Chapter 593: Chapter 593: Could it be a scammer?
Why did I have to run my mouth like that? I have no real grudge against Yang Qi, no real complaint, so why did I have to go looking for trouble? If that isn’t asking for it, what is? Zhang Biao thought, full of regret.
He wore a mournful expression, his arm hanging limply at his side, completely at a loss for words. He considered seeing a doctor, but after a moment’s thought, decided against it and went to help the others with their work instead.
At this moment, Yang Qi turned to Liao Fusheng’s wife. "Sister-in-law, you might have been skeptical of my medical skills before, but how do you feel now? Are you willing to accept my treatment?"
Chairman Tong immediately looked on with envy. "Fusheng, your wife is so lucky! To have a good brother like Divine Doctor Yang, her illness is sure to be cured!"
"You just saw Divine Doctor Yang’s medical skills for yourself," he added. "There’s definitely no problem."
Liao Fusheng, however, frowned. "Little Qi, it’s not that I, as your older brother, don’t trust you. It’s just that your sister-in-law’s illness... I’m afraid it’s not so easy to treat."
"I’ll be honest with you," he continued, his voice heavy. "She doesn’t have just one disease, but multiple ailments plaguing her body. It’s all because she overworked herself, and it’s all my fault. Her body is extremely weak now. The hospital issued a critical condition notice, said she was incurable, and told me to take her home to let her live out her last few days in comfort.
"Seeing her in so much pain every day feels like a knife twisting in my heart. I know you mean well, brother, but she really can’t be cured. The medicine doesn’t even work anymore."
As he spoke, Liao Fusheng couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. A big man, nearly six-foot-three, was brought to sobbing at the mere mention of it.
"Fusheng, we have so many guests. I’m fine, really," his wife said gently. "Who in this world can escape death? I’m content to have found a man like you in this lifetime."
The woman’s name was Hong Mei. Liao Fusheng had rescued her from human traffickers, and she had been by his side ever since. She had endured hardship and injury but had never uttered a single word of complaint. She always said that being with Liao Fusheng was the greatest fortune of her life. What she didn’t know was that Liao Fusheng felt the same—that saving her was his greatest fortune in the entire world.
"Hong Mei!" Liao Fusheng cried out. He knew she didn’t want to die. She still wanted to live with him, to have a child together, but there was nothing to be done. It was an illness that money couldn’t cure. What else could they do?
"Brother Yang, please don’t trouble yourself," Hong Mei said with a smile. "I know my own condition. It’s incurable. For today, let’s just focus on having a happy opening ceremony. In the future, please look out for Fusheng for me."
The people around them sighed. All the famous doctors in Sea City had given Hong Mei a death sentence. There was no chance of a cure. Her condition was beyond control.
Yang Qi smiled. "Whether it can be cured or not is something we’ll know after I take a look. Come, Sister-in-law, forgive my forwardness."
He took Hong Mei’s wrist and began to check her pulse. Her symptoms were indeed far too complex to diagnose by observation alone; checking her pulse was necessary.
Liao Fusheng watched, tense with anxiety. Even though he knew her illness was incurable, he couldn’t help but hold on to a sliver of hope.
"How... How is it?"
Yang Qi smiled. "It is indeed complex. How did her body get into such a terrible state? An ordinary famous doctor, even if they could treat this, would likely be too afraid to prescribe any medicine. However, you’re lucky you met me. To me, this is nothing. The silver needle I just used to treat Chairman Tong is contaminated with toxins, so it’s not fit to be used again. Instead, I will use the Qi Condensing Needle technique to perform acupuncture on her.
"This illness will likely require acupuncture once a day for seven consecutive days to rebalance her body. I’ll also write you a prescription for a medicinal soup. Just get the herbs filled as prescribed. It’s not a major illness, just very complicated. In fact, it’s much easier to treat than many other diseases."
"Really? Is that true?" Liao Fusheng was so excited he was speechless. "You... you’re not just comforting me, are you?"
"Why would I comfort you? Wouldn’t the disappointment be even greater if I failed?" Yang Qi replied with a smile.
The surrounding crowd was stunned. An illness that all the famous doctors of Sea City had deemed untreatable was being called simple by some unknown young man? Wasn’t that a bit too arrogant? A bit too confident?
"Divine Doctor Yang, it’s not that I don’t trust you," someone couldn’t help but ask, "but the best doctors in Sea City all said this disease is incurable. Can you really treat it?"
"It’s not necessarily that they can’t cure it; perhaps they just don’t want to," Yang Qi said nonchalantly. "Treating this illness is troublesome and not profitable, since it only requires common medicinal soups. They probably just didn’t want to bother. I guarantee that after this one acupuncture session, she will show significant improvement."
"And in seven days, I guarantee she will be full of life!"
Tong Shan swallowed hard. "Divine Doctor Yang, are you sure you can cure it? This is a chronic condition, a syndrome."
"If I say I can cure it, then I can cure it," Yang Qi nodded.
"Divine Doctor Yang, that’s wonderful!" Tong Shan exclaimed. "To be honest with you, my wife also suffers from a chronic syndrome. The hospital prescribed many medications that can only control it, not cure it. She’s in better shape than Hong Mei, with no immediate threat to her life, but who knows when it might flare up? If you can truly cure her, I am willing to give you another two-hundred-year-old medicinal herb in exchange for your help."
"Alright. Once the opening ceremony is over, I’ll pay a visit to your home personally."
For a two-hundred-year-old medicinal herb, Yang Qi definitely had to go.
"How about taking a look now? Even just alleviating some of her suffering would be a great help," Tong Shan couldn’t help but suggest.
"But today is Brother Liao’s grand opening. We can’t just turn it into a clinic, can we?" Yang Qi said, a bit embarrassed.
"It’s no problem!" Liao Fusheng chimed in with a smile. "The ceremony hasn’t officially started yet. Go ahead and help Chairman Tong. I’ll be counting on his support for my hotel in the future anyway."
"Alright then. Bring her over. I’ll take a look and then decide on a course of treatment," Yang Qi nodded. Since Liao Fusheng had agreed, he certainly wouldn’t refuse. It was always better to get his hands on that medicinal herb sooner rather than later.
"Yang Qi, you’re really getting ahead of yourself!" Zhang Biao interjected, unable to stay silent. "Treating poison is completely different from treating chronic diseases, especially a chronic syndrome! There’s no cure for it anywhere in the world, only methods to manage the condition."
"You’re skilled, I admit I misjudged you. But don’t let a little success go to your head!"
The people around them turned to look at Yang Qi again, beginning to think that his earlier success was just a lucky break and that he was starting to look more and more like a con artist.
Yang Qi scoffed. "You know nothing. Who told you these diseases can’t be cured? It’s simply a matter of the pharmaceutical industry’s profits! If they cured everyone, how would they sell their medicine? So they just keep you dependent. They absolutely have the means to cure these things, but you’d have to pay an exorbitant price."
"Even cancer can be treated. A few chronic ailments are nothing in comparison."
The crowd was stunned once more. They exchanged glances, all feeling that Yang Qi’s words were becoming increasingly unreliable.
"Do you think Chairman Tong was tricked by him? Maybe he didn’t actually remove any poison earlier, and the Chairman just felt a little better for a moment."
Someone had started to voice their doubts.
