amaotonovel Chapter 185 An Eye for an Eye
Chapter 185 An Eye for an Eye
Even at dinner time, the noodle shop at the entrance of Bowang Town was still almost full.
Lin Fan, Doctor Lei, Chen Ergou, and a knight sat at one table. Niu Dadan and his wife sat at another table. Another knight stood outside, holding a bowl of noodles and watching over the horses and carriages.
The burly man with the bushy beard, who was also the commander of Crab Mountain, heard the commotion at Lin Fan's table, glanced over, and then walked over with a playful expression.
"Oh, what a coincidence! Isn't this my savior, Dr. Lei? Long time no see! How have you been?"
The president smiled and reached out to grab Doctor Lei.
call!
Lin Fan supported Doctor Lei with one hand, picked up the large wooden sword on the table with the other, and swung it, the whistling wind blowing past the commander-in-chief.
"Don't move," Lin Fan said coldly.
The president narrowly avoided the attack, still smiling, and took a half step back.
This movement immediately heightened tensions on both sides. Both groups gripped their weapons and stood facing each other.
The waiter heard the commotion and rushed over. When he saw what was happening, he wanted to say something, but the tense atmosphere made him speechless.
The atmosphere became extremely tense. Lin Fan's face was ashen, and he was ready to strike first at any moment.
He hadn't initially paid attention to Doctor Lei's reaction after the bearded man entered. He hadn't seen Doctor Lei tremble with fear at the sight of the commander, nor had he seen him force himself to remain calm while eating his noodles, only to knock the bowl over.
However, Lin Fan noticed that Doctor Lei had an unprecedentedly timid look in his eyes, and he almost shrank into a ball, not daring to look at the burly man with a bushy beard.
How could he not know that the other party had ill intentions? Moreover, these ill intentions weren't directed at Liu Feng, whom he didn't know, but at Doctor Lei.
The commander-in-chief laughed nonchalantly, "There's no need for that. The doctor is an old friend of mine, my savior. How could I possibly harm him? I should be thanking him. Perhaps the doctor misunderstood due to the haste that day. Now I must offer him gold and silver as a reward."
As he spoke, the Grand Commander touched his clothes, grabbed eight copper coins, and stacked them on the table. “Oh dear, this is unfortunate. This is all the money I have left. But it’s an auspicious number. I’d like to thank the doctor for his hospitality, which has allowed the eight of us to enjoy ourselves.”
After saying that, he laughed and returned to his table to continue eating his noodles.
Lin Fan simply watched him coldly from beginning to end, not letting him get any closer to Doctor Lei, nor asking him why he was doing this.
When Dr. Lei saw the eight copper coins on the table, tears streamed down his face uncontrollably, to the point of weeping constantly.
She was so frightened that she trembled and had to suppress her cries, afraid to let them out loud.
Lin Fan didn't touch the copper coins on the table, helped Doctor Lei up, and left.
Regardless of whether they had eaten enough, the others followed them out. They interrupted the knight outside from continuing to eat his noodles and went straight to the carriage to find a place to rest.
They didn't look for inns or anything like that, because the two knights said they didn't need them. The largest business in Bowang Town belonged to Duan Ye, and this place was quite strange. Although Sanjiang Prefecture generally didn't produce good horses, Bowang Town's horse farm was a top-tier horse-producing area in the Great Qian Dynasty, and it was also Duan Ye's most important asset.
However, Duan Ye and his private soldiers only rode ordinary warhorses.
It's important to understand that warhorses are crucial war resources. Duan Ye possessed management rights and profits from the horse farm, but not ownership of the warhorses. Officials from the capital were stationed directly at the horse farm, and any outstanding horses were sent directly to the capital. Fine horses and warhorses also needed to be sent to military regions in need.
Duan Ye himself only had fifty private soldiers, each with a corresponding quota of ordinary warhorses. As for farm horses, or rather, fodder horses, they could be sold locally.
That's how it is. Lin Fan and the others decided to go directly to the horse farm where there were spare rooms to rest.
Inside the carriage, Chen Ergou asked directly, "Doctor, what exactly is your grudge against that person? I don't think it's as simple as just saving a life. I've never seen a savior be afraid of the person they saved."
Sun Ruolan also inquired tactfully.
Dr. Lei simply waved his hand and said it was nothing, but his hand was trembling uncontrollably. He had to forcefully press his left hand down on his right hand to barely maintain a calm demeanor.
Seeing this, and given that Lin Fan remained silent, the others gave up asking further questions.
Upon arriving at the horse farm, the knight who had come to change clothes earlier had already instructed people to prepare several rooms.
Lin Fan helped Dr. Lei into the house as if he were supporting an elderly father.
Dr. Lei collapsed onto the bed, still panting heavily.
Lin Fan frowned slightly. Seeing that the other party remained silent, he finally couldn't help but speak up, "Dr. Lei, you don't need to tell me what happened in the past. Just tell me, and I'll go and kill him right now."
Upon hearing this, a glimmer of light returned to Dr. Lei's eyes, but it wasn't the look of hope; rather, it was a dim light that remained only after utter despair.
“Brother, you say this, but what about your own actions? Brother Wanli sincerely wanted to help you, but you refused him in the same way. I want revenge, don’t you want it too? We are the same. You won’t implicate Brother Wanli for revenge. I won’t implicate you for my own sake.”
Lin Fan immediately denied it, "No, the situation is different."
"What's the difference?"
Lin Fan was stumped for a moment and began to think it over carefully.
Firstly, he didn't harbor any intention to kill Officer Li. Or, from the perspective of a former law-abiding citizen, neither side was wrong when Miao Zhu helped him escape from prison and the constables came to arrest him. If it was unavoidable, neither of them should complain about dying at the hands of the other.
Secondly, as they indeed drew closer to Kunlun, Lin Fan's resolve to simply leave, regardless of any future troubles, grew stronger. After all, even Constable Li hadn't managed to catch up, had he?
Ultimately, however many reasons Lin Fan gave himself, they were just reasons. He had only one criterion for judgment: whether or not to kill someone who wasn't in his way depended solely on his own conscience. Or rather, he only sought peace of mind for himself.
While Officer Li was certainly hateful, Lin Fan didn't hate him to the point that he had to kill him, or that he would risk his life to do so.
Moreover, Dr. Lei was his savior, and it was only right to repay him with his own life. What right did he have to ask Zhanpeng to take risks for him?
However, the more Lin Fan thought about it, the less plausible his reasoning seemed. If that's what he thought, what did Doctor Lei think?
Uncertain of what to do, he could only say, "The doctor has saved my life several times, so it is only right to repay him with my life."
Dr. Lei shook his head repeatedly. "Brother, that's not true. Sometimes you're just too self-righteous. As a doctor, saving lives is my duty. If doctors save lives expecting others to repay them with their own, who would dare to seek treatment from me?"
This was what Lin Fan had hesitated about before; he had even guessed that Dr. Lei would say that. Rather, it's more accurate to say that doctors are compassionate, and most good doctors in the world probably think the same way.
Lin Fan was speechless, but Doctor Lei hadn't finished speaking yet, "Brother, I've always had a question. Don't you think doctors can't just stand by and watch someone die? Shouldn't they unconditionally save lives?"