First Position

Chapter 14: Deception

Before the sky had fully darkened, ominous clouds began to drift across the distant heavens. "Acid rain is coming, hurry home," Ren Xiaosu said expressionlessly. The woman continued to cry and scream, but no one paid them any heed. The man’s injury didn’t seem accidental; Ren Xiaosu could easily tell that it was a knife wound. Clearly, it wasn't a workplace injury, but rather the result of a violent confrontation, leading to his death.

Once back in his humble shack, the acid rain arrived swiftly, and just as quickly, it passed. Yan Liuyuan sat on the bed and suddenly spoke, "Brother, you want a genuine thank-you from others, right? Doctors often receive thanks easily, especially when the old doctor was still around, everyone was grateful to him. But I wouldn’t recommend becoming a doctor. First, doctors are often caught in difficult dilemmas, and secondly, you don’t know any medical skills…” Ren Xiaosu turned to look at Yan Liuyuan, his expression unchanged. "Then what are you blabbering about?"

Wait a minute! Ren Xiaosu suddenly realized he had missed something important. While he didn’t know any medical skills, he could always learn them! The two skill-learning maps that the palace had rewarded him with had not been used yet. All he needed to do was use one of them to learn the doctor’s skills! That way, he could treat patients himself—or, at the very least, if he or Yan Liuyuan got sick, he could cure them.

The old doctor used to go out often to collect herbs. He had once jokingly told others that while the beasts had become more vicious, the medicinal properties of the herbs had also improved. So, with his knowledge of identifying herbs and his excellent medical skills, the old doctor had cured many people, and the herbs he collected were sold cheaply.

Ren Xiaosu wasn’t a saint; he just thought that if he could master medical skills, he could handle emergencies and make money! After all, most of the side effects from Yan Liuyuan’s wishes were just colds, fevers, and headaches. He didn’t want Yan Liuyuan to suffer from backlash, but what if the situation required him to act?

“I’m going to be a doctor!” Ren Xiaosu said with determination in his eyes.

"Brother, are you alright?" Yan Liuyuan was confused. "You don’t know any medical skills, don’t kill someone by accident. We may not save others, but we don’t harm them either…”

Ren Xiaosu gave Yan Liuyuan a playful tap on the back of his head. "Stop talking so much. When have I ever harmed anyone on purpose?"

At this point, Ren Xiaosu was already thinking. If he became a doctor, he could definitely earn money, which would bring a stable income. In the small town, people often got injured, so there was a constant demand for medical treatment.

Without hesitation, the next morning Ren Xiaosu didn’t go to the academy. He grabbed two pieces of black bread and went straight to the clinic, waiting for it to open. However, the clinic was as slow as ever. He waited until noon, but it still hadn’t opened its doors.

In the afternoon, when the bell rang at two o'clock, the young doctor finally opened the door and lazily stretched out to bask in the sun. But before he could fully stretch, he was startled by Ren Xiaosu, who was sitting at the door.

"Are you here to see the doctor? Got money?" the doctor asked.

The doctor didn’t even ask what illness Ren Xiaosu had, he was only interested in money.

Ren Xiaosu smiled and said, "I’m not here for treatment. You go ahead and do your thing."

The doctor was dumbfounded. If you’re not here for treatment, then why are you sitting at my door?

At this point, Ren Xiaosu silently used the first skill-learning map from his palace! The cowhide paper map spontaneously ignited and quickly burned to nothing.

“Randomly learning target skill.”

“The skill of bragging has been randomly selected. Do you want to learn it?”

Ren Xiaosu was dumbfounded. "What the hell? Why would I learn how to brag?!" He almost forgot that the skill-learning maps would randomly select the target skill from the other person, rather than letting him choose. But why on earth would bragging be considered a skill? Was this for real?

Ren Xiaosu glared at the doctor with disdain. This guy was really disgusting. But since he was here to take someone’s job, he couldn’t just take the job and then beat him up—that would be too dishonorable.

The doctor, feeling uncomfortable under Ren Xiaosu’s gaze, was about to say something when he suddenly remembered who Ren Xiaosu was!

Although Ren Xiaosu had never sought treatment here, they had both heard of each other—one was the only doctor in the town, and the other was notorious for being ruthless. It was normal for them to know of each other.

So, the young doctor immediately became intimidated.

"What do you want?" the doctor asked meekly.

"Do you like to brag in your free time?" Ren Xiaosu said impatiently.

The young doctor was confused. "What are you talking about?"

Ren Xiaosu didn’t bother arguing further. The bragging skill was definitely useless, so he discarded it as a failed attempt. He used the second skill-learning map.

“Randomly learning target skill.”

“The skill of deception has been randomly selected. Do you want to learn it?”

"Learn it, my foot! What kind of nonsense is this!" Ren Xiaosu glared at the young doctor. "You’ve got quite a few random skills for someone so young..."

The young doctor was on the verge of tears. "What are you talking about?"

"Isn’t it true that you love to deceive people?" Ren Xiaosu asked, "Who have you deceived? Tell me."

"Don’t say random things, I’ve never deceived anyone!" the doctor protested.

Ren Xiaosu, ever the rational thinker, calmly analyzed his situation after his loss. He knew he needed to learn medical skills, and the palace would likely give him more skill-learning maps in the future. What he didn’t know was when the next task would come. For now, he wanted to understand whether the doctor’s medical skills were worth pursuing.

He asked in his mind, “What level of medical skills does this doctor possess?”

"Target learned, I can inform you."

“The other person has no medical skills.”

Ren Xiaosu was absolutely furious. He nearly threw the heavy iron pot he was carrying at the ground. It was no wonder the doctor resorted to deception; it turned out this fool didn’t know any medical skills at all! All these years, he had been living off the legacy of the old doctor, swindling people because there was no other doctor in town. People who survived, survived; those who didn’t—well, death was just a part of life. After all, even the old doctor couldn’t heal everyone.

And before leaving, the old doctor had left him plenty of herbs, labeled for different symptoms. He only needed to make up prescriptions.

Ren Xiaosu had learned his lesson today. If he ever failed to successfully learn a skill in the future, he would first make sure that the other person actually had the skills he wanted.