"No, no, it's quite nice."
Luyun hurriedly waved his hand.
Soon, the siblings stepped outside. Unfortunately, the weather refused to cooperate; before they had wandered for long, a heavy downpour suddenly started without warning. They had no choice but to find a nearby shelter from the rain.
"Well, well, isn't this Dr. Lin? I heard you've opened your own clinic now. How impressive!"
At that moment, a sarcastic voice came from the side. A pretentious-looking young woman had run over to take shelter, accompanied by a man in his fifties. The older man had taken off his jacket and was eagerly wiping the rain from the woman's head like an adoring lapdog.
Luyun asked, "Second Sister, do you know this woman?"
He took an instant dislike to the woman, mainly because of the prickly tone in her voice.
"Her name is Ma Rongrong. She's a nurse at the Jiangcheng City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine."
Back when Lin Qintan still worked at the Jiangcheng City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, this nurse named Ma Rongrong used to fawn over her constantly, calling her Dr. Lin this and Dr. Lin that. But the moment Lin Qintan resigned, Ma Rongrong's attitude took a sharp nosedive.
Actually, there was another very important reason: back then, Hu Chao, the son of the department head, was pursuing Lin Qintan, and everyone thought Lin Qintan had a limitless future. Naturally, Ma Rongrong's attitude toward her was full of intimacy. But later on, when Lin Qintan rejected Hu Chao's advances, Ma Rongrong couldn't be bothered to suck up to her anymore.
Seeing the two of them talking intimately, Ma Rongrong's sarcastic voice rang out again. "Dr. Lin really has exceptional taste, passing up such a great resource as Hu Chao and instead picking a piece of trash like this."
"Ma Rongrong, have you said enough?"
Lin Qintan looked at Ma Rongrong with anger. Though she had a gentle personality, Ma Rongrong was simply too obnoxious; anyone in her shoes would be furious.
Ma Rongrong glanced at Luyun with a sneer and said, "Am I wrong? I'm just telling you, Dr. Lin, even if you couldn't care less about Hu Chao, you could at least find an older boyfriend—someone like my man here, who knows how to pamper a woman."
Hearing this, the older man beside her began fawning even harder. "Come here, darling, let me wipe this side. Make sure you don't catch a cold; it breaks my heart."
Looking at this bizarre pair, Lin Qintan felt like throwing up.
At that moment, Luyun suddenly said, "Second Sister, wait for me here for a moment. I'll be right back."
Before Lin Qintan could call out to stop him, he dashed into the curtain of rain.
Ma Rongrong mocked him even more maliciously, "Dr. Lin, I think your boyfriend has something wrong with his head. He won't stay where it's dry, but insists on running out to get soaked. My personal advice is that you'd better change boyfriends!"
Lin Qintan let out a cold snort and turned away, unwilling to engage with this annoying fly.
Ten minutes later.
Suddenly.
Boom!
A brand-new supercar with temporary license plates executed a gorgeous drift and came to a halt right in front of them.
Luyun poked his head out and said, "Sister, I walked all around and couldn't find an umbrella for sale. The only thing nearby was a 4S dealership, so I just bought a car to dodge the rain."
Chapter 34: Tenderness is worthless in front of me
There were still a few passersby sheltering from the rain. The moment they saw the supercar, their composure shattered completely.
Holy crap!
A Bugatti Chiron! That thing costs tens of millions!
And what left them even more dumbstruck was what Luyun had just said: "I walked all around and couldn't find an umbrella for sale. The only thing nearby was a 4S dealership, so I just bought a car to dodge the rain."
Buying a sports car on a whim just to escape the rain? Is this how rich people pick up girls? Truly beyond reach!
Lin Qintan's heart fluttered as well. She thought to herself that Little Luyun was being way too high-profile, but... it felt quite satisfying.
Amidst the envious gazes of the crowd, Lin Qintan lifted her fair chin and climbed into the sports car.
As for Ma Rongrong, she had long since turned to stone.
Is there anything left to say?
The tenderness of your boyfriend is completely worthless in front of my Bugatti Chiron.
Yet at that exact moment, Luyun dropped a pointed remark, "Ah, lack of restraint in youth brings empty tears in old age!"
The lapdog older man's hand suddenly trembled. He wondered how this kid figured out he had erectile dysfunction, but before he could ask, he heard a roar.
The Bugatti Chiron started up, splashing dirty water all over Ma Rongrong.
The lapdog older man could only offer an awkward smile and say, "Your clothes are dirty. Let me wipe it off, let me wipe it off."
"Go wipe your old mother's clothes instead!"
Ma Rongrong shrieked, slapped the older man across the face, and bolted straight into the heavy rain.
Inside the sports car.
Lin Qintan asked curiously, "Little brother, how much did this car cost you?"
She wasn't very familiar with car brands; like most girls, she only recognized common logos like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Volkswagen. A Bugatti Chiron was something she had genuinely never seen before. But judging by the car's features, the price certainly wouldn't be low.
Luyun casually replied, "Around one or two million, I guess. I didn't ask for the exact price; I just had the salesperson swipe the card."
Ever since returning to Jiangcheng, Luyun had always been bumming rides from his sisters, which was sometimes inconvenient. Today, he happened to run into Ma Rongrong and got unceremoniously mocked for no reason, so he simply bought a car to disgust her.
As for the exact price, Luyun really hadn't asked.
He had walked into the 4S dealership, seen that this Bugatti Chiron looked decent, and tossed out his black card right away. "No need for an introduction, I'll take this one. Pay in full!"
The moment the salesperson laid eyes on that black card, his entire demeanor instantly snapped to attention.
That was a supreme-tier VIP card issued by the Dragon Country Chamber of Commerce, eligible only for individuals of extremely prestigious status.
The salesperson felt as pumped as if he'd been injected with adrenaline. Normally, temporary license plates took over half an hour to process, but he rushed to get them fitted for Luyun immediately.
...
The two didn't head back to Xinglintang; instead, they drove slowly along the riverbank.
The rain had gradually stopped.
Sunlight danced across the sparkling surface of the Zhang River, and fish could even be seen joyfully leaping out of the water.
Luyun thoroughly enjoyed moments like this.
After they had driven in quiet peace for a while, Lin Qintan suddenly broke the silence. "Little brother, have your First and Third Sisters arranged a job for you yet?"
Luyun smiled bitterly and shook his head.
His First Sister, Ye Qingcheng, had originally arranged for Luyun to serve as the personnel manager of Qingcheng Group. Although it was just an honorary title, Luyun didn't like it.
As for his Third Sister...
Forget it. Go work as a bartender at her bar? Or act as muscle guarding the place?
Lin Qintan thought for a moment and said, "I originally wanted to have you work at Xinglintang, but you don't have a medical license. That's a bit of a hassle."
"It's fine. I can help sort and dispense herbs. You don't need a medical license for that."
"Heh, I was waiting for you to say that."
Lin Qintan said with a sly smile, "Tomorrow is Dr. Li Quan's shift, so there will definitely be a lot of patients. On top of that, I need to head to the provincial capital to source a batch of traditional Chinese medicines, so I'm leaving it all in your hands!"
"Second Sister, you're setting me up."
Luyun reached out to stroke his second sister's soft waist.
Lin Qintan slapped Luyun's hand away with a smack and said, "Drive properly."
"You got it!"
Just as Luyun prepared to focus on driving, he suddenly spotted an old woman wobbling unsteadily toward them from not far away.
Holy crap!
Running into a scam artist on the very first day he drives his car—I give up.
The two got out of the car and immediately saw the old woman clinging to the wheel, wailing incessantly in pain.
"I've been hit! I've been hit! Someone help!"
As the old woman wailed, a few punk-ish young men ran over from the curb nearby.
"Old lady, are you alright?"
"These two ran me down! You guys have to get justice for me, ouch~"
The youths immediately cast their gazes toward the two of them. When they laid eyes on Lin Qintan, a flash of greed appeared in their eyes.
This chick is top-tier!
However, that wasn't their goal; their goal was extortion.
A punk with dyed yellow hair spoke to Luyun in a righteous tone, "Brother, you knocked down this old lady. Aren't you going to show some responsibility?"
Lin Qintan said angrily, "We didn't hit her! She clearly threw herself at the car."
"Is that so? How come I saw you guys hit her?"
The yellow-haired punk sneered and asked the other youths, "Did you guys all see it?"
"Saw it. This Bugatti Chiron hit her."
"You hear that? Everyone saw that you hit her. What else do you have to say for yourselves?"
The yellow-haired punk looked back at Luyun and said, "Brother, seeing as you drive such a luxury car, you probably don't care about a couple thousand bucks for medical bills, right? Do you want me to take a video and post it online so the media can condemn you?"
In this internet era where the cost of spreading rumors is practically zero, all it took was shooting a video and slapping on an emotional, provocative headline to turn white into black. If Luyun hadn't stepped forward during the Qingcheng Group incident, they probably would have ended up reviled by the entire public.
It was precisely because they saw this loophole that the yellow-haired gang dared to pull off such a blatant scam. Besides, they usually hit and run, changing locations each time, so they weren't afraid of retaliation from wealthy people afterward. Moreover, a few thousand yuan meant nothing to a young master driving a car worth tens of millions.
For an ordinary person facing such an intimidating crowd, they might have simply paid to make the trouble go away. But unfortunately for them, today they ran into a god of slaughter.
Chapter 35: This kid is a monster
The moment the yellow-haired gang appeared, Luyun saw right through them. They were in cahoots with the old lady. This wasn't a simple traffic scam; it carried the nature of extortion.
Luyun thought for a moment, then suddenly squatted down and said to the old lady, "Old lady, you don't look like you're injured at all!"
"You say I'm not, so I'm not?"
The old lady glared fiercely at Luyun. "Whether I'm injured or not is for a hospital to decide! Either you spend ten or twenty thousand to take me to the hospital for a thorough full-body checkup, or you give me a few thousand in cash to settle this privately. Make your choice!"
"Well, what a coincidence. Both my sister and I are doctors. We don't even need to go to the hospital this time—I can examine you right here!"
"What? You're a doctor?"
The old lady's heart skipped a beat. Did she run into a scam trap while trying to run a scam?
However, she quickly regained her composure and said with a sullen face, "Am I just supposed to take your word for it that you're a doctor? And even if you are, can you tell my condition just by looking with your naked eyes? I suffered internal injuries! Do you even know what internal injuries are?"
"Oh?" Luyun raised an eyebrow. "How do you know you have internal injuries? You look just fine to me—full of vigor and qi, nothing wrong at all."
The old lady said angrily, "Why are you so long-winded? I can't move right now, and my whole body hurts. If that's not internal injuries, what is?"
With that, she started wailing ouch and ouch again.
At that moment, a strange smile suddenly appeared on Luyun's face. While everyone was distracted, he swiftly pressed a specific acupoint on the old woman's body.
The old lady was still in the middle of crying out, but a moment later, her cries abruptly stopped, and her expression turned extremely ugly.
A sudden, intense urge to relieve herself washed over her.
What is going on?
How can I have an upset stomach at a time like this?!
The old lady's face turned a greenish-purple as she tried desperately to hold it in. Finally, unable to hold on any longer, she leaped up and shouted, "I can't hold it anymore!"
With that, she bolted away in a flash, disappearing in an instant.
Luyun sighed in admiration, "Old folks really are in great health. She can run so fast even with internal injuries."
"..."
Watching the old lady vanish without a trace in the blink of an eye, the yellow-haired punk and his cronies looked at each other in dismay.
This didn't go according to the script!
"Yellow-hair bro, what do we do now? Should we still extort them?"
"Yellow-hair bro, I have an idea. Why don't we go big this time? Look at that chick—so pretty, why don't we—ah!!"
Before the man could finish speaking, he suddenly felt his body lift into the air. The next second, like a human javelin, he was hurled straight into the Zhang River.
"Holy shit!"
The yellow-haired punk and the others practically dropped their jaws in shock.
This spot was at least ten meters away from the Zhang River! To easily throw a person that far just like that?
Is this kid a fucking monster?
The yellow-haired punk was terrified.
Luyun glanced at them and said, "Are you going to jump in yourselves, or do you want me to give you a hand?"
"Bro, we'll jump ourselves. No need to trouble you."
With bitter smiles on their faces, the yellow-haired gang ran to the edge of the Zhang River and plunged in with a loud splash.
Lin Qintan widened her red lips in astonishment. "Little brother, how is your strength so incredible?"
Luyun said smugly, "I just built it up through training."
...
The next day.
Lin Qintan headed to the provincial capital to source medicine. Luyun stayed behind at Xinglintang to help out.
True to expectations, today's patients filled the place to bursting. A long line snaked from the consultation desk all the way outside the front doors.
Because the doctor holding consultations today was Li Quan, the personal disciple of the National Medical Master Yu Hongwen. That title alone was enough to attract countless patients.
Apart from Luyun, the other people helping out at Xinglintang were two young men who were both apprentices of Li Quan. Even so, they were still somewhat overwhelmed.
There were simply too many patients, and a continuous stream of new ones kept arriving. It seemed like the long line would never end.
While helping to dispense the herbs, Luyun glanced over Li Quan's prescription sheets and furrowed his brow slightly.
This Li Quan was unworthy of his reputation.
All of his prescriptions contained heavy amounts of calming herbs, such as caulis polygoni multiflori. To be honest, a single traditional medicine decoction only needed one or two types of such herbs at most; any more was useless. Yet Li Quan's formulas contained five or six different kinds.
This was clearly a profiteering tactic.
However, since none of the patients were complaining, Luyun couldn't be bothered to interfere—it was a willing transaction between a willing buyer and seller.
In fact, the public had always held a misconception about traditional Chinese medicine, thinking that the more ingredients a prescription had, the better the therapeutic effect. That wasn't true at all. A truly brilliant formula only required four categories of herbs: emperor, minister, assistant, and guide, and usually wouldn't exceed ten ingredients in total.
It was just that every doctor had their own habits and tended to add a few harmless herbs to their prescriptions to showcase their personal flair. This led to today's distorted phenomenon where herbal prescriptions started at a minimum of ten ingredients and often ballooned to twenty or thirty.
It was a warped state of affairs, yet patients bought into it completely. If a prescription was made too concise, patients would instead assume the doctor lacked skill. With the added halo of being a National Medical Master's personal disciple, Li Quan faced zero suspicion from his patients. Several patients even whispered in delight after receiving their medicine, thrilled that their prescription contained more herbs than others—proof, they thought, that Dr. Li Quan was paying extra attention to them.
Soon, most of the morning had passed, yet there were still plenty of patients waiting.
The current patient was a little girl around one or two years old. Her little face was flushed red, and her forehead was covered in a fine layer of sweat.
After finishing his diagnosis, Li Quan said, "A very typical heat syndrome. I'll prescribe a dose of White Tiger Decoction for her to take, and she'll be fine."
With that, Li Quan wrote out a prescription for White Tiger Decoction.
Just as the mother and daughter took their medicine and prepared to leave, Luyun suddenly sensed something amiss and spoke up, "Ma'am, please wait a moment."
"What is it?"
The woman stopped in her tracks, turned around, and looked at Luyun in confusion.
"Ma'am, I want to ask why your child keeps grabbing at your clothes like she's trying to burrow inside."
As soon as he said this, the woman's expression changed, assuming Luyun was deliberately harassing her.
However, she then heard Luyun say with a solemn expression, "Ma'am, please answer my question honestly, because this concerns your daughter's life."
Chapter 36: Quack doctors harming people
Seeing Luyun's serious expression and noticing no trace of improper intent in his eyes, the woman realized she had misunderstood him and answered earnestly, "Nannan says her body feels cold."
Cold?
How could a heat syndrome feel cold?
Luyun frowned, stepped forward, and said, "Ma'am, would you mind letting me take your daughter's pulse?"
The woman nodded.
When it concerned her daughter's life, she naturally had to be cautious; an extra diagnosis meant an extra layer of insurance.
So, Luyun placed his fingers on the little girl's wrist.
" aunque the pulse is surging and broad, it is hollow and weak inside. Her body clearly shows exterior heat symptoms, yet she feels cold..."
Luyun pinched the little girl's index finger to inspect it further, and finally said in a heavy tone, "This isn't a heat syndrome; it's a cold syndrome."
Cold syndrome?
As soon as those words left his mouth, the patients waiting in line inside Xinglintang couldn't help bursting into laughter.
"Hahaha, young man, are you kidding me? Look at this child's forehead—it's practically hot enough to be a steamer, and you're calling it a cold syndrome? So funny."
"Yeah, Dr. Li already said it's a heat syndrome. You're contradicting him just like that—do you think your medical skills are higher than Dr. Li's?"
"I'm gonna die laughing, hahaha..."
Though these patients had no medical training, they had eyes. Anyone with common sense could see the little girl had a fever. A cold syndrome? Did people not even need to think before lying these days?
The woman's expression shifted as well, and she said angrily, "Do you even know what you're talking about? If you don't know anything, stop spouting nonsense. Will you take responsibility if something goes wrong?"
Compared to Luyun, she naturally trusted Li Quan's diagnosis far more.
At that moment, Li Quan also let out a cold snort and said, "Just a newly arrived apprentice who hasn't even learned the basics yet, and you dare jump out to question my medical skills? How did Lin Qintan ever recruit someone like you?"
Li Quan had already been quite displeased when Luyun first offered to re-diagnose the child, but he had kept quiet, wanting to see what kind of nonsense this fellow could possibly come up with. If the diagnosis matched, Li Quan wouldn't have said anything. But this guy went ahead and diagnosed a cold syndrome instead.
Wasn't this openly going against him?
Naturally, Li Quan was unhappy.
"So he's a newcomer apprentice. No wonder he has zero manners. Is Li Quan's medical expertise something a half-baked amateur like you can compare to?"
"Young man, let me give you some advice: if you don't understand, keep your mouth shut. Why jump out and make a fool of yourself?"
"Heh, Dr. Li is a disciple of a National Medical Master. What kind of thing are you? You aren't even worthy of licking the dirt off Dr. Li's toes."
"Young people today just love making a spectacle of themselves for attention!"
Hearing that Luyun was merely a newly arrived apprentice, the crowd didn't hold back their ridicule.
"All of you, shut your mouths!"