Urban Martial Saint

”Very well!” the man nodded in satisfaction, stood up, and walked to the door, looking at Hu Liang hanging from the tree outside. His body had stiffened; his tongue was sticking out long, his eyeballs nearly bulging out, and his face had turned a deep shade of purple. He had been hanged alive by those two men.

Gazing at Hu Liang’s condition, he said, ”Stage it like a suicide and let his underlings go, let them flee. Call back everyone from Jiuchuan County; for this period, do not get involved in any matters related to Jiuchuan County anymore!”

That very night, the bodies of He Tao and others were discovered, and Huang Feiming gave the case high priority. The Lu Family mass murder case had not yet led to any arrests, and now another major case had occurred. If he couldn’t uncover some results, then it was likely he would be forced to resign as the Chief of Police.

Fortunately, they soon found a lead; it turned out from a farmer that He Tao and his group were last seen being taken away by Hu Liang. The focus quickly shifted to Hu Liang, but before they could figure out what had happened, they found Hu Liang’s body. Subsequently, several of Hu Liang’s underlings were caught and, without much interrogation, admitted to the crime. As for Hu Liang’s death, according to these underlings, it was suicide out of guilt.

Huang Feiming, being a shrewd man, knew that Hu Liang would not commit suicide over this incident. Given Hu Liang’s wealth, he would not have wanted to kill himself. But he was also aware that the deeper one dug into such cases, the more complicated the web of relationships became, and he did not want to become too involved. Thus, the investigation of this case was concluded there, from the discovery of He Tao and others’ bodies to the resolution of the case in less than twelve hours, which also served to salvage some of Huang Feiming’s reputation. Thus, even if they could not capture Li Qiang, he no longer had to worry about losing his job.

Only after the case was entirely resolved did Old Fifth Yang learn about it, discovered that Hu Liang had killed He Tao and others, framing him, and even found those murder weapons in his own warehouse. When he heard about this, he was completely stunned, his clothes soaked with sweat. He couldn’t even imagine the trouble he would have faced if Hu Liang’s underlings hadn’t been caught, if the case had not been resolved. Even if there was no evidence that he was the perpetrator, the discovery of those weapons in his warehouse would have been enough to give him significant headaches. And now was a critical moment in the New District’s construction; any impact on this due to the case would have definitely ruined the project.

However, now that the case was resolved quickly without implicating him, Old Fifth Yang couldn’t help but secretly feel fortunate, and a weight was finally lifted off his chest. With Hu Liang gone, no one else in Jiuchuan County could compete with him for the construction project in the New District; he no longer had to worry much.

In the morning, Ye Qing took Lin Tianyou into the mountains to visit several itinerant doctors in his hometown. Although these doctors were not highly skilled, only capable of treating some simple diseases, they held some traditional remedies that were remarkably effective in treating certain conditions, which exactly suited Lin Tianyou’s interest.

Lin Tianyou visited three itinerant doctors that morning, and thanks to Ye Qing who brought many gifts, every doctor received some. Pleased with the gifts, they freely shared their unique remedies with Lin Tianyou. By noon, Lin Tianyou had memorized no fewer than ten traditional medicine recipes, a truly fruitful harvest that left him wanting more.

”Truly, ’high talents are found amongst the folk,’” Lin Tianyou observed, looking at the list of remedies in his hand, he couldn’t help but exclaim, ”Ye Zi, I always thought Western medicine was magical. Little did I expect, in these mountains, there still flowed even more miraculous ancient remedies. Ah, when can I completely lay down my responsibilities, travel throughout the vast regions of Jiangnan, and collect all these nearly lost ancient recipes? Only then will my life have no regrets!”

”I think you won’t have that chance…” Ye Qing said, ”With your current medical skills, you are already famous throughout the Eastern Province. So many people are lining up to seek your treatment; if you were to lay down your responsibilities, what would those patients do? The hospital definitely won’t agree either. Besides, you’ve learned so much medicine, formulated so many prescriptions, isn’t it all to treat the sick? If you don’t treat patients but instead go collecting these ancient remedies, what’s the point of having such ’transcendental mastery’ of medicine?”

”What you said is both right and wrong,” Lin Tianyou laughed, ”As Mr. Lu Xun once said, however skilled my medicine, how many people can one life save? If I do this alone, it’s too limited, and I can’t really save that many. But, if I could collect these ancient remedies, compile them into books, and let more people learn these methods, that would produce more doctors, who could then save more lives. The world can go without a Lin Tianyou, but what it lacks are life-saving medical skills.”

Da Fei, who was driving ahead, turned to look at Lin Tianyou and said, ”Doctor Lin, your idea seems quite noble. But personally, I think, why be so serious about living? Being content with oneself is enough; why bother so much about others? If you really want to save people, you could invest in our orphanage, that’s what matters. Even if you pass down the medical skills, what good would it do once given to those doctors? Nowadays, hospitals won’t help without seeing money; the more skilled the doctor, the more greedy they often are. So, medical skills, for the ordinary folk, are but elusive things; better to save a few more people practically!”

”Focus on driving, why all the nonsense!” Ye Qing glared at him, and Da Fei immediately turned his head and stopped talking.

”Ah, actually, Da Fei has a point,” Lin Tianyou sighed, ”Honestly, the domestic medical system really needs changing. Otherwise, no matter how good the medical conditions or how advanced the medical skills, the poor won’t be able to benefit from them!”

Looking at Lin Tianyou, Ye Qing said earnestly, ”No matter what, Doctor Lin, I really admire your thinking!”

Lin Tianyou smiled faintly and said, ”Ye Zi, I actually admire you quite a bit. So many kids, and you’ve managed to raise them all by yourself. Not many people could do that. There are many richer than you in Shenchuan City, but they won’t spend a dime, only you are willing to do so, and that’s truly commendable!”

Ye Qing sighed, ”If no one else does, and I don’t do it, should I just watch these children starve to death?”

”Sigh,” Lin Tianyou also sighed; he had seen those children with his own eyes. To tell the truth, thinking about those children made him feel a bit heartbroken too. If it weren’t for Ye Qing taking them in, if Ye Qing hadn’t decided to start a private orphanage to adopt them, those children wandering the streets may not have known how long they would survive.

”Big brother, where to now?” Da Fei asked ahead, ”It’s almost afternoon, why not find a place to eat first?”

”With no village ahead and no shop behind, where can we eat?” Lin Tianyou said, ”We might as well go back to the county town first.”

”It will take about two hours to get back from here, let’s just find a place to eat,” Ye Qing patted Da Fei, who was in front of him, and said, ”Keep walking, my great-aunt’s house is in the village ahead, let’s eat lunch at her place.”

Ye Qing’s great-aunt had married into this village, and Ye Qing had occasionally visited here as a child to see relatives or the like. His great-aunt was very kind to him, although her family was even poorer than his and couldn’t really help them with much. Ye Qing had been away for years and basically hadn’t come back, nor had he had the time to visit his great-aunt’s house. This was a good opportunity to make the trip.

The mountain road became increasingly rugged as they moved forward; eventually, it was so narrow that passing another vehicle was simply impossible. However, fortunately, there were hardly any vehicles in the mountains, and although they moved slowly, there was nothing blocking their way.

After traveling for over an hour, the vehicle finally stopped outside a village. Seeing the mud-bricked houses and dilapidated appearance everywhere, Da Fei couldn’t help but lament, ”Damn, what era is this, to still have places this poor?”

The village didn’t even have electrical lines, showing that electricity hadn’t reached here yet, making the entire village seem as if it had been forgotten by modern civilization.

Lin Tianyou said, ”But the air here is really good indeed.”

Da Fei shook his head and said, ”No way, I still prefer the cityscape!”

The roads in the village were too narrow for vehicles, so Da Fei had to park at the entrance of the village. As soon as they stopped, several playful children at the village entrance curiously surrounded them, staring from a distance at the car. For this village, aside from the occasional tricycle that entered, other vehicles were rarely seen. Ye Qing’s car, especially with three people emerging from it, surprised a group of children immensely, who watched them from a distance as if they were looking at a curious monster.

”Big brother, is this where your great-aunt lives?” Da Fei looked around and said, ”This place could be used to shoot historical movies!”

Ye Qing ignored him and handed out some candies to the children. Upon receiving the candies, the children immediately cheered and jostled each other to lead the way for Ye Qing.

Guided by the group of kids, the trio walked into the village and arrived at the exterior of a dilapidated house. As soon as he got there, Ye Qing saw his elderly great-aunt standing at the doorway sunning things. She was already over eighty years old yet was still fairly agile, still managing to do farm work. However, her eyes no longer held the spirit of her younger years, and her body was thin to the point of heartbreak.

Seeing his great-aunt, Ye Qing’s eyes moistened, he hurried over and called out, ”Great-aunt!”

The old lady looked up at Ye Qing, her face puzzled for a moment, then her expression changed, as she exclaimed, ”You... are you Qingzi?”

(Recommend a friend’s book ”Path to Become an Immortal”, those interested may give it a read.)