Chapter 8: The Syndrome of the Starving Ghost

With a mix of vitality and sorrow, yet also harboring a faint sense of hope and expectation, the two of them left the mourning hall and the spirit tablet, passed through the courtyard, rounded the shadow wall, and finally reached the main gate.

At this sight, Lady Xu was so frightened that her eyes dimmed and her body fell straight backward; had it not been for the old woman beside her catching her, she would have collapsed to the ground.

Master Xu was even more agitated, pointing at Xu Jia and cursing: "What are you! What kind of evil spirit? How dare you disturb my son even after his death!"

Although everyone hopes for their deceased loved ones to return to life, when it actually happens, there is still some fear.

Furthermore, the original body of Xu Jia had breathed its last right before their eyes. What was this thing that had appeared now? How could they not be afraid, not be angry? Xu Jia did not know how to respond; after all, he did not have the memories of this physical body, and if he were to deceive their feelings further, it would be very dishonorable. Yet, he truly needed a place to stay for the time being to recover his body.

The old woman, who was the transformed spotted fox, stepped forward to explain: "Master! This is no monster, he is a living, breathing person!"

She then turned to the surrounding crowd of onlookers and began to tell the story as if she were a storyteller.

"Dear fellow villagers, you tell me, is it strange or not? Is it a coincidence or not? Truly, without coincidence, there is no story; without the strange, there is no tale!"

"The story goes that today, just as the sky was brightening, I picked up a hoe, slung a basket over my arm, and was about to go to the fields to work."

"Passing by the Luanzanggang, seeing the dark, gloomy weeds and the dense shadows of the grave mounds, I couldn't help but feel afraid. I intended to walk past quickly..."

"Suddenly, I heard bursts of calls for help, muffled and deep. I was afraid too! I wanted to walk away, but I don't know why, as if possessed by a ghost, I gathered my courage and asked: 'Who is speaking!'"

She had already left them in suspense.

Someone nearby who was no longer afraid asked repeatedly: "You old woman, why do you stop halfway through your story? It's truly infuriating!"

"Hehe!" the spotted fox chuckled: "Guess what happened?"

"It turned out to be this Young Master Xu calling out to heaven and earth."

"I heard it was a person, and it was daytime, so no ghost would dare to come out, so I walked inside and sure enough, I saw a coffin with someone shouting inside."

"Amitabha, saving a life is better than building a seven-storied pagoda. I used my hoe to pry open the coffin, and it turned out this young master was still alive, having been stuffed into the coffin."

"I asked for his name and only then learned he was the precious son of Master Xu. How pitiful and lamentable!"

The eyes of all the villagers gathered, almost looking as if they wanted to kill Xu Jia.

"But he clearly..." Master Xu wanted to say he was dead, but now the person was alive and well, and given that Xu Jia's death had been strange, it counted as a "sudden death." This made his words get stuck in his throat.

Lady Xu woke up slowly at this moment, stepped forward, first stared fixedly at Xu Jia's face, then suddenly walked behind Xu Jia and brushed up the hair on his neck, and sure enough, saw the mole there.

Only then did she cover her mouth and burst into tears, feeling it was unbelievable. She immediately hugged Xu Jia and turned to look at Master Xu: "Master, he really is our child. The mole on his neck is exactly the same. He is a piece of flesh that fell from my own body; I recognize him!"

"You... are you really my son Xu Jia?" Master Xu's surprise and joy were evident, and the fear and anger in his heart had already dissipated by more than half.

Although the old woman transformed from the spotted fox had taken human form and told a story, she had never experienced such real emotions in her life and was struggling to hold back. Fearing she would reveal her true colors, she followed what Xu Jia had taught her on the road and said: "The young master is likely frightened and has forgotten some things. Master and Mistress should quickly invite a doctor to take a look; we can talk about other things later."

Lady Xu nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes, look at me, I even forgot about that!"

She was just about to invite the old woman into the residence.

But she saw the spotted fox had already walked away without looking back.

There were too many people gathered around; if she didn't leave, she wouldn't be able to hold back her original form. The Yang energy of the crowd was too strong, and it wouldn't be long before it broke the Kuluo Huanhua Famen, revealing her fox tail.

Lady Xu still wanted to send someone to chase her, but she could not catch up to the old woman no matter what.

She had no choice but to greet the people and, together with Xu Jia's floating steps and heavy body, pulled him into the residence, then ordered the servants to set off a string of firecrackers to drive away evil spirits.

Master Xu, being more cautious, wanted to see if the Eight Trigrams mirror hanging in front of the gate could reveal anything. This Eight Trigrams mirror had been hung by a feng shui master when the house was built, said to be able to guard the house and drive away evil, preventing demons, ghosts, and evil spirits from entering.

The Eight Trigrams mirror shone on Xu Jia, but there was no abnormality.

Master Xu then breathed a sigh of relief. They entered together, ordered people to carry Xu Jia to the bed, wash his face and body, and change him out of his death clothes.

After hesitating for a while, he personally dismantled the mourning hall and handed the spirit tablet to the kitchen: "Take this and burn it!"

Waiting for Li Dafu from the town to arrive, he was also surprised to hear that someone had returned from the dead.

When he arrived at Xu Fu and saw Xu Jia, he was even more startled.

He had been invited to see him before; Xu Jia's previous body had clearly been unable to take in water or rice, his heart clouded by phlegm, and he had died after seven days. He had made a diagnosis of "ghost syndrome," which was not something a mortal could treat.

This Li Dafu was also afraid of offending people, so he only hinted vaguely that they could invite a Daoist or a monk to take a look and drive away the evil.

Looking at him now, although his face was like gold paper, as if he were about to die, his appearance still held Vitality. This... could a dead person really return to life? Under the expectant gazes of the entire Xu family, Li Dafu tremblingly felt for his pulse.

Xu Jia's pulse was already very weak, barely audible, much like what Li Dafu had diagnosed before—a thready pulse, with both Qi and blood being deficient.

Looking at his state, dazed and lethargic, it was clearly that he had been starved to this point, damaging the Vitality of his five internal organs.

"Could it be that he was just in a state of suspended animation before, and not suffering from Separated Soul Ghost Syndrome?" This Li Dafu had already begun to doubt his own medical skills.

He didn't feel much about Xu Jia's low body temperature; after all, the body temperature of someone who had been starving for several days was indeed low.

He felt that this matter was somewhat sinister, so it was even harder to speak the truth. He only said: "The young master's pulse is thready and weak. As the saying goes, life hangs by a thread; what I just felt was exactly that thread-like pulse, but the previous phlegm-breath is gone, and he is no longer clouded."

"He only needs to be carefully nursed and slowly return to his diet, and he will gradually improve."

"Then my son, is he...?" Master Xu pulled the doctor outside.

"Is my son still a living person?"

"This... judging by the pulse, he should still be a living person. Although returning from the dead is very rare, the medical classics have recorded cases of people in suspended animation, but... I have never encountered one myself."

"Then what that Daoist said before..." Master Xu muttered.

Immediately, he grabbed Li Dafu's hand: "Please, Doctor, you must nurse my son back to health. My old Xu family has only this one seedling... I beg you!"

Li Dafu sighed: "Whether I write a prescription or not doesn't really matter. He is only starved to this point now; he can be treated without medicine. Every medicine has its toxicity, and his five internal organs are already fragile, so he cannot bear it."

"Quickly boil some hot water, first use warm water to soothe his spleen and stomach, and then you can feed him some rice soup in small amounts. If there is breast milk, that would be even better."

"After eating like this for three days, if he says he is hungry, you can make porridge with millet, add some Chinese yam and red dates, and feed him that for another three days."

"After that, I will come to check his pulse again to see how he is recovering, and then gradually return to a light diet, such as meat broth."

"During this period, avoid greasy or fishy foods; even a little bit will cause vomiting. Remember this, remember this."

Master Xu carefully noted the medical instructions and then worriedly said: "I see his expression is dull and he is lethargic. When he sees me, he doesn't call me father, and when he sees his mother, he doesn't call her mother. Is something wrong here?"

"Perhaps it's from hunger, combined with being sealed in a coffin... it's normal to be somewhat muddled and lethargic," Li Dafu explained: "He has been starving for so many days; an ordinary person would have died of hunger long ago."

(End of chapter)