Chapter 137 — So It Was You

"Old Yang, where are you?" The call connected almost at once, and Wei Zhao asked.

"Wang Family Lane, behind No. 1 Middle School... Hold on, Wei Zhao, what did you just call me? Old Yang? Why does that sound so off?" Yang Huaijun said. "Call me Junzi or Hound, anything but Old Yang—do I really seem that old?"

"All right then, Brother Jun. Out in public you're my senior, so calling you Junzi doesn't sit right." Wei Zhao said. "I'm here, at the bus stop in front of No. 1 Middle School's main gate."

"I'll be right over," Yang Huaijun said.

Before long a police car pulled up in front of Wei Zhao, and Yang Huaijun stuck his head out the window. "Wei Zhao, get in!"

Wei Zhao nodded and took the passenger seat. Yang Huaijun eased the car forward. "I have to say, that medicine of yours really works. One day on it, and I wasn't in pain at all that night!"

"You think it's some miracle cure? That I'm a Taoist immortal? No pain after one day?" Wei Zhao gave a bitter smile. "Isn't that just your own head playing tricks on you?"

"Heh, maybe a little, but it really has eased up quite a bit. I can fall asleep without the painkillers you gave me," Yang Huaijun said. "It's just—somewhat miserable."

"That's more like it..." Some relief was only natural; otherwise Wei Zhao's medicine would have been a waste of effort. But claiming it was cured in a single day was nonsense—even Wei Zhao didn't believe that. "Still, why won't you take the painkillers?"

"I figured I'd just tough it out. Besides, isn't it better not to keep taking those painkillers?" Yang Huaijun explained.

"Who told you that..." Wei Zhao was a little speechless. "They don't have side effects; they're just there to help you along... Fine, if you'd rather tough it out, suit yourself."

"Damn, why didn't you say so earlier..." Yang Huaijun howled in regret. The pain had eased a little the night before, but only a little; toughing it out into sleep had still been miserable.

"Heh..." Wei Zhao shrugged. "I thought a hound wouldn't be that dumb."

"You little punk!" Yang Huaijun could only count himself unlucky. "By the way, has little Song come looking for you?"

"Little Song? Qiu Lingshan?" Wei Zhao guessed that the "little Song" Yang Huaijun meant must be Qiu Lingshan. "What would she want with me?"

"What else but the bank robbery? They can't find the suspect, and she'd already given the chief a solemn pledge to crack the case within fifteen days..." Yang Huaijun smiled bitterly. "She came to me for help, and I had no good answer, so I pointed her your way. You won't hold it against me, will you?"

"That I won't. You want me to help her find someone?" Wei Zhao narrowed his eyes. Even if Yang Huaijun hadn't mentioned it, he would have had to deal with this sooner or later. Gu Pengzhan had made it plain that Gu Mengyao was a key piece of his own mission—so if anything happened to Gu Mengyao, what mission would he have left to speak of? All these potential threats, Wei Zhao would naturally stamp out.

A few bank robbers, nothing more—Wei Zhao did not take them seriously. They were small fry; leave them to the police. What concerned Wei Zhao was the man behind them, that Brother Cihua. Just who was he?

"Everyone in the squad knows it—once an enemy falls in your sights, there's no escaping. Prey marked by the eagle rarely gets away." Yang Huaijun laughed. "Little Song's a pitiful sort, really. She transferred from the army to the local force, always wanting to prove herself and be recognized, and then this grinding case lands on her."

"Heh, I've noticed your sympathy's overflowing," Wei Zhao said with a laugh.

"Can't help it. Do the job long enough, see enough odds and ends, and you get sentimental." Yang Huaijun nodded. "Whether or not there's anything between the two of you, I've said my piece. The decision's yours."

"Then we'll talk when she comes to me. So far she hasn't," Wei Zhao said.

The car entered Songshan Medical and Pharmaceutical University and headed straight for the faculty villa district.

"The person treating you is from this university?" Something sparked in Wei Zhao's memory—Guan Xuewen, the man at the bookshop who had given him his card. He seemed to be the dean of one of the departments here. He wondered whether Yang Huaijun would know him. "Yes, a formidable old gentleman, highly reputed at home and abroad. But when he saw the prescription you wrote me—especially when he heard my condition improved after taking your herbs—he was beside himself with excitement. He cleared his whole morning and is waiting at home for you to arrive... Made me feel like some big shot." Wei Zhao smiled at that. "Then let's hurry. We shouldn't keep the old gentleman waiting."

Wei Zhao held the elderly in considerable respect. Even if the man's medical skill might not match his own, that was only because he had never met the right person to guide him. His own grandfather, Old Wei, was practically a treasure trove of Chinese medicine—word had it he had spent most of his life among the Miao in Yunnan, weaving together Gu sorcery, Chinese medicine, and bacteriology. It was during those years, too, that he had met Wei Zhao's master...

The old man rarely spoke of that chapter of his past. Only when he was drunk would he mutter a few words about it, but even so, one could tell that he and the master had shared a bond of life and death. So the fact that he himself knew medicine and could fight so well... was nothing short of a windfall. Were it not for this old man, and not for such a formidable master, he would have been nothing but an ordinary person.

After the same careful registration, the car entered the residential compound and pulled up in front of a villa.

"We're here, this is the place." Yang Huaijun got out first and rang the villa's doorbell.

Wei Zhao followed behind, sizing up the villas all around. It seemed that anyone who could live here must be of no low rank and no small achievements!

Before long, the villa's door opened. Although the door could be controlled remotely and no one needed to come in person, the master of the house had come downstairs himself this time to open it, standing there with great solemnity, his face deferential and grave.

"Huh?" Wei Zhao stared at the master of the villa in surprise... and the master, upon first setting eyes on Wei Zhao, was likewise taken aback, then an expression of disbelief spread across his face!

"You... you're..." Guan Xuewen stared at the young man before him in disbelief.

"Heh... Elder Guan, it's me. We met at the bookstore!" Wei Zhao said with a polite smile. "Elder Guan, hello. I'm sorry to put you to the trouble of coming to meet me in person..."

"So it was you... I thought as much..." Guan Xuewen looked at Wei Zhao and said in shock, "Back then, this old man underestimated you... I'm truly embarrassed. As for my College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, whether you attend or not hardly matters anymore..."

"Grandpa Guan, what's this... you and Wei Zhao?" Yang Huaijun was dumbfounded as well. What kind of act were these two putting on? From the looks of it, they had known each other long ago!