The Female Lead Decides to Act Wickedly

Chapter 17: Chapter 017: Starting as a Swindler (Part 17)

Teacher Qi didn’t see Xiao Zhang; she was eating bit by bit. Although her movements were slow, and swallowing was very difficult, she still tried hard to get the food down.

With each mouthful, Teacher Qi felt a deep sense of satisfaction.

She never knew that such a norm of eating and drinking from childhood to adulthood could bring such difficulty and fulfillment to her present self.

Ever since she became ill, she had been eating that tasteless liquid food every day.

When her condition was most severe, she even had to be fed through a gastric tube.

The mere thought of that feeling made her shiver.

”I’m lucky to have met Little He. Ah, Little He is truly a kind-hearted good kid!”

It took Teacher Qi over an hour to finish a serving of meals.

After swallowing the last grain of rice, she didn’t get up immediately; instead, she sat quietly in her seat, slowly savoring the experience.

Delicious!

It was the flavor of real food that was satisfying!

Being able to eat and drink like a normal person once again, Teacher Qi felt as if she had been given a new lease on life.

Although Little He and his spouse firmly stated that their place didn’t provide treatment, as the person involved, Teacher Qi understood better than anyone whether her own body had improved.

After sitting and savoring for several minutes, Teacher Qi slowly rose to her feet and put the dishes, chopsticks, and other items at the ”recycling spot.”

”Tiantian, order a set of nucleic acid for Grandma today!”

Having placed her tray, Teacher Qi approached the bar where He Tiantian was at the cashier and said with a smile, ”Here, I’ve brought my bank card, 3999; let’s swipe the card!”

Xiao Zhang couldn’t sit still any longer, he hastily stood up and approached Teacher Qi, ”Teacher Qi, that ZhenX nucleic acid—people have exposed it online as a fake, it’s completely a scam, it doesn’t cure any diseases!”

In fact, over ten years ago, a well-known online whistleblower had already revealed this.

The so-called nucleic acid health products were nothing but a swindle.

All the claims about involvement of Nobel Prize winners in development, delivering nutrition directly to cellular nucleic acids, and so forth... all of them were false.

Such stuff, like other health products on the market, did not cure illnesses; of course, they wouldn’t kill a person either.

It was detestable how those salespeople, for the sake of their performance, deceived the elderly by saying it could cure diseases, improve health, and thus swindled money out of them.

The fear was for those severely ill who did not go to the hospital but stayed home, consuming health products in large quantities!

Their illnesses were dragged out until they became incurable, costing precious lives.

Xiao Zhang had witnessed such tragedies with his own eyes, which is why he particularly despised those fraudsters.

”Ah, Xiao Zhang, how come you’re here too?”

Teacher Qi turned her head and saw Xiao Zhang; she recognized him as a student she once taught and spoke with more affection and ease.

Not waiting for Xiao Zhang to answer, Teacher Qi, as if thinking of something, hurriedly said, ”Oh, right, I heard your mother also... ah, how come there are so many people nowadays getting this kind of disease?”

”It’s not just the suffering they endure, but also the burden it places on their children!”

Fortunately, she had met Little He, otherwise, her children would have already taken her to the Provincial City for surgery.

And with this disease, what good would surgery do?

Who could guarantee it wouldn’t spread again?

Moreover, once the surgery was performed, it could damage one’s vital energy, and it would be difficult to recover later.

When she was young, Teacher Qi did not believe in all this, but now that she was older and lying on a sickbed, she believed in superstitious things she previously dismissed.

She only had one thought: if it could reduce her suffering, she would try anything, regardless of whether the method was scientific.

Hearing Teacher Qi mention his own mother, Xiao Zhang seemed somewhat downhearted.

During his momentary distraction, Teacher Qi had already urged He Tiantian to make the payment.

By the time Xiao Zhang snapped out of it, a large box of nucleic acid health products was already placed in front of Teacher Qi.

Xiao Zhang felt somewhat defeated.

Now, to persuade again seemed too late.

But he couldn’t help himself; he opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by Teacher Qi, who had just finished signing the POS payment receipt, ”Xiao Zhang, I know you young people don’t believe in Little He. It’s alright, since you’re already here, just take a good look!”

Teacher Qi did not insist like Aunt Xu that Xiao Zhang consume products at the He Family’s club; instead, he let him experience it for himself.

Xiao Zhang: ...

Fine, take a look! I’ll do just that.

I really don’t believe it, that a charlatan selling health products can come up with any novel tricks!

Xiao Zhang was set on going against the He Family, not just coming to the club every day for the ten yuan medicinal meal, but also, if he had time, taking advantage of the free herbal foot baths and acupuncture massages offered.

And to be honest, when He Hongtu, dressed in a white lab coat and using cupping jars and silver needles to serve customers, he did look the part.

If one didn’t know He Hongtu’s background, at first glance, he might actually be mistaken for a doctor of Chinese medicine with decent medical skills.

What’s more, Xiao Zhang noticed that in the store, whether it was He Hongtu, his wife Tian Zhenzhen, or their daughter He Tiantian helping out after school,

This family of three never actively sold products to the customers.

On the contrary, it was the regular customers who seemed to be counting the days until a certain date arrived, when they would voluntarily purchase a set of products.

Each time, it was just one set; though also costing three to four thousand yuan, it was modest compared to others who easily spent tens of thousands.

”What kind of magic potion did this He Hongtu feed to those elderly folks!”

Back at home, Xiao Zhang was still puzzled and muttered under his breath.

”What magic potion?”

Hearing his words, Xiao Zhang’s wife casually asked.

”Oh, it’s nothing,” Xiao Zhang quickly mumbled, trying to dodge the question.

But his words had reminded his wife.

She then said, ”Right, while I was picking up medicine at the pharmacy, I also got some stomach medicine for you. Eh? Why do we still have so much at home? Haven’t you had a stomach problem recently?”

Xiao Zhang’s wife was a doctor, busy with work, and she didn’t have much time to spend with Xiao Zhang, who was equally busy.

She had picked up medicine for her husband out of habit, not expecting that there would still be a box remaining at home.

Calculating the dosage, her husband hadn’t taken it in the past half month.

”My stomach problem?” Xiao Zhang was startled.

If his wife hadn’t reminded him, he wouldn’t have noticed.

In his youth, he had worked too hard and ate irregularly, which caused him to develop chronic gastritis, suffering from stomach spasms or pain every so often, each time requiring medication to manage.

But recently, he, he hadn’t had a stomach issue at all.

This, this...

Xiao Zhang thought hard and suddenly realized he hadn’t experienced pain in half a month, and during this time, he had been eating at the He Family’s club every day, occasionally partaking in acupuncture sessions.

Could it be—

No, it’s impossible.

The He Family is just a bunch of quacks selling health products, and He Hongtu was nothing more than a junior high school graduate salesman who never even attended a proper medical school. How could he treat illnesses?

But, his stomach problem really hadn’t recurred.

And during this time, other than going to the club to eat, he hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary.

Maybe, try it a bit more?!

A glimmer of light flickered in Xiao Zhang’s eyes...