Chapter 694: What Do You Like

Chapter 694: Chapter 694: What Do You Like

Hearing Li Xu’s diagnosis, Cui Guanghui felt a great weight lift from his shoulders. His eyes glimmered with hope. "Brother Li, what is this ’cure for the mind’ you mentioned? Do you have a specific method?"

"I noticed earlier that Aunt Shen was constantly rolling a string of rosewood prayer beads in her hand. Is she a Buddhist?"

Instead of answering directly, Li Xu asked Cui Guanghui a question.

"You couldn’t really say she’s a believer."

Cui Guanghui thought for a moment before replying, "My parents’ generation mostly takes a ’better to believe it just in case’ attitude toward Daoism and Buddhism. They don’t normally burn incense or pray, so they aren’t very devout. But recently, my mom has been constantly agitated and living in fear. An uncle of mine who’s in business went to Mount Wutai to get a string of prayer beads for her. He said they were blessed by an eminent monk and could ward off evil and calm the spirit. My mom just uses them as a psychological comfort, turning them over in her hands whenever she’s idle."

"If that’s the case..."

Li Xu gently tapped his fingers on the table. "I might have an idea."

"What is it? Brother Li, tell me, quickly."

Cui Guanghui asked anxiously.

"Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Allow me to go back and work out the details first."

Li Xu stood up, deliberately keeping him in suspense. "This kind of Psychological Therapy requires the perfect alignment of time, place, and people. The plan must be flawless so she doesn’t see through it. Otherwise, if she becomes resistant, we’ll lose our chance completely. Once I’ve thought it through and perfected the plan, I’ll give you a call."

’Right now, Li Xu did have a preliminary framework in mind. It involved leveraging her psychological dependence on the prayer beads and combining it with the traditional Chinese medical technique of "shifting the spirit to transform the qi."’

’But the specific implementation—what props to use—still required careful deliberation.’

"Oh, come on, Brother Li. Leaving me hanging like that... you’re doing this on purpose so I won’t be able to sleep tonight, aren’t you?"

Cui Guanghui said, his face a mask of distress.

"Haha, don’t worry, I won’t make you wait too long. I’ll call you after I get off work tonight. I guarantee I’ll have a satisfactory plan for you."

Li Xu patted his shoulder with a smile.

Then, he and Ding Kaifang took their leave of Cui Guanghui.

"It’s almost noon. My mom just specifically told Nanny Lin to make a few extra dishes so you could stay for lunch."

"You can’t leave before you’ve even finished your tea," Cui Guanghui urged. "My mom will start to overthink things and assume she wasn’t a good host."

"We can’t. Since we’re here for a ’house call,’ we have to play the part completely. It’s more natural for friends who are just dropping by to stay for a little while and then leave. If we actually stayed for lunch, it would seem too deliberate. Please say goodbye to Aunt Shen for me."

Li Xu gave a wave and walked out of the villa with Ding Kaifang.

Back in Feng City, Li Xu declined Ding Kaifang’s lunch invitation. He didn’t go to the clinic, either, heading straight back to his "new home"—a spacious apartment—to rest.

At noon, Song Sisi came home from work, bringing takeout from Li Ji’s—Li Xu’s favorite roast goose.

After eating, the two of them relaxed on the sofa.

Li Xu suddenly turned his head to Song Sisi, who was scrolling on her phone, and asked out of the blue, "Sisi, let me ask you something. What do... you women... like to look at most?"

"What do women like most?"

Song Sisi clearly misunderstood him, thinking he was planning something romantic.

She put down her phone, her face blooming into a smile as her eyes sparkled at him. "Are you going to buy me a present? Hmm... if it’s for me, then a handbag would be nice. Or jewelry, makeup, things like that. As long as it’s from you, I’ll love it."

Seeing the hopeful look in her eyes, Li Xu didn’t have the heart to shatter her fantasy, so he went along with it. "Alright," he said with a smile. "Once things calm down, we’ll go to the mall. Whatever you like, we’ll buy it. I’ll get you as much as you want."

"You promised!"

Song Sisi happily planted a kiss on his cheek.

"But what I actually wanted to ask was..." Li Xu steered the conversation back on track. "What about older women, say, someone in your mom’s age range? What kind of special hobbies do they usually have? I mean... the kind of thing they could just stare at for ages and never get tired of looking at?"

"Stare at something for ages?"

Song Sisi paused. "And it has to be someone my mom’s age?"

’Her train of thought was already heading off on a tangent.’

’Is Li Xu preparing to meet my mother?’

’Is he planning to give her a big gift to win her over?’

"Do you even have to ask? Gold, of course."

Song Sisi said with absolute certainty, "My mom loves big gold bracelets, especially the heavy, traditional ones. If you gave her one, she’d wear it and stare at it for days on end, turning it over and over without ever getting tired of it."

Li Xu couldn’t help but chuckle after hearing her out.

’What Sisi said was true, of course.’

’For an ordinary person, a big gold bracelet would be a treasured possession they’d admire every single day.’

’But who was Shen Wen?’

’The wife of the chairman of Guangshun Group!’

’Her family’s net worth was in the tens of billions!’

’To Shen Wen, a gold bracelet or a diamond necklace was probably about as exciting as a piece of red string to an ordinary person. It wouldn’t hold her interest, let alone command her undivided attention.’

Yes,

Li Xu was asking Sisi about things that could hold a woman’s gaze because he was searching for a "medium" to treat Shen Wen’s illness.

The core of the Zuyou Skill, as described in the *Suwen’s* "Discourse on Shifting the Spirit and Transforming the Qi," was to divert the patient’s attention. The goal was to pull their mind from the abyss of fear and refocus it on an object that resonated with them and provided a sense of security.

Li Xu already had a general therapeutic approach, but he hadn’t yet decided what to use as the medium for "stabilizing the mind."

It had to be something she genuinely loved, something she was knowledgeable about, and something she could truly lose herself in.

After lunch, Li Xu picked up his phone and sent a message to Cui Guanghui.

"Guanghui, besides the prayer beads, does Aunt Shen have any other particular hobbies? For example, does she like collecting antiques? Or is she interested in calligraphy or traditional painting?"

Cui Guanghui replied instantly: "Brother Li, you’ve hit on something. My mom doesn’t know much about antiques, but she does love calligraphy."

"When my maternal grandfather was alive, he was a calligrapher of some renown in the province. My mom grew up watching him and practiced for a few years herself. Back then, whenever my grandfather finished a new piece, he would often ask for her opinion on it. It’s one of the few refined hobbies she still has."

"Calligraphy?"

Li Xu stared at his phone screen, lost in thought.

"Alright, I understand. Let’s meet tonight. I’ll tell you how we’re going to treat your mother’s illness," Li Xu replied.

"That’s wonderful! Thank you, Brother Li! I’ll make the arrangements for tonight."

Cui Guanghui sent back an emoji of a face crying with joy.

...

That afternoon, Li Xu had just taken off his white lab coat after work when, right on schedule, his phone rang. It was Cui Guanghui.

"Brother Li, I’m waiting for you at the hospital entrance. You’ll see my car as soon as you come out the main gate—it’s the one with the hazard lights on."

"I could have just taken a cab. You didn’t have to come all this way to pick me up," Li Xu said politely.

"Nonsense. You’re my guest of honor."