Chapter 16

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But we argued until we parted\n

For the rest of the investigation, He Yu and Xie Qingcheng did not interact with each other.\n

After the investigation ended, Xie Qingcheng went to get a taxi to take Xie Xue straight home. Xie Xue wanted to wait for He Yu, but Xie Qingcheng would not allow it. He pushed her inside the taxi without saying a word.\n

He Yu watched as he stood quietly against the pillar with his hands behind his back. He did not say a word nor protest, as if he knew that he was an abandoned dog not allowed to follow. It made Xie Xue feel really bad.\n

“He Yu…… Ge, why don’t we wait a bit for him……”\n

“Get in.”\n

“But……”\n

“GET IN!”\n

Xie Xue said, “…… Alright then, let me know when you get home, He Yu.”\n

Xie Qingcheng said, “Are you done? We’re leaving.”\n

Xie Xue seemed like she still wanted to say something, but He Yu shook his head and motioned for her to not say anymore.\n

He only waved at her after she was fully seated inside, then watched as their car drove off……\n

Xie Xue sat back against the seat, and couldn’t help but sigh. “Ge, what happened between you two this time?”\n

Xie Qingcheng ignored her as he sat in the passenger seat as he opened the pack of cigarettes he took from Chen Man. He was just about to light one when he realized Xie Xue was in the car, so he gave it up and settled on chewing the cigarette, one elbow resting on the open car window, watching the city scenery flashing by idly.\n

Xie Xue said in a small voice, “Did He Yu say something wrong by accident and make you mad……”\n

“……”\n

“Ge, don’t blame him too much. He might be a little hot and cold sometimes, but he is a good person overall. I’ve already heard, if it weren’t for him, if it weren’t for you guys discovering something happened to me at the earliest time…… The situation could’ve been way worse. He……”\n

“He what?” Xie Qingcheng finally opened his mouth. He held the cigarette between his fingers, voice especially cold. “I told you to stay away from him, what are you doing hanging around him all day?”\n

Xie Xue felt a little hurt. “But he’s a pretty good boy. He’s nice to me, and respectful to you……”\n

Xie Qingcheng’s face was blue, completely speechless.\n

He’s respectful.\n

Respectful my ass!\n

It was all a facade he put up in front of other people, but he couldn’t disclose He Yu’s condition to Xie Xue. Xie Xue only sees He Yu’s usually modest and gentlemanly side. Even his own sister would not believe the shit he had to suffer from He Yu behind her back, so he could only endure it.\n

“Ge……”\n

“Just shut up!”\n

So Xie Xue could only shut up.\n

It was always like this between family members. In the moment right after they survived a disaster, they felt like they would never argue again for the rest of their lives, and just live peacefully, communicate properly.\n

But once the heartwarming BUFF after survival had passed, everything returned to the way it was before—nagging, scolding, and punishing, not a single difference can be seen.\n

It really was a fucking short-lived heartwarming BUFF.\n

Xie Xue felt wronged, but there was nothing she could do. That was her big brother after all. \n

Sigh, forget it, forget it. If she didn’t spoil him, who would? So she could only indulge this parental temper of his……\n

As she thought about it, she folded her arms and pouted resignedly in the back seat. \n

She didn’t understand why such an upstanding gentleman with good moral character like He Yu was someone her brother repeatedly told her to stay away from. And it seemed like he had quite a few objections against him. It was really baffling……\n

“Oh……” After a while, Xie Xue said, “By the way.”\n

Xie Qingcheng didn’t bother to acknowledge her. Xie Xue understood that what her brother meant was, if you had something to say then just fucking speak.\n

Therefore she carefully spoke, “Earlier when I was resting, he…… called me…… asked what happened to me, I……”\n

Xie Qingcheng didn’t ask who ‘he’ is, as if both siblings acknowledged that ‘he’ was ‘him’.\n

“What did you say to him?” Xie Qingcheng asked.\n

“What else can I say, I just said I was fine. I didn’t say much more.”\n

Xie Xue paused for a moment. “Ge, are you feeling a bit better?”\n

“Do you think he would make me feel better?”\n

Xie Xue had no choice, she inched forward, poked her head out towards the front, and rested by the edge of the front seat like a kitten, trying to use her cuteness to get her brother’s attention. “Then how about you look at me. You can see that I’m perfectly fine, does that make you feel better?”\n

Xie Qingcheng, “…… Don’t go to this type of dangerous place by yourself from now on.”\n

His tone finally eased up a bit.\n

Xie Xue said hurriedly, “Yeah yeah I got it……”\n

The car drove on leaving dust behind.\n

.\n

The next day, the news of Cheng Kang Psychiatric hospital made newspaper headlines.\n

That day, those who were forced onto the rooftop provided witness statements to the police which indicated that behind Jiang Lanpei’s psychotic murder and arson, was a woman who was imprisoned and tortured for nearly twenty years. But unfortunately, Liang Jicheng was already dead, and Liang Bokang died even before his younger brother. The other higher level directors who may have known more details of this case were already gone, some had even died in this exact fire.\n

It was as if the fire of vengeance Jiang Lanpei lit had grown eyes, and swallowed all the people who have been tainted with this sin.\n

Just as He Yu predicted, they picked the ugliest picture of her to put onto the news. But even with that kind of picture, she still looked stunning. The dead woman looked straight out of the newspaper, her expression carrying hints of toughness, but also stained with confusion……\n

The reporter wrote under her picture—’Jiang Lanpei may not have been her real name. Due to the change from paper files, some of her information had been lost. The police are working hard to match the DNA from her remains, but because the time spans too long, there may not be an end result. If any citizens have any clues, you can contact the appropriate department, phone number: 138xxxxxxxxx’\n

Inside the manor, He Yu closed the newspaper.\n

Mental hospitals, mentally unsound patients….. had all recently become the talk of the town. No matter if it’s an overweight uncle or a bratty little girl, they all discussed the topic with an air of knowledge, as if they were experts in sociology.\n

In most people’s eyes, mentally unsound patients would be naturally labelled as ‘them’, and opposite of that was a given ‘us’. No matter how pitiful they were, they would never become part of ‘us’.\n

But where did mental illness come from?\n

He Yu recalled something Xie Qingcheng said to him awhile back.\n

“Most mental illnesses are a result of feedback when normal people are placed in abnormal environments. OCD, depression, bipolar disorder…… In the lives of these patients, there must be one or more abnormal factors that put pressure on them. For example, schoolground bullying, cyberbullying, sexual assault against women, or unfair social connections. These abnormal factors are the culprits that cause ‘them’ immense psychological stress, and ironically, all come from family, work, society, from ‘us’.”\n

“To repair a mentally ill patient’s emotional state, I feel unless there’s no other way, we should not lock them up. Rather, we should let them walk out, like a normal person, and become part of ‘us’ again.”\n

“Cages are for prisoners, they should not be for those patients that have suffered too much.”\n

He Yu did not like Xie Qingcheng, but he agreed with the words Xie Qingcheng said.\n

This exact philosophy was the reason why Xie Qingcheng was able to stay by his side for this long. He Yu felt like Xie Qingcheng at least treated him like an actual human being.\n

So after what happened yesterday, he realized that he didn’t grasp the situation and really offended Xie Qingcheng, so the least he could do was willingly seek Xie Qingcheng out and apologise to him.\n

But Xie Qingcheng was used to seeing his fake pretence, so he felt that his apology was also fake and splash him with a faceful of beer. \n

His mood darkened at the thought of this, and he closed his eyes and tried to forget the shame of ice beads running down his cheeks. \n

Forget it….. Don’t think about it. \n

At least Xie Qingcheng only scolded and splashed beer on him,  and didn’t really treat people with mental illness like an animal like other people did. \n

If he had been admitted to an insane asylum like Cheng Kang, his illness would have been more serious than it was now. \n

Jiang Lanpei had been there for 20 years. Had her condition alleviated or worsened? \n

She probably wouldn’t have turned out this way if she didn’t go there. \n

“Young Master He, your orders have been fulfilled.” \n

Lao Zhao knocked on his room door and came in with permission to report something to him. \n

The little yellow dog followed him timidly as it cautiously wagged its tail.\n

“I have greeted the people at the rescue station and told President He what you meant. Zhuang Zhiqiang has been temporarily settled in our recuperation center.  He will not be sent to Wanping. ” \n

He Yu said, “Good, thank you for your hard work.” \n

Zhuang Zhiqiang was also lucky and lived on a lower floor, and was rescued by the firefighters quickly.. At least he had a fate with them. After this incident, He Yu did not intend to leave this matter to be. \n

Besides, Xie Xue also cared about Zhuang Zhiqiang. \n

The people involved in the Cheng Kang fire were given a long holiday of about a week to recuperate their body and mind. \n

Since the day had to move forward, and now that they were out of purgatory, it was more important to live happily and quietly. \n

He Yu thought to himself—didn’t Xie Qingcheng say that no one wanted to be with him? \n

Isn’t it said that if anyone can stay with him for more than a month, Xie Qingcheng will take their last name? \n

Good. Then he wanted to be with Xie Xue. \n

He wanted to be with Xie Qingcheng’s closest person, to take Xie Qingcheng’s sister away from him – at that time, Xie Qingcheng will have to change his name to He Qingcheng, and there was no telling what the man’s state of mind would be. \n

At the thought of this, He Yu had a slight sense of pleasure. \n

—that magnificent, solemn, cold face. Will it show a look he had never seen before? \n

So He Yu quickly returned to the university campus after a week’s rest. \n

He was ready to spit in Xie Qingcheng’s face and confess his love to Xie Qingcheng’s most cherished sister. \n

.\n

On the terrace of a villa—\n

The outdoor lights were dimmed and were surrounded by several flying insects. The light was humid, like a layer of white sweat where it shone, and there was a soft chair with its back to the terrace door. \n

There was a man sitting in the soft chair. \n

There was no sign of his back, and the subordinate who pushed the door could only see half of the man’s elbow that leaned against the chair. \n

“Is that so? Have those mentally ill patients managed to escape in a very short period of time?” \n

“Yes, Duan-laoban.” \n

“Interesting.” \n

The man on the chair, known as Duan-laoban, let out a small laugh, “Help each other?” \n

Cheng Kang is a mental hospital, not a nursery that teaches children to be civilized and polite. This is really abnormal.” \n

The subordinate’s head broke into a cold sweat. “Duan-laoban, Cheng Kang’s surveillance was originally broken, and after the fire, all those that were not broken were destroyed. We tried to access the records at that time, but it was really……” \n

“I don’t expect to get any useful records from Liang Jichenghat that trash.” \n

Duan-laoban paused for a moment. \n

“Did you get any news from the police’s side?” \n

“There is. Several mentally ill patients said that at that time, some patients seemed to have given them the keys and asked them to open the door for each other, but they couldn’t get more information from them.” \n

Duan-laoban sneered softly. “Give them the key and let them open the door. Do you think they will listen?” \n

“. . . . . .” \n

“They were in a sea of fire. It was a matter of life and death.” \n

The subordinate then gave a jolt. “Boss Duan, does that mean—” \n

The man in the soft chair did not answer again, and the dim light illuminated the paper he had causally scribbled on in front of him. \n

It had two words written on it, but they were circled and a question mark was placed next to them.\n

The two words were—\n

Blood hypnosis.\n

.\n

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The author has something to say:\n

Humble author: Chen Man will leave for now, next time Xie-ge will come to the police station to find him = = But Chen Man’s existence will make He-laoban jealous sooner or later, right He-laoban?  Look, Officer Chen is not bad, he’s young and handsome, and has the basic qualities a younger gong should have. He’s also a government worker. Are you worried, He-laoban? You need to have a sense of danger.\n

Mini Theatre:\n

He Yu: Lemme ask you, why should I be worried about a government worker?\n

Chen Man: I heard you were looking up pornographic merchandise in our station, I’m going to trouble you to cooperate with our investigation.\n

Xie Qingcheng: What pornographic merchandise did he look up?\n

Chen Man: Don’t worry about it Xie-ge. Are you cold? I’ll lend you my clothes.\n

He Yu (smiles): Oh, so thoughtful. And you’ll also give him a can of cold beer to pour on my face?

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