23. Something Does Not Add Up
The sky brightens up as the dark clouds fades away with the arrival of the morning dews which quickly settle as wet liquid.
Two hems walk on the bushy road with quickened steps as the dews soaked into their robes.
They were in a hurry to go and give a report to their leader after coming to the Wu Village to confirm the rumours circulating around.
It was said that the late General Chen Wang's son who had mysteriously gone missing five years ago has return.
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In the middle of the living room, Chen Yan has finished going through the documents that the may Prince had given him which were supposedly his.
Technically, these are for the host's body and that makes no sense to Yue Yan.
What's in his hand shows that the host body is a very wealthy person. Something does not add up.
How can this person have so much wealth available yet he had to suffer like that? Yue Yan doesn't believe that even his father, Dada Chen would've ever come across such wealth before.
How did the son hide it from him? Is that even possible?
How can someone with this much wealth be able to hide it without his family knowing? And one that is mentally challenged at that?
Yue Yan was now so sure that there was a mistake somewhere on the part of these new acquaintances of his.
Perhaps he and their missing friend are doppelgangers and bear the same name?
"Ahh.", he massages his forehead with his thumb. He's been having these severe headaches before the funeral but they're only getting worse by the day.
He placed the documents into a file and got up to go to Li Zicheng's study to let him know that he is not the Chen Yan on these documents.
"Ahh!", he winced in pain as he collapsed on the corridor.
A servant who helps around the house saw him and screamed as he rushed to his side.
Zicheng was talking to some of the villagers at the gate when he heard the scream, so he excused himself and went back in to check on what that was about.
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It turns out that, the funeral that Yue Yan performed for his late family has become the talk of the town and some who heard that he had returned, have been coming to the guild to check for themselves.
With his inability to recollect his memory and him just having to bury his late wife and their two kids, Zicheng didn't think that it was wise for him to see these villagers,
So he has been sending them away since the funeral.
After he excused himself and ran inside, an elder among the villagers pointed to one young hem to follow Zicheng and see what was happening inside the house.
He then calmed down the others with him as they patiently wait.
The reason most of them are there is not only based on sheer curiosity. The late General and his son were of great help to most of these villagers.
When he was gone, they had pushed their governor to send a collectively signed petition to the King in the capital.
After several trials, the King caved in and sent the chief superintendent of police, who dispatched his men for the search, but they stopped searching for him after a month of no results.
The villagers did not lose faith and continued to search the other towns and villages on their own but after a year of no results,
they too quit their search and from there went on with their lives, though for some, it felt like their only hope in this life has been taken away.
Today, they are here, more with the hope that he is indeed their Chen Yan, the son of General Chen Wang.
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The hem, Yijian, who was made to follow Zicheng helped him to carry the collapsed Yue Yan into his room, while the servant went and called the physician.
"He must be under much stress but his body is too weak for a hem. Has he been sick for a long time before? Because it still looks like his body hasn't healed yet.", the physician said.
"I really do not know. We lost him for some years and found him only recently. He seems to have forgotten about many things too." Zicheng responded.
"Okay. Then do find out from him what happened. It could be that he might have suffered a lot and his brains are making him forget things to enable him cope.
He may be a hem, but do not allow him to overwork himself or to think too much. If he keeps having these episodes, his body would give up on him.",
The physician brought out some medicines from his bag and wrote down some prescription before handing them to Zicheng.
"Boil each pack with two cups of water and let him drink four table spoons three times a day. This will be enough for now. I'll come and check up on him in a week."
Li Zicheng took the medicines and thanked him. He left the room to allow Chen Yan rest.
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"How long has he been like this?" The elder who had sent Yijian earlier asked Zicheng as he got back to them, still at the gate.
Zicheng didn't want to answer that since there were others there too. "Please, as you can see, he is still recuperating.
This is why I do not think that it is right for you to see him now. Can we all be patient and let him get well first?
I'll be sure to inform the village head once he is okay to receive visitors please." Zicheng said and with that the group left together with Yuan.
Zicheng Sighed. How is Chen Yan going to handle all this pressure when he hasn't even recovered his memories?
Will he still continue to do those philanthropic works for the people as he used to before going missing that organisation has already collapsed during his time away?
"Ah, whatever." Zicheng said and shook his head as he couldn't do anything about Yan's situation anyway.