【Mr. Xie is so handsome! I haven’t seen him in a long time—I wonder if he has a girlfriend.】
A flood of voices suddenly erupted in Chi Qing’s ears. Their sources spanned the entire clinic, ranging from the chatter of the staff to the voices of clients in the neighboring consultation room. Out of every ten sentences spoken by the staff, eight were about Xie Lin.
【Even though I really like Mr. Xie, the distance between us is just too vast…】
【Mr. Xie…】
“…”
Interspersed among these were other topics of conversation: 【That stunning beauty in sunglasses who came to our clinic yesterday—I was wondering why she looked so familiar! I just scrolled past her on Weibo and remembered: isn’t she the popular celebrity, Yin Wanru? Being an entertainer nowadays really is a high-risk profession. She looks so bright and cheerful on variety shows, but who knew she had psychological issues too? Speaking of which, our clinic has consulted for quite a few celebrities…】
As the voices gradually multiplied, it became difficult for Chi Qing to make out what they were actually saying. The voices overlapped and tangled together, creating a staggering level of noise.
Seeing that Chi Qing hadn’t spoken another word after eating the chocolate, Xie Lin noticed the long, stray locks of hair falling over the young man’s forehead. The look in Chi Qing’s eyes grew increasingly dark, as if he were shrouded in an impenetrable mist. “What’s wrong? You don’t like it?”
Chi Qing still remained silent.
Xie Lin had witnessed this situation once before back at the bar, when the two of them had accidentally swapped glasses.
Xie Lin waved a hand in front of Chi Qing’s eyes and casually threatened, “If you don’t speak, I’m going to touch you.”
He originally thought this phrase would rattle Chi Qing, a perpetual mysophobe. Chi Qing did move, but the turn of events was completely different from what Xie Lin had anticipated: Chi Qing removed one of his gloves and reached out to touch Xie Lin’s hand directly—Xie Lin hadn’t pulled his hand back, keeping his fingers spread open right in front of Chi Qing’s eyes.
“I’m dizzy,” Chi Qing touched him quite naturally this time, feeling no psychological burden whatsoever as he made up an excuse: “I can’t stand straight.”
Unlike the first time when he had been awkward and hesitated for ages just to send a text message, Chi Qing found himself surprisingly composed.
Anyway, they had already touched so many times.
One more time wouldn’t make a difference.
As Chi Qing spoke, Xie Lin caught a faint whiff of a very sweet alcoholic scent. Stunned for a moment, Xie Lin turned his head and asked Dr. Wu, “What did you give him to eat?”
Dr. Wu replied, “Chocolate.”
Xie Lin said, “I know it’s chocolate. I’m asking you what varieties are in that pile.”
“…There are all kinds of flavors in there, so I don’t know which one he picked either.”
Xie Lin asked directly, “Are there liquor-filled ones?”
“Yes,” Dr. Wu nodded at the mention of this, saying, “Selected fine brandy with a smooth, distinct texture. Did he get one? Tastes pretty good, doesn’t it?”
Xie Lin: “…”
What Chi Qing had eaten was almost certainly that very thing.
Xie Lin regretted urging Chi Qing to grab one earlier. Who could have guessed that out of a whole pile of chocolates, there would be liquor-filled ones, and Chi Qing just happened to pick it? What you fear most really does come to pass.
In the end, before leading the “unable to stand straight” Chi Qing outside, Xie Lin rarely dropped his smile and spoke with utmost seriousness to Dr. Wu: “He’s allergic to alcohol. He can’t touch a drop.”
When the two walked out, several receptionists were huddled together chatting.
Chi Qing had heard earlier that their topics were entirely about Xie Lin. But the moment he touched Xie Lin, his ears fell dead silent. Aside from normal conversation, he couldn’t hear any inner thoughts now, so he didn’t know what they were thinking, nor could he read their shocked expressions at that moment.
Why… are the two of them… holding hands… as they walk out?!
Xie Lin had driven his own car today. When they reached the garage, Chi Qing only briefly let go of Xie Lin’s hand during the brief gap when he got into the car. As soon as Xie Lin bent down and sat inside, things quickly reverted to how they were.
“…” Xie Lin was silent for a moment before asking, “Are you still dizzy sitting in the car?”
Chi Qing said, “It’s different from the dizziness earlier. Now I’m motion sick.”
Xie Lin reminded him, “The car hasn’t even started yet.”
Chi Qing didn’t bother using logic with him at all: “Maybe because I drank alcohol, I get dizzy the moment I sit in here. Do you have a problem with that?”
“I wouldn’t dare have a problem,” Xie Lin finally said helplessly. “With you like this, I can’t fasten my seatbelt.”
The moment he finished saying this, he saw Chi Qing lean in close to him. This was perhaps the first time Chi Qing had ever proactively gotten so close to another person. The distance was so small that Xie Lin could even clearly see Chi Qing’s lowered eyelashes through the strands of his hair, long and raven-feather-like, casting a shadow beneath his eyes.
Then, Xie Lin heard a click.
Chi Qing used his other hand to yank the seatbelt over and buckled it right in.
Is this really an alcohol allergy?
Xie Lin thought to himself: Why does he act just like he’s drunk?
Xie Lin tried to continue persuading him: “Be good. You’re sitting in the car now, so you shouldn’t be dizzy. It’s not convenient for me to drive like this either.”
Chi Qing fell silent again upon hearing “not convenient to drive.” After a few seconds, he took off his other glove, then pulled his phone out of his coat pocket.
“What are you getting your phone out for?” Xie Lin didn’t understand this operation.
Chi Qing tapped the screen twice with his pale fingers. Opening a ride-hailing app, he operated it while saying, “Finding a designated driver.”
Xie Lin: “…………”
He really is drunk, isn’t he?
Though I have to admit, he’s remarkably logical.
It actually is a viable solution.
“Forget it,” Xie Lin allowed Chi Qing’s hand to rest on his right hand, saying before stepping on the gas, “Keep your hands still. I won’t be held responsible if an accident happens.”
On the road, Chi Qing didn’t speak again, nor did he move his hands around.
His mind was entirely consumed with thoughts of what to do tonight.
Were there still sleeping pills left at home?
Hopefully, none of the neighbors in his building had been having conflicts lately and enjoyed arguing in the middle of the night.
…
He considered himself to have always been very careful when it came to eating. Whenever he bought groceries, he had to double-check the ingredients list repeatedly, terrified that there might be something related to the word “alcohol” in it. He never expected that human plans could be undone by fate.
Before the car drove into Yuting, Xie Lin suddenly remembered the topic that had been temporarily interrupted by Dr. Wu back at the psychological clinic: “What were you going to say earlier?”
“What?” Chi Qing asked.
“Didn’t you have something to tell me?” Xie Lin slowly turned the car into the underground garage. “I only heard you mention something about an assistant, and then you didn’t continue… What did you originally want to say?”
Chi Qing remembered now. At the time, he had wanted to sever his relationship as Xie Lin’s assistant.
However, plans couldn’t keep up with changes.
“Nothing,” Chi Qing finally said expressionlessly, pausing after every word, “I quite like being an assistant.” He added, “Our treatment can continue. You and Dr. Wu were right—my previous attitude toward treatment wasn’t proactive enough.”
“Is that all you wanted to say?”
“Mm.”
Xie Lin: “But looking at your face, I can’t tell at all that you like it. Instead, you look like…”
Chi Qing pursued the question with a complete lack of self-awareness: “Look like what?”
“Like you’ve been kidnapped,” Xie Lin said as he unbuckled his seatbelt at last. “We’re here. Time to get out, Mr. Assistant.”
Even though Chi Qing really wanted to lean on Xie Lin for a while longer, his remaining rationality told him that he couldn’t make it too obvious. Xie Lin’s suspicions about him hadn’t been dispelled yet; others might believe those casual, nonsense explanations, but Xie Lin wouldn’t necessarily buy them.
After getting into the elevator, Xie Lin glanced at him: “You’re not going to get elevator-sick too, are you?”
Knowing when to stop, Chi Qing said, “I’m a bit better now.”
The elevator quickly reached the 9th floor.
The moment he let go of Xie Lin’s hand, the noises in the building rushed in like countless invisible wild ghosts squeezing through the opening gap of the elevator doors.
【Gaogao, why are you sneaking cat food again? No matter where I hide it, you always manage to dig it out.】
【The old man passed away, so why does the entire inheritance go to the youngest son? Is the eldest son not his son too? To be biased to this extent—I didn’t see that precious youngest son coming over much while he was hospitalized. What awful luck. If I knew I wouldn’t get a single thing, who would bother working themselves to death taking care of him at the hospital for over a month?】
【…】
Chi Qing still had no way of confirming how many days this out-of-control state would last. After entering his apartment, he grabbed a pen from the pen holder by the calendar and circled the first day of February with a black marker.
He stared at this brand-new calendar page for a moment. Once the voice regarding the inheritance faded in his ears, he finally turned around to pour water in the kitchen.
After pouring the water, Chi Qing went to the medicine cabinet to look for sleeping pills.
According to past experience, the dosage couldn’t be too large in the beginning; otherwise, no matter how much he took later on, it would be hard to get any effect unless he swallowed an entire bottle. That would indeed allow a person to close their eyes and hear no sound whatsoever, but it would be difficult to open them ever again—it was easy to sleep and never wake up.
After taking the medication, Chi Qing sat on the sofa watching the emotional drama show that Ji Mingrui and Xie Lin jointly despised, attempting to understand why the people on TV were arguing, why they were crying, and why they were laughing. He waited for two hours without the medicine taking effect.
“…”
It was still drug tolerance at work. The interval since the last time he lost control was too short, and he had been taking medication all through last month as well. The effect of the drugs was becoming less and less noticeable.
Chi Qing swiped open his phone to check the time and saw a message sent by Xie Lin an hour ago.
–Is your alcohol allergy feeling any better?
Chi Qing replied: It’s fine.
The reply from the other side came very quickly.
–Do you want to go to the hospital to get it checked out?
He wasn’t allergic to alcohol at all, so what could a hospital checkup reveal?
–No need.
After replying, Chi Qing set his phone on the coffee table and planned to take a shower and lie in bed early to build up some sleepiness. However, just before he was about to take off his top, his hand brushed against a square object in his top pocket.
His movements paused slightly. Pulling out the square object, he remembered that it was the slip of paper Xie Lin had stuffed into his hands before the consultation ended.
—— “What kind of person is the other party? Your impression of them.”
Chi Qing didn’t know the answer, nor could he guess it.
However, he still possessed a decent amount of self-awareness. The words on the slip ought to be no different from terms like “difficult to get along with,” “mysophobic,” or “weirdo”—after all, Ji Mingrui often complained about him like that in his heart.
With these thoughts in mind, Chi Qing casually unfolded the paper slip.
There really weren’t many words on the slip. Even when he unfolded it halfway, it was still blank. It wasn’t until he completely unfolded the paper that he finally saw the written characters.
There were a few three words written on the paper.
–A very special person.
Chi Qing froze for a moment.
Xie Lin hadn’t used “abnormal,” nor had he used “strange” or “bizarre.”
He used “special.”
Thanks for the chapter