"Recognize this?"
After reassuring Lin Zhengping, Xia Xu casually picked up a small box and held it right in front of Qian Chenghe's nose. "I imagine this looks very familiar to you. You've taken quite a few of these, haven't you?" he asked calmly.
"What are you trying to say?"
Qian Chenghe had fallen into a daze the instant the objects dropped out of the statue. But it did not seem to be the anguish or regret of someone whose bargain had been snatched away. His eyes had simply gone blank.
Only when Xia Xu held the box in front of his nose did his eyes regain their focus. He stumbled half a step backward.
"Angong Niuhuang Pills. I remember they have another name-the Soul-Returning Pill, don't they? What a shame. They can bring back a soul, but not a conscience."
Xia Xu's voice was remarkably calm, so calm it was almost chilling.
These little boxes contained what Zhang Jianmin was originally supposed to acquire at a bargain in the plot of "The Dying Man": original-formula Angong Niuhuang Pills produced twenty or thirty years ago. They were a very unusual kind of "antique," as well as a medicine.
Traditional Chinese medicine had declined considerably in modern society because its theories were difficult to verify and learn. People in China either dismissed its practitioners as frauds or exaggerated its abilities to absurd extremes.
The former belittled it completely, while the latter treated it as an omnipotent divine art, imposing all manner of mindless, unreasonable demands on it. Neither attitude was particularly sensible.
Yet there was no denying that the thousands of years of Chinese civilization had passed down countless treasures and wonders. Take the widely known Yunnan Baiyao, for instance: its traditional medicinal formula was classified as a top-level national secret, to remain confidential forever!
Angong Niuhuang Pills ranked only slightly below Yunnan Baiyao. Their formula was a first-class national secret, and they were also known as the Soul-Returning Pill. They could treat various febrile illnesses, stroke-induced comas, meningitis, cerebral hemorrhages, and more, and could save lives in many cases where serious illness had left a patient unconscious.
(Please don't take them indiscriminately. Medication must suit the condition. The author doesn't know much about this either, so let me state in advance that I accept no responsibility.)
However, one of the ingredients in Angong Niuhuang Pills was rhinoceros horn. Since its use was now prohibited, it had been replaced with concentrated water buffalo horn powder. Other ingredients, such as ox bezoar and musk, had also been replaced with synthetic versions, making the pills considerably less potent than those produced in the past.
The Angong Niuhuang Pills that had just fallen out of the Guanyin Statue were precisely those produced over twenty years ago, using all the original ingredients. Each pill had a market value of at least ten thousand yuan.
Although they should theoretically have passed their expiration date, their wax seals and other preservation measures meant these Angong Niuhuang Pills should still be usable.
At the very least, Xia Xu had seen in the plot synopsis of The Dying Man that Lin Zhengping used the Angong Niuhuang Pills inside the statue to bring his wife out of her coma.
But the pills that fell out of the Guanyin Statue also brought a long-buried past to light.
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
When Qian Chenghe heard Xia Xu say "not a conscience," a flicker of alarm and suspicion entered his eyes.
For every stumbling step he took backward, Xia Xu followed him a step forward, smiling. "What, you don't recognize them? These are the treasures you've been searching for all along. The treasures your father left you."
"Impossible!"
Qian Chenghe instinctively rejected it, then snapped back to his senses in horror. "You... what nonsense are you talking about? What father? At my age, my father's been dead for decades."
"At your age? Then why did I just hear you say you could live for several more decades? Are you the god of longevity incarnate?"
Xia Xu's smile faded, his voice and gaze growing steadily colder. "Fine. You don't remember, do you? Then let me refresh your memory.
"You were frail and sickly from childhood, suffering convulsions and falling unconscious every so often. Countless times, you barely escaped death because your father spared no expense to keep you alive with these Angong Niuhuang Pills.
"Your health only gradually improved as you grew older. Unfortunately, you never learned to behave. You thought your family was too poor and embarrassing, so you left home early to swindle and cheat alongside others.
"Probably the only time you showed any filial affection was when you made a large sum of money once and picked up this statue for your father on your way home..."
Xia Xu spoke in a flat, matter-of-fact tone, but to Qian Chenghe, his words were the whispers of a nightmare.
"Shut up!"
Qian Chenghe's face and neck reddened as he interrupted Xia Xu in panic and terror.
But Xia Xu remained unmoved and continued in the same mild tone. "You made your father so happy that time. For ages, he couldn't stop grinning. He told everyone he met that his son had grown up, knew how to show his father some affection, and could earn money now.
"Unfortunately, he didn't know his son had earned that money by trafficking a mentally impaired man from the neighboring village into the Black Brick Kiln. A bodhisattva bought with that money... oh, sorry, 'invited,' as you put it. A bodhisattva invited home with that money wouldn't grant any blessings."
"Enough!"
With his sore spot exposed, along with his crime, Qian Chenghe charged at Xia Xu in panic and humiliated fury, intending to attack him. But Yang Bowen, standing nearby, kicked him in the chest.
Although Yang Bowen had no particular talent for combat, he was a freight driver who spent his days hauling and unloading goods. He had a sturdy build and plenty of brute strength. Burning with anger at what he had heard, he sent Qian Chenghe sprawling with a single kick.
Qian Chenghe clutched his abdomen in pain and curled up like a cooked lobster. Yet Xia Xu's voice, which sounded to him like a demon demanding his life, continued.
"Since you don't want to hear about that, let's skip ahead and talk about what happened afterward.
"Later, you often heard your father say he'd left you a treasure, something he would pass on to you after he died. You were delighted every time you heard it, and you'd become a dutiful son for a while. You even started visiting home more often.
"Unfortunately, that didn't last. One time, you ran up gambling debts you couldn't repay. Remembering the treasure your father had mentioned, you rushed home overnight to demand it, only to be refused.
"Your father said there was no treasure, but you didn't believe him. In your humiliated anger, you even decided he was deliberately dangling it in front of you, withholding it so you would obediently wait on him hand and foot. So you decided you might as well go all the way..."
Xia Xu paused, then gave a vivid imitation. "I bet this was exactly how you acted back then. You won't give it to me? So you won't, huh? You'll only pass it on after you're dead, right? Then why don't you just..."
"Stop... stop talking."
Qian Chenghe's face twisted with pain, veins bulging in his neck, but he still managed to force out a few words.
Clearly, Xia Xu's calm, matter-of-fact account tormented him even more than the physical pain.
"In the end, you still didn't find the treasure your father left you, did you?"
Xia Xu's gaze was cold and indifferent, but a smile appeared on his face as he held a box of Angong Niuhuang Pills in front of Qian Chenghe's eyes. "This is the treasure your father left you. The treasure he hid inside the Guanyin Statue and prayed over day and night, hoping the bodhisattva would bless it in addition to its medicinal effects!
"By then, the formula for these Angong Niuhuang Pills had already changed. He was counting on these old pills as a precaution, so they could still save his precious son's life someday..."
"Enough! Please... enough..."
A whimper mingling pain with bewildered desperation escaped Qian Chenghe's mouth. "Impossible. It couldn't have been like that... it shouldn't have been like that... he was the one who didn't care whether I lived or died..."
His whimpers finally turned into sobs, growing more and more violent until he was weeping his heart out, tears and snot streaming down his face.
"I thought you were some ruthless bastard. Crying already?"
Xia Xu's expression froze briefly, then he suddenly seemed to lose interest. He nudged the fragments of the Guanyin Statue on the ground with his foot. "Want to consider buying these pieces back? Forty thousand. No, four hundred thousand!"
If you think this book is good, please remember to add it to your bookshelf so you won't lose track of it next time.
Before you continue