Daomu Biji: A Thousand Faces

Xie Yuchen had seen many people in his life, so when he looked at Pan Boda’s expression as he was leaving, he knew right away that the other man would agree to perform the surgery. 

Then, the hallucination gradually faded away and his consciousness returned to the ward.

What he had seen just now was so clear that it took him a long time to get used to the ward. He heaved a long sigh of relief.

"What are you thinking about? Why did you question me like that?” The doctor by his side asked him. They seemed to know each other very well.

“I thought you gave me some medicine that made hallucinate,” Xie Yuchen said quietly.

"A concussion can alter your consciousness. Just get some rest.”

"Tu Dian," Xie Yuchen looked at him. "Did you get another promotion?"

"That’s the most cost-efficient way for the hospital to keep me.” Dr. Tu Dian was very young, tall, and stood with a straight back. He had a craggier face than Xie Yuchen, but there seemed to be some similarities between their features.

"This is all just ephemeral. How come a clever person like you can’t pass this level?"

"I just can't. If I do, my life will be even less interesting," Tu Dian examined Xie Yuchen's pupils and found that they were responding appropriately. He then examined the X-ray.

"I have a question. What’s a hemispherectomy?"

"A treatment for epilepsy. The cerebral hemisphere on one side of the seizure focus area is either totally or partially excised while leaving the basal ganglia and thalamus intact," Tu Dian took out a damaged wallet from his pocket that belonged to Xie Yuchen and handed it over. "They found your wallet in the car. After all these years, there’s still not a single photo of anyone in it. All you carry around is a landscape photo. Where on earth did you take this scenic picture and why do you always carry it around with you?"

"How does that treat epilepsy? Can you explain it more clearly? And why are you so interested in my private affairs? You ask me that every time.”

“You’ve been my idol since I was a kid. I'm interested in everything about you," Tu Dian grabbed an apple and began peeling it for Xie Yuchen. “If you remove a portion of your brain, the epilepsy will reach a recovery rate of up to eighty or a hundred percent and your intelligence will also be improved. But this is a destructive treatment used only in severe cases when there’s no other way out. Many people who’ve had the surgery ended up being lethargic for twenty years. It’s an interesting surgery, though. It can help scientists make reverse inferences about a lot of the brain’s functions.”

"How?”

"When you only have a portion of your brain left, the remaining neurons will connect to each other through life stimulation. Your brain can’t reach maximum power at this stage, but over time, it will eventually repair itself and function normally."

"You're talking nonsense."

Tu Dian ate the apple himself. Xie Yuchen thought that he would give it to him, but Tu Dian finished it up rapidly. 

"If the brain tumor becomes half the size of the brain, what kind of problems would arise?"

"Death."

"No exceptions?"

"If it's inside the cranial cavity, the probability of death is extremely high. But if it's outside the cavity… I remember a man in India who had a brain tumor as big as his brain. We called him Calabash brother (1). The excised tumor weighed about four kilograms, but he’s living a good life now. Anyway, the brain can’t be compressed too much. It’s better if the pressure can be distributed. If it can't and the tumor compresses any important areas, then the person will die."

That was similar to what Xie Yuchen had thought. He couldn’t give more details since there wasn’t a specific X-ray for him to refer to, but he continued to ask, "Other than a tumor, what else can grow in a person's brain that would still look like a tumor?"

"Crap." When Tu Dian said this, Xie Yuchen rolled his eyes. "You're fine now,” Tu Dian continued, clearly wanting to leave. “Just sleep for a few days. You don't need to know so much just for a concussion.”

"One last question."

"What?"

"I just saw some hallucinations. It’s not something I’ve experienced before, but it was very real. Are concussions usually like this?”

"The things you saw must’ve already existed in your brain. They’re either in your consciousness or subconscious. What you saw might have been some conclusions you reached in your subconscious," Tu Dian said. "Your subconscious may have already figured out the things that you didn’t think you could figure recently.”

Xie Yuchen stared at the ceiling as Tu Dian started walking out. "Any thoughts on the cooperation I mentioned to you before?" Tu Dian asked after taking a few steps. 

"If I don't cooperate with you, will you poison me?"

"No."

"Then I won't cooperate with you."

Tu Dian smiled, "I’ll keep publicizing you."

"Remember to go home and visit the elders."

"That's your home. You're the head of the Xie family."

Tu Dian was already far away at this point. As Xie Yuchen watched his retreating back, he noticed that the other man had already grown taller than him. The haze that the two of them had faced together when they were young had already become a distant past. He was no longer the same person he was back then.

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TN Notes:

(1) Calabash Brother: A cartoon character from the Chinese animation TV series, Calabash Brothers. There are seven of them in the animation, and they were born from calabashes (aka bottle gourds).

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