Chapter 1373

Shangguan Haohan’s expression turned nostalgic. "Five years ago, he participated in a competition. After it ended, the driver and bodyguards sent to pick him up couldn’t find him anywhere.

Through various investigations, we discovered he had been kidnapped. We tried everything, but there was no news. It wasn’t until the fifth day of the kidnapping that he appeared at a shop door, covered in blood. The shop owner called the police, and that’s how we found him.

At that time, his emotions were extremely agitated. We had no choice but to ask a doctor to give him a sedative. After he woke up, based on the information he provided, the police caught the kidnappers. One of them had already been killed. He said he did it, but he wouldn’t say how, nor did he dare to recall it. Whenever he tried to remember, his mental state would collapse."

A trace of heartache appeared in Shangguan Haohan’s eyes. "Later, we hired many psychologists to counsel him. Eventually, he stopped thinking about it, but from then on, he refused to eat. At first, he could still drink some porridge, but later, he wouldn’t even eat that. Except for water, he wouldn’t put anything in his mouth."

Shangguan Haohan’s mood grew low, and he sighed deeply. "Not only did he stop eating, but he also stopped sleeping at night. However, he was very good-natured. He didn’t want us to know, so he just lay there with his eyes open silently every night. We only realized he couldn’t sleep when we noticed he was becoming weaker and weaker."

Speaking of this, a glint of moisture appeared in Shangguan Haohan’s eyes. He wiped his face directly, took a deep breath, and continued, "We had no choice but to use some medications to help him sleep, but the effects were poor. We tried every method available—Traditional Chinese Medicine acupuncture, massage, and more—but none could help him get a good night’s sleep."

Shangguan Haohan’s voice choked up as he spoke.

It had to be said that Shangguan Haohan was a very qualified father. He truly loved Shangguan Jiacheng. Thinking of his son, who was so young yet refused to eat or sleep, and who, not wanting to worry his parents, forced food into his mouth only to vomit it out, or closed his eyes to pretend to sleep but still couldn’t rest, his heart ached terribly.

Zhu Yanyi listened to Shangguan Haohan’s words and nodded slightly. This Shangguan Haohan was indeed decent; at least, her love for her son was admirable.

"You’ve worked very hard. Of course, this is also thanks to the Shangguan family’s wealth. Otherwise, with such an illness, she wouldn’t have survived in this world for long," Zhu Yanyi said slowly.

"Little Divine Doctor, what exactly is wrong with my son?" Shangguan Haohan looked at Zhu Yanyi. Now, only Zhu Yanyi could save Shangguan Jiacheng.

"Shangguan Jiacheng suffers from anorexia combined with depression," Zhu Yanyi looked at Shangguan Haohan. "These two conditions are caused by issues with her psychological resilience. If I’m not mistaken, during the period from her kidnapping to her self-rescue five years ago, something must have happened that made her feel disgust and a desire to escape. That is what led to her current condition."

"Is there a cure?" Shangguan Haohan asked.

Zhu Yanyi smiled faintly. "Of course. But first, we need to restore the vitality within her body. Then, I will counsel her. If she subconsciously resists, I will use Traditional Chinese Medicine illusion techniques—commonly known in Western medicine as hypnosis—to hypnotize her and uncover the truth. If that truth truly exceeds her capacity to bear it, I will choose to make her forget. However, the best approach is to help her open this knot from the bottom of her heart and understand it herself."

"How should we proceed?" Shangguan Haohan asked with concern.

"Let’s try getting along first. My golden needles will likely need a few more sessions. During this time, I will use spiritual energy to stimulate his gastric motility and taste buds. He can’t eat other things for now, but he can drink some light soups. His stomach can currently only handle water, so the focus for now is on soups. They should be as clear as possible, like chicken soup. Someone needs to remove all the oil from the top, leaving only the clear broth.

However, since his stomach hasn’t had any food for years, he can’t eat anything with strong flavors yet. He can only eat plain, original flavors. So, do not add any seasonings to the soup."

Zhu Yanyi listed several types of soups she could eat. Basically, they were bland and transparent, like water, but retained their nutrition.

"Thank you, Little Divine Doctor. I’ll have someone go buy the ingredients and prepare them right away." Shangguan Haohan hurried out to find people. According to Zhu Yanyi’s instructions, they could make mushroom soups, such as termite mushroom soup or button mushroom soup, without adding any seasoning. These natural soups were good, so she had people go buy mushrooms and other ingredients to start cooking.

"This child is quite pitiful. So young, and his stomach is almost ruined." Zhu Yanyi returned home and talked about Shangguan Jiacheng’s situation with Yan Aohan while eating.

"Do you really plan to let Doumiao get to know him?" Yan Aohan asked.

Zhu Yanyi nodded. "Shangguan Jiacheng’s IQ is also very high. If it weren’t for this anorexia and depression, she might have become a young university student. So, genius is not unique to one person. As long as this planet keeps turning, geniuses exist all over the world."

Zhu Yanyi picked up a bean sprout with her chopsticks, put it in her mouth, and chewed before continuing, "Doumiao studies with people who are similar to her, so she mostly meets people of the scholarly type. I want her to meet different kinds of people. This Shangguan Jiacheng is a good candidate.

Actually, it’s the same reason as my father’s plan to send him to the military to endure hardship."

Zhu Yanyi took a sip of the soup Yan Aohan handed her. "Doumiao hasn’t suffered much since childhood. I certainly don’t think my younger brother will go astray, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Letting him meet more people and gain more life experience is important."

Yan Aohan nodded after listening. "Then go ahead and do it."

Zhu Yanyi smiled at Yan Aohan. Yan Aohan then served her a piece of silver fish stir-fried with eggs. "Eat some silver fish. It’s nutritious."

Zhu Yanyi also served Yan Aohan a piece of sweet and sour pork. "You eat too."

Yan Aohan smiled slightly. Such warm days were naturally what he pursued, so he ate happily. "There’s new news regarding the toxic medicinal materials. It can now be confirmed that these accelerated-growth materials are man-made. I suspect they are linked to the Madman, but we are still looking for clues."

Zhu Yanyi finished her last bite of rice and put down her chopsticks. "This Madman hides in the Tibetan region and doesn’t come out, yet incidents keep happening one after another. Does she really think that because the roads to the Tibetan region are closed, she can do whatever she wants?"

"Who knows? Regardless, let’s first determine the true situation inside." Yan Aohan stood up to start clearing the tableware.

Zhu Yanyi helped clean up as well, then said, "I wonder when the roads to the Tibetan region will be reopened this year." She felt her patience with this Madman had reached its limit.