Dangerous Personality

Xie Lin’s actions only lasted for a while, he quickly realized that his action was inappropriate. The member on the receiving end who didn’t particularly like to talk to him would probably tell him to scram in the next second.

“Sorry, I forgot about your mysophobia.” Xie Lin retracted his hand.

The word “mysophobia” also snapped Chi Qing awake.

He suddenly realized that he didn’t seem to have any reaction.

He did want to pull away Xie Lin’s hand, but it wasn’t like before, where he felt uncomfortable because he was touched by someone. It didn’t matter what kind of touch it was in the past, as long as someone got near, his entire body would freeze up, feeling an uncontrollable repulsion.

Yet aside from thinking that it was sudden just now, he didn’t have any other thoughts.

When the noise by his ears quieted down, at that moment, he seemed to have found a little room to breathe.

Xie Lin spotted the medicine box on the dining table from a distance: “Have you taken medicine yet.”

Chi Qing’s thoughts were in disorder, giving a perfunctory “mn.”

“Saying mn, you didn’t pour water at all,” Xie Lin saw the untouched kitchen, finding no traces of boiling water, and there was no bottled water on the table. He walked to the table, flipping the medicine boxes over as he went, all of them new, “The packaging hasn’t even been opened, what kind of medicine are you taking?”

Chi Qing managed to catch his breath after a while; reluctantly being in the mood to reply to Xie Lin’s comment, he said indifferently: “Expired.”

Chi Qing had never been enthusiastic about taking medicine or seeing doctors.

Ever since the accident, he didn’t like to go to hospitals very much. He would never go to the hospital if he could get better by taking medicine, or sleep for a bit if he had no medicine.

Xie Lin walked around his living room; the entire room was filled with the cold scent of disinfectant. He really wondered if Chi Qing was the reincarnation of the disinfectant spirit for a few seconds. The lights in the room weren’t on either, so it took him a long time to look at the medicine box. There weren’t many utensils in the kitchen, but there were many knives. A row of shining silver knives were neatly arranged from largest to smallest, the serrated knife that was used to cut bread previously was also present.

Xie Lin said: “Wait, don’t close the door yet.”

Chi Qing: “?”

Xie Lin glanced at him: “Isn’t the medicine expired, I’ll go see if I have any.”

There were all kinds of medicines in Xie Lin’s medicine box; he took out all medicines related to colds one by one: “This is old medicine, just take it according to the dosage instructions. I’m worried you’ll have other complications, I’ll give you these other kinds as well. Just reach out if there’s anything.”

Xie Lin actually touched Chi Qing’s hand when he gave him the medicine, brushing against his pinky lightly through the air.

Right as Chi Qing was about to say “How much is it, I’ll transfer the money to you,” as if Xie Lin knew what he was going to say, he stopped him immediately.

“Those medicines of mine aren’t cheap,” Xie Lin said, “I won’t give it to you for free. Treat me to a meal some other day. You set the time, I’ll always be available.”

“……”

After Xie Lin left, Chi Qing stood by the dining table with the box of medicine for a long time, then went to the water dispenser to pour water.

He stared at the hand holding the glass of water while pouring water, his pinky slightly curled, as pale as usual.

Chi Qing stared for a bit, then thought right as he swallowed the medicine: perhaps he really should see a doctor.

“You mean…… there was a situation in which being touched by others wasn’t as repulsive?”

The next day, Dr. Wu gave Chi Qing an online session.

Although the effects of a video call weren’t as good as a face-to-face consultation, online and offline were both the same for Chi Qing. His attitude would not change because Dr. Wu himself was sitting in front of him at that very moment.

On the contrary, he couldn’t control his current situation. If Dr. Wu was really sitting across from him, how many people are in Dr. Wu’s family, what had happened these past few days, what unexpected plot twists occurred, what secrets he hid in his heart, all this information would reach his ears within half an hour.

Chi Qing didn’t deny it: “That person came over to give me medicine yesterday, I found that he didn’t seem to repulse me that much.”

Dr. Wu’s tone was excited; he felt that his treatment of this Mr. Chi had reached a milestone: “Could it be that our treatment has achieved a certain effect? Could you tell me more about it.”

Chi Qing also didn’t know how to explain it, not talking about Xie Lin directly: “He……” Chi Qing lifted his head, changing to another pronoun, “This person.”

Dr. Wu caught onto the key phrase: “This person, is this only a certain person?”

Chi Qing fell silent.

After a while, he said truthfully: “Unconfirmed.”

“According to my observations during this period of time, I’ve actually always had this thought,” Dr. Wu spoke as if to himself, “I think perhaps the reason you reject others is not because someone gets close to you, being close might just be a kind of final trigger.”

“Of course, what the specific reason is, I’m not sure of yet.”

“I had a client like you before. Her case was very interesting. It was very difficult for her to talk to people, and she was prone to shortness of breath when she talked too much. But it wasn’t that she didn’t like to talk to other people. It’s just that when she talks, she thinks of how she used to be punished by her parents for saying the wrong things when she was a child. Since her parents always liked to let her speak in public as a child, hoping she could speak eloquently, be a good conversationalist at parties, but she had always been an introverted child, so she was very afraid of such situations.”

Dr. Wu had been practicing for many years, having done a lot of research on “emotional disorders”: “So I guess, what you reject might not be the touch itself, but a certain negative impression associated with the touch.”

Dr. Wu finally gave advice: “You can look for other people around you to try with, see if you really don’t reject it, or if it’s just ‘that person.’”

That afternoon, Chi Qing thought about what Dr. Wu said, hesitating about whether he should go out and find someone to try it with today.

Before he could even put on gloves, Ji Mingrui sent a message.

Ji Mingrui: Are you home.

– ?

– Don’t leave if you are, my mom made some dumplings, told me to give them to you, and I happen to be doing stuff nearby.

Chi Qing finished sweeping in a hurry, replying with a single sentence.

– Door’s not closed, you can just come up.

Ji Mingrui carried two boxes of dumplings, muttering as he got on the elevator: “Why did he let me take the initiative to come up today, didn’t it used to be that if there was nothing then I shouldn’t go to his house……”

After Ji Mingrui went up, like an old lady, he helped Chi Qing stuff two boxes of dumplings into the refrigerator: “It’s been so many days since you’ve moved here, I should have come to visit you earlier, but I’ve been too busy lately.”

Ji Mingrui typically talks a lot, but the amount of words Chi Qing heard doubled after he lost control: [The case hasn’t made any progress after so long, and after all the original guesses were overthrown, ah, it’s become a mystery.]

“When I’m done with this case, I’ll treat you to a meal to congratulate you on your move, throw a party,” Ji Mingrui closed the refrigerator door while talking, and once he turned around, he saw Chi Qing leaning against the kitchen door while looking at him. This good friend of his always looked gloomy, but he was staring right at him now, sending a chill down his back, feeling as if he were a fish on a chopping board: “……Why are you watching me.”

— “You can look for people around you to try with.”

Chi Qing thought about what Dr. Wu said, then suddenly spoke: “Come here.”

Ji Mingrui: “?”

Chi Qing saw that there was a distance of more than two people between him and Ji Mingrui, falling silent for two seconds: “Why are you standing so far away.”

Ji Mingrui was completely confused: “???”

This distance of two people was a habit that Ji Mingrui had developed over the years.

He didn’t dare to get too close to Chi Qing even after so many years. Chi Qing was easily angered, while he was easily beaten up.

Ji Mingrui took a step forward cautiously, and seeing that Chi Qing really didn’t react, took another step forward: “Da-ge, you’re being a little weird today……”

Chi Qing wasn’t wearing gloves, his hands tucked in his sleeves, only stretching his hands out a bit after mentally preparing himself: “Don’t move.”

Ji Mingrui’s mind was filled with question marks.

Then he watched Chi Qing stretch out his hand, touching his hand with disgust: “……”

The distorted voice by Chi Qing’s ear immediately overwhelmed the other voices, spitting out complaints: [Is this not something that can be explained with the word abnormal, I think he went insane today.]

Chi Qing retracted his hand quickly after touching briefly.

“This was advice that the doctor gave,” Chi Qing explained, not wanting to be regarded as insane, “……A treatment plan.”

Ji Mingrui had a sudden realization: “Then how do you feel now? Was there any effect?”

Chi Qing: “Feels a little disgusting.”

Not just disgusting.

He feels uncomfortable all over now.

Chi Qing: “You can leave now, thank auntie for me.”

Ji Mingrui: “……”

Chi Qing ruthlessly changed his attitude after testing it out: “I’m going to wash my hands.”

Ji Mingrui: “???” There’s no need to be this disgusted with it.

Ji Mingrui: “Good friend, it’s a bit much to use the word disgusting.”

There were actually a few parts of Chi Qing’s hands that were prone to redness, caused by washing his hands too often all these years. His skin was thin, turning red once it’s rubbed.

He washed his hands twice after entering the bathroom, drying them as usual, knowing that this time he had to admit it: Xie Lin seemed to really be an exception.

An exception that he can’t hear the thoughts of, and perhaps because he couldn’t hear his thoughts, one he gradually began to not reject the touch of.

Just as Chi Qing finished washing his hands and opened the door to go out, Ji Mingrui’s cell phone rang.

While changing shoes at the entrance, he picked up the phone: “Hello? Xiaolan? What’s the matter.”

Su Xiaolan was standing at the door of a certain building unit in the Tianrui community at the moment, an extremely eye-catching cordon tape behind her, the sign of blockading off the scene.

Su Xiaolan spoke quickly: “I’m at Tianrui right now, something happened here.”

There was only a street between Tianrui and Yangyuan, which had been blocked off and investigated not long ago. The two communities faced each other. The street was filled with people who had heard the news at the moment, a large number of people gathered in the narrow street. The residents discussed while peering into the community.

“There was a female corpse found in Tianrui, also a single room. The woman was living alone, approximately 23 years old.”

Ji Mingrui paused while putting on shoes.

“Died yesterday night?”

“No,” Su Xiaolan just left the scene. She clutched her chest, unable to help feeling sick when she thought of the scene she had just seen, and slowly said, “Died a month ago, her body was frozen in the refrigerator. The landlord has been pressuring her to pay next month’s rent since last month, but there was no response no matter how much he pressured her. He brought someone to the door to throw her things out today, so he could find another tenant. But as soon as he opened the refrigerator, he saw the woman’s corpse.”