Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
âYou are right,â said Wang Yao with a smile.
Chen Yingâs working environment and salary were probably better than 90% of the employees in China. She also had the opportunity to interact with people of higher social status. It was her invisible wealth.
Of course, she also lost a lot of freedom while she was gaining from her work.
Chen Ying cooked Wang Yao a table of special dishes.
âWhat are these dishes?â asked Wang Yao.
âThe authentic dishes from my hometown. Try them,â said Chen Ying.
âOkay,â said Wang Yao.
âHmmm...they are delicious! The taste is quite special!â said Wang Yao after he had tried it.
âThank you,â said Chen Ying.
They had a break after lunch then went out together.
âTell me about your brother,â said Wang Yao.
âHis condition is quite special. You will know when you see him.â Every time Chen Ying mentioned her brother, she looked concerned; Wang Yao could tell from her eyes.
Chen Ying didnât drive fast as it was peak hour; they were in Beijing which had the worst traffic conditions in the country.
Chen Ying drove to a special place after about two hours.
âWhat is this place?â asked Wang Yao.
Wang Yao was surprised to see the name of the place. Part of it stated âMental Illness Rehabilitation Unit.â It was a nice way to put it, but in fact, the place was a mental health hospital.
Thatâs why Chen Ying didnât want to talk about it, thought Wang Yao.
âHey, make sure you are all in good spirit because President Trump will come to inspect this place in the afternoon!â said one of the patients.
âTrump? I thought it was Putin coming in the afternoon,â said another patient.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
âThe price of gold only dropped temporarily; it will go up in the long run,â said a patient sitting next to the window.
âDoctor, I think Iâm perfectly fine, except that Iâve got psychosis,â said one of the patients.
âLet me go! The people in this country need me!â someone shouted.
Wang Yao heard several patients talking when he was walking inside the hospital. Then he saw people he had never seen before. Those people either looked dull, or overexcited, or spooky. Essentially, none of them were normal.
âGood morning, are you here to visit a patient?â Suddenly a doctor with a slicked back hairstyle and a white coat came in front of Wang Yao and Chen Ying.
âYes, doctor,â said Chen Ying.
âGood! Try to talk more with the patient, encourage them to accept the treatment. Often the encouragement from family members will have a positive impact on their treatment.â said the doctor seriously.
âSure, doctor,â said Chen Ying.
âSee you later,â said the doctor who was about to leave.
Wang Yao looked at that doctor with a smile.
âWhatâs wrong, Dr. Wang?â asked Chen Ying.
âNothing.â Wang Yao turned to the doctor. âYour colleagues will arrive soon,â Wang Yao said with a smile.
âWhat do you mean, young man?â asked the doctor seriously.
âHeâs over there! Chenxin, stop!â Several doctors were running towards them.
âAs medical staff, you guys shouldnât be panicking. You are not professional at all!â The so-called Dr. Cheng turned around slowly and was about to leave, but he was pressed down by several male doctors.
âDamn it! Send him to the private therapy room, double the dose of his medicine,â said one of the doctors.
âI think I should take more vitamins instead of Neuroleptics. I was just bleeding in my gums. I donât have a mental illness, and Thioridazine tastes weird. Why canât it be made in grape or orange flavor?â said the patient who called himself Dr. Cheng.
âShut up! Who told you you were taking Thioridazine?!â shouted one of the doctors.
âDonât you remember that I told you Iâm a medical doctor who graduated from Tsinghua University?â said the patient.
âDonât talk to him! Heâll misguide you!â said another doctor.
âRemember that Iâve told you itâs important to communicate with the patients,â said the patient.
âCan someone seal his mouth?!â shouted a male doctor.
âIâm sorry, I hope he hasnât said anything to confuse you,â said a female doctor who was looking at Wang Yao and Chen Ying nervously.
âNothing, we just heard what he had told you guys,â said Wang Yao.
âGood, no matter what he told you, please donât take it seriously. He almost drove one of our interns crazy last month,â said the female doctor.
âOkay, I see, thank you,â said Wang Yao.
âHow could you tell that he was not normal?â asked Chen Ying curiously.
Chen Ying didnât suspect that the patient was a fake doctor at all.
âI could tell from his hairstyle, eye contact and the way he communicated with us,â said Wang Yao. âI was just presuming.â
But the way that the patient was looking at Wang Yao did make him surprised. The patient looked calm, but Wang Yao could feel something special inside him.
Maybe the patient was special in some aspects.
Soon, they met Chen Yingâs brother, a drooling teenager with a silly smile on his face. He seemed to be about 15 years old.
âHello, Miss Chen, welcome!â said a nurse.
âZhou, your sister is here to visit you.â The nurse wiped the drool around Chen Yingâs brotherâs mouth.
âYou are wrong!â Chen Yingâs brotherâs face suddenly changed out of the blue. He looked very serious.
âThe victim was murdered. He didnât kill himself!â said Chen Yingâs brother.
âWhy couldnât I resist his sword from the west side with my 49 sword styles?!â His look changed again.
Wang Yao was shocked.
Heâs got such a weird condition.
Wang Yao suddenly stretched out his arm and grabbed the wrist of Chen Yingâs brotherâs.
âWhat are you doing? How dare you to be so rude to me!â shouted Chen Yingâs brother.
He had switched among several identities in such a short time.
Wang Yao just ignored him. He grabbed Chen Yingâs brotherâs wrist and checked his pulse. Wang Yao felt the strength through his arm which a teenager shouldnât possess. Fortunately, Wang Yao was strong enough to hold onto Chen Yingâs brother. Otherwise, Chen Yingâs brother would have escaped.
What a weird pulse!
âHi, Sis, when did you come?â Chen Yingâs brother suddenly went back to his normal self.
âI just arrived,â said Chen Ying softly.
âDid I speak nonsense again?â asked Chen Yingâs brother.
âNot really,â said Chen Ying.
âWho is he?â Chen Yingâs brother looked at Wang Yao.
âHe is the doctor I invited here to see you,â said Chen Ying.
âSis, no one can cure me. Donât waste time on me anymore,â said Chen Yingâs brother.
The teenagerâs eyes became bright again. The way he talked was quite mature and normal.
âHis pulse has changed, too,â said Wang Yao to Chen Ying.
How strange!
The teenager seemed to suffer from a personality disorder. Wang Yao didnât know what to do about him.
âWhat do you think, Dr. Wang?â asked Chen Ying.
âSorry, I donât know how to treat him,â said Wang Yao.
âI see,â said Chen Ying. It was inevitable for her to feel disappointed.
She chatted with her brother for a short while until the doctor came to remind her of the visiting hours.
âSis, donât worry about me anymore. You donât need to come to see me in the future,â said Chen Yingâs brother.
He was alert and normal during the whole time he was talking to his sister. He was no different than a normal person.
âI will get you out of here as soon as I can,â said Chen Ying.
âDonât worry about me. Iâm fine here,â said her brother.
Even Wang Yao felt sad about him, let alone Chen Ying. Who would think it was fine to stay in a mental health institution? No one here was normal except for the doctors. Maybe even some of the doctors were not normal.
âYou just saw my brother Chen Zhou,â said Chen Ying after they came out of the hospital.
âHe suddenly became mentally ill four years ago when he was in junior high school. Weâve taken him to a number of hospitals to see quite a few doctors and specialists, but he couldnât be cured. Only me in the family can take care of him now. We didnât have a choice. We had to admit him to a mental health hospital,â said Chen Ying.
âSo he was in junior high school four years ago, how old is he now?â asked Wang Yao.
âHe has turned 18,â said Chen Ying.
â18? How come he looks like a 12-year-old kid?â asked Wang Yao.
âYes, He didnât grow older in the last four years. On the contrary, he has been getting younger.â Chen Ying took out her phone to show her brotherâs photos to Wang Yao as if she was afraid that Wang Yao didnât understand her. The photos proved what Chen Ying said. Her brother looked younger and younger over the years. He was rejuvenating.
It raised attention from Wang Yao.
Donât tell me mental illness could make people younger. I should have observed other patients in that hospital.
âLet me think it over what I can do for your brother,â said Wang Yao.
Chen Yingâs brotherâs condition was considered extremely difficult to treat. In fact, mental illness could be a result of many factors. Up till now, most mental health conditions couldnât be treated by medicine or other methods.
âThank you in advance,â said Chen Ying.
When Wang Yao had returned to the cottage, there was a visitor waiting for him, a middle-aged woman. It was Song Ruiping, Su Xiaoxueâs mother.
âHello, Dr. Wang,â said Song Ruiping.
âHello, Ms. Song, what can I do for you?â asked Wang Yao.
âNothing special, I just wanted to visit you on my way home,â said Song Ruiping.
âPlease come in and take a seat,â said Wang Yao.
Chen Ying made a cup of tea for Song Ruiping.
In fact, the cottage belonged to Su Xiaoxueâs family. Wang Yao just lived there with the permission of Su Xiaoxueâs family. It was strange that Song Ruiping made Wang Yao feel like he was the owner of the cottage.
âHow is everything going here? Are you happy with the place?â asked Song Ruiping.
âEverything is good here,â said Wang Yao almost subconsciously.
âGreat, Iâm glad you like it here,â said Song Ruiping.
She didnât stay for long.
It started to get dark. Chen Ying had made dinner. She looked a bit upset, maybe because of her brother.
Wang Yao guessed that Chen Ying probably didnât have any other family members except for her brother.
âI will go to see Su Xiaoxue again in the evening. You donât need to come with me if you donât want to.â Normally Chen Ying accompanied him to Su Xiaoxueâs house every time. She would wait for him outside the house. Wang Yao was happy for her to stay in the cottage as he could tell Chen Ying was in a low mood.
âIâm fine. Iâll go with you. Itâs good for me to get out of the cottage,â said Chen Ying.
Wang Yao went to the same house to see the same patient in the evening.
The gauze was gently removed from Su Xiaoxueâs head. Wang Yao saw her horrible face again which was still full of ulcers. But it was different this time. There was a big difference between each side of Su Xiaoxueâs face. The left side of her face was still full of ulcers, which were as dark as death and rot. But the right side started to show new pink muscle, which was as bright as an oasis in the desert.
Wang Yao deliberately applied the decoction only to the right side of Su Xiaoxueâs face last time.
âIt worked!â Although Song Ruiping anticipated the changes in Su Xiaoxueâs face, she was too excited to hide her feelings.
âGreat! Itâs working!â said Wang Yao.
He decided to continue with the treatment. He took out a porcelain bottle out of his pocket. The unique smell of the decoction came out of the bottle after Wang Yao had opened it.
The decoction inside the bottle was different from the one Wang Yao used last time. This time Wang Yao didnât dilute the Muscle Revitalizing powder. The decoction was as thick as honey. The drops came out of the bottle very slowly.
A very observant Song Ruiping noticed the change immediately.