Hearing the laughter from the crowd, Liu Laizi, who had been sitting off to the side, could no longer save face. He might have been older, but he had truly never been married.
He also had a capable nephew who often gave him money to run errands. With cash in his pocket, he frequently visited underground prostitutes for pleasure.
Those women weren’t wives, after all. By that logic… he could still be considered a “virgin bachelor,” couldn’t he?
“He’s a virgin?” Su Jiuyue stared coldly at the woman on the ground. “Li Guilan, can you guarantee that?”
“Liu Laizi has worked honestly all his life,” Li Guilan argued. “He’s got several brick houses and every household appliance you could want.”
“You’re an orphan with no parents. If you marry him, you won’t have to lift a finger—you’ll just enjoy a comfortable life. What could you possibly be unhappy about?”
In Li Guilan’s eyes, Su Jiuyue simply didn’t know what was good for her. If Liu Laizi hadn’t insisted on wanting this little wretch, Li Guilan would have married him herself.
“Heh… enjoy a comfortable life?” Su Jiuyue looked at Liu Laizi with undisguised disgust. “Liu Laizi, why don’t you answer that yourself?”
The contempt in her eyes made Liu Laizi furious. But seeing her beautiful face and graceful figure only made his desire burn hotter.
Jutting out his neck, he declared, “So what? I already paid your stepmother the bride price! You’re my wife now! If you marry me, you won’t have to do any work—just live in comfort!”
“You call marrying an old man ‘living in comfort’? And you claim he’s a virgin?”
Su Jiuyue fanned the air in front of her nose in obvious disgust.
“Everyone, why don’t you come a little closer… and smell him?”
Several people cautiously stepped forward. As they drew nearer, a pungent stench of rotting flesh and decay assaulted their noses. Even though Liu Laizi had deliberately scrubbed himself with soap, it did nothing to mask the odor.
Someone immediately grimaced.
“Good heavens… he smells awful. It’s like something’s rotting.”
Su Jiuyue pointed at him.
“Liu Laizi, do you dare open your collar and let the military doctor here examine you?”
His face changed dramatically.
He clutched his collar tightly, eyes darting about.
“Y-What are you trying to do? You trying to strip me in public? I’m still a virgin…”
“A virgin?”
Su Jiuyue let out a cold laugh.
Her voice turned icy, each word sharp as a nail.
“Look at the way he walks—his knees are stiff. That’s a classic sign of bone-deep pain. His complexion is ashen, and that putrid, fishy smell of rotting flesh can’t even be covered up by gallons of realgar wine. You can smell it from three meters away.”
“And most importantly…”
Her gaze landed on the dark reddish marks barely visible above his collar.
“That coin-sized red rash on his neck is a textbook symptom of yangmei chuang.”
She paused before saying bluntly,
“So, ‘virgin,’ have you recently been suffering from ulceration and pus in your private parts? Unbearable itching and pain? Even aching deep inside your bones?”
“Those are classic symptoms of tertiary syphilis—a venereal disease.”
The words exploded through the crowd like a bomb.
Moments ago, people had been standing around Liu Laizi watching the commotion. The instant they heard the words “venereal disease,” they screamed in horror and scattered three meters away.
Liu Laizi was dumbfounded.
For the first forty years of his life, he’d never even touched a woman. Only in the past two years, after coming into some money, had he started frequenting prostitutes.
How had he ended up with a disease?
And a venereal disease at that?
Humiliated beyond measure, he roared,
“Su Jiuyue! You little bitch, what nonsense are you spouting? Don’t think just because I like you that you can slander me! Believe it or not, I’ll—”
Before he could finish, Huo Zhixing’s icy gaze swept over him.
The overwhelming killing intent radiating from the officer made Liu Laizi shudder involuntarily.
His mouth snapped shut.
Li Guilan was completely panicked.
She had never imagined that the usually timid and submissive Su Jiuyue would suddenly possess such keen medical insight.
She knew perfectly well that Liu Laizi was sick.
Her original plan had been simple—once Su Jiuyue married him, the two of them would eventually die from the disease. Then she could seize Liu Laizi’s house and everything he owned.
She had heard before that Su Jiuyue’s late mother had been skilled in medicine.
But the woman had died young, and during the years since Li Guilan married into the family, she’d never noticed Su Jiuyue practicing medicine.
Who would have thought the little wretch had hidden it so well?
The hatred in Li Guilan’s eyes deepened.
So this little slut had been secretly hiding things from her all along.
Perhaps she still possessed the medical inheritance left behind by her dead mother.
Lowering her head, Li Guilan began viciously calculating where Su Jiuyue might have hidden those belongings.
That night at the guesthouse, Su Jiuyue hadn’t been carrying anything with her.
Which meant the items had to still be hidden back at home.
Su Jiuyue had no idea her stepmother was already plotting to seize her inheritance.
Leaning against Huo Zhixing’s chest, she could barely remain standing. The pain in her injured foot was becoming increasingly unbearable.
Feeling the tension in the young woman nestled in his arms, Huo Zhixing lowered his gaze thoughtfully.
A trace of barely noticeable curiosity flashed through his deep eyes.
In a voice only the two of them could hear, he asked quietly,
“Are you certain he has a venereal disease? You diagnosed him at a glance… Do you know medicine?”
Su Jiuyue’s heart skipped a beat.
Damn…
She’d been too eager to expose Liu Laizi and had forgotten to hide her abilities.
She immediately softened her expression.
Her eyelashes trembled as she murmured in a small, hesitant voice, half truth and half lie,
“When I was little… before my mother passed away… she taught me a few things…”
“After she died… she left behind some medical casebooks.”
It wasn’t entirely a lie.
Her mother really had left her a collection of prescriptions and medical records.
Before dying, she had warned Su Jiuyue to hide them from everyone and only reveal them when the time was right—or they would bring disaster upon her.
Over the past several years, Su Jiuyue had secretly studied those records whenever she was out working.
Li Guilan had never known.
“The rotten smell coming from Liu Laizi was simply too obvious. It matched descriptions in my mother’s medical records.”
So that’s how it is.
That explanation made sense.
No wonder the young woman always carried such a pleasant herbal fragrance.
Huo Zhixing looked deeply into her eyes.
His arm tightened protectively around her waist before he turned his cold gaze toward the pair on the ground.
“Since money changed hands, this is suspected human trafficking.”
“It deserves a thorough investigation.”
Bonus Mini Scene
Commander Huo: “You know medicine?”
Jiuyue (feeling guilty): “A little… I learned by reading my mother’s medical records.”
Commander Huo (breathing in her unique fragrance): “Then… can you treat my insomnia?”
Jiuyue: “How?”
Commander Huo (his eyes darkening): “Come here. Let me hold you for a while.”
“Works better than any medicine.”