After Chi Qing finished taking his temperature, it was a low-grade fever. He had slight fever symptoms but it wasn’t obvious, so he could be observed for a few more days. Xie Lin temporarily didn’t mention going to the hospital: “Take the medicine first. If it still doesn’t get better in a few days, you’ll have to go to the hospital even if you don’t want to.”
Chi Qing had never been managed by someone like this. If this had been before he lost control, he would have told Xie Lin to scram the moment he said his first word.
However, he was very clear now that he had an ulterior motive.
So he rarely let Xie Lin finish speaking entirely, and very respectfully didn’t retort him: “Oh.”
Xie Lin: “Your ‘oh’ sounds quite reluctant.”
Chi Qing admitted: “Just giving you a perfunctory response.”
Xie Lin pinched the empty water glass and went to the water dispenser to get water.
It was just that when handing over the water, Chi Qing was still not behaving.
Xie Lin sensed that Chi Qing seemed to be constantly rubbing against his hand, and doing it in a very inconspicuous manner. Chi Qing’s fingers were slender, and due to his low-grade fever, his body was a bit hot. His fingertips carried a slight warmth as they very lightly brushed past his knuckles, even though it looked very much like he just accidentally bumped him.
But the number of ‘accidents’ was truly a bit much.
It was an accident when receiving the thermometer, and an accident when receiving the water.
…
The first two times Xie Lin could still consider them accidents. But when he poured a few cold pills into his hand, and Chi Qing accidentally touched his palm again while taking the medicine, he was almost certain it wasn’t an accident.
“You’re not wearing gloves today,” Xie Lin suddenly said after waiting for him to swallow the pills.
Chi Qing was already prepared: “I caught a cold.”
“Hm?”
“Dizzy,” Chi Qing said. “Forgot to wear them when I went out.”
“Forgot?”
“When people are sick, they are always not quite clear-headed.”
Xie Lin wasn’t so easily fooled: “You might forget the gloves, but did you forget your own condition too? From the time you took the thermometer until now, ten minutes have passed. In these ten minutes, you haven’t even gone to wash your hands,” Xie Lin paused slightly here, then immediately continued, “…And you even rubbed against me three extra times.”
“Once or twice can be explained as an accident, but not a third time.”
Xie Lin looked at him while speaking. His tone didn’t actually carry any questioning, and with that voice of his, it was hard to feel like one was being interrogated: “Mr. Chi, you rubbed against me so many times, shouldn’t you give me an explanation?”
“…”
Chi Qing swallowed the medicine, holding the glass in his hand, thinking about how he should respond.
His train of thought actually wasn’t very clear right now. Having not slept for a few nights, his brain was turning slower than usual.
He couldn’t exactly say his germophobia was suddenly cured overnight.
It wasn’t like he was a walking medical miracle.
Finally, Chi Qing put down the water glass and said candidly: “My germophobia is in its terminal stage and incurable. Even if I’m dizzy or have a fever burning up to forty degrees, it’s impossible to have any improvement.”
Xie Lin motioned for him to continue.
And so, Xie Lin was caught completely off guard by the next sentence he heard.
“But touching you doesn’t seem to be that uncomfortable.” Chi Qing said this sentence very slowly. He raised his eyes, looking back at him as he said, “As for why, I don’t know.”
His “I don’t know” wasn’t entirely a concealment.
Because he truly didn’t know why he couldn’t read Xie Lin.
To make these words sound more convincing, Chi Qing incidentally explained the things he had done before: “Also, those few times I poked you before, it wasn’t because of the tablecloth, nor was it because I was drunk. I just wanted to test it.”
Chi Qing finally disclosed: “Last week I consulted Doctor Wu, and he couldn’t explain the reason either.”
This explanation barely convinced Xie Lin: “Stretch your hand out.”
Chi Qing: “?”
Xie Lin: “You said so much, I have to test if it’s true.”
Chi Qing extended his hand from his cuff. That hand, normally always wrapped under black finger cots, was still blindingly pale. These hands rarely appeared in front of others without wearing gloves. Even Ji Mingrui spent years trying to get him to come out for a meal without wearing gloves, let alone touching him—yet this time, Xie Lin touched Chi Qing’s fingers without any hindrance.
Chi Qing didn’t even try to avoid it.
Although they had touched a few times before, those were special circumstances and very hurried, mostly reacting only after letting go.
Chi Qing had just moved his hand away from the glass. At first, Xie Lin was afraid he would be unaccustomed and only touched his slightly cold fingertips. Seeing that he indeed had no reaction, he then closed his grip, holding the half of Chi Qing’s fingers exposed outside his sleeve entirely into his palm.
“What does it feel like?”
Feels very quiet.
But Chi Qing couldn’t say that.
He finally just said: “Feels like nothing.”
“Not uncomfortable? Are you sure you don’t want to punch me right now?”
Chi Qing gave him a cold glance, asking back: “Do you really want to be punched?”
“…No,” Xie Lin said. “Just confirming.”
If Ji Mingrui, who was just despised as “feeling disgusting” last week, had seen this scene of differential treatment, he probably would have vomited three liters of blood on the spot. After mentioning “Doctor Wu,” Chi Qing had found a perfectly justifiable reason for his behavior: He was here for treatment.
This psycho named Xie Lin was suspected to be of certain help to his treatment.
“That’s right,” the next day inside the psychological clinic, Doctor Wu flipped through Chi Qing’s case file and said to Xie Lin, “When we talked on the phone last week, he indeed mentioned this matter to me.”
“This germophobia of his is really hard to treat. I’ve never encountered such a thorny case. Other clients with similar symptoms can discover some psychological causes through communication, but this Mr. Chi is just like you—I don’t know why he resists others touching him, nor do I know the origin of his germophobia. He seems to have a very hard time trusting others. I originally wasn’t holding much hope,” Doctor Wu smiled bitterly. “I was even helping him contact the next, more experienced clinic.”
The consultation room looked exactly the same, except the essential oil burning in the aromatherapy diffuser had changed scents.
Xie Lin sat across from Doctor Wu. His sitting posture didn’t look like a patient; he had his legs crossed, hands folded over them—looking more like a superior who came specifically to listen to Doctor Wu’s report.
Xie Lin strongly disagreed with the phrase ‘just like you’: “The topic is on that Mr. Germophobe, how did it get dragged onto me?”
Doctor Wu: “…Don’t you feel that with our counseling having progressed to this point, it can be said there has been zero progress?”
Xie Lin disagreed: “I think there’s been quite a lot of progress.”
Doctor Wu thought to himself, With the state the two of us are in right now, what progress could there be?
“Coming over every week to listen to you lecture on various aspects of psychological health and safety has given me a new understanding of many things and provided me with quite a few perspectives for thinking,” Xie Lin said. “People’s life pressure is so huge nowadays. Coming over regularly to cleanse the soul is still very necessary.”
Doctor Wu: “…”
Look, after talking for half a day, the words sounded nice, but saying it was the same as not saying it.
His level of understanding of Xie Lin over these years was exactly like this too—he hadn’t managed to pry out any useful information at all. Moreover, when it came to psychology, this person knew even more than he did.
Ever since knowing him, he seemed to have always been like this…
No, there was one exception.
Doctor Wu recalled the situation the first time Xie Lin stepped into this consultation room a few years ago.
At that time, Xie Lin didn’t say anything. He borrowed the resting bed in his consultation room, slept for nearly two hours, and upon waking up, said “Thank you” to him.
Doctor Wu couldn’t remember the exact date, only that it was a winter with heavy snow flying. The streets were covered with a vast layer of white snow. When Xie Lin draped his jacket over his shoulders and went out, a patch of snow fell on his shoulders.
“So now you need me to cooperate with his treatment?” This sentence from Xie Lin snapped Doctor Wu back to reality.
When it came to figuring out people’s minds, Xie Lin rarely missed. Before Doctor Wu could even state his ultimate goal, he had already brought it up first.
Doctor Wu’s idea was indeed exactly this. Although he completely didn’t know the reason, Chi Qing’s germophobia had at least found a breakthrough: “Of course, this depends on your willingness. If you are willing, that would be best. In his current condition, if there is someone who can make him get used to touching, the situation might very likely improve. It’s even possible that ‘special cases’ like you will become more and more frequent.”
“So my advice is, you two can undergo cooperative treatment and try to interact as much as possible.”
The advice Doctor Wu currently gave was suggesting Chi Qing interact more with Xie Lin, while also suggesting Xie Lin help cooperate with the treatment.
Xie Lin still wore the ring when he went out. He pinched that silver band, giving the ring a twirl, and finally said: “I don’t have a problem with it, as long as he isn’t repulsed.”
Every time Xie Lin came to the clinic, he caused a huge commotion. This commotion didn’t mean he did something, but rather that the topics in the mouths of the several receptionists would become exceptionally active, with every three sentences revolving around “Mr. Xie.”
As Xie Lin’s consultation ended, the several receptionists shifted their attention away from the wall-mounted TV in the lobby: “Mr. Xie, the consultation is over? How do you feel?”
Xie Lin smiled at them and said familiarly: “Do you and Doctor Wu know some kind of magic? Otherwise, why do I feel my condition is especially good every time I finish a consultation?”
This was essentially the same meaning as ‘nice to see you’.
The receptionist pursed her lips and smiled, saying shyly: “Then… see you next week.”
While waiting for the reception to drive his car to the entrance, Xie Lin turned his face sideways, his gaze sweeping over the image on the wall-mounted TV. The TV channel was broadcasting a news report, and the topic still revolved around the currently popular case of the ‘bizarre death of a tenant’.
Because the TV was placed in the lobby, so as not to affect customers coming in and out to handle business, the TV was on mute. Only a line of large headline text and the host’s mouth opening and closing could be seen: The case still currently has no progress… We have no way of knowing how the killer broke in, nor how they committed the crime…
The female receptionist noticed Xie Lin’s gaze and followed up with a sentence: “It’s especially scary. I don’t even dare to go back after work at night nowadays. I rent an apartment nearby too, and I always feel the house isn’t safe.”
The female receptionist chatted with Xie Lin for a while. It wasn’t until Xie Lin’s car arrived at the entrance that the female receptionist noticed Doctor Wu, who had been standing beside her since who knew when: “Doctor Wu.”
Doctor Wu teased: “Finally snapped out of it, huh. Usually I don’t see you with so many words to say.”
The female receptionist smiled: “Mr. Xie is quite a friendly person, there are always lots of topics to talk about when chatting with him.”
“I don’t think so,” Doctor Wu held a thermos cup in his hand. Although his understanding of this person Xie Lin still remained at the level of a blank file, he always held an unoptimistic view of Xie Lin. “He’s like a door set with permissions, hiding his mind too deeply. Unless the permissions are unlocked, it’s very hard to read what exactly he is thinking.”
“…”
These words exceeded her scope of understanding. The female receptionist didn’t understand, looking at Doctor Wu with a confused gaze.
“It’s nothing, keep working.”
Doctor Wu sighed and didn’t say anything more. In his heart, he worried about whether the two most difficult clients on his hands could cooperate well with his treatment plan.
