Shameless scoundrels

Lu Mingyi stopped and looked around. Among the gazes falling on him, several stared at him openly and unblinkingly.

Following those gazes, he met a pair of eyes that seemed intent on stripping off his outer robe, making his whole body uncomfortable.

"Wife."

His blue-gray cotton clothes did not look bulky on him, but he seemed thoroughly anxious and unsettled. Su Yuhe turned back and reassured him, "I really will be back soon. Stay here and watch the chicken. Don't let it flap away."

She hurried to the clinic, only to find its entrance packed with people. Her heart sank. She had just said she would be back soon, yet the place was full of people.

Su Yuhe squeezed into the crowd. The woman she squeezed past merely glanced at her and even began explaining things.

"This man comes here to kneel every ten days or half a month. If you want to get in for treatment, you'll have quite a wait."

She patted the woman in front of her on the shoulder. "Sister, what exactly is going on?"

"See that man on the ground?"

She followed the direction the woman pointed and saw a man kneeling on the ground, his frame frail and thin as a rake. She immediately pictured a pitiful soul who could not afford treatment.

The woman continued, "Every time he comes, he asks the doctor to make a house call, but he won't pay the fee. He's only willing to pay half. If the doctor refuses to go home with him, he kneels in the doorway."

"Huh? How can he do that?"

"Exactly! What a rotten thing to do. He wants the doctor to come treat the patient but won't pay for the consultation or medicine, making the doctor cover it for him. And he actually has the nerve to come back!"

The woman was outspoken, her words brimming with righteous indignation, but Su Yuhe was more concerned with how she could get inside and buy medicine sooner.

She asked, "Does his kneeling there mean no one else can go in?"

"You can go in. There's just an even bigger scoundrel inside."

"Huh?"

The woman laughed at her reaction. "Depends on how urgent it is. If you're in a hurry, go throw a tantrum and roll around too. If not, just wait. That old wretch inside is no one to mess with."

How was she supposed to put it? She was in a hurry to get home, but the medical condition itself was not urgent.

"How long will this take?"

"They usually leave after nightfall."

Su Yuhe sucked in a breath. "That long?"

"Yes." The woman patted her sympathetically. "If it's not urgent, come back tomorrow."

"What about the other patients? What if someone urgently needs to see the doctor?"

There was only one clinic in town. If she could not buy the ointment today, she could buy it tomorrow. But if a patient with an urgent illness was blocked by these two shameless scoundrels, wouldn't that...

The woman considered it for a moment. "If you need to get in urgently, you'll have to argue with that old wretch. You might even end up paying for his medicine."

Su Yuhe was even more shocked. There were actually scoundrels like this? It seemed he had been running amok for some time, yet no one had dealt with him.

She could not stop herself from growing anxious. She could not keep the other passenger waiting too long at the ox cart, and with Lu Mingyi being so good-looking, she feared someone might set their sights on him.

She thought it over. All she needed to do was collect the medicine and pay. She did not need the doctor to take her pulse or examine her. Surely that scoundrel could not latch onto her?

She bolstered her courage, parted the crowd, and headed into the clinic.

Admiring gazes fell on her one after another. In those few short steps, she somehow gave the impression of a heroine disgraced, imprisoned, and marched to the market square to be beheaded.

There were only three people inside: a doctor, a medicine attendant, and a man pounding the floor.

Su Yuhe glanced around, skirted the man, and walked up to the doctor. "Three boxes of ointment."

The doctor had been slumped dejectedly in a round-backed armchair. Her eyes lit up at the sight of Su Yuhe. "I remember you. Your husband returned the medicine."

"Yes."

The man on the floor hastily scrambled up and approached her. When they saw each other's faces clearly, both froze.

"It's you!"

Su Yuhe's face went blank as she inwardly cursed how narrow the road was for enemies. So this old wretch was Liu Xiaobo from her own village.

The doctor hurriedly produced three boxes of ointment. Su Yuhe already had the silver clutched in her hand, and the moment she received the medicine, she handed it over. "Here, one tael and four mace."

The doctor pressed one mace back into her hand. "You're a good wife."

A discount of one mace!

One mace-that was a whole mace! A hundred copper coins, enough to buy fifty flatbreads.

Liu Xiaobo grabbed her wrist. "Since you have so much money, why not lend me some? Once my daughter recovers and becomes a scholar, she'll definitely repay you."

"Will you write me an IOU?"

Liu Xiaobo sounded perfectly justified. "What IOU? We're from the same village. What's wrong with helping each other out?"

She truly did not want to get entangled with someone like him. Pulling his hand away, she said, "Stop grabbing at me. What can you do to me if I won't lend you money?"

Liu Xiaobo tried to snatch her medicine as well. "You're utterly heartless. No wonder no one in the village has anything to do with you."

Su Yuhe dodged swiftly. The medicine attendant hurried forward to hold Liu Xiaobo back. "Blocking people from coming in here is one thing, but if you steal a customer's medicine, I'll report you to the authorities and make you suffer the consequences."

With a wail, Liu Xiaobo dropped to the floor, covering his face and pounding the ground. "Someone, come quick! The clinic's little medicine attendant is beating people! Come and see!"

The attendant let go and turned away in anger. Only then did the doctor come out from inside and put an arm around the young attendant to soothe her. "Don't be angry. Don't be angry. It's not worth making yourself ill."

Su Yuhe took her medicine and walked around Liu Xiaobo toward the exit.

Quite a few patients were watching by the entrance. Seeing her come out with medicine, one of them caught hold of her. "Did you pay for that man inside?"

"Pah! If you want to pay for him, go ahead."

The person gave an awkward laugh. "Then you've finished seeing the doctor?"

She had not wanted to invite trouble upon herself, but for the sake of that one mace, she patiently answered the person holding her back.

"I came to get medicine. They just need to dispense it. If that scoundrel dares try to snatch it, I'll report him to the authorities and see who's in the right."

In truth, once she knew who was throwing the tantrum, she was no longer so flustered. Before entering, she had assumed it was some local tyrant from town. Only after going inside did she discover it was someone from a down-and-out household in her village.

Liu Xiaobo was only a man. His family's breadwinner had died early, and his daughter was disabled. Aside from throwing tantrums, rolling around, and having a vicious tongue, what waves could he possibly stir up?

Liu Xiaobo had indeed gained nothing at her expense, but his family's young husband collapsed right beside her legs, silencing everyone around them.

Startled, Su Yuhe hurriedly reached out to help him up. The moment she did, the young man leaned against her.

He was very light, like a feather settling on her shoulder, almost too light to notice.

She was frantic. She wanted to push him away but feared he would follow the force of her push, fall to the ground, and refuse to get up. Yet if she did not push him away and Liu Xiaobo happened to see them, he would surely extort her, then spread rumors that she had tried to take liberties with his son-in-law.

The young husband propped himself up and whispered, "Go. Hurry and go. I'm fine."

After a moment of stunned silence, the woman who had spoken to her earlier said loudly, "Look at that old wretch inside! He eats so well that he's full of energy, yet he's starved his daughter's husband to this state. Anyone who marries their son into his family must have had eight lifetimes of rotten luck."

Quite a few people in the crowd agreed. "Exactly! Every time they come, he makes his daughter's husband kneel here. If he's so capable, why doesn't he kneel himself?"