Village Doctor's Women-Chapter 96 - 92 gunshots

"You think you’re the only one with a knife?"

As Wang Jian charged, he had already decided to draw the firewood knife from behind his back. Facing off against Shou Hou one-on-one, he wasn’t the least bit afraid. With no one taking potshots at him anymore, what was there to be scared of?

"Come on!"

The two exchanged several blows, thrusting and parrying, with neither gaining an advantage. Wang Jian was secretly alarmed. Despite his opponent being as skinny as a monkey, the force of the blows made the web of Wang Jian’s hand throb.

If Wang Jian felt that way, Shou Hou felt it even more intensely.

Shou Hou swallowed hard and retreated several steps, putting some distance between himself and Wang Jian. He used the brief respite to flex his right hand, which was aching from the clash.

This kid...

He looked like a college student, yet his moves were ferocious. His face had the air of a scholar, and his hands didn’t seem accustomed to hard labor.

Where does he get so much strength?

"Who the hell are you?" Shou Hou asked in a low voice. "You don’t look like an herb gatherer."

After speaking, he shot a meaningful glance at the firewood knife in Wang Jian’s hand. The implication was obvious.

"It doesn’t matter who I am," Wang Jian said, glancing at the portly Lao Zhou on the ground and confirming the position of the silver needle again. "What matters is that I know who you are. Aren’t you afraid of getting caught for this?"

"There’s no need to ask a question like that," Shou Hou said. His gaze followed Wang Jian’s to the back of Lao Zhou’s neck, where the silver needle glinted.

Shou Hou was inwardly shocked. To subdue Lao Zhou with a single silver needle—this kid couldn’t be treated as an ordinary person. He immediately raised his guard to the highest level. The few blows they had exchanged had already given him a measure of Wang Jian’s strength. Now, seeing the silver needle, his bad premonition intensified.

"Are you a practitioner of Chinese medicine?"

Carrying silver needles made his identity easy to guess, but even as Shou Hou voiced the question, he found it strange and was filled with doubt.

"Don’t I look the part?" Wang Jian said with a smile, sizing up Shou Hou. "I’m the real deal. Looking at your complexion—the dark circles under your eyes are so heavy, and your skin tone is poor—you definitely have a kidney deficiency. And considering how skinny you are, I’d bet your stomach isn’t in great shape either."

He didn’t stop there. "And from your expression," he continued, "I can tell I’m right."

Shou Hou narrowed his eyes, speechless. The kid was right about everything.

Could it be? Is he really a practitioner of Chinese medicine?

He glanced at the web of his own hand, which was starting to crack—the source of the pain. Then he looked at the firewood knife in Wang Jian’s hand and sneered internally. A practitioner of Chinese medicine, my ass.

As they faced off, Shou Hou subtly began to shift toward where Lao Zhou lay on the ground.

Lao Zhou wasn’t unconscious, just paralyzed. His intimate collision with the ground had covered his face in abrasions. With half his face buried in the dirt, he’d even gotten a mouthful of soil, but he was unable to make a single move. The silver needle in his back acted like a circuit breaker, completely cutting off all sensation. He couldn’t react or even speak. All he could do was roll the one eye not buried in the dirt and observe the situation.

His gaze was venomous enough to devour Wang Jian whole. There was no doubt that if Lao Zhou could move, he would torture Wang Jian to death.

Knowing he was immobilized, Lao Zhou began signaling to Shou Hou with his eyes. The two had such a strong rapport that a single glance was enough to convey the general meaning.

Shou Hou naturally understood Lao Zhou’s feelings. In all the years they had been doing this dirty work, Lao Zhou had never suffered such a setback. Shou Hou could guess with his eyes closed how desperately Lao Zhou wanted Wang Jian dead.

But this young man was an enigma. He didn’t seem like a practitioner of Chinese medicine, a student, or even an herb gatherer. Instinct told Shou Hou this kid was serious trouble.

Shou Hou was getting frustrated, unwilling to clash with Wang Jian any further. If Wang Jian were just a poser, he would have hacked him to death without a second thought. But since Wang Jian was clearly stronger, there was no point in trying to brute-force it like an idiot. Unlike Wang Jian, Shou Hou had faced wild beasts in the wilderness; acting like a fool was a good way to get killed. People in their line of work were even less likely to do something so stupid.

Shou Hou could tell the fair-skinned young man before him was a trained fighter. Against someone like that, his own self-taught brawling style stood no chance in a contest of brute force. He had to change his approach. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Just as the thought crossed Shou Hou’s mind, his gaze flickered to Lao Zhou on the ground.

"Hmm?" Wang Jian caught the flicker in Shou Hou’s eyes. The moment Shou Hou darted toward Lao Zhou, Wang Jian moved to intercept him.

The firewood knife pointed straight at Shou Hou’s face, aiming to block his path. If Shou Hou managed to pull the silver needle from Lao Zhou, Wang Jian knew he wouldn’t have the energy or strength to fight both bandits at once. His firewood knife was just as sharp as the one Shou Hou carried, forcing Shou Hou back the instant his hand got near the silver needle.

"Thinking of touching the needle?"

"Don’t even think about it."

Wang Jian slashed several times, forcing Shou Hou back step by step, yet he saw a smile spread across his opponent’s face.

"What are you laughing at?"

"What do you think?" Shou Hou chuckled, raising a small, dark object in his hand.

Wang Jian sucked in a sharp breath. It was a shotgun. He realized it all at once—Shou Hou had never been going for the silver needle. The cunning bastard had created a feint. His real target from the start had been the shotgun...

BANG!

Shou Hou fired, a savage grin on his face.

The gunshot was deafening, its echo rolling through the forest. Although the towering trees absorbed some of the sound, the abrupt blast was starkly obvious in the quiet woods.

Several hundred meters away, Cai Qiong suddenly spun around.

The sound hadn’t traveled far, but she heard it with perfect clarity.

Cai Qiong’s heart leaped into her throat. Who fired that shot? Wang Jian? Or those two men...

Her mind was a mess. She froze, looking back in the direction she had run from. The forest blocked her view, and she hesitated.

To be honest, Wang Jian was just a mission assigned by her family. Yes, she needed to get close to him, but she didn’t need to risk her life for him. She told herself it wasn’t worth it and started to run again.

But after just two steps, she stopped.

Cai Qiong let out a long, heavy breath, her mind filled with the image of the moment Wang Jian had told her to leave. That man was so infuriating.

Well-versed in psychology, Cai Qiong understood something in that instant: after a farewell that felt like sending someone to their death, the scene would be etched into her memory forever. Now, all she could see was the look on Wang Jian’s face, the expression in his eyes. That look couldn’t be faked. He, Wang Jian, had genuinely wanted her to leave. Even as she ran, she hadn’t seen any other emotion in his eyes; the man had simply hoped she would go, and he even seemed relieved to see her go.

What kind of person would feel that way?

Inexplicably, scenes of her time with Wang Jian began to flash through her mind like a slideshow.

Cai Qiong’s feet felt rooted to the spot. She pulled out her phone and checked the signal. She had a signal, but it was unstable, flickering between one bar and none. She tried to make a call, but it wouldn’t go through.

Cai Qiong frowned. Looking toward the direction of the gunshot, she gritted her teeth and continued running toward the way out of the mountains. Every few dozen meters, she glanced at her phone’s signal. She didn’t stop until two bars appeared, then immediately dialed 110.

After that was done, Cai Qiong took a deep breath, glanced toward the mountain’s exit, and then did something that surprised even herself. She turned and ran back in the direction of the gunshot.

She had no idea why she was doing it. Deep down, she was still scared to death. If she went back and Wang Jian was already dead, she would surely die too.

However, her understanding of criminal psychology and of men like Lao Zhou and Shou Hou told her that once they succeeded, they wouldn’t linger. To do so would go against their cautious nature.

So... Cai Qiong admitted to herself that she was taking a gamble. If she just left now, she might never have peace of mind for the rest of her life. She refused to let a man take up residence in her heart like that. No matter what, she couldn’t let him win.

Having found herself an excuse, Cai Qiong ran even faster.

You’d better be alive, Wang Jian!