Chapter 38 – King Of Mental Illness

The nurse was quite prescient.

The doctor and nurses guiding the three new patients didn't know what had taken place. When they saw Hao Ritian blocking the door to the ward, along with Chief Steward Wei and the two imperial guards who hadn't returned to their wards, lingering in the hallway, the doctor scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, "What are they doing here? Since activities period is over, you should send the patients back to their wards!"

Then he pointed at the patients that came with him, "Right, these three will be staying at Room 502. From now on, I'll be responsible for…"

Room 502 was Yu Hao's room. Currently he was the only one occupying it, so it was perfectly normal to assign new patients to his ward. The doctor speaking was Yu Hao's attending doctor, Zheng Yue. He'd been mostly persuaded by Yu Hao's aunt and uncle by this point, as evidenced by his active cooperation in sending the men masquerading as psychiatric patients to Yu Hao's ward.

But before Zheng Yue could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a furious shout, "Lowly maid servant!"

Hao Ritian pointed at Zheng Yue and ordered his imperial guards, "Grab him."

The recently posted Wei Jing and Tang Bao suddenly received a command from His Majesty and were naturally eager to follow. Without a word, the two went to grab Zheng Yue's shoulders and arms. Just before they completed this action, Hao Ritian instructed Wei An, "This lowly maid servant dares to secretly harm Zhen and send unknown men to Zhen's sleeping chambers. Slap him three times as punishment."

Wei An's mobility wasn't slower than the other two's. Seemingly whizzing by, he bounced over to Zheng Yue and, in quick succession, three 'papapa's rang out loud and clear. One could tell from the sound that it was really painful. Wei An didn't show an ounce of mercy. After three slaps, Wei An's palms had turned red while Zheng Yue's face was quickly swelling up.

Zheng Yue was slapped silly. In the psychiatric hospital, it was possible for doctors and nurses to be attacked by patients at any time. That was why security guards were present and the nurses were very strong. The main point was to prevent patients from hurting others.

But the speed of their operation was so fast that no one could have anticipated it. Dr Zheng was already being slapped resoundingly before they could react. They felt their own faces hurt in sympathy.

The two imperial guards were still gripping Zheng Yue's shoulders with their heads held high and their chests bowed. Their faces were begging Hao Ritian for praise and when Hao Ritian nodded slightly to show his appreciation, the two's heads immediately lifted higher, though the strength of their grip didn't lighten. Zheng Yue could feel his arms losing consciousness.

However, it was also because of this pain that he came to his senses. Incredulous, his eyes widened and he yelled in fury, "Hurry and pull them away from me!"

He'd been a doctor for so long, but never had he been beaten so wretchedly until now. To add insult to injury, it was his face which was beaten. This was simply humiliating.

As soon as they heard Zheng Yue shout, the security staff who'd been rooted to their spot immediately swung into action again. While they went to pull Wei Jing and Tang Bao away, Wei An jumped to Hao Ritian and bowed to him. When his looked up, his eyes were sparkling, "Your Majesty, did I do well just now?"

Obviously, he was upset that His Majesty only praised his colleagues and not him. Though his hands hurt a little, those three slaps were really enjoyable. Ah, it turns out that as a chief steward, apart from serving His Majesty's everyday matters, he's also responsible for listening to His Majesty's commands and executing slaps. He understands now.

(Hey, hey, what the hell did you understand…)

Hao Ritian nodded reservedly, "Your strength is alright, but your technique isn't very good. Zhen will personally teach you when he has time."

Wei An excitedly replied, "Uh-huh! Thanking His Majesty."

When several people came up to Wei Jing and Tang Bao to pull them away, they struggled and resisted. His Majesty asked them to hold this lowly maid servant. How could they let him go?

These two were tall, muscular and frighteningly strong. Even with several people, the staff weren't able to bring them under control. This was one of Hao Ritian's original reasons for choosing them for his imperial guards, besides their life story. Their tremendous strength made it easier to execute his orders.

Even under these circumstances, everyone was able to hear Hao Ritian and Wei An's conversation. Inwardly, they were all utterly distressed. They had a feeling that their life from now on would be very difficult.

Amidst all the pulling, Zheng Yue's white coat became streched out of shape. His entire body was being tugged back and forth like a doll, making him feel like his arm was about to break. Still, he was forced to listen to these two madmen discuss their feelings on slapping him. He was going to blow his top soon.

Yu Hao, is it? He'll remember this. His teetering rationality fractured with a bang. At first, he'd been rather hesitant and guilty about harming a patient he was responsible for. But now, all that had been completely thrown aside. Sure enough, those with mental problems should be ruthlessly regulated. Letting them out would be irresponsible to the safety of others.

Zheng Yue completely abandoned his moral ethics as a doctor while he was thinking this. Though, he didn't really have any moral ethics to start with. If he did, he wouldn't have been persuaded by the original owner's aunt and uncle into laying a hand on his own patient.

Although Hao Ritian seemed to be discussing his knowledge on slapping with Wei An, he had been inconspicuously paying attention to Zheng Yue's expressions. When he noticed his eyes narrow and carry a ruthless gleam, Hao Ritian raised his voice and said to Wei Jing and Tang Bao, "Alright, release him."

When all was said and done, this was a psychiatric hospital. It wouldn't be good to be overly rowdy. If the doctors thought you were too uncontrollable, their first choice would be to tranquilise you. As the only person in a group of psychiatric patients who still had a brain, Hao Ritian had to control the limit. Being tranquilised from time to time wasn't a good experience, after all.

In addition, if you were overly rambunctious, they would impose greater restrictions on your free time. Being unruly wasn't a problem. Not being unruly, that was abnormal. It was like that saying: discretion is the better part of valour. As long as they didn't cross the line, they would still be permitted to do certain activities. This was to prevent the patients from going even crazier the next time. Patients, except during principle issues, would follow along most of the time.

If that wasn't the case, the previous nurse who was in charge of Hao Ritian wouldn't have endured her innermost shame and cooperated with saying 'Your Majesty' this, 'Your Majesty' that, though she knew it was moronic. That nurse felt like she was really great.

Unfortunately, what should have been settled had been unintentionally destroyed by Dr Zheng, otherwise it wouldn't be so chaotic now!

Receiving Hao Ritian's command, Wei Jing and Tang Bao released the doctor, then uniformly went to stand behind Hao Ritian. The only thing missing was them marching with a goose-step. With the two of them standing left and right behind Hao Ritian, they really were intimidating.

Many of the people present were inwardly astonished. When had the patients become so disciplined? They're actually so deferential to their wardmate?

But when they looked at Hao Ritian's face again, they all turned silent. Who made his face so intimidating? When he was first admitted, many nurses became timid upon seeing him, afraid that he would suddenly turn violent. Fortunately, they became used to him after a few days, and since the patient didn't exhibit any violent tendencies, they became at ease.

Hao Ritian, with his gangster-like face, narrowed his eyes at Zheng Yue who immediately stood up after being released by the two guards. His mien was imposing, preserving the dignity of an emperor, "Lowly maid servant, Zhen will spare you this once. If this happens again, it won't be resolved with just a few slaps."

He was clearly a grown man, but he was constantly being called a lowly maid servant by a lunatic, and had even been slapped right in the face thrice. That look of contempt almost made him lose it. Luckily, he remembered that many of his colleagues were around him.

Hao Ritian was in a good mood. He didn't acknowledge anyone else, simply motioning to the three attendants behind him, "Come, Zhen is going to bed. You are all responsible for Zhen's safety and must stay with Zhen."

He took the lead in approaching the ward and was followed closely by his attendants who scuttled after him.

A trance-like hush fell over the entire corridor and the three 'new patients', squeezed into the back from their place behind Zheng Yue during the moment of panic, were despairing at the moment. Despite having braced themselves – after all, no one knew how a mental patient would react the next second – they already wanted to turn tail after encountering a spectacle like this soon after arriving.

The thought of staying in this sort of psychiatric hospital for so long made them worried that they would become assimilated during their stay. What if they couldn't leave?!

Zheng Yue couldn't keep his anger down. He pressed his forehead and broke the silence, "Who can tell me what's going on? Has the condition of the patient become more serious?"

Inwardly, he sneered. If the condition of a patient became more serious, then as his attending doctor, he naturally had grounds to revise his method of treatment. At that time, increasing the dose of his medication and using forceful means would only be a matter of course.

It was a pity his nurse colleague failed to cooperate with him. On the contrary, she put in a good word for Hao Ritian, "No, the patient has been doing well today. Besides his delusions, which seem to have become more severe, everything else has been fine."

Afterward, she explained the fact that during the activities period, Hao Ritian had suddenly influenced his wardmates into performing 'imperial court'. Now the patient believed himself to be an emperor, and naturally couldn't tolerate offense. So long as they followed along with him, there wasn't a problem.

Additionally, the patient might not want strangers entering his life. Previously, he stated that he wanted his chief steward and imperial guards to stay in the same ward as him. Then Zheng Yue appeared with three new patients, offending his dignity, which was how the scene a moment ago came about.

Once she finished, the nurse did her utmost to avoid looking at Zheng Yue's face. She sympathised with him, but underserved catastrophes often didn't have an explanation. He wouldn't really try to settle scores with a psychiatric patient, would he?!

Therefore, Dr Zheng could only chalk it up to bad luck.

The others around them were of the same mind as the nurse. Dr Zheng was really unlucky to be ruthlessly slapped for no apparent reason. So they tried not to bring up his 'sore spot' as much as possible.

Little did they know, their evasive expression made Zheng Yue feel like a fishbone was stuck in his throat. His face still burning with pain, he pinched the bridge of his nose. He didn't appear angry and rationally analysed with the perspective of a doctor, "Even still, we can't let the patient run rampant. This behaviour will bring trouble to other doctors' work…"

Before he could finish, Dr Tan Xi came out of ward 508 carrying medical records and noticed their group loitering around. After understanding the situation, he said breezily, "Isn't this easy to handle? Tang Bao, Wei Jing and Wei An are my patients. Since they'll be staying in the same ward, just transfer Yu Hao's care to me. As far as I know, Yu Hao hasn't been hospitalised for very long, so how about you give him to me, Dr Zheng?"

Tan Xi might look like a romantic nobleman, but he was very capable in his professional field. Most of his patients were on this floor. Despite being two years younger than Zheng Yue, his reputation was streets ahead of his.

Now that Tan Xi was voluntarily taking on the inconvenience, many people breathed a sigh of relief and their regard for Tan Xi increased.

When it came to who Zheng Yue envied the most, it was without a doubt Tan Xi, though most people wouldn't be able to guess that. After all, Zheng Yue was very good at disguises. Not only was his intellectual appearance awfully deceiving, he was used to engineering a facade.

Seeing Tan Xi interested in his patient, especially the patient he was dead set on punishing ruthlessly, Zheng Yue was determined to refuse.

His face showed traces of dilemma, "Dr Tan, isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

Just as he thought Tan Xi would pester him, Tan Xi smacked his head, "How about this, these three new patients can stay at some vacant beds. They'll all be on the same floor anyways and just a couple feet away. From now on, I'll come around 502 more often. This should be fine, right?"

His request wasn't difficult, so Zheng Yue, who was sensitive about losing prestige, naturally couldn't refuse. He grudgingly nodded and even smiled, "Thank you, Dr Tan."

The 'new patients', on the other hand, were alarmed at being separated. Their objective in coming here was Yu Hao, but now they were suddenly being separated from Yu Hao's ward and sent to share a room with lunatics. No matter how you saw it, wasn't this very problematic?

The trio inconspicuously made eye contact, then began to go crazy.

The way they went crazy was to charge at Ward 502. Their movements appeared violent. They slapped at the door and whined. They seemed like they wanted to attack someone, they looked so vicious.

When all was said and done, they were pretending to be mentally ill. Prior to this, they had a general idea of some behaviour patterns a person with mental illness would have, but in the end, they couldn't compare to the real deal. However, they couldn't take that into consideration at the moment. They had to stay at Ward 502.

—That was why Hao Ritian chose to mimic a psychosis that was relatively easier to perform. Delusion. Even if he acted strangely, it would automatically be translated as: this is yet another wild flight of fancy.

This was much easier for Hao Ritian and made it more convenient to take action.

But these three 'new patients' weren't very wise. They committed the simplest mistake, which was to show such obvious violent tendencies in a psychiatric hospital. Those who showed such tendencies would be taken care of. Tan Xi was evidently more proficient at handling this. He immediately asked security to take the three to a ward and temporarily tied them to beds to prevent them from hurting themselves and others.

This was also the reason why Hao Ritian promptly stopped Tang Bao and Wei Jing when he sensed there was something amiss with Zheng Yue's mood. They would get tied up if they were too excessive, and that wouldn't be very good.

As they were restrained and taken away, the trio panicked and repeatedly glanced at Zheng Yue, giving him meaningful looks. However, Zheng Yue couldn't act too conspicuously at the moment. If Tan Xi caught him, it would be bad. So he could only hint at them to not act rashly.

That was how the trio were sent to a ward.

With the matter settled, the others couldn't linger around and do nothing, so they soon returned to their respective stations. Tan Xi and Zheng Yue, meanwhile, opened the door to Ward 502 to check the situation.

The ward was unexpectedly neat. Hao Ritian had raised the head of the bed and was half-reclining on it, his posture like that of a pampered aristocrat. The chief steward, Wei An, was currently giving His Majesty a massage, which was a part of his duties. Whenever he increased the pressure on a particular area, he would even ask Hao Ritian how he felt from time to time. When he received an appreciative look from Hao Ritian, he would smile in contentment, as if he'd discovered the meaning of life.

Tan Xi & Zheng Yue, "…"

Was this really a ward, and not a multi-level marketing organisation's stronghold?

When they looked back at the pair, who were sitting on the left and back of the hospital bed, to stare watchfully at Hao Ritian, the pair noticed strangers had come in and cast their eyes on the doctors with a 'swish'. Vigilance and discontent were among the emotions tinting in their eyes. They were very much in character.

Though he had heard the gist of the situation back at the corridor, Tan Xi was still amazed when he personally witnessed it for the first time. Aren't they a little too engrossed in the play?!

But his lips curved into a smile. The reason he wanted to be in charge of Yu Hao was because he was interested in his condition. Though he wasn't responsible for him for the time being, he could observe him from nearby. The ability to lead other psychiatric patients was quite extraordinary. If possible, he wanted to treat Yu Hao and have him keep the patients in this zone under control.

He just didn't know if this was a fluke or real skills!

In his opinion, psychosis exhibited all kinds of clinical phenomenons. Tendency towards violence, perception impediment, willful behaviours that were hindrances, etcetera, were commonly seen symptoms of it. Currently, he thought Yu Hao's cognitive impairment and delusion was very serious. It would be a great help to patients with the same diagnoses if he could observe and study this phenomenon more.

Moreover, Yu Hao belonged to the high-functioning type. As long as he catered to him, communion might not be too difficult. Tan Xi had made up his mind. Now, he had to ask about his situation.

Hao Ritian raised his hand, motioning Wei An to stop, and gazed at the two who just entered. Though Tan Xi fared well with being stared at by his fierce eyes, Zheng Yue spent the entire time feeling like Hao Ritian would carelessly order him to be beaten up the next second. His whole body involuntarily tensed up, becoming highly alert.

"Zhen is tired today and doesn't need attending. You two may retire." Hao Ritian waved at the two doctors with a look of flagging interest.

Inwardly, however, he paid closer attention to the new doctor, Tan Xi. Judging from his facial expressions and subtle body language, this doctor was much more difficult to deal with than that dunce, Zheng Yue, which made him more alert, though not afraid.

Those with mental illness were just that fearless.

Even though they'd prepared themselves, Tan Xi and Zheng Yue were nonetheless speechless at being classified as concubines. Tan Xi's silence wasn't malicious, but Zheng Yue's silence carried intense loathing and rejection. Before this, he'd called him a lowly maid servant and now he classified him as a concubine. These were all women's roles and he saw this as a type of insult. Even if the other party was mentally ill, he couldn't accept this manner of humiliation.

Hao Ritian didn't care about their reactions at all. Did an emperor need to depend on his imperial concubines' favors?

What a joke!

After he finished, he instructed Wei An, "If they repeat their offense, remove their green tablets1."

Wei An obediently replied, "Yes, Your Majesty."

Afterwards, he glared at the two 'imperial concubines' who had entered without notification with a demeanour much like a chief steward's.

Tan Xi raised his hands in surrender and said good-naturedly, "Your Majesty, Chenqie2 is at fault. Chenqie will not repeat this crime again. Thank you, Your Majesty, for your magnanimity."

He was quite flexible.

Zheng Yue's eyes widened. He would never do that, and extremely disapproved of Tan Xi's actions in his mind. Even if he wanted to appease the patient, a grown man shouldn't call himself a concubine. Did he even want his dignity anymore?

—That was why the difference between the two of them was obvious.

As a doctor, being concerned about one's dignity in the face of a psychiatric patient was, in itself, a very stupid behaviour.

Hao Ritian squinted. Sure enough, this doctor isn't easy to deal with.

He waved his hand and began with a calculative manner, "For your tact, Zhen will let it go this once. Withdraw."

This time, Tan Xi said nothing more and dragged Zheng Yue out of the ward.

As soon as they left, Wei An, this chief steward, began to speak ill of Zheng Yue, "Your Majesty, that shifty-eyed imperial concubine was very disrespectful to you. You should move him to the Cold Palace to reflect on himself."

Hao Ritian regarded his chief steward very highly and listened to his suggestion. He patted his hand on his abdomen a couple times, "You're right, but we can give him a chance. If he does it again, he will be punished along with his sentence."

Wei An smiled with satisfaction and moved closer to rub his shoulders. His strength was moderate, making Hao Ritian feel very comfortable and sigh with contentment. This was a really fantastical day!

Tan Xi and Zheng Yue, who had left the ward, overheard their conversation clearly. After all, the door wasn't shut and the two of them didn't lower their voices, so naturally their words were broadcasted.

Tan Xi coughed, indicating that 'shifty-eyed' Imperial Concubine Zheng could leave.

In his mind, Zheng Yue told himself that the future was long and restrained his temper.

The two didn't leave for long. After all, after the activities period was over, they needed to prescribe medicine to the patients they were in charge of according to their physical condition. This was a daily practice.

After their medication was prescribed, nurses followed behind the doctors with a medicine tray. Thus, four people entered Ward 502.

For psychiatric patients, taking medicine was a big project. If the patient was cooperating, it was alright, but if the patient wasn't cooperative, then it was practically a disaster.

Making the patients eat their medicine was basically the nurses' job, but doctors who were very conscientious would stand by and watch too. They would observe the patient's reactions to make minor adjustments to the next medication according to their current situation.

'Si Ren Psychiatric Hospital' was a very high-grade hospital with doctors whose professional capabilities could stand tests. Of course, they were conscientious of their patients.

The four were, as expected, given the cold shoulder.

"Why have you come again? Do you want to be pulled down and beaten by a plank, or to be slapped?" This time, the one with the most intense reaction was Wei An. But looking at his exhilarated expression, it seemed he was looking forward to this.

Of course, Chief Steward Wei was excited. His majesty said not too long ago that if Zheng Yue committed another offense, he would be punished. His palm was already getting restless.

***