The Devil's Tribulation

Pan Chengfeng ran all the way and arrived outside the county town in two hours. He changed into the same outfit as last time, and then went around the west gate to enter Li County. This time no one dared to stop Pan Chengfeng, and Pan Chengfeng entered the city gate smoothly, found a jewelry store, picked out a few pieces of jewelry, paid the money and left. Then he came to the county's drugstore. After entering the door, he saw the shopkeeper of the drugstore, an old man with white hair, with his head down, counting the bills. The sound of the abacus clattered, as if he didn't notice Pan Chengfeng's arrival. Pan Chengfeng didn't disturb him, found a chair and sat down, waiting quietly. After a while, the shopkeeper's hand finally stopped, looked up and saw Pan Chengfeng sitting in the store, wearing a veil hat, narrowed his eyes, and said with some surprise: "Sir, do you want to buy or sell medicinal materials? Why don't you call me?" Pan Chengfeng smiled and said, "I just saw the old shopkeeper counting the bills, and I was afraid of disturbing the old shopkeeper and causing you to count again."

The old shopkeeper smiled and said, "Sir, you are very thoughtful. My friend had something to do at home today and didn't come to work. I am alone here, and I am sorry to neglect you." Pan Chengfeng didn't mind and said, "I am here to find some medicinal herbs." He handed over a piece of paper. The old shopkeeper took the paper and looked at it, saying, "Objectively, most small shops have these twenty kinds of medicinal herbs, but you require them to be more than ten years old, which is a bit difficult." In fact, Uncle Niu didn't require the age of these medicinal herbs, as long as they were available. However, Pan Chengfeng himself felt that the older the medicinal herbs, the better, so he added the condition of ten years. After listening to the old shopkeeper's words, Pan Chengfeng touched his chin and asked, "What years are they?" The old shopkeeper thought for a moment and said, "Mostly five or six years old, but..." Seeing that the old shopkeeper seemed to have something to say, Pan Chengfeng smiled and said, "But what?" The old shopkeeper thought for a moment and seemed to have made a decision, so he said, "We do have a fifty-year-old beardless grass. This is our store's treasure and we won't sell it easily."

When Pan Chengfeng heard that this small shop actually had beardless grass, he was so excited that he almost stood up, but fortunately he controlled himself in the end. He asked in a light tone: "Oh? There are actually medicinal herbs that are not for sale? In this case, why did the shopkeeper tell me?" The old shopkeeper was a little embarrassed. After thinking for a while, he decided to say it: "My wife and I have been married for more than 20 years, and my wife has never been able to get pregnant. Just when we had no hope, maybe God took pity on us, and finally ten years ago, my wife got pregnant and successfully gave birth to a boy for me. This child is the lifeblood of my husband and me! Who knew that the child suddenly fell ill a month ago, and we found many doctors, but we couldn't find the cause of the disease. A few days ago, a traveling doctor came to our Li County. With the idea of ​​giving it a try, I asked him to help check the child's illness. Who knew that the doctor said after the examination that the child was not sick, but poisoned! Our family has been doing good deeds all our lives and has never offended anyone. How could someone poison the child? Just when I was puzzled . Mr. Wu from the county magistrate's family came to the door. I don't know where he learned that there was a fifty-year-old medicinal herb in the store, and he wanted to buy it. I originally thought that it was better to have less trouble than more, and it would cost a lot of money to treat the child anyway, so I agreed to sell it to him. But he didn't give me a penny, but wrote me an IOU, saying that he would give it to me when he had money! ! Do I dare to take the IOU to the county government to ask for money? ! It's simply too much! I was about to refuse Mr. Wu's request, but Mr. Wu actually said: "Your son can't hold on for much longer, right? In three days, you will send the medicinal herbs to my house, otherwise, prepare for your son's funeral! 'It was only then that I realized that he was the one who poisoned my son! ! I was so cruel! I wanted to eat his flesh and drink his blood, but I was powerless, how could I possibly fight against the government?" After saying that, the old shopkeeper looked ferocious, and it took a while for him to return to normal.

Pan Chengfeng asked in confusion: "Old shopkeeper, what is your purpose in telling me these things?" The old shopkeeper did not answer Pan Chengfeng immediately, but asked back: "Are you the one who exchanged copper coins in the inn seven days ago?" Pan Chengfeng did not deny it and nodded. There should be few people in the whole Li County who did not know about this matter. Besides, he was wearing the same clothes today as that day, so it was not surprising that he was recognized. Pan Chengfeng already knew what the old shopkeeper meant, but still asked: "Speak frankly, shopkeeper." The old shopkeeper calmed down and said: "I heard that the distinguished guest taught Sun Dutou and his gang a lesson that day?" Pan Chengfeng thought to himself: "He did teach those people a lesson that day, but no one saw it? Although there was some movement in the guest room that day, people outside should not have noticed it, and it is impossible for Sun Dutou to tell the matter himself. After all, being beaten is not a glorious thing."

After a while, Pan Chengfeng suddenly remembered: "Hey, how could I forget Brother Chen and that skinny guard? One of them had a broken hand, and the other had a broken foot, so they definitely couldn't hide it from so many eyes outside. It seems that's how the news got out. I'm still not careful enough. Sun Dutou has lost so much face, he must be hating me in his heart!" After figuring this out, Pan Chengfeng asked, "Does the shopkeeper want me to teach that Master Wu a lesson?"

The shopkeeper nodded firmly: "I have never hated someone so much in my life. If you can meet my request, I will give you this plant of beardless grass as a reward! And I can give you the beardless grass now." Pan Chengfeng shook his head and said, "Change your request." He promised his master not to cause trouble, let alone provoke the government. What's the matter with beating up Master Wu? Not only did he cause trouble, but he also provoked the government. Unexpectedly, the old man was quite stubborn and shook his head and said, "Except for this request, I have no other request."

Pan Chengfeng was surprised and said, "Oh? You don't plan to save your son?" Unexpectedly, the old man said, "We couldn't find the cause of the disease before, so we didn't know where to start. Now that we know it's poisoning, we can slowly detoxify." Pan Chengfeng smiled and said, "Although I don't know much about medicine, I still know that toxins deposited in the body for too long are very harmful to the body. Your son is still young. If you delay like this, he will inevitably become a tuberculosis patient in the future." After he paused, he looked at the old shopkeeper and said, "I can help your son detoxify immediately, and even make his body stronger and healthier!" The old shopkeeper's hands trembled, and he hurriedly said, "Are you serious?!" Pan Chengfeng smiled and said, "I can detoxify first. You should know a little about medicine. After you confirm your pulse, you can give me the Wuxucao. Isn't this a good deal?"

Soon, Pan Chengfeng saw a sick child in a room. He was about ten years old, pale, with purple lips, and kept coughing. He looked like he was dying. The old shopkeeper seemed to see Pan Chengfeng's doubts and said, "He is much better than a few days ago." Pan Chengfeng nodded and said, "What medicine do you usually give him? Go and boil another bowl and bring it over." Hearing this, the old shopkeeper immediately went to boil the medicine. Seeing that the old shopkeeper had left, Pan Chengfeng walked out the door, picked a petal from the flower on the potted plant, took out a dagger and gently stabbed his left index finger, and a small drop of blood appeared. Then he gently smeared a little bit on the petal and put it in his arms. He is now in the second level of physical training, much stronger than when he saved Pan Dahu before, so the blood smeared on the petal is really just a little bit.

Half an hour later, the old shopkeeper came in with a bowl of medicine soup, looked at Pan Chengfeng and said, "Just let my son drink it like this?" Pan Chengfeng took the medicine bowl, took out the petals from his arms, threw them directly into the medicine soup, and then said to the old shopkeeper, "Just let him drink it." The old shopkeeper looked at Pan Chengfeng in confusion and asked, "Can this really detoxify my son's body?" Pan Chengfeng nodded and said, "Don't worry." The old shopkeeper gritted his teeth and helped his son up: "Yu'er, be good, drink it and you won't feel uncomfortable." The child looked at his old father and said weakly, "Daddy, the child will be well soon, don't worry." His son's words made this stubborn old man burst into tears.

Watching his son drink the medicine, the old shopkeeper and Pan Chengfeng were waiting for the child's reaction. After a few breaths, Yu'er suddenly frowned, covered her stomach with one hand, grabbed her chest with the other and shouted: "Daddy, my stomach hurts so much! My chest hurts so much too!" The old shopkeeper was about to step forward, but Pan Chengfeng stopped him and said lightly: "It will be fine in a while, just watch." The old shopkeeper's eyes almost popped out, and he looked like he was going to fight Pan Chengfeng to the death, and shouted: "What on earth did you give my son to drink?! If anything happens to my son, I will fight you!!" Pan Chengfeng didn't blame him, and still stopped the old shopkeeper. After a few breaths, Yu'er suddenly "vomited~" and spit out a large pool of black blood, then covered her stomach, curled up into a ball and trembled.

After another two minutes, Yu'er finally felt that her stomach pain was gone. She sat up and looked at her father and Pan Chengfeng. She said in disbelief, "Dad, I feel like I'm all right, and my strength seems to have increased?" The old shopkeeper hurriedly stepped forward to feel his son's pulse. He frowned at first, then slowly relaxed his brows, and then slowly revealed a shocked expression. Finally, he pulled his son up and said, "Yu'er, come here, kneel down to your benefactor!" Then the father and son knelt down in front of Pan Chengfeng together, and thanked him, "You not only saved my son's life, but also gave me a new life. I don't know how I can repay your kindness!" After that, the father and son kowtowed to Pan Chengfeng together. Pan Chengfeng waved his hand and said, "What's the matter with gratitude? This is our deal. I'll detoxify you and you'll give me the Wuxu grass. This is a deal. Hurry up and get up." Seeing that the two men didn't stand up, Pan Chengfeng said, "Okay, okay, you can give me some herbs as a token of your gratitude. Is that ok?" After hearing what Pan Chengfeng said, the two men stood up. The old shopkeeper said, "Whatever herbs my benefactor needs, as long as they are in my shop, feel free to take them!"