Chapter 9
Chapter 9
Matthew walked toward the bed and heaved out a sigh. The lady who was lying on the bed was gorgeous. In terms of appearance, she was no less attractive than Sasha. However, she was a heart- wrenching sight to look at as she had been reduced to a bony frame after losing substantial weight.
As Matthew was walking round the bed, he suddenly lifted his head and asked, “Mr. Newman, how much have you paid Benjamin for taking care of Miss Newman?”
“I’m not offering my service for Mr. Newman because of money!” Benjamin quickly clarified, “I have a very close friendship with Mr. Newman and I’ve always treated his problems as mine!” Exclusive © content by N(ô)ve/l/Drama.Org.
Staying silent, Billy’s eyes were tinged with gratitude; he was really moved by how Benjamin had taken care of his daughter over the past half a year.
Yet, Matthew responded to what Benjamin said with a sneer. “You aren’t taking a dime from him? Benjamin, you really should be punished!”
“W-What the heck are you talking about?” Benjamin challenged him furiously.
Billy was slightly displeased too and he wondered what exactly Matthew meant by that. Ignoring Benjamin, Matthew looked at Joseph and announced, “Mr. Harrison, there’s actually nothing wrong with your acupuncture skill!”
“Oh?” Joseph was surprised to hear that. “But, not only did Miss Newman not wake up after I did that, her condition e-even w-worsened… Why is that so?”
“It was because someone had done some tricks to her body!” With a faint smile, Matthew stared at Benjamin and continued, “Someone injected her with a silver needle beforehand to block her acupoints. Hence, anyone else who performs acupuncture on her later on will only make her lose her
vitality at a more rapid rate. Then, when her condition deteriorates, she might eventually die because of that!”
All at once, Benjamin’s face turned as pale as a sheet of paper, with beads of sweat formed all over his forehead.
Looking rattled, Billy too shot a contemplative glance at Benjamin. Benjamin was the only who had come into contact with his daughter most of the time over the past half a year. Therefore, it was easy to see who could be the perpetrator.
“Matthew Larson, a-are you trying to throw mud at me?” Pretending to be calm, Benjamin continued, “You have to first have proof before you make any random allegation! I’ve been here now for half a year. Are you trying to say that I am the culprit who did the tricks to Miss Newman?”
“Please be patient because we’ll know the truth in no time!” Matthew then made his way toward the head of the bed where Miss Newman was laying.
Keeping her forehead still with his hand, he quickly tapped on several acupoints on her face with two fingers. At the same time, he fished out three silver needles with his left hand and jabbed them precisely at three acupoints on her face in a flash. After the needles were poked into the acupoints, a small nodule emerged on her forehead at once, and it seemed like there was something inside which was about to emerge.
Without slowing down, Matthew immediately took out one silver needle after another and prickled them at different acupoints on Miss Newman. He had utilized a total of eighteen needles and the whole
process took place within half a minute’s time. On top of that, he was able to put the needles at all the correct acupoints in a very precise manner!
This time, even Benjamin had gone wide-eyed in shock. As a highly skilled acupuncturist himself, he could tell from the way that Matthew performed his acupuncture treatment was very proficient and Matthew’s skill was way more superior than himself. A blood spot was slowly appearing on Miss Newman’s forehead at that juncture.
Billy quickly stepped forward to have a closer look. To his surprise, the point of a needle was slowly materializing from within the blood spot. Matthew stretched both hands to clamp the needle by its point before he slowly and gently removed it. What he removed was half of a silver needle which was three centimeters long.
Billy, who looked flabbergasted, asked anxiously, “I-Is this the needle which is blocking her acupoints?”
“Exactly!” Matthew nodded his head.
Immediately, Billy turned to look at Benjamin, who looked fazed while defending himself, “I-I didn’t leave it there. You guys can’t assume I did that since my name is not written on the needle…”
“Don’t worry, we’ll realize soon who did it!” Matthew said calmly.
Despite looking terror-stricken, Benjamin warned Matthew indignantly, “D-Don’t you try to pin the blame on me…”
Instead of responding to him, Matthew went on to perform the Divine Acupuncture Skill on Miss Newman during which he poked one needle after another on thirty-six acupoints on her body. After doing the last one, he clapped one palm on her forehead and called gently, “Wake up!”
Under the unflinching gaze of everyone, Miss Newman’s eyelids started twitching; she was slowly opening her eyes again after being in a state of coma for more than a year’s time. A commotion soon ensued among the people inside the ward. Despite being a man who had a tough appearance, Billy made a dash toward the bed with his eyes brimming with tears. After all, she was his only daughter on whom he had pinned all his hopes and expectations. It was easy to imagine how overjoyed he must be feeling to see his daughter finally wake up after being unconscious for a year.
“Brittany, y-you’re finally awake…” Billy said in a croaky voice.
Miss Newman, who looked lost as she scanned her surroundings, uttered feebly, “Dad…”
Finally, Billy broke into tears. Many times had he dreamed of hearing this word from Brittany over the past whole year and he could finally hear it now for real! At that moment, Matthew suddenly yelled in an icy voice, “Benjamin, you’re trying to get yourself killed!”
While Billy was talking to his daughter, Benjamin flung his right hand and thrusted three needles directly at Miss Newman. Yet, Matthew managed to block them with some folded bed sheets somewhere next to him at the same time.
Looking incensed, Billy waved his hand at a man who was standing next to him, who immediately lunged forward and pounced on Benjamin like a ferocious tiger. Then, the two of them soon got involved in a brawl. Although Benjamin was well-built physically, he was still no match to the man. Both of Benjamin’s hands were broken by him shortly later, and his entire body was carried and thrown onto the floor in front of Billy.
Billy’s face was extremely frosty when he thought of the three needles that were advancing in the direction of his daughter just now. If it wasn’t for Matthew, his daughter’s life might have been threatened.
“Benjamin, what on earth are you trying to do?” Billy confronted him in a frigid voice.
Benjamin panted and clenched his teeth as he remained silent.
“Mr. Newman, why don’t you ask your daughter first about what happened?” In a soft voice, Matthew continued, “He wanted to kill your daughter as soon as she regained consciousness. Isn’t the answer obvious enough?”
Billy immediately turned to face her daughter, who tried hard to speak through gritted teeth although she was still weak, “Dad, the one who… k-knocked into me… was… Terrence Watkins…”
“Say what?!” Billy was livid with rage after hearing what his daughter said. Terrence Watkins was Benjamin’s son! At that moment, the puzzle was completely solved. No wonder Benjamin would be willing to offer his care to Miss Newman here personally. He was not trying to save her life, but only to keep her unconscious as long as he could so that the truth would never be revealed.
Of course, he would not be bold enough to kill her because if she died, then he would be the murder suspect. Therefore, he had made use of the golden opportunity when Joseph was here by secretly blocking her acupoints beforehand with the silver needle. Then, once Joseph performed his acupuncture treatment, the silver needle that Benjamin injected prior to that would then take Miss Newman’s life.
With a frosty look, Billy snapped, “No wonder I haven’t been able to find out who the culprit was who knocked into Brittany, even after investigating it for such a long time. As it turns out, you’ve been trying to sabotage me all this while. Benjamin, you’re goddamn wicked!”
Benjamin gritted his teeth and muttered in a deep voice, “Billy Newman, as the saying goes, winners will emerge as the king while losers will be reduced to prisoners. Since I am the loser this time, I’ll accept whatever punishment from you. However, you should target your hatred on me alone because I did everything by myself…”
“Hmph, that has never been my style of doing things!” In an icy voice, Billy snapped, “Yes, you did it all by yourself. But still, the entire Watkins Family has to be punished.” With that, Billy waved his hands and yelled, “Kill all immediate family members of the Watkins! As for the rest, banish them out of Eastcliff and they will be banned from setting foot in the city for the rest of their lives!”
“Yes, sir!” The man who stood beside him bowed at him and acknowledged his instruction before walking out of the ward.
Matthew, who was standing at one corner of the room, looked a little shaken. Billy Newman was indeed a very powerful and domineering man who could decide the fate of an entire family with just a single sentence!
“Mr. Larson, please allow me to give you a kowtow!” Astonishingly, Billy turned around and knelt down in front of Matthew before he added, “Thank you so much for saving my daughter’s life and I’ll never forget your favor! Mr. Larson, please don’t hesitate to tell me anything you need because there isn’t anything I can’t get done for you in Eastcliff!”