CH 83.2

The night of the engagement ceremony, Li Xiaoxing had a dream. 

He couldn’t remember the details of the dreams too, but the feelings of shock, anger, and frustration continued to linger even after he woke up. On top of that, there was something that felt much more tangible than just the feelings of agitation.

… An intense pain in his legs.

That was what had jolted him awake from his dreams. He had never experienced such intense pain in his legs, even on the day of the accident, more than a decade ago. 

He was already drenched in cold sweat when he woke up. He tried his nudge Ji XInxin awake while trying to get the A.I. digital assistant to call Secretary Fan. 

“What’s wrong? Where are you feeling unwell?” Ji Xinxin immediately got up and asked concernedly. 

“Legs…” Li Xiaoxing moaned in pain, “My legs…”

Ji Xinxin turned to look at his legs in bewilderment. Other than being thinner and fairer than an average man’s legs due to the lack of exercise, nothing looked out of the ordinary. She carefully applied some light pressure on Li Xiaoxing’s leg in a bid to find out more about his pain. “Where does it hurt?”

All she could really feel was his cold skin.

But Li Xiaoxing let out a muffled scream as if Ji Xinxin had just plunged a knife into his flesh.

His extreme reaction made Ji Xinxin leap back in shock. 

It was fortunate that the call with Secretary Fan connected just then. Ji Xinxin hurriedly explained the situation and Li Xiaoxing’s symptoms to him. 

Li Xiaoxing’s medical team immediately rushed to the house, and a series of comprehensive tests were carried out to determine the cause of his pain.

The problem was that the results showed that everything was normal. In fact, Li Xiaoxing hadn’t even regained sensory functions in his legs, which made it even more baffling how he could be feeling pain. 

“Mr. Li might be in excruciating pain at the moment, but it might be a good thing if the pain stimulates his legs. It suggests that he might be slowly regaining sensory function in his lower body,” explained the principal doctor to Ji Xinxin and Secretary Fan. “However, the test results show that Mr. Li’s legs do not respond to external stimuli, which leads us to believe that the pain he’s feeling is psychological.”

“Is it similar to the phantom pain experienced by amputees?” Ji Xinxin asked.

“It’s too early to make any conclusions. We’ll need Mr. Li to follow us to the hospital so we can conduct further tests,” said the doctor. 

“Can you prescribe him some painkillers or tranquilizers first?” asked Secretary Fan. 

Ji Xinxin nervously looked in the direction of the master bedroom.

Despite being more than ten meters apart, she could still hear Li Xiaoxing’s unceasing moans as he battled with the pain. 

“Normal painkillers won’t be effective since the pain is psychological,” said the doctor. “We can try giving him a placebo and see if it can trick his brain into relieving the pain.”

“Thank you,” Secretary Fan thanked the doctor.

“… There’s one more thing I have to ask about.” The doctor hesitated for a moment before continuing, “Mr. Li’s condition had been stable for many years now. For something like this to happen all of a sudden, it is likely that he encountered something that brought him great mental distress. I recommend you to bring in a professional counselor to help Mr. Li cope with his mental stress. It would also be good if you could try to recall any recent events that might have triggered today’s episode.”

Secretary Fan and Ji Xinxin subconsciously looked at each other as the same thought arose in their minds