Chapter 104: Plotting and Probing

After Song Qing finished stitching the wound, Xie Qingtang pulled out the silver needles stuck in the man’s abdomen. Seeing that the bleeding had stopped, she let out a slow breath, sprinkled restorative powder over the wound, and bandaged it carefully.

After taking his pulse, Xie Qingtang discovered that the unconscious man was severely weakened from blood loss, so she wrote out another prescription and told Zhou Jinfan to hurry and brew the medicine.

“When will my second brother wake up?” the leader asked anxiously, looking at the man lying there unconscious.

It was plain to see that the man with the thick gold chain around his neck cared deeply for the one lying unconscious. Xie Qingtang glanced at the clock and said, “In three hours.”

“What? You quack, and you say he still won’t wake up for three hours?” one of the underlings shouted again. Xie Qingtang shot him a cold look, and the man could not help but tremble.

That kind of presence even startled Boss Gu, but he still stopped his men from causing trouble. Rising to his feet, he approached Xie Qingtang with narrowed eyes and a trace of scrutiny.

“If I’m not mistaken, you are Shao Siming’s daughter, aren’t you? The daughter he abandoned in some backwater village when you were little.”

To everyone’s surprise, Boss Gu suddenly said something like that to Xie Qingtang.

Xie Qingtang’s expression did not change. She gave him a frosty glance and said, “What does that have to do with you?”

“So it really is you. No wonder I noticed Shao Siming paying such close attention to the Hall of Benevolence these past few days. I have a little history with Shao Siming. It seems we’ll have more chances to meet from now on.” Boss Gu looked at her with hidden meaning.

His words sent a bad feeling through Xie Qingtang’s heart, leaving her deeply unsettled. Could it all really be a coincidence? A man who knew Shao Siming had suddenly broken into her Hall of Benevolence one day carrying a knife wound.

“Boss Gu has been inside for quite a while. Mr. Shao, should we make a move?” In a black sedan parked across from the Hall of Benevolence, Shao Siming sat with his eyes closed, resting.

After waiting for a while, a knowing smile curved Shao Siming’s lips. “A decoration on top of a flowered scene means nothing. True gratitude comes from helping in need. Wait a little longer. Once Boss Gu has ruined the Hall of Benevolence, we’ll descend like a divine rescue and save Xie Qingtang. By then, her relationship with me will surely improve.”

Hearing his boss’s words, the driver nodded and did not act rashly.

Inside the Hall of Benevolence, events did not unfold with the fierce conflict Shao Siming had expected. Instead, it was eerily quiet. Zhou Jinfan was brewing medicine in the back courtyard, while Boss Gu and Xie Qingtang sat across from each other at the consultation desk, studying one another in silence.

“I heard your relationship with your so-called father is not very good.” Boss Gu glanced about casually, then noticed the little bird in a cage pecking at medicinal herbs.

At the sight of the bird’s vivid feathers and lively expression, Boss Gu’s eyes lit up. He immediately extended a finger to tease it, unable to resist.

But the bird gave him no face at all. It kept eating the herbs in the small bowl, paying him no attention whatsoever.

Xie Qingtang glanced at Boss Gu and replied, “Since you already know that, then don’t come looking for trouble with me in the future. Whatever is between you and Shao Siming has nothing to do with me.”

“Hah. How do you know I have a grudge against your so-called father? What I just said was that I have a decent relationship with him.” Boss Gu withdrew his finger and looked at Xie Qingtang with a dark, unreadable expression.

Xie Qingtang said flatly, “That so-called father of mine has no friends at all, and no one is on good terms with him, because a man like him would never be friends with anyone.”

“Sharp insight. It seems you really do understand your father very well.” Boss Gu’s expression shifted slightly. Then he clapped his hands and said with a grave face.

From this exchange, Xie Qingtang roughly understood what was going on. There must be some conflict of interest between Boss Gu and Shao Siming, and during this period Boss Gu had clearly been investigating Shao Siming.

So it was only natural that he had found the Hall of Benevolence. Just then, Zhou Jinfan came from the back courtyard carrying the medicine, and Xie Qingtang rose to take it.

“Open his mouth,” Xie Qingtang said coldly. Zhou Jinfan froze for a moment, then went over and pried open the unconscious man’s mouth.

Even so, the man still could not swallow the medicine. Xie Qingtang’s silver needle pricked the man’s throat, and his mouth opened on its own at once. Only then was the medicine fed down successfully.

About ten minutes later, the man finally woke with a groan. When he opened his eyes and saw Boss Gu standing beside him, his face was filled with terror.

At the sight of this, Xie Qingtang frowned. Her gaze turned probing, and her voice cooled abruptly. “Aren’t you his elder brother? Why is he so afraid of you?”

“Little girl, don’t look at me like that. I am indeed his elder brother, but the one who stabbed him was also me. So what?” Boss Gu said carelessly. Behind him, the underlings had also returned to normal and showed not the slightest concern for the man who had just awakened. It was obvious they had only been acting before.

At that moment, Xie Qingtang suddenly felt a chill in her heart. Boss Gu was far more frightening than she had imagined. She thought of one possibility: after Boss Gu realized that Shao Siming had been keeping an eye on the Hall of Benevolence, he deliberately stabbed one of his own men and sent him here to be treated, all in order to probe the clinic’s depths.

Seeing the girl beside him fall silent all at once, Boss Gu laughed heartily. Then he said to Xie Qingtang, “From your eyes, I can tell you already understand the truth. Shao Siming and I have some business conflicts. If I had someone as capable as you backing me, that would be a tremendous help. So tell me, little girl, what should I do with you?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the underlings behind him surrounded Xie Qingtang with blank faces. That earlier lazy, reckless, and thoughtless air was gone without a trace. Truly, one could not judge a person by appearance.