094 Treating Illness

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“Why?” Yang Tang asked as he spoke, fishing an unopened pack of soft-pack Yuxi cigarettes from his jacket pocket and slapping it into the security guard’s hand. “There ought to be a reason, shouldn’t there?”

The guard’s eyes flicked to the cigarettes, and the stern set of his face softened at once. “Brother, to be honest with you, the owner of that BMW is a widow named Yun. Don’t let the fact that she only drives a BMW fool you—her family is loaded. In the Drum Tower district, the men chasing after her could queue from here to the next street, and most of them don’t stand a chance.”

Yang Tang frowned, impatient. “Get to the point.”

“That was the point I was just about to tell you.” The guard tore open the pack, lit a cigarette, and even made a show of offering one to Yang Tang. When Yang Tang declined, he quickly put the pack away and tucked it carefully into his pocket. “The thing is, this pretty widow has a five-year-old daughter. Two years ago, she let it be known that if a man didn’t win her daughter’s approval, then even if she liked him, nothing would come of it.”

As he gossiped, the guard took a drag from the cigarette. “Coincidentally, the girl came down with a strange illness not long ago. All day long she’s crying and making a scene, saying she’s seen ghosts, she’s seen ghosts. They’ve consulted who knows how many famous doctors and visited who knows how many hospitals, but nothing has helped. Right now that pretty widow is like an ant on a hot pan. Tell me, if you go after her at a time like this and you don’t have a doctor or anything with you, do you really think she’s going to give you the time of day?”

“A strange illness? Even better. I happen to be a doctor, and I specialize in difficult cases!” Yang Tang said shamelessly.

“You?” The guard looked Yang Tang up and down again and noticed that his face still had a bit of boyishness to it. “Buddy, you can’t be older than twenty. I’d save myself the trouble if I were you. You’re too young. Anyone can see that!”

“Oh? So you can tell my age, which means your eye is pretty sharp. Then how come you can’t tell that I’m an expert in medicine?” Yang Tang said, half joking, half serious.

“Buddy, I’m being serious. Stop kidding around, all right?” The guard’s face hardened. “If you keep making trouble, believe me, I’ll throw you out.”

“I’m serious too, buddy. How much would it take for you to risk losing your job and introduce me to that Widow Yun? A hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand? Or three hundred thousand?”

At the casually tossed-out prices, the guard’s resolve began to waver. After doing the math in his head, he held up a hand. “Give me five hundred thousand, and I’ll take you to meet Miss Yun!”

Yang Tang gave no immediate answer. He casually pulled a bank card from his pocket and tossed it over. “There’s one hundred and fifty thousand in this card. The password is one, two, three, four, five, six. Consider it a deposit. Once the job is done, the remaining three hundred and fifty thousand will be transferred to your account right away.”

“Deal!”

The security guard, having already decided to quit anyway, abused his authority for private gain and rode his electric cart with Yang Tang aboard, taking him through the apartment section of Left Sea Imperial Gardens and straight toward the standalone villas.

When they reached the gate of one of the villas, Yang Tang spotted the BMW at a glance. The pendant hanging beneath the front windshield was still there, and that made him breathe a quiet sigh of relief.

He saw that the pendant was shaped like a qilin. While he was still thinking about how to “acquire” it by crafty means, the villa gate suddenly flew open. Out came a beautiful woman carrying a sleeping little girl. She was about one hundred sixty-seven centimeters tall and wore oversized sunglasses that hid half her face, but from the portion that showed, her features were already breathtaking.

The guard had seen this beauty woman so many times that he had developed a kind of immunity to her; he only faltered for an instant before coming back to himself along with Yang Tang. Nudging Yang Tang with his elbow, he whispered, “That’s Widow Yun.”

“I know. But looking at her, it doesn’t seem like she spends her nights alone,” Yang Tang said meaningfully.

The guard shot him a contemptuous look, thinking, What does a kid who hasn’t even turned twenty know? But he only said, “Looks like Miss Yun is taking her daughter to see a doctor.”

Indeed, after leaving the villa, the beautiful woman did nothing except quickly place the little girl in the back seat of the BMW. Then she began directing two maids and several men in black suits to load things into the front and rear cars, never once glancing in the direction of Yang Tang and the guard.

“Now what?” the guard asked.

“You stay here and wait. I’ll go over.”

With that, Yang Tang got off the electric cart and strolled toward the Yun residence.

By then, the beautiful woman had just finished giving her orders and turned around—she could hardly help but notice Yang Tang.

“Miss Yun, is it? I have two questions I’d like to ask you.”

“And who are you? I’m busy. Move aside, and don’t block the way to our house.”

As she spoke, Widow Yun was already turning to get into the car.

Yang Tang did not move. He said calmly, “How long has your daughter been ill?”

Widow Yun froze and turned back. “Are you a doctor?”

“I’m not a doctor. I only know a little about traditional healing and specialize in difficult cases.”

“Difficult cases?” At the thought of the terrifying scenes when her daughter had the attacks, wasn’t that exactly a difficult case? Widow Yun made up her mind in an instant. “Then please, sir, help my daughter!”

Yet Yang Tang did not seem the least bit anxious. Still unhurried, he said, “That brings me to the second question I wanted to ask. In the past six months, has your daughter gone traveling anywhere?”

“No. She’s so young!” The beautiful woman seemed a little displeased with his question, but then she suddenly remembered something and her expression changed slightly. “Wait, no. Two months ago I went to Australia, and I took my daughter with me.”

“That’s right. She must have shown symptoms not long after coming back.”

“No, that’s not right. My daughter only started acting wrong about twenty days ago—no, wait, a week after we came back. Ever since then, it seems she vomits several times a day and has a mild bout of diarrhea. At first I thought she’d just caught a chill in her stomach. I never imagined...” Her voice trembled. “Sir, you must save her. You absolutely must save my daughter!”

At last, the beautiful woman had the feeling of clutching a life-saving straw.

“This isn’t the place to talk. Let’s go inside and discuss it.” Yang Tang remained composed. “And by the way, let me introduce myself. My name is Yang Tang—the Yang of wood and ease, the Tang of crabapple blossoms.”

Hurrying to him, Yun Luoyue reached out and shook his hand. “Hello, Mr. Yang. I’m Yun Luoyue. Let’s talk inside, inside.”

After a pause, she called to one of the maids, “Aunt Deng, carry Yao Yao inside.”

On the roadside, the guard watched as Yang Tang exchanged just a few words before leading Widow Yun back into the villa by the hand. His envy burned so fiercely that he could only call him formidable. Then he remembered the remaining three hundred and fifty thousand Yang Tang had promised him, and his entire face instantly turned miserable.

Once inside the villa’s living room, Yang Tang did not bother to look around at the furnishings. He only said to Yun Luoyue, “Bring your daughter over and let me have a look.”

Yun Luoyue hesitated, then personally took the still-sleeping little girl from Aunt Deng’s arms. Tiptoeing over to Yang Tang, she was about to hand her daughter to him.

Yang Tang waved a hand. “Just give me one of her hands.”

Only then did Yun Luoyue’s suspicion ease a little. She took the little girl’s plump left hand and brought it close to Yang Tang’s outstretched right palm. “Is this all right?”

“That’ll do. We’ll know within a minute whether it works.”

As he spoke, Yang Tang pulled a wet tissue over his own hand and the child’s, silently invoking Celestial Sound Purification. One second later, the task was complete. “All right.”

He casually peeled away the tissue and released the little girl’s hand.

“All right?” Yun Luoyue was a little stunned. “What do you mean, all right?”

Yang Tang put on an air of profundity. “It means all right.” Then he picked up an unopened bottle of purified water, twisted off the cap, poured a little into his palm, and flicked it onto the little girl’s face.

Seeing this, Yun Luoyue’s expression changed drastically. “Mr. Yang, are you trying to wake my daughter? But if she wakes up, she’ll relapse at once!”

Before she had even finished speaking, the little girl’s eyelashes quivered. Yun Luoyue paled, because she knew perfectly well that once her daughter woke, she would bite anything she saw and claw at anything she could reach.

“Aunt Deng, quickly, bring Yao Yao’s sleep sack—”

She shouted in panic, but before she could finish, Yao Yao had already opened her eyes and looked dazedly at Yun Luoyue and then at Yang Tang.

Yun Luoyue went rigid.

Instead, Yang Tang let out a small breath of relief. “Yao Yao, you’re awake? I’m Uncle Yang. How do you feel now? Does anything on your body feel uncomfortable?”

Yao Yao shook her head. “Uncle Yang, Yao Yao feels very good now. Nothing feels uncomfortable.”

At that, Yun Luoyue’s beautiful eyes widened in disbelief. She could hardly believe the child in front of her was really her daughter. “Yao Yao, you’re really all right?”

“Mommy, your words are so strange. I was never sick to begin with!” Yao Yao said, baffled.

Her daughter’s words startled Yun Luoyue, and she turned to Yang Tang. “Mr. Yang, what on earth is going on?”

Yang Tang assumed a grave and mysterious air. “As the old saying goes, grease clouds the heart and outside evil invades the brain. One stumbles through life in a fog, as if trapped in a fleeting dream.”

“You mean Yao Yao was possessed?” Yun Luoyue asked, not entirely convinced. “But I was with her in Australia back then. Why was I perfectly fine?”

Yang Tang gave her a sidelong, inscrutable look and smiled. “Miss Yun, do you really think there’s nothing wrong with your own body?”

Yun Luoyue blinked. “What could be wrong with me?”

“You really think you’re fine?”

In a flash, Yang Tang reached out and caught her soft hand.

Yun Luoyue struggled twice as if jolted by an electric shock, but she did not want the servants to notice. Glaring at him, she snapped, “Mr. Yang, what are you doing?”

Yang Tang did not answer. Two seconds later, he let go of her hand and said with some satisfaction, “Miss Yun, now you can carefully feel how your condition differs from just now.”

“How could it be different?” Yun Luoyue let out a cold laugh and instinctively turned her jade-white neck. Then she was startled to find that the chronic cervical pain left behind by years of desk work seemed to have vanished without treatment.

“Mr. Yang, this, this...”

Yang Tang said, “Miss Yun, I never actually found the root cause of your illness or your daughter’s. It’s just like how countless different germs can all cause a fever, but once penicillin is administered, it seems as though every illness has been suppressed. So the two of you may be fine now, but that doesn’t mean it can’t flare up again!”

“Then, then what should I do?”

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