The commotion at Kangning Hospital soon subsided. Qian Fu was locked up, and Li Huowang didn’t find any needles in his food again. This pretty much confirmed that Qian Fu was the one who had put them there.
Life in the psychiatric hospital consisted of eating meals, taking medication, watching TV, support groups, therapy, outdoor time, and sleeping. Two months passed in the blink of an eye. Aside from feeling bored sometimes, everything was normal for Li Huowang.
During this time, his mother and Yang Na visited him, and they were both delighted to learn that he hadn’t had any more episodes.
One morning, Li Huowang was sitting in his room as he waited for his cup noodles to soften. The psychiatric hospital didn’t provide braised beef cup noodles, but Yang Na had brought a carton of them on her following visit after Li Huowang mentioned he wanted to eat them.
Li Huowang waited three minutes for the noodles to cook. Just as he was about to open the lid, a familiar face appeared at the door.
“Yi Donglai, you’re finally here,” Li Huowang said.
“I have a lot of things to deal with. I’m your former attending physician, not your nanny. Besides, I keep in touch with Junior Wu, so I’m regularly updated on your condition,” Yi Donglai replied. “Looks like you’re recovering well.”
He sat on the bed and watched Li Huowang eat his noodles with a folding fork.
Li Huowang sipped some soup before saying, “I’m alright. I’ve been here for three months now and have gotten used to things.”
“You sounded rather anxious on the phone before. How about now? Are you not anxious anymore?”Li Huowang swallowed his noodles and pondered for a moment. Then he said with some hesitation, “Those memories are becoming blurry as time goes by. I’m not sure if those were delusions or real events.”
He had clearly done those things, but they hadn’t happened in reality. The only possible explanation seemed to be that the problem lay within himself.
Yet, Li Huowang knew he wasn’t ill.
Yi Donglai nodded approvingly. “Since you started the new medication, have those incidents occurred again?”
“No.”
Li Huowang continued to eat his noodles.
Since it had only happened once, Li Huowang decided to monitor the situation first. If it never happened again, he would consider it a bizarre dream.
At that moment, Wu Cheng walked in and whispered something to Yi Donglai. Then, they both stepped outside for a detailed conversation.
They talked for half an hour and made several phone calls.
When Yi Donglai returned, he held out a tablet to Li Huowang. “Here, Huowang. Please complete these questions.”
“Questions?”
Li Huowang took the tablet and saw multiple-choice questions.
[I always insist that others follow my ideas and get very angry when they don’t.
Yes? No?
I never trust others to handle things and prefer to do them myself.
Yes? No?
I am often troubled by intrusive thoughts.
Yes? No?]
After reading through the questions, Li Huowang looked at Yi Donglai and asked excitedly, “Is this the Minnesota Personality Inventory? Or SCL-90[1]? Does this mean I can be discharged if all the results are normal?”
Yi Donglai was surprised. “You know quite a bit about this. Just complete it first. It’s just the first test.”
Li Huowang gathered his focus and began to answer the questions seriously. His fingers even trembled slightly in anticipation. He was finally going to be discharged!
Once Li Huowangwas done with the questions, the hospital staff conducted various tests on him. They even hooked him up to a few machines to have his brain activity monitored for any abnormalities.
After all the procedures, they asked Li Huowang to wait in his room. The wait felt extraordinarily long, and Li Huowang finally understood how slowly time could crawl.
Finally, when Wu Cheng came to remove Li Huowang’s restraints, Li Huowang was so overwhelmed that he almost cried. He was really going to be discharged.
As soon as the restraints were removed, Wu Cheng locked a black device that resembled an electronic watch around his left ankle.
“What’s this?” Li Huowang asked, feeling a little less happy.
Yi Donglai said, “Given your past actions, you’re lucky to only have electronic monitoring for a year.”
“Will this thing constantly track my location?”
“This device not only tracks your location but also restricts you. It’s fully connected to the internet and meant to keep you at least 500 meters away from all schools—be it a kindergarten, elementary school, junior high, or high school,” Yi Donglai explained. “If you stay near one of those for more than five seconds, it will alert the nearest station. No doctor’s clearance can change that.”
He continued, “This device can’t be removed. If it’s damaged or doesn’t detect your pulse, it will trigger an alarm. After you go home, don’t wander around. Technically, you still need two months of home treatment to stabilize your condition.”
Li Huowang nodded in understanding. It seemed like all these restrictions were because of his past actions.
He would still face restrictions after being discharged, but he didn’t mind them as long as he could leave with the identity of a normal person.
“Li Huowang, remember to take your medication regularly after your discharge. You mustn’t stop taking it. You can go now. Your parents are waiting for you in the hall,” Yi Donglai said.
“Yang Na didn’t come?”
“We only notify immediate family for patient discharges. Hurry up, they’re already here.”
Li Huowang was accompanied by Yi Donglai and Wu Cheng. He changed out of his blue and white patient clothing into normal clothes.
Sun Xiaoqin wept with joy upon seeing Li Huowang in regular clothes for the first time in a very long time.
Beside her, Li Jiancheng was carrying Li Huowang’s belongings. He struggled to control his emotions, as his trembling hands betrayed his inner turmoil.
Overcome with gratitude, Sun Xiaoqin tried to kneel before Yi Donglai, but Yi Donglai and Wu Cheng quickly stopped her.
“Ms. Sun, there's no need for this. Please stand up. I simply did my duty by helping your son,” Yi Donglai said.
After the hectic discharge process, Li Huowang finally left the hospital.
He stepped outside and looked up at the sky. Li Huowang appreciated the beauty of the white clouds and the freshness of the air like never before.
1. the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL90) is a 90-item questionnaire used to assess psychological problems ☜
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