Chapter 8 The Dying Li Shanhe
Zhang Shihao was crippled, and Wang Chengjie had his legs broken—chaos erupted on the scene.
“Madness! This is madness!”
“Quick, call an ambulance!”
In an instant, the crowd descended into turmoil.
Amid the uproar, Ye Tian smiled calmly, turned around, and extended his hand to Li Muqing, who stood not far away. “Shall we find somewhere quieter to talk?”
“This... alright,” Li Muqing replied, her face pale, clearly unaccustomed to such violent scenes. Besides, things had come to this point—she hadn’t wanted to marry that wretched man anyway. Leaving felt like the right choice.
Seeing this, Gu Qingcheng’s eyes glimmered with a hint of teasing as she looked at Ye Tian. “Good junior brother, I won’t play the third wheel and tag along. If you need me, just call Man Yun—one call and I’ll be there!”
Leaving these words behind, she departed on her own.
The Zhou sisters, after leaving their contact information, hurried away as well, merely saying family matters required their attention.
Soon, only Ye Tian and Li Muqing, now changed into casual clothes, remained at the empty hotel entrance.
“I heard from the Zhou sisters that you agreed to marry that man so you could persuade the renowned doctor to treat your father... Is that true?” Ye Tian broke the silence first.
His sudden question struck a raw nerve. The girl nodded slightly, her beautiful eyes brimming with tears, bitterness welling up within her.
Before Li Muqing could say more, a gentle and warm voice sounded by her ear. “To be honest, I can cure your father’s illness.”
“What?” Li Muqing’s eyes widened in astonishment and disbelief. “Are you serious? You really can cure him?”
“Whether it’s true or not, we’ll see soon enough,” Ye Tian replied with a confident smile and raised brow. “Come on. Take me to see your father.”
“Yes!”
...
Central City, the Li Residence.
Beside a sickbed, a well-dressed middle-aged woman sat at the bedside, gently wiping the arm of the man lying there.
At a glance, the man’s face was gaunt—he looked as if he hadn’t eaten for days, his skin stretched tight over his bones. Even a stranger could tell he had little time left.
This man was Li Shanhe, Li Muqing’s father.
The woman tending him was his wife, Yin Huijuan.
“Cough... cough...” Li Shanhe lay facing the ceiling, wanting to speak but too weak to make a sound.
“Don’t worry, dear. Doctor Zhu is taking a call—he’ll be here soon to treat you,” Yin Huijuan soothed him quickly.
Just then, a middle-aged man with a goatee entered, carrying his medical case.
“Doctor Zhu!” Yin Huijuan rose respectfully.
This was Zhu Hanchun, the renowned physician of Central City.
“I can’t treat his illness. Seek someone else,” Zhu Hanchun said coldly, turning to leave.
Yin Huijuan was stunned. “Why? Didn’t you say before you could cure him? Why the sudden change?”
Zhu Hanchun sneered inwardly. Of course he could cure the illness. He had come at the Zhang family’s request, hoping to befriend them and had agreed to treat Li Shanhe only if Li Muqing married Zhang Shihao. But just now, the Zhang family called—Li Muqing had not only broken off the engagement in public but had also brought some unknown young man who injured Zhang Shihao severely enough to put him in a coma. The Zhang family patriarch was furious, raging over the phone.
There was no reason for him to help the Li family any longer.
“Doctor Zhu, I beg you, please try again. There might still be hope for my husband!” Yin Huijuan pleaded, clutching his hand. “If he’s gone, our family will fall apart!”
“Heh, if the Li family falls apart, that’s what it deserves!” Zhu Hanchun scoffed. “With a daughter like yours, what great fortune you have!”
He then recounted the events at the wedding.
“She broke off the engagement in public, injured my nephew, and yet you still expect me to treat Li Shanhe? Ridiculous. Let him lie there and wait for death!”
“What!” Yin Huijuan collapsed to the floor, her face ashen. “Impossible... Qingqing has always been so obedient. She would never do such a thing.”
“When your daughter returns, ask her yourself. I won’t stay to be insulted,” Zhu Hanchun said, waving his hand to leave.
“No need to ask—we’re here,” came a cheerful young voice from outside.
“If you won’t treat him, someone else will,” Ye Tian strode into the ward, Li Muqing following behind.
“Li Muqing, how could you!” Before Zhu Hanchun could reply, Li’s mother burst out, furious. “That’s your father! Do you want to see him dead?”
“Get over here this instant and kneel before Doctor Zhu to apologize!”
“Mom...” Li Muqing trembled, instinctively moving her long, fair legs to comply.
But Ye Tian reached out and stopped her.
“Who are you, you stray! Let go of my daughter!” Yin Huijuan glared at Ye Tian with undisguised hatred. “Get out of here at once!”
She then turned to Zhu Hanchun, her tone switching back to fawning. “Doctor Zhu, I’m so sorry. My daughter is still young and ignorant. I’ll teach her a lesson and make her care for Shihao personally. Once he’s recovered, we’ll hold the wedding then.”
Zhu Hanchun sneered. “Regretting now? Too late!”
Yin Huijuan grew frantic, grasping his arm and begging, but Ye Tian laughed from the side.
“What a joke. A man with medical skill but no ethics—a mere quack. If you won’t treat him, just leave. I’ll take care of Uncle Li.”
“You?”
“You?”
The voices overlapped—one from Li’s mother, one from Zhu Hanchun.
Zhu Hanchun burst out laughing, as if he’d heard the greatest joke in the world—pointing at Ye Tian with one hand, clutching his belly with the other.
“You look barely twenty—barely grown, at that! Are you trained in Western or traditional medicine? Even if you started at twenty, you’d still be an intern! Yet you dare claim to treat the sick? What a farce!”
“Exactly!” Yin Huijuan echoed. “So young and so arrogant. Do you even know who stands before you? This is the famous Doctor Zhu! If you can’t even recognize him, how dare you boast of curing anyone?”
She waved her hand, calling out, “Someone! Break his legs and throw him out—far away!”
At her command, a dozen family guards surged in, surrounding Ye Tian.