Village Doctor's Women-Chapter 215 - 209 A life-saving favor, repaid by this

Li Long didn’t follow the ambulance. First, Zhao Hu was mostly out of danger and didn’t need him to come along. Second, he had other things to do.

As soon as the ambulance left, Li Long followed Wang Jian back into the clinic.

The patients who were waiting to be seen shrank back at the sight of the blood-drenched man and his intimidating demeanor. They had stepped forward but quickly retreated. Before leaving, one of them even forced a smile and said, "You go ahead, I’ll be next."

Wang Jian watched the patients leave without stopping them, because Li Long was also injured. Most of the blood on him was Zhao Hu’s, but a small portion was his own.

He had sustained his injuries while rescuing Zhao Hu from a wild beast.

If it hadn’t been for an animal trap that had appeared on the mountain out of nowhere and caught the beast, both of them would have been done for.

Never mind the Ginseng King—they would have lost their lives, and who would have ever remembered they were on that mountain? In the end, they would have just become nutrients for the great mountain, leaving behind two skeletons.

Having narrowly escaped death, Li Long’s former fierceness resurfaced, but deep down, he was profoundly grateful to Wang Jian.

"Doctor Wang, thank you for saving Zhao Hu’s life." Li Long made no effort to hide the gratitude on his face. After seeing Zhao Hu off, the tension that had gripped him finally eased, and he began to feel the pain from his own wounds.

Wang Jian noticed at once and pulled him aside. He found some cotton swabs and saline solution and began cleaning his wounds, saying, "You don’t need to thank me. He should be thanking you. Without your timely arrival, no one could have saved him."

The saline solution washed away the blood staining Li Long’s body. Some of it had already dried, gluing his clothes to his wounds. When Wang Jian peeled the fabric back, even the tough Li Long winced and sucked in a sharp breath. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Wang Jian’s hands didn’t tremble, and he paid Li Long’s pain no mind. Thinking of Zhao Hu’s injuries, he added, "He should also thank his own good fortune. Do you realize how dangerous his broken ribs were? It could have easily been fatal. Yet you managed to carry him all the way down the mountain. I don’t know whether to call you two incredibly brave or just incredibly lucky."

Li Long smiled. The answer was obvious—they were both.

"But wasn’t it also because of your excellent medical skills? Otherwise, even if I had carried him down, no one could have saved him." Li Long knew it for a fact. Considering the time it took for the ambulance to arrive and get to the hospital, Zhao Hu would have been long gone given his condition.

Wang Jian had guessed correctly; Li Long had indeed fed Zhao Hu the roots of the Ginseng King.

But he hadn’t dared to give him too much, feeding them to him one by one. It was just enough to last until they reached the foot of the mountain.

However, he had also discovered a harsh truth: while the roots had sustained Zhao Hu at first, they became useless once he started showing signs of shock.

He never would have guessed that Wang Jian would also use the roots during the treatment.

At that moment, he had hesitated, wondering if he should tell Doctor Wang that the root was useless. His hesitation lasted only a moment, however. He then watched as Wang Jian poked and rubbed the root with his fingers, somehow extracting the Ginseng King’s essence. And though Li Long couldn’t tell what else he did, it was as if Zhao Hu had been resurrected.

Faced with such skill, what could Li Long say? He was filled with nothing but gratitude.

While Wang Jian was cleaning his wounds, Li Long reached into his backpack with his other hand, fumbling for the Ginseng King he had stashed away.

Wang Jian inspected Li Long’s wound. It wasn’t as terrifying as Zhao Hu’s, but it was a long gash. Fortunately, it wasn’t deep. The blood loss was significant but manageable. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had the strength to carry Zhao Hu down and would have likely fainted on the way.

The fact that they had both made it down was a testament to Li Long’s willpower.

"Are you and Zhao Hu particularly close?" Wang Jian asked casually, then added, "This wound isn’t too deep, but it’s quite long. It’ll need a few stitches."

With that, he went to the back to get his instruments. Chairman Kang was still cleaning up the mess Zhao Hu had left behind. When he saw Wang Jian enter, he shot him a look of admiration before dutifully resuming his task.

In that short time, Li Long found a roll of gauze, wrapped something in it, and tucked it into Wang Jian’s desk drawer. Then, pretending nothing had happened, he sat back down in his original spot.

When Wang Jian returned with the supplies, Li Long asked directly, "How many stitches will it take?"

"Quite a few. Why?" Wang Jian chuckled. "Need me to stitch a special pattern for you?"

"No, no, that’s not necessary." Li Long waved his hands repeatedly and even rolled his eyes, clearly surprised by the suggestion. "The tattoos I have? I was pressured into getting them because they were trendy back then. Otherwise, I’m not into this kind of thing."

Wang Jian let it go. He was only joking; when it came to medicine, he was a very serious person.

As Wang Jian was stitching, Li Long began to slowly recount his and Zhao Hu’s story.

"Actually, Zhao Hu and I are both orphans. We ran away from the orphanage when we were kids."

"An orphanage?" Wang Jian’s hand paused for a moment mid-stitch. Finding the right angle, he continued with the needle. He and Zhao Hu really don’t seem like they came from an orphanage.

Li Long nodded and reminisced, "We were just over ten years old when we left. We hadn’t even finished middle school before we were thrown into the real world.

"Back then, there were a lot of delinquents around. At our age, there wasn’t much for us to do, and we fell in with that crowd. To make sure we had food to eat, Zhao Hu and I started running with them.

"At first, we just did what we were told. At most, it was stealing little things or shaking down kids for their money. All pretty shameful stuff...

"Every day was either fighting or messing around. We didn’t learn anything useful, but we got really good at fighting."

Li Long glanced at Wang Jian, afraid he wouldn’t want to hear about this. Seeing that Wang Jian didn’t seem to mind and was still focused on stitching, he continued, "It wasn’t until we were in our twenties that we got involved with gambling, loan-sharking, and that sort of thing.

"Zhao Hu and I were good fighters, so we made a bit of a name for ourselves working security for illegal establishments and collecting debts.

"To be honest, back then, some people were doing jobs like murder and arson. But we two brothers didn’t want to touch that stuff, so we never went further than working security."

Li Long suddenly laughed. "It’s a good thing, too. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be seeing me here today."

Wang Jian understood what he meant. If Li Long had really done all those things, he would have been locked up years ago, "enjoying" his time inside instead of being here.

Li Long continued, "Zhao Hu and I grew up together. We might not be brothers by blood, but we’re closer than real brothers. Because of that, the two of us were pretty much unrivaled in this area back in the day... Later, when the authorities started cracking down, we talked it over, and since we had saved up a bit of money, we got out early."

Needless to say, the two of them were really lucky. Their early exit must have allowed them to escape the subsequent crackdown.

Sure enough, Li Long said with a sigh, "Although we avoided some things, life afterward wasn’t easy. Everyone in the area knew us, so finding legitimate work was impossible. On top of that, old punks from our past would frequently come looking for trouble, which made people even more scared to hire us. That’s why, to this day, neither of us even has a health insurance card."

***

Li Long spoke a lot that day. By the time he left, he seemed visibly relieved, though it was unclear if it was from the conversation with Wang Jian or from having his wounds treated.

In any case, as his story reached its most exciting parts, even Chairman Kang stood by, listening intently. As a descendant of a medical family from Beijing, Chairman Kang had never heard stories like this and found himself listening with rapt attention.

After sending Li Long off and treating the last of the day’s patients, Chairman Kang discovered what Li Long had left behind while tidying up Wang Jian’s personal desk.

He gasped. "The Ginseng King?"

A life-saving favor, repaid in kind.