Open a Clinic to Cultivate Myself Chapter 337 – The Three

The night was bleak and dusky. An electric motorbike was racing on the road away from Stockholm. The night breeze brushed against Ning Tao's face, but could not dispel the scorching desires in his heart. Even now, the image of Shalim Talman was imprinted in his mind, wriggling like a water serpent…

Heaven would have pitied him. No virgin boy of over 20 years old could resist such temptation!

“I rest within the womb, listening to the sound of the Way.”

Dong!

The divine bell tolled. Desire, that paper tiger, was immediately and completely dispelled.

Ning Tao heaved a sigh of relief. He revved up his engine and accelerated ahead.

After half an hour, a small town entered Ning Tao's sight. It was a typical Northern European town, with plain, unadorned buildings dispersed within a valley. They had gabled roofs sloped on both sides, as well as chimneys. Some of the walls were painted white, others orange. There was a meandering stream, and the scene resembled that of an oil painting.

Behind the small town was a hillock shaped like a bun, covered with shrubs. Further ahead, on a towering peak, one could see a thick layer of snow. This place was within the Arctic circle, and its climate was cold.

It was already very late at night and there was no activity in the town. Riding on God's Will, Ning Tao traversed the town and arrived at the hillock behind it.

Ning Tao found a suitable spot at the foot of the hillock and drew a blood lock. He opened the convenient door and pushed his electric motorbike back into Sky Clinic. Then, he returned to the foot of the hillock.

While in Stockholm as well as along the way here, he had left behind a number of blood locks. He had the lofty ambition of leaving behind blood locks all over the world. He had traveled so far to Northern Europe. Of course, he must leave behind some blood locks along the way.

He followed a trail up the hillock and soon came to a tombstone. Ning Tao walked over and found a tombstone engraved with a name and an epitaph in the Ruitian language. Unfortunately, he could not read it.

He took a picture of the tombstone with his cell phone, and then used a photo app to translate the engraving.

The engraving on the tombstone read: “Lucy, 1951— 1968. A girl who loved apples. We will always miss and remember you.”

This must be the reason why Professor Jade had wanted to grow apple trees in the Arctic circle!

Unfortunately, he could not atone for his misdeed, nor could he cultivate an apple tree beside Lucy's grave. His entire life, a grayish tale, had already ended.

Ning Tao took out the ring Professor Jade left him and held it in his hand. He gave Lucy's tombstone a deep bow. “Lucy, I've brought you Jade's ring. He is gone now, and I hope you two can meet again in another world. He had hurt you, but he spent his entire life atoning for his sin. He could not even forgive himself before his death. Please forgive him.”

A gust blew across the hillock and the dense shrubs wailed plaintively, almost as if it were Lucy's reply.

Ning Tao grinned and knelt down. His hands dug into the soil beneath the tombstone and soon, at a depth of about seven or eight centimeters, he touched a plastic bag. He pulled it out.

There was a USB flash drive in the plastic bag.

This flash drive was left behind by Professor Jade. He had asked Ning Tao to make good his second promise before he could find what he wanted. The moment he said that, Ning Tao had guessed that the item would be buried under Lucy's tombstone.

Ning Tao took out the flash drive from the plastic bag and replaced it with Professor Jade's ring. Then, he buried the ring in Lucy's grave. After getting up, he gave Lucy's tombstone a deep bow and went down the hillock.

Before he could reach the spot with the blood lock, he heard the spinning blades of a helicopter overhead in the sky. There was a long cavalcade of police cars and military vehicles on the road just outside the town, the police lights flashing and the sirens wailing.

Ning Tao started for a brief moment before cracking his mouth with a smile. “Joseph Talman, you want to catch me? Kill and silence me? I will ignore you for the time being for your sister's sake.”

He was too lazy to return to the spot with the blood lock. Instead, he left the trail and crept into the bushes. He drew a blood lock on a shrub and opened the convenient door.

A helicopter was flying overhead above the bun-shaped hillock, its bright searchlight shining on Lucy's grave. It moved ahead rapidly, shining a beam about the vicinity.

“Ning Tao!” Joseph Talman's voice boomed out of a loudhailer. “We're not trying to catch you, only trying to talk to you! Don't hide, come out! Shalim's waiting for you at home. She, too, wishes to talk to you.”

Ning Tao could not help but laugh. Joseph Talman's words reminded him of the wolf grandmother in the fairy tale “the Little Red Riding Hood”.

He was just trying to kill and silence him. Why must he make it sound so respectable and legitimate?

“I know you are hiding here. Come out, let's have a good talk! I take back my words. You and Shalim make a nice couple. I will give you my blessings. You will be the first Hua Country Prince Consort in Ruitian history,” went Joseph Shalim's voice.

Ning Tao pointed his middle finger at the helicopter hovering overhead. He unlocked a blood lock and opened the convenient door, arching his back to creep in.

Rat-tat-tat-tat.

The stuttering of a machine gun. Bullets were fired into the shrubbery covering the hillock. The shrubs collapsed, shattered in a shower of bullets.

The shrub where Ning Tao had drawn the blood lock had been hit by the bullets. It collapsed with a loud boom. The blood lock shattered into fragments, scattered around or was buried in the raising cloud of earth.

In Sky Clinic, Ning Tao eagerly took out the flash drive unearthed from Lucy's grave. He wanted to open its files with a computer, but realized that his laptop was in the rented courtyard house.

After opening the Sky Clinic door, a shower of golden sunlight greeted him. It was deep at night in Ruitian, but bright noon here.

Before Ning Tao could get out of the alley, a familiar figure walked in from the entrance. A woman with delicate, ravishing features, dressed in a pair of long green skirt and embroidered cloth shoes. Who else was it but his destined concubine, Qing Zhui?

“Brother Ning!” The moment she saw Ning Tao, she gave a whoop of joy. She sprinted to him.

Such graceful long legs, undulating along the level road.

Ning Tao felt affection in his heart. He opened his arms long before she came, waiting for his destined concubine to fall into them.

Qing Zhui threw herself into Ning Tao's arms, clasping him tightly. She seemed almost afraid that he might leave suddenly again. Although he had only gone a few days, she reacted almost as if he were gone for three years.

The three-year itch.

Obviously, Ning Tao missed Qing Zhui too, as well as Jiang Hao.

But the moment he remembered Jiang Hao, another figure appeared at the alley entrance, a woman with short hair, exuberant air and graceful, pretty features. She was wearing a well-ironed uniform, and even her standing posture resembled that of a handsome pine tree. Who else was this but Jiang Hao?

Ning Tao instantly became embarrassed and tensed up. If Jiang Hao wasn't around, he would not have minded how Qing Zhui embraced him. But in front of Jiang Hao, he did not know what the consequences would be when Qing Zhui hugged him like that.

Qing Zhui did not realize Jiang Hao was just standing nearby. She said agitatedly, “Brother Ning, are you here to fetch me? I have already made preparations.”

Before Ning Tao left for America, he had told her and Jiang Hao to prepare themselves, so that he could take them there. They would leave together. In the end, he changed his mind. He decided not to let them run the risk.

Jiang Hao gave a dry cough. “Um… Ahem!”

Only now did Qing Zhui notice her. She turned back her head to glance, and hastily released Ning Tao. In her consciousness, Jiang Hao was already Ning Tao's fiancée. Qing Zhui had been brought up with a feudal mindset, so how could she be so intimate with Master Ning in front of his primary wife?

Ning Tao also gave an awkward cough. “Let's go home now. Go home and we can talk.”

Qing Zhui smiled radiantly. “Let's go home.”

Ning Tao and Qing Zhui walked shoulder to shoulder towards Jiang Hao. When he reached her, he told her the same thing. “Let's go home now. Go home and we can talk.”

But Jiang Hao stood before them, motionless. The expression in her eyes seemed like two flickering flames.

“What's wrong?” Ning Tao asked. He thought secretly to himself, “Qing Zhui merely gave me a hug. Must you react so and get jealous?”

But at this moment, Jiang Hao suddenly drew near, opened her arms, and embraced him.

She said nothing, but Ning Tao could sense the scorching emotions emanating from her body. He, too, hugged her tightly, only releasing her after she gave him a slight push.

“Do you know how worried I was over you?” These were the first words Jiang Hao spoke.

Ning Tao's smile was gentle. “I do.”

“Then why didn't you come and fetch me and Qing Zhui?” Jiang Hao's eyes were looking rather fierce.

Ning Tao's voice was still gentle. “I don't wish you two to take the risk. I could handle the situation alone, so I didn't come to fetch the two of you. Let's talk when we reach home.” “If both of you like, I can take you to visit Giotto's Campanile in Florence. We can have some barbecue snacks on her streets, and drink some beer.”

Jiang Hao gave a smile.

Ning Tao suddenly extended his arms, one clasping Qing Zhui's arm and the other, Jiang Hao's. He said with a smile, “Come, let's go home.”

Jiang Hao's face started to blush. Her gait seemed somewhat awkward. “Release me. There're people watching us.”

People were indeed watching. There was an elderly man munching fried Chinese crepe, and an obese white-collar worker with a paunch and a briefcase. Both of them watched with a stunned expression on their faces. He had managed to capture the hearts of two ravishing beauties, and one of them was a policewoman! A policewoman!

What was his family background?

Did his family own a gold mine?

Ning Tao was thick-skinned and would not let go. He even said very conceitedly, “So what if they are watching? If they can't stand it, do they dare to hit me?”

“You're shameless.” Jiang Hao spat lightly, but she did not throw off Ning Tao's hand.

Qing Zhui also said, “Shameless.”

Ning Tao started a little. He glanced at Qing Zhui. His destined concubine had always been submissive to his every wish. So even she was scolding him after a few days of separation!

Qing Zhui explained, “I was scolding those two silly men.”

Ning Tao was speechless.

Qing Zhui said to Jiang Hao, “Sister Hao, please marry Brother Ning.”

Jiang Hao was speechless.

The three of them chatted and joked along the way, stepping on the golden sunlight. The sun had mingled the shadows of the fiancée, the destined concubine and Master Ning into one mass. They could no longer be separated from one another.

The old man munching the fried Chinese crepe snorted coldly. “Scum!”

Chapter end