"You... how are you here?!"

  Li Junyi looked at Lin Yu as if he had seen a ghost. Wasn’t he kidnapped? How could he be here?

  "Why shouldn’t I be here? This is my wife’s room. As for you, Young Master Li, shouldn’t you be the one who doesn’t belong here?" Lin Yu’s face darkened, his voice icy.

  "I..."

  Li Junyi was suddenly at a loss for words, an inexplicable fear rising in his heart. He couldn’t understand how Lin Yu had escaped from those special forces soldiers or how he had managed to return to the hotel so quickly.

  "Director Li, I’m asking you a question."

  Lin Yu’s gaze was like two cold blades, sending a shiver down Li Junyi’s spine. His eyes darted around, and he suddenly turned to flee toward the door.

  But before he could reach it, Lin Yu appeared beside him, grabbing his outstretched hand and delivering a sharp elbow strike to his face.

  Li Junyi tasted blood in his mouth before his body flew backward like a broken kite, crashing heavily onto the floor. His internal organs felt as if they had been twisted together, the pain searing.

  "If I remember correctly, I warned you at the auction last time—if you ever targeted Jiang Yan again, I’d kill you."

  Lin Yu’s tone was as cold as winter ice, his dark eyes devoid of any emotion.

  "What are you trying to do?!"

  Suppressing his fear, Li Junyi struggled to his feet and threw a punch at Lin Yu’s head. But before his fist could connect, Lin Yu’s foot struck his face first. Li Junyi flipped midair, landing headfirst on the ground with a heavy thud.

  "He Jiarong... I won’t let you get away with this..."

  Li Junyi clutched his neck, his voice hoarse, feeling as if his spine had nearly snapped.

  "Shouldn’t it be me who won’t let *you* get away?"

  Lin Yu raised an eyebrow, then walked over to Jiang Yan’s suitcase and retrieved a needle pouch. Slowly, he returned to Li Junyi’s side and said leisurely, "You’re lucky. I’ve just changed my mind—not only will I not kill you, but I’ll also let you live a long, healthy life."

  As soon as he finished speaking, he drove two silver needles into Li Junyi’s ribs.

  "What are you doing?!" Li Junyi panicked, suddenly realizing his body had gone numb and immobile.

  "You took some medicine before coming here, didn’t you? Judging by your complexion, your kidney qi is excessive, your yang fire is rising. If you don’t find a way to release it, it’ll cause serious harm to your body."

  Lin Yu smiled at him, then swiftly inserted a few more needles into the acupuncture points governing kidney qi—Guanyuan, Shenshu, and others.

  Li Junyi suddenly felt his body heat up rapidly, especially in his lower abdomen, as if a fire were burning inside. Then, his body trembled involuntarily, a peculiar sensation spreading through him, followed by an overwhelming fatigue.

  "You bastard... trying to mess with me like this..."

  Before he could finish, his lower abdomen burned again, and his body shuddered once more.

  Li Junyi gasped. What the hell was happening? How could a few lousy needles do this to him?

  Before he could process it, his abdomen heated up again.

  "He Jiarong, what the hell did you do to me? I’m warning you, you—ah—!"

  His words were cut off as his body convulsed again. This time, he felt a chill at the back of his skull, a dull ache in his kidneys, as if his entire being had been hollowed out.

  "He Jiarong, stop... stop it, or I’ll... I’m begging you..."

  His voice trembled with fear, all arrogance gone.

  "Stop? Why should I stop? Didn’t you come here tonight seeking this kind of extreme pleasure? I’m helping you—you should be thanking me."

  Lin Yu sat on the bed, leisurely scrolling through his phone as if completely detached.

  "Please... I’m going to die..."

  Five minutes later, Li Junyi’s voice was barely a whisper. His face was deathly pale, his body trembling uncontrollably from the cold. The lower half of his body had gone completely numb.

  "Don’t worry, I won’t let you die."

  Lin Yu flashed him a smile, hesitated for a moment, then finally pulled out the needles.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Though only ten minutes had passed, it was enough. Li Junyi’s future happiness had been thoroughly destroyed. Even if he saw the most beautiful woman in the world, he would be powerless.

  For a man, becoming a eunuch was worse than death.

  So Lin Yu no longer needed to kill him.

  "Sleep well. You’ve got a long life ahead of you." Lin Yu grinned, then inserted a needle into the back of Li Junyi’s head, knocking him out cold.

  "Jiang Yan, open the door! I’m sleeping in your room tonight!"

  After packing Jiang Yan’s suitcase and considerately locking the door behind Li Junyi, Lin Yu rushed to Jiang Yan’s room and started pounding on the door.

  "He Jiarong, are you insane?! Can’t you let people sleep?!"

  Jiang Yan’s face flushed with anger. Twenty minutes ago, Lin Yu had woken her up in the middle of the night to switch rooms. Now, just as she’d fallen asleep again, this bastard was back.

  Truthfully, the waitress’s drugged juice hadn’t affected Lin Yu at all. With his medical skills, how could he fall for such a cheap trick?

  He had pretended to pass out to see what kind of scheme they were running.

  After being kidnapped by the special forces soldiers, Lin Yu continued to feign unconsciousness. Once they reported to their boss, he swiftly knocked all four of them out and rushed back to the hotel to switch rooms with Jiang Yan.

  He had suspected Li Junyi was behind this, and sure enough, he was right.

  Since Li Junyi had gone to such lengths, Lin Yu couldn’t let his efforts go to waste—so he gave him an unforgettable night of "bliss."

  Lin Yu had originally planned to make do in that room, but the stench of blood and sweat from Li Junyi was too much. So he had no choice but to come bother Jiang Yan.

  Seeing her fury, he quickly apologized with an awkward smile, "Sorry, I accidentally spilled water on the bed. It’s soaked—completely un-sleepable."

  "Really? The bed’s wet?" Jiang Yan stepped aside to let him in, eyeing him suspiciously. She had a sneaking suspicion this jerk was planning something indecent.

  "Not tonight. It’s too late, my back hurts, and we have to catch an early train tomorrow. Don’t push me..."

  She bit her lip, reluctantly spelling it out.

  "Come on, what are you thinking? Do I look like such a beast?"

  Lin Yu understood her meaning, his face flushing slightly.

  *You’re not a beast. You’re worse than a beast.*

  Jiang Yan cursed him silently in her heart.

  This was the first time the two of them had ever shared a bed. Jiang Yan was so tense she barely slept, while Lin Yu snored like a log until morning.

  After waking up, Lin Yu and Jiang Yan headed straight for the train station. Lin Yu didn’t bother with Li Junyi—he knew the man’s subordinates would come looking for him by noon.

  On the way to the station, Lin Yu studied Jiang Yan’s flawless profile and suddenly wondered if she still held even a shred of feeling for Li Junyi. Unable to resist, he asked, "Now that we’re in Ling’an, do you ever think about Li Junyi?"

  Jiang Yan turned to him, her eyes filled with disgust. "Don’t ever compare me to trash like him again. It’s disgusting."

  "Got it, Sis Yan."

  Lin Yu couldn’t help but smile, feeling as if a weight had lifted from his heart.

  Back in Qinghai, Lin Yu took time to scout out storefronts. He had thought it over—before his death, he had been a medical student. Now, with the ancestral medical skills he’d inherited, opening a clinic suited him best.

  It would allow him to build a career while doing good—a win-win.

  Besides, he wouldn’t be competing with Jishi Tang. Qinghai was a massive city with endless patients. Even ten Jishi Tangs wouldn’t be enough to handle them all.

  But after several days, Lin Yu still hadn’t found a suitable location. Most available storefronts were inside malls, and a traditional Chinese medicine clinic needed a quieter street-side location.

  One morning, just as Lin Yu woke up, Old Man Song called him in a panic. "Xiao He, are you busy? Something’s happened at Jishi Tang. I’m in Beijing and can’t get back. Could you go take a look for me?"

  "Of course, Old Man Song. I’ll head over right away!" Without asking for details, Lin Yu agreed immediately and rushed to Jishi Tang.

  Before he even reached the entrance, he saw a crowd gathered outside, blocking the doorway. Most were onlookers, but the people inside were shouting angrily.

  "Brother, what’s going on here?"

  Lin Yu stopped an elderly man on the outskirts of the crowd to ask.

  "Jishi Tang’s medicine nearly killed someone. The family’s here to make a scene," the old man explained.

  *Jishi Tang’s medicine killed someone?*

  Lin Yu almost laughed. Jishi Tang had maintained its reputation for years without incident. How could their medicine suddenly be deadly?

  "After all our trust in Jishi Tang, you sell us subpar herbs, poisoning people and ruining lives! A black-hearted place like yours deserves to be shut down forever!"

  A man in a yellow shirt stood at the clinic’s entrance, his face red with fury. Beside him, a patient slumped in a wheelchair, pale and weak, lips tinged purple, clearly suffering from poisoning.

  An IV drip was hooked to the wheelchair, the needle inserted into the patient’s left hand.

  Behind the patient stood two women—his wife and sister—both equally furious. The man in yellow was the patient’s younger brother, outraged that a simple cough treatment had led to this.

  With such a huge incident unfolding, Song Zheng was naturally present, his face pale and drenched in sweat. "You’re lying! Our medicine couldn’t have poisoned anyone!" he insisted.

  The other doctors behind him remained silent, their expressions grim.

  "Really? Then explain this prescription you wrote and the medicine you dispensed!"

  The man in yellow thrust out a prescription and a receipt.

  "Our prescriptions and medicine are flawless!"

  Song Zheng clenched his teeth, sweat pouring down his forehead.

  "May I take a look?"

  Lin Yu emerged from the crowd, taking the prescription and receipt.

  "Brother... Brother He!"

  Song Zheng’s face lit up at the sight of Lin Yu. Gone was his usual arrogance, replaced by a fawning expression. For some reason, he suddenly felt reassured.

  Lin Yu nodded with a faint smile and carefully examined the prescription.

  It was an asthma remedy, listing over twenty herbs—perilla leaf, schisandra, ephedra, fritillaria, peucedanum, pinellia, and more. Clearly, this was one of Jishi Tang’s secret formulas, as ordinary clinics rarely prescribed so many ingredients.

  "Look at all these herbs! One mistake, and it could kill someone!" the man in yellow shouted angrily.

  "Exactly! All medicine is toxic to some degree. With so many ingredients, mistakes are bound to happen!"

  "Look at the state of this man. There’s no excuse!"

  "Jishi Tang isn’t what it used to be. Old Man Song isn’t the same either. Healing people? More like scamming them!"

  "Not just Jishi Tang—all of Chinese medicine is the same. Better stick to real hospitals from now on. These small-time operations can’t be trusted."

  "Who even believes in Chinese medicine anymore? What idiots!"

  The crowd, swayed by the man’s arguments, began condemning Jishi Tang and Chinese medicine as a whole.

  Hearing them insult Chinese medicine, Lin Yu seethed with anger but forced himself to stay calm. He turned to Song Zheng and asked, "Did you write this prescription?"

  Song Zheng trembled under his gaze. "I did, but this formula was developed by my grandfather. It can’t be wrong."