“It looks pretty good,” Miao Qingfeng said. “I didn’t expect you to have these kinds of skills, Captain Lu! I’ve brought a chicken from home. It has been air-dried.”


  “Oh, there was no need for you to bring the chicken,” Lu Xiufeng said with a smile. “We were waiting for your bottle of wine!”


  “I have it with me. It’s enough for all of us here,” Miao Qingfeng said. He had brought a big bottle of wine that was at least two pounds.

  “Come, have a taste of my cooking skills!”


  “Mmm, not bad!” Miao Qingfeng raised his thumb after eating the food prepared by Lu Xiufeng.

  “How is it? Does it taste alright?”


  “It tastes pretty good!”


  “Come on, let’s drink.”


  “Drink up!”


  The three of them did not drink with glasses but with big bowls. It looked very bold and generous.

  “Don’t mind me being nosy, Captains, but how far has the case progressed?”


  “That is supposed to be confidential and can’t be disclosed casually, but since you have asked about it, Brother, it would do no harm to tell you just a little. It has now been determined that the suspect is Miao Qingshan, but we’re not sure whether he was just him or if there were accomplices.”


  “Have you confirmed it yet?”


  “Not yet, Brother Miao. Have you noticed anyone who has been acting abnormally recently?”


  “Ah, about that, there are really none.”


  “Who are the ones who often go out of the stockade?”


  “To be honest, it’s me,” Miao Qingfeng seriously said. “Recently, I have been the one out for the longest time and the most number of times. The other people in the stockade rarely go out.”


  “You, hmm.” Lu Xiufeng smiled as he waved his hands.

  “Are there any schools in the stockade?”


  “It can only be considered a primary school.”


  “What do they do when they have to go to junior and senior high schools?” Yang Guanfeng asked.

  “They still go, but it is according to the rules,” Miao Qingfeng said with a smile.

  “They have to go out if they want to go to school, but they can’t come back if they go out.”


  “Isn’t that too harsh on them?”


  “It’s not considered that harsh, and it is not that strict. In fact, some time ago, the chief was actually quite happy when two students returned. When he heard them say that they wanted to change the stockade and attract investment from outside to make the people in the village rich, he was extremely unhappy.”


  “Their thoughts were wrong.”


  “I think that it is wrong,” Miao Qingfeng said. “They don’t know what the people in this stockade want or what their parents want at all. Since then, the chief has been firm in his previous ideas. Anyone who has gone out can no longer return. At most, they can only return to stay for a couple of days to see their parents.”


  “In fact, they can also take their parents out. A few families have done that. I saw them when I went out, and they were living quite well outside.”


  “Did they become doctors?”


  “To be a doctor outside requires relevant qualification certificates,” Miao Qingfeng said. “There are some opened restaurants and some who became doctors. I’ve talked with them. The young people don’t regret it. They think the outside world is very wonderful and that it was much more interesting than this small mountain village. Most of their parents regretted it. They did not like living in big cities. They hoped to come back. They went to find the chief more than once, but they were all rejected by him.”


  “Well, I can understand that,” Lu Xiufeng said.

  The three of them ate the food and drank the wine. They had a great afternoon.

  In Renhe Clinic, thousands of miles away in Lianshan County……

  “Xiao Pan, don’t you have work today?”


  “I’m on duty in the morning, but I am free in the afternoon,” Pan Jun replied. “What’s ailing you, Uncle?”


  “Well, I don’t know what’s going on recently, but my body is getting worse. I can’t muster the energy to do anything. Can you take a look at me?”


  “Have you been to a hospital?”


  “I have already been there. I had checked everything, and my body is fine.”


  “What’s the matter then?” Pan Jun gave the old man a preliminary examination. He knew the old man’s condition quite well. He had undergone an operation the previous year. Although it was not a major surgery, he had gone under the knife, which affected his vitality. It was also during winter, so he had taken a long time to recover.

  “There shouldn’t be any major problems.” Pan Jun suddenly thought of the batch of new medicine. “Oh, by the way, I happen to have a new medicine here. It can help consolidate your corporeity. Would you like to try it?”


  “Sure,” the old man said with a smile. Deep in his heart, he did not hold much hope.

  “Just a moment. I’ll get it for you now.” Pan Jun quickly returned with a bottle of medicine.

  “This is it.”


  “Primordial Spirit Soup?”


  “Yes, just follow the instructions above when taking it,” Pan Jun said.

  “OK, I got it,” the old man said. “Thank you so much, Xiao Pan.”


  “You are welcome.”


  The old man left with the medicine and went home.

  His son was at home and asked, “Dad, where have you been?”


  “I went to the clinic below and got some medicine.”


  “Didn’t I say that I was going to take you out for a checkup today? Why did you go to that small clinic again?”


  “What small clinic? Xiao Pan is the director of the county hospital’s emergency department.”


  “Yes, I know, but he is just in the emergency department, not in a specialized department.”


  “Alright, since I’ve already gotten the medicine, I’ll give it a try.” The old man waved his hands in the air.

  “What kind of medicine is it?” His son took the medicine and looked at it carefully.

  “This is…… It’s produced here?” He found that this Primordial Spirit Soup was actually produced by a newly built pharmaceutical factory in Lianshan County. He indeed heard about that pharmaceutical factory some time ago. It wasn’t that he looked down on the local enterprises, but could the medicine produced by a newly built pharmaceutical factory be credible?

  “Dad, I don’t think you should drink this medicine.”


  “Why? It’s already paid for!”


  “I’m worried. Look at it, it’s locally produced.”


  “So what if it was produced locally?” The old man’s brows furrowed. He felt that his son and his views were steadily becoming very different. His son looked down on this and that after he had made some money.

  “I……”


  “Forget it. Go do your stuff if there is nothing else. I am fine.”


  The man did not say anything more. He just said a few words to his mother. “Mom, please take some time to coax my father.”


  “Alright, I got it. Don’t take it to heart either. It’s not like you don’t know your father’s temper.”


  “Yes.”


  After her son had left, the woman said to her old partner, “As for you, your son is just showing concern for you. Why are you always like this?”


  “I just can’t stand him like that. He doesn’t even know his roots after becoming rich,” the man said.

  “He is your son, and he is filial to you.”


  “I know,” the man said.

  “By the way, did you get this medicine from Xiao Pan?”


  “Yes, I’ll give it a try. Maybe it will work.”


  In the village, Wang Yao received several patients in the afternoon. They were all minor afflictions like colds and headaches. There were no major illnesses.

  “Are you free tonight, Sir?”