CHAPTER 580: CHAPTER 569: THE DIVINE DOCTOR FATHER OF THE PRESTIGIOUS FAMILY’S DAUGHTER-IN-LAW

When Ye Qiu came out, Ye Chan’s eyes were still red, clearly suffering a great deal of grievance, yet she still managed to prepare a hearty dinner for Ye Qiu, her disappointing father.

"This is 500,000; it’s my last bit of money. Don’t gamble anymore," she said, grabbing her bag and preparing to leave.

Ye Qiu quickly stood up, rubbing his hands with some anxiety, "You... you should stay and eat a bit too."

Ye Chan’s departing figure paused: "No, Chengyu is waiting for me at home."

"Then, be careful on your way home," he said.

After Ye Chan left, Ye Qiu sat alone, silently eating his meal, and also sorted out the current timeline in his head.

Now, Ye Chan and Li Chengyu had been married for over two years. The fact that they were still childless led to some criticism in the Li family. At this time, Li Chengyu likely had already made contact with someone he was having an affair with, while Ye Qiu, the gambling-addicted father, was sinking deeper and deeper, almost depleting Ye Chan’s private savings.

Since childhood, it had always been just the two of them, with Ye Chan, the daughter, taking care of him, her father. Therefore, the taste of the food was quite good, and Ye Qiu ate with great satisfaction.

The next day, Ye Qiu took the 500,000 to the underground casino.

"Brother Ye, your daughter has brought you money again?" The owner of the gambling den, Brother Qiang, lit up upon seeing Ye Qiu and whistled.

Ye Qiu smiled proudly: "Yeah, who told her to be so capable!"

Brother Qiang echoed: "Indeed, who among us wouldn’t envy you!"

However, at this moment, Ye Qiu sighed: "Even if my daughter is talented, I cannot continue to be a burden on her, lest she be ill-treated in the Li family. Who in the Li family would think highly of a gambler like me? I’ve decided that after I pay back this money today, I’ll gamble one last time. If I lose this last time, I’ll never come back."

Upon hearing that Ye Qiu said he wouldn’t come again, Brother Qiang suddenly became anxious. Who didn’t know that Ye Qiu was a big spender? Not only did he own a house in the Fourth Ring, but his son-in-law was also an heir to Pengcheng Group. If he stopped coming, wouldn’t the casino lose a major source of income?

Brother Qiang’s eyes darted around, patting Ye Qiu’s shoulder and laughing: "Brother Ye, trust me, you’ll have good luck today. Gambling is all about winning and losing; who always loses anyway?"

Ye Qiu shook his head in dejection: "Maybe I just don’t have the gambling luck? Anyway, it doesn’t matter, here is 500,000—I’ll pay back 350,000, and with 150,000 left, if I lose it all today, I’ll quit gambling. I don’t want to eventually become an annoyance to my daughter and son-in-law."

With that said, Ye Qiu walked in, seemingly not noticing that Brother Qiang had given a meaningful look to his subordinates.

After paying off the gambling debt, he was back at the poker table. However, today’s luck seemed to be exceptionally good, as he kept getting whatever he needed, and the last 150,000 actually turned into 800,000.

"How about that, Brother Ye? You’re having good luck today, right?" Brother Qiang, appearing from nowhere and adopting an envious tone, said.

Ye Qiu was grinning so widely that his eyes disappeared into his joyful face: "Not bad, not bad, I’ve been losing for so many days and finally, the luck has turned."

"Are you coming again tomorrow?" Brother Qiang followed up, saying, "It’d be a pity to lose this streak of good luck."

Ye Qiu, just as he wished, said: "Yes, I will, definitely. Tomorrow I’ll play big."

Brother Qiang nodded satisfactorily, but when Ye Qiu looked over, he switched to a dejected tone: "Brother Ye, you’ve got to go easy on us tomorrow, otherwise my casino can’t cover your wins."

Ye Qiu responded with annoyance: "What’s the matter, your casino only allows losses and not wins?"

Brother Qiang defended himself with a sense of grievance: "How could that be? I welcome you anytime, Brother Ye."

Thus, Ye Qiu left contentedly with 600,000 yuan. Behind Brother Qiang, two people came up, dissatisfied as they watched Ye Qiu’s departure: "Brother Qiang, you just let him take all that money?"

"What do you know." Brother Qiang narrowed his eyes, "I’m casting a long line to catch a big fish; let him taste a bit of sweetness first so he gets drawn in, and later, heh... I’ll make him cough up even his coffin money."

"Brother Qiang has thought it through thoroughly."

"Brother Qiang is clever."

Regrettably, after going back, Ye Qiu reported the casino for illegal gambling and usury.

With the state cracking down on such dark forces, although Brother Qiang had insiders tipping him off, Ye Qiu already knew who was behind Brother Qiang and deliberately chose the time when that person was on vacation.

So before Brother Qiang could think about how to reclaim Ye Qiu’s money, he himself ended up behind bars. The casino was no small operation; it had driven many people to ruin. The authorities received significant credit for the crackdown and swiftly reported Brother Qiang’s case as an example, ensuring he wouldn’t be released for at least ten years.

In fact, Ye Qiu had lost more than 800,000 yuan, but being able to recover this much he was already content. After getting the money back, he didn’t immediately repay Ye Chan, but instead found a new location and returned to his old profession.

His previous job was fairly good, a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine at a small hospital, but with fewer and fewer people believing in Chinese medicine, the hospital’s performance deteriorated. As an old TCM practitioner, he could only earn a basic salary there and sometimes had to deal with troublesome patients and their families. Therefore, after seeing his daughter succeed, he simply resigned.

Having chosen the skills of the Poison Scripture and Medicine Manual in this life, he had no intention of continuing to waste them.

The clinic wasn’t big, but its location was close to home and in a decent neighborhood. After paying the deposit, rent, and some basic refurbishment, he barely had anything left. Fortunately, he still had a space with all kinds of Chinese medicine herbs, but to meet market demands, he still wholesaled some basic Western medicines.

Between renovating and obtaining licenses, three months had passed by the time the clinic opened.

"Yo, old man, not resting on your laurels? Why have you started working again?" The surrounding neighbors who recognized Ye Qiu teased him. The old Ye Qiu was once the envy of these people. They had heard about his descent into gambling and didn’t expect to see a prodigal son return.

Unconcerned about their scrutiny, Ye Qiu chuckled: "Since I’m free, I might as well. I’ve got all the basic medicines in the pharmacy; for the neighborhood folks, I’ll sell them cheap, just at cost price."

"Really?"

"Why would I lie to you? We’re all old neighbors."

As he said this, some onlookers indeed came in for the excitement and found that some of the commonly used medicines were cheaper than in external pharmacies. Thus, each person bought a box or two, and on the first day of opening his little clinic, he actually sold quite a bit of medicine, all of which were Western drugs.

But Ye Qiu was not in a hurry. He knew that one day his real skills would be recognized. As long as people came in for a consultation, he wouldn’t have to worry about business in the future, and he wasn’t planning on sticking solely to this small clinic.