Chapter 866 — The Price Is a Bit Low

"Treatment—of course treatment comes first!" Zhen Yingjun said hurriedly. "Medicine King, so this ailment of mine—can it still be cured?"

"It can be cured, but it won't be easy!" The Medicine King sighed. "For me, there is no illness I cannot cure, but there is a difference between easy and hard. When I treated you before, I already wasted a great deal of true qi, and now this ailment of yours is no small matter either—it will also consume true qi..."

"Medicine King, rest assured, I won't shortchange you on the fee. However much it costs, just name your price!" Hearing that his son could still be saved, Zhen Dazhou spoke up at once.

"This—you'll have to ask Young Master Bing. If I use up all my true qi on you, then if other patients come, I'll have no way to treat them, and the losses then would be more than a little!" The Medicine King said with a show of difficulty. "How about this for now? Once my true qi has recovered fully, I'll treat Yingjun then—how would that be? That way the fee can be a bit cheaper too!"

"That... how long would we have to wait?" Zhen Dazhou really did not have much money left. He had come to Songshan City with fifty million to invest in a gambling ship, but before he had even made the investment, he had already spent over ten million on consultation fees for his son's treatment.

Now, from the Medicine King's tone, treating his son's present ailment would cost far more than the previous fees. He hesitated a little. If waiting a while meant it would be cheaper, then what harm was there in waiting?

"Three to five years, give or take," the Medicine King said lightly.

"What?" Zhen Yingjun and Zhen Dazhou were instantly dumbstruck, staring at each other. Three to five years? Zhen Dazhou had assumed that "waiting a while" meant a few days, a month at most—who would have guessed it meant three to five years? That was far too long!

Zhen Yingjun could not wait that long. If something else went wrong in the meantime, or if the Medicine King could no longer be found, wouldn't he be a eunuch for the rest of his life? At that thought, Zhen Yingjun could not help turning to Zhen Dazhou for help, and Zhen Dazhou had thought of the same thing. How could he wait? If they waited and something else went wrong, the Zhen family line would end!

Zhen Dazhou gritted his teeth and asked, "Young Master Bing, the fee is no problem. As long as my son Yingjun's illness can be cured, any amount of money is no problem!"

"This..." Young Master Bing hesitated, then said with some difficulty, "Ah, it's not that I don't want to treat you—it's just that life has its price, but true qi is priceless!"

Hearing Young Master Bing's words, Zhen Dazhou wanted nothing more than to curse him out. What kind of logic was that—life has its price, true qi is priceless! But Zhen Dazhou could not lose his temper. He could only suppress his anger and ask, "It's all right, just name your price."

"It'll have to be thirty million at the very least..." Zhao Qibing said flatly.

"What?" Hearing that price, Zhen Dazhou was truly dumbfounded! He had expected the cost of treatment might be high, but he had never imagined it would be this high! Thirty million—and every cent of it had been squeezed out of Donghai bit by bit. Just like that, it would be gone?

"Young Master Bing, this price..." The Medicine King, hearing the figure, seemed to find it somewhat difficult.

At the Medicine King's words, Zhen Dazhou was overjoyed. It looked as though the Medicine King also thought the price was a bit high and wanted to speak up for him! The Medicine King really was a good man! He hurriedly chimed in, "Yes, yes, this price really is a bit..."

"A bit low!" the Medicine King continued. "My true qi is priceless!"

Hearing the Medicine King's words, Zhen Dazhou nearly vomited blood and died. So the Medicine King thought the price was too low, not too high? And he had foolishly chimed in himself—he really was the biggest fool alive!

"Oh? Zhen Dazhou, you feel the same way? It seems I really am a philanthropist—to have asked such a low price!" Zhao Qibing shook his head with a touch of self-mockery. "In that case, you may add a little more money..."

"Well... heh heh, ha ha, my funds are a bit tight lately. Thirty million it is, then—thirty million..." Zhen Dazhou awkwardly forced himself to agree to the thirty-million price. Did he dare not agree? If he didn't, it might turn into forty million before long.

"Fine. Since thirty million it is, I've already said it—Medicine King, let's go with this price, all right?" Zhao Qibing looked at the Medicine King and asked.

"Good. Whatever Young Master Bing says, that's how it will be," the Medicine King said with a nod.

"Thank you, Young Master Bing. I'll go get the money ready..." Zhen Dazhou said. "Then my son Yingjun and I will take our leave for now, and come back once we've gathered the funds!"

"Dad, how about you go get the money ready, and I stay here for treatment?" Zhen Yingjun did not understand why his father wanted him to leave as well.

"How could that be? How can the Medicine King treat you before you've paid? You really are clueless!" Zhen Dazhou glared at Zhen Yingjun and said.

Zhen Yingjun had no choice but to follow his father out of the bar. Somewhat puzzled, he asked, "Dad, why did you drag me out here? Wouldn't it be better to let me get treated first and avoid any further complications?"

"We came in a hurry before and assumed it was aftereffects, but now it doesn't look like aftereffects at all. So I was thinking—shouldn't we go to a hospital and get it checked too? What if the hospital can treat it? Then we wouldn't have to spend all that wasted money, would we?" Zhen Dazhou was no fool; he still had a bit of sense.

"That makes sense. I was being impatient!" Hearing this, Zhen Yingjun realized it was indeed the case and nodded repeatedly. "Right, what couldn't thirty million do? Spending it on treatment really does hurt a little!"

The father and son put their heads together, flagged down a cab, and headed straight for the hospital. But after making the rounds of the First People's Hospital, the men's specialty hospital, and so on, they still couldn't make heads or tails of it. The Medicine King had indeed been right about his illness—there was no illness to begin with, so what could the hospital possibly find?

This was entirely the Medicine King's secret handiwork. Only the one who tied the knot can untie it—how could an outsider possibly know how the Medicine King had pulled it off?

Coming out of the hospital, the Zhen father and son were now thoroughly convinced by the Medicine King's words. Zhen Dazhou sighed. "It seems you really aren't sick—that Wei Zhao tampered with you. Even these big hospitals say you're not ill, so it looks like the only option is to have the Medicine King treat you!"

"Wei Zhao! I'll hack you to pieces!" Zhen Yingjun was so furious he ground his teeth. He had only kicked an old woman he had never met before, and that old woman had nothing to do with Wei Zhao—yet Wei Zhao had come down on him with such a vicious hand. What deep hatred did he and Wei Zhao possibly share, to warrant such treatment?