Chapter 28: Kidnapping

  Under Yan Qingcheng's accompaniment, Cong Ye bought back quite a few books on traditional Chinese medicine, mainly focusing on acupuncture. Although Yan Qingcheng studied medicine, she learned Western medicine and couldn't help much when Cong Ye was studying traditional Chinese medical knowledge, so he could only rely on himself to explore.

  What made Congye even more uneasy was the 50,000 yuan medical bill. After some deliberation, Congye still went to the Qi's house and saw the old man sitting in the living room reading a newspaper. When he saw that it was Congye who had arrived, he quickly put down the newspaper, took off his reading glasses, and stood up shakily. Congye hurried over to support him and helped him sit back down on the sofa.

  "Xiao Cong Dafu, I really can't thank you enough for what you did that day."

  "Uncle Qi, you're too polite, it was just a coincidence that night."

  "Haha, young people know that humility is a good thing, but don't overdo it. There aren't so many coincidences in the world, especially when it comes to medical skills, and even less likely to have coincidental things happen."

  "Uncle Qi, I came today, first to see how your recovery is going, secondly..."

  "Stop right there, don't mention what's behind you, or Grandpa will get angry."

  Before Congye could bring up the matter of refunding the diagnostic fee, Master Qi shot him down with a single sentence. Congye could only smile awkwardly and thought to himself, since he wasn't allowed to refund the diagnostic fee, then he would just have to give the old man some extra treatment by unblocking his meridians. He reached out and grabbed the old man's wrist again, guiding the flow of heat into the old man's Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian once more. This time it was much smoother, and the old man was also intoxicated by the comfortable feeling brought about by the flow of heat guided in by Congye. After a long while, Congye guided the flow of heat along the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian one more time before finally letting go of the old man's hand.

  "Grandpa Qi has recovered well, I'll come regularly in the future to take care of you."

  Actually, Cong Ye didn't know that the Qi family paid 50,000 yuan in medical fees at once not only to thank him for what he did that night but also because they saw that Cong Ye was a down-to-earth person and the clinic happened to be right at the entrance of the community. There would definitely be many places where they would trouble him in the future, so it was implied that they wanted Cong Ye to feel uneasy and take the initiative to serve them. This way, it would always be more proactive than going to invite a doctor each time.

  Cong Ye did not disappoint the Qi family, and came to their doorstep in just three days. Moreover, as they had guessed, after refusing to refund the medical expenses, she took the initiative to offer her services to care for the elderly. Although the Qi family had some ulterior motives, the outcome of the matter was mutually beneficial, and there was nothing wrong with that.

  It's been ten days since the Quan Cheng Medical Hall reopened. Ever since buying back the traditional Chinese medicine books, he has been studying in the clinic every day. Cong Ye has developed a habit of getting up at dawn every day, running to the beach, standing on the sand and practicing breathing exercises to increase the amount of hot air flowing through his meridians. Then he goes to Ri Zhao Lane to have breakfast with Yan Quan Cheng, and afterwards they return to the clinic together.

  This morning, when Cong Ye returned to Rizhao Lane from the seaside, he found that the gate was wide open. He thought Yan Qingcheng had just come back from her morning exercise outside and left the door open for herself. However, when Cong Ye entered the small courtyard, he saw that the house door was also wide open, and there was no sound inside. Cong Ye didn't dare to go in rashly, in case Yan Qingcheng was changing clothes. After standing in the yard for three or four minutes, Cong Ye felt something was wrong, so he softly called out:

  "Sister-in-law?"

  No response was heard, and Cong Ye's heart immediately became tense. He shouted twice more, but still got no response. He quickly rushed into the house and saw that the bed was a bit messy, which was not his sister-in-law's habit. At this time, Cong Ye had a bad premonition. He hastily searched every corner of his sister-in-law's room, and unintentionally saw the mirror on the dresser, where he found four bright red characters - "Dongshan Public Cemetery".

  Cong Ye walked over, took a closer look, and recognized that it wasn't his sister-in-law Yan Qingcheng's handwriting. At the same time, he also distinguished that the four characters should have been written with half of the lip gloss on the dresser. Cong Ye had never been to the east room before, and normally, he had never seen his sister-in-law use lip gloss, so he guessed in his heart that this might be used by Zhi Xiaohui.

  Dongshan Public Cemetery

  Something's wrong. Has his sister-in-law been kidnapped? The purpose is to lure him there and take care of him. The more Congye thought about it, the more he felt that apart from this, there was no other possibility.

  "Yu Xiaopeng, you despicable thing."

  Cong Ye cursed under his breath, he was very clear that except for Yu Xiaopeng, the two of them had not offended anyone in Guanhai City. Without bothering with anything else, Cong Ye quickly ran out of Rizhao Alley, hailed a taxi and rushed to Dongshan Cemetery.

  Guanghai City is not big, and soon the taxi stopped at the entrance of Dongshan Cemetery. Because it was early in the morning, the cemetery was quiet and felt a bit eerie. Cong Ye paid the taxi fare and ran quickly into the cemetery to look for Yan Qingcheng's trail.

  "Sister-in-law"

  Congye searched around while loudly shouting, his tense forehead already beaded with sweat.

  Never having seen Yan Qingcheng's figure, Cong Ye walked along a flight of stairs leading up the mountain, all the way to the top. As soon as he climbed to the top, he saw two people standing in a pavilion at the summit, with Yan Qingcheng behind them, wearing only a nightgown, her hands tied behind her back and a silk scarf covering her eyes.

  "Sister-in-law?!"

  "Thick foliage."

  There wasn't any panic in Yan Qingcheng's tone, but rather a faint calmness.

  "Halt."

  Cong Ye wanted to rush to Yan Qingcheng's side, but the two people standing at the edge immediately blocked Cong Ye's way.

  "What kind of people are you?"

  "Looking for you."

  One of them, slightly thinner and about the same height as Cong Ye, said with a playful tone.

  "Hey kid, I heard you're quite a fighter, so I've come all this way just to meet you."

  Another man, slightly older and in his early thirties, said.

  "Just find me if you can, why kidnap her?"

  "Hmm, are you feeling heartache? Honestly, my brother and I not only want to capture you, but also want to taste the flavor of the number one beauty in Guanhai City."

  "We had no grudges in the past and no hatred recently, why are you looking for trouble with me?"

  "Kid, you're pretending to be confused on purpose, aren't you?"

  "Fourth Brother, what's the point of arguing with him? Let's just end this and change places to do what we should be doing."

  The man in his thirties had a tone full of sarcasm.

  "Big brother, you take care of it now, I'm leaving it to Little Four."

  That slightly younger, slender young man took a step forward and kicked towards Cong Ye's abdomen with his leg raised. Cong Ye dodged to the side, but before he could counterattack, the other party's fist came flying over. Cong Ye raised his left hand to block it, slipped underfoot, and stuck close to Xiao Si's chest, his right elbow fiercely striking the opponent's chest.

  "Wow, you really have skills."

  Xiao Si dodged Cong Ye's attack and quickly moved to his right side, lifting his foot to kick Cong Ye's right knee joint. The knee joint was one of the most vulnerable parts of the human body, and if kicked, would instantly lose fighting strength. Cong Ye didn't have time to turn around and dodge, so he used his left foot to make a small counter-kick, his left ankle barely blocking Xiao Si's incoming kick.

  It's clear that the opponent is a figure steeped in martial arts for many years, and whether it's movement or technique, everything is very reasonable and effective. The first few moves left Cong Ye flailing about in a flurry of activity.

  "Big brother, is this what Lao Da meant by 'quite capable of fighting'? Isn't that giving him too much credit?"

  Although several moves in a row, either dodged by Cong Ye or blocked, Xiao Si still saw that Cong Ye didn't have any real skills on him, and couldn't help but feel a little disdainful.

  "Fight quickly and end quickly."

  "Is big brother getting impatient? On the way here, it was always big brother holding the beauty, and little four didn't even get a sniff. Turning back, let little four have a taste first."

  The little four mouths spoke with foul language, but their bodies didn't idle, still relying on their nimble figures and skilled martial arts to circle around Cong Ye's body, searching for an opportunity to strike effectively.

  Because Cong Ye had only practiced the three years of combat skills in the army, but had never fought with someone who practiced traditional martial arts. So today, being beaten by Xiao Si was just a defensive move, without any counterattack, and it was reasonable. Cong Ye was dealing with the opponent's cunning moves while thinking about his strategy in his heart. Today, if he didn't knock down both of them, or get beaten up himself and suffer some humiliation, that would be a small matter; but what if they really did something to his sister-in-law? How could he still have the face to live on then?

  Yan Qingcheng in the pavilion, although her eyes were covered, her ears could still hear. From the tone of the person called Xiao Si's speech, it was clear that Cong Ye was no match for him, let alone with another person standing in front of her.

  "Cong Ye, don't mind me, you go."

  "Sister-in-law, rest assured, as long as I still have a breath in me, I will never let anyone bully you."

  "Hah, you're really something else. Don't worry, today I'll definitely leave you with a breath of air, and let you watch with your own eyes how my brother and I enjoy the beautiful women. That's a big show that can't even be seen with money."

  Congye was thoroughly enraged by Xiao Si's slanderous words, thinking that hiding and dodging wasn't a solution, he had to think of a way to get close to the opponent. With the help of the hot flow in his meridians, as long as he could hit the opponent, he would definitely make him suffer.

  With a plan in mind, Cong Ye took a kick to the calf and punched himself in the chest, enduring the pain, Cong Ye finally wrapped his arms around the opponent's waist.

  "Haha, you've actually learned this despicable fighting style. Let me show you what real martial arts are."

  I thought that with a bit of effort, I could push away the leaves that were embracing me, but unexpectedly not only did they not budge, but the arms wrapped around my waist became even stronger. At this point, Little Fourth started to panic, instinctively lifting his right knee to strike at the crotch of the leaves. The leaves' movements were even faster, employing a completely mutually destructive fighting style, suddenly gathering the hot flow from the meridians to the forehead and charging forward to collide with the opponent's forehead.

  "Bang!"

  "Oh no."

  At this moment, Cong Ye almost used his full strength, not only was the little four instantly stunned by Cong Ye, but Cong Ye himself was also dizzy and saw stars flying in front of him, his feet were unsteady, and he couldn't even stand still.