Chapter Ninety-Five: Sorry, I’ve Changed My Mind! (A One-and-a-Half-in-One Chapter)

Director Wei, do not listen to this little brat spouting nonsense. What does he know about medicine? The jade pendant was crushed, so of course there would be powder,” Yang Zhifeng said desperately.

His original plan was to let the sedative vaporize over the banquet for a while, then keep urging everyone to drink, until they all fell unconscious under its effect.

By then, Yang Zhifeng would have been able, without a soul noticing, to toy at leisure with the women present.

When everyone woke up, he would simply say they were all drunk, and nothing had happened at all.

Who could have guessed that Qin Mu would come out of nowhere and smash his scheme to pieces with a single blow?

And that one move from Qin Mu instantly roused Wei Jianxun.

Wei Jianxun had spent decades in the Health Bureau. Without Qin Mu saying a word, he could tell at a glance what those white powders were.

Those specially made sedatives were highly harmful to the body; they had been banned long ago.

How could they have appeared here?

“Mengping, bring me that jade pendant.”

Xu Mengping did not dare hesitate. She had heard of the danger of such substances; if inhaled over many years, they would not improve the skin or preserve youth, but instead accelerate aging.

Wei Jianxun took the pendant and smashed it against the table without the slightest hesitation.

Bang!

The pendant split in two.

White powder spilled out exactly as expected.

“You scum! Who gave you the nerve to do something so utterly monstrous?!”

Wei Jianxun kicked back his chair, sprang to his feet, seized Yang Zhifeng with both hands, and hauled him up.

“This, this was all done by Doctor Li. I knew nothing about it at all,” Yang Zhifeng hurriedly denied.

Fortunately, he had already sent Doctor Li away from River City.

That way, even if something like this happened, he could push the blame away with perfect ease, and Wei Jianxun would never be able to find Doctor Li.

No witness, no proof.

Just as Yang Zhifeng thought he had slipped free of disaster, Qin Mu said coolly, “No need to guess. I knew that would be the excuse you used.”

The instant his voice fell, the private room door was pushed open.

Wu Mu strode in, carrying in his hand a gray, wretched-looking fellow who seemed utterly defeated.

It was none other than Doctor Li.

“Doctor Li, we meet again,” Qin Mu said with a smile.

“You, you!”

The moment Doctor Li saw the young man before him, his expression changed in alarm, and he pointed at Qin Mu with a trembling finger.

They had met once before, at the Xia residence, when Xia Xuan had asked him to administer poison to harm Xia Qinghai.

Back then, Qin Mu had acted like a miracle worker, bringing the dead back to life and restoring the heart of Xia Qinghai after it had stopped.

“D-Doctor Li, why are you here?” Yang Zhifeng stared in disbelief.

Doctor Li wore a bitter expression and could not speak.

Last night, he had still been at a wealthy man’s home, about to treat the patient and receive a huge payment, when Wu Mu burst through the door and, without saying a word, dragged him away in the middle of the night.

“Speak,” Wu Mu said, tossing Doctor Li before the crowd.

Faced with the furious Wei Jianxun towering above him, Doctor Li did not dare conceal a thing and told everything in full.

“The sedatives were given to me by Yang Zhifeng. He paid me to make these pieces of white jade.”

“He said he was about to be promoted, and before leaving, he absolutely had to enjoy the beauty of Director Wei’s wife...”

“You madman! What are you babbling about!” Yang Zhifeng cried out, rushing forward to kick Doctor Li aside before he could continue.

Lying off to one side, Doctor Li glanced at the two women from Qin Mu’s family at the table, aside from Wei Jianxun and his wife, and immediately began cursing Yang Zhifeng in his heart.

He was nothing but a greedy snake trying to swallow an elephant.

Who told you to provoke someone this monstrous?

Before, it had only been Qin Mu’s old classmate Xia Yuan, and he had already been forced to act in such a way.

Now he had even dragged in the man’s mother and sister.

If you do not die, who will?

Wei Jianxun had already grasped the situation. With a backhanded slap, he struck Yang Zhifeng across the face.

Smack!

“Yang Zhifeng, I must have been blind to have promoted someone like you.”

“Get your pay for this month and then get out!”

Wei Jianxun was already being merciful. If an ordinary man had dared do something like this, he would have been beaten to death long ago.

But Yang Zhifeng did not appreciate the mercy at all. With the plot ruined, he stepped back several paces, his face vicious, and said, “Wei Jianxun, I worked my ass off as your secretary for over ten years, and now you want to fire me over something this small?”

“You think I had no backup plan?”

At Yang Zhifeng’s glance, Li Xin, taking advantage of Qin Mu’s momentary distraction, pulled a button from his pocket and pressed it. With several whirring sounds from fans, white mist began to spread slowly from the surrounding heating and air-conditioning vents.

“You’re insane!” Wei Jianxun recognized at once that the white mist was the same sedative.

At such a dose, it would likely take effect within seconds of inhalation, and afterward it would cause severe damage to the body.

“I already got a sum of money out of the department and booked my flight abroad.”

“Once I’m overseas, no matter how capable you are, Wei Jianxun, you still won’t be able to catch me!”

“Just wait until I have my fill with your wife right in front of you!”

Yang Zhifeng’s burning gaze locked onto Qiu Shuixia and Jiang Zheng, his palms rubbing together as though he could no longer wait.

“And you! The women in your family are all beautiful one after another.”

“Secretary Yang, don’t forget my contribution,” Li Xin said at once, still wearing a fawning smile as he ingratiated himself with Yang Zhifeng.

“Don’t worry. Once I’m tired of them, I’ll let you have your turn. That sedative will keep someone out for four or five hours anyway,” Yang Zhifeng said grandly.

“None of you will escape from my grasp, Yang Zhifeng...”

He had not finished speaking when Qin Mu threw a punch through the air.

Bang!!

The sound of the air exploding rang out like thunder!

The cloud of vapor was blasted apart in an instant, and within several meters of Qin Mu’s fist, not a trace remained.

Feeling the fierce gust of his拳风 slash past their cheeks, Yang Zhifeng and Li Xin froze on the spot.

What kind of divine skill was this?

“Take them away, all of them. Bring them back and interrogate them harshly!”

Wei Jianxun was deeply shrewd. Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately ordered men in to seize Yang Zhifeng and Li Xin and drag them away.

Wu Mu followed too, smiling as he went, rolling his shoulders and loosening the bones of his body along the way.

The moment the door shut, bursts of screaming could be heard from inside.

How could an investigation end with anything as simple as questioning when they had dared to lay hands on Qin Mu’s family?

“Brother Jiang, I have truly embarrassed myself before you.”

“I never imagined my own subordinates would harbor such vermin. This so-called miracle doctor he invited to treat me was probably also after those filthy intentions.”

“This time, we really owe it to your son.”

Wei Jianxun gave a bitter smile, and his estimation of Qin Mu rose once again.

Without Qin Mu just now, no one knew what the consequences would have been.

Jiang Haishan was still a little slow to react. Only after hearing Wei Jianxun’s words did he come to himself.

“Director Wei, you’re too polite. The urgent matter now is to find proper doctors to check everyone’s condition.”

Xu Mengping had worn the pendant longer than Qiu Shuixia, and the effect of the sedative in it had been greater as well.

“No need.”

Qin Mu reassured Jiang Haishan.

“This is a prescription to calm the mind and steady the spirit. Take it home, decoct it in an earthen pot for three hours, once a day. Within a week, the side effects of the drug will disappear.”

Qin Mu handed a slip of paper to Xu Mengping.

“Young friend, you also know medicine?”

“Back when I was in the army, we often encountered all sorts of emergencies out in the field. We had a military doctor with us then, and I learned little by little over time,” Qin Mu said frankly.

“You were a soldier too? Then you are truly young and accomplished, a dragon among men, haha!” Wei Jianxun said with delighted surprise.

For officials of their rank, the people they respected most were the soldiers who guarded the mountains and rivers of the nation.

“By the way, young friend, do you have time these next few days? I would like to ask you to look at an old friend of mine.”

“The retired old mayor?”

Jiang Haishan and Wei Jianxun were old acquaintances. As soon as he heard that, he knew exactly whom Wei Jianxun meant.

“Yes, Old Mister Fu Yuanantu,” Wei Jianxun nodded.

Qin Mu was not unfamiliar with this man.

In the records Wu Mu had investigated, Fu Yuanantu had once been a registered soldier, holding the rank of lieutenant colonel.

He retired in his forties, then returned to River City and served as its top official. He had sat in that position for thirty years, and now he must already be in his eighties.

When that incident twenty years ago broke out, Fu Yuanantu had been suffering a severe illness, receiving emergency treatment in the hospital, his life hanging by a thread.

Even so, when Fu Yuanantu learned that the Jiang Alliance intended to join forces and lay hands on an unarmed woman, he still, from his hospital bed and with IV tubes all over his body, ordered them to restrain themselves and not go too far.

It was a pity that the Jiang Alliance had been in its prime then, and they paid no heed at all to Fu Yuanantu, who was bedridden with illness.

“Old Mister Fu’s injuries should have been left from combat during his service, yes? Since then, the internal injury has never healed. Every day he must suffer one or two hours of agony so severe it is worse than death, and now his condition has only grown worse, has it not?”

“How did you know that?”

Wei Jianxun was stunned speechless.