At noon, Leng Ruo Li, along with Xing'er, Ling'er, and Mu Ziyi's mother, went to the market to purchase ingredients for the shop.
As it was the first day of business for her clothing store, Leng Ruo Li encountered a woman halfway holding a boy standing by the entrance of a medical clinic. The boy was curled up in her arms, crying his heart out.
A crowd of onlookers had gathered around.
"Doctor Liang, my child's condition has worsened after taking your pills," the woman sobbed.
"Nonsense! When did I ever sell medicine to you and your son? Go away, go away, get out of here."
Doctor Liang kept waving her away.
The woman, looking at her crying child, felt an immense sorrow.
Before Doctor Liang could turn and re-enter the clinic, she quickly grabbed his sleeve and shouted at him, "Doctor Liang, you heartless doctor."
However, Doctor Liang yanked his sleeve free and bellowed at her, "Scram, scram, get out of here quickly. Don't affect my clinic's business by standing here."
Doctor Liang's actions quickly drew pointed remarks from the surrounding crowd.
"This Doctor Liang is truly stone-hearted. Look how much pain that boy is in, and he can just stand by and watch with a cold eye."
"Isn't that the truth? We should never go to his clinic for medical treatment again."
Upon hearing their conversation, Doctor Liang immediately became agitated.
"Everyone, please don't misunderstand. I saw the child in this woman's arms yesterday. He has intestinal carbuncle, an internal affliction for which no cure has been found yet."
The crowd finally understood after hearing Doctor Liang's words.
"So that's how it is. No wonder Doctor Liang didn't offer aid. This intestinal carbuncle is indeed incurable."
Upon hearing the crowd's comments, Doctor Liang's face showed a smug expression.
*Hmph, ignorant woman, daring to contend with me. Don't even think of ruining my clinic's reputation.*
Unexpectedly, the woman did not fall for his tactic and loudly addressed the onlookers, "Everyone, don't listen to him. When he saw my child yesterday, he didn't say this."
"He said my child's intestinal carbuncle could be treated, and that it would be cured by spending five taels of silver to buy his prepared five pills. But after taking his medicine home last night, my child's condition worsened. So I ran back to his clinic to find him, and he flatly denied selling us any medicine."
The crowd of onlookers immediately sided with the woman again, murmuring amongst themselves.
"Heavens, this Doctor Liang is too black-hearted! Knowing that intestinal carbuncle is incurable, he still scammed people for money."
"Exactly. I heard some time ago that this Doctor Liang also caused someone's death. That person died after taking the pills made by Doctor Liang."
Then, the woman continued to cry, "The five taels of silver for the medicine were all we had. My child is only five years old, and his father died on the battlefield last year. This five taels of silver was the compensation the government gave to us mother and son. You took so much money from us, couldn't cure my child's illness, and instead made his condition worse. Shouldn't I ask you for an explanation?"
Leng Ruo Li and the others felt very uncomfortable seeing this scene.
"Miss, this Doctor Liang is truly not a good person," Ling'er suddenly said beside her.
Leng Ruo Li paused slightly upon hearing this.
"Why do you say that?" she asked.
Ling'er: "Auntie, half a year ago, I heard he had miraculous medicine in his clinic. I saved up my silver for half a year to gather ten taels and bought his pills for my grandmother. As a result, my grandmother's condition became even worse than before she took the medicine."
Mu Ziyi's mother also said indignantly, "This Doctor Liang is a quack. How many lives has he caused to be lost? If my child hadn't been discovered in time and taken his medicine, he would have died long ago."
"What? This is outrageous! Then why didn't you report him to the authorities?"
Leng Ruo Li asked with disbelief.
"Miss, this clinic's Doctor Liang has powerful backing. Even if we reported him to the authorities, the officials wouldn't dare to do anything to him," Ling'er said indignantly.
"This is too brazen!"
Leng Ruo Li thought to herself, *No, I must find a way to deal with this person.*
"Xing'er, go to Prince Leng's mansion and find Prince Leng. Tell him that I, Leng Ruo Li, have summoned him and that he should repay the favor of me saving him last night," Leng Ruo Li said calmly.
Xing'er looked confused. Although she didn't understand what Leng Ruo Li intended to do, she didn't ask and went to Prince Leng's mansion as instructed.
Afterward, Leng Ruo Li said to Ling'er and Mu Ziyi's mother, "You two take these ingredients back to the shop and prepare the meal. I'm going to check on this mother and son."
Before they could react, she pushed through the crowd towards the mother and son.
"Miss, Miss..." Ling'er kept calling.
"You two hurry back to the shop and cook for them," Leng Ruo Li replied.
"Ai—" Ling'er said with a worried expression.
"Young Mistress Ling'er, perhaps we should return to the shop first. Miss is a very wise person, and we don't need to worry about her actions."
"But I'm worried Miss will get into big trouble."
Ling'er frowned.
After a moment's thought, she decided to obey Leng Ruo Li's instructions and returned to the shop with Mu Ziyi's mother.
Meanwhile, Leng Ruo Li approached the mother and son and looked at the little boy, who was on the verge of fainting from pain.
"Sister-in-law, may I have a look at your child?"
The woman paused, looking defensive.
"What do you want to do?"
"Sister-in-law, don't be afraid. I am a physician."
"You are a physician???"
The woman looked suspicious. She had never seen such a young female physician.
"Yes."
Looking at Leng Ruo Li's clear, almond-shaped eyes, the woman found herself believing her.
"Alright, young lady, please take a look at my child then."
Having received the woman's consent, Leng Ruo Li immediately took the little boy's pulse. Using the instruments from her system space, she diagnosed that the boy indeed had intestinal carbuncle, which is known as appendicitis in modern times, and it was acute.
Given the boy's current symptoms, his appendix would need to be surgically removed for him to recover.
Therefore, Leng Ruo Li suggested, "Sister-in-law, are you willing to trust me this once? I have a way to cure your son."
"What? You're not another swindler, are you? Unfortunately, I have no money left for you to con."
As she spoke, tears welled up in the woman's eyes.
Seeing the woman's distress, Leng Ruo Li felt a pang of sorrow. Her husband, the child's father, was a great hero who defended the country. Although he was dead, his wife and child should not suffer such hardship.
Immediately, Leng Ruo Li took out her identification document and handed it to the woman.
"Sister-in-law, this is my identification. If I am a swindler, you can use this to report me to the authorities."
"This..." The woman stared for a moment, then took Leng Ruo Li's document and nodded, indicating her agreement.
Doctor Liang, watching from the side, scoffed at Leng Ruo Li, "Overestimating yourself. A mere young girl can treat intestinal carbuncle?"
Leng Ruo Li cast him a cold glance and said, "Doctor Liang, your good days are numbered."