Thank you @Renea for the Kofi~
_
For all these years, every psychologist Chi Qing had ever seen had given him advice geared toward a single goal: find ways to have more contact with people.
This was the first time anyone had ever told him:
Don’t touch.
If Dr. Wu heard this, he would probably flip his diagnostic files right then and there out of sheer rage.
After working so hard to treat him to this point, just as a little progress is finally showing… you’re telling him to just stop the treatment?
Chi Qing froze for a moment.
During those brief few seconds while his mind wandered, Jiang Yiyun had already stood up, pushed open the door, and walked out. Clicking her high heels, the woman hailed a taxi, climbed in, and pulled a pack of tissues from her bag to wipe the sweat from her palms.
Only her silhouette could be seen through the car window.
She seemed to let out a long, deep sigh of relief as the taxi started up and drove off toward the school.
An unspoken question loomed vaguely in everyone’s mind:
Could a schoolteacher… really murder her own student so brutally?
The focus of this campus murder case shifted from the high school sophomores back to the class where the deceased had originally belonged. The relevant files on the former Class 1, Grade 10 were quickly handed over to the police. While the suspicion pointed squarely at Jiang Yiyun, this former Class 1 also seemed to harbor some deeply buried, dark secret.
By evening, the sky was gradually darkening.
After finishing a full day of investigation, the two took a car back to their apartment complex. Ren Qin had arranged to meet them around this time to pick up the cat, mentioning that its new owner was coming to take it home today.
As if the cat knew it was about to be sent away, it had been anxiously circling around Chi Qing’s feet ever since he stepped through the door, letting out a soft “meow.”
The cat pressed its body tightly against Chi Qing’s pant leg.
Chi Qing looked down, meeting the cat’s deep blue eyes. He didn’t waver in the slightest just because it was leaving: “You’re shedding. Stay away from me.”
Cat: “…”
Meanwhile, Xie Lin was out on the balcony helping pack up the cat’s belongings—its carrier, litter box, and the little toys it usually liked to play with by itself. There were also a few cat teasers. For its temporary owner, Chi Qing, the cat teasers were barely acceptable; after all, he only had to wave the stick a few times, meaning no object would ever make direct contact with him.
Seeing this, the cat began to meow even more forcefully.
Xie Lin usually bickered with this cat, but at this moment, he felt a rare pang of pity. He said, “It seems attached to you. It’s about to be picked up in a minute, why don’t you say a few words to it?”
Chi Qing took a bottle of water from the fridge, unscrewed the cap, and said, “Cats don’t understand human speech.”
“…”
Xie Lin countered, “Emotions are universal. From a certain perspective, it’s not like it completely doesn’t understand.”
Chi Qing wavered for a couple of seconds, realizing his behavior truly didn’t align with the behavioral patterns of a ‘normal person.’ He had seen several similar scenes play out on TV, so he asked, “Do normal people… usually talk to their pets when they’re being sent away?”
Xie Lin raised an eyebrow slightly.
So, after swallowing a few gulps of water, Chi Qing stared into those deep blue eyes and weighed his words for a moment.
“You…”
Chi Qing wanted to say, “What was your name again?” but caught himself halfway. “I forgot, you don’t have a name. I’ll just skip the address for the opening line.”
Cat: “…”
Xie Lin, who overheard this while packing the cat nest on the balcony: “…………”
Ren Qin would likely arrive with the person any minute now. Chi Qing lowered his head, locked eyes with the cat for a moment, and delivered a very harsh, realistic line: “All good things must come to an end. Between humans and… cats, there will always be a day of parting, sooner or later. You don’t need to read too much into it. Separation is the norm; you will always encounter the next person.”
Cat: “???”
Xie Lin raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, thinking to himself: He really is a master of terrible small talk.
Soon enough, the doorbell rang.
The owner Ren Qin had found for the cat was a short girl in her early twenties. Her hair fell right to her collarbone, and she wore a beige sweater. Her eyes were large with prominent double eyelids; when she saw Chi Qing looking her way, the girl’s eyes crinkled into a smile.
She had a mole at the outer corner of her eye, a feature that instantly drew attention to her eyes.
They were a pair of remarkably clean eyes.
Chi Qing disliked people, but this girl was the type who was very difficult to dislike at first sight.
Chi Qing greeted her coldly, “Hello.”
The girl didn’t speak; instead, she raised her hands and made a few gestures in the air.
Ren Qin explained, “She… her vocal cords were damaged, so she can’t speak. She was just signing ‘hello’ to you.”
So she’s mute, Chi Qing thought to himself.
According to Ren Qin’s explanation, the girl’s name was Yu Lan, and she worked at a convenience store near Ren Qin’s workplace. The two had met during a break. One afternoon, Yu Lan had come to their shop to buy a cake, and because they couldn’t communicate verbally, the two of them had relied on a sheet of A4 paper to chat for a long time.
She was highly attentive and loved small animals.
The natural aura of gentleness radiating from Yu Lan quickly drew the cat, which had still been nuzzling against Chi Qing’s feet a moment ago. As if it had found a soft haven, the cat actively leaned its head into Yu Lan’s palm.
Xie Lin handed over the packed belongings to them, and Ren Qin thanked them repeatedly, “Thank you both so much for this period. I didn’t know before that Gao Gao couldn’t get along with other cats… otherwise, I wouldn’t have taken him from his original owner without asking.”
Xie Lin replied, “It’s fine, we both quite liked him. Plus, he was usually very good and wasn’t any trouble to look after.” Xie Lin turned to Chi Qing as he spoke, “Right?”
This cat was indeed well-behaved, never making a fuss.
Chi Qing gave it his highest praise: “He was alright.”
When Yu Lan carried the cat away, it was nestled comfortably in her arms, but at the very last moment, it suddenly turned its head back.
With a soft “meow-woo,” the cat hooked its paws onto its new owner’s shoulder, straining its head toward Chi Qing’s direction.
Yu Lan looked back as well. The girl blinked, then raised her other hand, making a gentle, mimicking gesture of stroking a cat’s head in the empty air. After finishing the motion, she looked at Chi Qing expectantly.
Xie Lin acted as the translator: “She wants you to pet him.”
Yu Lan nodded.
Chi Qing: “I don’t have my gloves on.”
The man’s cold, pale hands were entirely bare to the air.
Xie Lin: “…Can it even be called petting if you’re wearing gloves?”
Chi Qing ultimately raised his hand. He rarely touched the cat—aside from his mysophobia, his personality was genuinely not suited for keeping pets. He had originally intended to mimic Yu Lan and just go through the motions in midair, but when his hand reached the top of the cat’s head, he paused for a fraction of a second, then pressed his palm down.
…
It was his first time actually touching the cat.
It felt a bit ticklish, but incredibly soft.
Furry, like a ball of cotton, carrying the animal’s natural body heat.
Back when he and Xie Lin had met for the very first time, the psychological clinic’s waiting room had been completely overrun with cats.
Compared to how he felt back then, his state of mind right now had undergone a subtle shift—one that even he hadn’t fully consciously realized yet.
Actually… cats aren’t really that unlikable.
“We’ll be heading out then,” Ren Qin said, waving goodbye. “Oh right, since you guys weren’t around today, the property management came by to give a notice. The power might cut out tonight until around six tomorrow morning. Just letting you know in case you didn’t see it.”
This blackout window happened to coincide with the hours most people slept, so it didn’t disrupt daily life much. The exact moment Chi Qing finished cleaning up and got into bed, the lamp on his nightstand clicked off with a sharp snap.
The entire room was instantly plunged into pitch-black darkness.
Chi Qing lay in bed for a while, completely devoid of sleep.
Then he sat up, leaning his back against the wall, his thoughts drifting to the space right across the wall.
Chi Qing was worried that Xie Lin had been exposed to too many homicide cases lately, and would be left alone over there letting his thoughts run wild at night.
He remembered back when he himself had lost control; no matter how late he went to find Xie Lin, the man was always still awake.
He had literally endured until four in the morning.
How many nights had Xie Lin spent alone like that?
…
What if he loses control?
It was so dark tonight; there was no guarantee what kind of thoughts might creep out.
As Chi Qing worried along these lines, he had no idea that on the other side, Xie Lin wasn’t asleep either.
But Xie Lin wasn’t thinking about the things Chi Qing was currently fretting over.
He was wondering whether Jiang Yiyun’s voice would echo in Chi Qing’s ears tonight after he had crossed paths with her today.
Or perhaps the voice of any other person he had heard in the past.
Would those voices invade his dreams?
…
The clock hands moved agonizingly slow. Just as the hour hand was about to strike 12, Chi Qing threw off his blanket and got out of bed, still intending to head across the hall to see if Xie Lin had fallen asleep.
Yet the moment he reached the entrance and pushed his door open, he heard an identical sound of a door opening from across the hall.
The metal lock gave a sharp clack.
The two men ran into each other in the pitch-black corridor.
Xie Lin: “…”
Chi Qing: “…”
Xie Lin had already showered and was wearing a black shirt, his entire form nearly dissolving into the dark expanse of the hallway. One side of his hair was combed back while the other side loosely fell down, giving him an exceptionally roguish look. He looked remarkably like his “host” styling from the KTV private room that day, except this time he looked like he was here to provide home-delivery services.
Xie Lin cleared his throat softly, “You…”
Chi Qing stood at his doorway and said, “I saw how dark this corridor was, so I came out to take a stroll.”
“…”
Xie Lin could be considered well-acquainted with Chi Qing’s habit of saying the opposite of what he meant: “Speak properly.”
Chi Qing admitted, “I was worried you couldn’t sleep.”
After saying that, Chi Qing turned the question back around: “What are you doing coming out at this hour?”
“I came out for the exact same reason you did,” Xie Lin said. “I was also worried you wouldn’t be able to sleep at night, though I might have had one extra layer of intent than you.”
As Xie Lin spoke, he slowly moved closer to Chi Qing, their two dark shadows almost merging into one.
“I couldn’t sleep alone. Clearly, I’m a man who has a partner now, so letting me sleep alone for such a long time seems a bit uncalled for, don’t you think?”
And so, that very night, Chi Qing—a man with such severe mysophobia that he wouldn’t forget to make Ren Qin change the bedsheets even in the critical moment of capturing a serial killer—exceptionally allowed Xie Lin onto his bed.
The bedsheets were a deep gray, and he could clearly feel a section of the mattress sinking down beside him.
The scent and breathing belonging to another person lingered right by his ear.
Chi Qing found himself even less able to sleep.
He kept his eyes open, calling out Xie Lin’s name into the night: “Are you really okay?”
Xie Lin hadn’t fallen asleep either. Sleeping alone was a bit miserable, but sleeping together wasn’t turning out much better.
After a long while, he opened his eyes without speaking. He slid his hand down along the blanket, tracking by feel to find roughly where Chi Qing’s hand was located, and then placed his own hand into Chi Qing’s palm.
【 I’m fine. 】
【 It’s just that wanting to touch you but having to hold back is a bit agonizing. 】
Chi Qing: “…”
After another interval, as the clock hand turned toward 1, Xie Lin noticed a subtle shift in Chi Qing’s posture, realizing he was still awake.
Resigned to his fate, Xie Lin sat up from the bed.
“Do you have a spare blanket at your place?”
Chi Qing: “A blanket?”
“I’ll sleep on the floor,” Xie Lin said. “If we keep going like this, you won’t get a wink of sleep until dawn.”
Yet right at the final second before Xie Lin could step off the bed, Chi Qing narrowed his eyes, tracking Xie Lin’s silhouette through the pitch blackness, and suddenly grabbed Xie Lin by the wrist: “I can… try a bit harder.”
