Chapter 1: Wu Rui

  The city center market, the hustle and bustle of pedestrians and vehicles, carelessly shuttling back and forth in the late afternoon. The faded paint signs of various shops, occasionally with a few monotonous neon lights flashing. Commuters heading home, children after school, elderly people buying vegetables, as well as all sorts of dusty travelers, make the gloomy sky appear even more depressing.

  "Selling corn on the cob! Fresh corn on the cob, one yuan each, 1.5 yuan for two, early buyers get to pick, late buyers get a discount - come and buy quickly, everyone!"

  "Fresh beef noodles!"

  "Freshly baked buns!"

  ………

  Here, there are vendors selling vegetables and fruits, vendors selling chicken, duck, fish and meat, as well as all sorts of miscellaneous goods. Various loud, thick, soft, gentle, high-pitched and clear calls for customers blend together, weaving a moving and immortal melody that embodies the wisdom of laboring people over thousands of years.

  At the street corner of a crossroads, behind a stall selling pirated discs, a red banner was erected on the wall with four black large characters "Miao Shou Ji Shi" and several lines of explanation below: "Ancestral medical skills, guaranteed to cure all diseases. Fair pricing, no cheating of old or young."

  Street boy?

  The stall owner's name was Wu Rui, wearing a Taoist robe and with long hair. This outfit really had a bit of a hermit feel to it. But his age, which was only in his early twenties, made this outfit look out of place, and he didn't have anything to do with the legendary doctor at all, after all that doctor wasn't someone with white hair and beard?

  At this time, Wu Rui was sitting listlessly on a small stool, fiddling with a black bead in his hand, his eyes dazed.

  This pearl was passed down by the old man, who said it was a treasure of some school's heritage, and had been passed down for thousands of years. But when Wu Rui asked him what it was, the old man couldn't explain it clearly, only vaguely saying that only those with good fortune could uncover the secrets of this black pearl. In fact, Wu Rui knew that the old man didn't know anything at all, and had been pondering over this black pearl for most of his life, but now he was losing patience and faith, so he passed it down to Wu Rui, giving it a nice name as letting Wu Rui carry on the master's legacy.

  But Wu Rui studied it for a long time, using all the methods he could think of, and this black pearl still didn't have any reaction at all, making him feel very depressed.

  "Ah!" He casually picked up the black bead and let out a deep sigh.

  "Wu Rui, you've been here for three days now, and it seems like you haven't had a single customer?" A sly-looking old man at the pirated disc stall said with a smirk, turning his head to tease Wu Rui who was sitting under the sign of "Miao Shou Ji Shi".

  When he heard the old man's sarcastic remarks, Wu Rui's mouth twitched violently, clearly showing his inner conflict. However, verbally, Wu Rui showed no signs of defeat and instead said nonchalantly: "Hey! It's only been three days so far, this wine is fine, I'm not afraid of being in a deep alley, I, Wu Rui, will eventually become famous throughout the Chinese medical community."

  "Go ahead and blow it! You can't even pass the medical exam, now you can only come here to be a quack doctor, in other people's eyes, you're just a peddler of fake medicine. And this sign of yours, 'Miraculous Hands Save the World, Guaranteed Cure for All Diseases', anyone can tell it's a scam at first glance, who would come to see you for treatment?!" The old man sneered and continued to attack mercilessly.

  Wu Rui's old face suddenly turned red with shame, and it was a great humiliation in his life! It turned out that a few days ago, Wu Rui went to take some kind of medical qualification exam, but the test paper only tested the pharmacology of Western medicine, while Wu Rui inherited traditional Chinese medicine, so he naturally didn't understand those nonsense.

  The result is self-evident, he was eliminated in the first round of written test and now has fallen to selling on the street, still a typical unlicensed doctor, worrying about city management coming to confiscate his stall every day. If Master knew that he, a descendant of Shen Nong, would have to sell medicine on the street, I don't know if he would be so angry that he would blow his beard and stare with wide eyes.

  "Hey, I'm the real deal. My heart is set on helping others, what's there to be afraid of in other people's eyes?" Wu Rui was feeling suffocated inside, but on the surface he remained as optimistic as ever, putting on a nonchalant air.

  But in his heart, he was secretly anxious. To know that this time when he came out of the mountain, that stingy old man only gave him a few thousand yuan. During the period when he took some kind of medical qualification examination, the expenses were high, and almost all his savings were used up at once, but in the end, he didn't even get a pass. Now Wu Rui's pocket only had less than two hundred yuan left, and it was really hard to survive for long in this big city of Shancheng.

  But what can be done about it? It's already the third day of setting up a stall here, and not to mention customers, I haven't even seen a ghostly figure. This is really frustrating for a renowned doctor like me! The old man in front of me, surnamed Chen, always comes out here to sell pirated discs when the city management is off duty in the evening. Especially those yellow movies are very popular and he can earn over a hundred yuan every day. Wu Rui looks at him with envy and secretly wonders: Is it really harder for a doctor like me to make a living than for someone who sells yellow discs?

  Two men were talking, one of them, a middle-aged man with a pair of nearsighted glasses perched on the bridge of his nose, looking refined and cultured, stopped in front of Old Man Chen and scanned the discs on the counter with his piercing eyes. Seeing that they were just normal movies, TV series, and songs, he adjusted his glasses and asked Old Man Chen, "Boss, do you have any 'little movies'?"

  It's hard to imagine that such a sentence would be spoken in such a literary crowd. Looking at his attire, he is either a teacher or a white-collar worker, and the cultural air revealed by his drumming is not pretentious, but unexpectedly, he also patronizes Old Man Chen's **. Wu Rui thought to himself that the world is really going downhill!

  "Yes, yes, yes." Old Chen, however, was unfazed and flashed a silver-toothed smile as he asked: "I have Hong Kong Category III, Japanese group sex, European wild sex, Thai transvestites, lesbianism, and violent S&M. Which one would you like to choose, boss?"

  "Gulp!" The middle-aged man with a glint in his eye swallowed hard, then carefully looked around and, finding no one paying attention to him, lowered his voice and said: "Let me pick out one of each kind!"

  Not to mention Wu Rui, even Old Man Chen's eyes flickered with a hint of surprise, clearly already impressed by this middle-aged Lei. But since business was knocking on his door, he had no reason to refuse, who cares what others think? As long as his wallet gets fatter, that's all that matters.

  Then, Old Man Chen squeezed out a fellow's expression on his face and kindly pulled him under the canvas of the stall. It was not yet evening, he did not dare to put those discs out, they were all hidden behind or below, every time there were customers who wanted them, he let them choose for themselves.

  "In two days, there will be a new disc, it's Aoi Sora's, remember to come again!" Old Man Chen sent off the middle-aged man with enthusiasm, and finally didn't forget to loudly advertise, not only did the middle-aged man stop in his tracks, but also many people around looked over. Apparently, this sentence "Aoi Sora" advertisement effect is not bad.

  "Hey!" As soon as the middle-aged man left, Old Chen patted the red human head in his hand and couldn't help but show off to Wu Rui: "I'm telling you, Wu Rui, just close down this Langzhong sign! Why not sell discs with me instead? I'll introduce you to a supplier!"

  Old Chen wasn't being sarcastic towards Wu Rui, but genuinely wanted to help him. After all, the clinic had been open for three days and hadn't even seen a single patient with a cold, which was really disheartening. Although Old Chen looked shady and illegally sold pirated and pornographic discs, after spending time together, Wu Rui knew he wasn't a bad person, just that his way of survival was a bit... unusual.

  "Come on, I'm a fake doctor too, with a heart for the people, vowing to hang my medical box and save the world. What's a little setback?!" Wu Rui resolutely refused Old Man Chen's kindness.

  Would rather have Wu Rui go sell porn DVDs? It's better to just kill him off directly. Even if he can afford to lose this person, the old man in the mountains won't let him off, will he?!

  "Cut!" Old Chen curled his lip, seeing that Wu Rui didn't take the bait and wasn't bothered, but instead lowered his head to tidy up the 'A' disc under the canvas. Now that night was gradually falling, many people couldn't bring themselves to buy adult movies during the day, so they usually came at night, which was Old Chen's peak business hour.

  Gradually, the night color still enveloped the entire mountain city. All the neon lights of the shops in the central market had already flashed, and the small vendors on the roadside had also set up illuminating lamps, making the entire central market shine brightly. And the pedestrians on the road did not decrease but increased, which was a sign that the nightlife in the city was about to begin.

  "Alas!" Looking at Old Man Chen who was busy and having the time of his life, Wu Rui couldn't help but let out a sigh as he looked at his own cool stall, and then began to pack up and leave.

  He's not selling porn DVDs, nor is he peddling snacks. At night, no one comes to see a doctor, and it's already time to close up shop. Dragging on till now, still holding onto hope and luck, but with the night falling, there's no point in staying any longer. Not even flies to swat at, only mosquitoes left to slap!

  Just then, two beautiful women carrying bright bags happened to pass by, one of whom suddenly supported her companion and asked anxiously, "Ruoxi, are you okay?"

  ……………………………

  It's almost complete, so don't worry. No Mary Sue + horse, a little dog blood, but updates are stable, so feel free to collect it. If you have any questions, you can point them out in the book review area or add my WeChat account bl920916, named BL, and follow me directly.