The Flower Among the Flames

Chapter 15

Li Long glared at the women with silent fury and anger they thought was not possible before. To be perfectly honest, Li Long was surprised himself. Never did he let his temper get the best of him before. He'd be the calm one in the room who would end an argument and be able to make offending parties shake hands. Unfortunately, Li Long wasn't looking to settle peace this time. His eyes were on fire and the women, namely Jiang Hua and the twin Shaos, cringed under his piercing gaze. Despite some minor thoughts of doubt and resentment, everyone in the room agreed that he had the right to be angry. The women did...overreact on their part, and certainly did not expect Li Long to take them seriously– better yet, try to kill Seulgi. Jokes and little pranks, they forgot, tend to go over his head easily seeing as he was a very straightforward thinker. You'd think they would know better though.

"I do believe you have some explaining to do," Li Long growled, his fingers rapping heavily against the mahogany tabletop. He was sitting at the large table in the center of the room and put himself across from both Seulgi and Zhao Meng and a bowl of the culprit liquid in front of Seulgi. The liquid, unlike the women, did not quake nor show any signs of fear...figures. The other three women sat on their knees with their backs against the west wall with lowered embarrassed heads. Zhao Meng glanced curiously between her comrades, clueless to the situation. In her defense towards her obliviousness, she was still in the trance when her subordinates drank the soup and brought this mess upon them all.

"I'll go first, I guess," Shao Li cleared her throat. Li Long nodded and motioned for her to talk, expecting a rational answer. Of course, there wouldn't be. She suddenly pointed her finger towards her twin and screamed, "It was all her fault!"

"What?!" Shao Yen exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock and anger at her sister's accusation. "MY FAULT?! Why is this MY FAULT?!"

"She told him to dump all of the spice into the cauldron!" Shao Li continued, ignoring her sister's seething form.

"Me?! Who was it that said that in the first place?!" Shao Yen jabbed a finger at her. "You were the one who told Seulgi to dump all of it into the pot! Not me!"

"Oh, don't you start this with me!"

"You little liar! You are always blaming stuff on me!"

"Because it really is always your fault!"

"Oh yeah?! You want to fight?!"

"I don't know! Do you?!"

In an instant, the Shaos shot up from their seats and were staring each other down, their hands against their weapons. Seulgi looked at them with raised eyebrows and then shot a glance at Li Long. How would he react? He was obviously annoyed. Seulgi would have been too were he in his situation, but seeing as though that was not the case, Seulgi was going to enjoy the show.

"Sit down!" Li Long roared, slamming a clenched fist on the tabletop. The Shaos stopped what they were doing and complied immediately, their faces reddening from embarrassment. I swear they are acting like little children! Li Long shook his head rapidly in disapproval. He wanted an explanation– not bloodshed. These twins definitely were not the right people to ask. Perhaps Jiang Hua would give a better answer. He gave her a look and she nodded. She'll talk.

Jiang Hua sighed, earning the attention of both twins– still seething over the accusations placed on each other. Shao Yen snapped, "And you! You were all like, 'I can take this. This is nothing.' Look where you got us, you little girl!"

Jiang Hua's eyes narrowed, her hand reaching for her daggers. "What was that now?"

"Yeah!" Shao Li chimed in, forgetting all about the quarrel with her sister. "You were the one who told us that this stuff wouldn't...wouldn't make us do that!"