Chapter 58: Strange Illness

  The information Zhang Yunhao brought made me shocked. I was already hesitant, and now hearing him say this, I feel even more eerie about this place.

  Mr. Qian suddenly slowed down and walked shoulder to shoulder with me. He glanced at my phone intentionally or unintentionally, and asked faintly, "Mr. Yang, do you have anything else?" I really wanted to say, yes, yes, I have something very important, and I need to leave right away! However, I'm not that kind of person, my personality dictates that sometimes I like to be insincere, so I said it's nothing, let's go see the patient first, while putting away my phone.

  "My wife is ill," said Mr. Qian. "She has always been weak and sickly, her body extremely frail, never leaving the house. I've invited many doctors to come and take a look, but none of them have been able to cure her, so I'd like to invite you to take a look."

  The doubts in my heart grew heavier, I plucked up the courage to stop and ask Mr. Qian: "Mr. Qian, I have a question for you." Mr. Qian stopped and looked at me with a hint of surprise, saying: "Ask away." I asked him how he knew I was a doctor. Mr. Qian smiled and said: "I heard it from Niu Niu. Niu Niu went to Panlong Mountain with Fan Gongzi and said you were talking to the air and also said that you were treating someone's illness. My brother-in-law said that you must be treating a ghost's illness, and those who can treat ghosts' illnesses must have excellent medical skills. Since my wife's illness has been lingering without cure, I thought it would be better to invite you to take a look."

  So that's how it is!

  It seems I overthought this matter. Why did Niu Niu ask that girl to ask for my phone number? It was actually Mr. Qian's intention.

  Niang Niang told Mr. Qian about this because she was very angry that night when she returned from Panlong Mountain, and Mr. Qian asked her why she came back so late. She then told him what happened on Panlong Mountain and also said I was neurotic... These were things Niang Niang later personally told me about. Of course, this is a later story.

  Mr. Qian stared at me again and asked, "Does Dr. Yang really treat ghosts?" I countered by asking him if there were any ghosts in this world? Mr. Qian shook his head, saying that he had been studying archaeology for over 20 years and had never heard of or seen a ghost. Moreover, his wife had been ill for so many years, and he had never thought it was related to ghosts.

  I didn't expect him to be an archaeologist, is he a famous archaeology expert?

  I said, since that's the case, why did you call me over? Mr. Qian sighed: "I'm also helpless, I've been treating her for so long without success, now I can only try every possible means to revive a dying horse, hoping that your exceptional skills can cure my wife's stubborn illness."

  It turned out he just wanted me to try it too.

  I asked him what disease his wife had, and now that medicine is so advanced, what disease can't be cured? Mr. Qian said with a heavy face that he didn't know what the disease was, and even many medical experts were helpless and couldn't say anything. I asked him again about his wife's symptoms, and Mr. Qian said: "She has no strength in her body, can't get out of bed, and can't see sunlight. That day, I saw her sleeping, thinking of taking her out to sunbathe, but as soon as she touched the sunlight, smoke came out of her body, like sulfuric acid was poured on her, and the wound is still there today..." When he said this, Mr. Qian's expression was sorrowful and self-reproaching, showing that he loved his wife very much.

  As we spoke, we arrived in front of a small wooden building, which was only one story high and made entirely of wood blocks, similar to some houses in our rural areas. The whole house was square in shape and looked like a coffin at first glance. I think rich people are different now, they like to return to the past, pursue the original ecology, and even build nantian tea pavilions and wooden block buildings in their villas. As Zhang Junhao said, having money is being willful.

  Mr. Qian gently pushed open the door and said his wife was inside.

  As I walked to the door, a blast of cold air hit me in the face and I couldn't help but shiver. Mr. Qian turned around and looked at me, seeing my strange expression, he forced a smile and said: "My wife doesn't like it too hot, so I keep the air conditioner on all year round for her." I glanced inside and indeed saw an air conditioner against one wall.

  The house is very simple, with only an old-fashioned wooden bed and a square table. There's nothing else, not even a dresser for women. I think this is too simple, it doesn't look like a home at all. The places we rent are ten times better than this! With someone being ill for so many years, you should at least put a TV here to let them watch something, or maybe play some music. It's not possible to just let the patient sleep in bed all the time, that would be strange. Even healthy people would get sick if they stayed in an environment like this for too long.

  Of course, I didn't say these words, Mr. Qian arranged it this way, there must be his reason, as an outsider, I shouldn't be presumptuous, otherwise people will think I'm talking too much.

  Mr. Qian led me to the bedside, and I took a glance at the bed. Under the white quilt, there was a woman. When I saw her, I almost screamed. How can I put it? The white quilt was already very white, but this woman's face was even whiter than the quilt! It could be said that her face was as white as paper!

  Is there such a person? Apart from albinism and death, I can't think of any other situation where this would be the case.

  Mr. Qian pulled the quilt forward, gazed at his wife with deep affection and said softly: "Shu Yun, Dr. Yang has come to see you." The woman named Shu Yun was originally sleeping with her eyes closed, but now she slightly opened her eyes and looked at me, saying in a soft voice: "It's no use, my illness can't be cured."

  Her voice was very soft and weak, if you didn't listen carefully, you couldn't hear it at all.

  Mr. Qian immediately comforted his wife and solemnly swore to cure her illness. I watched from the side, feeling heartbroken, thinking that Mr. Qian was a real man because he loved his wife. He was very rich, but his wife had been bedridden for a long time. Not only did he not abandon her, but his feelings for her also remained unchanged. This kind of love and devotion is truly great, making me feel deeply respectful.

  I took a step forward and said, "Let me take a look," Mr. Qian slowly stood up and said, "Please." I walked to the bedside and asked Miss if she would mind if I took her pulse. Actually, I wanted to try her body temperature, to see if she had a heartbeat. With her face so pale, and afraid of sunlight, it made me think of a monster: vampire. And Zhang Junhao sent that damn message to me, I was thinking in my heart, if this woman is a vampire, then the girl who died with her blood sucked dry might make sense, because vampires live on blood.

  Of course, this possibility is very small. A rich man like Mr. Qian can get whatever he wants. If he wants blood, it's easy as pie, so there's no need for him to kill anyone. And Shuyun is too weak from her illness to go out and suck people's blood by herself.

  Shu Yun replied in a soft voice: "Okay, thank you." and stretched out her hand. I found that her hand was also white, it can be said that her whole body was almost bloodless!

  I hesitated for a moment, imitating the way Lang Zhong felt the pulse in the movie, and placed my hand on Shu Yun's wrist. As soon as I touched her, my hand almost bounced back, it was too cold! Just like my yin-yang knife!

  How can it be so cold? Is this an ice bed? Even if it's an ice sculpture, it wouldn't be like this. With such a low body temperature, can she bear it?

  I carefully felt her pulse again and found that there was a beat, but it was extremely slow. I tentatively asked: "Don't you feel cold?" She replied lightly: "Not cold." Then she said: "Maybe I'm used to it." I stood up and glanced at Mr. Qian, who was looking at me with anticipation. Suddenly, I wondered if she might be a ghost?

  From Hongyi and Shuisheng He, I learned that ghosts are icy all over their bodies, with skin devoid of blood color. This woman named Xiangyun also fears sunlight, which matches the characteristics of a ghost very well.

  I glanced at the pendant lamp on my head, it was a Tiffany pendant lamp, very beautiful but not too bright. I said to Mr Qian, "It's still impossible to determine what disease his wife is suffering from now, let her get up and walk around for me to see."

  This was a bit too much for him, but unexpectedly Mr. Qian agreed and even helped his wife get out of bed and supported her as she got down from the bed.

  Actually I just want to see if Shu Yun has a shadow.

  Under the dim light, I found two dark shadows on the ground. One was Mr. Qian's and the other was Shu Yun's. The two silhouettes intersected with each other, making them appear even more intimate.

  It's just a bit strange that Shuyun's body is very slender, can be said to be thin as firewood, but her shadow is not thin.

  Of course, this shadow is related to light, the question is too profound, I only have a little knowledge about this aspect, so I didn't think about it, okay, let's go back to bed.

  When Shu Yun was about to lie down, she suddenly groaned and frowned. Mr. Qian asked her what was wrong, and she said painfully: "You hurt me." Mr. Qian asked where, and Shu Yun said it was her leg. Mr. Qian quickly went to check on her pain, and that's when I noticed that the backs of both her feet were black, as if they had been stained with ink. I remembered Mr. Qian saying that he had once carried his wife out to sunbathe, but ended up hurting her, probably in that same spot.

  Was it hurt by the sunlight?

  I asked to take a look at the foot injury, Mr. Qian moved his body aside, I went forward and took a glance at Shuyun's ankle, suddenly my heart sank, this wound is exactly the same as the one on the back of the red-clothed female ghost!