ergy was once again drained.The 'Gather煞符' can gather all the malevolent energies from the surrounding environment. Since Xiao Yu directly drew it with his fingers without using ink or cinnabar, its e...Chapter 23 Bone Setting on the Way to Beijing

Looking at the precious hot pot dish worth a thousand gold pieces, Xiao Yu無奈地搖了搖頭，心想："This is really extravagant!"

"Second Brother, don't just stare; hurry up and eat!" Unknown to where Zhu Simiao found two large bowls and poured a bottle of wine equally into both. Upon looking up, he saw Xiao Yu daydreaming at the food in his bowl.

“Hmm, sure. I was just wondering how this could be worth over 2000.” Xiao Yu replied.

"Second Brother, although this is expensive, it's not something anyone can have. If not for me stepping up once for my dad, you wouldn't get to eat it no matter how much money you offer."

Zhu Simiao took a bite of the chestnut cake bun and continued: "Back when the founding generals were just getting started after liberation, they loved coming here for this dish. But these ingredients are not only precious but also very difficult to prepare; it often takes more than three days just to gather them all. This caused huge demand shortages at times even the founding great men couldn't get a bowl of food. The canteen's owner eventually set rules limiting visits: monthly five times for colonels, ten times for brigadiers, twenty times for generals, and thirty times for founding great men. These rules still apply today."

Picking up the bun, Xiao Yu habitually sniffed it at the bowl edge when a familiar smell wafted out suddenly from the bowl. Startled by the familiar scent, he then excitedly picked up chopsticks to taste it; upon chewing, tears involuntarily filled his face as the flavors and herbs used were exactly like what he remembered. It had been four or five years since he last tasted such delicious hot pot dish.

"Second Brother, what’s wrong Even if this food is good, there's no need to get so excited!" Seeing Xiao Yu with tears streaming down his face, Zhu Simiao exclaimed oddly.

"It's fine. While eating this meal, I couldn't help but think of the large pot dishes my grandfather used to make for me. Haha, Brother Mo, eat up! Such delicious food shouldn't be wasted." Xiao Yu wiped away his tears and forced a smile.

As they ate and drank, their huge bowl of wine was almost finished when a bald man pushed the curtain aside and walked in, holding a bottle of wine in his left hand. He said to Zhu Simiao: "Little Zhu, this bottle of wine is for you; I want to thank you again for your help last time!"

Xiao Yu looked at the bald man, who exuded intense blood煞qi (note: “血煞” can be left in pinyin as it doesn't have a direct English translation and might lose its meaning if translated). Xiao Yu was certain that this person had seen bloodshed and taken lives, not just once but many times. He must have been a soldier or an ex-soldier of the special forces, Xiao Yu thought.

Upon careful observation, one could see through his hearty smile that his eyes were cold as snake's eyes, devoid of any emotion. That was because professional soldiers don't need emotions; they only follow orders.

The bald man set down the bottle of wine and left the suite. Zhu Simiao shook his head, sighed, and said: "Ah, he’s a tough guy, but it's too bad that he's crippled!" After saying this, he drank up all the liquor in the bowl with one sip and slammed it heavily on the table.

"Oh What happened Tell me about it," Xiao Yu was intrigued by Zhu Simiao's reaction. If the person deserved help, he wouldn't mind helping him recover his arm.

It turned out that this man named Zhang Dahai was a soldier in the Wolf Tooth Special Forces unit based on the southwestern border. Once an international drug trafficking syndicate planned to conduct a major transaction along our country's border, and intelligence led to the dispatch of the Wolf Tooth Special Forces soldiers for apprehension. However, it proved to be a trap. To protect his fellow soldiers, Zhang Dahai held off the enemy alone after killing dozens of traffickers; he was eventually intercepted by a highly skilled assassin hired with large sums of money by the drug lord. Although Zhang Dahai killed this opponent, the latter used special techniques to cripple one of his arms.

After returning home, despite being awarded for bravery, Zhang Dahai's arm remained crippled. The military sought help from renowned orthopedic doctors across the country but all were at a loss as to how to treat him.

Faced with no other choice, he chose to retire. An elderly leader in Beijing learned about this and arranged for him to work as a kitchen assistant.

Xiao Yu only now realized the background of his boss. It turns out that his boss's great-grandfather, "Zhuo Yutian," was a military doctor during the Anti-Japanese War period and later became the first president of China's PLA General Hospital after liberation. Additionally, the elderly Zhuo was also one of the founders of Xiao Yu’s own Shenzhen Traditional Chinese Medicine College. This explained why the principal treated his boss with such respect.

The current President of the PLA General Hospital is Admiral Zhuo Hongxing, while his father is Lieutenant General Zhuo Guangrong, the chief of the large surgery department at the hospital. In their family, every male member must study traditional Chinese medicine according to their family rules, which explains why Zhu Simiao is now at Shenzhen Traditional Chinese Medicine College.

It was also the Zhuo family who fixed Zhang Dahuai's arm; however, although it was reconnected, this arm could only perform simple movements and could not be used with strength due to excruciating pain when doing so.

Xiao Yu admired Zhang Dahuai for being a true man. After some thought, he said to Zhu Simiao: "Boss, go fetch that Zhang Dahuai; I want to take a look."

Soon after, Zhang Dahuai entered and asked Xiao Yu, “You want to see my arm”

Xiao Yu nodded. He had Zhang Dahuai sit down and started palpating his joint area while closing his eyes, feeling the condition of bone displacement. After a moment, he said, "Your arm was injured by a special technique called Small Bone-Dislocating Hand that is popular in southwestern regions; this caused your tendons to separate from your bones. Although it has been reconnected now, but the method used was incorrect, which makes your hand unable to apply force and causes intense pain when doing so. You need to have it dismantled again and properly reconnected, and the pain involved...

Doctor, you don't have to say anymore; I'm not afraid of this kind of pain. Go ahead and do what needs to be done. If my luck holds up, my arm will be connected well, but if it doesn’t, there’s nothing I can do about that either. Zhang Dahuai waved his hand at Xiao Yu who was speaking and said expressionlessly.

Hearing Zhang Dahai say this, Xiao Yu didn't respond; any further words would be an insult to such a man.

"Second Brother, is it okay This is what my great-grandfather took a whole day to fix. Don’t remove it again if you can’t put it back!" He asked worriedly as he saw Xiao Yu about to take off Zhang Dahai’s arm once more.

"Relax," said Xiao Yu, not turning his head even once as he steadied Zhang Dahai's shoulder with one hand and grabbed his wrist with the other.

Xiao Yu held Zhang Dahai by the shoulder with one hand while rotating his wrist gently with the other: "Bear it!"

Zhang Dahai nodded, beads of sweat already forming on his forehead. He said, “Go ahead and don’t mind me!” Normally, just lifting this arm up would cause him unbearable pain; let alone now.

“Crack,” the moment Xiao Yu grabbed Zhang Dahai’s arm, he suddenly pulled it outwards with great force. A sharp sound echoed as Zhang Dahai's arm was dislocated again.

Xiao Yu took hold of Zhang Dahai’s arm once more and rotated it counterclockwise; this time much faster than before. Soon, the beads of sweat on Zhang Dahai’s forehead had turned into large droplets, and his back was completely soaked in the rather chilly autumn night.

After rotating Zhang Dahai's arm for about ten rounds, Xiao Yu stopped turning it. With a sudden burst of strength, he pulled outwards before forcefully pushing upwards; “Crack,” another sharp sound echoed as something snapped into place. He put down Zhang Dahai’s arm and patted his shoulder, saying, "It’s done."We have to act quickly!"Grandmaster Zhang and Master Li exchanged glances, both inwardly exclaiming “trouble,” as they hoped that the practitioner from the Lower World wasn’t in the haunted villa; it...