.

"This medicine has to be finished on the spot."

Luo Lijun was very displeased: "What kind of logic is that?"

"I'm afraid you'll take the medicine back and do your own research on it!"

"Since you've sold the medicine to me, why shouldn't I be allowed to study it?"

"These are my rules: the medicine is only for taking, not for research!"

Seeing the two sides starting to argue, Luo Yanjun hurried forward to smooth things over: "Sis, Young Master Li said already—three doses of medicine for three Contract Books. Let's not break the rules."

Luo Shaohua also tried to persuade from the side: "Sis, if you secretly stash a little away that's fine, but taking it all is really pushing it..."

Smack!

Luo Lijun and Luo Yanjun swung their feelers together and slapped Little Tianluo into the pool. The two sisters, right in front of Li Qi, drank the medicine.

When they got back to the Inner State, Luo Yanjun tried again: "Sis, why bother arguing with him? Couldn't we just spit out a bit of the potion?"

Luo Lijun said hatefully, "I just can't stand that overbearing attitude of his. He's vicious and domineering; if he were more like Wulang, with some generosity to him, that'd be one thing. But for just this bit of potion, he haggles with us over every little thing!"

Luo Yanjun snorted: "You say Ma Wuda, that I'll buy, but calling him generous—where does that even come from?

We've done plenty of jobs with Li Qi; whether in Puluo State or the Outside Provinces, he's never once slipped up. A man like that deserves to be that domineering!"

Luo Shaohua nodded: "He really does. That kind of man is the best."

Luo Lijun cursed: "You cheap hoof, no wonder you blab whatever anyone asks—you're trying to throw yourself at him!"

"Let's handle the serious business first!" Luo Yanjun swallowed down more than eighty percent of the potion and spat out less than twenty.

Luo Lijun was a bit dissatisfied: "You only spit out this little?"

Luo Yanjun felt it was plenty: "It's not bad to get even this much out. Our Physicians and Pharmacists might not be able to crack Li Qi's medicine. If I spit out too much and my own plague doesn't get cured, wouldn't we lose everything?"

As she spoke, Luo Yanjun flexed her body a little: "Sis, this medicine is really effective, my body doesn't itch much anymore!"

Luo Lijun also moved around a bit, and sure enough, the itch was gone.

She picked up the potion Luo Yanjun had spat out, nodded, and said: "This should be enough."

Luo Yanjun was taken aback: "Sis, you're not going to spit out even a drop?"

...

At the foot of Rongku Mountain, a rabbit was hopping about, foraging for food.

The rabbit wasn't big, about the same size as an ordinary wild hare, but in truth he was a Strange Monster from the New Land, with a Spirit Attribute, able to speak.

This year the snow was too heavy, and it was hard to find food on the snowy ground.

The rabbit lifted his head and gazed toward Rongku Mountain. The mountain was covered in tender green grass, extremely tempting.

Just one bite, only one bite—the Rong Ku God probably wouldn't mind.

But not long ago, a deer ate a single mouthful of green grass on Rongku Mountain and had its life taken directly by the Rong Ku God.

The rabbit was so hungry his eyes were going dim, and he thought he saw a certain blade of grass that had already grown down from the mountain.

Grass that had grown down to the foot of the mountain ought to be fair game.

The rabbit hopped forward, opened his mouth, and was just about to bite down when a man suddenly appeared before him.

It was the Rong Ku God!

The rabbit didn't even dare lift his head, crouched on the ground, and stammered, "This blade of grass grew down to the foot of the mountain, I just wanted to come take a look, I didn't mean to eat it."

The man stroked that tender green grass. The color of the blade deepened quickly, from light green to dark green, from dark green to yellow. In the blink of an eye, a green blade of grass had turned into a withered stalk.

The rabbit was so terrified he pissed into the snow.

The man turned and walked away, his figure disappearing from sight.

This was the Rong Ku God's warning to him!

The rabbit trembled as he left Rongku Mountain, thinking to go look for food elsewhere.

He trudged dozens of miles across the snow and finally saw two human figures.

He was a Strange Monster; he didn't necessarily have to eat grass—he could eat people and fill his belly just the same.