USWHC -Chapter 293 The Counter-Scam (Part 3)

“I don’t even have a thousand taels of silver! I know… I’m done for. I’m about to go meet friends down below. In my whole life, I’ve never even had a hundred taels, and I finally managed to save a hundred… and—ah!—it’s been ruined!” Old Master Ji kept muttering, but his voice grew weaker and weaker, and his face turned pale, giving off a lifeless aura.

Ji Yi watched as Old Master Ji’s eyes slowly closed, his entire body sinking into a haze of unconsciousness, muttering repeatedly, “I’ve wronged you! I’ve wronged you!” His state was somewhere between sleep and wakefulness, making Ji Yi’s heart skip a beat.

“Doctor Sun, what’s happening to my father? Why does he look so weak?” Ji Yi asked anxiously.

Doctor Sun stroked his beard and sighed. “Old Master Ji’s condition is caused by anger overwhelming his heart—he’s had a stroke.”

“Will he get better?” Ji Yi asked, even more worried.

Doctor Sun sighed helplessly again. “It looks difficult. If he’d been treated promptly and rested well, combined with therapy, he could have recovered. But right now, his heart seems full of resentment, with no will to live—he seems to be seeking death. Relying only on external treatment may not be enough.”

“Curing illness is seventy percent the patient, thirty percent outside help. If the patient has lost the will to live, it’s hard to save them,” Doctor Sun said with an audible sigh.

Hearing this, Ji Yi frowned. So his father has been holding onto guilt over him all this time, letting it fester in his chest. That’s why he no longer wants to live!

What should they do? At that moment, Old Madam Ji suddenly shouted, excitedly, “How about this—you give us another hundred taels, and I guarantee your father will wake up happy! Who wouldn’t want to live if there’s money? For you, it’s just a small sum anyway!”

Hearing her shameless words, Zhu Jie was stunned. What on earth is in that woman’s head to say something like that?

Before Zhu Jie could speak, Old Master Ji, who had been half-conscious, suddenly opened his eyes wide and shouted at her, “Are you crazy? Give you money? To let you ruin things more? Haven’t you caused enough trouble already? And now you have the nerve to ask Ji Yi for more! I see it now—if I die, you’ll only cause more mischief!”

Coughing violently as if he could barely breathe, he gasped, “Fine… if I go down below, I’ll make sure to take you with me, so you don’t stay here to torment Yi and the others!”

What? This isn’t a matter of stopping him—he’s planning to take Old Madam Ji with him!

Old Madam Ji let out a shocked “Oh~!” and jumped up, grabbing Ji Mei’s arm. “Listen! Listen! Your father is taking me with him!”

Ji Mei shivered in fear. How did this turn into a ghost story all of a sudden? “Father, Mother didn’t mean it. If you go, can you please spare Mother?”

Hearing this, Ji Yi immediately frowned. “Father isn’t going anywhere. What nonsense are you saying?” he muttered angrily.

Ji Mei finally realized, “Right… Father isn’t going, he won’t go!” She hadn’t meant to harm her father—she was only echoing what Old Master Ji said. She really was innocent!

“Ha! This isn’t something you get to decide!” Old Master Ji sighed repeatedly. “I’m unlucky… it seems this is my fate.”

“Father, don’t be upset. It’s just a lousy radish root! Don’t worry—they won’t be able to cheat us out of this money. Tomorrow, I’ll make them return everything!” At that moment, Zhu Jie spoke calmly.

Old Master Ji’s eyes widened immediately. “Huh? They can give it back?”

“Of course! Not only will they return it, but we’ll also teach them a lesson, show them that Ji family money isn’t easy to swindle!” Zhu Jie said confidently.

Ji Yi snapped out of his daze. Of course! His father’s emotional knot was that radish root. Even if Ji Yi didn’t care, his father did!

To untie a knot, one must be the one who tied it. Only that radish root could resolve this radish root problem!