Chapter 73 (1/2)
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Sc.u.ms At Spiritual Mountain
The crowd erupted in conversation as the injured man started shouting. Even the short guy said, “Please think about it, we're at the foot of Spiritual Mountain, everything is expensive, including food and lodging! Once the great ceremony begins, no one is allowed to leave this place. The exits only open in ten days. If his injuries get worse, who's going to pay up?”
Then the short guy started to cry. Wiping his tears, he said, “My brother and I rely on each other to survive, our family is very poor. We also wanted a shot at a better future at Spiritual Mountain, I can't believe this happened! You're dressed in fine clothes, how dare you bully us just because you're rich! Let me tell you this, although we're poor, we're stubborn! I swear we won't spend the one thousand silvers on anything else!”
The crowd fell silent. Someone could not help but cheer.
“Plus, we will have to get a kind Spiritual Mountain cultivator from up the mountain to treat him, do you think it'll be cheap?”
The crowd whispered to each other, nodding. “Yeah, he makes sense.”
“Yeah, getting the seniors to treat him will be very expensive, right?”
“Ptui, you'll only get to call them that when you've entered the sect!”
When he saw the crowd standing on his side, the short guy sighed and turned to Chengfeng arrogantly. He extended his palm. “One thousand silver pieces, pay up!”
Striking the iron while it was still hot, the 'injured' man started to scream again, “I can't take it anymore, my chest hurts so bad!”
Su Yuehan's eyes widened and looked at Chengfeng worriedly. She whispered, “Young Master, what do we do? Do we have… enough money?”
Chengfeng smiled and patted her shoulder, implying for her to not worry. He stepped forward, fis.h.i.+ng out a folded fan from his clothing. With a crack, he opened it and started to fan himself on this cold winter day.
He bent down and looked at the 'injured' man, concerned. “My brother, where does it hurt?”
The man cried, “My chest!”
“Left or right?”
There was some hesitation in his eyes but he replied, “Left!”
“Oh, left? Can I see it? How bad does it hurt?”
The man's face changed slightly as the short guy raged, “What are you trying to do?”
Li Chengfeng bowed and smiled. “I have practised medicine before, you should let me take a look at the wound first.”
The short guy raged, “Who are you to say that? What if you make it worse? My brother needs to enter that ceremony, if you make him miss it, who will compensate us then?”
Someone yelled from the crowd, “Yeah! Even killing you won't be enough to compensate for missing the great ceremony!”
To these mere mortals who dreamt of a life of success, this decennial ceremony was too important. Everyone nodded.
The short guy shouted, “Are you trying to avoid payment?”
Chengfeng smiled. “Who said I'm not paying?”
The short guy lit up and quickly cried, “One thousand, no less.”
Chengfeng took out a cheque and waved it in front of the man. “One thousand? No problem!”
The short guy quickly grabbed it but Chengfeng retracted his arm. “But you must first answer my questions.”
The short guy eyed him cautiously. “What questions? Don't you dare pull any tricks! There are so many people here!”
“Don't worry, I'm a reasonable man!”
“Speak up then!”
“Are you very sure that he knocked into me just now?”
“You were the one who knocked him!”
“Alright, fine. Basically, we slammed into each other, right?”
“Yep!”
“Alright! So, he got hurt after knocking into me, right brother?”
“Yes!”
“But you can't say he's hurt just because of that.”
“He's coughing up blood!”
“He's coughing up blood, so that means he's heavily injured?” Chengfeng snapped his fan closed and slapped it into his palm. “Alright!”
The short guy extended his palm. “So pay up!”
Chengfeng pushed his hand away with his fan. “Eh, calm down! I'll probably pay you four thousand more if you'll just listen!”
The short guy was stunned. Are all the new sect recruits like that? Stupid? Did he think one thousand was too little?
Chengfeng smiled. “You said you both are poor but stubborn! And you need this one thousand silver pieces badly, right?”
“Yes, that's right.”
“Alright!”
“Are you done? Can you pay now? I can't delay my brother's treatment!”