Chapter 181 - The Broken Statue of Guanyin
Chapter 181: The Broken Statue of Guanyin
“Bring him to a psychiatric hospital?” Qin Haodong tried to persuade the woman to rethink about it. “Madam, if you really put him in a psychiatric hospital, his life will be over.”
The woman sighed and answered, “Look at these wounds, you can see how hard he has beaten me. Apart from me, both my mom and my son are the victims of his violence.
“If I had other choices, I would not have made such a decision for we have been couples for so many years and it would take us a great deal of money. Our family all depended on him, and we never thought such terrible thing would happen to him just when we began to have a better life. Are these the punishments of the sin we committed in our previous life?”
“Madam, let me have a check. It won’t delay anything even if I can’t help with that,” said Qin Haodong.
“Well…” The woman looked at Qin Haodong with doubts. “He is too young to be a doctor.”
As if he had seen through her mind, Qin Haodong said, “Don’t worry, madam. It’s free, no matter I cured him or not in the end. But if I did, it will save you a lot money, won’t it?”
“Are you sure it’s free?” the woman asked.
“Yes, totally free.”
Though Fatty Wang was no kin to Qin Haodong, neither was him an enemy. Qin Haodong was eager to cure him so that he could get some information of the mirror of Yin-Yang from him.
“Thank you, little brother. Please come with me then.”
The woman opened the door of the yard and let Qin Haodong in.
Just as he entered, he heard cries of frenzy, “Zhang Dahu, you killed my parents, killed my son and my husband. I’ll kill you today…”
Following that was crackling sounds as if someone was smashing something.
The woman explained with a sad look. “Little brother, as you heard, he went mad again.”
She then took Qin Haodong to the room from which the manic voice came from, and instead of opening it, she led Qin Haodong to the window and observed from outside. The glass of the window was broken, but there were protective gratings preventing the person inside from coming out.
Looking through the grating, Qin Haodong saw a man whose face was covered with dirt wielding a cleaver and slashing around crazily. All the decorations and furniture in the room were left in pieces.
The man was no other than the mad Fatty Wang, who was much thinner than two weeks ago when Qin Haodong last saw him, and Qin Haodong managed hard to recognize him.
Qin Haodong frowned as he found Fatty Wang surrounded by black Qi all over; obviously, the fat man was possessed by a devil. He had long suspected that Fatty Wang was not suffering from a mental disease but something devil, and now he was proved to be right.
Having simply confirmed his thought, he turned back and said to the woman, “Madam, could you please tell me how he became like that? The more detailed, the better.”
The woman thought for a while and said, “Ten days ago, my husband bought some curios back. When he was sorting them, my naughty son carelessly broke a statue of Guanyin. All of a sudden, my husband became manic and smashed all the curios. He has been like that since then.”
After several seconds, the woman continued to ask, “Little brother, can you bring my husband to normal?”
“Your husband doesn’t have any mental disease, madam. He is bewitched with something unclean. In old saying, he is possessed by a devil,” said Qin Haodong.
“Bewitched? How?” the woman cried in amazement.
“Buddhist and Taoist priests usually use statues of Buddha and Guan Yu to suppress the devils they couldn’t subdue.
“If I’m right, inside the Guanyin statue your son broke imprisoned a powerful devil. It was therefore released and possessed your husband’s soul.”
“You’re right!” The woman was caught by horror and begged Qin Haodong for help. “Little brother, help us please. Drive that devil away, and I’ll pay you whatever you want.”
“As I said, it’s free.” Qin Haodong comforted her, “Rest assured, madam, I’ll cure him soon.”
The woman cried, “Thank you, little brother! Thank you so much! Our family will owe you a favor if you can cure my husband.”
Qin Haodong nodded and was about to step into Fatty Wang’s room when he heard ear-piercing sirens. With that, an ambulance parked in the yard.
From the car came out a male doctor about forty years old, and two nurses wearing a big mask followed him, each holding a three-foot long electric baton in their hands.
On hearing Fatty Wang’s roar, they immediately came to the room. The doctor glanced at Fatty Wang, who was locked in the room, and turned back to speak to the two nurses. “He is a typical psychotic. Be careful and fast when you near him and catch him, or you’ll get hurt.”
After that, he turned to the woman and Qin Haodong, “I’m Ma Guoli, a chief doctor in Jiangnan psychiatric hospital. Are you two the families of the patient?”
The woman answered, “I’m his wife, but…”
Before she could finish her words, Ma Guoli interrupted her, “Don’t hesitate. The patient’s condition is fatal. Open the door and we need to take him to the hospital for treatment right now.”
As he finished his words, he turned on the baton. Crackling and sparking, it released a blue electric arc.
Seeing this, the woman asked in surprise, “Doctor Ma, what are going to do with my husband? You want to hit him with this baton?”
Ma Guoli answered, “Yes. He looks violent and aggressive now. We have to knock him out to take him with us.”
“No, you can’t do that!” The woman was obviously scared by the electric baton in Ma Guoli’s hands, and she quickly said, “Doctor Ma, if things are going to be like this, we’ll just give up the treatment.”
Ma Guoli immediately frowned and said with dissatisfaction, “As the wife of the patient, you’re so unreasonable. Your husband is suffering from serious mental disease; ruthless method is needed to cure him. Besides, it was you who called us for help, wasn’t it? Now, we’re here, how could you decide to give up? You really thought us doctors free all the time?”
After saying this, he turned to the two nurses, “Open the door, and take the patient with us.”
“Yes.” As the nurses answered and was about to open the door and go in with the batons, the woman cried, “No, you can’t take my husband away like this.”
Ma Guoli pushed the woman aside and said, “Move away! Don’t waste our time of helping the patient!”
The woman fell to one side under the force of the strong Ma Guoli, who heard a shout when he was about to enter the room. “Stop!”
The shout was from Qin Haodong, who could not bear to see the miserable scene anymore. “I’ve never seen any doctor as rude as you.
“First, you made a mistake about the patient’s disease. He is not a psychotic at all. Second, even if the patient has mental disease, you have to listen to his family whether to take him away for treatment. This lady has said she didn’t want you to take his husband away. Are you going to grab him from her?”
Ma Guoli looked back at Qin Haodong and said with disdain, “Who are you? I don’t need you to teach me how to be a doctor.”
Qin Haodong answered, “I’m a doctor, too, a Chinese medicine practitioner.”
“A Chinese medicine practitioner? How could you call yourself a doctor then? All you’ve learned are tricks. How dare you to criticize me?” Ma Guoqiang’s face was full of disdain. “It’s clear the patient is a typical manic psychotic. For the safety of others, we have to take him with us to the hospital.”
Qin Haodong sneered at the words. “For the safety of others? What a high-sounding excuse! As I see it, it’s all for commission, isn’t it?”
Being seen through, Ma Guoli looked embarrassed and shouted back. “It’s none of your business! You Chinese medicine practitioner don’t know how to cure mental disease.”
“As I said, it’s not a mental disease, and of course, I know how to cure the patient.”
Ma Guoli laughed out wildly. “Absolutely, the patient is a psychotic, judging from his behaviors, or are you saying he is possessed by a devil?”
Qin Haodong nodded and said, “You are right. He is possessed.”
Ma Guoli had not expected Qin Haodong’s answer, and surprised for a moment, he said, “People always say Chinese medicine practitioners are superstition believers. Now, it seems they are right.”
He then looked back and said to the woman, “Who do you believe now? Me, a psychiatrist or him?”
He was confident that the woman would choose him; however, the woman’s decisive answer surprised him. “I believe this little brother.”
There were two reasons behind the woman’s choice. One was that she was convinced by what Qin Haodong said about Fatty Wang’s symptom, and the other was that she was really scared by the electric baton in Ma Guoli’s hands.
“What a fool! What a fool! You’d rather believe a swindler than a qualified doctor.” Ma Guoli glared at the woman sharply and continued, “It’s OK that you don’t believe me, just pay us the fee, and we’ll leave right now.”
He turned back to a nurse and said, “Xiao Zhao, tell her how much she should pay us.”
The nurse then said, “1,680 yuan in total.”
The woman was shocked at the number and cried, “Why is it so expensive? Is it medical fee? But you haven’t given my husband any treatment yet.”
“Whether you accept the treatment or not, since we have come under your call, you should pay us for taking up the medical resources. Pay it quickly.”
Qin Haodong frowned and chimed in, “Are you crazy for money? You’ve done nothing helpful but charge them 1,680 yuan?”
Ma Guoli looked back and stared at Qin Haodong with anger. “You know nothing about it, you swindler. It’s a normal charge in our hospital.”
“Who did you say was a swindler?” Qin Haodong asked coldly.
“You!” Ma Guoli said with arrogance, “you’re a swindler who regarded mental disease as being possesses by devil. Cure him if you can! And I’ll ask no money from them.”
“Keep your words, doctor.”
“Of course, I’ll. My word is my law.”
“Well, let’s make a bet then.” As Qin Haodong said that, he took out two wads of RMB and continued, “These are 20,000 yuan. If I can’t cure the patient within ten minutes, they’ll be yours, but if I can, you’ll have to give them 20,000 yuan as a fee for better nutrition.
“Do you dare to take the bet?”
“Are you serious? Not kidding me?”
Ma Guoli asked with disbelief. As he saw it, Qin Haodong was offering him the money for nothing because even the best psychiatrist in the world could not cure a manic psychotic in ten minutes.
Qin Haodong answered, “Yes, I’m serious. If you agree, we can write it down.”
“Okay, I’ll bet with you.”
After he said that, Ma Guoli hurriedly took his bag from the nurse’s hand and fetched out a paper to write the bet down, looking as if he was worried Qin Haodong would take back his words at the next moment.