Chapter 161: Chapter 151: Awakening

After about half an hour, Xiao Man’s herbal decoction was nearly ready. Four doctors, all said to be renowned practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine in Beijing, arrived one after another and gathered in the hospital room. Ranging in age from forty to seventy, they were true veterans of their field.

Following Xiao Man’s instructions, Old Mrs. Gu had urged them to make a decision quickly, as there wasn’t much time. The doctors reviewed the prescription Xiao Man had written, conferred with each other for two or three minutes, and decided there were no major issues, giving their approval. Then, they crowded around the young girl for a spirited "discussion," which was really more of an interrogation. One of the younger doctors even offered himself up, letting Xiao Man demonstrate her school’s acupuncture technique on him with a silver needle. In the end, the famous doctors reached a conclusion: the child was clearly the disciple of an expert. Her acupuncture technique alone was proof enough, though her theoretical knowledge was not yet deep and she lacked practical experience. She still needed more training... When they also learned that Xiao Man’s master had passed away and that she was looking for a school to continue her studies, they all stared at her like wolves eyeing a piece of meat, their eyes gleaming.

Old Mrs. Gu couldn’t care less what the famous doctors were thinking. She pressed them repeatedly, and upon hearing that they thought it was worth a try, she waved her hand decisively. "Then what are you waiting for? Get ready and begin immediately!"

The silver needles Xiao Man had used for the demonstration were just the ordinary kind commonly found in hospitals. To perform acupuncture on Mr. Gu, she took out the set of golden and silver needles gifted to her by Elder Sun. When these two distinctive sets of needles were laid out for all to see, the doctors’ eyes went wide. The oldest among them gasped in a low voice, "Imperial Doctor Sun! So she’s a disciple of the Sun Family!"

Xiao Man kept her head down and remained silent as she worked, but in her heart, she retorted, ’I’m only posing as a disciple of Imperial Doctor Sun. I can use the Sun’s Acupuncture Technique, but when different people use the same technique, the results are very different!’

By supplementing the needling with a thread of True Qi, the effects would be immediate!

Xiao Man’s needling was swift. Sometimes she inserted three silver needles at once, sometimes five. Her hands moved in a fluid, dazzling motion, leaving the famous doctors dumbstruck—to say nothing of Old Mrs. Gu. To maintain absolute silence during the procedure, Zhou Hui Lan, Gu Shaozhen, and the others had all been sent out of the room. Even Old Mrs. Gu had to sit in a distant corner to prevent her from making any sudden noises if she saw Mr. Gu covered in needles like a porcupine.

The needling was completed in half an hour. She didn’t leave the needles in for long—only for the space of three breaths before removing them.

Perhaps it was due to Mr. Gu’s extraordinary willpower, but he didn’t need the full hour Xiao Man had mentioned. The moment the last needle was removed, he opened his eyes. They darted around, scanning the people gathered by his bed before his gaze settled on Old Mrs. Gu’s face. In a hoarse but clear voice, he called out, "Old woman?"

Tears of joy streamed down Old Mrs. Gu’s face. She quickly took the half-bowl of herbal decoction Xiao Man had poured and began to feed it to Mr. Gu.

Zhou Hui Lan, Gu Shaozhen, and the others who entered afterward all rushed forward, calling out "Dad" and "Grandpa." Mr. Gu was able to call each of them by name.

When he saw Gu Shaoqin and Xiao Man standing next to each other, Mr. Gu’s brow twitched. "Shaoqin, is this a friend of yours? She looks a little familiar. Where have I seen her before?"

Gu Shaoqin smiled. "Grandpa, you must be mistaken. I’m sure you’ve never met her!"

"Brat, your grandpa isn’t senile yet! You, little girl, tell me, which family are you from? I’ve met you before, haven’t I?"

Xiao Man just smiled. Old Mrs. Gu wiped her eyes and said, "Alright, old man, you just can’t sit still. You just woke up. You should rest and recover your Essence, Qi, and Spirit!"

The old traditional Chinese medicine doctors, along with the hospital director and members of the treatment team who had rushed over upon hearing the news, stood by and watched. Seeing a man who had been confirmed to be in a coma for days after a stroke suddenly wake up and chat idly as if nothing had happened—his mind clear, his eyes sharp, and his speech perfectly articulate—left every single one of them utterly flabbergasted and speechless with amazement.

When Mr. Gu learned he had been lying in bed for four or five days, he immediately asked for the date. Upon getting an answer, he demanded to get out of bed and leave the hospital, not feeling anything wrong with his body at all. When Old Mrs. Gu had her grandsons try to stop him, he called over his own security detail, who helped him out of bed. He took a few steps, and he was perfectly fine!

The director and the doctors hurried to negotiate with Mr. Gu: if he would just let them examine him first, and if he had truly recovered as much as it seemed, then leaving the hospital wasn’t out of the question!

And so, he was subjected to a battery of tests, from the traditional doctors taking his pulse to examinations with modern instruments. Amidst Mr. Gu’s roaring and impatient demands, they finally managed to finish. The renowned medical authorities didn’t even have time to hold a proper meeting; they simply reached a consensus on the spot: there didn’t seem to be any major problems. If he wanted to leave the hospital, then let him leave!

Once it was confirmed that Mr. Gu would be discharged, Xiao Man took advantage of the chaos and had Gu Shaoqin lead her away. She was well aware of what the look in those doctors’ eyes meant. She was in no mood and had no time to deal with them right now. ’Better to slip away before they have a free moment,’ she thought.

Gu Shaoqin was still too young to drive, so after leaving the hospital with Xiao Man, they took a bus directly back to the Gu family’s home.

Zheng Shaolian had once described the Gu Family Mansion to Xiao Man, and on the bus, Shaoqin told her more: the ancestral home of the Gu family was in a district filled with private residences and few high-rise buildings. The entire street was almost exclusively composed of siheyuan, traditional courtyard homes. Some had been renovated, with small Western-style villas built within their Chinese-style courtyards. The Gu family’s ancestral home, however, had retained its original appearance. It was a large, two-entry siheyuan with smaller side-courtyards and gardens, covering a vast area. Its buildings were tall, spacious, and bright, full of antique charm and a sense of great age.

They got off the bus on a main street and walked about two hundred meters down a wide, straight alley. Gu Shaoqin knocked on a large, vermilion gate, then pulled Xiao Man inside. After they rounded a magnificent, imposing spirit screen with relief carvings, Xiao Man stopped in her tracks. Gu Shaoqin gave her a knowing smile and said reassuringly,

"It seems a bit complicated at first, but after you’ve walked through it a few times, you’ll be able to find your way around as long as you can tell north from south and east from west!"

But Xiao Man wasn’t worried about getting lost. In fact, she had noticed something peculiar about this residence.

’It actually has an Array!’

At Xiao Man’s current level of Cultivation, she couldn’t yet craft her own Magic Artifacts to set up an Array. She could only use pre-existing Magic Artifacts to mechanically lay out simple defensive formations. But just by looking, she could at least tell when one was present.

The Array at the Gu Family Mansion was not a recent creation. It looked to be at least three generations old, likely set up by Mr. Gu’s father or grandfather. Over several generations, the house and courtyards must have undergone repairs. If someone didn’t know the secret, they could have easily broken the Array by moving a hidden Magic Artifact during renovations. The fact that it had been perfectly preserved to this day meant that the ancestors had left specific instructions, which their descendants had followed carefully.

However, the Array was ancient. The Magic Artifacts had been corroded by the elements, some covered in dust and moss, but the younger generations didn’t know how to replace or maintain them. Or perhaps they had never encountered an expert from beyond the mortal world who understood such things. The Array had already lost its effectiveness. But, as the saying goes, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Its structure was still present, and its imposing aura alone was enough to deter some malevolent spirits.

Gu Shaoqin had only shown Xiao Man about half of the Gu family’s ancestral home when Mr. Gu returned. As the group entered, the entire courtyard came alive with activity. Soon, a staff member ran up to Gu Shaoqin and Xiao Man to tell them, "Brother Tang is here. The old leader wants to see you."

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