Chapter 30

Those few people walked relatively slowly.

Ma Shu took the opportunity to take out a match and light a lamp.

The kerosene lamp was too cumbersome, so they hadn't brought it.

But Ma Shu's bundle contained a few white candles, fist-sized, thick and short.

After lighting one, he dripped a bit of candle wax onto the tabletop and pressed the base of the candle onto the table, so it could stand steadily.

The people in the forest noticed the firelight here and quickened their pace.

Chu Tianshu seemed to see a flash of intense joy on the faces of the two men leading the donkey.

"Old Uncle, the weather is cold and the road is slippery, we miscalculated the distance; can we rest here for the night too?"

The man with the sickle called out from twenty or thirty steps away.

Ma Shu said: "When you're out and about, who doesn't run into difficulties? This place was originally abandoned anyway; we repaired it a little to rest our feet, so come on over."

They led the donkey to the tea shed and first helped the man on the donkey's back down.

The man wasn't short, but his back was hunched and his gait was staggering; in just those few steps, as he was helped into the tea shed, the wheezing sound in his throat and chest sounded like thin iron wires rubbing against each other, which was painful to listen to.

Chu Tianshu was just finishing removing the needles from Zhong Jinqiu's arms and his gaze swept over, meeting the three of them.

The one being supported was fine, but the eyes of the two men supporting him were already staring straight at this side.

"This brother."

The man with the sickle said, "Are you doing acupuncture? Could it be that you're a physician? Can you take a look at our big brother?"

Chu Tianshu smiled: "How would I know acupuncture? This was done by an old physician in town for my second uncle; he said the needles had to stay in his hands for a long time, and we were in a hurry to get back, so we had to travel with the needles and pull them out ourselves when the time came."

"Don't even mention it; that old physician was even afraid we'd lose the needles, so he made us leave a dried leg of lamb at their clinic as collateral."

If he were back home, Chu Tianshu would be quite willing to see patients.

But in this wild, desolate mountain area where even the road couldn't be found, it was better to be vigilant when encountering people riding a donkey up the mountain.

Ma Shu and Uncle Zhong, these two old veterans, were also wary of the people opposite them.

Especially Uncle Zhong, that look... huh?

Chu Tianshu frowned slightly; Uncle Zhong's look was a bit off.

It wasn't his usual look of being laid-back, lazy, and calmly sizing things up, but rather staring straight at the face of the wheezing man, his expression becoming more serious the more he looked.

It was as if he could see a painting on the other person's face.

The man with the sickle looked anxious: "Brother, don't be modest; the way you twisted the needle tails when you pulled them out just now doesn't look like the work of a novice..."

Zhong Jinqiu suddenly said: "Little Chu, saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda; didn't you study for a few years? Just help take a look."

Chu Tianshu and Ma Shu looked at Zhong Jinqiu at the same time, a faint glimmer of light in their eyes.

The two exchanged a glance; they didn't see any aura of dark arts, and Zhong Jinqiu wasn't the type to be easily influenced by any dark arts.

"Then I'll give it a try."

Chu Tianshu pondered as he stood up, walked to the other side of the table, and first took the pulse of the sick-looking man.

Zhong Jinqiu also took the opportunity to walk to the side of the table, leaning in to continue observing.

Five people were crowded around a broken table, making it a bit cramped.

Chu Tianshu asked them to step back a bit, and by the candlelight, he checked the sick man's eyelids and tongue coating, then felt his pulse and continued to ponder.

"This illness..."

Chu Tianshu looked up again, scrutinizing the few people in front of him.

The two men in coir rain capes both had anxious expressions in their eyes, but seeing their waists and abdomens slightly tensed, he knew they were also on guard in secret.

Especially that man with the sickle, whose right arm was hidden under his coir cape, motionless; he didn't know the reason for that.

Zhong Jinqiu was also acting abnormally; his face was very serious, but his eyes seemed vacant, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

Comparing them, the most normal one was actually the patient.

His eyeballs were cloudy, his face sallow, and his lips dark—all symptoms that should accompany difficulty breathing.

Looking at his expression, he seemed to be enduring pain, but he wasn't particularly anxious, much like a patient who had seen too many doctors and had become a bit resigned.

But this person was actually the most abnormal.

Chu Tianshu held up one finger: "How many is this?"

The patient said: "One."

Chu Tianshu held up two fingers.

"Two."

He held up four fingers.

The patient seemed to want to reveal a smile, but it tugged at his throat, and he coughed twice, saying: "That's obviously four."

Chu Tianshu sighed, stood up with a frown, paced back and forth, and unknowingly walked far away to the opposite corner of the tea shed.

"Second Uncle."

He beckoned to that side, "Come here for a moment."

Zhong Jinqiu walked over, controlling his throat with advanced martial arts, his voice like a mosquito's hum: "What's wrong?"

Chu Tianshu responded in the same volume.

"That person isn't sick at all; he's poisoned. His poison has penetrated his five organs and six viscera, and has even spread into his skull and bone marrow."

"For a normal person, if the poison reached this degree, the only difference from a corpse would be that his pupils hadn't dilated yet."

"But this person can breathe, walk, and even has clear thinking ability; looking at his physique, he's not a fist artist, so he must be a powerful sorcerer. If he's a relatively upright person, that's one thing, but if he's an evil-doer..."

Chu Tianshu asked solemnly, "Uncle Zhong, do you know him?"

Zhong Jinqiu was silent for a moment.

Ma Shu leaned over: "What on earth is going on?"

Zhong Jinqiu said in a low voice: "Sigh, this story is a long one..."

Shopkeeper Ma was unwilling to marry when he was young and had no family.

As for Zhong Jinqiu, he once had a happy family, and because of this family's existence, he had continued the heroic ambitions of his youth, still wanting to strive for fame and career.

His wife and son both supported him and relied on him.

His son, Zhong Jiye, especially envied the style of his eldest brother, who led a group of brothers across the country back then.

Among his peers, Zhong Jiye also became a leader, leading those little brothers in reckless charges and keeping them in check.

One time, Zhong Jiye discovered that his brothers were addicted to opium, stealing money to smoke it; repeated advice didn't work, beating them didn't change them, and even tying them up was useless, and they were even corrupting the other brothers.

Zhong Jiye was very angry; he gathered all the little brothers and, in front of them, smoked it several times himself to prove to them that this thing could be completely quit.

"But that brat's martial arts only counted as having entered the door; even the efficacy of the Spirit Yang Gall wasn't enough to withstand it, so how could he resist such a deadly poison?"

Zhong Jinqiu lowered his eyes, "My desire for fame hadn't died back then, and I was too negligent of my family; in the end, my son died, my wife passed away from illness, and apart from hatred, nothing was left by my side."

Ma Shu remembered: "When I went to see you that year, I heard you killed the person who ran the opium den in town, followed the supply chain from the pharmacy, and killed your way all the way through."

"But later, when I found you, you didn't kill many more people?"

Zhong Jinqiu smiled wearily.

Because after he tracked them down, he didn't see the fat, greasy opium dealers.

He only saw opium flowers blooming all over the mountains and plains; the scene was so beautiful it was terrifying.

The terraced fields that used to be pure green had all turned into opium fields, and those who grew the opium were just some farmers.

You don't know the pain until it happens to you.

Before that year, Zhong Jinqiu had also cursed opium for ruining the country, but he had never looked closely or thought carefully about how many people in the entire Yizhou region were already growing opium.

Had it already surrounded him?

"... Could I avenge such a grudge? I fled before I even stepped into that field."

Zhong Jinqiu said numbly, "I was afraid."

Ma Shu said: "But you said one day later that someone had avenged you?"

Zhong Jinqiu's eyes burned, and he said solemnly: "Yes, that person probably also saw those flower fields, saw far more than I did, but he wasn't afraid."

"He became the Great Governor of the entire Yizhou Han Military Government; with one order, although he didn't completely ban opium, at least now no opium den dares to hang a sign and solicit customers in broad daylight!"

"He is a strong man, a righteous man, and a person worthy of my lifelong respect!"

Ma Shu looked at the patient at the table with some disbelief, having a guess in his heart.

He lowered his volume further, almost wrapping his voice in a bit of internal energy.

"Are you saying that the one over there is Cai Yin, Cai Shanjun?!"

"The former Great Governor of our Yizhou Han Military Government?"

"But how is that possible? He already went to the capital, with high official positions and generous salaries; even the President wouldn't dare to treat him poorly..."

Zhong Jinqiu said decisively: "I have seen his speeches many times and carved his appearance into my brain; although that face has been disguised, it can't fool me."

Ma Shu said in a daze: "No wonder you asked Little Chu to help..."

"I just asked Little Chu to help a little; given Cai Shanjun's status and position, for him to have fallen into such a state, the magnitude of the trouble he's in goes without saying."

Zhong Jinqiu's hands, which couldn't exert much force, were behind his back, and he unconsciously clenched them, the movement somewhat difficult.

"If Little Chu can help, then help a little, and then we will immediately part ways with them and not get involved in their affairs!"

"In the end..."

Zhong Jinqiu raised his eyebrows, his voice becoming lighter.

"In the end, he hasn't really met me and doesn't owe me any great favor; if we can help him out like this, we've fulfilled our destiny."

Ma Shu fell silent.

Colluding internally and externally to kill an old eunuch could still be said to have a better than sixty percent chance of winning, but getting mixed up in Cai Shanjun's affairs, he really didn't know how much hope of survival there was.

If only the two of them had encountered this, they could have rushed in headlong; even if they died, it would count as finding an unusual way to die.

But Chu Tianshu was still young and had the opportunity to grow slowly; he shouldn't be encountering this kind of thing now.

Old Zhong speaking like that clearly understood this point as well.

But Little Chu was a sharp person; if he saw Old Zhong's true feelings and took the initiative to help, this matter would be too difficult...

"Great Governor?!"

Chu Tianshu's voice suddenly rose.

The two old things who were just avoiding the young man's gaze looked up at him in astonishment.

The wheezing of the patient over there even paused for a moment.

The two men in coir rain capes were on guard at the same time; one hand touched a sickle, and one hand reached into his bosom.

Chu Tianshu returned to the other side of the table excitedly, smiling: "So it's our former Great Governor of Yizhou; I heard that when you were in office, you did a lot of good for Yizhou. Are you returning this time to regain power?"

The two men didn't know how to react.

The patient blinked and had already replied: "There are some major things to be done."

"But for you to be able to walk into these mountains, it shows you've already entered the sphere of influence of Yuannan City."

Chu Tianshu's smile didn't change, "Why not find a way to contact that Deputy Zhou in Yuannan City? With his military support, everything would be more convenient, right?"

The man with the sickle hesitated: "Who on earth are you three? This kind of thing..."

"Because that man surnamed Xu is untrustworthy."

The patient answered directly, paused, coughed violently a few times, and then continued, "Yizhou, after all, isn't an iron-clad empire. I secretly collected information in the capital and discovered that this person is increasingly untrustworthy. If I were to go to his regiment headquarters like this, I would certainly die."

Chu Tianshu's smile grew wider, and he clapped his hands: "Very good, then after you regain power, you will certainly eliminate him?"

The man with the sickle asked suspiciously: "Do you have a grudge against them?"

"I wanted to slaughter him and his adjutants, but in the last month, I've killed more than one person on average every day, and I'm really getting tired of killing."

Chu Tianshu looked at his fingers and said unhurriedly, "After all, I am a physician."

"If I can achieve the goal of eliminating evil and venting my anger just by using medical means, then of course that's more comfortable."

Besides, the status of the person in front of him was very similar to that General Cai in his hometown's history who protected the country and opposed Yuan.

He was simply a living experience package of great destiny.

And... sigh, he couldn't let two old men at their age have to say things they didn't mean and be depressed.

For twenty years, a spirit communicator had been exposed to evil spirits without turning himself into a cold-blooded animal; now that he had practiced a fist technique full of hot blood, did he have to restrain himself even more?

(End of Chapter)