Chapter 119 - 120: Denied an Audience

Chapter 119: Chapter 120: Denied an Audience

After asking a few people, Li Yang easily found Gui Fa’s house.

Arriving in front of a rather old-looking house, Li Yang called out, "Uncle Gui Fa..."

A man in his fifties walked out. "Who is it?" His back was slightly hunched, a clear sign of a life of hard labor taking its toll on his body.

"You must be Uncle Gui Fa," Li Yang began, quickly introducing himself. "I’m Li Yang from Bishui Village. I heard you’re a snake catcher, and I was hoping to ask... do you know where I can find any Coiling Snakes?"

Uncle Gui Fa gave Li Yang a look. "You want to catch that snake?"

Li Yang nodded.

"You must have a death wish!" Uncle Gui Fa snapped. "That snake’s poisonous! Besides, there aren’t many of them around anymore. I stopped catching snakes a long time ago. I don’t do it."

Li Yang felt a bit helpless. "Uncle Gui Fa," he said, "I really need it for something urgent."

"Urgent?" Uncle Gui Fa scoffed. "Don’t even think about asking me to catch snakes. I’m done catching snakes for good! Snake catching is the very reason I’m in this state!"

As he spoke, Uncle Gui Fa’s anger boiled over and he roared at Li Yang, "Get out! Get the hell out of my sight!"

Li Yang was baffled by the outburst. Seeing that Uncle Gui Fa was extremely agitated, he knew better than to provoke him further. He could only back away slowly. "Alright, alright, I get it," he said placatingly. "Uncle Gui Fa, please, just calm down. Can we talk about this calmly?"

"Get the hell out!" Uncle Gui Fa raged. "Out, now! And don’t you ever come looking for me again! Now, get out!"

Li Yang had no choice but to quickly retreat.

After leaving Uncle Gui Fa’s house, Li Yang was still unwilling to give up. ’I have to catch a Coiling Snake. The entire road-building project depends on it!’

After a moment’s thought, he asked for the local village chief. Then, Li Yang bought two bottles of Erguotou from the village’s small shop and went to see him.

The village chief looked to be almost sixty. He was smoking a traditional pipe and looked a bit baffled to see a strange young man giving him two bottles of liquor.

But he understood once Li Yang explained his reason for visiting. He nodded. "Ah, Gui Fa. He says he’s not catching snakes anymore."

"Why is that?" Li Yang asked. "Is it because you’re not allowed to catch them anymore?"

"Not entirely," the village chief said, shaking his head. "Technically, you’re not supposed to, but villagers still do it to make a living. Gui Fa is just like that. In fact, he’d still go catch them, just sneakily now, not so openly anymore. The real reason is what happened a few days ago. Someone asked Gui Fa to go into the mountains to hunt a giant snake, but Gui Fa said that particular snake couldn’t be caught and refused. But the person offered a lot of money, and Gui Fa’s wife was tempted. She went behind his back and led the man into the mountains herself. Well... her luck ran out. They encountered the giant snake. The others managed to escape, but she didn’t. She never made it out. Later, our village organized a search party to go in after her. We found her, but by then, she was already unconscious. She was in the hospital for several days but never woke up. Her condition was too poor, so they finally brought her home. She still hasn’t regained consciousness at all. The villagers all say it’s retribution for a lifetime of snake catching. Gui Fa believes it, too. That’s why he’s sworn off it."

Only then did Li Yang understand why Gui Fa had such a strong reaction.

’So that’s what happened!’

"So how is Aunt Gui Fa now?" Li Yang asked again.

"The doctors said she was bitten and poisoned. She was lucky in a way, though. She must know a thing or two about herbs, because she ate some right after it happened. It kept her from dying on the spot, but she still won’t wake up. The doctors said there’s nothing they can do. And... they’re poor. There’s no money for treatment."

The village chief sighed as he finished.

Li Yang understood the whole picture now. "Village Chief," he said, "as it happens, I’m the village doctor from Bishui Village. I know medicine. Why don’t you come with me to Gui Fa’s place? I’ll treat Aunt Gui Fa. What do you say?"

"What?" The village chief stared at Li Yang in astonishment. "Can you... really do that?"

"Of course!" Li Yang said with a smile. "Why not? My medical skills are quite good—excellent, even. If I handle this, Aunt Gui Fa will definitely wake up."

The village chief was a good man. He nodded at once. "Well, if you’re serious, this could be a real opportunity for them. Let’s go, come on. I’ll take you to Gui Fa’s place and have a word with him."

When Li Yang and the village chief arrived at Gui Fa’s house again, Gui Fa was washing something.

Li Yang got a clear look. It was medicinal herbs.

"Village Chief, what are you doing here?" Gui Fa asked, glancing at him.

"Gui Fa," the chief began, "this young man came looking for you earlier, but you sent him packing. So he came to find me and ask about your situation. He says... he says he can cure your wife."

"Don’t listen to his nonsense!" Gui Fa flared up. "He just wants me to help him catch a snake. Don’t fall for his lies. He doesn’t know a damn thing about medicine!"

"Uncle Gui Fa, I really do know what I’m doing!" Li Yang insisted, his face earnest. "I’m the village doctor for Bishui Village. If I had known about this sooner, I would have come to check on Aunt Gui Fa right away. Please, just trust me this one time. Things are already as bad as they can be. If she doesn’t wake up, you’ve lost nothing. But if I can actually cure her, wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing?"