Mind-Cleansing Spirit-Nourishing Art (Technique)

"You're not going to give up on getting treated just because everyone has something wrong with them, are you?" I asked.

"You say that like you can cure me!" After a pause, her eyes suddenly widened. She leaned forward and asked curiously, "Can you really cure me?"

Although she phrased it as a question, every pore on her body blatantly declared: I don't believe you.

"Let's give it a try!" I smiled. "I'll keep my distance anyway and do my best not to make you sick."

She pursed her lips, probably remembering how she had just vomited until her legs went weak.

"Want to try it for ten minutes first?" I asked.

"What do I do?"

"Just go outside and stroll around the house," I said.

She narrowed her eyes, tilted her head, and raised an eyebrow. After considering it for a while, she said challengingly, "Then I'll trust you for ten minutes."

Her gaze conveyed a clear message: If it doesn't work, you're dead!

I smiled, stood up, and headed outside.

This stubborn young woman's body was far more honest than her mouth.

Although she refused to admit anything was wrong with her, she seemed desperately eager to be like a normal person.

As we headed downstairs, I asked her, "Besides finding the air disgusting, do you have any other symptoms?"

"I can't eat with other people," she said.

"Why is that?" I asked, genuinely seeking enlightenment.

I wouldn't dare make assumptions about someone with a genius's way of thinking.

"When you eat together, other people pick up food with their chopsticks and put it in their mouths, so their saliva gets on the chopsticks. When they pick up more food from a shared dish, their saliva gets on the food. Don't you think eating food mixed with someone else's spit is disgusting?" As she spoke, she seemed ready to gag again.

"Okay, okay, okay, I get it!" Food smeared with other people's saliva really did sound disgusting.

It was one thing if you didn't know, but anyone who could watch someone else's saliva get smeared onto food and still eat it was no ordinary mortal.

I didn't dare pursue the subject, afraid I might actually talk her into throwing up.

"So, aside from your obsession with cleanliness, you don't have any other symptoms, right?" I asked.

"Yes, you could put it that way." She nodded, turning down the corners of her mouth. "Really, I just care more about cleanliness than other people do."

"Right, right, right!" I agreed.

Whatever you say.

In the downstairs living room, President Chen and Mrs. Chen hurried to their feet when they saw us coming down, looking at me with eyes full of expectation.

"We're going out for a stroll to see how it works," I explained.

They nodded eagerly. "Should we have the car brought around?"

"No need. We'll just walk around outside the entrance. We'll be back in a few minutes," I said.

When we reached the front entrance, Gula tilted her head and asked me, "How are you planning to treat me?"

I stayed several steps behind her, keeping my distance for fear that getting close would make her throw up. "There's nothing wrong with you. I'm not planning to treat you."

She laughed in exasperation and stopped walking. "You're not a fraud, are you?"

The moment she stopped, I hurriedly stopped too, afraid of getting too close. "Let's just try taking a stroll. What if you get better?"

"What have you done that would make me better?!" she demanded, planting her hands on her hips. "Even if I do get better, it'll have nothing to do with you!"

"That's fine. You're not the one paying me anyway. As long as you can go outside normally, I'll have my own explanation ready. Then we'll see whether your dad believes it!" I said, lifting my chin.

"Shameless!" She turned away in a huff and walked on.

It looked as though she had conceded defeat.

"As you walk, focus all your attention on the colors or shapes you see, one after another. For example, red, yellow, gray... or triangles, squares, pentagons, polygons... just pick one of the two," I said.

Gula glanced back and shot me a look that left me to draw my own conclusions, then continued walking without a word.

I followed at a distance, quietly practicing this simplified Mind-Cleansing Spirit-Nourishing Art myself. All it required was focusing my attention on the physical world.

Just like a little baby, looking at everything with bright eyes full of curiosity.

The happiest people in the world were babies.

They could touch or gnaw on just about anything and giggle like little angels.

That heartfelt laughter carried a healing light.

Even a windfall landing in your lap or winning the lottery jackpot couldn't produce a smile that pure.

[Attention is the spirit soul.]

When we said someone's mind had wandered, that their soul had drifted thousands of miles away, we meant their attention was no longer there.

[Attention is vitality.]

The more vitality a person had, the more focused their attention was. Conversely, as someone's vitality dissipated, their attention scattered along with it.

[Attention is also money.]

If your attention was on beautiful clothes, your money followed it and was swept away by those clothes. If your attention was on fine food, that food would devour your money.

Whether businesses ran maddeningly repetitive ads or hired celebrity endorsers, all they were doing was trying to attract more attention.

Where attention went, money went, and vitality went too.

A business that could attract sustained attention was a business full of energy and vitality.