Chapter 59: Encountering an officer haunted by ghosts

The thugs wanted to pay to avoid trouble. They had records with the police and didn’t want to be arrested, which would disrupt their “business.” “Please spare us! We’ll pay!” They pulled out their money: five yuan and thirty-five cents.

 Jiang Li was about to leave, but her divination revealed they were hiding more money.  She said to one of them, “You’re hiding thirty more yuan. Will you give it to me, or should I get it?” The thug was terrified.

How did she know about the money hidden in his underwear? Did she have X-ray vision?  He gave her the money. Jiang Li took the money, disgusted but unwilling to let them keep it.  Before leaving, she warned them to be more careful and not to hide money in their underwear. 

The thug leader warned his crew not to talk about this incident. Jiang Li went to the county hospital. There was only one public hospital, no private clinics.

 Communes had health centers, and some brigades had barefoot doctors, but their capabilities were limited. 

The county hospital mainly had Western medicine departments; there was a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) department, but it wasn’t as valued as Western medicine. Jiang Li needed to buy some expensive herbs.

She bought several prescriptions worth 1000 yuan.  Making money was hard, but spending it was easy.  These herbs would be used to make foundation-building pills to improve her cultivation.  She paid and left. She saw a man being brought in, unconscious, pale, with cyanotic lips – signs of poisoning.

  However, Jiang Li sensed a ghostly aura around him, indicating he was possessed by an evil spirit.  She also sensed a significant amount of merit around him, likely earned through military service.  The “patient” was a young soldier, around twenty. Jiang Li admired soldiers and couldn’t ignore him.

 She followed him into the hospital and quickly performed a divination. The “patient’s” name was Lu An. His uncle was a powerful figure in the county, Secretary Xu Ancheng. Because of his uncle’s influence, the hospital immediately assigned top experts to diagnose Lu An.  Blood tests showed no poison.

 The experts couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Lu Rong, Lu An’s aunt, was distraught. Lu An was the only male heir in his generation.

  She considered sending him to the provincial hospital, but the journey was long and risky.  Since Western medicine was ineffective, Lu Rong asked for a TCM doctor.  They had a skilled TCM relative, so she trusted TCM.

The hospital director said, “Madam Lu, we have Dr. Wu, a highly skilled TCM doctor from Beijing. He’s here temporarily.” Lu Rong was overjoyed. “Excellent! Please arrange for Dr. Wu to see my nephew.

” The director immediately arranged for Dr. Wu to see Lu An. Dr. Wu, a seventy-something-year-old with a white beard, was semi-retired but agreed to work at the hospital part-time. Lu An was lucky to have his visit on Dr. Wu’s working day.

 Dr. Wu began his diagnosis.

 He was indeed skilled.