The two men stared at the door with trepidation. The man was dressed in ordinary clothes and looked rather young. He was concentrating on something while the two nurses stood aside without disturbing him. One of them asked, “I thought the older you are, the more skilful you get.”
“Don’t worry,” the other nurse explained, “He was introduced by my friend. Apparently, he is the Great Master of Yi Jing‘s favorite disciple. He is young, promising, and doesn’t easily give his assistance.”
The man merely nodded and continued to look around.
Qi Le and Yi Hang heard their conversation clearly and shrivelled up in fear. Against all odds, they had been given a second chance. Was this the end? Yi Hang turned pale and had lost his mind. Qi Le stared at the nurses, “I want to make a complaint. This is a hospital. How can such superstitious things be carried out?”
One of the nurses coughed, “He’s just taking a look, that’s all. Even if this sort of thing wasn’t real, it’s better to cover our bases. Moreover, it’s harmless anyways.”
Qi Le was unmoved, “I don’t believe in it. Take him away now, or I will......” Before he could finish speaking, the man outside the door walked in, heard what he said and stared at him, “You don’t believe in it?”
“...” Qi Le said, “Just continue with what you’re doing.”
He pulled up his quilt, “I want to sleep now. You can’t make any noise to disturb the patient, right?”
Seeing that he was no longer being difficult, the two nurses were naturally happy and invited the Taoist priest inside. Yi Hang covered himself with the quilt as soon as when the man had entered the room. At this moment, only his eyes were exposed as he asked softly, “Is that it? Shouldn’t you try harder?"
Qi Le looked at him coldly, “If you think you can do better, then go ahead.”
Yi Hang immediately shut up. The both of them stared at each other silently, only to hear the Taoist priest say in a solemn tone, “There are too many evil spirits here. Hang a few talismans and make sure there’s one in each room. The evil spirits here will disappear within three days. The small ones are 10 yuan and the large ones are 20. This is a hospital so there’s a heavy bloody aura and a lot of unclean energy present. These talismans will be less effective as time goes on.” He explained patiently, “The small ones can last for half a year, and the large ones will last for a year. Do you want the small ones or the large ones?”
After a discussion, the nurses felt that there were quite a few of them and the talismans didn’t cost much so they replied, “We want the large ones.”
The Taoist priest then took out the talismans, held it in his hand as he muttered a few words and then handed it to them. He picked up a talisman, rolled it into the size of a cigarette, and placed it on the doorframe, “This way, no one will notice it or tear it down."
The nurses paid him and wanted to show him out but the man shook his head, “Put up these talismans, I still have something to do.”
The two nurses didn’t have anything else to say to him so they walked off. At that moment, there were only three of them in the ward. Qi Le and Yi Hang felt their hearts skip a beat. The man slowly turned to look at them and walked over. Yi Hang’s face turned pale while Qi Le pretended to be calm, “What do you want?”
“I saw you hesitating earlier. I know that you actually believe in these things,” the Taoist priest put a piece of paper on his bed. “If there’s anything you need, please contact me.” He turned around and left immediately, not forgetting to close the door behind him.
Yi Hang was shaking under his quilt, “Is that all? Or will our souls be scattered after three days if that talisman remains in our ward?"
Qi Le didn’t answer. He looked at the paper on his bed. There was the word “Master” written on it and string of numbers attached at the back. He picked it up and felt that the paper was very thin and probably had been torn off of somewhere. He turned to the other side and saw a line of words at the bottom. Although it had been torn halfway across, the words written on it were visible – "Are you still having problems with hemorrhoids?"
Qi Le, “......”
Qi Le tore it into pieces and threw it away, “Why do I get the feeling that he’s a bogus shaman?"
“.......Huh?” Yi Hang seemed to see a ray of hope, “Then we shouldn’t have a problem leaving the ward, right?"
“Who knows.” Qi Le stared at the door, looking a little worried, “The nurse was right. It’s better to believe in it just in case.”
“What do we do now?” Yi Hang lost hope again.
Qi Le’s gaze was cool, “Take down the talisman and throw it away.”
“Why do I have to do it?”
Qi Le glared at him, “What do you think?”
“I don’t want to. I’ve been miserable ever since I regained consciousness. I don’t want to disappear like a wisp of smoke.” Yi Hang felt very guilty and couldn’t bear to look at him. He bowed his head and pretended to play with his fingers. Then, he suddenly saw that he was still holding the packet of motherwort in his hand and immediately opened it and poured it into his cup. After drinking it up, he lay down in bed and pretended to be dead.
Qi Le, “......”
They were both trapped in the ward and didn’t dare to walk through the door at all. Qi Le asked, “Where’s the special care nurse?”
“She’s already got off work. The beast said that he would take care of me personally at night so I don’t need special care.”
Qi Le sat on the bed, speechless, “Then get your man to throw it when he comes back.”
Yi Hang thought that this was the only way to get rid of the talisman as well. He silently stayed in bed and waited, but they were out of luck. Mr. Elite had worked overtime tonight so they didn’t even catch the figure of the man until after 9pm. Yi Hang was in tears, “Darling...... can you take that thing off the doorframe and throw it away?”
Mr. Elite looked at the doorframe, thought for a moment, then, grabbed onto thin air and pretended to throw something away. Then, he came back and rubbed his head, “Be good, it’s ok now.”
“...” Yi Hang cried, “Do you think I’m a three year-old?"
Qi Le pursed his lips, “He’s not acting up, there’s really something on it.”
Mr. Elite paused for a moment before carefully feeling around the doorframe. He removed the talisman and unfolded it in surprise, “What is this?”
Yi Hang shivered uncontrollably and narrated what Qi Le had told him to say, “Today, some weird cult came over to preach and stuck some papers everywhere. I’m afraid, so can you get rid of it quickly?"
Mr. Elite heard him say "weird cult" and saw the weird drawings on the talisman. He also thought that it wasn’t anything good so he crushed it into a ball and threw it outside the door. The two men who had been stuck in their room looked like they were granted amnesty and dashed to the restroom.
Mr. Elite, “...”
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