Chapter 143: Help Me With Something, And I’ll Give You Silver
Lin Xin and Cui Shi returned to Willow Forest Village three days later. The Emperor in the Capital City was still waiting for them, so they could no longer delay in the village.
What she didn’t expect was Lin Duo’s persistence in seeking Cui Shi to treat her injuries. She didn’t know if it was a coincidence or if someone had tipped her off, but before their horse carriage even entered the village, they saw a crowd gathered at the village entrance, everyone chatting while looking toward their direction.
Someone with sharp eyes spotted their horse carriage and immediately called out. Everyone turned to look all at once.
As they got closer, a small figure suddenly darted out from the crowd and “thudded” to her knees in front of the horse carriage. Who else could it be but Lin Zhi!
The little disciple driving the carriage quickly stopped it and turned back to look at them helplessly.
“Divine Doctor Cui, please save my older sister! She’s about to die.” Lin Zhi went all out right from the start.
However, she didn’t expect that the words “Divine Doctor Cui” would make Cui Shi’s face turn completely cold. “This old man is no divine doctor and can’t treat your older sister. Go find someone else!”
“No, you are the divine doctor. Only you can cure my older sister. I beg you, please go take a look at her. The wounds on her body are festering and starting to rot. If she’s not treated soon, she’ll really die!” Lin Zhi cried hysterically, but Lin Xin could see that her gaze was extremely cold, showing no concern for her older sister at all, but rather flashes of scheming.
“This old man said it already: this old man is no divine doctor and doesn’t treat illnesses.” Cui Shi’s voice was icy and hard, making even Lin Xin glance sideways. She felt that something was off with Cui Shi’s state.
“Impossible! You could even treat Brother Meng, so why won’t you treat my older sister? Is it because he has power and influence while we’re just ordinary villagers? You actually refuse to save my older sister—how dare you call yourself a healer!” Lin Zhi’s voice was shrill and piercing.
Lin Xin had been observing her and noticed that she glanced toward the crowd every time before speaking. Lin Xin looked over with her peripheral vision and spotted a person wearing a bamboo hat standing in the crowd. His bamboo hat was very large, almost covering most of his face, leaving only a pointed chin exposed.
She narrowed her eyes. This person was not a villager from Willow Forest Village.
The person in the bamboo hat seemed to notice her gaze, pulled his bamboo hat down further, turned, and left the crowd, disappearing around a corner from Lin Xin’s sight.
Seeing that person leave, Lin Zhi also stood up, gave the horse carriage a hateful look, and turned to walk away as well.
Deep down, she was actually unwilling. Although Lin Duo wasn’t very good to her, in that home, she was the only one sharing the same fate. Whenever she was called to do heavy chores while going hungry, seeing Lin Duo receiving the same treatment made her feel she wasn’t the only one being mistreated like that.
But now Lin Duo lay dying on the bed, her skin and flesh starting to ulcerate, oozing red and yellow pus, her body burning with fever. Lin Zhi felt terror from the depths of her heart. She didn’t dare imagine how she would live without that person.
Just as she was gripped by fear and despair, a person she’d never seen before appeared in front of her. Though he had changed his attire, Lin Zhi recognized him at a glance as the one who had given her that snake to place at Lin Xin’s home entrance, but she smartly didn’t say it out loud.
“Do you know how you all got to the mountain that night?” the man asked her.
Lin Zhi instinctively shook her head, but seeing the undisguised sneer in his eyes, she inexplicably nodded again.
“Not bad, not too stupid!” The man mocked with a laugh, pulled a silver note from his bosom, and waved it in front of her. “Young lady, help me with something, and I’ll give you silver.”
Lin Zhi had never seen a silver note before and rarely even saw silver. She swallowed hard, tried to steady her trembling voice, and asked, “I don’t want silver. Can you take me away from here?”
“Don’t want silver?” The man repeated with interest, then said in an even more mocking tone, “Young lady, you’ve got quite the guts to bargain with me! Well, that depends on how you perform.”
“Fine, tell me.” Though Lin Zhi knew he was mostly stringing her along, this was her only chance right now. She knew Lin Duo wouldn’t survive, and from then on, she’d be the only one enslaved, hungry and poorly clothed, toiling endlessly all day and taking beatings and scoldings. She felt she couldn’t endure such days.
“Don’t you want to save your older sister? Old Cui was a very famous divine doctor in the Capital City before. Go beg him then! If he agrees to treat your older sister, you’ll have completed the task I give you.” The man said.
“What?” Lin Zhi turned her head so her good ear faced him. “You’re asking me to beg Old Cui to save my older sister? Can he cure her?”
“Tch,” the man sneered coldly. “Whether he can cure her doesn’t matter. The key is that your task is to get him to agree to treat your older sister.”
“Why?” Lin Zhi asked. She suddenly realized that this man’s goal wasn’t to cure her older sister, but to get Old Cui to treat her.
The man’s face suddenly darkened. He reached out and grabbed her neck, his voice turning icy. “Do what I tell you to do. Ask one more question, and I’ll turn you into the one who needs saving.”
The hand on her neck tightened relentlessly. Lin Zhi’s face went from pale to flushed, then almost purple. She pounded at his hand desperately, but even using all her strength, it was negligible compared to him. That large hand clamped like iron pliers.
Just as she thought she was going to be strangled to death, the hand released. She collapsed to the ground, clutching her throat and coughing violently, scrambling backward on her butt in terror.
“Still want to know why?” the man asked sinisterly.
Lin Zhi shook her head frantically.
“Go! I’ll be watching you from the crowd. If I leave, you can end your performance. Remember, don’t do anything extra!” The man suddenly bent down, thrust his face close to hers, and said sinisterly, “If you ruin my plans, think about that wonderful feeling from earlier!”
With that, the man smiled at her again and turned to leave.
Only when she could no longer see his back did Lin Zhi dare to exhale the breath she’d been holding in her chest for so long.
And so, the scene at the village entrance where she intercepted Cui Shi’s horse carriage happened.
Lin Zhi had already realized that his talk of taking her away was just empty words. Whether she succeeded or failed in his task, he wouldn’t take her away.
But at the same time, she understood that this man stood opposed to Cui Shi and the others. Since he opposed Cui Shi, he surely opposed Lin Xin too, and her actions would definitely cause trouble for Lin Xin. That was enough.
She would surely live in the quagmire from now on—why should Lin Xin get to live brightly and high above?
Though her actions couldn’t drag Lin Xin into the quagmire too, at least they could smear some mud on her!
