Chapter 140: Damnable Curiosity (Third Update)

But to the rest of the Trump family, Elena’s social skills and acting had become increasingly convincing. Her stepmother, in particular, was already sneering inwardly: Here comes the little brat with her affectations again!

The Grand Princess and her stepmother had been engaged in their palace intrigues for more than a day or two. The entire country had watched the spectacle and feasted on the gossip. But only Elena knew that she had not been acting. She had been genuinely astonished.

She desperately wanted to ask Li Lekang how he had done it, but felt that pressing him in such a setting would be undignified. So she resumed her professional smile.

“Mr. Li’s command of the human psyche is truly astonishing.”

Li Lekang took in every change in Elena’s expression and thought, As expected of a socialite heiress. Her reactions, her poise—everything about her movements is extraordinary.

Yet no matter how composed she was, she could not withstand the spell’s ability to stir the heart. Li Lekang had just used mind-reading magic on her, and had gained a rough understanding of what she was thinking.

His magic did not work the way everyone imagined. It could not reveal every single thought in someone’s mind. What he received was more like a transmission of feelings, which he then had to organize and describe in words himself.

Besides, it only worked when the other person was off guard, so he rarely used it. More often, he reserved it for stage performances, when he read the minds of lucky audience members.

But that little trick had clearly startled Elena. Damn her overflowing curiosity!

After four years in the White House, she had come into contact with certain secrets, including the extraterrestrial civilizations the outside world was most curious about. Even so, experiencing something supernatural firsthand was far more shocking.

No one else took what Li Lekang had done seriously. They assumed it was merely a bit of social flattery. But Elena, feeling as though she had stumbled upon a secret, continued probing him.

“As someone who stands above the vast majority of ordinary people, Mr. Li, have you ever found that troublesome?”

“Troublesome in private matters, or in some other sense?” Li Lekang asked in return.

Elena maintained her gracious smile. “Any aspect you are willing to discuss.”

The exchange sounded… somehow unnatural.

Her husband, listening from nearby, knew it was simply social banter, a way of drawing closer to someone. Perhaps if it had been anyone else, he would not have thought much of it. But Li Lekang was young, extraordinary, and unfailingly elegant. Seeing him laughing and chatting with his wife inevitably made him uncomfortable.

Li Lekang paid him no mind. He continued speaking with the Grand Princess.

“Sometimes I find my own charm troublesome. Does that count?”

“You really are very amusing.” Elena covered her mouth and laughed softly.

“I’m serious.”

Li Lekang picked up a glass of water from the table.

“For instance, people are always fascinated when plain water turns into red wine. It makes me wonder whether I should show a little more restraint.”

As he finished speaking, his fork tapped lightly against the glass.

A clear chime rang out.

The water became red wine.

Every eye at the table turned toward them.

The expressions around the table varied. Trump was curious about when Li Lekang had arranged the mechanism. The First Lady thought the trick made him look exactly like a wizard. Elena felt that his mystery had gone far beyond the bounds of science. Her husband, meanwhile, regarded it as nothing more than a pretentious stunt.

Stell looked at his master, then at the woman. His injured eye rolled slightly, and he seemed to understand a few things. He simply cut off a piece of steak and tossed it into his mouth.

As the person receiving Li Lekang’s special attention, Elena felt her heart race faster in pursuit of the secret.

Because she heard a voice echoing beside her ear:

“Sometimes the world is not the way ordinary people think it is. Do you agree?”

“Yes,” she answered instinctively.

Her husband looked at her in confusion. She responded with a glance that seemed to ask, You didn’t hear that?

Then she looked toward her father. He was chatting with Stell about how meat was the only truly satisfying food and vegetables could be sent rolling off to the side.

It seemed that she alone had heard the voice.

Elena felt that everything happening to her that day was highly unusual.

It had been unusual from the very moment she met Li Lekang.

First came his extraordinary, incomprehensible skill on the court. Then there were all the remarkable matters discussed at the dinner table. While everyone else regarded them as magic tricks and sleight of hand, she found herself deeply questioning everything.

Combining it all with the theory she had already formed about a mystical charlatan or demonic monk, she connected the pieces and reached a conclusion whose process defied common sense, but whose result seemed only natural.

Could he truly possess supernatural abilities?

What kind of person are you?

Her mind was filled with questions. She looked up and saw Li Lekang gazing at her. He smiled.

“You look a little tired. Be sure to get enough rest. Exhaustion will not improve your efficiency.”

“Oh… thank you.”

She replied a beat too slowly, clearly not at her best.

That astonishing suspicion was like a thorn lodged deep in her heart. It would not be easy to pull out.

It remained with her until dinner ended, when Li Lekang and Stell took their leave.

On the way back, Stell asked him, “Do you think Elena has greater potential for advancement?”

“An old man making way for the younger generation—that’s only natural, isn’t it? Look at the fellow currently making a spectacle of himself onstage. People are already beginning to miss the mad old man. Establishing contact with his successor now will make it easier to seize the initiative later.”

That was Li Lekang’s official phrasing.

Stell did not object. Although Trump was now visibly declining, he remained a major figure within the party. Looking across both parties, there were hardly any decent candidates left. Hadn’t the opposition simply picked a sleepy old man?

No one could guarantee that, three years from now, the mad old man would not successfully fight his way back into power. But by then, he would be older, and actual involvement in affairs would more likely fall to his family.

So Stell had no objection to betting on the Grand Princess.

“Cooperation between the Saint and Trump will gradually begin. You may demonstrate some of your extraordinary abilities when appropriate, so they can understand the Saint’s transcendent power.”

“Leave it to me.”

Li Lekang had no interest in the old man or her husband. But when it came to the Grand Princess, he could not escape the instinctive appreciation a man felt for luxury and designer goods.

…

After returning from the banquet, Elena still had to deal with some company affairs as usual. But because her husband had been nursing a few private grievances after what had happened that day, the two somehow ended up arguing. They accused each other of being neither understanding nor tolerant, and finally went to sleep in separate rooms.

Real-estate advisers in the industry had once revealed that many luxury homes owned by business magnates were designed with two master bedrooms. In other words, husband and wife each slept in their own bed—a true reflection of the outward harmony and inner estrangement found in many wealthy marriages.

After lying down, Elena tossed and turned restlessly.

She was troubled by the family business’s difficulties and by the lack of understanding in her personal life. Nine out of ten women were disappointed in marriage, while the tenth had already given up hope altogether. She felt profoundly melancholy.

Her thoughts returned to what had happened that day—to the mysterious Oriental man who seemed to have seen straight through her heart.

Did he really possess some kind of extraordinary ability?

She kept thinking and thinking, unable to feel even the slightest drowsiness. At last, she picked up her phone and composed a message.

Do you really have superpowers?

Li Lekang happened to be awake as well. When he saw the message, he replied:

“That depends on how narrowly you define them.”

I hope you do, she wrote back.

“So there are problems you cannot solve through your own strength?” Li Lekang replied.

“You really do understand me.” She hugged her phone and sighed.

When a woman felt that another man understood her, it was a dangerous sign.

But she was not such a simple prey.

“Do you know what I’m thinking right now?”

Li Lekang was far away, so how could he possibly know? But he knew how to read people coldly.

“You have a great many thoughts in your mind, all crossing and intertwining. Sometimes I suspect that even you do not fully understand yourself.”