Chapter 281 - Confusion (2/2)

After a while, a thickset man entered, who went quite watchful at the sight of Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong in the room and only calmed down after hearing Mr. Mu’s and Ji Yin’s explanation.

“He is Ya, the one who’s been tending your father all along in recent years,” explained Mr. Mu.

Ling Zhang inclined his head and expressed his grat.i.tude to Ya. “Thank you.”

Ya, who seemed to be a quite taciturn man, didn’t say anything, and neither was there any change in his facial expression.

“Ya is a man of few words and he always has been,” said Mr. Mu.

In the knowledge that Ya was not very communicative, Ling Zhang didn’t specially try to strike up a conversation with him for fear of embarra.s.sing Ya. He just lodged it in mind that this man had been taking care of Ling Zhaowu for many years.

After in a daze for a few moments, Ling Zhaowu closed his eyes. Ling Zhang helped him lie down on the bed and watched him gradually falling asleep.

“He’s supposed to sleep for quite some time after drinking the decoction. Actually it came as a surprise to me that he woke up just now after hearing you call him. As the effects of the drug haven’t worn off yet, he fell asleep again. There’s nothing to worry about,” observed Mr. Mu.

Ling Zhang gave a nod. “Thank you.”

Though seemingly serious, this man they called Mr. Mu was quite approachable. Before his entry into the Millennium Pavilion, Ling Zhang had thought that he’d run into snags and be foiled everywhere in this place, but Mr. Mu was not really guarded with or lukewarm about them, for which Ling Zhang was very grateful to him.

“Treating patients is my job. Besides, I’m working under our clan leader’s orders,” replied Mr. Mu.

Since Ling Zhaowu was in a deep slumber, Ling Zhang and the others naturally felt it inappropriate to continue their talk in the room. After sitting quietly beside Ling Zhaowu’s bed for quite a while, Ling Zhang rose to his feet and walked out. Yuwen Tong and the others were sitting in the living room.

“Mr. Mu, is my father’s illness curable?” asked Ling Zhang.

Mr. Mu bobbed his head. “As a matter of fact, it’s mainly his mental trauma that has been holding him back. Once the trauma heals, everything will be fine. Currently the only problem is that we don’t know what caused his mental trauma in the first place. His bodily functions are getting better, but his mental state has shown no sign of recuperation. I fear that over time his condition might become incurable.”

Yuwen Tong asked, “Is there a way to help Uncle Ling recover from his trauma quickly?”

Mr. Mu responded, “If we are to cure it with medication, there is a kind of miracle drug here that might be effective, but it’s very hard to come by, and there are a lot of people here hankering for it. Given that you two are not members of this clan, your chance of winning a compet.i.tion against them is very slim. As regards non-medicinal methods, there’s but one–finding out what caused the trauma and acting accordingly to help him heal. The process will be rather painful, and you’ve seen it with your own eyes a while ago. His reaction just now was only a minor one. If by any chance you trigger off a serious response, there might be unimaginable consequences.”

Yuwen Tong looked at Ling Zhang, who said to Mr. Mu, “I want to have an audience with the clan leader first and see if I can convince him to help.”

Mr. Mu nodded. “It’s worth a shot. I’ll wait and see how that works out.”

“Thanks,” said Ling Zhang. He knew the Millennium Pavilion was not some kind of charity. Although his mother had suffered a lot because of the decision of this organization, his father owed his life to these people. Also, his grandfather had offered him a lot of help, so the Millennium Pavilion wasn’t really obliged to do this for him.

“I’ll do my best to persuade the Clan Leader as well. Hopefully, he’ll take my contribution into consideration and agree to use the miracle drug on your father,” said Ji Yin. “I’ve been serving this clan for many years, but neither my son nor my daughter had the good fortune to cultivate internal energy with the mental method of our clan, and I never made a request for the miracle drug. I hope the Clan Leader will take this into account and give his consent to it.”

Mr. Mu said, “You’re the Prime Elder. In terms of status, you’re second to only the Clan Leader in this place. He will listen to you, no matter what.”

Ji Yin said, “I don’t dare take advantage of that. This is a secluded place. Things work differently here than they do in the outside world. Whether my ident.i.ty as the Prime Elder is any good solely depends on how the Clan Leader thinks about it.”

Then he added, “I’ll go and see if the Clan Leader is available now. Zhang’er, if there’s anything else you want to know, you may ask Ya and Mr. Mu.”

Ling Zhang nodded and followed Ji Yin with his eyes as he left.

“Ya is not really a great talker. You may ask me if you have any questions,” said Mr. Mu.

Ling Zhang asked him how his father had been doing after being brought to the Millennium Pavilion. Mr. Mu, fully aware of what he wanted to know, was very specific about almost everything he told Ling Zhang.

“He narrowly escaped death shortly after being transferred here. After the Clan Leader revived his cardiac meridian, I’ve treating him all along. There were several occasions when I feared that he lacked the will to live and might not be able to make it, but he surprised me and survived. Even the Clan Leader said that a man with such a strong will to live was something of a rarity. It was with the Clan Leader’s permission that I gained access to many precious drugs and used them to treat him.

The Prime Elder was the one who hoped to see your father come around the most. He always believed that there must be some unusual reason why your father showed up in this area. He was worried that something had happened to your mother. n.o.body could’ve foreseen that your father would be comatose for that many years. I could tell that he actually had got a shrewd idea of what might’ve happened. In the couple of following years, he went outside very often to look for something, but he never found anything.”

Mr. Mu also gave many details, saying that at the beginning some had objected to letting Ling Zhaowu stay, but the Prime Elder had tried his best and managed to persuade them to change their minds.

“The Prime Elder actually loved your mother and uncle very much. In the year when they left, the Prime Elder once sneaked out of here to look for them, but unfortunately for him, in order not to be found by members of our clan, your mother went into hiding, leaving no trace behind, so the Prime Elder had never found her. Afterwards, some members of our clan believed the Prime Elder was violating the rules by going outside, so he had no choice but to give up making another attempt.”

It was after hearing these words of Mr. Mu’s that Ling Zhang came to know that his grandfather had once tried to look for his mother but had never had any luck.

“Alas, the situation back then was in disarray. Some matters involve secrets of our clan, and it’s inconvenient for me to disclose more details to you. Anyway, the Prime Elder did everything within his power. At that time, the Clan Leader had just taken office and there were some… In a word, the Clan Leader eventually decided to spare your mother. He did his level best as well.”

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