Chapter 51
The doctor had been thoroughly brought to heel by Lin Yuewei.
The three of them tacitly avoided mentioning what had happened the night before. The doctor began diagnosing Gu Yanqiu; he sat on the sofa beside her, and the two of them adopted the casual air of simple conversation.
The doctor asked Gu Yanqiu with a smile, “Do you need Lin Yuewei to step out?”
Lin Yuewei saw that he actually had a bit of a psychotherapist’s manner about him, and the knot in her chest loosened a little.
In general, psychiatric treatment meant talking to the patient alone, but the situation was different now. The doctor asked Gu Yanqiu’s opinion, and Gu Yanqiu shook her head. “No need.”
Gu Yanqiu knew what she was doing. She would tell the doctor only the part she could say, and Lin Yuewei had already understood that. She had agreed to let Lin Yuewei bring the doctor over not because she truly intended to cooperate with treatment, but because she wanted the other woman to feel at ease.
The doctor shot Lin Yuewei a knowing look.
Look how much she trusts you, and you still don’t have anything going on between you two?
Lin Yuewei gave the doctor a long look and started weighing whether she should cut ties with him after this was over.
Sensing something, the doctor withdrew that ambiguous expression, coughed lightly, and started chatting with Gu Yanqiu.
Lin Yuewei stood to the side in the role of assistant, pouring water for both of them and trying her best to stay out of the way. The two talked for about ten-odd minutes. In that short time, the doctor and Gu Yanqiu exchanged a glance and clearly saw the concealment in each other’s eyes; Gu Yanqiu, in turn, signaled back with a look.
If it was psychological, he was helpless, the doctor thought. So he offered a simple, crude solution. “Is Miss Gu usually sleeping alone?”
“Yes.”
“If it’s convenient, you can find someone to stay with you.” The doctor turned his gaze to Lin Yuewei; this time there was no teasing in it, only seriousness.
Lin Yuewei said in advance, “I’m very busy with work. I may not have time to come over.”
The doctor said, “Then you’ll have to ask another trusted friend.”
Lin Yuewei asked, “Why does someone need to live with her?”
“Not live together; sleep in the same bed,” the doctor corrected her. “The most direct method is to wake her promptly when she sleepwalks, gradually guide her back into bed, and avoid some dangerous situations. Of course, sleeping in the same bed makes it easier to notice.”
“Wouldn’t waking her scare her? I’ve even seen people say online that it could scare someone to death.”
“That’s what the internet says.” The doctor snorted, expressing his contempt for people’s blind faith in Baidu as a cure-all.
Lin Yuewei, who had just been mocked: “……”
After laying out some details, the doctor got up to leave. “I’m heading home first. My wife and daughter are still waiting for me to come back for dinner. Call me if anything comes up.”
“You’re leaving already?” Lin Yuewei felt like he hadn’t said anything at all.
“What else? You think I’m going to spend the whole day here with you? What, you think I’m you, a single man—no, single woman—through and through? I’ve got a home and a family. If I get back late, people will misunderstand.”
This doctor still didn’t know Lin Yuewei was married.
The very embodiment of a home and family, Gu Yanqiu, standing off to the side, coughed again.
The doctor looked over at the sound. “What, your waist hurts again?”
“Go, go, go!” Lin Yuewei hurriedly shoved and escorted him to the door.
“You wouldn’t let me leave just now, and now you’re chasing me out. No wonder people say women’s hearts are as deep as the sea. Hey, don’t push me.” As the doctor was escorted outside, he pinched Lin Yuewei’s arm. Lin Yuewei glanced at him, and the doctor happened to give her a look that said, “Come out with me.” Seizing the opportunity, Lin Yuewei slipped out through the door.
The door was left ajar; from Gu Yanqiu’s angle, nothing could be seen.
The doctor pulled Lin Yuewei a couple of steps farther away. “Your friend is hiding quite a lot in her heart. Everything I just asked her, she only answered half and kept half back. If you want to treat this, she has to be willing herself; otherwise, nobody else can do anything.”
Lin Yuewei was surprised. “How come I didn’t notice?”
The doctor said, “Because you’re foolish. If you could tell at a glance, what kind of psychotherapist would I be?”
Lin Yuewei said, “Aren’t you a part-timer?”
Fortunately, modern men didn’t wear beards or grow long hair. Otherwise, the doctor would have been bristling with indignation right then. He shot Lin Yuewei a glare.
Lin Yuewei laughed and lightly bumped his shoulder with her fist. “Thanks, Old Zhang.”
“Don’t get fresh. Call me Doctor Zhang.” Doctor Zhang lectured her earnestly again. “Girls should act like girls. You look so feminine, so why is your personality so wild?”
“Since when are you so stuck in gender stereotypes? Anyway, your car’s here, right? I’ll see you off.”
Lin Yuewei waved him away, watching his car drive off. Little by little, her face sank.
It seemed Gu Yanqiu really was hiding a lot and hadn’t said a word; those things were the true cause of her sleepwalking. Lin Yuewei went back inside, swinging her hand, originally intending to probe again when she saw the familiar look of hesitation on Gu Yanqiu’s face.
Lin Yuewei: “……”
The atmosphere suddenly turned a little strange.
Lin Yuewei groaned inwardly. How had she forgotten the “bomb” Doctor Zhang had just dropped here?
“Yuewei.” There was a faint trace of awkwardness on Gu Yanqiu’s face, along with other emotions that were hard to distinguish clearly. “Did I do anything to you last night?”
Lin Yuewei smiled, sat down on the sofa with perfect composure, and said, “Nothing. Didn’t I just say it? You hit me twice.”
“Then what did Doctor Zhang mean when he said he heard... what did he hear?”
“Screaming, probably.” Lin Yuewei didn’t even blink. “Ah... ah... that kind of screaming. He probably thought it was that kind of sound. You know, middle-aged men are hard to avoid being a little sleazy. They can’t help thinking the worst.”
Gu Yanqiu, who had already gone dirty in her own imagination several times: “……”
Doctor Zhang, just as he drove out of the neighborhood and let out a loud sneeze: “???”
“Really?” Gu Yanqiu’s expression was hesitant; she clearly didn’t quite believe her.
“Of course it’s true. Don’t you believe me?” Lin Yuewei smiled.
Gu Yanqiu answered with her eyes that she didn’t believe her at all.
Lin Yuewei: “……”
When had her credibility become so worthless?
Gu Yanqiu’s lips moved a little. After a long while, she squeezed out a line, “If I really did something, you can do it back.”
Lin Yuewei: “???”
Do it back how?
After taking a moment to think it over, and finally understanding the implication, Lin Yuewei could only return her an expression so complicated it could not be described with words.
Are you stupid?
She really hadn’t expected Gu Yanqiu to be this kind of Gu Yanqiu.
Never mind that Gu Yanqiu hadn’t done anything to her last night; even if she had done something, it would still have been with Lin Yuewei’s willing consent. What kind of logic was “doing it back”? Could this be settled like slaps, you hit me once and I hit you once? Then we’d be even?
If there had really been anything, then last night had indeed been even.
Seeing her like that, Gu Yanqiu felt even more that Lin Yuewei’s gaze carried some deeper meaning. In her mind, she automatically played out a scene of herself taking advantage of her sleepwalking to commit lewd acts, while Lin Yuewei had no choice but to endure it. For a moment she was both uneasy and guilty. Uneasy because she wondered if she had confessed the truth in her sleep; guilty because she shouldn’t have taken advantage of Lin Yuewei while not fully conscious.
Lin Yuewei had no idea she was thinking so much. She thought Gu Yanqiu had understood her look, while Gu Yanqiu believed she had understood Lin Yuewei’s look; in reality, the two of them were worlds apart.
Lin Yuewei didn’t want to mention last night. Gu Yanqiu assumed she was treating it as a painful matter, or perhaps considering her face and trying to let it pass lightly, and her feelings grew even more complicated. She thought privately that she would have to find some way to make it up to her.
So the two of them tacitly stopped bringing it up.
Lin Yuewei then remembered what Doctor Zhang had said earlier about having someone live with Gu Yanqiu and wake her at any time at night. She cleared her throat and said, “Do you have any familiar friends here? The kind who could sleep in the same bed with you.”
Gu Yanqiu shook her head.
Lin Yuewei became a little happy at that, and at the same time despised her own little thoughts. Still worried, she said, “Then what if you sleepwalk again tonight? There’s no one around to watch you.”
“It’s fine. I usually just sit in the living room for a while; at most, I sleep downstairs.”
“What if one day you just open the door and leave?” Lin Yuewei had looked up sleepwalking online when she couldn’t sleep the night before. There were all kinds of bizarre cases: some sleepwalked right out onto the main road and got hit by a car; some never woke up again and became truly unable to wake. For most of the second half of the night, Lin Yuewei had been imagining all sorts of severe sleepwalking scenarios involving Gu Yanqiu, her heart pounding wildly. There was no way she could fall asleep.
Gu Yanqiu had already understood from that sentence what came after it, and felt a little pleased by the obvious concern in her words. “I can keep tying myself up with a rope. It’s fine.”
“You tying yourself up with a rope is something to be happy about? Hm?” Lin Yuewei swore she heard amusement in her tone, and said with an indescribable look, “Don’t you have to?”
Gu Yanqiu: “……”
She’d slipped up without realizing it.
Calling someone else over wouldn’t work, and she herself didn’t have time. Lin Yuewei felt like her hair was gradually separating from her scalp as she muttered to herself, “What should we do?” She looked at Gu Yanqiu, who was clearly trying not to laugh, and grew even more distressed. Had sleepwalking turned her into an idiot already?
Head lowered in thought, she didn’t guard against the sudden warmth on the back of her hand. Looking down, she saw Gu Yanqiu’s palm covering it, her fingertips with their thin calluses gently rubbing over the back of her hand as she looked at her eyes with great seriousness. “I’m really fine. Don’t worry.”
Lin Yuewei sighed. “Then can you stop smiling? It’s giving me the creeps.”
Gu Yanqiu froze, then burst out laughing.
Lin Yuewei looked at her and kept sighing; she really was going stupid.
After laughing enough times, Gu Yanqiu straightened her expression again and repeatedly assured Lin Yuewei that she would definitely be fine. Only then did she finally calm the other woman’s suspicious mind. Then she asked casually, “Why are you so concerned about my condition, Yuewei?”
Lin Yuewei was speechless for a moment. She picked up her bag from the sofa and slung it over her shoulder. “My mom is urging me to go home. I’m leaving first. Call me if anything comes up.”
Her fleeing back looked as if something terrifying were hot on her heels.
Gu Yanqiu leaned against the doorframe and watched her all the way until she left the villa gate. After a long while, she shook her head with a smile, rubbed her waist, and walked back inside. Halfway there, she straightened up. Strange; her waist wasn’t hurting at all. Why was she rubbing it?
Gu Yanqiu withdrew her hand, lifted her chin, and strode back in.
Lin Yuewei fled the way one escapes and kept driving until she was far from the neighborhood gate before a bead of sweat finally rolled down from her forehead.
Had she been too obvious today? Had Gu Yanqiu seen through her?
Lin’s mother was in the garden reciting scriptures to her flowers and plants. When Lin Yuewei drove past her, she soon came around from the garage side, drenched in sweat. Seeing her, Lin’s mother asked, “Did you run over here? Why are you sweating so much?”
“The AC in the car broke. I’ll get it fixed next time,” Lin Yuewei lied offhandedly.
“......”
Lin’s mother didn’t drive much; she was ferried around by the chauffeur and Lin’s father, so she had no chance to verify whether the car’s AC was really broken. Lin Yuewei wasn’t worried she’d be exposed and then nagged at.
Lin Yuewei wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked toward her mother, then widened her eyes. Only now, on closer inspection, did she notice that Lin’s mother was actually wearing a string of Buddhist prayer beads, slowly turning them bead by bead, quite convincingly; in her hands was also a book. Lin Yuewei took it over and saw that it was the Diamond Sutra.
Lin Yuewei: “......”
Her mother had indeed been acting a little strange lately. A bold idea surfaced in Lin Yuewei’s mind. “Mom, you’re not thinking of becoming a nun, are you?”
“Ah—” Lin Yuewei clutched her forehead. “Why did you hit me?”
“You’re the one becoming a nun; your whole family is becoming nuns.”
“Doesn’t my whole family include you?” Lin Yuewei’s expression turned subtle.
Lin’s mother, who had accidentally cursed herself in too: “......”
Deciding to forget that little episode, Lin’s mother bragged, “So what if I don’t become a nun? Can’t I believe in Buddhism? Let me tell you, this string of prayer beads was given to me by the Gu family’s daughter. She said it wards off misfortune and brings in good luck. Do you have one?”
Lin Yuewei suddenly lowered her head and smiled in embarrassed surprise. She actually did have one.
Lin’s mother: “???”
Lin Yuewei spread her hands toward her. “Mom, let me look at yours?”
Lin’s mother wouldn’t give it to her, warningly suspicious. “Why?”
“Stingy. What’s wrong with looking at it? I’ve recently become a little interested in prayer beads; I know a thing or two.” In truth, Lin Yuewei knew almost nothing; she was barely a zero point five. She just wanted to see what her mother’s beads looked like and whether they were prettier than hers.
Lin’s mother was full of suspicion. “Since when have you studied this?”
“Well, I’ve married such a wife,” Lin Yuewei said with great solemnity, making a face as though she were reciting scripture with her eyes closed. “Absorbing things by association; in any case, I know more than you do.”
Lin’s mother hesitantly took off the beads on her wrist and handed them over, not forgetting to remind her, “Be careful. Don’t break them. Selling you wouldn’t be enough to pay for them.”
“Got it. It’s not like they’re made of tofu.” Lin Yuewei said this, but she still accepted them very carefully, after all, they were Gu Yanqiu’s things.
Lin Yuewei carried the prayer beads toward the front gate.
Lin’s mother asked, “What are you doing?”
Lin Yuewei held the beads with both hands. “The light outside is too strong. I’m going inside so I can look more carefully.”
Lin’s mother: “Hey.”
Lin’s mother: “If you don’t understand, don’t pretend you do. Hurry up and give them back.”
Lin Yuewei: “Got it, got it.”
The only person around Lin Yuewei who knew even a little about these things was Shao Yasi. Though Shao Yasi was also only half-baked, Lin Yuewei set the prayer beads on the coffee table, took a photo, added a close-up of the beads, and sent them over.
Shao Yasi replied very quickly: [I can’t quite tell. I only know they should be pretty valuable, but my grandma is next to me. I’ll ask her for you.]
Shao Yasi put a pair of reading glasses on her grandmother and leaned over, pointing at the photo for her to look at. “Grandma, take a look at these prayer beads?”
The old lady stared for quite a while without moving, zooming the picture in and out from time to time, exclaiming with admiration, “Oh, this, this, this...”
Last time Shao Yasi had already photographed a string for her, and that had been an excellent treasure. She never expected this one to be the same.
“My grandma says this is top-grade hainan rosewood, a rare treasure on the market, priceless,” Shao Yasi sent in a voice message. “I forgot the rest. I’ll let her tell you herself.”
Then Shao Yasi sent a series of 59-second voice messages. Seeing a treasure had excited the old lady, and she had more to say: she spoke about the smooth, warm patina on the beads, their amber-like texture, and before long she was even asking whether Lin Yuewei wanted to sell them.
Lin Yuewei hurriedly explained that they belonged to a friend, and all the bead strings were hers; they weren’t for sale. The old lady was deeply disappointed.
Using push-to-talk, Lin Yuewei respectfully asked, “Grandma Shao, then which is more precious, this string of top-grade hainan rosewood or the last string of red sandalwood? Not necessarily more precious—just from the way you look at it, which one seems more carefully made?”
“Are these two strings from the same person?”
“No.” Lin Yuewei lied, afraid the old lady might get too excited and faint.
“I can’t tell just from the pictures. You’d have to actually handle them to know. They should be about the same, I suppose.”
Lin Yuewei’s mouth immediately drooped.
Gu Yanqiu had actually given her mother a string of top-grade hainan rosewood! And it was almost on par with hers. What happened to being one of a kind?
On second thought, Gu Yanqiu had never said she was the only one.
“Mom, when did Gu Yanqiu give you this string of beads?” Lin Yuewei ran back out of the house and wound the prayer beads back around her mother’s wrist.
“Two months ago.” Lin’s mother turned the beads with practiced movements. She had been wearing them yesterday when Lin Yuewei came home. The string Gu Yanqiu gave Lin’s mother was longer than either of the two Lin Yuewei had; it could be wrapped around the wrist three or four times. Many people who usually didn’t believe in Buddhism still wore this style. The materials could be agate, obsidian, and so on. Lin’s mother had worn those before, and Lin Yuewei simply hadn’t noticed she’d switched to a genuine top-grade hainan rosewood string. At the time, she’d only thought the bracelet was prettier than the previous one.
If Lin’s mother hadn’t brought it up today, she wouldn’t know when she would have discovered it.
“Two months ago?”
“Mm.” Lin’s mother nodded and then muttered another long string of scripture toward the flowers and plants in front of her. After reciting a section, she sighed to her daughter beside her. “You know, after I’ve chanted for two months, even though I don’t understand a lot of the meaning, I really do feel my state of mind is quite different.”
Lin Yuewei stared at her for a while and said, “Can’t tell.”
“You little brat.” Lin’s mother raised a foot to kick her; Lin Yuewei bolted, of course she wouldn’t stand there nicely and let herself be kicked, and called back mockingly, “My Buddha is compassionate; did the Buddha teach you to kick people?”
“This is my wrathful Vajra face!” Lin’s mother had a whole set of answers ready.
“Nice.” Lin Yuewei gave her a thumbs-up over her shoulder. “Your chanting wasn’t for nothing.”
Her voice drifted back again from afar, full of gleeful schadenfreude. “Be careful you don’t chant the flowers and plants into withering.”
Lin’s mother looked down. Whether it was psychological suggestion or something else, the flowers and plants before her really did seem to have bent slightly downward.
Lin’s mother: “......”
Still chatting and joking with her mother outside, Lin Yuewei was completely listless the moment she got back to her room and flopped sideways onto the sofa, head hanging. There was only one thought in her mind: Gu Yanqiu had given her mother a string of top-grade hainan rosewood two months ago; not only was she not Gu Yanqiu’s one and only, she wasn’t even the first.
Gu Yanqiu estimated the time Lin Yuewei should have gotten home, waited a full half hour, and still hadn’t received a message from Lin Yuewei to say she was safe. With no other choice, she sent one herself.
[Xi Gu: Got home?] A classic old-fashioned smiling emoji followed.
Lin Yuewei heard her phone buzz once. She leaned forward, unlocked the screen with her finger, and the moment she saw Gu Yanqiu’s “smile,” she felt anger rise in her chest.
Five minutes later.
[Xi Gu: Back home now?] This time, no emoji.
For the next ten-odd minutes, Lin Yuewei did not move at all, watching the messages in the chat box slowly pile up.
[Xi Gu: ?]
[Xi Gu: Didn’t see your phone?]
[Xi Gu: Stuck in traffic?]
[Xi Gu: Do you still want lobster?]
Eat, eat, eat. Eat your head. You’ve got so many strings of prayer beads; why don’t you eat those instead? Lin Yuewei grumbled inwardly.
“Namo Heluodanuoduonaye...”
The familiar Great Compassion Mantra sounded from the living room. Lin’s mother, just coming in, asked in surprise, “You’re Buddhist too now?” That conversion was a little too fast.
“No.” Lin Yuewei answered the call calmly, detoured around her mother, and went to the guest room.
“Did you get home?” Gu Yanqiu asked for the third time. Only then did Lin Yuewei finally walk into the room, close the door, and answer with a brief sound. “Mm.”
Gu Yanqiu seemed to be thinking about what to say.
Lin Yuewei also felt that ignoring her just now had been somewhat excessive, so she took the initiative to explain, “I was talking with my mom just now and didn’t notice the messages. Did you call me for something?”
“No; I just wanted to ask whether you got home.”
“I did.”
“......”
“......”
Lin Yuewei had a whole string of questions about the prayer beads she wanted to ask: why had she given them to her mother, what exactly did the ones she gave her mean, or did they mean nothing at all and she simply treated them as something she could hand out casually? But all those words were blocked at the throat, not a single one able to come out.
Gu Yanqiu said, “I also asked some other things on WeChat just now. Did you see them?”
Lin Yuewei flipped to the WeChat record and, with a flat tone, replied, “No traffic jam. The lobster question, ask my mom. I’m going to the new company tomorrow, so I won’t be able to eat it anyway.”
“You... are you angry?” Gu Yanqiu felt that her tone sounded strange.
Lin Yuewei tightened her fingers inward. “No, I’m not angry.” She wasn’t angry. It was just prayer beads being sent all over the world and she happened to be one of them; what was there to be angry about? She absolutely wasn’t angry.
As expected... Gu Yanqiu had definitely done something to wrong Lin Yuewei last night. She hadn’t shown it in front of her just now, but once she got home, it had unknowingly come through.
It was all her own fault. Gu Yanqiu sighed inwardly, rubbed her brow, and said, “Yuewei, why don’t you come stay at my place tonight?”
Lin Yuewei: “???”
Author’s Note:
Lin Yuewei: How could she give my mom prayer beads? Am I still your one and only little cutie or not? I’m angry! ╭(╯^╰)╮
Gu Yanqiu: I took advantage of her. I must definitely make it up to her tonight [clenches fist]