From Evil Sect Leader to Doctor

Xu Chunliang took out his phone and snapped a series of shots of Qu Chuanfu.

Qu Chuanfu felt like dying; all the humiliation he’d suffered in his life added together couldn’t compare to this very moment.

Xu Chunliang said, "Qu Chuanfu, listen to me carefully. From today on, you’re a cripple. I’ll spare your life for now. You’re going to honestly explain who ordered you to publish those articles smearing Chinese medicine."

He struck out and released Qu Chuanfu’s acupoints; Qu Chuanfu felt a loosening in his chest and let out a low moan that made him feel utterly ashamed.

Realizing he had regained control of his body, Qu Chuanfu silently crawled up from the floor, pulled up his pants, and out of the corner of his eye saw Xu Chunliang still brazenly filming him. Rage surged up—after suffering such a monstrous humiliation, he felt he had no face to live. He grabbed the fruit knife from the coffee table and lunged at Xu Chunliang.

Halfway through the charge, Qu Chuanfu already regretted it. He didn’t have the guts to kill, and suddenly he remembered—where did this fruit knife even come from? Staring at Xu Chunliang’s phone recording him, he suddenly understood: a setup, the whole damn thing was a setup. The knife wasn’t his; eight or nine times out of ten, Xu Chunliang had deliberately placed it there. This bastard had calculated every step—first provoking him, banking on him losing his mind in a fit of shame and anger, so he left a knife handy.

Now it was all being recorded. At this point even if Xu Chunliang grabbed the knife and killed him, it would still count as legitimate self-defense.

Though Qu Chuanfu’s character was despicable, he was also a highly educated, high-IQ elite. His brain spun fast, and halfway through his rush he tried to stop.

But laying down the butcher’s knife and becoming a Buddha on the spot is never that easy—especially when you’re dealing with Xu Chunliang.

Xu Chunliang held the phone in one hand and grabbed Qu Chuanfu’s knife-wielding wrist with the other. With a light squeeze, Qu Chuanfu’s bones felt like they were shattering. He wanted to drop the knife, but Xu Chunliang hadn’t finished filming; how could he let him drop it now? Putting on an act, he shouted, "Qu Chuanfu, put the knife down. Hurry up and put the knife down. I promise I won’t expose your dirty little secret."

As he spoke, he twisted Qu Chuanfu’s wrist. With a thud, Qu Chuanfu dropped to his knees before him, gritting his teeth as he said, "Despicable cur, you actually use this kind of trick against me. You’ll get your retribution."

Xu Chunliang laughed and said, "I’ve never been afraid of retaliation from petty scum. Now that I’ve got evidence of you attacking with a knife, even if I kill you it’s still legitimate self-defense."

Qu Chuanfu drew in a sharp breath, panic rising in his heart. Knowing how ruthless this bastard was, it wasn’t impossible he might really kill him. He stammered, "I... I’ve got no grudge against you. Why are you doing this to me?"

Xu Chunliang said, "Huiren Hall has no grudge against you, so why did you smear them? Not only that, you even smear your own ancestors’ culture. Trash like you, who’ve lost every shred of conscience, are worse than pigs and dogs."

"It hurts... it’s broken... it’s about to break..." Qu Chuanfu whimpered under his breath. Don’t be fooled by how he kept saying he’d call the police; he didn’t dare at all.

Xu Chunliang said, "Tell me, exactly how much money did you take from others to do something that betrays your ancestors like this?"

By now, Qu Chuanfu was in so much pain he was half dead, unable to endure any longer. He pleaded, "Spare me... it was all... all them forcing me to do it."

Xu Chunliang smiled squinting his eyes. "Good, now you’re talking like a human being." He still didn’t loosen his grip on Qu Chuanfu’s wrist. "Who are they?"

Qu Chuanfu said shakily, "His name is Lu Taiyin... he... he... he’s the one who forced me..."

Xu Chunliang had met Lu Taiyin before; he was Huang Youlong’s most capable aide. What Qu Chuanfu said was essentially an admission that the group of public intellectuals smearing Chinese medicine had indeed been orchestrated by Mingde Group.

Xu Chunliang said, "Tell me in detail, how did he force you?"

Qu Chuanfu said, "He... he... used women to lure me... please spare me... spare me..."

Looking at the tail-wagging, begging-for-mercy Qu Chuanfu, Xu Chunliang thought to himself that the saying "flies don’t bite seamless eggs" really was true.

Xu Chunliang said, "Listen up. You’re going to immediately publish an article to clear the name of traditional Chinese medicine, to cry injustice for Huiren Hall. The theme is: be on guard against external forces using another form to conduct cultural infiltration against our country."

Cold sweat streamed down Qu Chuanfu’s face from the pain. "That... I... I can’t do it..."

With a crack, Xu Chunliang exerted force and directly snapped his right wrist. Qu Chuanfu let out a miserable scream, and Xu Chunliang promptly covered his mouth and nose.

Qu Chuanfu’s whole body trembled from the pain. Xu Chunliang lowered his voice and said, "Now can you do it?"

Qu Chuanfu thought this bastard was too vicious. If he disobeyed again, the guy would probably break his other hand too.

"I... I’ll do it. I’ll do everything you say..."

Xu Chunliang sighed and said, "You really are begging for it. If you’d agreed earlier, none of this would’ve happened. Why suffer like this?"

Hatred boiled in Qu Chuanfu’s heart toward Xu Chunliang. You broke my arm and still throw out this kind of sarcastic crap. You’re too vicious, utterly inhuman.

Xu Chunliang looked at Qu Chuanfu with a squinting smile and said, "If someone asks how your hand got broken, how should you answer?"

Qu Chuanfu said, trembling, "I... I fell when I was going downstairs."

Xu Chunliang said, "As expected of a knowledge elite, that brain of yours really is flexible—one hint and you get it. Lastly, I’ll need to trouble you for a small favor."

Right now, Qu Chuanfu saw Xu Chunliang as a demon and only wished he’d leave as soon as possible. He nodded repeatedly, partly desperate for him to just say it, and partly because the pain from his broken wrist was unbearable.

Xu Chunliang said, "Judging from the look of you, it must hurt pretty bad, huh?"

Qu Chuanfu was grinding his teeth in hatred. The pain was your doing: you barged into my office, yanked down my pants, jabbed me with needles, and then... ah! Just thinking back to what happened, Qu Chuanfu wished he could bash his head against the wall and die.

Just Xu Chunliang snapping his wrist alone already constituted the crime of causing bodily injury; sending this bastard off to tread a sewing machine would be perfectly fitting. But he really, really shouldn’t have grabbed that fruit knife—now Xu Chunliang’s turned it into legitimate self-defense.

Right when Qu Chuanfu’s mind was in utter turmoil, Xu Chunliang took out a medicated plaster and applied it to the fracture: "Our Huichun Hall’s plasters are extremely effective. Once it’s on, the pain stops immediately. In less than half a month you’ll be good as new. Since you claim TCM is useless, I’ll show you otherwise."

Qu Chuanfu thought, to prove your point you didn’t have to twist my arm off. But, strangely enough, as soon as Xu Chunliang stuck the plaster on, the pain immediately faded. The spot where the plaster was applied felt warm all over, the fractured bone seam itched faintly, as if it were already starting to heal.

Xu Chunliang said, "Get Lu Taiyin to meet me."

Qu Chuanfu pulled a long face and said, "Don’t make things hard for me. I swear I’ll never breathe a word about what happened tonight. I’ll also do my best to write the articles you want. It’s just that Lu Taiyin is a ruthless bastard—he’s got dirt on me. If he finds out I set him up, I’ll be ruined in no time."

Xu Chunliang laughed. "You’ve already thrown away your dignity and you still care about your reputation? Where does he live?"

Qu Chuanfu said, "I don’t know where he lives. Every time I met him it was at Han Shangyuan in Wangjing. Oh right, he’s got a helper named Che Shixiong—that barbecue restaurant is Che Shixiong’s."

Xu Chunliang got the address from Qu Chuanfu and didn’t make things any harder for him. When he stepped out, Gao Xiaobai was still waiting outside.

Seeing Xu Chunliang come out, Gao Xiaobai hurried up to him and whispered, "Well?"

Xu Chunliang gave her a look, indicating they should leave first and talk later.

The two of them went downstairs. Gao Xiaobai asked again, "What did you do to him?"

Xu Chunliang said, "Relax, I just gave him a light lesson. He’s still very much alive."

Only when Gao Xiaobai heard that no one had died did she finally relax. It’s just that she still didn’t quite know what "a light lesson" meant. Back in the office she’d clearly seen Xu Chunliang give Qu Chuanfu a brutal beating.

But Qu Chuanfu hadn’t called the police—probably got beaten into submission by Xu Chunliang.

Xu Chunliang said, "It’s getting late. I’ll take you home first. Qu Chuanfu promised me he’ll write a few articles to clear TCM’s name."

Gao Xiaobai said, "His word might not be reliable."

Xu Chunliang smiled. "He probably won’t dare lie to me."

Xu Chunliang walked Gao Xiaobai all the way to the gate of her residential compound before leaving. Gao Xiaobai reminded him to go back and rest early.

Xu Chunliang had no intention of going back just yet. In the past, he was the type who never let a grudge last overnight. But after crossing time and arriving in the modern era, he’d changed quite a bit—less viciousness, more tolerance. Different times call for different ways of doing things.

Qu Chuanfu’s loss of conscience was certainly disgusting, but the real culprit behind him was Mingde Group headed by Huang Youlong. Xu Chunliang decided to follow the trail and dig up more inside information. As long as he handed what he found over to Lin Sijin, he’d be able to convince her that the Huiren Hall incident was actually a malicious attack and smear campaign launched by a tiny foreign country against traditional Chinese medicine.

Chen Jianxin came back very late. He’d had some drinks, and when he saw Liang Wenjing he still had alcohol on his breath. He reached out to pinch Liang Wenjing’s chin. "You look really beautiful tonight."

Liang Wenjing pushed his hand away, took out a cigarette and clamped it between her lips.

Chen Jianxin immediately caught on and pulled out his lighter to light it for her.

Liang Wenjing took a drag and said, "Where did you go?"

Chen Jianxin grabbed a bottle of mineral water and gulped down half of it. "Didn’t I tell you? Met up with a few old classmates, had a few drinks. What, did you miss me?"

Liang Wenjing said, "Male classmates or female classmates?"

Chen Jianxin burst out laughing and stepped back in front of Liang Wenjing. "Both. You’re jealous over that too?"

Liang Wenjing flicked the ash into the ashtray. "Xiaochen, what do you think of how I treat you?"

Chen Jianxin said, "Good, way too good." He leaned in, wanting to give Liang Wenjing a hug, but she stopped him with just a look.

Liang Wenjing said, "Did you get close to me just to take revenge on Sheng Chaohui?"

Chen Jianxin shook his head. "No such thing. I really like you. I..."

Liang Wenjing tossed a notebook to him. Chen Jianxin caught it, flipped it open, and cold sweat immediately broke out on his forehead.