"Ouch! You silly Dachuan! Can't you be a bit more gentle?! It hurts like hell!"
"Sorry! Sister-in-law Guihua! I just don't know my own strength!"
"Forget it! You're killing me! Let me catch my breath first!"
"Listen, silly Dachuan, from now on you have to follow my instructions. Otherwise, it won't feel good at all—it’ll just be agonizing!"
Although Li Guihua complained that Zhao Dachuan was being too rough while massaging her injury, she actually enjoyed it and liked the attention quite a bit.
"Sister-in-law Guihua! I'm already slow, and here we are in the middle of nowhere, in the dead of night, and you're making me carry a lantern to hunt for wild ginseng! I want to go back to sleep!"
Ever since he became simple-minded, Zhao Dachuan’s mental age had been that of a six- or seven-year-old child. He had no idea why Li Guihua would bring him up the mountain so late at night to look for ginseng. Right now, he just wanted to go home and sleep, but unfortunately, Li Guihua held his secret over him: he had wet his pants, and she had seen it.
He had thought that Li Guihua was being kind when she offered to change his clothes and wash the soiled ones, but instead, she had threatened him: if he didn’t accompany her up the mountain to dig for wild ginseng in the middle of the night, she would tell his sister-in-law, Wu Xueyan, about the accident.
Zhao Dachuan didn't want to disappoint Wu Xueyan. After all, ever since his cousin had died in a car accident three years ago, Wu Xueyan had been playing the role of both father and mother to both him and the daughter she had adopted. Because of this, his seven-year-old mind was completely under Li Guihua’s thumb.
In other words, he was being controlled by Li Guihua’s husband, Wang Wei. Because Wang Wei was physically unable to father children, he had come up with the idea of "borrowing seeds." But in a village, tongues wagged and hearts were unpredictable. The thing people loved most was ruining someone’s reputation. Once a reputation was destroyed and demonized in the village, a person would never be able to hold their head high again.
Wang Wei’s orchard was thriving, and he had already built a three-story villa and bought a car. This was a big deal! Everyone in the village praised him, which gave Wang Wei a great sense of pride. However, after marrying Li Guihua, they had gone three years without a child, and ugly rumors had begun to circulate. Wang Wei was incredibly anxious. He had seen countless famous doctors in the city with no success, leading him to the idea of "borrowing seeds." After ruling out other candidates, he had chosen Zhao Dachuan.
The reason was simple: Zhao Dachuan had been the first student in the village to get into Tsinghua University—he possessed high intelligence and a great academic background. Zhao Dachuan’s "foolishness" was the result of an accident where he had fallen from a second-story dormitory balcony and suffered a brain injury, meaning his genetic makeup was naturally superior. If they "borrowed" his seed, the child would surely be intelligent. Then, Wang Wei’s reputation would be even greater.
Hiding in the distance, Wang Wei was beside himself with anxiety. He had never expected his wife to be so unlucky as to sprain her ankle. In this wilderness, he was terrified of running into other villagers hunting at night. In his desperation, Wang Wei threw a stone toward Li Guihua and Zhao Dachuan.
*Thud!*
"Who's there?!"
"What was that? Could it be a ghost?"
"Sister-in-law Guihua! It must be a ghost! We need to find Uncle Ying!"
Zhao Dachuan was so scared he lunged straight into Li Guihua’s arms. Knowing that her husband was getting impatient nearby, Li Guihua said to Zhao Dachuan:
"You silly boy! There are no ghosts! It was just a wild rabbit bumping into a rock!"
"Is that so?"
"Wait! Sister-in-law Guihua, there’s a snake behind you!! It looks like a... a venomous snake!"
The stone had accidentally hit a snake den, immediately flushing out a viper that struck directly at Li Guihua’s fair, tender thigh.
"Ah!!"
"I’ve been bitten! Help! Help me!!" Li Guihua screamed in agony.
The venomous snake wouldn't let go, and it even started to coil around her long leg. Although Zhao Dachuan was simple-minded, he had studied medicine before his accident. His reflexes kicked in; he reached out, firmly gripped the viper by its vital spot, and threw it away.
The snake flew directly onto Wang Wei, who let out a sharp cry as he was bitten in turn.
Silly Zhao Dachuan paid no attention to him. Instead, seeing Li Guihua’s face turning a sickly, greenish-black from the venom, he panicked.
"Right! I need to suck the poison out! If I suck it out, she should be fine!"
At this critical moment, fragments of medical knowledge flooded his mind. Zhao Dachuan immediately began sucking the poisonous blood from Li Guihua’s wound until it was all removed. Li Guihua, who had been feeling dizzy and faint, saw her complexion finally improve. Watching the intensely focused Zhao Dachuan before her, a ripple of emotion stirred in her heart. Her pretty face flushed a deep red.
"Ah!?"
A strange, tingling sensation surged through her, and she couldn't help but let out a soft moan.
"Sister-in-law Guihua! You’re alright now! Hehe..."
Zhao Dachuan was still a simpleton, after all. Although he knew to suck the venomous blood out of Li Guihua, he didn't spit it out—he swallowed it.
"Sister-in-law, your blood tastes so good... Huh!? I feel so dizzy..."
The potent venom took effect immediately. The world began to spin for Zhao Dachuan; his head swam, and he collapsed onto the ground.
"Cough, cough... I feel so bad... so sick..."
Zhao Dachuan spat out a mouthful of blood and lost consciousness.
"Ah!? Silly Dachuan! What’s wrong with you!? Don't sleep! Wake up!!"
Li Guihua cried out in a panic, struggling to pull Zhao Dachuan into her arms. At that moment, because she had just been treated for the snakebite, her whole body was weak, and she could only cup his face and call out to him. Just then, the blood Zhao Dachuan had spat out flowed onto the jade ring he wore around his neck.
As the blood touched the jade, it flashed with a red light before vanishing, turning into a stream of energy that seeped directly into Zhao Dachuan’s body.
In a daze, the voice of the True Dragon Immortal echoed in Zhao Dachuan’s mind:
"I am the True Dragon Immortal. You and I are fated; you have awakened me. I shall pass on to you the True Dragon Qi, as well as the supreme medical arts of the *True Dragon Divine Medical Canon*, the *Dragon God Spiritual Qi Formula*, the *Five Elements and Eight Trigrams Tendon-Changing Classic*, and the *Jade Maiden Heart Sutra*... Young friend! Your physical health is too poor—you are not only poisoned, but your brain is also damaged. Let me save you, cleanse your marrow, and reshape your body!"
As the True Dragon Immortal spoke, Zhao Dachuan felt a warm current flowing through him. He felt his pain gradually fading away. Li Guihua, who was holding him and weeping, had no idea what was happening.
"Sister-in-law Guihua... don't crush me... something is pressing against me... it's so soft and bouncy... I can't breathe..."
Li Guihua, who had been cradling him, froze at his words, then cried out in surprise:
"Silly Dachuan! You’re awake! Thank goodness!! Wuwu..."
Li Guihua laughed through her tears, but Zhao Dachuan said with a look of misery:
"What's good about it? It’s not good at all! What are you pressing against me? It's so dark, I can't see anything!"
Li Guihua finally realized she had been pressing her chest against his face. Her face turned red, and she immediately let him go. Then, remembering the "seed-borrowing" plan, she said to him:
"Silly Dachuan! You’re alright, but I still have a problem! My stomach was bitten too—you have to help me suck the poisonous blood out!"
As she spoke, she bared her soft, fair midriff. A woman's fragrance wafted over him.
The now-recovered Zhao Dachuan was stunned. Li Guihua was only twenty-seven or twenty-eight, in the prime of her life and full of charm. Normally, village women were very conservative, yet Li Guihua was being so bold. Seeing that there were no signs of poison on her, and possessing the inherited medical arts of the True Dragon Immortal, Zhao Dachuan immediately realized that Li Guihua’s intentions were not pure.
Thinking back on how she hadn't had a child in three years of marriage, his medical expertise, and the village gossip, two words flashed through his mind:
"Seed-borrowing!!"
Good lord!!
Zhao Dachuan was in a dilemma! Facing such a beautiful, tempting woman with such a fine figure, should he continue to play the fool and let her have her way? Zhao Dachuan pretended to be simple-minded, but his heart was itching.
At this moment, he was caught in a trap of his own making. However, Zhao Dachuan was not an indecisive man. He gritted his teeth and thought to himself:
"A cabbage delivered to my doorstep—if I don't dig in, I'm worse than a pig!"
"Let’s do it!!!"