Bizarre Cultivation: Starting from Being Beaten Up by Reality

Chapter 186: Without the Wrath of Vajra, Without the Compassion of Bodhisattva

"Brother, I've always had a question: do you think doctors can't just stand by and watch someone die? Shouldn't they unconditionally save lives?"

Lin Fan fell into deep thought again. This question was full of flaws. To put it simply, don't doctors spend money to save people? Don't they need medicine? Don't doctors need to eat and drink to make a living? How could they possibly dedicate themselves to their work for free?

However, Lin Fan naturally realized that what Dr. Lei was talking about was not these things; these simple truths did not require him to think about them all the time.

Putting that aside, isn't the answer simply that we should save lives and heal the wounded, and not stand by and watch someone die?

It seems so, Lin Fan vaguely remembered—those simple principles that were mentioned in the nine years of compulsory education, it seems that it really is like that.

However, Lin Fan felt something was off, something was wrong, but he wasn't good at arguing, so he didn't know how to answer.

This question was obviously very important to Dr. Lei, and he couldn't very well not answer it.

At this moment, Lin Fan's sleeve was tugged, and he looked down to see Zi Yue looking up at him, her eyes shining brightly.

Zi Yue pulled Lin Fan over and started biting his ear.

After Zi Yue finished speaking, Lin Fan suddenly understood.

He bowed respectfully to Dr. Lei, who then sat up straight on the bed.

"Doctor, I'm not a doctor, so I can't give a direct answer to what you're saying. I've just been thinking about something. In the present world, or even in the Great Qian Dynasty, do military medics on the battlefield also have to treat prisoners of war from the enemy?"

Dr. Lei nodded, of course, and listened very attentively; this was exactly what he wanted to hear, the issue that had been troubling him.

So Lin Fan continued, "But doctor, have you ever considered that this kind of unconditional love is actually conditional?"

Doctor Lei's eyes dimmed slightly. "Brother, of course I know that in wartime, we must prioritize our own wounded and consider things like medical reserves. But that's not what I wanted to say. If we had enough manpower, if we had enough medicine..."

Before Dr. Lei could finish speaking, Lin Fan interrupted him, "Doctor, I know what you want to talk about is not this obvious condition and reasoning, and what I want to talk about is not that either, but another condition that you may not have seen."

Dr. Lei was somewhat bewildered. What else could it be? How could a military doctor on the battlefield be any different from himself? He inexplicably anticipated Lin Fan's answer, yet also felt apprehensive, a mixture of anticipation and fear.

So, Lin Fan took a deep breath and slowly said, "The difference is that behind the medics on the battlefield, there are soldiers with guns and swords. I don't like Buddhism, but I still want to borrow a saying from them: Without the wrath of Vajra, there is no compassion of Bodhisattva."

Lin Fan took a deep breath before continuing, "Compassion and swords coexist, Doctor. I apologize for presuming to understand what happened to you and for making these remarks."

Dr. Lei seemed to shrink into a ball, head bowed and silent.

Lin Fan stood silently to the side.

When Dr. Lei looked up again, his face was covered in tears, which he did not wipe away, and his face seemed to have aged ten years.

“Brother, what you say makes sense, makes sense. Why didn’t I hear your words sooner? I’ve been conflicted about this issue for so many years. I feel like I did nothing wrong, yet I also feel like I did something wrong. But now that I understand, I feel empty. Logic is just logic. What good is understanding it? What does it have to do with what has happened?”

Ziyue was already squatting on the ground, pouting, "This person is so troublesome. He asked the question himself, but after asking, he said it was pointless."

Lin Fan glanced at Zi Yue, who was squatting on the ground like a cute white mushroom, but ignored her and just listened quietly as Doctor Lei continued.

Dr. Lei continued, "Even so, I still have to say something that I haven't told anyone in the past few years."

Lin Fan frowned. "Doctor, don't force yourself to say it. It's okay, I'm really not curious."

Dr. Lei said, "No, my dear brother, I won't tell you. Who else can I tell you? I can only tell you."

Ziyue shook her ponytail, swaying it from side to side, and then covered her ears. "Ugh, I don't want to hear it. I know it's going to be a terrible story even if I don't listen."

Lin Fan frowned as well. He had heard and seen enough along the way, and he was content with just a general idea; he didn't want to know the details.

However, as I just said, Dr. Lei is my savior, and I'd give my life for his. There's no reason why I shouldn't just listen to his story.

Before anyone could stop him, Doctor Lei had already begun to speak. “I spent ten years in the mortal world. Although I had no other close friends besides Brother Hu, I lived a life that even the gods couldn’t compare to. The first few years were filled with novelty, and the next few years I became engrossed in medicine. Before I knew it, I found myself living ten years in the mortal world. However, there was someone I couldn’t let go of in the Great Qian Dynasty, and that was my wife. So I finally made up my mind to say goodbye to Brother Hu and return to the Great Qian Dynasty.”

When Dr. Lei spoke of the present world, his eyes were filled with longing, and then gradually dimmed.

"My first worry upon returning was that after more than ten years apart, I might not be able to find my wife. Fortunately, when I came back, I discovered that ten years in the present world was but a fleeting moment in the Great Qian Dynasty. I rushed home, and my wife thought I had only gone out to travel and practice medicine for a few years, and everything at home remained unchanged."

At this point, Dr. Lei's eyes were filled with nostalgia, but he immediately began to stammer.

"Then, then, not long after, before I had a chance to convince my wife to leave our hometown and come with me to the real world, those people, they came."

Dr. Lei stammered, and Lin Fan understood who he was referring to.

“I met them while I was gathering herbs. All eight of them were injured, and I could tell at a glance that they were river bandits from the north. Some were seriously injured, some were lightly injured, and the leader was barely clinging to life. I could have walked away; none of them were agile enough to catch up with me. But the few lightly injured ones knelt on the ground, begging me to save them, promising to repent and change their ways, and I softened.”

Lin Fan gripped his sword, gritting his teeth in silence, his heart pounding faster than ever.

“But at that time I felt that a doctor’s job was to save lives and heal the wounded, regardless of the patient’s status. That’s what my mentor taught me, and I’ve even heard stories in the present world about saving lives first and then judging good and evil. I should hand them over to the authorities, but I should also heal them.”

"So I took them home and treated them. They gave me all the money they had to pay for their soup. I reported it to the authorities in the village and then did my best to treat them when I got home. My wife also advised me that these people didn't seem like good people, but I... I didn't listen."

The air in the room gradually became heavy. Ziyue held Ling's hand tightly, her palms sweaty.

"Later, later, I, I can't go into details. Anyway, something happened. They, they recovered from their injuries, bullied my wife, and even killed her, leaving behind a note before leaving."

After Dr. Lei finished speaking, he tremblingly took out the crumpled piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Lin Fan.

The handwriting was very poor, and Lin Fan could only make out the gist of it. It said that they were grateful to the doctor for saving them, but because the doctor had acted dishonestly by reporting them to the authorities, they needed to teach him a lesson.