Village Doctor's Women-Chapter 217 - 211 Li Liping’s Last Night
Uncle Jiu’s voice sounded like that of an old man.
"Are you sure you don’t need me to come have a look?"
"We’re at the hospital now. The doctor says he’s recovering very well and will be fine after a little more time, so there’s no need for you to make a special trip," Li Long said, explaining Zhao Hu’s situation. He didn’t want Uncle Jiu to come over; seeing Zhao Hu in his current state, he would never believe that Zhao Hu had nearly died.
Hearing Li Long’s refusal, Uncle Jiu frowned but didn’t insist. "Alright then. The reward I promised you will still be sent. Just consider it payment for his medical expenses."
"Uncle Jiu, let’s just forget about that..."
Li Long simply didn’t want Uncle Jiu to keep looking for them. The closer he got, the more would be revealed.
But Uncle Jiu gave him no such chance. "If you don’t want to see me, then just take the money. I can’t have people saying that I, Uncle Jiu, am stingy. That’s that..."
With that, he hung up.
"What’s wrong?" Zhao Hu asked, noticing Li Long’s troubled expression. "You just said he’s not coming, so why do you still look so tense?"
"It’s not that simple," Li Long said, vexed. "Uncle Jiu letting us off so easily is what worries me more."
"You mean..." Zhao Hu frowned, a trace of worry clouding his pale face.
"That’s right," Li Long said with a bitter smile. "You know what kind of person Uncle Jiu is, don’t you?"
"The Ninth Yama."
Li Long nodded grimly. He was well aware of Uncle Jiu’s former title. It wasn’t because there were ten people with his name and he was the ninth. The reason the underworld called him the Ninth Yama was because Lu You—Uncle Jiu’s real name—had earned his fearsome reputation entirely through slaughter in his youth. That was where the "Yama" part of his title came from. As Lu You grew older, he became much more restrained, and "Ninth Yama" gradually softened to "Uncle Jiu."
Now that they had failed to satisfy him, the consequences were unpredictable. Even though Li Long had braced himself, he couldn’t help but feel anxious.
Zhao Hu also understood the gravity of the situation. "Should we tell Doctor Wang about this?"
"Yes," Li Long agreed with a nod, but he didn’t have Wang Jian’s contact information. He should have noted the number when he saw it at the clinic entrance. Trying to recall it now, he could only remember a few digits, not the whole thing.
An idea struck Zhao Hu. In the ambulance, he had heard plenty of ’legends’ about Wang Jian. He knew all the doctors here were familiar with Wang Jian, so just passing along a message shouldn’t be a problem.
* * *
After hanging up with Li Long, on the other side of the ocean, Lu You’s expression grew grim, his eyes flickering with uncertainty.
"Boss, should I have Heizi go check on them?" a man’s voice asked from behind him.
"Yes."
"Do you think they really failed?"
"They found the Ginseng King," Lu You said in a low voice, "but they don’t want to hand it over."
"Why?"
"Li Long is a terrible liar... at least, he can’t hide anything from me," Lu You explained. "Zhao Hu was probably seriously injured—on the brink of death, even. But with the Ginseng King, he definitely would have held on until he saw a doctor. And..."
"And what?"
"If I’m not mistaken, that fellow Li Long must have given the Ginseng King away. In any case, it shouldn’t be on his person now, or he wouldn’t have said what he did to me."
As he spoke, Lu You suddenly chuckled. "The kid was just like this when he was with me back in the day. He hasn’t changed a bit."
COUGH. COUGH. COUGH.
The moment Lu You finished speaking, he was seized by a violent coughing fit, as if every ounce of his strength had been spent. The man behind him patted his back repeatedly until he recovered slightly, but the grim shadow on his face only deepened.
"This won’t do... Arrange for the earliest possible flight. I’m returning to the country. Have Heizi investigate Li Long and the others’ situation carefully, but don’t reveal our objective yet. Do it discreetly."
After the man behind him acknowledged the order, Lu You rose from his wheelchair, waving away his subordinate’s attempt to help him up. He walked slowly to the window and pulled the curtain open a crack. The night view poured in, the sky graced by a full moon. It was a view Lu You saw almost every day. Among the high-rises, the neon lights, the bustling traffic, and the myriad colors created a different kind of starry sky.
This feeling of looking down on the world from on high was what he had pursued his entire life. But now he was old, his body failing. The scenery below no longer filled him with the same old exhilaration. Instead, he now felt a kind of disdain for it.
It was as if the mighty winds he’d felt and the great trees he’d seen back in the mountains were the most beautiful things.
It must still be daytime back home...
Lu You murmured to himself, "People used to say the moon was rounder abroad and nothing back home was any good. Looking back now, the water is sweeter at home, the food is more fragrant, and there’s so much more to eat."
"It really is time to go back. I still want to live a few more years."
* * *
Wang Jian received the message from Li Long but paid it no mind. To him, the Ginseng King had never been his to begin with. As long as Li Long came for it, he would return it immediately. He wouldn’t even touch it without Li Long’s permission. As for some "Uncle Jiu," Wang Jian naturally had no idea who that was.
Today, he had invited Zhang Li and Li Liping over for dinner, so he wasn’t concerned with other matters.
Upon hearing that Zhang Li and his family were moving to Demon City, Xu Qian was even more reluctant to see them go than Wang Jian was. She had been busy all afternoon, preparing a table overflowing with dishes. There were hearty main courses like braised shrimp, steamed bread crab, and corn stew with spare ribs, as well as potato stew with chicken and braised fish. She had prepared a veritable feast of meat dishes and didn’t skimp on the vegetarian options or desserts either. The table was almost too small to hold everything.
Fortunately, with so many people, there was no fear of leftovers. Ever since Wang Jian had told her the news, she had been preparing for this meal with all her heart, gathering the ingredients well in advance. All that was left for Wang Jian to arrange was the alcohol, and he had both beer and white liquor ready. Li Liping had just arrived and went straight to the kitchen to help.
"Leaving tomorrow?" Wang Jian asked, keeping Zhang Li company. "Everything packed?"
"Yeah," Zhang Li nodded, his face beaming with delight. "I packed early, knowing we were coming over for dinner."
He then pointed to the beer and white liquor in the yard and chuckled, "Are you planning on getting me drunk tonight?"
Wang Jian laughed, bracing his hands on the back of his chair and puffing out his chest. "Scared?"
"Is that all you’ve got?" Zhang Li said dismissively. "Back when we were kids, we used to sneak steamed buns dipped in white liquor. You’d get drunk, but I never did. And you think you can outdrink me now? How naive!"
"You can’t say that," Wang Jian retorted. He had, in fact, always been a lightweight. Not quite "one-cup-and-done," but close. One beer would make his face flush, and two would go to his head, so he rarely drank and never had a chance to build up his tolerance.
But things were different now. Ever since he had started Qi Cultivation with Xu Changqing, his physique and metabolism had completely changed. And now, things were even more different. He had a premonition that he couldn’t possibly get drunk... so Zhang Li was doomed to be disappointed.
However, reality proved that he was still a human, not an Immortal.
By the end of the night, everyone except Li Liping was tipsy; even Xu Qian had gone to bed early. The men kept drinking until the end. Chairman Kang was the first to go down, followed by Zhang Li. As for Wang Jian, it was Li Liping who managed to drink him under the table.
In the end, Li Liping helped Wang Jian into his room. This was her last night there.
