It’s hot August.
Beep beep!
The shrill chirping of cicadas mixed with the sound of horns echoed in the busy streets. The scorching sun burned the gray-brown asphalt road surface, and the heat surged, and the entire street seemed to be twisted.
Under the few shades of trees on the roadside, a few young people were huddled together, smoking cigarettes and waiting for the traffic lights.
Suddenly, a young man who was smoking seemed to have discovered something. He let out a light exclamation and his eyes fell on a certain spot on the street corner.
"Arnold, what are you looking at?" asked his companion.
The young man named Arnold stared blankly at the street corner, and spoke after a while, "You said... How do blind people cross the road?"
The companion was stunned, hesitated for a moment, and then slowly said: "Generally speaking, blind people have people to look after them when they go out, or they are guided by guide dogs. If they are in a more modern city, there are also voice announcements of traffic lights on the side of the road. If it really doesn't work, maybe they can rely on sound and a guide stick to move forward little by little?"
Arnold shook his head. "What if there is no one to look after the child, no guide dog, no voice announcement, and even the guide stick is used to carry peanut oil?"
“…You think you’re funny?”
His companion rolled his eyes, followed Arnold's gaze, and the next moment he froze in place.
At the opposite corner of the road, a young man in a black short-sleeved shirt was standing there, with thick layers of black satin wrapped around his eyes, blocking out all light.
In his left hand, he was holding a cheap shopping bag full of vegetables, and in his right hand, he was holding the guide stick on his shoulder, like he was carrying a shoulder pole. At the end of the guide stick, a large bucket of yellow peanut oil was sparkling in the sun!
Eyes wrapped in black satin, cane on shoulder, vegetables in left hand, oil in right hand...
This incredible scene immediately attracted the attention of a large number of people around.
"Hey, look, that guy is so weird."
"Can you see the road with so much cloth covering your eyes?"
"Didn't you see the cane in his hand? He is a blind man, right?"
"What era is this now? Most blind people wear sunglasses. Who would still wrap their eyes with satin in such hot weather? Aren't you afraid of getting covered up?"
"That's right. And have you ever seen a blind person use a cane to carry things instead of walking?"
“Young people nowadays really know how to have fun.”
"… "
The chirping of summer cicadas could not drown out the whispers of the passers-by around them. They looked at the boy curiously, discussing in low voices whether he was truly blind or pretending to be blind, and at the same time looked at the flashing red light with some anticipation.
At this moment, a clear voice sounded from beside the boy.
"Brother, can I help you cross the road?"
She was a little girl in school uniform, about twelve or thirteen years old, with a few drops of sweat on her cheeks. Her big black eyes were looking at the boy worriedly, pure and simple.
The boy was slightly stunned, turned his head to look in the direction of the little girl, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Um."
He hung the bag of vegetables on his right hand, used his left hand to wipe the sweat on the corner of his clothes, and gently held the little girl's hand.
Snap!
The green light is on.
The boy took a step forward and walked across the street with the little girl.
The little girl was very nervous. She looked around at the vehicles on both sides and walked cautiously and timidly.
As for the young man... He walked very steadily.
In the eyes of everyone, this scene did not look like a kind-hearted girl leading a blind person across the road, but rather like an older brother leading a child across the road.
The road was not wide, and it took only a dozen seconds for the two to reach the other side of the road. The boy said thank you to the little girl and walked towards the remote alley without looking back.
"He's not blind." Arnold said confidently after seeing this scene, "He must be able to see."
A young man behind Arnold held his chin with one hand, thinking, and then seemed to have thought of something, and suddenly realized:
"I see, he's cosplaying as Lee Sin!"
Snapped!
A big slap landed on the back of his head. Arnold cursed and said, "You useless idiot. You only know how to play games all day. Who the hell has nothing better to do than cosplay as Lee Sin on the main street? Are you trying to save your life?"
After a two-second pause, Arnold added in a low voice, "Besides... the cloth covering the blind monk's eyes is red, and this cosplay doesn't look like him."
"Arnold, you still said that I..."
"Shut up."
"oh."
While the two were arguing, the young man who had been silent on the side stared at the boy's back as he left, frowning slightly.
"What's wrong?" Arnold noticed his gaze.
"I know him."
"Know him?"
"That's right." The young man nodded. "When my cousin was in elementary school, I heard that a student in their school had an accident and had eye problems. He could only use black satin to bind his eyes. It was said that he also had mental problems..."
"Mental problem?" Arnold was stunned, and thought carefully about what happened just now. "I think there is nothing wrong."
"That happened ten years ago. Maybe he has recovered. But it seemed to be a big deal at the time. The student dropped out of school a few days later. I heard that he was later transferred to a special school for the blind."
At this moment, another person interrupted with great interest: "By the way, what kind of accident was that? It could have caused people to go blind and develop mental problems. Could it be a ghost?"
"I don't know." He paused, "But... I heard it was something even more outrageous than that."
"He's a miserable man." Arnold sighed, "What's his name?"
"It seems to be called, Lin... Lin... Lin Qiye?"
…
In the evening glow, Lin Qiye pushed open the door.
Almost instantly, the aroma of food coming from inside the house entered his nostrils. He sniffed, swallowed, and walked into the house carrying his things.
Creak!
The old door made a sharp scream, covering up the sound of cooking coming from the kitchen. A middle-aged woman pushed open the kitchen door and saw Lin Qiye carrying a lot of bags. She exclaimed and hurried forward.
"Xiao Qi, why did you carry so many things back at once?" The woman rubbed her hands on her apron, hurriedly helped Lin Qiye take the things, and said mutteringly.
"Such a big barrel of peanut oil? Kid, are you abusing the government subsidies again?"
“Aunt, the government subsidy for the disabled is for living. I use it to buy oil to make the best use of it.” Lin Qiye said with a smile.
"Nonsense, this money is for your college education, how can you spend it carelessly? I'm telling you, the money my aunt earns from working is enough to support the three of us, don't spend money carelessly."
My aunt wiped the oil barrel carefully with her hands, her expression a little distressed, and she whispered: "Such a big barrel of oil, and it's a brand name... It must have cost a lot of money, right?"
Before Lin Qiye could say anything, his aunt suddenly reacted.
"No... How did you bring back so many things?"
"Oh, I met some kind people on the road and they brought it back for me." Lin Qiye said calmly.
"Okay, okay, it seems that there are still many good people in society... Did you thank them properly?"
"Thank you." Lin Qiye changed the subject, "Aunt, where's Jin?"
"He's doing his homework on the balcony... By the way, the doctor from the mental hospital who's doing the routine checkup this year is here. He's resting in his room. Go check on him. Auntie's going to cook first. She'll call you when she's done."
Lin Qiye paused slightly, said "oh", and turned to walk towards the bedroom.
…
"Hello, I'm a doctor at Sunshine Psychiatric Hospital, my last name is Li."
Seeing Lin Qiye push the door open, the young man sitting on the small stool in the bedroom stood up and spoke gently. He was wearing a pair of large black-framed glasses on his face and looked gentle.
Lin Qiye raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Wasn't it always Doctor Han who came before?"
"Doctor Han was promoted to vice president last year." Doctor Li smiled, with a hint of envy in his eyes.
Lin Qiye nodded slightly and said "oh".
That's right. Dr. Han is already very old and has superb medical skills. It's not surprising for him to be promoted to vice president. It's also natural for him to have a younger doctor to check on him regularly.
Seeing Lin Qiye sit down, Dr. Li cleared his throat and took out a stack of medical records from his bag.
"I'm sorry, I just got here too and don't know much about your condition. Let me give you a brief overview first." Doctor Li said apologetically.
Lin Qiye nodded.
"Your name is... Lin Qiye?"
"right."
"I'm seventeen this year."
"right."
"Hmm... The medical record says that you became blind ten years ago and were sent to our hospital for some problems?"
"right."
Doctor Li hesitated for a while, "Have you changed your name?"
“… No, why do you ask?” Lin Qiye was stunned.
Doctor Li scratched his head a little embarrassedly, "Ahem... It seems that I thought too much."
He stretched out his hand, pointed at the age on the medical record, and then pointed at the three words "ten years ago". "Look, you became blind ten years ago. You were exactly seven years old at that time, and your name was Lin Qiye, so I thought you changed your name after you became blind..."
Lin Qiye was silent for a long time, then shook his head and said, "No... I have never changed my name. My parents named me Lin Qiye before I was born."
"That's quite... ahem." Doctor Li was halfway through his words when he realized that it was impolite and closed his mouth in time.
"It's quite a coincidence." Lin Qiye said lightly, "It's indeed quite a coincidence."
Doctor Li was a little embarrassed, but he quickly changed the subject, "Well... the medical record doesn't seem to describe in detail the accident that caused your blindness and mental disorder. If it's convenient, can you tell me about it?"
Before Lin Qiye could speak, Doctor Li quickly added: "I don't mean to offend you. The more you understand the patients, the better you can treat them. Of course, if you don't want to say it, I won't force you."
Lin Qiye sat there quietly, his eyes beneath the black ribbon seeming to be staring at Dr. Li.
After a while, he slowly spoke:
"There's nothing I can't tell you... But you might not believe me. You might even take me back to the mental hospital."
"No, no, no, don't think of our relationship as that of a doctor and a patient. This is just a normal chat between friends. It won't get that far." Doctor Li said half-jokingly, "Even if you told me that you were dragged into the alchemy furnace by Taishang Laojun, I would believe it."
Lin Qiye was silent for a moment and nodded slightly.
“When I was little, I loved astronomy.”
"Well, then what?"
"That night, I lay on the eaves of my old house and looked at the moon."
"What did you see? A moon rabbit?" Dr. Li asked with a smile.
Lin Qiye shook his head, and his next words made Dr. Li's smile freeze on his face.
"No, I saw an angel." Lin Qiye spoke seriously, gesturing with his hands in front of him.
"A seraph shrouded in golden light and with six white wings."