“What, Liu Yifan reported to the police that the Waldorf Hotel is haunted?”
“Then his dad dragged him to the hospital to see a psychiatrist.”
“Is this some kind of scheme of his?”
“Or has he done so many bad things that he’s paranoid and actually gone mental?”
“Bloody hell, if he’s been planning this from the start, so that when evidence finally pins him, he can just claim mental illness and get off scot-free?”
“Damn, that makes sense!”
“Captain, we’ve got to keep an eye on this. We can’t let him fake a mental illness diagnosis when he’s perfectly fine.”
“It’s a top-tier hospital. I pulled some strings and checked. The final diagnosis is that Liu Yifan is mentally sound.”
At that moment, the topic was buzzing within the city bureau’s third team.
“Sound?”
“Sound,” Li Jinglin nodded.
“Then what’s with seeing ghosts?” Liang Yuandong held Liu Yifan’s consultation report.
You could only say the Liu family had serious money. In the middle of the night, they’d managed to get three psychiatry professors for a consultation.
But professors only treat patients; they don’t keep diagnoses confidential, especially when the police are investigating.
“Check the last page,” Li Jinglin said.
Liang Yuandong flipped to it and couldn’t help but chuckle, “Due to past experiences, the patient has accumulated psychological stress, leading to visual hallucinations.”
“Haha, isn’t that just calling a monk bald to his face?”
Li Jinglin shook his head, “The doctors don’t know Liu Yifan’s history.”
“Pfft! Liu Yifan’s rotten to the core. Psychological stress, my arse!”
“Not necessarily. Sometimes patients don’t even realise they’re under stress.”
“You’re defending Liu Yifan now?”
“No, I’d love to put a bullet in him. I’m just stating facts.”
Ignoring the team’s bickering, Liang Yuandong looked at Li Jinglin, “What do we do?”
Li Jinglin shook his head, “Nothing. Keep pushing forward with our work.”
…
Over the next few days, Lu Zheng either spent time at the hospital with Lin Wan or crossed to the ancient world to study medicine with Liu Qingyan, focusing on qi-guided acupuncture.
“Qingyan, if someone was hit in the waist by a massive wild boar demon, shattering their spine, with bone fragments entering the spinal cord and damaging the… qi-conducting meridians, could they be saved?”
“Just damaged?”
“Er… meridians severed.”
“If they’re completely severed, acupuncture alone likely can’t save them,” Liu Qingyan shook her head.
“What about stimulating with blood qi?”
“No good. Martial blood qi only boosts blood and energy; it can’t reconnect meridians.”
Lu Zheng frowned, silent.
“Don’t you practice Baiyun Temple’s Taoist true qi, Lu Lang?” Liu Qingyan asked curiously, “Taoist true qi is balanced and gentle, with nourishing and stabilizing effects, and can reconnect meridians. I’ll use acupuncture to channel energy, you nurture with true qi. Persist for half a month, and it should work.”
Lu Zheng’s eyes lit up.
“Why do you ask, Lu Lang? Have you encountered such a patient?” Liu Qingyan inquired.
Lu Zheng shook his head, “No, just overheard someone mention something like this on the street a few days ago, so I thought I’d ask you.”
“Oh,” Liu Qingyan’s eyes flickered, nodding knowingly, and asked no more.
Lu Zheng glanced at the medical book in his hand. Only a small portion of the acupuncture section in *The Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion* remained unread.
Just a few more days!
Over the next few days, Lu Zheng didn’t target Liu Yifan every day. Every two days, he’d track him down, have the ghost child appear briefly to scare him witless, then vanish.
By the third appearance, the third team was baffled, watching Liu Yifan head to Qing’an Temple, paying a fortune for a master to perform a ritual.
Lu Zheng, of course, knew about it and went to check if the master had real skills.
The result was unsurprising.
So… Lu Zheng decided to ease off for a couple of days, giving Liu Yifan a glimmer of hope… before crushing it himself.
Take it slow, no rush. Lin Wan had just been injured, and killing Liu Yifan outright wouldn’t satisfy his anger. Plus, a murder case could expose him, which a wise man wouldn’t risk.
Killing him quickly would be letting him off easy. Lu Zheng now thought that old Taoist had some merits worth learning from.
Everything proceeded smoothly until the day Lin Wan was discharged.
“Medical skills, acupuncture, enhance!”
*Buzz!*
In the jade seal in his mind, nine strands of luck vanished completely.
Countless insights flashed through, strengthening his memory, refining and innovating.
Thankfully, Lu Zheng had focused on acupuncture. His acupuncture skills had indeed reached a certain mastery, though other medical disciplines were only at a basic level.
“Phew, just enough!”
…
Handling Lin Wan’s discharge, Huang Xiumin and Liu Leng from the city bureau came to help, but Lu Zheng didn’t need them.
Pushing the wheelchair, calling a car, carrying her, heading home.
When Lin Wan arrived at the flat Lu Zheng had prepared, she truly felt the warmth of a home.
The kitchen was fully stocked with oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, pots, and pans.
The fridge was packed with fruits, vegetables, chicken, duck, fish, and meat.
Snacks were scattered on the coffee table, and lush plants were neatly arranged on the balcony.
“What do you think? Happy with it?” Lu Zheng asked with a smile.
“Very happy!”
Not just Lin Wan, even her mother was pleased. She’d visited a few days ago, intending to note what was missing, but after a tour, she went back encouraging Lin Wan to focus on healing and recovery.
Huang Xiumin looked around, nodded approvingly, and her gaze toward Lu Zheng softened considerably.
“I’ll go pack your things and bring them over.”
“Thanks for the trouble.”
“No trouble,” Huang Xiumin shook her head, “Recover well, and hopefully… get better soon.”
She didn’t dare say “stand up,” as the hope seemed too slim.
“I will,” Lin Wan smiled.
…
After seeing off Huang Xiumin and Liu Leng, Lin Wan’s mother asked Lu Zheng to stay with Lin Wan while she prepared lunch in the kitchen.
Lu Zheng carried Lin Wan to the bed.
Lin Wan looked at him, “You look like you want to tell me something?”
Lu Zheng raised an eyebrow, “Blimey, you can tell?”
Lin Wan smiled, “Don’t forget, I’m a police officer.”
“Impressive! With that observation, forget being a cop—become a human lie detector. A million a year, no problem!” Lu Zheng gave a thumbs-up.
“Stop messing about, spill it!”
“Alright.”
Lu Zheng nodded, “You know my father was a doctor.”
“You told me.”
“So, I’ve got a deep family background in medicine. I studied computer science to make money, but I’ve always had a strong interest in Chinese medicine since I was a kid.”
“What?” Lin Wan was baffled, “Didn’t you say you practiced martial arts as a kid?”
“Oh, that’s my second hobby,” Lu Zheng waved dismissively.
Lin Wan: ⚆_⚆?
“Here’s the thing. When I was self-studying Chinese medicine and felt I’d made progress, I practiced acupuncture on myself,” Lu Zheng continued.
Lin Wan reacted instantly, shocked, “You want me to be your guinea pig?”
“What kind of talk is that…”
Lu Zheng sighed, “You think I got this good by chance? I practiced martial arts, somehow developed a sense of qi, then used acupuncture on myself, stimulating with qi, and got better and better.”
Lin Wan took a deep breath, looking at him as if he were a stranger.
“And you didn’t end up killing yourself?”
