If you don't want treatment, get out! This doctor has a terrible temper.

Chapter 31 The Musician with Hearing Hypersensitivity

A new notice has been posted on the glass door of Renxin Pharmacy. It was written crookedly by the owner, Mr. Liu, with a brush, and a grinning dog's head was drawn next to it: "Limited to 20 people per day. Scalpers and dogs are not allowed to enter."

His handwriting is ugly, but his attitude is arrogant.

Even so, every day before dawn, the small stools outside the door would stretch from one end of the street to the other, just like a scene from a celebrity concert ticket sale.

Wang Minyu remained unchanged, nestled in the "Truth Chair" he had exchanged for a thousand reputation points, holding his precious stainless steel teacup in his hands, too lazy to even lift his eyelids.

My buttocks feel a little numb from sitting in this chair, but my mind is definitely clear, like I've just had a deep clean.

"Number 13, Shen Jia, right? Go back now. You already have the prescription. Come back whenever you've figured things out." Wang Minyu waved his hand, as if shooing away a fly.

The illegitimate daughter of a wealthy family named Shen Jia, wearing a huge sun hat, was standing in the corner. Upon hearing this, she trembled but did not leave. She simply asked in a low voice, "Dr. Wang, I... can I sit here in your shop? I feel safe here."

"This isn't a shelter," Wang Minyu said in a flat tone. "But if you're willing to spend money to rent a stool, five hundred a day, I won't stop you."

Shen Jia's eyes lit up, as if she had grasped a lifeline, and she immediately pulled her phone out of her bag: "I'll rent it! I'll rent it for a month!"

Wang Minyu: "..."

He realized that he had underestimated the extent to which wealthy people crave security.

Mr. Liu, who was listening nearby, had his eyes light up. He immediately moved a small stool over and thoughtfully provided a bottle of mineral water: "Miss Shen, please have a seat! Please sit down! Just call me if you need anything!"

Wang Minyu, too lazy to pay attention to these two who were both willing to hit and take, shouted outside, "Next, number fourteen!"

A tall, thin man, around thirty years old, squeezed through the doorway. He wore thick-rimmed black glasses and a faded plaid shirt, exuding the decadence and neuroticism typical of artists.

As soon as he entered, before Wang Minyu could speak, he made a "shh" gesture, then carefully closed the door, even stuffing tissues under the door.

"Doctor, keep your voice down." The man lowered his voice, barely louder than a mosquito's buzz. "I can hear the sound of a tire rolling over a leaf on the road outside, and I can also hear the tea leaves unfurling in your teacup."

The store fell silent instantly.

Li Siyuan and Zhao Na, who were sorting medicinal herbs, paused in their movements and even softened their breathing.

Boss Liu dared not utter a sound, afraid that his loud heartbeat would disturb the gentleman.

Wang Minyu raised an eyebrow and sized up the man in front of him.

The system panel pops up as needed.

[Patient: Lin Zhou, 32 years old, Occupation: Music producer/recording engineer.]

Symptoms: Hyperacusis, accompanied by severe tinnitus and insomnia.

[Etiology: Prolonged exposure to a high-decibel work environment led to damage to the auditory nerve. A subsequent recording accident (recording an unwanted sound) caused significant psychological trauma, resulting in dysfunction of the auditory center and an inability to properly filter ambient noise.]

[Pathogenesis Analysis: The kidneys open into the ears; this indicates kidney essence deficiency, water failing to nourish wood, and internal stirring of liver wind. The heart governs the mind; fear and fright injure the kidneys, causing restlessness of the mind, hence the abnormal sensitivity to sound.]

"A musician?" Wang Minyu asked, his voice not loud, but to Lin Zhou it was like a thunderclap.

Lin Zhou's body trembled violently, and he covered his ears in pain: "Doctor, could you... speak in a whisper?"

"No." Wang Minyu slammed the teacup down on the table with a loud thud. Lin Zhou's face turned pale instantly, and he curled up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"You!" Lin Zhou was both angry and scared. He pointed at Wang Minyu, his lips trembling, unable to speak.

"Mr. Lin, right?" Wang Minyu leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs. "You've been to quite a few places for your illness, haven't you? The ENT department at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, the psychology department at Anding Hospital, you even enrolled in a meditation course at Longquan Temple, didn't you?"

Lin Zhou's pupils suddenly contracted.

He never told anyone about these experiences.

The specialist at Peking Union Medical College Hospital said he had nerve-related tinnitus and prescribed medication to nourish the nerves, but it didn't work.

The doctor at Anding Hospital said he had anxiety disorder and prescribed anti-anxiety medication. After taking it, he became sluggish, but the sounds in his ears became clearer.

As for Longquan Temple, he left after less than three days because he found even the sound of the monks chanting sutras too noisy.

"How...how did you know?"

"You smell like the roasted sweet potatoes from that place near Peking Union Medical College Hospital, the unique smell of disinfectant mixed with despair from Anding Hospital, and a lingering, cheap sandalwood scent." Wang Minyu made up lies without batting an eye, since the other person couldn't smell it anyway. "Your illness isn't caused by damaged ears; it's caused by the 'noise-canceling headphones' in your brain. They're now treating all sounds as important, cramming them into your brain without distinguishing between primary and secondary sounds, which is why you're going crazy."

The analogy was exceptionally accurate, and Lin Zhou nodded repeatedly, as if he had found a kindred spirit: "Yes! Yes! That's exactly the feeling! Doctor, then... is there any way to fix it?"

"Yes." Wang Minyu stood up, walked to the door, and opened it.

The hustle and bustle of the city outside rushed in instantly.

Car horns, vendors' cries, children's crying, middle-aged women arguing... all sorts of sounds mingled together, like a pot of boiling stew.

Lin Zhou's face turned pale instantly, and he covered his ears tightly with both hands, squatting down in pain.

"See that farmers' market across the street?" Wang Minyu pointed to the most down-to-earth, yet most chaotic, farmers' market in Changxiang City.

"I...I saw it..." Lin Zhou squeezed out the words through his fingers.

"Go there." Wang Minyu's tone left no room for argument.

"Going...going where? To buy groceries?"

"No, let's go argue."

"Arguing...arguing?" Lin Zhou wondered if there was something wrong with his ears.

"Yes." Wang Minzhou's expression was unusually serious. "Starting tomorrow, you will go to the market at nine o'clock every morning. Find the stall with the most people and have a fight with the stall owner for any reason. It could be because he cheated you on the weight, because his vegetables are not fresh, or even because he is ugly. In short, you must argue, and you must argue until you are hoarse, until everyone in the market comes to watch you."

Lin Zhou stared blankly at Wang Minyu for a full half minute before he reacted: "Doctor, are you kidding me? I can't even stand normal conversation, and you want me to start an argument?"

"Your brain right now is like a highly sophisticated radar, desperately trying to capture every faint signal," Wang Minyu explained. "What you need to do is not to quiet the world down, but to give your radar a more important target. Arguing is the most efficient form of 'target locking.' When all your energy is focused on 'how to win an argument,' your brain will automatically filter out unimportant background noises, such as ants fighting or tea leaves brewing, in order to ensure that the CPU functions properly."

"What...what's this treatment called?"

"This is called 'Market-Oriented Audio Overload and Cognitive Focus Reshaping Therapy,'" Wang Min-yu casually made up a name that sounded very sophisticated. "In short, it's 'swearing.'"

Lin Zhou's worldview was shattered at this moment.

He had heard of drug therapy, psychotherapy, and even electroshock therapy, but "street cursing therapy" was something he had never heard of before.

"What if... I can't get into an argument? I've never argued with anyone in my life," Lin Zhou said softly.

"If you can't get into an argument, it means your illness hasn't reached the point where it absolutely needs treatment." Wang Minyu sat back down in his chair, picked up his teacup, and said, "You can go back to listening to your ant symphony. Come find me again when you feel that arguing with someone is easier than being tortured to death by noise."

He paused, then added, "The consultation fee is 30,000 yuan, cash only. You pay after you win the argument; if you lose, consider it a free social practice lesson."

Lin Zhou stood there, his mind a complete mess.

He looked at Wang Minyu's calm and collected face, and then thought about the living hell he had endured for the past few months.

In the quiet of the night, he could clearly hear the sound of his blood flowing through his veins, the echo of each heartbeat, and even the sound of dust mites crawling on his pillow.

For him, the world had become a torture chamber.

Arguing? Compared to all that torment, it doesn't seem so unbearable...

"Okay." Lin Zhou gritted his teeth, as if making an extremely difficult decision. "I'll give it a try."

He turned and left, his back view desolate, like a condemned prisoner about to be executed.

Inside the shop, Li Siyuan and Zhao Na were completely petrified.

"Senior brother...did I just hallucinate? Did Dr. Wang tell him to...curse in the street?" Zhao Na stammered.

"You're not hallucinating." Li Siyuan pushed up his glasses, his eyes behind the lenses gleaming with a fanatical light. "This is the ultimate application of the 'overcoming emotion with emotion' therapy! The *Suwen* (Plain Questions) states: 'Anger injures the liver, grief overcomes anger.' Lin Zhou's illness stems from 'fear' and 'fright,' which belong to water. 'Anger' belongs to wood, and wood can overcome earth, earth can overcome water… wait, this doesn't seem to match up… but its core idea is to use a stronger emotion to cover up and suppress the original pathological emotion! Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"

Zhao Na was completely confused, only feeling that her senior brother's ability to fill in the blanks had reached a new level.

Wang Minyu listened from the side, and the corner of his mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.

This kid is wasting his talent by not writing a paper to interpret my "nonsense".

He cleared his throat, interrupting Li Siyuan's self-absorbed reverie: "You two, don't collect junk tomorrow either."

The two men's eyes lit up, thinking that they were finally about to learn their true skills.

"Go to the market and keep an eye on Lin Zhou," Wang Minyu ordered. "Record the whole thing, and don't interfere. If he can't get into a fight, you go up and make a fight for him."