Chapter 131: The Client of Unknown Origin
Chapter 131: The Client of Unknown Origin
The door was opened by an Indian man with buckwheat-tea-colored skin. He spoke in heavily accented, curry-flavored English, asking, “May I ask who you are looking for?”
Li Zian understood him, but his self-taught English was worse than the Indian man’s. Still, he was not nervous. Speaking with his Crescent Moon Village accent, he said, “My surname is Li. Someone called and asked me to come.”
“So it’s Mr. Li. Please come in,” the Indian man said as he opened the door.
Li Zian and Mu Chuntao entered, and the Indian man walked ahead to lead the way.
“Please follow me.”
Mu Chuntao suddenly leaned close to Li Zian’s ear, breathing warm air as she whispered, “Your English is really good.”
Li Zian reached out and gently smacked her bottom.
There was no sound, but the sensation was absolutely delightful.
Mu Chuntao gave Li Zian a glare, but the corner of her mouth held a trace of a smile.
Wasn’t this exactly what she wanted him to do?
Reckless, excited, and full of joy.
They entered the living room, where the Indian man invited Li Zian and Mu Chuntao to sit and wait before heading upstairs.
Li Zian looked around the living room. The furniture was classical-style rosewood, and the decor was quite elegant. Several oil paintings hung on the walls, and judging by the colors of the paint, they were all old paintings with some age to them. At a glance, his impression was that it had taste without being flashy.
Many wealthy homes were like this—they looked old and shabby, but any one of those paintings could be worth millions.
Just then, coughing came from upstairs, and it was quite severe.
Mu Chuntao whispered, “I think they called you here to treat an illness.”
Li Zian also whispered, “We’ll know once we meet the person.”
“On the way here, I tried to find out more, but I couldn’t. Still, people who live on this street aren’t just wealthy—it’s more than that,” Mu Chuntao said.
Li Zian nodded.
Footsteps sounded from upstairs.
Mu Chuntao stopped talking.
The Indian man and a middle-aged man came down the stairs.
The man was in his early thirties, not very tall—about 1.75 meters—but his body was very sturdy. The muscles in his neck and shoulders were well-developed, his chest was broad, and his arms were thick, giving the impression that he couldn’t bring them together even if he tried, as if he were holding a book under his armpit.
Seeing this man, Li Zian’s first impression was not that of a wealthy person, but of someone in the fighting industry, like a boxer, or perhaps a police officer or soldier like Liu Jun, because there was something similar in his gaze and demeanor to Liu Jun’s.
“Master, sorry to keep you waiting,” the man said politely as he entered the living room.
Li Zian and Mu Chuntao stood up from the sofa. Li Zian smiled slightly and said, “No need to be polite. May I ask your surname?”
“My surname is Pan, Pan Renlong,” Pan Renlong said as he walked over quickly and shook hands with Li Zian.
Li Zian felt that Pan Renlong’s palm had rough skin, and there was a thick callus on his right index finger. His earlier speculation became clearer—most likely, he was a soldier.
Pan Renlong then shook hands with Mu Chuntao, very gracefully saying, “May I ask your surname, miss?”
“My surname is Mu, Mu Chuntao,” Mu Chuntao replied politely. “I am the Master’s assistant. Please take care of us, Mr. Pan.”
Pan Renlong praised her, “Miss Mu, you are truly beautiful. You are the most beautiful Eastern woman I have seen since coming to Huaguo.”
Mu Chuntao gave a polite smile.
Pan Renlong said, “Please follow me.”
Li Zian and Mu Chuntao followed Pan Renlong upstairs and entered a room.
It was a bedroom. Besides the bed and furniture, there were several medical instruments and devices in the room. An elderly man lay on the bed, his face thin, with an oxygen tube in his nose, receiving oxygen.
Li Zian glanced at the heart monitor; the number on it was 42. With a heartbeat like that, even a healthy person lying down would feel panicked and short of breath. For a patient, it was even more dangerous, with the risk of fainting or even cardiac arrest at any moment.
Pan Renlong introduced, “Master, this is my father, Pan Guoqing.”
Li Zian greeted him, “Hello, Mr. Pan.”
Pan Guoqing turned his head to look at Li Zian. His lips moved as if he wanted to speak, but before he could open his mouth, he started coughing. The intensity of the cough was so severe that it made one worry he might cough out a piece of his lung.
“Dad, the Master is here. I asked him to take a look at you. Don’t worry,” Pan Renlong said as he walked to the bed and took the old man’s hand, his eyes full of concern and worry.
After a bout of violent coughing, Pan Guoqing caught his breath and opened his mouth: “I… huff…”
He only managed one word; the rest that came out were just wheezing sounds.
Pan Renlong let go of the old man’s hand and said with a grave expression, “Master, a week ago, my father attended a business meeting. After he returned, he started coughing, having a fever, and having trouble breathing. We went to the hospital for tests, but they didn’t find anything wrong. I originally planned to send my father to the United States for treatment—I even booked the tickets for tomorrow morning’s flight. But this morning, his condition suddenly worsened. Yesterday, he could still get out of bed, walk, and eat. Today, he can’t even speak a complete sentence. I’m worried he won’t make it to the United States. I remembered that when my father came back, he mentioned you. He said his friend Du Zhishan had one foot already in the Gate of the Underworld, and you pulled him back single-handedly. So I asked someone to get your number from President Du. Please, Master, save my father.”
So that’s how he got the number—from Du Zhishan. As time went on and the Master’s reputation grew, there would be more and more such cases.
Li Zian said, “Let me diagnose Mr. Pan first. We can discuss the rest later.”
“Okay, Master, please,” Pan Renlong said as he stepped aside.
Li Zian walked to the bedside. Instead of taking Pan Guoqing’s wrist, he lifted the blanket to expose Pan Guoqing’s chest.
From Pan Renlong’s description, Pan Guoqing most likely had a lung problem. Using bone-feeling techniques directly on the lungs would give more direct and accurate feedback from the Zhenqi.
Li Zian unbuttoned Pan Guoqing’s patient gown, revealing his chest, then pressed his right hand against the chest and slowly moved it around.
Zhenqi flowed out from his palm, entered Pan Guoqing’s body, circled once, and then returned to Li Zian’s body, bringing back information about the inside of Pan Guoqing’s body.
The Great Sluggish Cauldron awakened, with faint green smoke curling up.
Pan Renlong stared intently at Li Zian, his gaze somewhat strange.
Mu Chuntao walked to the window, took out her mobile phone, typed “Pan Guoqing” into Baidu’s search bar, and looked at the results that appeared.
Two minutes later, Li Zian withdrew his hand and got straight to the point: “Mr. Pan has been poisoned. The evil poison has entered his lungs. There is severe inflammation in his lungs, and a large amount of phlegm and gas has accumulated. The phlegm is blocking Mr. Pan’s trachea, and the lung air inside can’t get out. There is an urgent need to relieve the pressure in Mr. Pan’s lungs.”
Pan Renlong immediately said, “The Master truly lives up to his reputation. Please treat him as you see fit.”
Li Zian took off his Toolbox, opened it, and took out the thickest steel needle that Tang Qing had specially made for him. Then he took out alcohol and cotton balls to disinfect it.
Mu Chuntao came over, ready to assist Li Zian.
Li Zian said, “No need, I can handle it alone.”
Mu Chuntao nodded and stood to the side. She actually wanted to tell Li Zian what she had found, but with Pan Renlong standing nearby, she couldn’t speak up.
Li Zian held the steel needle between the thumb and index finger of his right hand. With his left index finger, he pressed on a spot on Pan Guoqing’s chest, then slowly inserted the needle.
“This… is it okay?” Pan Renlong asked nervously, unable to resist stepping forward to look.
Mu Chuntao blocked Pan Renlong’s path, her tone no longer as polite as before: “Mr. Pan, step back. If you don’t want the Master’s procedure to fail, do not disturb him.”
“I won’t disturb, I won’t disturb,” Pan Renlong said as he stepped back, but he still watched Li Zian’s hand holding the needle nervously.
Suddenly, a stream of thick, yellow-and-black phlegm shot out from the side of the needle, along with the lung air that had been trapped in Pan Guoqing’s lungs. As this air was released, Pan Guoqing let out a sigh, as if a burden had been lifted from him, and he immediately felt much more relaxed.
His lungs had been like an inflated balloon, making him uncomfortable. Since his lungs couldn’t function properly, his blood oxygen level was inevitably low. With low blood oxygen, other organs in his body couldn’t work properly, leading to further illness. That was why he felt so terrible. Although Li Zian’s method was simple and rough, it was like puncturing that balloon. The pressure in his lungs suddenly released, so he naturally felt better.
Li Zian did not remove the steel needle. With his left hand, he slowly pressed and pushed on Pan Guoqing’s chest, driving the phlegm and lung air toward the needle, where it sprayed out from the groove. Within a minute or two, Pan Guoqing’s chest, the blanket, and the sheets were covered in black-and-yellow phlegm—it was quite disgusting.
Because he was so close, his hands were splattered with quite a bit of phlegm.
He glanced at Mu Chuntao; her hands were also splattered with some.
Mu Chuntao took disinfectant wipes from the Toolbox and wiped Li Zian’s hands clean before wiping her own.
“That feels so good,” Pan Guoqing said, his words clear.
Only then did Li Zian pull out the needle.
Mu Chuntao immediately stepped forward to take it, wiped it with a disinfectant wipe, and placed it back in the needle case.
“The Master is truly remarkable. When President Du spoke of you, he held you in great respect,” Pan Guoqing said.
Li Zian casually asked, “Are you and President Du very familiar?”
“Not very familiar, but we move in the same circles. You could say we are friends,” Pan Guoqing replied.
“We’ll be more familiar from now on,” Li Zian said. He extended his right hand in front of Pan Guoqing. “Mr. Pan, please draw randomly in my palm. Close your eyes while you do it, and stop when I tell you to.”
“This is… for what?” Pan Guoqing asked.
Li Zian explained, “Divination. Didn’t President Du tell you? Everything has a cause and effect. Your illness came on strangely. If I hadn’t treated you in time, you might have been in life-threatening danger. You asked me here to solve your problems, so of course I will perform a divination for you to investigate the cause and effect of this matter and determine your fortune.”
But Pan Guoqing shifted his gaze to look at Pan Renlong.
Li Zian was slightly taken aback.
What was this reaction?