Chapter 27: The Perfect Candidate

Upon hearing this, the old man coughed and struggled to rise from his bed, pressing his palms together in a difficult gesture toward us.

His left fingers were curled halfway, tucked tightly against the palm of his right hand.

This is the humble greeting of those in the underworld; the left hand represents oneself, while the right represents the other party. By keeping the left hand lower than the right, one shows respect, acknowledging the other person as being on a "high platform."

I returned the gesture in kind, then placed a pillow behind him to help him sit propped up against the headboard. Despite his grave illness, he possessed the seasoned aura of an old veteran of the streets.

"Cough, cough... Xiaoyao, our friends are here. Why haven't you invited them in yet? Cough, cough... How rude!"

Ji Xiaoyao, hearing this, had no choice but to enter the room, looking sullen.

"Master, they—"

I quickly interrupted her.

"Xiaoyao, didn't you say you wanted to show us something fun? Go find it!"

Ji Xiaoyao shot me a fierce glare and turned to rummage through her things. My intention in drawing close to the old man was merely to make Ji Xiaoyao wary, preventing her from playing any tricks on us. Regardless of what was said, we would never truly harm a terminally ill old man.

The room was cluttered with a chaotic array of items. Whether the jade pendant was hidden too well or simply lost in the passage of time, it seemed Ji Xiaoyao wouldn't be able to produce it immediately.

The old man struggled to climb out of bed to brew us tea. I hurriedly stopped him, deciding to make small talk to keep him from suspecting anything amiss.

"Old sir, please don't trouble yourself. Though we haven't known Xiaoyao for long, we hit it off immediately and feel like siblings; there's no need for such formalities. By the way, how did your health deteriorate to this state?"

Perhaps the old man hadn't had anyone from the outside show him concern in a long time, so he opened up, chatting with us between bouts of coughing.

Through this conversation, we learned they were from Cang City in Hebei Province. The old man suffered from a strange malady; while his body was as thin as a skeleton, his abdomen was distended like a cow’s, and he suffered from chronic wheezing and coughing up blood. He had been rushed to the hospital several times, nearly dying on multiple occasions.

Western medicine couldn't identify the cause, so they turned to Traditional Chinese Medicine. Several months ago, they obtained a folk remedy that claimed a rare medicinal ingredient from the south, known as "Bull-Calf Root," was required as a catalyst to cure him. However, after searching through several southern provinces, they found it only existed in Zhang City in northern Jiangxi, known as the "Medicine Capital."

Once in Zhang City, they found the root, but the merchants refused to sell it, claiming the entire stock had been bought out by a pharmacy in Chang City.

With no other choice, they came to Chang City to purchase it from that pharmacy. But the ingredient was as expensive as gold, and after spending all their money, the two had no choice but to rent a room in the slums.

The old man let out a long sigh.

"Xiaoyao is a poor girl. Abandoned by her parents at a young age, she followed me to learn a few low-level street tricks. My own body is useless and has been a burden to her. At her age, she should be wearing makeup and falling in love, but instead, she has to work hard at street stalls to earn money."

"Money... even if you throw it in the water, it makes a sound, cough, cough... but to keep an old man alive, it’s a bottomless pit. I’ve told her to stop treating it, but she refuses."

Ji Xiaoyao stopped searching and turned around, looking somewhat annoyed.

"Master, can you please say less?"

"Xiaoyao, I don't have many days left. Let me speak while I still can, cough, cough..."

The old man’s eyes grew a bit red. He turned to us and said, "Xiaoyao has never brought friends home before. It seems you two are truly close. I ask that you look after this girl in the future."

I suddenly felt that something was wrong. I picked up the plastic bag that had contained their medicinal herbs and glanced at the text printed on the bottom. My heart sank.

*Jiguang Pharmacy.*

It was one of Xiao Sanpi’s businesses!

Xu Qingguo had once told me that Jiguang Pharmacy controlled almost the entire medicinal trade in northern Jiangxi; many established medicine merchants in Zhang City had to pay tribute to him.

I frowned and asked, "Old sir, did you buy the Bull-Calf Root at Jiguang Pharmacy?"

The old man nodded.

"Cough, cough... Yes, Jiguang Pharmacy. But it hasn't had any effect."

If it had no effect, either the prescription was wrong or the medicine was fake—and the latter was far more likely. After all, the branches under the Nine Nether Hall primarily made their fortunes by selling counterfeit medicine.

As I was pondering this, Ji Xiaoyao stood up from a pile of debris and said to us coldly, "Brothers, I found that 'fun thing.' Shall we go outside and play?"

I nodded to Fatty Dong.

"You go out with Xiaoyao first."

I needed to stay by the old man’s side. Having Fatty Dong go out first to retrieve the item and verify it was genuine was the only way I could feel at ease. This wasn't excessive caution; we were genuinely wary of the girl’s unpredictable "Colorful Gate" sleight-of-hand techniques.

Ji Xiaoyao gave a disdainful snort at my words and left the room first.

A moment later, Fatty Dong called out from outside.

"Xiao Meng, come on out."

I bid the old man farewell and quickly exited.

At the entrance, the three of us stood in a line. Fatty Dong stood in front holding the jade, Ji Xiaoyao was in the middle, and I was at the back.

Seeing our cautious demeanor, Ji Xiaoyao raised her middle finger, first at me, then at Fatty Dong.

"A piece of trash jade—this lady isn't interested!"

After saying this, she put her hands behind her back, lifted her chin, tossed her hair, and turned to stomp back into the rental room with an arrogant air.

I hurried over to Fatty Dong.

"Is the item correct?"

Fatty Dong replied, "It's correct... she even returned the money to me."

We looked at each other. Fatty Dong scratched his head.

"Xiao Meng, don't you think the old man is a bit pitiful? Maybe we shouldn't take the money."

I had expected him to say that.

"The money doesn't matter," I replied. "The key is that this involves Jiguang Pharmacy. Regardless of whether the old man’s story is true or false, if I don't do something, I won't be able to let this go!"

We went to a small shop nearby. I bought a large envelope from the owner, stuffed the money inside, and took out a pen and paper. I wrote down Xu Qingguo’s phone number and left a note:

"Jiguang Pharmacy sells counterfeit medicine. If you want to cure your master, I suggest you take him to see Dr. Xu at the Xu Family Clinic on Jiayan Road."

After writing it, I handed the envelope to the shopkeeper along with ten yuan.

"Please deliver this letter to the young lady in the second rental unit to the right."

We began to walk away. We hadn't even gone a hundred meters when a voice called out from behind.

"Hey! Wait up!"

I looked back. It was Ji Xiaoyao. She was panting, holding the envelope.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

I pointed a finger at her.

"Stay right there!"

She froze. I said to her, "Ji Xiaoyao, I told you earlier, there is no deep grudge between us."

"We are all just people trying to make a living in the underworld. Lives are at stake here; we just don't want Jiguang Pharmacy to keep scamming people and hurting them."

"Believe it if you want, or treat it like we're just blowing hot air!"

Ji Xiaoyao was silent.

We ignored her and turned to leave. But unexpectedly, a shadow flashed behind us with incredible speed. Ji Xiaoyao managed to leap ahead of us with a few swift movements, blocking our path with her small arms.

"You're not going anywhere!"

In that instant, I wasn't even thinking about how annoying this girl was. Instead, a strange thought flickered through my mind:

Given Ji Xiaoyao’s face, figure, martial arts, and makeup skills... would she be the perfect candidate to play the role of Liao Xiaoqin?