WXRG Chapter 25 – Getting Medicine

It was already past three at night, the sky outside the window dark, and the entire building was silent. The bare winter tree tops and branches casted elongated and swaying shadows through the street lamps. There were a few cats meowing outside of the community occasionally.

Xie Lin was sitting in the office flipping through a book at the moment, several rows of books sitting on the desk— all left by Xie Feng before, books on topics spanning from “Investigative Science,” to “Clue Inspection,” to“Criminal Psychology” and many more.

These books have been read carefully many times before, with annotations made by Xie Feng left on them.

The first sentence of the book that Xie Lin held read: Little children shouldn’t open things randomly.

Even the traces of the man were gentle, but there was a bit of fortitude at the tip of the pen.

That “little child” was his younger brother, who was only as tall as his waist back then.

Xie Feng had just entered the police academy at that time, working hard in every subject. He helped handle cases while in school, and when he occasionally came home for vacations, he would always shut himself in the study to read. Out of curiosity in the beginning, Xie Lin would secretly look through his pile of books, and was warned many times.

But it didn’t really work. Xie Lin still read what he wanted to read, from the professional courses in the police academy, to the summaries of serious and important cases in various countries. After Xie Feng officially got his job, even going all the way to the position of captain of the criminal police corps, he couldn’t escape this younger brother of his.

The screen of the phone he set aside was still on, and on it was a message.

Wu Zhibin: Yuan Ju agreed. I still don’t know what happened that year, but ten years have passed, everyone’s thoughts have also changed…… are you still willing to come back.

Xie Lin had actually slept for a bit earlier that night.

He fell asleep after receiving Wu Zhibin’s message.

He had an intermittent dream during that time.

In the dream, he saw a small cubicle. A fifteen year old teen had his hands tied behind his back. There was the sound of gunshots in the dream, and the sound of sirens circling outside, followed by the sound of many people’s footsteps pouring in: “Found it— there’s people! There are two kids still here!”

The black blindfold covering his eyes was gently pulled off by someone. Since it had been a long time since he saw the sunlight, the teen’s vision turned back, unable to see anything. He could only hear Xie Feng calling his name.

“The rescue was successful,” When he could finally see a faint light, he heard someone say, “But…… There were only two children who survived. A total of twenty kidnapped children…… Died mysteriously. Your brother was tied in a cubicle with another kid at the same time, and that child died, only he survived. We suspect……”

The sound of that person’s voice was choppy.

The rescue of the kidnapping case went smoothly at first, but it was unknown why an accident happened during the retreat.

“Captain Xie, the barrel is full of gasoline.”

“Not good! Retreat quickly—!”

The sound of explosions swept closer, like a vortex, and the innermost room exploded with a gust of wind. A series of rapid explosions instantly shattered the walls and the roof collapsed.

In the rush, Xie Lin forgot everything, only remembering that Xie Feng pushed him from behind.

The man pushed him out with firm force, but his voice was still warm, like a final order: “You’re good at crime, so some people will be scared of you. But remember this, you can help a lot of people.”

Xie Feng’s voice was very soft, drowned by the loud explosions: “I have always believed in you.”

The heat wave created by the explosion rushed in.

“Boom—!”

“Hurry and run—” He heard Xie Feng shout, “Don’t stop!”

……

Xie Lin’s fingertips rested on the two words “little children,” the shadow from outside the window casting down on him, covering some of the light. He spoke to the empty study as he let his hand go: “I’m no longer a little child, ge.”

Xie Lin closed the textbook, putting it back in its original place.

The phone vibrated twice the next second.

Two new messages covered the previous ones sent by Wu Zhibin.

These two new messages came from a certain mysophobic man surnamed Chi who had disappeared for nearly a week. This mysophobic man’s reflection arc may have circled the planet, taking a week before he remembered to reply to his message. And, at least he knew to ask for help when he was out of medicine.

After Chi Qing sent those two messages, he suspected that he might have gone delirious in the middle of the night to send those two messages in reply.

He thought about it for a while, Xie Lin should have already gone to sleep, so he pressed his finger against the chat bubble, about to tap “Unsend,” when another line of words appeared in the chat.

Xie Lin: Turns out you still remember there’s me as your neighbor.

Chi Qing: “……”

Xie Lin wanted to tease him again, then send him medicine, seeing what exactly was going on with him. His sickness had been recurring for so many days. If it was a fever, there was a high possibility of complications.

However, as soon as he opened the study door, he heard the doorbell ring.

Chi Qing wasn’t wearing gloves, not used to it, and had his finger tucked in his sleeve as he pressed the doorbell.

So Xie Lin opened the door to see Chi Qing standing at the door of his apartment. He was originally thin, but he seemed thinner after not seeing him for a week, the originally slightly loose black sweater seemed to become looser. The hair on his forehead was also longer, covering his eyes, melting into the dark shadow under his eyes.

The lights in the corridor obviously shone down from above, the field of vision very bright, but Chi Qing seemed to bring his own shadow, suppressing the surrounding light with darkness.

It was rare for Chi Qing to start the conversation. He looked away uncomfortably: “I’m here to get medicine.”

Xie Lin moved closer slightly, asking: “What happened to your eyes.”

Chi Qing: “Just moved, couldn’t sleep well.”

Afraid that this explanation wasn’t convincing enough, Chi Qing added five words: “Getting used to the bed.”

“……” Xie Lin looked at the dark circles under his eyes, but could do nothing about this confession of getting used to the bed, “As long as it’s a problem that falls under ‘difficult to serve,’ you have it all.”

Chi Qing was speechless, and could only admit it.

Xie Lin turned to the side as he spoke, letting Chi Qing in: “Did you finish the cold medicine I gave you late time?”

Chi Qing replied with an “en.”

He actually didn’t eat much at all.

Almost killed by the noise, he didn’t even think of taking medicine.

Xie Lin spoke as he looked through the medicine box: “You’re still not better after taking medicine for so many days, there might be inflammation. You should go to the hospital.”

Chi Qing and Xie Lin lived across from each other. The apartments were the same, the interior layout and facilities were more or less the same, but there was a big difference in the decor styles. Xie Lin seemed like a fancy person, but his apartment was decorated very simply. The furniture in the entire place was dominated by shades of gray, simple and transparent.

The kitchens of both apartments were open. Chi Qing sat at the dining table, silently watching Xie Lin look through things.

Xie Lin looked at Chi Qing’s appearance, hesitating: “……You can’t also not like going to the hospital, right.”

As expected, the hard to serve person said: “Won’t go.”

“……”

“Too many people,” The hard to serve person then said, “Noisy.”

This was the second time Chi Qing mentioned the word “noisy.”

Xie Lin felt as if there might be a different meaning behind the word “noisy.” After all, if you feel that it’s noisy in a room, and also feel that it’s noisy in a hospital, then there is nowhere to go that isn’t noisy.

But it was Chi Qing who said this, so it didn’t seem unreasonable.

After all, the mysophobic man surnamed Chi always wore an expression of “don’t bother him.”

“Making people shut up after only saying two words. It’s noisy everywhere. Aside from the wilderness or uninhabited islands, it’s hard for other places to meet your expectations,” Xie Lin found the remaining cold medicine, handing him the thermometer first, saying, “I’m really curious, is there anywhere in the world where you don’t think is noisy?”

……

There is.

Chi Qing lowered his eyes, looking at the hand Xie Lin extended to him through the stray strands of hair on his forehead.

The ring on Xie Lin’s hand had already been taken off. The joints of the man’s fingers were distinct, his wrist tilted to the side, the tip of his thumb pressed against his index finger, holding the thermometer in front of him.

[Saying that you’re busy at work must be an excuse, otherwise why would you change your phone password.]

[……]

It was nearly four o’clock in the morning, that couple in the building started again.

Chi Qing poked his finger out of the sleeve of his sweater slightly, reaching over to take the thermometer, and brushed over Xie Lin’s knuckles either intentionally or unintentionally while doing so.

[Not a single word a man says can—]

The words stopped abruptly.

He was brought back to reality for a short time after a long while. Those indistinguishable, pervasive, and empty sounds were blocked out, leaving only some very peaceful voices, like the sound of tree branches outside brushing against the window, the sound of cars driving in from far away, a drop of water dripping from the kitchen faucet that wasn’t closed tightly.

“Drip—”

Although Chi Qing didn’t want to admit it.

The place where he didn’t think it was noisy, seems like it was only here.

“Giving you the thermometer,” Xie Lin said while looking at him, “Why are you touching my hand.”

Chi Qing’s touch was actually not that noticeable, his hands were still tucked in his sleeves, only a bit of his fingertips had been exposed.

Chi Qing lingered for a bit before letting go, his words and actions not the same: “……Who wants to touch your hand.”

The author has something to say:

Debt repayment failed