Divine Level Witch Doctor

Everyone thought Zhao Yuan was talking nonsense, but just then, Scarface and his men spotted him from afar. Looking overjoyed, they sprinted over and, with a series of THUDS, knelt in unison before him.

The sight stunned the crowd.

Everyone was baffled. ’Why would these scammers fall to their knees the moment they saw him? Is this some new kind of extortion racket? But this is just too stupid, isn’t it?’

But what happened next was even more astonishing.

”We were wrong!” Scarface wailed, tears and snot streaming down his face. ”We shouldn’t have staged that accident! We shouldn’t have extorted you! This is the two hundred thousand yuan we got from you, every last cent. We’re returning it now!” As he spoke, he pulled out a backpack and unzipped it, revealing it was stuffed full of cash.

The entire crowd was dumbfounded.

A single thought surfaced in everyone’s mind: ’Have these scammers gone insane? Why else would they actually come back to return the money?’

Zhao Yuan strode forward.

Zhao Shiquan quickly grabbed his arm. ”Don’t go,” he whispered. ”It might be a trick.”

Zhao Yuan smiled and gently patted the back of his father’s hand. ”Don’t worry, Dad,” he replied. ”These guys wouldn’t dare try any tricks on me, unless they want to be sick for the rest of their lives!”

He spoke loudly enough for Scarface and his crew to hear him clearly. A thought instantly struck them: ’So our strange illnesses really are this kid’s doing!’ A seed of hatred was planted in their hearts, but their faces remained impassive.

Zhao Yuan walked right up to Scarface and his men, took the money-filled bag, and without even counting the contents, handed it directly to his father, Zhao Shiquan, who had followed close behind.

Seeing this, Scarface couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret. ’If I’d known he wasn’t going to check, I would’ve just used a pile of counterfeit bills to get away with it... That was two hundred thousand yuan!’

”I’ve received the money you returned. You can all leave now.” With that, Zhao Yuan turned to head back into the courtyard.

Scarface and his men instantly panicked.

’Motherfucker, you can’t just take the money and run! Are there no rules?’

Panicked, Scarface scrambled to his feet. ”Wait a minute! What about our illnesses?”

Zhao Yuan turned back around, spreading his hands in a shrug. ”Your illnesses? What do they have to do with me?”

Scarface’s underlings grew agitated as well and started shouting:

”What do you mean our illnesses have nothing to do with you?”

”We wouldn’t have caught these strange diseases if it wasn’t for you!”

”Let’s not mince words. You’re the one behind this!”

Zhao Shiquan and the assembled villagers were not happy to hear this. As they saw it, Scarface and his men were clearly trying to frame Zhao Yuan.

However, just as they were about to explode in anger, Zhao Yuan waved a hand to stop them. He turned to Scarface and his men. ”So, you want me to cure you?”

Scarface and his men nodded eagerly. They were on the verge of death from the torment of these strange afflictions.

”Fine,” Zhao Yuan agreed readily. ”But you’ll have to pay a consultation fee.”

”A consultation fee?” Scarface and his men were stunned. ”But the two hundred thousand...” one of them said instinctively.

Zhao Yuan shook his head. ”That was the money you extorted from me. You were just returning what was mine. It’s not a consultation fee for your treatment.”

Since they were the ones begging for help, Scarface and his men had no choice but to swallow their anger. With a pained expression, he asked, ”How much is the fee?”

Zhao Yuan held up two fingers. ”It’s not expensive. Twenty thousand per person.”

At his words, the color drained from the faces of Scarface and his men, while the surrounding villagers let out a series of shocked gasps.

Scarface and his men couldn’t help but curse internally. ’Twenty thousand yuan per person, and he calls that ”not expensive”? Holy shit, you’re the founding father of extortion! Compared to you, our little schemes are just child’s play. No wonder people always say to get an education. They’re damn right!’

Outwardly, however, they didn’t dare express their discontent. They could only put on a pitiful act, pleading, ”That fee is too expensive. We don’t have that kind of money.”

Zhao Yuan wasn’t buying their act. ”Think it’s too expensive? Then you can go see another doctor. The fee at the county hospital is cheap, just five yuan per person. Why don’t you go there?”

But there was no way Scarface and his men were leaving.

If any other doctor could have helped them, why would they have come here only to humiliate themselves?

In the end, Scarface and his men had no choice but to compromise. They scraped together twenty thousand yuan each and transferred the money to Zhao Yuan’s bank account. Thankfully, this wasn’t some remote mountaintop, and their phones had a weak but usable signal. Otherwise, they would have had to waste several hours driving to the county seat to withdraw cash.

Once the transfer was complete, Scarface’s crew urged him, ”You can cure us now, right?” At the same time, they were muttering resentfully in their hearts: ’Kid, go ahead and be arrogant for a little while longer. Just wait until you’ve cured us. We’ll show you how we deal with people like you! When the time comes, we’ll make you spit all this money back out, with interest!’

The onlooking villagers, seeing them actually hand over twenty thousand yuan each, gasped in astonishment once more and began to chatter among themselves:

”Good heavens, Brother Yuan charges that much to see a patient? My family of four all saw him today. If we had to pay, would that mean we owe him eighty thousand?”

”Being a doctor is way too profitable! It’s unbelievable!”

”A twenty-thousand-yuan fee... and these guys actually paid it. Are they out of their minds?”

Zhao Yuan turned and said to the villagers with a smile, ”I generally don’t charge a fee when I treat ordinary people. It’s only with scammers like these that I charge so much. They’re willing to pay not because they’re out of their minds, but because I’m the only one who can cure their disease!”

As he spoke, Zhao Yuan took out a Golden Needle and went down the line, pricking each member of Scarface’s crew. It was a strange sight to behold. One second, the men were suffering from headaches, stomach pain, deafness, and even partial paralysis; the next, with a single prick and twist of the Golden Needle, they were immediately healed.

In just a few short minutes, Zhao Yuan had cured all of Scarface’s men. After putting away his Golden Needle, he said, ”Your illnesses are cured. Why are you still hanging around? Are you expecting me to invite you for dinner? Let me tell you now: fat chance!”

Scarface shot a look at his underlings.

The men, who had been pleading with Zhao Yuan just a moment ago, instantly dropped the act. Their faces turned vicious as they snarled, ”Kid, if you want to live, give us back our money! All of it, plus interest!”

Zhao Yuan wasn’t the least bit intimidated. He sneered, ”Is this how you thank the benefactor who healed you?”

”Benefactor, my ass—”

Before Scarface could finish his curse, a carrying pole flew in from the side and cracked him squarely on the head.

”Who hit me?” Scarface was completely bewildered. He whipped his head around to see a villager brandishing a carrying pole and glaring at him furiously.

Before he could react, the villager was swinging the pole again, striking him repeatedly. ”You dare come to our village and threaten Zhao Yuan?” the villager yelled while swinging. ”Looks to me like you have a death wish!”

Scarface’s underlings tried to rush over and help, but the other villagers swarmed them in an instant. Armed with carrying poles, stools, hoes, and whatever else they could grab, they descended on the thugs in a flurry of blows. The scammers were beaten so badly their pained and wretched cries filled the air.

PS: I saw some people questioning the use of ”Brother” in a name like ”Brother Yuan.” Let me explain. This is a common term of endearment from an elder to a younger male. For example, in the classic novel *Dream of the Red Chamber*, elders call the main character Jia Baoyu ”Brother Bao.” This form of address is still popular in many parts of China.