When Marie hung up the phone, she was met with Lizzie and Mr. Harris' angry stares. Since Marie had put the call on loudspeaker, they had both heard the conversation between Marie and Shawn, loud and clear.
Neither Lizzie nor Mr. Harris had been aware of Shawn's scheme to extort money from Marie, and the knowledge of it now made their blood boil. Lizzie, for one, was incensed at Shawn's blatant shamelessness. Here she was, taking care of a debilitated Mr. Harris, all the while Shawn had been trying to use his illness to make a few quick bucks. "What a despicable guy," Lizzie thought.
When Mr. Harris turned to address Marie, his tone was firm and resolute. "Don't worry, young lady. You don't have to pay him a single cent. When he gets back, I'm going to give that ingrate son of mine a piece of my mind—" Mr. Harris' angry tirade ended in a series of violent coughs.
"I understand your frustrations, Mr. Harris," Leo said, stroking Mr. Harris' back. "But you can't do anything until you've regained your full health."
When he'd finally stopped hacking and coughing, Mr. Harris shook his head and gave Leo a pained look. "Oh, Leo..." A wry smile tugged on his lips. "I know you mean well, but you have to be realistic here. My health is long gone."
Instead of replying, Leo looked towards Marie. "Get me a trash can."
A sense of puzzlement filled Marie's mind at Leo's request. "What on earth does he need that for?" she thought.
Still, she complied and reached for the trash can stashed underneath the bed.
"This might hurt a little, Mr. Harris," Leo said. "Please bear with me, okay?"
Without waiting for Mr. Harris' reply, Leo gently lifted Mr. Harris' wrist and began massaging a spot near his wrist bone.
At first, Leo kept a steady and slow rhythm. But gradually, his ministration became faster and more forceful.
Mr. Harris breathing became increasingly ragged and his face pale. At one point, his throat began constricting, and he felt like throwing up.
Moments later, Mr. Harris felt his stomach expanding. Tightening his grip on the trash can, he bowed over the rim of the can and hurled out his stomach's contents.
Everyone in the room could stare in shock as the torrents of dark liquid poured out of Mr. Harris' gaping mouth. Leo suspected that Mr. Harris had been fed herbal medicine that had gone way past its expiry date. And from the looks of it, Leo was right.
"Oh, my God! Dad! Are you okay?" Lizzie said, already moving towards the bed but was held back by Nadine.
"He's fine," Nadine said in a calm tone.
"This is to empty the contents of Mr. Harris' stomach," Leo explained. "The herbs he consumed have yet to be digested, so he should be fine after this."
A moment later, Leo pulled out a silver needle, the same needle he'd used on the young man the other day.
But rather than pain, Mr. Harris felt a sense of relief the moment Leo pushed the needle into him.
With the needle in hand, Leo worked deftly with his fingers, poking and pulling with fluid precision.
When sweat began to dot Mr. Harris' forehead, Leo gave Marie a subtle glance. "Sweat."
"Oh," Marie said, bursting into action.
Seconds later, Marie reappeared at the bedside with a wet towel and began dabbing Mr. Harris' forehead with the towel.
Leo gave her another glance. "I meant my sweat."
Marie's hands stilled. "Huh?"
Shock coursed through Marie the moment her eyes landed on Leo's face.
Leo's face was drenched. Somehow, Leo was sweating even more than Mr. Harris.
Nadine was the only one who knew the reason for that.
The chill had already seeped into Mr. Harris' heart and lungs, so it would take a long time to get expel it with medication alone. Nadine, as well as anyone else who was highly trained in martial arts, knew that there was only one way to save Mr. Harris at this point; Qi.
Getting rid of the chill using one's Qi was the most effective way to cure Mr. Harris illness.
However, performing Qi healing was by no means a simple task. Rumor had it that only one in ten million martial artists possessed the skills to master's one's Qi. And the exceptional individuals who had mastered their Qi formed what was known in the martial arts world as the Inner Circle.
Not even Wallace Spencer, who was a decent martial artist, had mastered his own Qi; at least not in this life time.
Unlike everyone else in the room who was completely in the dark about what Leo was doing, Nadine knew better. She understood that he was forcing the chill out of the older man's body using his own Qi.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: No 1 Supreme Warrior
Author your story is like a winding road... Why not go straight? To earn more money???fuck!!!...
This author forgot the one of the main character. Where is ledia and her daughter? What happen to ledia? She is pregnant and what happened next?...