From Hoarding to Time-Travel: My Supplies Saved Him

Chapter 705: Chapter 707: Finding the Clinic

Lai San could no longer care about his exhaustion at this moment, walking briskly as he led the way.

Chief Chen could not help but sigh. "Looks like he really is seriously ill. Sigh, they didn’t even know to call an ox cart. That would have been much faster."

Lai San and Zeng Dawang jogged all the way until they finally arrived at the clinic Chief Chen had mentioned.

Upon arriving, he tossed aside his previous guilt and fear, shouting at the attendant who was fetching medicine from the cabinet. "Doctor, hurry up and take a look! My brother got gored by a wild boar, and now he’s burning up with a fever!"

The attendant dared not delay and guided them into the shop. "Wait here, I’ll go to the backyard and call my master."

By the time Doctor Qian came over, he saw them squatting there, vigorously shaking the person on the stretcher.

"What are you doing crowding around here? What’s the patient’s condition?" Mr. Qian hurried over and asked, thinking the patient was at death’s door.

"No matter how much we call him, he won’t wake up!" Zeng Dawang’s voice carried a crying tone. He thought his younger brother was going to pass away silently, just like their other companions had.

"Don’t crowd him first. Let me take a look." The old doctor carefully examined the patient. "Carry him inside first. This wound needs to be treated immediately."

As for the rest, he didn’t bother explaining it to the two men in front of him; they wouldn’t understand even if he did.

Zeng Dawang stood awkwardly to the side. He quickly lifted the two slabs of meat from the stretcher and offered them to Doctor Qian. "I don’t know if this can serve as the consultation fee? We don’t have any Silver."

Doctor Qian had obviously encountered many situations like this before. He signaled for the attendant beside him to accept it. "Let’s treat the wound first. If we just leave it alone like this, he won’t last more than a few days."

As for the subsequent medical expenses, Doctor Qian let out a deep sigh. "When the time comes, I’ll teach you to recognize some herbs, and you can forage for them yourselves in the mountains."

Zeng Dawang expressed endless gratitude, then went to squat outside the clinic door, holding his head in his hands.

"Brother Da Wang, since the doctor has stepped in to treat him, there shouldn’t be a problem." At the same time, Lai San rejoiced inwardly, thinking it was fortunate that Boss Wu had allowed them to bring two slabs of meat down the mountain. Otherwise, they might not have been able to secure medical treatment at all.

"I just hope he’ll be alright now. Thank you so much for today!" Having laid down the Dashi in his heart, Zeng Dawang finally had the mood to chat.

"Xiao Wang shouldn’t have much of a problem anymore, but the two of us are doomed. When we entered the city just now, that Lord Official explicitly told us to go find him." At the thought of what happened at the city gate, Lai San put on a bitter face.

He squatted beside Zeng Dawang and asked in a low voice, "Do you think our identities have been discovered? Is he planning to throw us into the dungeon?"

Zeng Dawang also became a little uncertain. "That should... be impossible, right? We rarely come to the county town anyway, and we’ve never seen this arrest officer before."

Lai San looked down at their attire. "Besides, we don’t look like bad guys. Why would he want us to look for him?"

"I don’t know..." Zeng Dawang was also quite anxious. "Why don’t you think about it? Did you run into him when you entered the city before?"

In the past, when they couldn’t trade for things in nearby villages, Lai San would sometimes enter the city.

Lai San pondered for a long time but couldn’t recall anything. "Let’s ignore him for now. How about we wait until it’s dark and slip out right before the city gates close?"

"Will that work? What if he’s still there when the time comes?"

Leaving aside the two minor bandits scheming on how to escape the city, Chief Chen was already packing up his things elsewhere.

"Boss, wrapping up so soon?" the constable guarding the city gate asked with a smile.

"It doesn’t look like anyone else is coming over. I saw those two go in earlier; I reckon they might need this, so I’ll go over and ask." Chief Chen put his things into a bag.

"Boss, if they need something, they’ll come directly to register. This is just too proactive." The constable stared at him with wide eyes. "Besides, you don’t even know where they went. How are you going to find them?"

"I pointed out the clinic’s location to them earlier." Chief Chen finished packing and prepared to leave. "Also, judging by their attire, they definitely can’t read the words on the noticeboard. Because they needed to see a doctor just now, I didn’t explain it to them. Anyway, it’s on my way back, so I’ll just go over and ask."

"Aren’t you working too hard? We don’t get much benefit out of this, and we only end up exhausting ourselves. If they want to come, they come; if not, forget it."

Chief Chen turned to look at him. "You can’t say it like that. Everyone within Fang Yuan a hundred miles is our fellow townsfolk. If other prefectures and counties develop better than ours, wouldn’t that be a slap in the Lord Official’s face?

"Besides, it’s on my way, just lifting a finger. I might as well consider it building good karma for myself."

The constable felt that made sense. "Then I’ll keep watch here. If I see anyone who looks like they’re from a poor family, I’ll inform them when the time comes."

Chief Chen nodded at him and set off toward the clinic.

When he saw the two men squatting at the clinic entrance, he walked directly up and stood right in front of them.

Seeing the boots suddenly appear before them, Lai San and Zeng Dawang looked up. What they saw frightened them so much that they lost their balance and plopped right onto the ground.

"L-Lord Official..."

"What ’Lord Official’? How is that person you were carrying earlier? What did Doctor Qian say?"

"H-He’s inside. Doctor Qian is still treating his wound."

Chief Chen did not continue to look down at them. Copying their posture, he squatted so that he was eye-level with them.

"Looking at the two of you, your living conditions don’t seem very good. Why didn’t you go register to claim some wasteland this time?"

"Claim wasteland..." Lai San’s eyes darted around evasively. He had previously been full of bravado about coming over to handle this matter, but now that he had actually run into an official on duty, he felt somewhat cowardly.

"Right, claim wasteland. Don’t tell me you didn’t know?" Chief Chen’s face darkened. "I just heard you say you’re from Dahe Village. Did your village head and the village chief not tell you?"

No matter how dense Lai San was, he did not dare implicate others at this moment. Furthermore, Dahe Village was his eldest aunt’s village, and the village head was a distant relative of his.

He could not help but feel a twinge of regret, thinking he shouldn’t have been so quick to blurt out Dahe Village earlier.

"T-They told us," Lai San said guiltily. Beside him, Zeng Dawang kept his head lowered the entire time, not even daring to speak.

"Then why didn’t you go register? Are you worried about something? Rest assured, this time it is a decree handed down from the higher-up Lord Inspection Officer. It is impossible for the subordinates to engage in any deceit." He knew full well what these commoner folks were worried about; it was nothing more than the fear of doing free labor, only to have the government office fail to deliver in the end.

"W-We were just about to register," Lai San said loudly, biting the bullet now that he had been cornered to this extent.

"That’s perfect, then." Chief Chen was well-prepared. He pulled a registration logbook out of the cloth bag by his side. "Name and address."

Lai San stammered, "Lai San... the old forest on the back mountain of Dahe Village..."

Chief Chen looked at him in confusion. He was extremely familiar with this area and had never heard of such a place name.

Suddenly, his eyes widened as he realized the true identities of these two men. If the pair in front of him hadn’t looked so harmless, he would have drawn his sword on the spot.