Chapter 19 : Generous Reward
Ye Chen only realized it was already past nine at night when he arrived home. He saw his daughter, Mengmeng, doing her homework at the table as soon as he opened the door.
Meanwhile, Ye Hai and Wu Lan were watching the TV.
“Daddy!” The little girl put her homework down immediately and ran towards Ye Chen with her cheeks flushing. She opened her arms and said in a coquettish manner, “Daddy, carry me. I want to be carried!”
“Okay!” Ye Chen squatted down to catch her to pick up. He pinched her little cheeks with an incredibly gentle expression on his face. “My dear daughter, did you miss me?”
“I don’t!” She stretched her arm out to play with his stub while giggling.
Wu Lan, who was sitting aside, smiled as she spoke, “This silly girl would normally be sleeping at this hour, but she insisted on waiting for you today. She refuses to sleep no matter how much I asked her to.”
“Grandma is naughty. I don’t want Grandma anymore.” Realizing that she was busted, the little girl closed her eyes with her hands and peeked at Ye Chen through the gaps of her fingers. “Where did you go, Daddy? Why did you just come back?”
“Daddy was working. I’m making money for you, Mengmeng,” Ye Chen held her chubby little hand carefully and explained patiently.
Tears rolled in Mengmeng’s eyes at that moment.
“Thank you for your hard work, Daddy.”
A warm stream glided through Ye Chen’s heart when he heard that. He said while smiling, “Since you know that I’ve been working hard, why aren’t you kissing me?”
“Naughty Daddy! Grandpa and Grandma are watching.” She became shy all of a sudden and her voice was as soft as a mosquito.
Ye Hai coughed and turned around with Wu Lan. They stared at the TV solemnly.
Ye Chen chuckled and subsequently put her down. Never had he thought that the little girl would come close with her little lips and peck his cheek. She then closed her eyes with her hands immediately like a shy quail.
“Should Daddy kiss you now?” Ye Chen placed his hand where she had kissed him gingerly. Joy and happiness filled him. Now, he finally understood why would most families wanted daughters more than sons.
A daughter was really a father’s sweet little peach. They would be coquettish with you and comfort you. A son would be so cheeky that you would want to pin him down on the ground, take his pants off and spank him.
“No way!” The little girl rolled her eyes at him and subsequently struggled her way out of his embrace. She ran into Wu Lan’s arms pridefully.
Ye Chen smiled warmly. He then went to the bathroom to wash up. When he came out, he realized that the little girl had fallen asleep in his mother’s lap. Ye Chen took a good look at her, feeling like he loved her even more. She was looking more and more like her mother now.
After chatting about the interview with his parents for a while, he returned to his room.
…
It was Saturday the next day, so Ye Chen thought he would bring the little girl out to play, but he got a call from Gu Shaokun. He peeked at his daughter watching the TV before sneaking out of the house quietly to pick up the call.
“Yes?”
“Sir, we’ve gathered most of the herbs that you wanted.” Gu Shaokun was very straightforward and respectable. He proceeded to speak, “But we’re still short of one main herb…”
Ye Chen asked immediately, “Which one is it?”
“The Heavenly Spirit Flower!”
On the prescription that Ye Chen had given to Gu Shaokun earlier, not only were there herbs to treat his wife, but there were also herbs to refine the Qi Blood Pill, the Blood Marrow Pill, and the Rebirth Pill for Mengmeng. The Heavenly Spirit Flower was the key herb to refine the Blood Marrow Pill, and there was no replacement for it.
Ye Chen was slightly disappointed. Just when he was going to ask him to forget it, he heard Gu Shaokun say carefully all of a sudden, “We’ve combed through the entire three Tiannan Provinces and we finally found it in a medicine shop. H-However, they refuse to sell it!”
“Why not?” Ye Chen said feeling half-elated and half-sad.
“I heard that the daughter of the medicine shop boss contracted a strange disease that no doctor can treat, even the famous ones. Therefore, he put the Heavenly Spirit Flower up as a reward for anyone who can treat his daughter. He even announced that he will bring the Heavenly Spirit Flower together with a bow to whoever that can treat her!” Gu Shaokun spoke hesitantly, “Sir, look…”
“I can treat her!” Ye Chen smiled calmly. He had no medical skills, but he was a cultivator. To a cultivator, any mortal diseases could be solved with spiritual energy or pills.
“Sure, I’ll get Brother Hu to pick you up right away!” Gu Shaokun was surprised and relieved. He hung up, not doubting Ye Chen at all.
Soon, Ye Chen got a call from Ah Hu. To avoid unnecessary trouble, Ye Chen asked him to wait for him at the entrance of the district. He then left home after notifying his parents and Mengmeng.
This time, Ah Hu did not drive the Bentley. Instead, it was a black BMW. Nevertheless, it caused a stir at the entrance of the rather poor district especially since the BMW had a military license plate to the shock of a portion of the crowd.
There were even some familiar faces among the crowd, including Liu Feng, Ye Wen, Zhao Qian, Zhou Kai, and Zhang Li.
Ah Hu got down from the car as soon as he saw Ye Chen. He greeted respectfully, ‘Sir!” He had endless fear and admiration for the young man before him. After all, he had shot his gun merely with True Energy the other day.
“Let’s go.” Ye Chen nodded and entered the BMW directly.
As the car left, Zhou Kai, who was in the crowd, rubbed his eyes and said, “Did you guys notice that the person who got into the car looked a little bit…like Ye Chen?”
“I didn’t notice that. Now that you mentioned it, he looked a little like Ye Chen,” Zhang Li exclaimed out loud in surprise. She looked stunned at that moment.
Liu Feng scoffed. “How could it possibly be him? The military license plate on the car aside, the BMW alone costs 700,000 to 800,000 yuan. Do you think that Ye is worthy to be riding it?”
“That’s right. Perhaps their backs just happen to look similar,” Zhao Qian responded in disdain. She turned her head to look at Ye Wen next to her as she said, “Wenwen, Ye Chen is your cousin. You should know this best. Tell us, was it him just now?”
Ye Wen watched the BMW leaving quietly and fell into deep thought for a few seconds while knitting her sharp brows. She subsequently shook her head and said, “I don’t think so.”
Although she was not close to Ye Chen’s family, she knew a bit about them from her mother. For instance, one of Ye Chen’s parents was a butler while the other was a janitor, and they had a kid with leukemia.
Under such conditions, a BMW aside, he might not even be able to afford a trishaw.
Liu Feng was secretly relieved when he heard that. He said while pretending to be calm, “That’s why I said their backs just happen to look the same.”
…
Ah Hu was driving at a high speed. Due to the license plate, no traffic police stopped him along the way. Over two hours later, they arrived at the destination in one piece. It was the Medicine Anthology Pavilion!
The three Tiannan Provinces included Tiannan Qiannan, Diannan, and Xiangnan.
As Qiannan had many mountains and dense forests, it also had abundant herbs given that it was close to the Miao people. Meanwhile, Xiangnan had plentiful produce of vegetables and Diannan was rich in fruits.
Gu Shaokun gave Ye Chen the basic information when he entered the car. The Medicine Anthology Pavilion was a century-old Chinese medicine shop in Qiannan. It was popular with a powerful background among the locals.
Meanwhile, the boss of the Medicine Anthology Pavilion, Sun Zhaonian, was awarded the title of the Qiannan Medicine King.
Ah Hu parked the car close to the Medicine Anthology Pavilion. Before getting down from the car, they saw people from all walks of life crowding the shop. Everyone was talking about the Medicine Anthology Pavilion.
Ye Chen walked straight into the crowd after he got down. He noticed two hunks guarding the entrance of the Medicine Anthology Pavilion. They were scanning the crowd with an intimidating expression on their faces.
Meanwhile, there was a reward poster on the brick wall. It was similar to what Gu Shaokun told him. Basically, it announced that the daughter of the owner of the Medicine Anthology Pavilion had contracted a serious disease. They were looking for notorious doctors to treat her. If successful, the doctor would be rewarded the Heavenly Spirit Flower and 10 million yuan in cash. The most interesting reward was that if the doctor was single, he would even end up marrying the boss’s daughter.
Reading the series of generous rewards, a doctor in glasses standing next to Ye Chen seemed to be interested. Just when he was going up to take up the reward, he was stopped by an uncle all of a sudden.
The uncle advised him out of kindness, “Are you seeking death? This reward isn’t as easily redeemed as you think!”
“What do you mean?” The man was confused.
“Those who take up the challenge will walk in alive and come out dead if they fail to treat Ms. Sun’s illness!”
That man’s face turned green all of a sudden. He took a few steps back immediately and said after gulping, “It-It can’t be that serious, can it?”
“It can’t be? Haha, you must’ve missed a few of them who went in earlier. Some called themselves medicine saints and medicine gods while some were even medical experts from abroad. However, all of them were brought out with broken limbs.
“Young man, I’m advising you not to seek such trouble since you’re so young. I know how attractive 10 million yuan is, and how beautiful the Medicine King, Mr. Sun’s daughter is, but you can only enjoy all that when you’re alive. Let’s just watch it from here.”
The person looked around and realized that everyone was just there to watch the show. He gave up on the rather impractical thought while crossing his arms and smirking as he waited for the next fool who dared to take the challenge.
At the very moment, a young mediocre-looking man took two steps forward and ripped the reward poster off the wall. He smiled calmly at the two hunks guarding the door.
“I can treat her!”