WXRG Ch 27 – Gloves

Perhaps it was a psychological effect, after basically all the residents fell asleep in the second half of the night, Chi Qing went back after touching Xie Lin’s hand, and fell asleep.

There was no dream, not a single sound was heard, no distorted voice, and no waking up suddenly.

It wasn’t until dawn that the people in the building gradually resumed their lives, and the sounds of various conversations gradually grew louder.

Although he slept for less than five hours that night, it could be considered a miracle given Chi Qing’s week-long insomnia.

Chi Qing reached over to the alarm clock next to the bed, the hour hand pointing to 9.

Someone hurriedly pressed the elevator button: [I forgot the briefcase, ah, I will really be late to work today, and I have to see that look on the manager’s face. I’ll buy a lottery ticket on the way to work later, laozi will resign immediately if I win.]

There was also someone who took the day off to rest at home, but looked forward to being able to go into the office: [Can’t go to work, when will I get better. I’m at the rising point of my career, each minute of each day is important, what if the performance of XXX next door surpasses me, the opportunity for a promotion this time……]

Chi Qing felt more energetic after he got up, took medicine on time, and the topic by his ears changed several times as he drank water from the glass.

When everyone who was supposed to go to work went to work, the hour hand turned another half a circle. Those who were left in the building were patients who were worried about their performance, retired elderly people staying at home, children who were on vacation, and…… a drunk who woke up in the afternoon.

[I dislike my father the most.] A young voice said with the sound of tears.

Immediately afterwards, that voice stopped for a long time. It wasn’t until Chi Qing put down the glass, carefully selected a silver pocket knife from the knives display, took an apple from the plate of fruits, and the apple was cut in half that the voice sounded again.

[Don’t hit mom.]

[Don’t keep hitting mom.]

The red apple in Chi Qing’s hand was cut in half and split.

Downstairs on the third floor, room 302.

The drunk man reeked of alcohol, and upon seeing the woman who was working hard at home, he commanded in a hoarse voice: “Go get me a glass of water.”

”Wait a minute,” the woman’s curly hair, which had been permed and dyed a long time ago, looked very messy. She held unfinished laundry, saying, “I’m still busy, pour it yourself.”

But the drunk man acted as if he hadn’t heard anything.

He waited and waited, several days of unhappiness burst through the drunkenness, kicking out: “Fuck—”

In the corner of the living room, a little girl was curled up next to the refrigerator. Her eyes were very red, staring blankly at him.

”You’re just like your mom, I get angry just seeing you,” he turned his head and said, “What are you staring at me for!”

The girl let out a soft cry from her chest, closing her eyes tightly in the end, covering her ears.

[It didn’t used to be like this at home, ever since my father’s workplace went bankrupt…… why did it turn out like this, my father clearly isn’t like this.]

Just as she thought “can this hurry up and end, how can this end quicker,” she heard as “ding.”

The door bell sounded abruptly.

The man cursed and stopped to open the door. The woman took the opportunity to wipe away her tears and hug the girl tightly, covering her ears as she spoke: “It’s okay, it’s okay, your father’s just drunk.”

A stranger stood outside the door; seeing him open the door, the man’s black glove clad hand slowly left the doorbell.

The man was very thin, wearing a dark colored sweater, his slightly long hair making him seem inexplicably gloomy, his red lips pursed, his complexion oddly pale. He had lived in this building for a long time, and never met this person. But the most important thing was that this person held a small knife in his other hand.

The sharp tip of the two-finger wide folding knife, although it was folded up, could still be seen.

The man looked the visitor up and down, understood tacitly, and blurted out one sentence: “I have no money!”

Chi Qing: “……”

”You’re here to collect debts right,” the man who originally lived a good life, but when met with misfortune, fell from the heavens and broke the jar, spoke, “If you want money, I have none, my life is doomed, I don’t even have a job, I’m penniless right now. Figure it out yourself, I’m not scared of you.”

Chi Qing didn’t speak. He stood at the doorway, glancing coldly around the room. The situation in the room was similar to what he heard.

The man obviously misunderstood this look: “I really have no money!”

”……”

”I’m not here to collect debts,” Chi Qing finally said, “Your life is also not as valuable as you think it is. You living is a waste of public resources, and you dying is a waste of land.”

”I came because I wanted to say one thing.”

The man listened to that cold voice in a daze.

”So noisy, be quieter,” the knife in Chi Qing’s hand was brought down by him while he was peeling the apple just now, but it actually had no other meaning. He then pointed the handle of the knife at the woman, his face still expressionless, “Try hitting her again.”

The man: “……”

The man forgot to think for a moment; this unknown resident didn’t even live on the same floor, how could he hear the noise and think its noisy.

It’s not that no one had come by before to break up the fight before, but most of the neighbors also took into consideration that they were husband and wife; the matters of a person’s family were hard to manage, unable to be managed by the police, much less them.

But no matter what, none of those who came were as arrogant as this one.

This unknown resident didn’t seem to care what was going on in their family, only thinking that it was noisy, not as righteously indignant as the other residents, but the result was outstanding.

The girl who was held in the arms of the woman opened her tightly closed eyes, and found that just like how she had been asking for help in her mind, everything was over.

She could only catch a glimpse of the man’s hand holding the folding knife with a black glove on.

Chi Qing ignored the man after he finished speaking. The elevator also coincidentally stopped on the first floor; he just pressed the elevator button. When the elevator slowly stopped on the third floor, the elevator doors opened, revealing Xie Lin who had just come back from the psychiatric clinic: “……”

Xie Lin’s finger pressed the ‘open elevator door’ button, making it easier for whoever was on the third floor that wanted to get in the elevator to get in, never having expected it would be Chi Qing that he met on the third floor: “Why are you here?”

Chi Qing: “Would you believe it if I said I came down here just to look around.”

Xie Lin glanced at Chi Qing’s hand, lingering on the family in 302, finally saying: “Looking at the current situation, it’s hard to believe.”

The man who had been so intimidated before that he didn’t dare speak had met Xie Lin before. He had lived in the building for a long time after all, it was hard to not remember such a person. When he saw Xie Lin’s smiling face, his courage doubled instantly, as if he found a reason to continue making trouble: “Do you know each other? He came here with a knife to threaten me— I’ve never seen him before, can’t he just leave me alone.”

Xie Lin smelled the alcohol on the man, glancing at the half closed door again.

Chi Qing thought that Xie Lin would ask, but Xie Lin didn’t ask anything.

”It’s a threat just because you said so?” Xie Lin still appeared easy-going, but what he said was, “my apologies, I didn’t see it, I wasn’t there.”

”……”

Xie Lin gestured for Chi Qing to enter the elevator: “My tenant’s personality is very gentle, unable to do anything threatening. I hope you pay attention to your words before you speak next time.”

Chi Qing, whose personality had nothing to do with the words “very gentle,” felt that the evaluation was rather exaggerated, so exaggerated that he didn’t notice the prefix in front of the words at the time.

Xie Lin looked past the man, his gaze landing on the half closed door behind the man. His last words before letting go of the elevator button were obviously not aimed at the man. His voice softened, sounding comforting: “Police reports and hospital medical records are important pieces of evidence for identifying domestic abuse. According to the law, you can contact the neighborhood committee, women’s federation, or police station. These three organizations are meant to protect you. Of course what to do also depends on your wishes, but, sometimes, the actions and choices made by the parents will affect the child to a large extent…… If your child finds herself in the same position in the future, she might think that tolerating it is normal and correct.”

Xie Lin released his hand.

The elevator door closed completely.

Chi Qing held the folding knife in his hand; forced by Xie Lin’s keen observation, he could only take the initiative to explain: “The elevator happened to stop on the third floor while going down just now, and I heard movements in unit 302.”

When Chi Qing spoke up to here, he paused: “Do you really think I didn’t threaten him?”

Xie Lin: “It depends on what kind of threat it is. Even if you don’t speak at that point, it’s easy to make people feel threatened.”

”……”

Xie Lin went on to say: “But with this kind of person, so what if you threaten him.”

The topic of 302 came to a close, the atmosphere in the elevator briefly awkward.

Although he slept well after touching him yesterday, in such a small and closed space, the uneasiness in Chi Qing’s heart was magnified.

The second before the elevator arrived, Xie Lin broke the silence: “Dr. Wu told me.”

Chi Qing lifted his eyes: “?”

”As long as you need it, I will cooperate with you.”

Xie Lin looked at Chi Qing’s gloved hand again: “You don’t need to wear gloves the next time we meet, how can I touch you with gloves on?”

Chi Qing had mentioned it to Dr. Wu before when he felt troubled, and used it when he had no other choice but to explain to Xie Lin. But apart from these, he didn’t think about anything else, much less the fact that Dr. Wu would look for Xie Lin, putting the treatment plan on the agenda.

Chi Qing only took off his gloves little by little after he got back home and closed the door, looking at his hands for a long time.

Until the phone rang.

He had placed his phone casually on the cabinet by the entrance before he went out. The phone rang several times, the caller name displayed: [Ji Mingrui].

Ji Mingrui had been too busy to sleep these days, and finally found a rare chance to sleep in the car for a bit. He realized that Chi Qing had disappeared for nearly a week when he grabbed his phone to check the time after waking up, neither replying to messages, nor picking up calls.

“Hello,” Ji Mingrui said after the call went through, “Master, you’re still alive.”

The master on the other end of the line said the most indifferent words in the most familiar tone: “Didn’t die.”

Ji Mingrui: “It’s good that you’re still breathing, I got scared, I thought something happened to you.”

Ji Mingrui got up from the back seat of the car, his legs numb from having fallen asleep. He smacked his legs: “Oh right, didn’t you say you were getting therapy last time…… has there been any progress?”

The two couldn’t talk for long.

Because Su Xiaolan opened the passenger door visibly upset; she sat down with her notebook and said: “The investigation here is over, go to the next place.”

So Ji Mingrui hurriedly hung up the phone, flipping into the driver’s seat in the front skillfully: “Alright I won’t talk to you, let’s talk when I’m back.”

Su Xiaolan asked casually: “What therapy?”

Ji Mingrui put down the handbrake: “What other kind of therapy is there, the one for sick people.”

Ji Mingrui added, “Therapy for mysophobia.”

The first thing that Su Xiaolan thought of was Chi Qing’s hands, and the black gloves that never left his hands year round: “The therapy…… has progress?”

Ji Mingrui had actually not been able to hear Chi Qing’s response at all just now, but he still said confidently: “Impossible, do I not know my good friend, there is no cure. The last time I went to his house, he felt disgusted when he let me touch him for a second, so what progress can be made.”

Outside the car window, the sun was setting, and it was evening.

The day passed quickly, the sun and moon switching spots, the last bit of light also blocked out. The street lights on both sides of the road lit up instantly; it was night again, and it was dark outside.

Chi Qing laid in bed with his eyes closed as he tried to fall asleep.

But every time he thought that he might be able to fall asleep, a voice would suddenly speak: [He’s right, if my child finds herself in this kind of situation in the future, will she make the same choice as me?]

Chi Qing didn’t need to think to know that this voice came from the third floor.

Ten minutes later.

Chi Qing knocked on his neighbor’s door for the second time.

“I’m not wearing gloves,” When Xie Lin opened the door, Chi Qing was wearing a light jacket. His voice was still indifferent, but his eyes were unnaturally lowered; it was obvious that he wasn’t used to expressing himself in ways other than irritating people, “Is now alright for you?”

The author has something to say:

Ji Mingrui: ?

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Ah, missed another day……