Discharge

The commotion at Kangning Hospital soon subsided.

Qian Fu was locked up. For the time that followed, Li Huowang never found another needle in his food.

Which, of course, proved that the needles in his meals had been planted by him.

Eating, taking medicine, watching TV, mutual-help group sessions, talk therapy, outdoor time, sleeping—that was just about the entire range of options in a psychiatric hospital.

And so, without incident, two months slipped by. The only real problem was boredom.

During that time, his mother and Yang Na both came to visit him. When they learned that he really hadn't had any more episodes, they were both overjoyed.

One morning, Li Huowang sat in his hospital room, quietly waiting for the instant noodles in the bucket to soften.

A psychiatric hospital naturally wouldn't provide cup noodles—braised beef flavor. He'd just mentioned it once when Yang Na visited last time.

The next time she came—like a jail visitor—she brought him a whole case.

Just as he'd waited three minutes and lifted the lid, a familiar face appeared in the doorway. "Yi Donglai. You finally came."

"I have a lot on my plate. I'm your former primary physician, not your personal nursemaid."

"Besides, I keep in regular touch with Dr. Wu. I stay updated on all your developments."

"Looks like you're recovering pretty well." Yi Donglai sat down on the edge of the bed and watched Li Huowang eat his noodles with the folding fork.

"Not bad. Been here three months now. I've adapted to pretty much everything." Li Huowang took a sip of the broth.

"You sounded pretty urgent over the phone. How about now? Still urgent?"

At that, Li Huowang swallowed the noodles in his mouth, thought about it seriously, and said with some hesitation, "How do I put it… As time passes, those memories are getting blurry. I'm not so sure anymore whether they were delusions or real things that happened."

He had done things—but in the real world, they hadn't happened. The only possibility seemed to be that the problem was with himself.

But Li Huowang knew: he wasn't sick.

Yi Donglai nodded in approval. "Since you started the new medication, has that kind of thing happened again?"

"No." Li Huowang went back to eating his noodles.

Since it had only happened once, he decided to keep an eye on it. If it never came back, then he didn't want to dig any further. He would just treat it as a bizarre, vivid dream.

Just then, Wu Cheng walked in from outside. He leaned in and whispered something to Yi Donglai. The two of them stepped out of the room together to talk in private.

They were out there for at least half an hour, and made several phone calls during that time.

When Yi Donglai came back into the room, he was holding a tablet. "Here, Huowang. I need you to do some questions."

"Questions?" Li Huowang took the tablet and looked at the multiple-choice questions on the screen.

I often insist that others do things my way, and get angry when they go against my wishes.
Yes?
No?

I'm never comfortable letting others handle things; I'd rather do everything myself.
Yes?
No?

I'm frequently troubled by thoughts that pop into my head for no reason.
Yes?
No?

Looking at the questions, Li Huowang lifted his head and stared at Yi Donglai, a hint of excitement creeping into his voice. "Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory? Or the SCL-90? If you're giving me these tests, does that mean—if all the scales come back normal—I can be discharged?"

Yi Donglai looked a little surprised. "You know quite a bit about this stuff. Just do the questions first. This is only the first test."

At those words, Li Huowang steeled himself with full concentration and began answering the questions. His fingers were even trembling slightly. He was finally getting out!

He filled them out very carefully. Then came more tests—various assessments, even hooking him up to machines to check for abnormal brain activity.

After all that fuss, they told him to go back to his room and wait.

That period was excruciating. Li Huowang finally understood what it meant to feel like a day lasted a year.

Finally, when Wu Cheng walked in and unlocked the handcuffs from his wrists, Li Huowang's eyes practically teared up. He was really being discharged.

But as soon as the cuffs were off, a device that looked like a black electronic watch was locked onto his left ankle.

"What's this?" The joy in Li Huowang's heart dropped a notch.

"Given the scale of your previous outburst, a year of electronic monitoring is getting off easy."

"So it tracks my location all the time?"

"Not just tracking—it restricts you. The device is constantly connected to the network. Once you're out, you can't come within five hundred meters of any school—kindergarten, elementary, middle, or high school."

"If you stay in that zone for more than five seconds, it automatically alerts the nearest police station. Even if a doctor says you're fine, that won't help you." Yi Donglai explained the limitations of the device.

"And don't even think about taking it off. If it's damaged, or if it stops detecting your pulse, it will alert."

"When you get home, don't wander. Strictly speaking, you're not completely free yet. You need two months of home treatment to stabilize your condition."

Li Huowang nodded in understanding. It seemed the restrictions were because of what he'd done before.

Even after being discharged, he was still hemmed in by all kinds of rules.

But as long as he could go out as a normal person, he didn't care how many restrictions there were. At least he was out.

"Li Huowang, remember: you must take your medication on time after you leave. Don't stop for anything. Come on, your parents are waiting at the main entrance."

"Yang Na isn't here?"

"For routine discharges, we only notify immediate family. Hurry up, they're already here."

Accompanied by Yi Donglai and Wu Cheng, Li Huowang shed the blue-and-white striped hospital gown and changed into normal clothes.

The first time Sun Xiaoqin saw Li Huowang in ordinary clothes, she wept with joy.

Beside her, Li Jiancheng, holding their things, seemed to be trying to keep his composure—but his trembling hands betrayed his emotions.

When Sun Xiaoqin, still crying, turned and started to kneel to Yi Donglai, everyone scrambled to stop her.

"Come on, Sister Sun, don't do that. Get up, get up. I was just doing my job."

After a flurry of activity, Li Huowang finally walked out of the hospital.

The moment he stepped outside, he looked up at the white clouds in the sky. He had never felt that clouds could be so beautiful, that the air could be so fresh.

—