Hedonist Prodigy

Chapter 104: A Sudden Calamity

Around four o’clock in the afternoon on the second day, Brother Xiong personally drove with Shan Ji and that young man to the villa. At this time, Brother Xiong had shaken off the listlessness of the previous days; he appeared radiant and full of spirit. Throughout the journey, a strange smile was plastered on his face, making both Shan Ji and the young man in the car feel uneasy, unsure what had gotten into him.

Of course, Brother Xiong wasn’t going crazy. After returning home yesterday, he took a look at the prescription Jiang Feng had given him. However, being a rough man with little understanding of such things, he hesitated for a while before deciding to give it a try as Jiang Feng suggested. After all, Jiang Feng wouldn’t harm him; if he wanted to kill him, it would be easy enough for him without all this fuss.

So Brother Xiong sent someone to fetch the medicine and boiled three bowls of water down to one bowl as instructed by Jiang Feng before drinking it down. 

After taking the medicine, Brother Xiong didn’t notice much change at first and continued with his own affairs. It wasn’t until later that night when he surprisingly fell asleep instantly without his usual insomnia troubles. He slept soundly until eight o’clock this morning without any dreams. Upon waking up, Brother Xiong felt incredibly refreshed—he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in many years due to living dangerously close to death; it wasn’t that he didn’t want to sleep but rather that he simply couldn’t.

Moreover, as Brother Xiong moved around, he realized his body felt much lighter—as if he’d shed several years overnight—and those hidden ailments from his reckless youth seemed to have improved significantly overnight.

Feeling these changes within himself left Brother Xiong utterly astonished; if not for these real transformations happening right before his eyes, he would have thought he was dreaming—it was nothing short of miraculous! With just a casual prescription from Jiang Feng bringing about such tremendous benefits for him, how could Brother Xiong not recognize that he’d struck gold? He revered Jiang Feng like a deity from now on and resolved to obey him wholeheartedly—if Jiang Feng told him to go east, then west was out of question.

Jiang Feng was already waiting in the living room when Brother Xiong arrived. Noticing the changes in him at first glance confirmed that Brother Xiong had followed through with his instructions; however, what seemed like an invaluable treasure in Brother Xiong’s eyes was merely something Jiang Feng had casually written down. He had long since noticed some chronic ailments within Brother Xiong—ones that wouldn’t lead to major problems immediately but indicated potential signs of early demise if accumulated over time.

Jiang Feng originally planned to hand this prescription over on his last day as a small reward for running errands for him regarding matters related to thousand-year-old ginseng but decided instead to give it earlier due to urgency.

Of course whether or not Brother Xiong believed him was entirely up to him; Jiang Feng paid no mind either way.

Then Jiang Feng spotted the young boy standing behind Brother Xiong with his head lowered and an anxious expression on his face. Upon seeing this boy, Jiang Feng paused slightly because this boy was none other than Hu Ya—the son who previously saved his life along with his father during their encounter over ginseng!

Jiang Feng froze momentarily—how could it be him? He recalled Shan Ji saying that Hu Ya sold ginseng out of desperation after his father got beaten up and needed money for treatment—but they hadn’t parted ways just days ago! How could such misfortune strike so quickly?

At that moment when Jiang Feng saw Hu Ya clearly looking back at him too—a mixture of uncertainty washed over Hu Ya as well upon realizing where exactly he found himself. When their gazes met again after some time passed by in shock—he finally exclaimed incredulously: “Master.”

Though technically speaking Jiang Feng wasn’t really Hu Ya’s master; they simply shared mutual respect after forming bonds through helping each other out—he taught Hu Ya some exercises beneficial for health rather than establishing any formal master-disciple relationship.

At this moment, upon hearing Hu Ya’s words, Jiang Feng let out a bitter laugh. He was about to speak when Hu Ya suddenly “thud” fell to his knees on the ground and choked out, “Master, please help my father.” Not only did Jiang Feng not understand what was going on, but even Brother Xiong and Shan Ji were dumbfounded, completely clueless about what had happened. 

Jiang Feng had a good impression of Hu Ya and felt that something was off at this moment. He stepped forward and helped him up to sit aside, gently asking, “What happened? Take your time to explain.” 

“Master, I…” Hu Ya opened his mouth but couldn’t get the words out in his excitement. Jiang Feng waved his hand: “Go get a cup of hot water.” Without waiting for Shan Ji to respond, Brother Xiong hurriedly ran off to fetch the water. At that moment, he realized that this young man must know Jiang Feng; he felt a slight unease in his heart since Shan Ji had bought an ancient ginseng worth twenty thousand from this young man—not much different from robbery—and wondered if the young man would report them.

Fortunately, after handing over the cup of water to the young man, Jiang Feng remained silent. Only then did Brother Xiong feel relieved and stood quietly by the side. After taking a sip of hot water, Hu Ya’s emotions calmed down slightly before he began speaking intermittently.

It turned out that this father-son duo had been in the mountains for more than a month gathering ginseng. After parting ways with Jiang Feng, they returned home to their village called Baishan Village. Once winter arrived in Baishan Village, the villagers hardly had any sources of income and could only go into the mountains either spontaneously or organized together to collect ginseng.

By chance upon their return home at just the right time when merchants came into town looking for mountain ginseng, Hu Ya and his father struck it rich on this trip and excitedly took their goods to exchange for money. Little did they know that trouble awaited them because in recent years there had been a dramatic increase in people collecting ginseng; rampant digging and harvesting phenomena were prevalent—wild mountain ginseng was now rarely seen let alone two-hundred-year-old wild ginseng.

The two-hundred-year-old wild ginseng in Hu Ya’s father’s hands quickly caught the merchant’s attention who said he needed to call experts from his company for identification and asked Hu Ya’s father-son duo to wait for news at home. Naturally aware of its high value but initially not thinking too much about it since although rare nowadays due to modernity’s changes; back when he was younger he saw plenty of such old mountain ginsengs himself—he thought they could fix up their house with some money left over after selling it.

However soon after returning home news inexplicably spread around town until it reached the ears of the town mayor’s son who happened to be hunting nearby staying over at Baishan Village—upon hearing about it rushed straight over demanding that old mountain ginseng from Hu Ya’s family.

Hu Ya’s father refused naturally leading Mayor’s son sending people forcibly robbing them; after some conflict ensued where an elder got beaten badly enough causing severe bleeding leading him unconscious immediately afterward. Seeing all this unfold made Hu Ya furious clashing with Mayor’s son’s group yet ended up getting beaten as well—feeling indignant sent his father off towards village clinic then rushed overnight towards town to file charges only being told that their two-hundred-year-old mountain ginseng belonged entirely under state ownership as they harvested within national protected zones meaning not only would it be confiscated but also legal actions pursued against them.

Having grown up simply within small hillside villages without experiencing anything like this before especially since that piece of mountain ginseng came directly gifted by Jiang Feng which made him worry deeply about its origins once hearing these things frightened him terribly thus decided against claiming any rights over such treasures returning home discovering doctors saying his dad suffered intracranial hemorrhaging needing surgery urgently.

Intracranial hemorrhage is a major surgery that requires a significant amount of money. Hu Ya’s family was already poor, and they had no way to come up with such a large sum. They could only turn to their fellow villagers to borrow money, but the town mayor’s son had made it clear that if Hu Ya’s father died, it would be well-deserved; even if he didn’t die, he would end up in prison. Anyone who lent money to Hu Ya’s family would be seen as going against him. As a result, the villagers were unwilling to lend any money to Hu Ya’s family. Despite piecing together what little funds he could find, Hu Ya still fell short and had no choice but to sell off his family’s belongings, which led to the incident involving the thousand-year-old ginseng.

The thousand-year-old ginseng was something that Hu Ya’s father had stumbled upon during his youth and had kept hidden at home without ever showing it or considering selling it. With no other options available and facing the risk of being scolded by his father, Hu Ya decided to take it out for cash. Fortunately for him, he encountered Shan Ji; however, twenty thousand yuan was merely a drop in the bucket compared to his father’s medical bills. To raise more funds, Hu Ya had no choice but to bring out all of his father’s cherished items for sale.

After hearing this, Jiang Feng’s forehead bulged with veins as he slammed his fist down on the table with a “bang,” shattering it into pieces. He had originally gifted them the two-hundred-year-old mountain ginseng out of gratitude for their help but never expected that this act of kindness would lead to trouble.

Jiang Feng understood all too well that the actions of the town mayor’s son were simply driven by greed; those so-called noble statements were merely tools used to oppress good-hearted people. 

“Nonsense! This is absolute nonsense! A mere town mayor’s son daring to act lawlessly like this—he must be looking for death!” Brother Xiong exclaimed angrily after hearing everything.

Jiang Feng frowned and said, “That’s right; he is indeed looking for death.” 

Brother Xiong then proposed, “Brother Jiang, should I gather some people and go teach him a lesson? He’s just a small-town mayor—a nobody—I’ll personally show him how to write ‘death’!”

Regardless of whether there was an old acquaintance between Hu Ya and Jiang Feng or not, Brother Xiong felt compelled to take action against such bandit-like behavior from the mayor’s family. 

“No rush,” Jiang Feng said to Hu Ya. “Which hospital is your father in? I’ll go see him with you now.” 

As far as settling accounts went, Jiang Feng wasn’t in any hurry because that so-called town mayor’s son seemed almost indistinguishable from dead men in his eyes—but if Hu Ya’s father died, then even if that town mayor’s son died a hundred times over it wouldn’t change anything; thus saving lives came first.