Genius Club-Chapter 1198 - 46 Humanity and Tea (Bonus Chapter for monthly votes!)_4
Stomach pumping and intestinal cleansing were being carried out simultaneously.
All the undigested food and liquid from the stomach and intestines were flushed out.
The doctor noticed that tears streamed down the tightly shut eyes of the old man, staining his face.
No...
It shouldn’t be.
Even if it’s painful, it’s just the physical discomfort of retching—it shouldn’t hurt this much!
He grew somewhat anxious:
"Sir, were we too rough with the tubing? Does it hurt?"
"Yes, it hurts."
The old man replied.
"I’m sorry, we’ll adjust it right away!"
The two doctors immediately adjusted the tube. It should feel much better now, but they found the old man still shedding tears incessantly.
"Sir..."
The doctor softly asked again:
"Does it still hurt?"
The old man kept his eyes closed.
He nodded:
"Yes, it hurts."
...
A long silence.
The stomach pumping was completed.
Everything happened swiftly and safely.
Galileo leaned on his cane, wearing his courtesy like a mask, standing upright on the grass outside, gazing at the majestic expanse of Mount Wuyi in the distance.
He was waiting for the test results.
He desperately wanted to know.
What poison Da Vinci had chosen to try to kill herself.
Would she have gone easier on herself?
Maybe she didn’t want to actually kill herself—perhaps she just wanted to dull her consciousness and then escape, right?
Of course, he noticed Da Vinci’s subtle move of adding poison to the tea.
He didn’t even need to see it.
He could guess.
That’s why, always cautious, he had prepared the stomach-pumping ambulance ahead of time.
"You clearly said you wouldn’t kill me."
He murmured once more.
If Da Vinci hadn’t poisoned the tea, perhaps… he might have softened his heart, loosened his hand, and refrained from pulling the trigger, wouldn’t he?
Scrape, scrape, scrape.
Behind him.
The lab technician from the ambulance approached through the fragrant grass, slowly arriving behind him, lowering his head.
"Speak."
Galileo’s voice was hoarse:
"What poison did she use?"
The lab technician inhaled heavily:
"Are you sure you want to know?"
"Go ahead." ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
Galileo smiled with a sense of relief:
"You’re worried I can’t handle it? Rest assured… I’ve been mentally prepared for this."
"Judging by your expression, it’s potent poison, right? Sulfides? Cyanides? Or arsenic? Did she go all out?"
"Seems… she was truly determined to kill me, hahaha…"
The lab technician closed his eyes:
"It’s [sugar]."
Galileo’s smile froze on his face, his mouth left agape mid-air.
He turned around, his entire body trembling, his cane knocking against his leather shoes, producing a shaky sound:
"Impossible, I saw it—it was dark brown, not sugar, and didn’t taste like molasses!"
"It’s not ordinary sugar."
The lab technician replied:
"It’s bamboo sugar."
"This is an ancient traditional craft from southern China, different from conventional cane sugar or beet sugar… Bamboo sugar, in this era, is exceedingly rare."
"This type of sugar isn’t very sweet, lacks purity, and has little commercial or practical value. But the sugar produced from bamboo has a unique, faint fragrance—light, yet distinct."
"I think… the taste of tea you’ve been searching for all these years might not be in the tea leaves or brewing method—it might be… that unique bamboo sugar aroma."
Thud.
The cane in the old man’s hand dropped to the ground.
He did not hear anything else the lab technician said afterward.
Step by step...
He walked across the soft grass toward the vibrant explosion of color in the Mount Wuyi landscape.
He finally understood.
Why Da Vinci had made her action of adding sugar appear so furtive, so deliberately furtive—and visible to him...
She had done it intentionally for him to see!
Thump.
He lost his balance and fell to his knees, both knees pressed to the ground.
His arms propped against the earth.
And he discovered...
Amid the tangled weeds grew a few wild and untouched Lapsang Souchong bushes.
For a moment.
Sorrow surged within his heart.
He saw the footprints in the snow leading to the assembly hall,
He saw the breeze in Brussel swirling fallen leaves,
He saw the old car driving through the roads of 1982,
He saw the graceful young girl passing him tea with a turn of her body,
He saw the great Da Vinci’s tender cheeks behind her mask,
Galileo closed his eyes.
He grabbed a handful of the dense leaves from the Lapsang Souchong bush on the ground and shoved them into his mouth.
Chewing.
Chewing.
It was a bitterness beyond bitter—so bitter it caused his tear ducts to collapse.
In the haze.
The mountain breeze swept by.
It felt as though the light-spirited voice of the woman from forty years ago sat before him, smiling as she looked at him:
"Mr. Galileo."
"Do you believe... in human nature?"
