Chapter 1027 - To Avoid Suspicion!

The next day, the recording of the first episode of the much-anticipated second season of Young Chinese Medicine Doctor officially started.

It was still the same place with the same style, and the host did not change.

All the guests, judges, and contestants had gathered together.

Since it was the recording of the first episode, 300 viewers had been specially invited to watch the recording live.

Quite curious about the rumors online, the live viewers were eager to see if the questions in the first episode of the show were really set by Fang Qiu and whether Jiang Mengjie could answer all the questions correctly.

Soon, the host began to introduce Fang Qiu after explaining the whole procedure of the first episode.

“Next, let’s welcome Fang Qiu, last season’s champion, the youngest winner of Bethune Medal, and the organizer of Three Billion Plan!” If time permitted, the host would have read out all of Fang Qiu’s credentials. But since they were short on time, he only announced Fang Qiu’s three most influential titles.

Fang Qiu went on the stage after the host’s introduction.

“Clap…” The viewers broke into loud applause.

“Thank you, everyone.” On the stage, Fang Qiu bowed to the camera and all the viewers present. “I’m honored to participate in the recording of the second season of Young Chinese Medicine Doctor. Standing on this stage again and seeing the 100 contestants gathered here, it feels as though I’ve returned to the first episode of the first season. I don’t know how to describe my feelings now.

“Today is the recording of the first episode of the show.

“First of all, I would like to congratulate the 100 contestants on the stage. All of you have earned your place on this grand stage by fighting your way through the second round.” Turning to the 100 contestants on the stage, Fang Qiu clapped his hands.

So did everyone present.

Fang Qiu continued, “The rules of this episode are very simple. They are much the same as the old ones, except for a minor change. Under the previous rules, all contestants would answer the questions together. Those who got it right would advance to the next round whereas those who fail would be eliminated.”

Everyone nodded when they heard Fang Qiu’s explanation; they were aware of the rules of the program because they had watched the first season.

“But now the rules are fairer. In addition to reducing the number of questions to 50, the contestant would now be ranked according to the total number of questions they answer correctly. The top 50 contestants would qualify for the next round.”

Hearing that, everyone laughed.

The rules were indeed fairer now.

However, they were still wondering why he didn’t claim the rumors of the leaks before recording the show.

Fang Qiu quickly gave them the answer.

“Originally, I should have been the one to set the 50 questions.” Staring at the camera lens and the 300 viewers present, Fang Qiu said with a smile, “However, there have been too many rumors on the Internet these days, and the matter couldn’t get any larger. Therefore, in order to avoid suspicion, today’s 50 questions were given by the two judges, Mr. Li Zhengtang and Mr. Yang Juanyong. I still don’t know what the questions are.”

On the other side, at the judges’ table, Li Zhengtang and Yang Juanyong also stood up at the same time and nodded with certainty.

“The questions are still in my hands now.” Raising his right hand and holding a note, Li Zhengtang said, “Fang Qiu can come over and get it.”

Without hesitation, Fang Qiu went straight up and took the paper from Li Zhengtang.

“Are you guys curious as to why Mr. Li Zhengtang and Mr. Yang Juanyong are the only ones who came up with the questions, and why Mr. Xu Miaolin is not?” Fang Qiu glanced at Xu Miaolin and then replied, “Of course, that’s also done to avoid suspicion.”

Hearing that, everyone on the scene laughed.

They all knew the relationship between Fang Qiu and Xu Miaolin.

“Well, since I’ve got the questions, let’s get ready to start the competition.” Fang Qiu walked to the rostrum, seeming to have completely taken over the host’s job.

Making Fang Qiu the host of the competition was inevitable. It had to be done.

The rumors online had negatively affected the show, so Director Li Huawen had no choice but to give the task of setting the questions to the two judges as Fang Qiu suggested. Under those circumstances, the only way for Fang Qiu to still be involved in the show was if Director Li Huawen let Fang Qiu be the competition’s host.

Of course, he was only the host during the competition.

Advertisements and the task of thanking the sponsors would still be handled by the show’s host.

“As you can see, there is a selector on each table for 100 contestants. Next, I will read out the 50 questions one by one for you to answer. The top 50 contestants with the highest number of correctly-answered questions will qualify for the next round. Please choose carefully.” As Fang Qiu spoke, he unfolded the note in his hand, saying to the 100 contestants on the spot while watching the note, “Come on, everybody.”

After that, he immediately started to give questions.

Since the two judges had set the questions, each question was hard to answer. Even the top 100 contestants in the country were baffled.

At the end of the competition, 50 contestants were selected to advance to the next round.

Jiang Mengjie was among those who qualify for the next round. She had answered all the 50 questions both correctly and quickly. As such, her performance was considered perfect.

After the top 50 contestants had been selected, Fang Qiu got down from the stage and gave the stage to the show’s host.

He had no sooner returned backstage than the phone in his pocket began vibrating.

Fang Qiu had put the device on silent mode before the show’s recording began.

He took out his phone and glanced at the screen. It was a call from Li Ji.

“Hello?” Fang Qiu answered the phone.

“Something happened.” Li Ji’s solemn voice came from the other end of the phone. He said, “I just received news that a member of Nirvana Organization has appeared in an impoverished area in the mountains. There’s also a virus outbreak in that area.”

“Where is it?” asked Fang Qiu.

“You go to the airport first. I will send you the information as soon as I get it, and I will book the plane ticket for you in advance,” Li Ji said.

“Okay,” Fang Qiu responded, hung up the phone, and promptly left the Central Television’s building. Without even saying goodbye to Director Li Huawen, he rushed to the capital airport at once.

After arriving at the airport, Fang Qiu took out his ID card of John Doe and swiped it on the automatic ticket machine, thus finding out that a plane ticket leaving for Nanjiang was booked for him just three minutes ago.

Taking out his boarding pass, Fang Qiu walked towards the departure lounge and sat down to wait.

Meanwhile, the recording of the first episode of Young Chinese Medicine Doctor came to an end.

After a long hunt for Fang Qiu backstage, Director Li Huawen failed to locate him. Originally, he wanted Fang Qiu to record another episode. After all, the two episodes were recorded together. Nonetheless, however hard he searched, he couldn’t find Fang Qiu. He couldn’t get through to Fang Qiu’s phone, too. It was as though Fang Qiu had vanished.

Meanwhile, Jiang Mengjie, who had been successfully promoted, was also asking the staff for Fang Qiu’s whereabouts.

Jiang Mengjie had meant to share her triumph with Fang Qiu, but she had never expected him to disappear without a trace, which upset and dejected her inwardly.

“Is he still trying to avoid suspicion?” Jiang Mengjie thought in a daze.

In the departure hall of the airport, Fang Qiu entered a safe house, and had already disguised as John Doe when he came out. Nobody knew he was at the airport due to the gauze mask and peaked cap he was wearing.

After finding a place to sit down, he received a file from Li Ji. Clicking it open, he began to read through the contents of the file.

Location: Leprosy Village, Nanjiang.

Event: The emergence of an unknown virus, which had caused many people to die of fear during their sleep. All the deceased had the exact same symptoms—they smashed any object within reach as though they were sleepwalking before dying in a fit of mania.

Current Situation: The virus first appeared in Leprosy Village but it was unknown whether it had spread to other villages. The situation was out of control at present!

Even though the document was short, Fang Qiu had got a lot of information from it.

Li Ji had also mentioned the appearance of someone from the Nirvana Organization in the village. The thought instantly reminded Fang Qiu of the massacre that Nirvana Organization was involved in.

“They were sleepwalking before dying in a fit of panic?” Thinking of the symptoms caused by the virus, Fang Qiu immediately frowned.

Apparently, it was not an ordinary disease.

If it was really caused by a virus, it was definitely not an ordinary virus. At least, Fang Qiu had never heard of this virus.

Soon, after boarding the plane, Fang Qiu focused all his attention on Leprosy Village, the poor mountain village.

Having investigated its specific situation once, Fang Qiu knew well about Leprosy Village.

Leprosy Village, which was established over sixty years ago, consisted of the Han, Miao, and Yi Clans. It was set up by nine people who had recovered from leprosy and escaped from the rehabilitation and treatment center. In that era, people who had been infected with this disease were not allowed to marry, but the circumstances surrounding those nine people were special.

After they recovered, the people in their clans turned them away, so they went to a place far away from home to seek shelter. Since the local authorities at their new place refused to recognize their household registers, their children might not have the chance to receive proper education and have ID cards. That was why they decided to establish Leprosy Village.

Statistics showed that the village had been around for around 60 years, and that there were now approximately 100 villagers in the village. However, the village chief was the only one in the entire village who owned a household register and an ID card.

The children here were all studying in a primary school three kilometers away from the neighboring village. However, due to the lack of household registers and ID cards, they were doomed to fail to receive secondary and higher education even if given a few more years. No matter how well they performed, walking off campus was irrevocable.

Due to extreme poverty, the local children were also malnourished with protruding bellies, scrawny limbs, and yellow hair.

Some villagers, though they had recovered from leprosy, were crippled after losing their limbs to the disease.

Nobody was willing to interact with them.

Even though most of them did not have leprosy, they were nonetheless discriminated against just because they were the offsprings of those who had recovered from this disease.

Undoubtedly, leprosy had been imprinted on this village even if it had been wiped out.

Thinking of the villagers and the people whose lives were ruined because of an illness, Fang Qiu felt his heart tightening with sympathy.