The Tooth-Pulling Old Man

"This master can't be kept; he's even less reliable than Master Mengfei."

Su Ziyang slammed his hand on the table in anger and sat down in his chair, puffing out his cheeks.

I'm utterly rebellious!

Su Ziyang grew angrier the more he thought about it, and he slammed his fist on the table in anger.

As Yang Tianzheng held the banner, Su Ziyang was quite certain that he would show it to Mr. Mengfei, and then these people would mock him together.

Su Ziyang was right, because when he got off work that evening, Su Ziyang found Yang Tianzheng waiting for him at the training area with the scroll of the banner in his hand.

"Ziyang, let's do something different today. If you can get this banner, I'll give you three days off. And I won't let your Master Mengfei see this banner, how about that?"

Before Yang Tianzheng could finish speaking, Su Ziyang rushed over.

The result was self-evident: Su Ziyang failed.

After failing, Su Ziyang clung to Yang Tianzheng's leg and started acting like a scoundrel.

Seeing Su Ziyang's shameless behavior, Yang Tianzheng could only laugh and scold as he returned the banner to Su Ziyang.

Su Ziyang took out the banner and saw that it wasn't his own "Get Out" banner at all, but a banner from Daoist Jin, which read "Pediatric Master, Miraculous Healer."

"Kid, cleverness alone isn't enough. You need wisdom."

Yang Tianzheng waved to Su Ziyang and walked away into the distance.

Su Ziyang sighed, suddenly understanding Yang Tianzheng's good intentions.

The next day, around mid-morning, Yang Tianzheng called him downstairs.

Then Su Ziyang saw Yang Tianzheng waiting at the entrance of the residential area on a small electric scooter that he had somehow acquired.

"Master, where are we going?"

You'll see when you get there.

Yang Tianzheng rode his electric scooter further and further off the beaten path, and then Su Ziyang realized that Yang Tianzheng had led him to a large market on the outskirts of the city.

These large markets used to exist in every place, but they have become less and less common with economic development, though they still exist.

This place is a large, comprehensive market; it's very crowded and lively.

Instead, it sells a wide variety of goods, from clothes and food to daily necessities.

Yang Tianzheng was riding his electric scooter straight to a stall in the center of the market. When he got closer, Su Ziyang realized that the stall was run by an old man who looked to be about seventy years old, sitting hunched over on a Xiao Ma.

The old man's stall was marked with a white cloth, which, perhaps due to its many years of use in this dusty market, had faded to a color almost indistinguishable from black cloth.

The cloth had two large characters written on it, "Tooth Extraction".

What the hell?

Su Ziyang felt uneasy as he looked at the words "tooth extraction".

"Master, did you send me here to meet this old man?"

Su Ziyang whispered in Yang Tianzheng's ear.

"Right."

Yang Tianzheng nodded, put the electric scooter away, and got off the vehicle.

"Brother, bring you some loose change."

As he spoke, Yang Tianzheng took out two three-jin bottles of baijiu (Chinese liquor) from the basket of his electric scooter.

"Oh, thank you."

Upon seeing the wine, the old man's aged face broke into a genuinely happy smile, clearly indicating that he was a man who loved wine dearly.

"A small bottle of liquor, one made from corn, and one from sorghum. Would you like a sip?"

Yang Tianzheng held the wine and dripped it over.

"Want to try some?" The old man took the wine, sniffed it a few times at the bottle opening, and stared at Yang Tianzheng with shining eyes.

"Try it. This one's sorghum."

As Yang Tianzheng spoke, he opened a bottle for the old man. There was no wine glass, so Yang Tianzheng simply poured the wine onto the lid of the barrel.

The old man's hands trembled as he took the bottle cap, tilted his head back, and poured it directly into his mouth.

"Sizzle~ This is good sorghum liquor, around 60 degrees Celsius, slightly bitter, just the right flavor!!!"

The old man smacked his lips, giving the wine a very high rating.

"Brother, would you like to try this?"

Yang Tianzheng took the lid of the wine barrel from the old man and pointed to another barrel of corn.

"Okay, have a taste!"

The old man nodded excitedly, and Yang Tianzheng quickly opened the bottle and poured a capful for him.

The old man downed his drink in the same manner, smacked his lips, and nodded. "This tastes just right. The sorghum has a bitter aftertaste, the corn is sweet. This is authentic, definitely homemade; you won't find this flavor in big distilleries. Good, good, good!"

The old man repeatedly said "good," and Yang Tianzheng saw that the old man was happy.

The two barrels of wine were shoved directly into the old man's hands, and the old man accepted them without hesitation, placing them into a bag behind him.

"Brother, this is my little nephew. He has a bit of a toothache. Could you take a look at it?"

Su Ziyang had been standing behind Yang Tianzheng without saying a word, but now he was suddenly pulled in front of the old man by Yang Tianzheng, Su Ziyang was a little at a loss.

"Ah, this is the one you were talking about last time. Come here, young man, let me take a look."

The old man reached out to pry open Su Ziyang's mouth, Su Ziyang, seeing the black dirt under the old man's fingernails, instinctively dodged to the side.

As a result, Yang Tianzheng pushed Su Ziyang from behind with his hand and then kneed him in the lower back. Su Ziyang felt his body suddenly lose strength and instantly put his mouth to the old man's hand.

The old man saw Su Ziyang flinch, then immediately moved closer. He chuckled, revealing his large, yellow teeth. "Young man, it doesn't hurt. No need to flinch."

As they were talking, the old man parted Su Ziyang's lips with two fingers covered in dirt, and Su Ziyang subconsciously opened his mouth.

After taking a look, the old man released his grip and said to Yang Tianzheng, "Your little nephew, the right tooth is growing well, but this molar on the left is blocking it; it needs to be pulled."

Upon hearing the old man's words, Su Ziyang froze on the spot and stopped resisting the old man's dirty hands.

Yang Tianzheng nodded and said to the old man, "That won't work, brother. Please take the trouble and pull it out for him."

The old man nodded after listening. "It's fine to pull it out, it's fine to pull it out. The molars erupt last and fall out first, there's no point in keeping them, they'll just crowd the other teeth. The sooner they're pulled, the better."

The two of them, exchanging glances and speaking in unison, gave Su Ziyang no chance to speak, and just like that, they decided whether or not to keep Su Ziyang's newly grown wisdom tooth.

Su Ziyang listened intently from the side, offering no resistance.

Why?

Because Su Ziyang's left wisdom tooth was always inflamed and would hurt whenever he touched it, Su Ziyang had always wanted to have it extracted.

One reason is its inflammation and pain, and the other is because I always stuff food into it when I eat.

However, extracting a wisdom tooth is no less than a Little Hand. First, an X-ray is needed to determine the shape and direction of the tooth. Second, it is necessary to determine whether the tooth needs to be extracted.

Because the wisdom tooth was particularly large, after extraction, it was necessary to check if sutures were needed, which was very troublesome and time-consuming.

But this old man with grime on his hands opened his mouth and was about to pull out Su Ziyang's wisdom tooth as if it were a drink of cold water, which really surprised Su Ziyang.

"Okay, I'll apply some medicine for you. Don't worry, after I apply the medicine, it might take a while, and when you cough, your tooth will fall out. It won't hurt or bleed."

As the old man spoke, he took out a small glass medicine bottle from his pocket, and then a box of toothpicks from his other pocket.

"Come on, pull it out!"

Yang Tianzheng truly ruthless, directly pinning down Su Ziyang's muscles and bones, preventing Su Ziyang from escaping.

Seeing that he couldn't move anyway, Su Ziyang gave up resisting and risked his life.

The old man chuckled at Su Ziyang's nervous expression, took a toothpick from the toothpick box, and said to Su Ziyang, "Don't be afraid, it won't hurt, you won't feel anything. Listen to Grandpa."

The old man then described how he had grown a generation older, and then opened another small glass bottle containing an unknown white powder.

The old man used a toothpick to pick up a tiny bit of white powder from the medicine bottle and gestured for Su Ziyang to open his mouth.

Su Ziyang didn't want to open his mouth, but Yang Tianzheng was stepping on Su Ziyang's ankle and pulling on the hair at the back of Su Ziyang's head with his other hand, so Su Ziyang subconsciously opened his mouth.

The old man, quick as a flash, stuck the toothpick in his hand into Su Ziyang's crooked wisdom tooth.

Despite the old man's trembling hands while drinking, he was as Taishan as a mountain now, and the toothpick, covered in powder, accurately pierced Su Ziyang's wisdom tooth.

"Alright!" The old man quickly withdrew his hand and then shouted with satisfaction, "All done!"

Su Ziyang didn't know what was going on, he just felt a slight discomfort at the root of his teeth, and then he forcefully broke free from Yang Tianzheng's control.

Just as Su Ziyang was about to curse Yang Tianzheng, he saw an adult approaching with a child who looked to be seven or eight years old.

"Old Master Jiang, look at my Erxiao. His back teeth have all come in, but his front teeth still won't fall out. Could you please take a look?"

Su Ziyang hadn't expected that the old man was a skilled dentist; he hadn't even been there for ten minutes when someone came looking for him.

Therefore, Su Ziyang lost the will to argue with Yang Tianzheng and quietly watched the father and son approaching from the side.

"Let me see, let me see?"

As the old man spoke, he stood up from his Xiao Ma and pried open the child's lips.

Sure enough, the child had two layers of front teeth, one inside and one outside, with the inner tooth having serrations and clearly growing in later.

The old man gently tapped the child's teeth with his dirty fingers, then nodded to himself, "These outer teeth are quite strong. You've been feeding the child too well, probably giving him calcium supplements or something. Don't give him those anymore. I'll pull out these outer teeth, and the inner ones will straighten out in a while."

"I told her I didn't want to take calcium supplements, but my wife insists. Could you please help me?"

The father first complained, then pushed his son in front of the old man.

The old man didn't say much, using the same toothpick, the same white powder bottle, and the same swift action.

The white powder got stuck at the root of the seven or eight-year-old child's front tooth.

After completing a series of actions, the old man carefully put away the toothpick and medicine bottle, all in less than a minute.

The old man gestured for the child to cough.

The child, being young, obediently coughed once.

Then something shocking happened to Su Ziyang: accompanied by the child's cough, two of his normally strong front teeth fell out and landed on the ground...