chapter 17

The next few days were the hardest in my life. The two policemen took turns interrogating me without rest, trying to get the whereabouts of Hu Thirteen out from me.

The harsh light in the room played a large part in causing me to feel rather anxious. But as soon as I thought of Hu Thirteen, the brother who was willing to be born and die with me, I told myself that I must not betray him.If he’s caught, he’s only going to die.

In the beginning, I had tried to explain the matter clearly by telling them that I had fished a coffin out of the river, which I had opened in curiosity. Between the inner and outer coffins was a white skeleton, and inside the coffin is a red gown.

For the sake of that bit of self-respect, I didn’t tell the truth. Instead, I said that I thought the coffin was made of good material, so I made a few doors out of the coffins. Then a series of problems ensued: I began bumping into ghosts, and my daughter went insane.

The officers were obviously confused when I told such a bizarre story. The cross-faced guy, slapped the table, splashed my face with cold water in anger, then looked at me and shouted, “You’re a nutcase, you’re a bloody lunatic!”

Instead, I looked at him, laughed, and said, “I’m not crazy! I’m beyond normal!”

They were dismissive of my story. If they had taken it seriously, they would have been able to find out that there was a man named Laohu. One only has to look up this person, Lao Hu, to find out his house. When we got there, they’d be able to catch Hu Thirteen. But they didn’t believe me but just thought I had gone completely insane.

They finally lost their patience with me after a month. I was crammed into an ambulance, and the brawny cop and the female medic accompanied me to the Nine Dragons Hill Psychiatric Hospital. As soon as I got in the car, I pointed at the female medic and said to the brawny cop, “She’s the female ghost who came back with me from the coffin in the south!”

The male cop looked at me and grunted. “Nice story you made up! I’m telling you, don’t talk to me. You’re annoying me right now. You will be treated first, and then I will come and talk to you when you have recovered.”

I didn’t dare take my eyes off from the woman in front of me. This woman looked at me and smiled. ”Xing Yun, when you get to the hospital, you need to be treated properly so you can get out of the hospital early, okay? Don’t pretend your fantasies are actually reality and lie to others!”

All I understood was that there was no use in saying anything.

After going into the hospital, I received a diagnosis from the doctor. No matter what the doctor said, I didn’t say a word. The doctor who saw me was a forty-year-old woman, dressed very plainly and with great charm. She said, “Xing Yun, how old are you?”

I didn’t say anything. What a load of crap. Can’t you see my ID?

“Xing Yun, you must cooperate with me, so I know how to help you, you know? I have every right to draw conclusions about you!”

I said, “Can you ask better questions? You’re holding my ID in your hand. Isn’t it weird for you to ask how old I am?”

The female medic interjected with, “Cooperate with the doctor, Xing Yun!”

“You shut up, you bitch!” I spat out, pointing the finger at her spitefully.

“I’m not a bitch, I have a name! Why don’t you remember my name! My name is Wei Lai! The ‘Wei’ from Wei Yan, and the Lai from ‘Wei Lai’! Got it?”

“You dirty goblin!” I spat directly in her face. “You goblin, you give me back my daughter!”

The female psychiatrist immediately picked up a paper towel and handed it over to the medic. The medic wiped her face quickly and smiled. “Xiao Yunzi, no one can help you like this!”

Are you serious?! She called me Yunzi! Only my wife can call me that! I growled angrily at her, “Don’t call me Xiao Yunzi, I’m warning you now. Don’t call me Xiao Yunzi, I’ll kill you!”

This psychiatrist murmured to herself, “Well, he’s at least in a manic state right now!”

I looked at her and shouted, “What do you know about me, old lady? Why do you think I’m manic? What do you know? You don’t know anything at all!”

The woman calmly picked up a syringe at this point and quickly drew up some liquid before injecting it into my ass. Soon I felt light-headed, and my eyelids began to sink before I finally relaxed completely and fell asleep.

I dreamt a lot about the past. Perhaps it wasn’t just a dream but a memory of the past. I dreamt about the time I first met my wife Dai Yue, and some of the happy moments we experienced together. It felt like a movie.

The death of my wife had caused irrecoverable damage. I woke up to find myself in a room alone. The room had a wooden plank bed, a stool, and a table, with a bathroom nearby. The windows were covered with bars. When I looked outside the window, there were people in patient gowns walking around the yard. They looked strange, like ghosts with three souls.

When I looked at my face in the mirror, I had already grown a full beard. I ran my hands over it before going to tap the door panel. There was a small window on the door, which opened to reveal a man asking me what I wanted.

I pointed to my beard and said, “I need to shave!”

Before long, the female psychiatrist came in with two burly men, along with shaving cream and a razor.

“You’re awake. How do you feel?” she said.

I laughed. “Feels great to be alive!”

After shaving, I asked, “Can I talk to you alone?”

The two burly men in the back objected, but the female doctor said, “You guys go to the door and wait for me, I’ll be fine.”

The two burly men went out after some hesitation, taking the razor and shaving cream with them. The female doctor looked at me with her arms folded and said, “My preliminary diagnosis was that you have delusions of grandeur, schizophrenia, and mania. It’s quite troublesome to treat, you know? I am deeply sorry for your loss. But since the dead can’t return to life, you need to think about the living. You have a daughter, after all. Do you understand me?”

I knew she thought that the cause of my illness was the death of a family member. That wasn’t the case. I miss my parents and my wife, but I haven’t gone crazy yet. But how would I explain it? I can’t explain, or she’d really think I’ve gone mad. I can only hide it.

She continued, “Given your situation, there’s still a possibility of you returning to normality. You just need to be calm and cooperate with me, okay?”

I said, “If I cooperate with you, when will I be discharged?”

“In order to be socially responsible, we will need to observe you for an extended period of time, do a comprehensive assessment, and determine that you are normal before we discharge you.”

“I guess I need to stay on your good side then. Although this is technically a hospital, it’s more like a prison, and you’ll keep me here as long as you deem necessary. A full evaluation and extended observation time are mainly because people don’t want to see a psychopath walking down the street, right?”

The female doctor looked at me in surprise. “That’s correct. I’d expect no less from a highly qualified philosophy student. You’re still very good at logical reasoning even after the madness. While you’re at it, let me ask you, how did your family die?”

I looked at her hesitantly, and she looked at me. How do I even begin to answer that? If I tell her the truth, then she’d think I’m still crazy. If I lied and said that it was Hu Thirteen who strangled me, then my conscience would give me trouble.

She made eye contact with me before saying, ”Answer my question Xing Yun! Or let me ask you another way. Were your parents and wife killed by Hu Thirteen?”

I broke out in a cold sweat and swallowed, before finally shaking my head and saying, “No!”

She closed her clipboard and took two steps back before saying, “Someone will bring you medicine later. Take it as the nurse asks you to, okay?”

At this point, I had run out of patience. I leaned back and closed my eyes.

What else do I have to say to her?

In the evening, the female doctor came again, but with that goblin Wei Lai, this time.

I looked at the doctor before greeting her with, “Don’t you ever get off work? What’s going on here? It’s getting late!”

It was late afternoon.

The female doctor said, “Officer Wei came to see you. She’s quite concerned about you.”

I pointed at Wei Lai and said, “Get this goblin girl out of here, I don’t want to see her!”

Wei Lai only laughed in response, before saying, ”I brought Jia Jia here. If you want Jia Jia to see you like this, just keep shouting. I don’t care!”

I looked at her blankly, eyes round, and said, “Let me meet my daughter, please.”

Wei Lai looked at me, giggled, and said, “It seems you can only blame your daughter for this.”

After saying that, she went out and came in, holding Jia Jia by the hand. When I saw Jia Jia, she had indeed gone back to normal. I tried to rush over and hug her, but she cried out in shock before hugging Wei Lai’s leg and beginning to cry. “Auntie, I’m scared, let’s go home!”

She was crying so hard. It was like my heart was cut to pieces. I held out my arms and said, “Jia Jia, come to Daddy! Jia Jia, don’t you know Daddy anymore?”

Jia Jia seemed to have forgotten about me, as she cried and refused to move from behind Wei Lai.

I knew that I had to get out as soon as possible. I couldn’t go against these people again. But where would I go if I went out? The police wouldn’t let me go. They would definitely ask me to reveal the whereabouts of Hu Thirteen.

I would never do anything to betray Hu Thirteen.

Wei Lai carried Jia Jia out before returning. When she came back, she said to the doctor, “Doctor Wang, I want to talk to Xing Yun alone, is that okay?”

“That’s fine. Keep yourself safe!” The female doctor said.

Wei Lai sat on my bed as soon as the doctor left the room. I suddenly felt like her appearance was becoming more and more demonic. She was wearing a dress, had short hair, big eyes, red lips, and white teeth. She looked at me and smiled, before saying, “Yunzi, do me a favor!”

I just grunted.

“Do you remember that white bone between the coffins? Not only did you bring me out, you brought him out as well. If you promise to help me get rid of that demon, I will find a way to get you out of here and give Jia Jia back to you!”

“Didn’t you just call me a psychopath? How can a psychopath help you?”

She reached her hand out and slipped it into my gown, placing her palm against my chest. Her eyes were closed as she silently felt my heartbeat.

Then she looked at me and said, “Xiao Yunzi, our lives are tied together right now. If that demon doesn’t die, I’ll never be free! I won’t get my freedom, and neither will you, so getting rid of that Demon Dao is in our common interest!”

“Demon Dao?” I asked.

“It’s that old ghost on Lu Yingjun’s back, have you forgotten?”

Wei Lai slowly withdrew her hand back before giving me a soft kiss on the face and continuing. ”You’re destined to be mine. This fate cannot be changed. Our relationship isn’t so simple anymore. It’s a destiny you can’t get rid of now. Do you know that?”

Her words were baffling to me!