Bai Jing didn't answer Ning Tao's question.

The two of them looked at each other. Suddenly, an utter silence hung over the small room, and the atmosphere also became very strange.

"Ha ha ha..." A few seconds later Bai Jing burst out laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" Ning Tao asked.

Bai Jing put her hands on the tea table. Her hands were thin and slender with smooth and fair skin. She had a pair of beautiful hands, but it wasn't her hands that mattered. She gently pressed her hands on the tea table, and her upper body crossed the table and leaned toward Ning Tao little by little.

Her neck was slender and delicate, and through her slightly opened collar, Ning Tao saw a piece of snow-white skin and a mysterious deep cleavage that was just visible. The smell of spring water and flowers came out from her snow-white skin, scattered in the air and entered Ning Tao's nostrils. There was something alluring about her every move, every look, and even her skin.

Ning Tao sat motionless. He was sure she couldn't come up and bite him.

Just when her face was about to touch Ning Tao's, Bai Jing gave up and backed away. "Do you think I am the snake?" she asked, maintaining a seductive smile.

"I'm not sure, but I'm sure you have something to do with that snake," Ning Tao replied. "I don't know what happened, but to be fair, what Ding Ye did was out of survival instinct. It has been so many years, please let it go. Hatred is not overcome by hatred."

The smile on Bai Jing's face disappeared and her voice turned cold. "Hatred is not overcome by hatred. That's easy for you to say. My little sister was very young at that time, and she was hurt during her practicing. It's already very unfortunate. He should want to eat my sister and injury her so hard!"

It turned out that the snake was her sister.

"He stabbed my sister in the spine with that dagger and wounded her spiritual root. My sister is now confined to a wheelchair, and her practicing has been affected. How can you tell me let it go when we have such a vendetta against him?" Bai Jing's eyes blazed with menace. Judging from her momentum at the moment, it wouldn't be a surprise for her to hit Ning Tao right now.

Sensing the murderous intent coming from her, Ning Tao secretly got vigilant, but still said calmly, "You know I cured Ding Ye and then asked Fan Huaying to buy medicine for me, so you lured me here with white snake slough. What do you want?"

Then murderous intent in Bai Jing's green eyes dissipated in a flash, and the seductive smile reappeared on her face. "Guess."

Her emotions changed so quickly, from one extreme to the other, leaving Ning Tao at a loss.

After a moment's silence, Ning Tao uttered, "It was you who asked someone to put the dagger in front of Ding Ye's house, so your purpose is definitely not to get the dagger back. If you want to get back at me for curing Ding Ye, you wouldn't invite me here to meet you... Your purpose actually is to ask me to treat your sister, isn't it?"

"You are a clever man indeed. I've investigated you. You cured Jiang Yilong and Lin Qinghua, who both suffered from incurable diseases, from the hospital's point of view. Lin Qinghua has another ident.i.ty, and I don't speak it out here," Bai Jing stated, with a burning look in her eyes. "Now you have cured Ding Ye who was doomed to die. I know, you are no ordinary doctor, you are a doctor of pract.i.tioner, right?"

Ning Tao neither admitted nor denied it.

Bai Jing continued, "My request is simple. If you cure my sister, the white snake slough will be yours."

"A white snake slough won't be enough for me to cure your sister." Ning Tao bargained nonchalantly.

"It's no ordinary white snake slough before you. It is worth more than 1,000 ordinary white snake sloughs!" There was a flash of anger in Bai Jing's green eyes. "Don't be insatiable!"

Ning Tao shrugged and said, "Then we don't have a deal, and I'll find the white snake slough I want from others, but no one can cure your sister. See you later." He reached for the dagger lying on the tea table.

Bai Jing held the dagger down and cried, "Wait!"

Ning Tao took his hand back. He didn't really want to go. When Fan Huaying, who had good connections in high places, could not find a white snake slough, how could he find one?

"What do you want except the white snake slough?" Bai Jing inquired.

"Wait till I see your sister. You schedule it," Ning Tao replied.

"I'll pick you up this evening," Bai Jing said.

Ning Tao gave her a nod.

Then Bai Jing pushed Ding Ye's dagger over and picked up the cup.

It meant that she wanted him to leave.

Ning Tao put the dagger back in the medicine chest and left with it.

Walking down to the jade store, Wei Bai nodded slightly to Ning Tao and said, "Doctor Ning, good-bye."

Ning Tao greeted him with a nod and walked out of the jade store. Panjiayuan Market was still crowded, and vendors' hawking and customers' bargaining sounds filled in the ears. He did not know where the parking lot was, and he did not want to ask about it. So he activated the skills of looking and smelling.

This was the easiest and most effective way to find Fan Huaying.

When his eyes and nose entered the state of looking and smelling, Ning Tao's sight was full of colorful innate auras, and his nose was also filled with tens of thousands of smells. Within a minute, he had pinpointed Fan Huaying's innate aura and smell from such a complex environment. Then he walked in that direction.

As Ning Tao approached the parking lot, there were fewer people around.

He suddenly stopped in front of an antique stall, and his eyes fell on a pile of dark fragments on the stall. They looked like porcelain fragments or bronze fragments, which were indistinguishable, but that was not what attracted him. What made him stop and throb was the pure spiritual energy these fragments exuded. The spiritual energy was very weak and came out in wisps, as if the fragments had just been lifted from the water and the water on their surface was evaporating under the sun.

Ning Tao couldn't see the water evaporating in the sun, but he could see the spiritual energy coming from the fragments. This was the natural gift of the go-between of good and evil, and it could only be brought into play by the skill of looking recorded in the clinic's nameless medical book. On these two conditions alone, he was the only person in the whole Panjiayuan Market who could see the spiritual energy released by the fragments.

"Hey, what do you like?" asked the street vendor with a moustache, beaming.

Ning Tao squatted down in front of the stall, picked up an old-fas.h.i.+oned bronze vessel and asked, "Hey, how much is this?"

The moustached vendor answered, "10,000."

"10,000?" Ning Tao cried, looking startled.

"It's a good thing from the Ming Dynasty. If it weren't for the fact that my wife was going to give birth, and I was in such a hurry for money, I wouldn't sell it to you even if you give me 50,000," uttered the moustached vendor.

A smile crept over Ning Tao's lip. He had sensed a chemical treatment agent on the bronze vessel and knew it was a fake. Its cost was less than 200 yuan, but the vendor wanted to sell it for 10,000 yuan. It was not a sale but a scam. However, such scams happened all the time in Panjiayuan Market. Customers who failed to recognize fakes were cheated, and those with sharp eyes could profit from the antiques they bought. This was the pleasure of finding treasures in the antique market.

"It's too expensive. I don't have enough money on me. I'll come back tomorrow." Ning Tao put the bronze vessel back, picked up a piece of the fragments, and asked casually, "What about these fragments?"

When Ning Tao said he didn't have enough money, the moustached vendor's smile disappeared. "It's a real antique, only that it's broken. I'll sell you 1,000 if you want them. You have 1,000 yuan now, don't you?"

"200," Ning Tao bargained.

"200? Is your money in dollars?" The moustached vendor grew a little angry.

Ning Tao stood up and said, "300, and I won't go any higher. I buy them mainly for garnish in succulent pots. Do you think I really believe it's antique?"

"It's a real antique, I..." The moustached vendor argued and suddenly shut his mouth.

"What's the use of these broken fragments, even if it's antique? The tiles at the foot of the Great Wall are hundreds of years old. Did anyone pay for it?" After a pause, Ning Tao continued, "300. Are you selling it? If you don't sell it, I'll go."

"All right, they're yours." The moustached vendor smiled again. The pile of fragments had been on his stall for more than two months, but no customers had even asked how much they cost. It was a pity to throw them away, but they took up s.p.a.ce. Now that someone would pay 300 yuan for them, of course he was happy to sell them.

Then Ning Tao gave him 300 yuan, bought a bunch of pieces and put them in his medicine chest one by one.

Suddenly, the moustached vendor stared at Ning Tao's medicine chest and asked, "Hey, do you sell your box? How about 500?"

"No."

"100 more."

Ning Tao closed the medicine chest, held it up, looked at the moustached vendor in the eye, and said, "You weren't finished. Why don't you tell me where the fragments came from?"

A look of alarm pa.s.sed through the moustached vendor's eyes. "Why do you ask?"

"Don't worry. I'm just curious," Ning Tao said.

"I don't know. I bought them from someone else." The mustached vendor avoided Ning Tao's gaze.

He was obviously not telling the truth.

Ning Tao pulled another 500 yuan out of his pocket and said, "Tell me the truth, it's yours."

The moustached vendor glanced at the money in Ning Tao's hand, hesitated for a second and then said, "Do you mean what you say?"

Ning Tao simply handed him the money.

The moustached vendor hurriedly took the money out of Ning Tao's hand and put it in his pocket. Then he related, "I picked up these fragments in a pool on the edge of Huanghua City. If you are interested in these fragments, you can go there and have a look. It's about 60 kilometers from the city to the north. There is a village called Blackhill Village. It's easy to find."

Ning Tao nodded, thanked him and left.

Looking at Ning Tao's back as he walked away, the moustached vendor grinned, "I pretended to be mysterious, dumba.s.s. Hee hee, I earned 500 for nothing."

Even if he said it in front of Ning Tao, Ning Tao wouldn't mind and might even smile at him.

Soon Ning Tao found Fan Huaying in the parking lot.

"Have you got the white snake slough yet?" Fan Huaying greeted Ning Tao as soon as he saw him.

"Not yet," replied Ning Tao. "I have to treat a patient for her. Don't let that bother you anymore. I can handle it myself."

"Well, if you need my help, don't hesitate to ask. Don't be polite to me."

Ning Tao smiled and said, "I would say the same to you. If you need me to help you in the future, let me know. If I can help, I will."

Ning Tao's words delighted Fan Huaying. He put his arm around Ning Tao's shoulder and exclaimed, "Let's go to Wushuang's house for lunch and check out the herbs. I tell you, there's only one man in the world who is able to enjoy what she cooks."

"Then I'll gain some advantage from you," Ning Tao stated.

"No, I mean her father," Fan Huaying said.

Ning Tao found himself at a loss for words.