âSomeone with quite a background,â Miao Qingyuan replied after taking a sip of the tea.
âBy the way, you have nothing to worry about regarding him.â
âI havenât seen you for years. How did you get here?â
âHow?â Miao Qingyuan lowered his head and looked at the steaming tea on the table.
âWhen I left the village all those years ago, I thought of going somewhere far away to distance myself from the village and never keeping in touch with anyone from there. I especially thought about getting myself away from Miao Xihe,â Miao Qingyuan said. âI went to the north and the west, but I didnât have much money with me. I eventually settled in the nearby He County. I thought of just settling down there and building a family. I figured Iâd just live an uneventful life. I would have been nowhere near getting rich, but I would have had no huge troubles to deal with. But hell, with all that is happening with He County lately, as well as the village getting involved, Miao Qingfeng came looking for us.â
âAre you guys considered the main family?â
âMain family? Hmph, everyone in the village has the Miao surname,â Miao Qingyuan replied. âOur ancestors were family to begin with! But Miao Qingfeng didnât care for any of that. He is nothing but scum, just like Miao Xihe!â
âDo you still think about revenge?â
âI sure do,â Miao Qingyuan said. âHow about you?â
âI do too.â
âMe and you, weâre different though. You thought about it and you did something. I stopped at thinking and did nothing else.â Miao Qingyuan chuckled. His smile looked rather bitter.
âI know what Iâm made of,â Miao Qingyuan said. âIf I stay out here any longer, Iâll end up dead soon. In truth, the very reason Miao Xihe let the likes of us live all these years was that he didnât think of us as threats. So, he just didnât bother dealing with us. Thatâs about it.â He knew at least that much about himself.
âDo you have kids now?â
âA boy.â
âHow old?â
âHeâs four years old now.â Miao Qingyuanâs expression softened when he talked about his son.
âGood for you,â Miao Chengtang said. He felt a little envious.
Miao Chengtang was 30 years old. He wanted to have a family too. However, he never did anything about those thoughts back in the village because he knew of what was happening in the village, as well as all those hidden dark secrets. He laid low. He thought that even if he were unable to take revenge for his parents, he would never want his children to live a life like his.
Things were different now. He had escaped. The conversation he had with Miao Qingyuan made him think that he should change his lifestyle. He wanted to find a normal girl and have two children. The best scenario was to have a boy and a girl. His children would not have to be very smart or excel in their studies. Just having healthy children was enough for him.
âIâm still worried,â Miao Chengtang said.
âAre you worried that Miao Xihe is going to come for you?â
âYeah. The more I know, the more terrifying I find him to be.â
âThis is Tianjin. How is he going to find you in such a huge city?â
âHe will be able to if he really wants to.â
âStill worried, eh?â
âTruth be told, I just want to live a normal life.â
âA normal life?â
âI have bad dreams whenever I sleep lately,â Miao Chengtang said. He was unable to sleep well, which was not a life that he was after.
âTo tell you the truth, I was just like you when I first escaped the village. I was unable to sleep and kept feeling like someone was on my tail. That will pass after a while.â
âThings are different now,â Miao Chengtang said. âBoth He and Qushan counties are in trouble, and many people have died. Miao Xihe is really, really pissed now.â
âDid Tianchuan really do all that?â
âIt was him alright. He will do anything to get his revenge.â
âWhy did you leave him?â
âI didnât kill anyone, not in the village or outside of it, yet I was treated like a criminal all the same,â Miao Chengtang said. âI was being hunted all over the country like some rat. I had to hide all the time from both the village people and the national authorities. Miao Tianchuan has really changed. He is insanely dangerous. There is no telling when he would have made a move against his own people.â
âDid you come all the way here just to get some good sleep before thinking of something else?â
âYeah.â Miao Chengtang nodded.
After saying goodbye to Miao Qingyuan, he went to his place in Tianjin. It was a rented house. While it was not a really high-class place, it still looked cozy. The rental was fully furnished.
He laid on the bed and closed his eyes. He quickly fell asleep. It was the first time he had been able to sleep soundly since he had escaped the village.
In a village, thousands of miles away...
A patient with a special case came to Wang Yaoâs clinic.
She was a woman in her 20s. She had a huge bluish-black birthmark on the right side of her face, which made her rather pretty face look terrifying. As such, she styled her hair in a way that hid the birthmark.
âDr. Wang, do you think you could do something to get rid of her birthmark?â A woman in her fifties had come with the young woman. She was the young womanâs mother. Her daughter was at an ideal age to get married, but no man wanted to marry a woman with such a huge birthmark on her face. Furthermore, the birthmark robbed her of her confidence. Also, going to the hospital would have been costly. Both of them heard about the village doctor having medical skills unlike any other, so they visited him.
âSit down and let me have a look,â Wang Yao said.
The young woman sat down. Wang Yao checked her birthmark.
âYeah, itâs something that you could be rid of.â
âReally?â The older woman gasped in surprise.
âReally,â Wang Yao said with a smile.
âUmm, how should we get rid of it?â
âWell, the birthmark seems to be just on the surface. It doesnât go too deep,â Wang Yao said. âFirst, I could entirely remove the mark.â
âRemove the mark entirely? Do you mean cutting out the whole thing?â
âYeah, that is what I mean.â
âWhat?â The woman was dumbfounded hearing that suggestion.
âBut itâs on her face. Wonât it leave a huge scar if you just cut the whole thing out? Wonât it look uglier?â
âI could return her face to normal after the surgery.â
âOh hell, Iâm not buying this!â The young woman immediately refused.
âLetâs go. Weâll do something somewhere else.â The mother took her daughter and went outside.
Wang Yao smiled and shook his head.
âMom.â
âIf he were to give you meds to see if that worked, Iâd have no problem with that. But surgery? I canât believe such a young man turned out to be a fraud!â The older woman got increasingly angry as she talked.
âWell, we didnât agree to it, right?â the daughter replied with a smile.
âLetâs go. Iâll take you to a hospital instead.â
âThereâs no need for that. Just leave it as it is,â the young woman said. She knew what kind of situation her family was in. They couldnât afford the cost of doing it at a hospital. Furthermore, she had a little brother who was attending university. After he finished, he intended to find a job and buy a house in the city. All of that was going to cost a fortune, so her family was saving all their money for her little brother.
âMaster,â Jia Zizai came into the clinic. âWere the mother and daughter here for treatment?â
âYeah.â
âThat girlâs birthmark sure is frightening. I guess she doesnât need to be afraid of bad guys when she goes out at night.â
âDonât make fun of other peopleâs shortcomings,â Wang Yao said with a stern tone.
âWell, alright, my bad,â Jia Zizai immediately said.
âSo, what brings you here?â
âI caught a big fish in the river today, so Iâm thinking of inviting you to my place to have fish soup.â
âA big fish in this weather?â
âYeah, just by the side of the river.â
âAlright, sure.â Wang Yao smiled and nodded.
âCouldnât you do something about the girlâs birthmark?â
âI can, but they are not buying it,â Wang Yao said.
âWell, itâs their loss.â
âA birthmark like that isnât actually all that difficult to treat. Itâs just on the surface of the skin, so it would be fine to just cut it out.â
âCut it out? Together with the skin? Wouldnât that hurt a lot?!â Jia Zizai asked.
âIt wouldnât hurt that much, and Iâd give her medicine to deal with the pain,â Wang Yao said.
âI think that girl would look stunning if she were to be able to get rid of that birthmark.â