Village Doctor's Women-Chapter 262 - 256 Tripods

"Dad, what on earth is wrong with you?"

Hu Ziyuan finally noticed that Lu You was doing more than just blaming him. "That Doctor Wang is incompetent," he said. "He hasn’t done anything since he arrived. He came to treat you earlier, only to fall into a coma himself. He just woke up a moment ago and came back."

"A coma?" Lu You was startled. He felt as if he had grasped something, yet he was afraid to believe it.

"Yes, a coma." Even Hu Ziyuan found it strange as he spoke. "After he arrived at the hospital, he sent us all out and went into the ward by himself." Since Hu Ziyuan had brought it up, he went on to explain everything that had happened after Lu You fell unconscious, from beginning to end.

After hearing the full story, Lu You became even angrier. "The hospital I’m in now," he snapped, "was arranged for us by someone else?"

The facilities at the Cai family’s hospital were superior even to those abroad, a fact Lu You could easily see.

Seeing Hu Ziyuan nod, Lu You continued to berate him. "You went begging for a doctor, and when he said he couldn’t help, you dragged him here anyway. Then that kind doctor finds you a better hospital, falls ill from treating me, and now you have the nerve to turn around and blame him?"

Lu You raised his hand and slapped Hu Ziyuan across the face.

The slap left Hu Ziyuan feeling aggrieved. He touched his cheek and muttered, "I just think that doctor is all talk. Fainting was probably just an act."

These words nearly made Lu You pass out from sheer rage.

"An act?" Lu You demanded furiously. "For what? For your money? Did you even pay him?"

"Uh..." Hu Ziyuan was stunned. It dawned on him that from the moment he had asked Wang Jian for help until now, he hadn’t spent a single penny. Even the hospital fees had been waived because Cai Qiong assumed they were Wang Jian’s friends. And now this... Hu Ziyuan suddenly realized he was behaving like an ignorant, ungrateful lout.

Seeing this change in his son, Lu You breathed a sigh of relief. At least the boy isn’t a lost cause.

Just then, Heizi brought Wang Jian back, so Lu You didn’t bother bickering with Hu Ziyuan anymore.

Wang Jian, of course, had no idea that so much had transpired in the small hospital room during his brief absence. He was quite happy to see Lu You awake and took the initiative to ask, "Mr. Lu, how are you feeling?"

In his heart, Lu You already credited Wang Jian with saving his life, and his gratitude was immense. He forced a smile onto his ghastly pale face. "Much better, thank you, Doctor Wang. If it weren’t for you, I might already be gone."

Wang Jian assessed Lu You’s condition. He found that with the dark energy’s interference gone, his vital energy had begun to recover. Aided by the life force Wang Jian had provided during the pulse diagnosis, the situation looked very promising, and his delight showed on his face. "Indeed, your condition is much better than before. While I can’t cure your lung cancer, I can guarantee your condition will stabilize. I’ll prescribe some medicine for you later. If you follow the treatment course, your body will stabilize."

Lu You’s poor health was, in fact, due to that dark energy. Now that the corrupting source had left his body, managing his condition was much easier. However, cancer was still cancer; the body’s decline was irreversible. Lu You wasn’t surprised by this. Hearing what Wang Jian said only made him more certain of the strange things he had witnessed.

"Doctor Wang, may I ask... how much longer do I have?"

Hearing this, Wang Jian calculated silently. With medication and the assistance of his Yin Yang energies, stalling for two to three years should be no problem. He gave a conservative estimate. "Two years."

Lu You nodded. Beside him, Heizi and Hu Ziyuan stared in astonishment.

Good heavens. The hospital’s prognosis had only been two or three months.

At first, they thought they had misheard. Hu Ziyuan even had to ask, "Two years?"

When Wang Jian nodded, he fell silent, his face blank as if he’d been struck by lightning. Of the three, Lu You took the news best, showing none of the despair of a man on the verge of death.

He smiled. "Two years is more than I could have hoped for. I’m satisfied. But I have one more question, if Doctor Wang doesn’t mind."

Seeing Wang Jian nod, Lu You continued, "When I was unconscious, I felt like I was trapped in a cold, dark place. I couldn’t see anything, as if I were endlessly falling into an abyss where landing meant death. Then, a warm current guided me, and I woke up."

This description caught Wang Jian’s attention. The cold darkness was very similar to the dark energy, while the warm current was very similar to Qi.

Lu You sighed with emotion. "I thought I was going to die right then and there. But when I followed the warm current back, I found myself paralyzed, as if pinned down by a ghost. I couldn’t move or speak. My eyes were closed, yet I could see everything in the room. Those two were exhausted, but they never left my side. For a dying man, that was a great comfort.

"But what surprised me even more was that I saw you in the room, Doctor Wang. You pulled a very evil thing from my body. It was only after that that I felt my strength return, things started to improve, and the feeling of imminent death vanished completely."

To Wang Jian, these words were like an earthquake. He had assumed no one could see his soul leave his body, yet Lu You, in that mysterious state, had somehow seen it all.

Naturally, this wasn’t something that could be discussed openly. It was best if no one knew. So, Wang Jian simply raised an eyebrow, gave Lu You an odd look, and said pointedly, "Mr. Lu, that was likely a lucid dream. It’s a good sign that your condition is improving, but you shouldn’t take it as reality."

"Is that so?" Lu You stared at Wang Jian for a long moment. Seeing the doctor was unmoved, he didn’t press the issue. In his heart, however, he already had his answer, and Wang Jian’s next question only served to confirm it.

"Mr. Lu," Wang Jian began, probing indirectly, "it’s highly likely your cancer was triggered by a sudden mutation from contact with an old object sometime within this year. Based on normal medical principles, your illness couldn’t have progressed this far in less than two or three years. But my Medical Skills are special. They allow me to see some hidden things, and I deduce the change in your body began about six months ago. So, try to think. Have you come into contact with anything unusual in the past year?"

He hadn’t expected that this very question would make Lu You recall an object—an object whose origin seemed to confirm the ’dream’ he’d had about Wang Jian.

Lu You answered without much thought. "Speaking of which, I acquired a small bronze tripod at an auction overseas early this year. They said it was from our country’s pre-Qin period, about the size of my palm. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but now that you mention it, Doctor Wang, I remember my health started declining day by day right after I got it. A hospital check-up revealed I had lung cancer, already in the advanced stages, though they said it had probably been dormant for years."

"Could it be..." Lu You asked, his voice trailing off. "Doctor Wang, do you think my illness is because of that tripod?"