"What?"
Hearing Li Xu's words, Ding Kaifang was so startled he nearly lost his grip on the steering wheel. "Poisonous? How is that possible? I've had it several times and I was fine. Besides... you didn't even touch the teacup. How could you possibly know?"
"It's not the kind of poison you're thinking of, like crane's beak red or arsenic."
Li Xu said gravely, "It's the kind that gets people addicted. A new type."
"The incense burning in that private room, and that tea—they're both laced with something. The amounts are small and hard to detect, but long-term consumption and inhalation will lead to dependence, and even hallucinations."
Ding Kaifang broke out in a cold sweat as he listened.
'No wonder I've been wanting to go back there so often lately. So that's what it was.'
"And..."
Li Xu paused, then dropped an even bigger bombshell. "If I'm not mistaken, he has an STD."
"A very serious one, at that."
"Right? He sought me out mainly to have this looked at, didn't he?"
