Mutated Tao

Li Huowang was sitting in a wheelchair with his mother pushing him out of the room. His thin arms—the size of chicken legs—were cuffed to the wheelchair.

Despite his condition, Li Huowang was surprised that they didn't make him wear a straitjacket. It seemed that they were convinced that he was cured.

Li Huowang glanced at the four guards around him and said, “I’m just going out for some fresh air. Do I really need this many guards?”

“It’s fine; let them be. They're here under the orders of the higher-ups. Little Liu's job is already hard, so don’t make it harder for him.

Li Huowang smiled at his mother’s words. Clearly, his mother was doing well here. Otherwise, she wouldn't have given the people here any nicknames.

“Huowang, it’s raining outside, so let’s just stay inside. We can still stroll inside the hospital.”

“All right.”

With that, Li Huowang was pushed around the hospital. After several turns, Li Huowang found himself in a larger room.

A group of people wearing the same blue-and-white hospital gown were staring at the television on the wall.

Li Huowang wasn't a doctor, but he was quite knowledgeable about mental illness, as he himself had been diagnosed with a mental illness.

He swept his gaze across the other patients and deduced their illness.

Those with a penchant for talking nonsense, or those lucid but had a penchant for talking nonstop were a part of the so-called mental breakdown group. The majority of the patients here had no one to take care of them at home and were sent to the hospital by their relatives, while a big chunk of the rest were those who were caught having an episode on the streets.

Li Huowang deduced that those withdrawn and silent were most likely diagnosed with depression.

Those who were easily excited and incredibly anxious most likely had hypomania, while those with glazed eyes had probably just taken their medicine.

Li Huowang looked around and noticed that some were close to a complete recovery. He judged that they could have anorexia, bulimia, or perhaps they were just pretending that they were about to recover.

Unfortunately, Li Huowang wouldn’t know unless he asked them. Perhaps some of them were like him and had been locked up against their will.

However, those allowed to watch television were patients with milder symptoms.

There were many types of mental disorders out there—too many for Li Huowang to know, as he was just a layman.

Just then, Li Huowang saw the patients turning around at the same time to stare at him. They looked like they were having more fun staring at his face than staring at the television.

Li Huowang was confused. “Why are they looking at me?”

A guard, nicknamed Little Liu, answered, “Li Huowang, you're famous here. It's not just them. Your name has spread throughout the fifteen sections of the prison."

“I’m that famous?”

“Yes, but your fame is actually not going up anymore. However, when news about your daring rescue went viral, your name went on the ‘most searched term’ on the Internet for several days. Why do you think the higher-ups are paying so much attention to you?”

Li Huowang finally had a faint understanding of what kind of status he had in the people's hearts.

Then, he saw the patients distancing themselves from him, staying at least ten meters away from him.

“Mom, let’s stop here. I want to watch TV. I haven’t watched TV in a long time.” Li Huowang looked at the afternoon news. It was boring, but Li Huowang found the experience to be quite refreshing.

“Good afternoon, everyone! Today is the twenty-third day of the last month of the Lunar Calendar. Only seven more days to the new year! Today is the day to pray to the Stove God[1], while tomorrow is a good day to clean up the house!”

“Is it going to be the new year soon?” Li Huowang felt like he had just traveled back in time. He didn't expect that so much time had already passed.

“Yes, and you'd have lived another year by then. What do you want to eat? I'll go and make anything for you. Ah, I’ve heard that there’s a popular game coming out soon. I'll give you some money so you can buy that game once you are discharged.”

“Mom, I’m not a kid anymore.”

“You're only eighteen. You're an adult according to the law, but you're barely a young man.

Just like that, Li Huowang spent quite a lot of time amidst his mother's nagging and the cheery tune of the news.

Li Huowang loved this peace and quiet, and he wanted it to last until he died of old age.

Beneath this peace and quiet, Li Huowang felt like everything he had experienced so far was all just a bad dream.

“Mom, where is Doctor Yi? Haven’t seen him in a while.”

“I heard that he no longer has time to come to work anymore. He’s busy writing a thesis.”

“He’s a doctor. Why is he writing a thesis?”

“I don’t know anything about that. But Sister Ma, who is working in the kitchen, told me that a media outlet has interviewed him. I think he’s going to appear on TV.”

“Is that so? Then I have to congratulate him.”

“Yes. Doctor Yi is a really responsible man. I heard that he's still single, even though he’s already thirty years old. How nervous do you think his mother is right now? I'll definitely be nervous if you're still single despite being so old.”

Li Huowang felt like scratching his head out of awkwardness. Are middle-aged aunties these days so well informed? How did she even know that Doctor Yi is single?

“Sister Sun, the times have changed. It’s normal for people to remain single even in their thirties,” one of the prison guards said.

The guards relaxed a lot upon realizing that Li Huowang’s condition was improving. They had let their guard down so much to the point that they started joking around Sun Xiaoqin.

“Ah, I think you guys just want to play around. There's an advantage to marrying earlier. If you get married and have children earlier, your parents can help you raise those children. In other words, your wife will have an easier time recovering after birth.”

“It’s not that we don’t want to get married, but we were already twenty-something when we graduated. We have neither savings, cars, nor houses. Who'd want to marry us? We also work in the prison for half a month at a time. How can we even find a girlfriend when we're spending so much time here? In fact, most of the girls we were courting ran away once they discovered that they could only see us for six months throughout an entire year."

“But you guys have a stable job! There’s no way you can’t find a wife. If you think that your work here is what's hampering your search for a wife, then what about those working as gig workers? You might as well say that they'll be forever alone.”

Upon hearing that, another guard chimed in, but Sun Xiaoqin didn't retreat even against two guards. In fact, she talked with even more vigor.

Li Huowang felt his scalp going numb as he watched them argue with each other, and he couldn't help but look away; his gaze landed on the corridor to his left.

1. The Stove God is a minor deity that reports to the Heavenly Palace about the conduct of a family throughout the year. Praying to it involves bribing it with sweets so that it will report only good news to the Heavenly Palace and in turn the Heavenly Palace would reward the family for their good conduct. Good conduct involves not wasting food, cleaning up promptly, not overeating, sharing their food with their neighbors and the less fortunate, etc ☜

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