Chapter 135 So He Was a Big Shot All Along

Only as I drew closer did I realize.

Among the strange crowd surrounding Xie Zhongquan was Xie Lion-head.

Because they were acquaintances and quite familiar with each other, Li Dawei did not immediately interrupt Xie Zhongquan and Liu Xing. Instead, he quietly walked behind Xie Lion-head, reached out, and gave him a gentle tap on the shoulder. "Why did you come to the market today?"

Xie Lion-head turned around to look at Li Dawei. Taken aback for a moment, he smiled and said, "Naturally, I came for the Divine Doctor Jiang. Aren't you here for the same reason?"

"Wait... isn't he Elder Xie? And his name differs from yours by only one character," Li Dawei asked in a startled voice.

"That was just a pseudonym he used when he was down on his luck in Old House Village. His real surname is Jiang, and his given name is Chuyang," Xie Lion-head whispered in reply.

"Ah? In that case, he really is the Divine Doctor Jiang?" Li Dawei froze, staring with utter disbelief at 'Elder Xie' amidst the crowd.

Initially, he had intended to leave right away, but now that thought was completely abandoned.

If a malady could not be cured by Divine Doctor Jiang under the broad heavens, then no other doctor in the entire country would likely be able to do anything either.

Yet, what he simply could not figure out was how this Divine Doctor Jiang had ended up falling on such hard times in the market of Old House Village.

Sensing Li Dawei's thoughts, Xie Lion-head pulled him aside and whispered, "The strangers around the Divine Doctor are all his disciples and students. With so many of them rushing to the market today, there is no doubt they are here to take the Divine Doctor back. As for the reason behind his downfall, I tried probing around before out of curiosity, but unfortunately, every single one of them kept their mouths shut and refused to say a word."

"There must be a massive secret behind this," Li Dawei sighed softly upon hearing this, but he quickly grew anxious. "If this Divine Doctor Jiang is leaving, what about my daughter Weiwei's illness? We don't even have a single clue yet!"

"It's useless telling me that. You should go find Liu Xing," Xie Lion-head said, and with that, he left to curry favor with the people around Divine Doctor Jiang. Because none of those individuals were ordinary people, he felt extremely restrained and nervous.

Li Dawei also wanted to walk over and join the crowd, but in the end, he stopped himself.

After all, he had no personal connection whatsoever with Divine Doctor Jiang.

Even with Liu Xing, he did not dare to speak recklessly.

Because of the plastic film mulching incident, a huge rift had formed between him and Liu Xing.

Trying to patch things up and restore their relationship would be exceedingly difficult.

At this thought, Li Dawei couldn't help but feel a bitter, wry amusement.

This was retribution!

Earlier, he had thought about letting Liu Xing experience the ruthless hardships of society.

Who could have guessed that Liu Xing wouldn't be the one to experience it, and instead, he would be the first to taste it himself.

This truly was an exquisite piece of irony.

Seeing Divine Doctor Jiang leading Liu Xing and Lanlan toward Village Chief Zhao's adobe house, he snapped back to his senses, pushed Li薇薇 (Li Weiwei) in her wheelchair, and hurriedly followed.

However, before he had even gone two meters, he was blocked by two young men.

One of the crew-cut young men said, "Please head back! Regarding your daughter's condition, my master has already given instructions. Once we return from Xiangbei Province, he will personally step in to help diagnose and treat her."

"That's wonderful, that's wonderful!" Li Dawei replied excitedly.

With those words, his mind was finally at ease.

The two young men did not waste any more breath. They followed behind Xie Lion-head and walked into the adobe house.

Li Weiwei, sitting in her wheelchair, watched the figures of the two young men disappear from view. "Dad! We really owe Liu Xing a massive favor this time. You must make sure to repay him properly in the future."

"What do you mean by that? Are you saying the Divine Doctor didn't agree to treat you out of consideration for my face?" Li Dawei muttered casually.

"Hehe... Do you actually think you have any face in front of Divine Doctor Jiang?" Li Weiwei looked at Li Dawei with a faint smile.

"I..." Li Dawei was too embarrassed to utter a word.

Indeed, he had only met Divine Doctor Jiang today.

What kind of standing did he think he had to ask the Divine Doctor to give him face?

If not for Liu Xing, he probably wouldn't even have caught a glimpse of Divine Doctor Jiang.

Lacking any self-awareness, he had actually believed the Divine Doctor was willing to help simply because he was the director of the Hengshui Winery. Now that he thought about it, he had been indulging in wishful thinking all along.

Realizing that Liu Xing would not be coming out of Village Chief Zhao's adobe house anytime soon, he had no choice but to push Li Weiwei's wheelchair toward the shoe store.

His intention was that, no matter what, he had to wait for Liu Xing to return.

At the very least, he needed to ask Divine Doctor Jiang in person when he would treat Weiwei.

...

Inside the side room.

After sitting down, Divine Doctor Jiang took Liu Xing's hand and said earnestly, "Child, I am about to leave the market to do what I must. If I am able to return, I will properly express my gratitude for saving my life."

"You shouldn't say things like that. At the time, it was merely a flick of the finger," Liu Xing smiled.

"Hahaha... Such a casual phrase, 'a flick of the finger.' But do you know? In my eyes, it is a grace of rebirth, something no one else could possibly have achieved." Divine Doctor Jiang stroked his beard and laughed heartily, looking genuinely happy. "Before I leave, there are a few things I need to discuss with you."

"Alright!" Liu Xing listened intently.

At the doorway, the few young men and Xie Lion-head quietly withdrew upon seeing this.

Xie Lion-head even thoughtfully helped close the door tightly, leaving only Lanlan inside.

As for the villagers waiting outside to see the doctor, although they were not driven away, they were explicitly informed that Divine Doctor Jiang was leaving, and as for when he would return, it was an absolute unknown.

This left the villagers waiting in line feeling deeply dejected.

Yet none of them caused a fuss; they simply waited quietly at the entrance.

Seeing this commotion from the window, Divine Doctor Jiang let out a long, sympathetic sigh. "Sigh! People always say farmers are simple and honest in nature, and I've truly come to understand it these past few days. If not for certain matters that require my immediate return, I really wouldn't want to leave right now."

Liu Xing listened quietly.

He harbored no doubts whatsoever about Divine Doctor Jiang's words.

"Ah, right! My real name is Jiang Chuyang, not Xie Zhongquan. I wanted to tell you this in person here, to avoid any misunderstandings in the future." After taking a polite sip of tea, Divine Doctor Jiang said with a smile.

"That's fine, I understand you had your hidden hardships," Liu Xing smiled along with him.

"Indeed! I truly had hardships back then, but from now on, I no longer need to live under an assumed name." Divine Doctor Jiang pulled Lanlan over to him. "This time when I return to Xiangbei Province, I want to entrust her to you. Originally, I thought about letting Village Chief Zhao look after her for a while, but I couldn't bring myself to trust it—after all, he can barely manage to feed Zhao Jing."

"Ah? You're not taking Lanlan back with you?" Liu Xing was quite startled upon hearing this.

"Mn, I'm afraid it might be dangerous there," Divine Doctor Jiang replied with a solemn expression.

"Very well! As long as I have a bite to eat, Lanlan will not go hungry," Liu Xing declared his stance.

"Hahaha... You don't need to put it so gravely. Although this old man cannot tell fortunes, I can tell that you are blessed with great fortune, and your future prospects are bound to be boundless. Entrusting Lanlan to you is actually allowing her to forge a bond of good affinity with you." Divine Doctor Jiang stroked his beard and laughed. "Don't doubt it. In all my life, aside from misjudging my own son, my read on people has always been infallible."

"I believe you on that." Liu Xing nodded slowly.

The reason he said this was because Divine Doctor Jiang was a renowned veteran traditional Chinese medicine practitioner.

Skilled in looking, listening, asking, and feeling the pulse—he mastered them all.

Being able to perceive things about him that surpassed ordinary people was actually quite easy to understand.

"As for that girl named Weiwei you brought earlier, when I return, I will instruct my disciples to prepare the relevant treatment equipment and medicines. Although there is no one hundred percent guarantee, recovering fully shouldn't be too difficult." Divine Doctor Jiang frowned as he spoke. "However, there are certain risks involved. As their friend, you must make things clear to her and her father, to avoid any unnecessary trouble later on."

"I... actually am not their friend. We can only be described as acquaintances." Since the conversation had reached this point, Liu Xing did not conceal anything. He softly and briefly recounted the process of how he came to know Li Dawei and Li Weiwei, along with a few minor 'stories' between them.

Divine Doctor Jiang stroked his beard and listened quietly.

Once he understood the situation, he couldn't help laughing. "I would never have guessed! This Li Dawei is quite the old fox adept at plotting. It's just a pity he used his tricks on the wrong person. Still, your approach was correct—you may have grievances with Li Dawei, but you have none with Li Weiwei, seeing as she is still just a child."

"In other words, even if I hadn't spoken up for Li Weiwei today, you would have still helped treat her illness when you returned, is that right?" Liu Xing asked casually.

"More or less! But then again, it's hard to say for sure. Before I fell on hard times, I had strict rules for treating patients—there were three types of people I would not examine, and three types I would not save," Divine Doctor Jiang said with a smile.

"Oh?" Liu Xing grew somewhat curious.

"We can talk about that when I return!" Divine Doctor Jiang glanced at the time and replied.

"Very well!" Liu Xing nodded.

Since Divine Doctor Jiang was in a hurry to leave, he naturally could not chatter away endlessly.

Lanlan, who had remained silent the whole time, tilted her small head and said, "I know the three types of people my grandpa refuses to examine."

"Is that so?" Liu Xing smiled.

"The first is that he doesn't treat poor people, because poverty itself is a disease that cannot be cured," Lanlan said, blinking her large eyes.

As soon as these words were uttered, Divine Doctor Jiang looked extremely embarrassed.

Yet he did not deny it. Instead, he gave a bitter smile and said, "Before I hit rock bottom, I indeed had the rule of not treating the poor. But ever since I fell on hard times, I realized how utterly ridiculous the rule I had set back then truly was."

"Because all along my journey of begging and fleeing as a refugee from Xiangbei Province, it was the impoverished who extended a helping hand to me. As for the wealthy... the wealthy people whose illnesses I had cured in the past, not a single one of them was anywhere to be seen. What an absolute irony!"

Hearing this, Liu Xing opened his mouth, momentarily at a loss for words.

Divine Doctor Jiang reached out and patted Liu Xing on the shoulder. "Don't think too much into it. Let me leave you with a phrase: *Unless you walk in another's shoes, never urge them to be charitable.* You will probably never imagine the dark truths hidden behind certain matters."

"Oh!" Liu Xing nodded.

As a person reborn, he thoroughly agreed with Divine Doctor Jiang's sentiment.

"I must be going." Divine Doctor Jiang checked the time. "After bidding farewell to Village Chief Zhao, I will set off back to Xiangbei Province. Take Lanlan back to the shoe store!"

"Alright!" Holding Lanlan's hand, Liu Xing stood up and left the side room.

Watching the retreating figures of Lanlan and Liu Xing, Divine Doctor Jiang let out a soft sigh and followed them out.

...

Upon returning to the shoe store, Liu Xing filled Liu Dongju in on the situation regarding Divine Doctor Jiang.

Seeing Liu Dongju's expression of utter bewilderment and shock, he reached out and pulled Lanlan over. "Elder sister, I'll have to trouble you to look after her temporarily."

"Where on earth do I have the time right now? We need to transplant rice seedlings at home!" Liu Dongju immediately voiced her difficulties.

This wasn't a polite way of rejecting Liu Xing; it was the sheer truth.

"I only need you to watch her for a few minutes. Don't tell me you don't even have that much time?" Liu Xing teased.

"I do, I do!" Liu Dongju nodded repeatedly.

Liu Xing smiled, turned around, and walked toward the main entrance of the shoe store.

At the entrance, Li Dawei and Li Weiwei, who was sitting in her wheelchair, were waiting.

Seeing Liu Xing approach, they hurried forward.

Li Dawei chuckled sheepishly, "Has Divine Doctor Jiang left?"

"Mn, but he should be coming back," Liu Xing replied with a nod.

"Did the old gentleman give a definite time for his return?" Li Dawei couldn't help asking.

Given that this concerned Li Weiwei's condition, he had no choice but to care.

Liu Xing replied, "How would I know that? You just take Weiwei back and wait. I imagine it will take at least ten days to half a month before he returns. After all, the old gentleman isn't going back for a holiday; he has very important matters to attend to."

"If you can't afford to wait, you can always go find another doctor. There are plenty of doctors in this world, after all!" Liu Xing offered a kind reminder.

"I can afford to wait, I can afford to wait," Li Dawei hurriedly answered. "Then I'll take Weiwei back home for now. As for the money to repair the wine-filling equipment, given how things are today, I probably won't be able to bring it over. Let's leave everything until tomorrow, how does that sound?"

"Dad, it should be the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow is Sunday, the bank isn't open," Li Weiwei chimed in.

Even if it were open, withdrawing that much cash might not be so easy.

After all, twenty thousand yuan was no small sum.

"Right! Right! Right! Look at my terrible memory." Li Dawei laughed awkwardly.

Hearing this, Liu Xing chuckled as well. "There's no rush about the money. Don't forget, before you help me fix the wine-filling equipment, you have to help transplant the rice seedlings for my family—and that's over a dozen mu of land."

"I know, I know," Li Dawei nodded vigorously.

"Then you should head back!" Not wanting to waste any more breath on Li Dawei, Liu Xing dropped those words and headed to the backyard to check on the little black calf.

Li Dawei originally wanted to follow him to ask more about Divine Doctor Jiang's situation, but seeing how indifferent Liu Xing was toward him, he could only let out a soft sigh and leave with Li Weiwei by carriage.

...

In the backyard.

Guazi and Xiaobudian were digging up an ant hill in the corner, while Zhao Jing watched from the side.

None of the three noticed Liu Xing's arrival.

It wasn't until Zhao Dongkui called out to Liu Xing that Guazi snapped back to reality. "Older brother, you're finally back. Someone was looking for you just a moment ago."

"That's right, that's right!" Xiaobudian chimed in.

"Oh?" Liu Xing looked perplexed.

"Zhao Gou and Zhao Liang were looking for you about something. They said they wanted to tally up the temporary stall fees collected by Gouzi and the others today," Zhao Dongkui explained.

"Where are they?" Liu Xing looked at Zhao Dongkui.

"They should be somewhere around the shoe store?" Zhao Dongkui wasn't entirely certain.

Hearing this, Liu Xing reached out to pat the back of the little black calf and turned to walk out of the backyard.

Guazi and Xiaobudian hopped and skipped along behind him.

Seeing no one left to play with her, Zhao Jing hurried along in their footsteps as well.

...

Inside the kitchen.

Liu Xing found Zhao Gou and Zhao Liang, who were roasting and eating sweet potatoes.

Also present was another market administrator from the market, 'Gouzi'.

Gouzi was a nickname; his actual surname was also Zhao, and his given name was Gouqi.

He had a somewhat furtive appearance, with a pointed chin and sunken cheeks that made him look rather ruffian-like.

However, after interacting with him, Liu Xing came to realize that this Zhao Gouqi was actually quite an honest person.

He spoke very slowly; an impatient person could easily get a heart attack listening to him.

Just look at Zhao Gou, who was eating a sweet potato nearby. Seeing that Gouzi was taking forever to explain a single matter, he reached out and snatched the ledger for the temporary stall fees. "You really something else. I saw you eat two meat buns this morning, so why are you speaking so breathlessly now? We just collected a dozen yuan or so in temporary stall fees! Let me explain it, I've got other business to attend to afterwards!"

"Alright! You tell it, you tell it," Gouzi quickly yielded the small wooden stool.

Yet Zhao Gou didn't sit down, because his burly figure was simply too much for a tiny stool to support. After finishing his sweet potato in two or three bites, he directly pulled seventeen yuan and eighty-six cents from his pocket and handed it to Liu Xing. "Boss, this is the temporary stall fees we collected in the market today. Count it. As for the ledger, I can't read it anyway; you can take it back and check it over when you have time."

"Wait... the temporary stall fees for an entire market day only amount to seventeen yuan?" Liu Xing looked at the money in Zhao Gou's hand, asking in a startled, disbelieving voice.

To him, a market day drew a crowd of tens of thousands of people.

The volume of commodity transactions must have easily reached tens of thousands.

Given that foundation, the temporary stall fees amounted to merely a dozen or so yuan.

Wasn't this a joke?

If he didn't know that Zhao Gou, Zhao Liang, and Gouzi wouldn't conceal the stall fees, he would have had a strong urge to curse out loud.

If the temporary stall fees remained this pitifully low on every future market day, taking on the role of market manager would turn out to be a hot potato indeed.

Noticing that Liu Xing felt the money was too little, Zhao Gou offered an awkward, sheepish smile. "Boss, you don't understand. Right now, we only charge ten cents for a temporary stall. That seventeen-odd yuan represents over a hundred and seventy temporary stalls!"

"Village Chief Zhao also gave fifty cents out of that, and Zhang Ende gave one yuan!" Zhao Liang added.

"What about those other vendors who rented large sheds? I saw them setting up all their goods to trade in the streets around the market. How much temporary stall fee did they pay?" After his initial wave of helplessness, Liu Xing asked another question lingering in his mind.

"Since they've already rented the large sheds, why would they need to pay temporary stall fees? Besides, the money for renting those sheds all went into Xiao Daode's pocket. Even if we wanted to manage it, we don't have the authority," Gouzi replied with a troubled look.

In fact, his words carried a deeper implication.

That is, minor thugs like Xiao Daode were not people they could afford to provoke.

Once they did something detrimental to Xiao Daode, they would likely find themselves in endless trouble.

Wang Daqun, the former market administrator, had ended up thrown in prison by Xiao Daode simply because he ran his mouth too much. Everyone knew this story quite well in their hearts, so to protect their livelihoods, it was best to keep their distance from Xiao Daode.

Liu Xing had actually known about this behind-the-scenes secret long ago. Seeing that things had reached this point, he could only let out a soft sigh and drop the subject. "The temporary stall fees have been collected. Aside from your wages, are there any other expenses?"

"Yes," Gouzi hesitated for a moment before answering timidly.

"What kind of expenses?" Liu Xing was curious.

"The electricity bills for the supply and marketing cooperative, as well as the electricity bills for quite a few wood and bamboo merchants, are all paid out of these temporary stall fees." Seeing that Zhao Gou and Zhao Liang didn't object, Gouzi forced a smile and blurted it out.

"What?" Liu Xing froze upon hearing this.

Based on a maximum of twenty yuan in temporary stall fees for a single market day,

a month would yield at most between one hundred twenty and one hundred fifty yuan.

On top of that, they still had to cover the electricity bills for entities like the supply and marketing cooperative. Was there any justice left in the world?

Only then did he realize that Xie Lion-head had set a trap by making him the person in charge of the market.

If he hadn't bothered to ask clearly, he probably would have been scammed to death eventually.

"There's no help for it. These things were all negotiated beforehand between the previous market manager and Xiao Daode," Gouzi wiped his nose. "Even if we wanted to change it, we don't have the authority."

"Alright!" Liu Xing clutched his head. "Right now, I only want to ask you three: after all expenses are deducted at the end, how much money do each of you get per month?"

"I get fifteen yuan!" Zhao Gou grinned foolishly.

"I get ten yuan!" Zhao Liang said awkwardly.

"I get eight yuan," Gouzi added with embarrassment.

Fearing that Liu Xing would laugh at him, he quickly added, "Actually, the money doesn't matter much. Collecting temporary stall fees brings in ten yuan or so in extra side earnings every month, and sometimes we don't even have to pay out of pocket for breakfast and lunch."

"Look at your lack of ambition! Are you satisfied with just ten yuan or so in side earnings?" Liu Xing couldn't help giving Gouzi a kick. "Listen carefully to me: go back and write a notice on red paper, informing those vendors who rent the large sheds that starting from the next market day, they must pay temporary stall fees. As for electricity and all other miscellaneous expenses, they will have to cover them themselves."

If Xiao Daode hadn't been arrested, he certainly wouldn't have dared to do this.

Doing so would mean going head-to-head with the supply and marketing cooperative, which would never end well.

But the situation was different now. Xiao Daode was not only arrested, but he would likely never get out for the rest of his life. He had to eradicate the various malpractices in the market as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if left unchecked for too long, the accumulated flaws would become an incurable 'disease,' and any future attempts at reform would be impossible.

Of course, his primary source of confidence stemmed from logic itself.

Looking across the entire country, there was no market anywhere that covered the electricity bills of its vendors.

Using basic lighting electricity was one thing, but if it came to three-phase power for heavy machinery, the market would lose money to the point where even their own mothers wouldn't recognize them.

This was clearly Xiao Daode currying favor with those vendors at the expense of the market's interests. While it might have seemed trivial on the surface, it was an extremely selfish act. Who knows, there might even have been hidden under-the-table interests involved, though he, an outsider, was unaware of them.

Therefore, as the current person in charge of the market, he had to abolish these harmful malpractices as soon as possible.

Otherwise...

The one getting screwed in the end wouldn't just be him alone.

As for collecting temporary stall fees from these vendors, it was entirely reasonable and justified.

After all, the locations where these vendors rented their large sheds were already the prime spots in the entire market.

On market days, they spread out all their goods across the temporary stalls, spanning lengths of over a dozen meters—occupying an area several times, or even ten times, larger than that of mobile vendors.

Temporary stalls and fixed stalls were two entirely different concepts.

If they didn't collect more temporary stall fees, who would cover the daily operational expenses of the market, and who would ever dare to come do business here in the future?

Moreover, the biggest problem right now was that these fixed-stall vendors didn't contribute a single cent to the market management, yet took it all for granted. Because they paid Xiao Daode for renting the sheds and had him backing them up, they could act as lawless tyrants in the market.

This was fundamentally a matter of principle. Once proper rules were established, solving it would be simple.

Unfortunately, it had been ruined by the previous market manager, turning into the current chaotic state.

Without resorting to harsh measures, he, the newly appointed person in charge of the market, would never be able to firmly establish his footing.

"I wouldn't dare write a notice like that." Knowing the stakes involved, Gouzi shrank his neck and hurriedly spoke up.

"What about you?" Recovering from his thoughts, Liu Xing looked at Zhao Gou.

With Xiao Daode practically facing the firing squad now, what was there to be afraid of?

If not for the fact that these inside stories couldn't be divulged in advance, he would have written the notice himself long ago.

Because a perfectly good market was being reduced to a foul, chaotic mess by these vendors, and it made his blood boil with frustration.

...

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