As soon as they heard the smoking man beg for mercy, San and the others immediately relaxed.
And the onlookers around, seeing the two men from the smoking man's group actually beg for mercy, immediately believed the rumors. Although Wang Yan didn't look elderly at all and was quite young, everyone gazed at him with admiration.
Wang Yan slowly walked up to the smoking man and said lightly, "Have you figured it out?"
The smoking man hurriedly replied, "Yes, yes, please remove the needles quickly."
Wang Yan didn't remove the needles; he nodded slowly and said, "It seems you didn't waste your night. You've finally learned a lesson — life is more important than money. Have you now decided to pay the consultation fee?"
Listening to Wang Yan's rambling, the smoking man was nearly driven mad, but he didn't dare anger Wang Yan and could only listen attentively.
He wanted to put on a smile to hurry Wang Yan into pulling out the needles. But he'd been standing outside all day, his face frozen stiff. Attempting a smile twisted his face into a hideous grimace.
As soon as Wang Yan mentioned the consultation fee, the smoking man hurriedly expressed his agreement, blinking rapidly. Though he couldn't nod, he longed to pull out money and hand it to Wang Yan immediately.
Seeing the smoking man so compliant, Wang Yan smiled slightly and said, "That's right, you must respect a doctor's labor. I'm earning my due, not forcing you. If you don't want to pay, you certainly don't have to."
Upon hearing this, the smoking man quickly blinked again, repeatedly saying, "I'll pay, I'll absolutely pay willingly."
Wang Yan said, "Seeing your sincerity, alright, ten thousand per person, twenty thousand in total. Hand it over."
The smoking man was startled and said, "Why ten thousand per person? I thought it was ten thousand for two..."
But before he could finish, he saw Wang Yan's face darken and quickly corrected himself, "Ten thousand for two was too cheap, it should indeed be ten thousand each."
Upon hearing this, Wang Yan's expression brightened a bit.
The smoking man immediately pleaded, "Alright, now you can remove the needles, I'll immediately go home and get you the money."
Wang Yan raised an eyebrow and said, "But I suddenly feel your treatment isn't complete, maybe you should wait a few more days."
"A few days?" Hearing Wang Yan's words, the smoking man yelled, "No, no, it's enough, my illness is cured, the money is in my pocket, you can take it."
Wang Yan smiled and waved back at San, saying, "Go get the money."
San immediately walked up to the smoking man, reached into his pocket as indicated, and pulled out a paper bag that was indeed bulging.
Watching San take the paper bag, the smoking man felt as if his heart was bleeding. That was the protection fee he collected in a whole day, just short of that alley, then he could have gone back.
Who knew he would be stuck here all day, and the hard-earned protection fee was gone.
Now that the paper bag was taken by Wang Yan, how could he explain to the boss when he got back?
However, escaping with his life was the most important thing in front of him; Wang Yan was right — life is more valuable than money.
San took the money bag, stood next to Wang Yan, as the smoking man hurriedly looked at Wang Yan and begged, "Can you remove the needles now?"
But Wang Yan ignored the smoking man and instead asked San, "Count it, is there 20,000?"
San quickly nodded, opened the paper bag, and took out the money inside.
Inside the paper bag were hundreds, fifties, and even tens and singles. San carefully sorted and counted the bills one by one.
Seeing San count so meticulously, the smoking man's lungs nearly exploded with anger.
But at this moment, he didn't dare say anything rude, fearing to anger Wang Yan.
It was a long wait until San finished counting, just as the smoking man was ready to breathe a sigh of relief that the needles would finally be removed.
San raised his head and said to Wang Yan, "Brother Wang Yan, there's a total of nineteen thousand nine hundred eighty yuan."
Hearing this, Wang Yan widened his eyes at the smoking man, angrily saying, "You're deceiving me, you're short twenty yuan."
The smoking man nearly burst into tears. After giving up more than ten thousand, does twenty matter? He hurriedly said, "Brother, no, leader, please spare me, I'll owe you the twenty yuan and bring it next time."
Wang Yan nodded and said, "Alright, considering your sincerity, let's call it an IOU for twenty yuan. Stand still, I'll remove the needles now."
With that, Wang Yan raised his hand, quickly and precisely removing the silver needles from the smoking man and the scar-faced man.
In just a moment's time, the silver needles were all removed from both men.
However, though their silver needles were removed, both men remained in the same posture, unmoving.
San blinked, stared at the two men, and asked Wang Yan in confusion, "Brother Wang Yan, why aren't they moving?"
Wang Yan smiled slightly and said, "Try standing in one position all night, you probably wouldn't move afterward either. Let's go; they'll probably figure out how to crawl in half an hour."
Seeing Wang Yan perform such magic, the faces of all the onlookers lit up with excitement, one person among them asked, "Doctor, how much do you charge?"
Wang Yan looked at the questioner, whose hands were full of calluses, face weather-worn, and clothes very simple, clearly not a wealthy person.
Wang Yan smiled and said, "No charge for everyone." Googlᴇ search NovᴇlFɪre.nᴇt
Upon hearing Wang Yan's words, cheers broke out among the crowd as countless people surrounded Wang Yan.
San, Fang, and the others hurried to say, "Everyone line up in front of the Three Principles Hall and let Doctor Wang see everyone one by one."
The crowd obediently went to the front of the Three Principles Hall and started to line up.
But just at this moment, a cold voice suddenly emerged from the crowd, "How much do we charge for a consultation?"
Hearing this, San answered casually, "If you're poor, it's all free."
But the voice replied again, "But we're not poor."
Wang Yan chuckled coldly and said, "If you're not poor, it's ten thousand each time."
Then, a strong man with a buzz cut stepped out from the crowd and stood in front of Wang Yan, glancing coldly at him and chuckling, "Ten thousand isn't much, but I'm afraid you won't live to take it."
As he spoke, the man suddenly reached into his coat and pulled out a gun, pressing the barrel against Wang Yan's forehead.
At the same time, seven or eight burly men rushed out from the crowd, surrounding Wang Yan, each pulling out a gun, their barrels all aimed at Wang Yan's head.
(The third update ends, by the way, asking for monthly tickets.)