Chapter 866 — The Price Is a Bit Low

"Treatment, of course! First things first—the treatment!" Zhen Yingjun said hurriedly. "Medicine King, so this affliction of mine... can it still be cured?"

"It can be cured, yes—but it will be difficult!" The Medicine King sighed. "For me, there is no illness I cannot cure. Yet difficulty varies from case to case. When I treated you before, I already expended a great deal of true qi, and this new affliction of yours is no small matter either. It too will consume true qi..."

"Medicine King, rest assured, I will not stint on your fee. Whatever sum you require, just name it!" Zhen Dazhou said at once, hearing that his son could still be saved.

"That... you will have to ask Young Master Bing. If I spend all my true qi on you, then should other patients come, I would have no way to treat them, and the loss would be far more than a trifle!" the Medicine King said, somewhat troubled. "How about this: wait until my true qi has fully recovered, and then I will treat Yingjun. That way the fee can be a little cheaper too!"

"That... how long would the wait be?" Zhen Dazhou truly did not have much money left. He had come to Songshan City with fifty million to invest in a gambling boat, but before he could invest a single cent, he had already spent over ten million on consultation fees for his son's treatment.

Now, from the Medicine King's tone, treating this new affliction would cost far more than the previous fees. He hesitated. If waiting a while would make it cheaper, what harm was there in waiting?

"Three to five years, perhaps," the Medicine King said mildly.

"Gah?" Zhen Yingjun and Zhen Dazhou were instantly dumbstruck, staring at each other. Three to five years? Zhen Dazhou had assumed that "waiting a while" meant a few days, a month at most. Who would have thought it meant three to five years? That was far too long!

Zhen Yingjun could not wait that long. If something else went wrong in the meantime, or the Medicine King could not be found, would he not be a eunuch for the rest of his life? At the thought, Zhen Yingjun could not help but look to Zhen Dazhou for help, and Zhen Dazhou had thought of the same thing. How could he wait? If he waited and something else went wrong, the Zhen family line would end!

Zhen Dazhou gritted his teeth and asked, "Young Master Bing, the fee is no problem. So long as my son Yingjun's illness can be cured, any amount is fine!"

"That..." Young Master Bing hesitated, then said with some difficulty, "Ah, it is not that I do not wish to treat you. The truth is, life has its price, but true qi is priceless!"

Hearing this, Zhen Dazhou wanted nothing more than to curse. What sort of logic was that—life has its price, true qi is priceless! But he dared not show his anger. He could only swallow it and ask, "It does not matter. Please, just name your price."

"Thirty million at the very least, I suppose..." Zhao Qibing said mildly.

"Gah?" Zhen Dazhou was truly stunned by the price. He had expected the treatment to cost a great deal, but never this much! Thirty million—that was wealth he had scraped together bit by bit in Donghai, and now it would simply be gone?

"Young Master Bing, this price..." The Medicine King, hearing the figure, seemed somewhat troubled.

At the Medicine King's words, Zhen Dazhou was overjoyed. It seemed the Medicine King also thought the price too high and meant to speak up for him! The Medicine King was truly a good man! He hastened to agree, "Yes, yes, this price really is a bit..."

"A bit low!" the Medicine King finished. "My true qi is priceless!"

Hearing this, Zhen Dazhou nearly vomited blood and died. So the Medicine King thought the price too low, not too high? And he had foolishly chimed in—what an utter idiot he was!

"Oh? Zhen Dazhou, you feel the same? It seems I truly am a philanthropist, asking such a paltry sum!" Zhao Qibing shook his head with some self-mockery. "In that case, you may add a little more..."

"Well... heh heh, ha ha, money is a bit tight for me just now. Thirty million, then—thirty million it is..." Zhen Dazhou, embarrassed, braced himself and agreed to the thirty million. Did he dare not agree? If he refused, in a moment it might well become forty million.

"Fine. Since thirty million it is, then thirty million. I have already spoken the words, so let it be this price, Medicine King. What do you say?" Zhao Qibing looked at the Medicine King and asked.

"Good. Whatever Young Master Bing says, so it shall be," the Medicine King nodded.

"Thank you, Young Master Bing. I will go and prepare the money at once..." Zhen Dazhou said. "Then my son Yingjun and I will take our leave, and return once the money is gathered!"

"Dad, why not let you go and prepare the money while I stay here for treatment?" Zhen Yingjun did not understand why his father wanted him to leave as well.

"How could that be? How can the Medicine King treat you if you have not paid? Truly senseless!" Zhen Dazhou glared at Zhen Yingjun.

Zhen Yingjun had no choice but to follow his father out of the bar. Somewhat puzzled, he asked, "Dad, why did you drag me out here? Would it not be better to let me start treatment first and avoid any further trouble?"

"We came in a hurry, thinking it was an aftereffect, but now it seems it is not an aftereffect at all. So I thought—should we not also go to a hospital and have a look? If the hospital can cure it too, then we need not spend this wasted money, no?" Zhen Dazhou was not a fool after all; he still had a bit of sense.

"That makes sense. I was too anxious!" Zhen Yingjun, hearing this, realized it was indeed so, and nodded repeatedly. "Yes, thirty million could buy so many other things. To spend it on treatment really does hurt the heart!"

The father and son put their heads together, then hailed a cab and headed straight for the hospital. But they made the rounds of the First People's Hospital, the Men's Specialized Hospital, and others besides, and none of them could find anything wrong. The Medicine King had indeed been right about his illness—there was no illness to begin with, so what could the hospitals possibly find?

It was entirely the Medicine King's secret handiwork. Only the one who tied the bell can untie it; how could any outsider know what the Medicine King had done?

Coming out of the hospital, the Zhen father and son were thoroughly convinced of the Medicine King's words. Zhen Dazhou sighed. "It seems you truly have no illness. It was that Wei Zhao who tampered with you. Even these big hospitals say you are not ill. It looks as though the only way is to seek the Medicine King's treatment."

"Wei Zhao! I swear I will cut you into ten thousand pieces!" Zhen Yingjun gnashed his teeth in fury. He had only kicked an old woman he had never met before, and that old woman had no connection to Wei Zhao whatsoever. Yet Wei Zhao had dealt him such a vicious blow. What deep hatred did he and Wei Zhao share, that he should do this to him?

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