Prime Minister

Chapter 100, Page 099: [The Benevolence of a Healer]

Xue Huai did not rush forward; he surveyed the surroundings with a blank expression.

To the east stands a magnificent temple, with ancient trees reaching for the sky in front of its gate, stone lions guarding the entrance, and the melodious sound of bells emanating from it. A towering pagoda can be vaguely seen inside the temple.

On the open ground, some monks were busy distributing porridge, but this was nothing more than a drop in the ocean for the starving refugees.

In addition, there were some porridge shops with signs that looked like they were run by wealthy people in the city.

Xue Huai looked around carefully, but he couldn't find the porridge stall set up by the Linqing County government, which should have been their responsibility.

"Young master, look."

Jiang Sheng had sharp eyes. He pointed to a corner of the open space and whispered a reminder to Xue Huai.

Xue Huai looked in the direction he was pointing and saw a young man in a cloth robe taking the pulse of an old man among the group of refugees.

He then walked slowly over, and as he approached, he heard the old man rambling on and on: “Cough cough… The locusts were so fierce when they swarmed, they blotted out the sky and devoured the wheat seedlings. My family’s several acres of land were all destroyed, and we had no food to feed our family. We still had to pay the land taxes, so we had no choice but to flee the famine. Cough cough… Doctor Cui, you are a great man. If I survive, I will definitely erect a longevity monument for you!”

The young man withdrew his hand and said slowly, "This is an old ailment of yours, and it's hard to cure. I'll have the pharmacy clerk bring you some medicine later so you can sleep well tonight. Don't worry, it won't cost you any money."

"Thank you so much, Doctor Cui, for your great kindness!"

The old man's eyes reddened as he struggled to kneel down and kowtow, but the young man stopped him.

He comforted the old man for a few words, then walked over to a woman not far away who was holding a baby and whose face was covered in tears.

"Dr. Cui, please, please save my son!"

The woman's voice was hoarse, and her body trembled uncontrollably.

Doctor Cui gestured for her to calm down, then carefully observed the crying toddler. He noticed that the toddler was pale and thin, but had a distended abdomen. After asking the woman a few questions, he frowned and said, "Your child has malnutrition, but fortunately it's only in its early stages."

The woman didn't understand the illness at all, but the doctor's last words reassured her a little, and she asked anxiously, "Doctor Cui, can you cure it?"

"can."

Dr. Cui spoke succinctly, then took out gold needles from his medicine box, had the woman squat down and lay the child flat, and used the gold needles to prick the child's four-seam acupoints. He then asked the medicine boy to ask the monk for some kudzu root.

After the needle was inserted, the child's crying gradually stopped.

Dr. Cui stopped the woman's overflowing gratitude and calmly said, "I will have my apprentice prepare a medicine for you, along with some kudzu root porridge. Also, remember to massage your son's knees three inches below the knee every day, more than a hundred times. Continue this for half a month and the ailment will be cured. One more thing, you must not let him eat dirt anymore, otherwise even a god cannot save him!"

The woman wept uncontrollably, feeling both ashamed and sorrowful upon hearing the last sentence.

If there were enough food, why would she let her son, who had barely survived, eat dirt?

Cui Langzhong was clearly aware of this problem, but he was already in a difficult situation because he was providing free medical treatment to these disaster victims. Where would he get extra money to buy them food?

For a moment, a look of hardship and sorrow appeared in his eyes, but he quickly forced himself to calm down and continue to see the next sick disaster victim.

"Master."

Li Shun, being well-informed, couldn't help but say to Xue Huai, "This Doctor Cui's medical skills are extraordinary; ordinary itinerant doctors don't know the art of acupuncture."

Xue Huai simply responded with a faint "yes".

They had arrived near the hundreds of disaster victims and were quite conspicuous at first glance. However, neither the young doctor nor the disaster victims paid any attention to their presence.

Xue Huai did not go forward to disturb them. He was just about to ask Li Shun to go back and get some silver when he suddenly heard a commotion behind him.

He turned his head and saw seven or eight constables from Linqing County government, carrying waist knives, striding over. The head constable's eyes were fixed on the young doctor, and he shouted, "Doctor Cui, we've been looking for you for ages!"

The disaster victims were indifferent to the appearance of Xue Huai and his men, but when they saw the group of officials, they unconsciously shrank back, especially some of the younger women in the crowd, who quickly lowered their heads.

At that moment, Dr. Cui was examining a middle-aged man's festering wound on his right leg. Even the disaster victims nearby were covering their noses and trying to stay away, but Dr. Cui seemed to have no sense of smell, carefully and attentively observing the wound.

Seeing that he didn't react, the head constable got angry and said, "Cui Seventeen, what are you pretending to be mute in front of me for! Let me tell you the truth, the magistrate has already ruled on your case with Master Wu. You've taken over Master Wu's shop for nothing. You have three days to move out, or don't blame us for being impolite!"

Cui Shiqi treated the middle-aged man's wounds briefly, then stood up and faced a group of fierce-looking constables.

He was tall and somewhat thin, but showed no fear on his face. He calmly said, "Chief Wu, the pharmacy is the ancestral property of the Cui family. When did it become your uncle's shop?"

A simple sentence made the head constable's face turn red, and he said fiercely, "What do you mean by that? Are you trying to slander me? Damn it, if you hadn't treated the county magistrate's son, you would have been locked up in jail long ago!"

“Wu Ban Tou, you’ve misunderstood.” Cui Shiqi shook his head slightly and then said, “As I said, the pharmacy is the ancestral property of the Cui family. It was only rented to Master Wu back then. Now that I’m back, I naturally want to take it back. Master Wu started the lawsuit three years ago, but he can’t even produce the land deed. Even if the lawsuit goes all the way to the prefectural city, he won’t win.”

There were some things he didn't say aloud. For example, the county magistrate hesitated because he had cured his son, but in the end, he couldn't resist the constant persuasion of this Wu magistrate. Of course, the most important thing was the money that the wealthy Wu magistrate secretly sent into the government office through his good nephew.

"The county magistrate has already handed down the verdict; are you still trying to deny it?"

Wu Bantou stepped forward, deliberately patted his waist knife, and said ferociously, "I see you're going to have to suffer the consequences instead of being polite!"

"You...you can't treat Doctor Cui like this..."

The old man mustered his courage and stood next to Cui Shiqi. Even though his body trembled with fear, he still managed to stand firm.

Immediately afterwards, many more disaster victims approached Cui Shiqi.

They fled to Linqing City and managed to enter the city by chance due to lax security at the city gates, but were strictly restricted from leaving the open area.

For more than half a month, they could only survive by relying on the monks of the nearby Daning Temple to provide porridge. Later, several wealthy people opened porridge shops, and they barely managed to survive.

The problem is that many people contracted diseases during their escape and found them difficult to treat. If it weren't for Cui Shiqi taking the initiative to treat them without charging a penny, at least 20-30% of these disaster victims would have suffered terribly.

Seeing Cui Shiqi in danger, even though they knew the officers' knives wouldn't hold back, they still insisted on standing by Cui Shiqi's side.

"What are you trying to do? Rebel!"

Wu, the head constable, roared and drew his sword. The constables around him also drew their swords at the same time.

The disaster victims were immediately terrified and trembled all over.

"Wu, don't make things difficult for these poor people."

Cui Shiqi remained expressionless, but finally made up his mind and said, "Go back and tell the county magistrate and Master Wu that the shop can be given to him, but he has to give me ten days to clean it up, and he also has to give me three hundred taels of silver."

Wu Ban Tou smiled coldly, but quickly began to calculate in his mind.

Linqing is a major town on the Grand Canal, a hub connecting the north and south. The Cui family's shop is located on the most prosperous Aotouji Street. The three storefronts along the street are worth at least three thousand taels of silver, but now they only cost three hundred taels. Even if you include the one hundred taels given to the county magistrate before, the Wu family can still make a huge profit.

He put on airs for a moment, but before he could even answer, a clear voice came from the side: "Doctor Cui, since that is your Cui family's ancestral property, I think it would be more appropriate for it to stay in your hands."

The crowd fell silent.

Wu Bantou turned his head and looked at Xue Huai with a sinister gaze.

In fact, he had noticed these unfamiliar faces long ago, but he didn't pay much attention to them, because there were too many outsiders from all over the country in Linqing City. For example, at this moment, in addition to Xue Huai and his group, there were also some merchants dressed in silk quietly watching from the sidelines.

Wu, the squad leader, narrowed his eyes and said in a cold voice, "Who are you?"

He could certainly tell that Xue Huai had an extraordinary bearing, but the problem was that the other party was too young. Even though he was accompanied by a few attendants, he was at most a son of a wealthy family.

Although Linqing is just a county town, its strategic location and powerful magistrate mean that ordinary people dare not cause trouble. Therefore, Wu Bantou felt no apprehension whatsoever.

"Passing by, I thought I would come and see the famous Linqing City, but I did not expect to see these uncomfortable sights."

Xue Huai stepped forward slowly and looked at Wu Bantou, asking, "May I ask, if this Doctor Cui refuses to hand over the Cui family's ancestral property today, how does your county magistrate plan to fabricate charges against him?"

Wu Ban Tou instinctively felt danger, because he actually felt a more frightening sense of oppression from the other party than from the county magistrate.

Before he could even speak, a constable who was used to running rampant in the city with him suddenly stepped forward, raised his scabbard, and was about to slap Xue Huai in the face, cursing angrily: "Where did this pretty boy come from, daring to be arrogant in front of our head constable!"

"stop!"

Wu Bantou knew something was wrong, but it was too late.

Suddenly, the constable felt a darkness before his eyes. He saw a servant suddenly appear in front of him, separating him from the young man. At the same time, the servant raised his right arm to deflect the young man's sword sheath and kicked him in the abdomen.

The constable felt a tremendous force, as if his abdomen had been struck by a giant hammer. The next moment, his legs flew backward, and he fell face-first into the dirt.

The room fell into a deathly silence, save for the wail of the constables.

Not far away, Cui Shiqi looked at Xue Huai's profile with a complicated expression.

Jiang Sheng stood in front of Xue Huai, looking at the group of pale-faced constables with their waist knives, and said, word by word, "You have audacity!"

(End of this chapter)