A Strange Illness

Su Ziyang sat in his chair, his brow tightly furrowed.

He looked weighed down by worries.

It was already afternoon.

Su Ziyang had even skipped lunch, sitting in his chair all this time.

"Xiao Su!" The childish voice was easy to recognize. It was Fairy Li.

Su Ziyang looked up.

"What are you doing? Daydreaming?" Seeing how glum Su Ziyang looked, Fairy Li asked.

Su Ziyang shook his head, changed his mood, and put on a surprised expression. "What brings you here? Weren't you away on business?"

"Oh! Someone who came to us for help has a strange illness. My master told me to bring her here for Daoist Master Xiao to take a look," Fairy Li explained in her childish voice.

Daoist Master Xiao was the senior Daoist in charge of the Daoist medical clinic.

"What strange illness?" Su Ziyang perked up at the mention of treating a patient.

Fairy Li thought for a moment. "Hmm... I don't know. It's just really strange. Do you want to come take a look?"

Since it was a strange illness, Su Ziyang naturally wanted to see it, but leaving his post without permission didn't seem right. He was new here, and though Fairy Li had influence, people would think he was relying on connections and the like if he did that.

Fairy Li was clever as ice and snow. She immediately saw Su Ziyang's hesitation and said, "It's fine. They're on the third floor right now. I'm here, so it'll be fine. You might even be able to offer some suggestions!"

With Fairy Li vouching for him, Su Ziyang seized the opportunity, closed the door to his consultation room, and followed her to the third floor.

The room at the very end of the third floor belonged to Daoist Master Xiao.

After the two entered, there were five people in the room altogether.

Daoist Master Xiao, Daoist Master Xiao Yang, and Mr. Mengfei, who had left right after criticizing Su Ziyang.

The other two were unfamiliar faces.

A middle-aged woman sat on a stool, her legs crossed and her hands tightly clasped together. It was clear she was nervous.

Beside the middle-aged woman stood a dark-skinned man. His large, rough hands showed that he had spent years doing physical labor.

After the two entered, the dark-skinned man's eyes lit up at the sight of Fairy Li. He immediately spoke in Mandarin with a thick Shaanxi accent. "Master Li, you've got to save my wife. She..."

The dark, burly man actually had tears welling up in his eyes after saying that.

Fairy Li waved a hand, signaling him not to get worked up, then pointed at Daoist Master Xiao. "Don't worry. Tell Daoist Master Xiao about your situation. He's seen and learned a great deal, so he should be able to help you."

After Fairy Li spoke, the dark-skinned man turned his hopeful gaze to Daoist Master Xiao.

"Don't worry. Xiao Li has told me a little about the situation. Describe the illness to me in detail, and I'll listen." The elderly Daoist's kindly manner seemed to have an effect on the couple, easing their nervousness somewhat.

The middle-aged woman seemed to want to speak, but after looking around at the people in the room, she opened her mouth only to close it again.

It was as if there was something she found hard to talk about.

Seeing the middle-aged woman like this, Fairy Li said, "You shouldn't hide an illness from a doctor. Everyone here is a doctor. If you don't tell them what's going on, how can they help you solve the problem?"

After Fairy Li said this, the dark-skinned man nudged his wife's arm and whispered, "Honey, just tell the doctors about it."

The middle-aged woman seemed to have no other choice. She rubbed her hands together awkwardly and slowly described her condition.

The middle-aged woman's name was Liancui.

She was forty-eight years old.

The story of her illness began in Liancui's childhood.

Back then, there was little to do for entertainment in the countryside at night. After dinner, Liancui went to bed early, as usual, and fell asleep.

But that night, Liancui had a very unusual dream.

Liancui felt she had fallen asleep especially quickly that day. Then, in a daze, she found herself on a hillside outside her village.

The lush green grass on the surrounding hillsides suddenly bloomed with red flowers. Liancui looked closely and saw a graceful, handsome youth in ancient robes emerge from among them. In Liancui's words, the youth was as handsome as the Hong Kong and Taiwanese stars on television.

The youth suddenly came over and wrapped his arm around Liancui's waist. Liancui was just at the age when love first stirred, and she was both shy and frightened, unsure what the handsome youth wanted.

Holding Liancui by the waist, the handsome youth said affectionately, "You and I share a bond from a past life, two thousand years in the making. Today, I've finally found you. Let us become husband and wife today and fulfill the bond we shared in that past life."

In the dream, caught between shyness and fear, Liancui somehow agreed, as if spirits had led her astray.

When the handsome youth heard Liancui agree, he scooped her up in his arms. Liancui's vision blurred, and when she could see clearly again, the two of them were in a large courtyard, and she was dressed in festive wedding clothes.

Liancui had never been married, but the brides in her village seemed to dress like this when they wed.

The wedding banquet had already been laid out in the courtyard. Guests filled the tables, goblets were raised all around, and the place was lively.

Strangely, Liancui didn't know a single person at the banquet. In this bewildering fashion, the two completed the wedding ceremony and entered the bridal chamber.

A moment of a spring night was worth a thousand pieces of gold, and Liancui actually shared clouds and rain with the handsome youth in her dream.

That was only the dream.

In reality, day had already broken.

Hearing her daughter's strange moans from the next room, Liancui's mother woke with a start, hurried out of bed, and ran to Liancui's room.

Liancui lay alone on the bed, clutching her quilt tightly and moaning nonstop. Her hair was already soaked with sweat.

Liancui's mother had no idea what was happening and went over to wake her, but no matter how she called, Liancui wouldn't wake up.

After some time, Liancui finally came to.

The sight of Liancui in such a strange state had badly frightened her honest, simple mother. Seeing her wake up, she hurriedly leaned over and asked what had happened.

Liancui was at the age when love first stirred. As she recalled what had happened in her dream, Cuilian's already flushed face grew even redder, and she pulled the quilt over herself.

Seeing her daughter like this, Liancui's mother felt she couldn't ask any more. In those days, something like this absolutely could not get out, or how would her daughter ever marry?

Later, Liancui looked through some books and found that she might have had an erotic dream. What she didn't know was that things had only just begun.

From that night on, Liancui dreamed of the handsome youth almost every night, and they shared a bed almost nightly.

Hearing the strange cries coming from their daughter's room every night, Liancui's parents grew worried, but how could they tell anyone about something like this?

The strange illness continued. Later, through a matchmaker, Liancui married Dazhuang, a carpenter from the neighboring village-the dark-skinned man.

Liancui's parents thought that once she married, her problem would naturally go away.

Liancui's parents had imagined things would turn out well, but after she married, they discovered they had been too optimistic.

On the night of the wedding.

Dazhuang and Liancui entered the bridal chamber, but Liancui flatly refused to let him touch her.

Dazhuang thought his new wife was shy and paid it no mind. Exhausted from a busy wedding day and having drunk a great deal, he fell into a deep sleep.

But in the middle of the night, something strange happened.

Dazhuang had drunk too much. When he got thirsty in the middle of the night and wanted to get up for water, his wife beside him suddenly began to moan softly, and the sound grew louder and louder.

Dazhuang naturally knew what the sound meant, so he hurriedly turned on the light and looked at his wife beside him.

Liancui was clutching the quilt, her eyes tightly shut as she moaned nonstop.

What was going on!??

Dazhuang was dumbfounded.

Afraid something might happen to his wife, Dazhuang quickly held her and shook her hard.

It was unclear whether it was because Dazhuang was a man, but Liancui's mother had also tried many times to wake her when she was like this, without ever succeeding.

But when Dazhuang shook her, Liancui suddenly opened her tightly shut eyes. The look in them was nothing like that of a young woman, and it gave Dazhuang a fright. Moreover, Liancui was surprisingly strong in this state and sent the powerfully built Dazhuang flying with a single shove.

Dazhuang landed with a bang.

By the time Dazhuang got up from the floor, Liancui had closed her eyes again and continued to moan.

And so, on their wedding night, Dazhuang watched helplessly as his wife moaned inexplicably in bed all night.

When day broke, Liancui woke up.

Looking at Dazhuang beside her, his eyes bloodshot, Liancui had no idea what had happened.

Only when Dazhuang brought up what had happened the night before did Liancui shyly tell him the whole story.

Dazhuang was an honest craftsman and a decent man. After hearing his wife's story, he didn't look down on her, but instead showed concern for her.

Seeing that Dazhuang didn't look down on her, Liancui worked hard at the housework during the day. The next evening, she and Dazhuang agreed that if she began moaning again, he would wake her immediately.

Dazhuang nodded. Without even taking off his clothes, he kept watch anxiously beside his wife. Sure enough, around midnight, Liancui began to moan again, and Dazhuang tried to wake her.

But Liancui was even more violent that night. She suddenly opened her eyes and slapped Dazhuang so hard that he spun around. Seeing stars and afraid of being hit again, Dazhuang didn't try to wake his wife anymore.

Five years passed in the blink of an eye.

Dazhuang was tormented like this for five years.

Someone else would probably have divorced her long ago, but Dazhuang still treated Liancui as well as he had at the start.

Dazhuang knew the truth, but his parents couldn't sit still any longer.

Five years had passed, yet their daughter-in-law's belly showed no signs of a child. As the saying went, of the three forms of unfilial conduct, having no descendants was the greatest.

In those days, especially in the countryside, wasn't marrying and not having children a grievous offense against one's family?

But Liancui was very capable, skilled at everything both inside and outside the home. She was also very dutiful to her in-laws, and Dazhuang's mother, as her mother-in-law, could find no fault with her.

Seeing that her peers all had grandchildren to hold, who could bear having a daughter-in-law who bore no children? So she secretly asked her son whether something was wrong with Liancui.

Dazhuang had kept Liancui's condition a closely guarded secret. He was afraid that if his parents found out, they would make him divorce her.

After his parents questioned him back and forth, over and over again,

Dazhuang, crushed under the pressure, told them about his wife. His mother demanded to know why he hadn't told her sooner.

Dazhuang then explained his worries. His mother cursed him for being a fool and said, "With such a good wife, would I make you divorce her? This is an illness. It needs treatment! Honestly, you!!!"

People in the countryside were superstitious. Dazhuang's mother believed Liancui must have offended something-that is, offended a deity or a ghost.

They ended up inviting who knew how many spirit mediums, but nothing worked. It was also from then on that Dazhuang and Liancui set out on their long journey seeking medical help.

Everyone was astonished after hearing Liancui's account.

Su Ziyang felt it had completely overturned his view of the world.

At this point, Su Ziyang was no longer thinking about how to treat it, but whether it was an illness at all.