Miao Chu

Chapter 306 A Leaky Window
Dr. Lin ignored what the other person was saying and instead half-squatted down to examine the old man's wound, asking, "Sir, is your injury a dull ache, a sharp ache, or a stabbing pain?"

At this moment, the four disciples had all followed and surrounded their master. Each of them held a thin wooden board and a soft ink stick in their hands, looking like they were just waiting for the old man to speak so they could write it down. They were unusually solemn.

They all carried medicine boxes, and because they dealt with medicinal herbs all day long, their clothes and hair inevitably became covered in the smell of medicine.

Seeing the doctors from Tianyuantang treating patients on the spot, a group of onlookers quickly gathered around. Smelling the aroma and witnessing the spectacle, some people inexplicably felt envious of the people on the ground.

"Oh my, this old man is so lucky! He just happened to run into such a skilled doctor on his way out! Four or five doctors are treating him! Even the Emperor couldn't gather so many imperial physicians at once, could he?"

How do you know he's a great doctor?

"How could someone from Tianyuan Hall not be powerful! Besides, putting everything else aside, just look at the group of disciples she leads. If they weren't powerful, would anyone want to follow them?"

For a moment, everyone around felt a pang of sympathy.

What people fight over and grab must be good—that's an age-old truth!

Then someone else said, "Why don't you go and get hit too? While the skilled doctor is here?"

The person who had spoken earlier hurriedly waved his hand, spat, and cursed, "Are you cursing me?!"

Seeing that Doctor Lin had been asking questions for a long time, the old man on the ground just hissed and inhaled, wiping his nose with a handkerchief as he inhaled, and looked at his son and the woman beside him without saying a word, the other idle men and women became anxious.

"Hey old man, say something! I'm so anxious! This is a doctor from Tianyuan Hall! We can't even see him normally!"

"Doctor, are you asking me a question? Are you going to examine me or not?"

The woman on the ground glared at Doctor Lin and said, "You say you're a doctor from Tianyuan Hall, so you're a doctor from Tianyuan Hall?? You just got off that carriage, so you must be heading towards the driver. We don't trust you. What if you ruin my father-in-law's health? There's a Huichun Hall up ahead! We need to go there for treatment!!"

That makes some sense.

Seeing that everyone's hearts were unconsciously leaning towards this person, Doctor Lin said again, "It's not surprising that you don't trust me. But with your father-in-law's appearance, if he breaks a bone and refuses to let me examine him, there's no way to diagnose him—the leg bone is secondary. Look, he's clutching his chest; I don't know if his sternum is injured. You have neither a door nor a frame here. If you move him improperly, it might worsen the injury. Furthermore, if he punctures any internal organs, even a god couldn't save him..."

"If we really need to see another doctor, why don't we invite them over, or perhaps someone who lives nearby could borrow their door?"

She spoke with such force, yet with such clarity and certainty. Her four disciples followed behind her, and as soon as their master spoke, they were already writing it down with lightning speed. Everyone watching was filled with respect and dared not doubt her.

Not only the onlookers, but also the two younger relatives, seeing the old man's face turn as pale as paper, began to panic—no way? No way? Wasn't it just his leg that was injured?
But the old man is indeed old and his bones are brittle. What if he accidentally poked something when he fell to the ground?

If the lungs and internal organs are truly damaged, even a god couldn't save them. What will become of them then?
The woman hurriedly asked, "Does anyone have a door panel?"

The room fell silent for a moment, everyone looking at each other.

The old man's son stopped trying to stop Wang Sanlang and instead went up to ask him questions.

"Brother..."

"I don't live here!! I'm just passing by!"

"Auntie! You..."

"I'm just a tea vendor! I'm just passing by!!"

Just then, someone behind them called out, "The doctor is here! The doctor is here—the doctor from Huichun Pavilion is here!"

Sure enough, a middle-aged doctor carrying a medicine box soon walked in, parting the crowd.

The two younger men stopped them and let the doctor step forward.

The latter looked at the injury and kept asking questions.

The old man had already returned.

"I can't move my legs, I can't move them even a little bit—I can't even lift them up."

"I can't move my hand, my right hand, I can't move my right hand, it hurts so much, it hurts so much, don't move me, I can't use my strength!"

His voice was very nasal, and his Mandarin was not very clear, with a faint southern accent. As he answered, he would occasionally make a sound of straining air coming out of his nose.

After examining the patient, the doctor concluded, "The leg is broken, and the injury is quite serious—how old is the patient?"

The son eagerly answered, "My dad is sixty-nine!"

The doctor said, "At your age, and with a broken leg, you'll probably have to keep recuperating and take medication regularly."

The son glared at Wang Sanlang menacingly and said, "Did you hear that? You hit someone, don't even think about running away! Either you pay up, or you go see the magistrate—if you go see the magistrate, you'll get a beating and you'll still have to pay up. The choice is yours!"

Wang Sanlang's face was grim. He said, "You can't be unreasonable—I saw the person break out, and I immediately pulled on the reins. They weren't bumped or hurt at all..."

A man and a woman immediately stood up and stepped forward to pull at Wang Sanlang.

Seeing the chaos, they heard someone shout from behind, "The police are here!! Make way, the police are here!"

Both groups arrived incredibly quickly.

A constable, accompanied by two patrolmen, arrived and immediately began questioning the matter with a stern expression. Upon hearing that an old man had been hit, injured his leg, and was clutching his chest in serious condition, and that the man who hit him refused to admit it, the constable said, "If you don't admit it, we'll have to go to the yamen to talk to you—there are many people watching here, how could we possibly wrong you?"

Several people had already stepped forward and echoed the sentiment.

"I saw him hit it!"

"That's his mule cart!"

"There's a lot of yellow sand and dust here, he couldn't see clearly and didn't have time to stop the mule!"

"I'm willing to testify! Your Honor, I'm willing to testify!"

With five or six people making accusations together, plus the old man and his two young, red-mouthed, white-toothed children, and the help of the police, Wang Sanlang was speechless. He was so anxious that his eyes turned red and the veins on his neck bulged. He tried to speak several times, but was stopped each time.

The man immediately stepped forward and said, "I'll go get someone to draw up a written agreement. You sign it, and you have to pay for all the money my father spent on medical treatment and medicine. Also, although my father is old, he still works every day. If he gets sick in the future, and he has suffered a lot this time, you have to pay him all the money as well. Don't even think about running away!"

Just then, someone said, "I think the old man's injury can still be treated. Please wait a moment." Everyone turned around.

Doctor Lin had already taken a small gourd in each hand and handed it to the old man.

The old man had been staring at Wang Sanlang and the others without warning when an open gourd suddenly appeared in front of him. He took a deep breath and his nose immediately became unbearably itchy. It felt as if a surge of air rose from his abdomen to his chest, and through his nose and mouth, he let out a loud, earth-shattering sneeze.

Snot, saliva, and tears streamed down his face. The momentum from the sneeze propelled him forward. To gain leverage, he braced himself with both hands, causing his legs, which were originally flat on the ground, to involuntarily tuck up into a large "^" shape. Before he could react, he sneezed twice more.

At such times, a person's mind is almost completely blank, and all they can do is sneeze. With tears and snot streaming down their face, and especially with snot about to get into their mouth, it's impossible for anyone to resist.

The old man instinctively blew his nose hard and flicked it onto the ground.

When he looked up again, he saw that Doctor Lin was holding the open gourd in front of his nose again. He was furious and couldn't help but curse, "You old hag! What are you doing?!"

While cursing, he forcefully pushed the gourd out of Doctor Lin's hand with his right hand, and his left hand had already reached out to pull at Doctor Lin's headscarf. He seemed to know that he was old and not strong enough, so he wanted to start from the weak point. He looked like a street thug fighting.

With a "thud," the gourd fell to the ground—surprisingly, it was very sturdy and didn't break at all. Instead, it rolled a few times and landed at the feet of the onlookers.

Wang Sanlang was closest to his youngest disciple. Seeing the other side making such a move, he didn't think twice and rushed forward to stop them.

The injured old man sat on the ground, and Doctor Lin bent over. The young apprentice, being young and quick-witted, couldn't quite grasp the situation and didn't know what to do. In his haste, he put his head on his master's head, ready for the old man to grab him.

As for Wang Sanlang, he was short and stood between the two of them.

He couldn't stop in time, and he was afraid of bumping into Doctor Lin and his apprentice, and he was also afraid of hitting the injured old man and making his injuries worse. He was inevitably hesitant and fell to the ground. In order not to crush the old man, his body was shaped like an earthworm crawling on its back, with the top horizontal line lying right on the old man's knee.

The old man almost instinctively pulled his foot back, moved to the side, stood up, looking flustered, and even blurted out a few extremely vulgar and offensive words.

There was no trace of the weakness she had shown just moments before.

After the old man finished cursing, he didn't think anything was wrong at first. But when he realized that almost no one around him was making a sound, especially his son and daughter, who were also silent, he became puzzled. Suddenly, someone in the crowd called out, "This old man... isn't his leg broken?"

Yes!

Wasn't his leg broken?

With a broken leg, how can he still stand so steadily?
Moreover, according to what he just said, not only was his leg broken, but his hand was also broken!
Judging from the way this person blows their nose, shakes their nose, and grabs someone's hair, both hands are clearly very nimble. Where is it broken?
The old man was taken aback when he heard the question from the crowd. When he looked up, he found that almost everyone was looking at him, obviously waiting for a show. He was unsure whether to sit down or continue standing. He stood there awkwardly for a while before slowly sitting back down on the ground.

At this moment, a passerby who had picked up Doctor Lin's gourd earlier came forward, very excited, and asked, "Old Doctor, your gourd—what kind of miraculous medicine is this! Is it so effective at curing broken legs?!"

Doctor Lin said, "It's not some kind of magic pill, and it's not for treating falls or scrapes—you can treat those too."

As she spoke, she took a handkerchief and handed it to the passerby across the street. She then called over a patrolman and gave him a damp handkerchief as well, saying, "Wipe it off and it will heal!"

Even after these words were spoken, some people still couldn't believe it.

The old man finally came to his senses and cried out in pain, "It was fine for a moment, but now it hurts again—you come and rub it! Look at my injury, you'd better rub it properly!"

While the patrolman hesitated, one of his apprentices stepped forward and pressed the entire handkerchief directly onto the old man's bloodied and mangled leg.

Upon seeing this, the latter immediately screamed in agony.

But before his wailing could stop, the apprentice gently wiped his foot with a handkerchief. When the handkerchief was removed, the area below was still slightly red, but no longer a bloody mess. A patch of skin that was originally very bad, almost to the bone, had even become normal, intact skin. As for the old man's wound, it was as if it had been "shifted" from the kneecap to the middle of his calf.

—The wound even involved moving house!

At this moment, everyone could see that the old man was trying to extort money.

Dr. Lin, with a strong voice, began, "This is a trick from the south. I've seen it before—his wound is made with medicine, it can't be washed off with water, and it looks just like the real thing. The only way to see through it is to use oil to cover it up. Everyone be careful, so don't fall for it in the future..."

A sudden "boom" erupted from the crowd, almost instantly.

"Who could tell that!"

"Scammer! Arrest him immediately! There's no way to stop him!"

"Oh dear, I need to hurry back and tell my second son to be careful when he's catching the train, so he doesn't get scammed by such a conman!"

"What if we get swindled? If we encounter even one, forget about paying compensation, we'll have to worry about food, drink, and shelter, and then we'll have to hire someone to help us out—oh dear, the whole family will be ruined!"

As everyone was discussing the matter, Wang Sanlang, who had been paying close attention, noticed that the old man on the ground, along with his two "children," were covering their faces and hurrying to leave.

He hurriedly shouted, "Sir! Sir! These men are trying to extort me, arrest them immediately!"

Upon hearing this, the three ran even faster, especially the old man, who ran with incredible speed, even outrunning the two younger men by two body lengths.

However, it had no effect whatsoever; they were already stopped by the crowd, who surrounded them and were about to take them to the patrol station.

Just then, Master Lin's youngest apprentice hurriedly pointed to a few people not far away and shouted, "They say they saw the mule cart hit someone, and that it knocked the person flying—but there's clearly no injury at all. Could they also be the bad guys from the gang?"

Those men had already stepped forward, intending to testify for the old man, and even said they weren't afraid of going to the yamen. But when a little girl pointed at them, they all panicked like rabbits, their ears practically perked up.

"I think he was just repeating what he said; I didn't actually see it!"

"I...I must be seeing things!"

Some passersby, unable to stand it any longer, shouted, "Take that to the authorities!"

The constable's face also looked rather grim, but he had no choice but to step forward and attempt to tie the person up.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, the constables and patrolmen who were arresting people moved slowly. The witnesses seized the opportunity to slip away from the crowd. Just as they were about to escape, it was getting late, past dinnertime, and the streets were full of idle people who gathered around. After hearing the whole story, they were about to follow the patrolmen to watch the excitement when they caught the escapees and brought them back.

"Hey! Sir! Look, isn't what I did a heroic act?"

Leading the pack was the old man who had set up a stall at the end of the street to write letters and legal documents. When he opened his mouth, his two front teeth had long since fallen out, and he let out a whistling sound. He was very proud of himself and boasted about his achievement!
　Many thanks to Qing Tang Niu Nan He and Book Friend 20170222134110318 for each of you sending me a stalk of the Immortal Herb :)

　　Thank you to Bookstore Fireworks and Freedom for sending me a ray of inspiration and a small token of my appreciation; thank you to Wan Shi Xing_EB for sending me four small tokens; and thank you to Wo Ai Nong Nong, Occasionally Relax, and Butterfly_cB for sending me one small token each. =3=
　　Honestly, I was a little surprised to see everyone's comments, because I felt it was pretty obviously in the final stages? So, none of you sensed it was ending, right? QAQ
　　But don't worry too much, because the story won't end immediately after the shop opens. The timeline will continue a little further, and there will also be some side stories. ^_^
　　(End of this chapter)