Medical and Martial God-Chapter 170: Upgraded Version of Scamming
"I didn’t hit him, so why should I have to pay his medical bills?" Kuroki Suzu demanded angrily.
"How dare you deny it? I saw you with my own eyes," the bald middle-aged man scolded. "Tell me, what school are you from? I’m going to see your teacher tomorrow! Knocking down an old man and refusing to take responsibility... that alone is enough to get you expelled."
In reality, staging accidents to scam people is a special line of work that requires keen observation and acting skills, and choosing the right target is a major part of the expertise. A ’country girl’ like Kuroki Suzu was a perfect mark. She clearly came from a poor family and was innocent, inexperienced, timid, and insecure, all while believing that education was her only way to change her fate. When scammers found someone like this, it was a guaranteed win. All they had to do was threaten to report her to her school. This type of person was easily terrified, deathly afraid of being expelled or having a black mark on their permanent record that could affect their job prospects after graduation. A little intimidation was usually enough to make them pay whatever was asked.
However, Kuroki Suzu wasn’t a student at all, so she had absolutely no fear of the bald man’s threats to report her to a school.
"She has no sense of decency! You have to report her to her school! Someone like that doesn’t deserve to be a university student."
"We should just call the Patrol Officers. She’s clearly a delinquent. Only they can handle her."
"Yes, call the Patrol Officers!" the onlookers began to clamor.
Hearing this, Kuroki Suzu panicked. She wasn’t worried about the bald man going to some school, but she was afraid of getting the authorities involved. After all, she had secretly infiltrated Jin Ye City. If the Patrol Officers got involved and the incident blew up, her identity would be exposed. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚
"Don’t just stand there. Let’s get the gentleman to a hospital first and have him checked out," Ye Xiu said, taking the bewildered Kuroki Suzu by the arm and leading her toward the taxi.
Kuroki Suzu suddenly felt a wave of gratitude for Ye Xiu. If he hadn’t pulled her away, she wouldn’t have known what to do. If the crowd had called the Patrol Officers and they’d taken her away, she would have been in serious trouble.
They all got into the car. Ye Xiu drove with Kuroki Suzu in the passenger seat, while the bald middle-aged man and the old man sat in the back.
"Driver, to Hongren Orthopedic Hospital, and please hurry! I don’t think the old man is going to make it," the bald man urged, feigning panic.
"The old gentleman looks badly injured. We should go to Shenghe Medical College instead," Ye Xiu said.
"No!" the bald man yelped. Realizing he’d lost his composure, he quickly explained, "I have friends at Hongren Orthopedic Hospital, so it’ll be more convenient to get him treated there. Besides, it’s so late. We shouldn’t bother the Divine Doctors at Shenghe Medical College."
"Alright then," Ye Xiu said, his eyes narrowing. Just as I thought. I was right. This is an upgraded version of the classic scam!
Instead of extorting money on the spot, the bald man and the old timer opted to go to a hospital. To an outsider, this would make it seem like it wasn’t a scam at all. But they had accomplices at Hongren Orthopedic Hospital. All it would take was a few falsified medical documents, and they could extort enough money from Kuroki Suzu to bankrupt her.
"Ouch, it hurts so much, oww..." the old man moaned continuously, though his eyes were filled with excitement.
"Just hold on, we’ll be at the hospital soon," the bald man soothed, barely able to contain his own thrill. Tonight’s scam was a roaring success; he was about to make a fortune. The business of scamming was a lot like the antiques trade: three years with no deals, and one big score could feed you for three years.
Kuroki Suzu watched these two thespians perform in the rearview mirror, still completely baffled. She knew she hadn’t hit the old man, so how had he fallen down and gotten so seriously injured?
A few minutes later, the bald man noticed the route was wrong. "Hey, driver, where are you going? This isn’t the way to Hongren Orthopedic Hospital," he asked urgently.
"It’s a shortcut," Ye Xiu replied.
"Nonsense! You’re driving in the opposite direction of Hongren Orthopedic Hospital," the bald man retorted.
"Is that so? I’ll turn around up ahead then," Ye Xiu said.
After driving for a few more minutes, he turned into the Patrol Bureau Office.
The bald man and the old timer were stunned. Kuroki Suzu was just as bewildered. Didn’t he say he was turning around to go to Hongren Orthopedic Hospital? How did we end up at the Patrol Bureau Office?
Just then, two Patrol Officers approached the car. The bald man and the old timer began to panic.
"Driver, are you insane? The old man is on his last legs! We need to get to a hospital! What are we doing at the Patrol Bureau Office?" the bald man demanded, feigning outrage.
Ye Xiu ignored him. He rolled down the window and spoke to the Patrol Officers. "The two in the back are scammers. They also have accomplices at Hongren Orthopedic Hospital. You’ll want to interrogate them thoroughly."
The bald man and the old timer were nearly scared to death by his words. Only now did they realize that Ye Xiu had seen through their identities and their entire scheme from the very beginning. He had deliberately brought them to the Patrol Bureau Office.
"Understood," one of the Patrol Officers nodded. He then addressed the men in the back. "Gentlemen, we meet again. Are you going to get out on your own, or do we need to escort you?"
The bald man and the old timer wilted. At this point, they didn’t even dare to argue. After all, this wasn’t the first time they had been arrested.
"Oh, so *this* is the famous staged-accident scam." Watching the bald man and the old timer get out of the car and walk away with the two Patrol Officers, Kuroki Suzu finally understood. Looking as if she’d just learned something profound, she turned and asked Ye Xiu excitedly, "How did you know they were scammers? And how did you know they had accomplices at Hongren Orthopedic Hospital?"
"I’m clairvoyant," Ye Xiu said. "Don’t be fooled by the taxi. My real profession is fortune-telling. A quick calculation and I know everything."
"Really? That’s amazing!" Kuroki Suzu’s eyes lit up.
Actually, she had heard about the profession of fortune-telling when she was a child, though she’d always been skeptical. But after her last visit to Jin Ye City, she was a believer. There was something wrong with the feng shui of this land, Xuanse; it was very ominous. Otherwise, why had she and her people faced constant, inexplicable setbacks after arriving in the city? Adding to that, she had just secretly snuck back into Jin Ye City, only to run into scammers the moment she left the train station. This only strengthened her conviction that the feng shui of Jin Ye City was in direct conflict with her own fortune.
"I’ve heard that fortune-tellers can alter feng shui and things like that. Could you do a reading for me?" Kuroki Suzu asked with excitement. She figured she could have this taxi driver alter her feng shui, and then maybe her situation in Jin Ye City wouldn’t be so tragic this time around.
"I could, but I still haven’t had dinner yet," Ye Xiu said.
"My treat!" Kuroki Suzu declared immediately. "Pick any restaurant you want in Jin Ye City. Anything you want to eat."
"Alright. We’ll eat first, and then I’ll give you a proper reading," Ye Xiu said.
"Mhm, mhm!" Kuroki Suzu nodded eagerly.
Ye Xiu reversed the car out of the Patrol Bureau Office, already planning to find a nice restaurant to fleece her a little.
But then Kuroki Suzu asked, "We brought the scammers to the Patrol Bureau Office, so why didn’t they ask us to stay and give a statement or something?"
Ye Xiu was taken aback. This girl doesn’t miss a thing, does she?
"Didn’t you hear the Patrol Officer?" he said. "Those two are habitual offenders. The bureau doesn’t need our statements to prove they’re scammers."
"Oh, right!" Kuroki Suzu nodded, though she didn’t seem to fully understand.
