Chapter 658 The Man-Eating Devil Fruit

Li San Niang fed Lu Zhu'er half a shortbread, then three sugar-coated fruit balls, and finally four candied hawthorns before she was considered well.

"You can't eat anymore. Touch your belly, is it all bulging?"

"Mother doesn't want to eat this fruit. Can I save it for you after we finish our meal?"

Dewdrop listened to advice and looked away from the candied hawthorns, turning her attention to the stage, where women and men from the Western Regions were performing equestrian skills.

They truly are a people raised on horseback. Although I had seen many such wonderful equestrian performances before, Li San Niang was always amazed every time she saw them. They were simply too amazing!

Even the tiny little dewdrop watched intently, her eyes glued to the performance. Fifteen minutes later, the equestrian show was finally over.

Dewdrop then turned to look at Li San Niang and asked, "Mother, can Dewdrop ride a horse?"

Li San Niang was surprised that Lu Zhu'er had become interested in horseback riding, but she nodded in agreement and said, "Of course you can do it."

However, if you want to learn, you'll have to wait until you're taller. Then your mother will buy you a gentle little mare, and your tenth uncle will teach you, okay?

The tenth brother, sitting on the side of this row, didn't expect that he would have something to do. However, when he saw the innocent and longing look in Lu Zhu'er's eyes, he nodded heavily and agreed with Li San Niang's words.

"Auntie, auntie, Wulang wants to learn to ride a horse too. Auntie, Wulang wants to too."

Sitting next to Li's father, Kogoro eagerly joined the conversation. Li Sanniang naturally wouldn't refuse Kogoro's words. She turned her head, smiled, and nodded, saying, "Okay, when Luzhu learns to ride a horse, I'll invite you too."

As everyone was talking, five or six men walked back onto the stage. They were shirtless and, under the lights, displayed their muscular physiques.

At this time, the atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty was naturally inclusive and tolerant, as evidenced by the encouragement of women to remarry and the existence of laws allowing couples to divorce by severing ties.

Therefore, although there were many women like Li San Niang and younger girls like Bao Ya who were out playing with their families among the people sitting around the stage, no one said anything bad about the Western Region man on the stage who was shirtless.

On the contrary, some of the bolder women cheered for the shirtless man on the platform.

Li San Niang's exceptional hearing allowed her to hear a woman speaking to another person four or five rows away, saying, "Look, this is a real man!"

Look, look how strong that guy's arm is on the right. If he were in bed, he could probably...

Before the woman could finish speaking, the woman next to her covered her mouth with her hand.

But how could anyone in the neighborhood not understand the woman's unfinished words?

Li San Niang smiled and shook her head, then looked down at Lu Zhu'er. Lu Zhu'er asked Li San Niang, "Mother, why aren't they wearing clothes?"

It's so cold, aren't they cold?

Before Li San Niang could answer Lu Zhu'er's question, Lu Zhu'er saw the men on the platform waving torches.

The little dewdrop nodded, explaining to herself, "Oh, it's because there's fire."

"Haha, haha," Li San Niang laughed out loud at Lu Zhu'er's words, and even Qiu Xiang smiled.

Bao Ya was too young to look at the shirtless man on the platform, so she kept her head down and looked at the dewdrops.

When Li San Niang saw Bao Ya like this, she said to her, "It's alright, just look up and watch openly. It's just a performance, it's not a bad thing."

After Li San Niang finished speaking, she wanted to say a few more words to encourage Bao Ya and make her feel less embarrassed, but she suddenly smelled a sweet fragrance that made her feel very uncomfortable.

This tastes wrong; it's not the sweet aroma that comes from food with added sugar or honey.

Of course, if you insist that Li San Niang describe the difference between this taste and the sweet aroma of food, she can only tell you that "it's not right, it's different."

The fact that Li San Niang was born with exceptionally keen senses is no joke; she truly possessed extraordinary talent!

Qiu Xiang was the first to notice that something was wrong with Li San Niang. She saw Li San Niang's furrowed brows and tense face, and her eyes were very serious.

"Third Sister, what's wrong? Is something the matter?"

Li San Niang's first reaction was to hug Lu Zhu'er, who was still watching the torchlight on the platform. Li San Niang did not reply to Qiu Xiang's words, but instead looked around. After circling around twice, she finally found the source of the sweet fragrance.

The smell drifted over from a short, stout man sitting in the second-to-last row in the southwest corner. There was a skylight behind him, through which a breeze blew in, carrying the scent to Li San Niang.

After confirming where the smell was coming from, Li San Niang turned to Qiu Xiang and whispered, "Qiu Xiang, something's not right. The man in black in the second-to-last row in the southwest corner is eating or doing something, and there's a strange sweet smell coming from him."

This tastes very wrong.

Qiu Xiang naturally believed in Li San Niang's abilities. She nodded to indicate that she understood. Then, Qiu Xiang crouched down and found Lao Shi sitting outside. She whispered something in Lao Shi's ear, and Lao Shi glanced at Li San Niang. Li San Niang nodded to him with a stern face.

Old Ten nodded and then bowed and left his seat.

Qiu Xiang, who had returned to her seat, said to Li San Niang, "Don't worry, San Niangzi, Lao Shi has gone to make contact."

There's a base here; I saw two brothers when we came out on the street. Don't worry, they won't cause any trouble.

Upon hearing Qiu Xiang's words, Li San Niang knew that she had misunderstood.

However, in such a public setting, Li San Niang couldn't properly explain anything to Qiu Xiang, so she could only nod and say nothing more.

Qiu Xiang thought that Li San Niang had noticed something was wrong because of her naturally keen senses and her knowledge of poisons. She feared that the man had deliberately come to this crowded place to poison people, which was why she said those words to Li San Niang.

But that's not what Li San Niang meant. The smell she detected confirmed that it was the scent emitted when opium was lit and inhaled!

And what is opium?

If I use a different term, you'll understand.

Aphrodisiac is opium!

That's the Opium War of 1840, the one that marked the beginning of China's humiliating modern history!