CH 12

That night was accompanied by the typhoon’s torrential rain.

The rain struck the tiled roof, creating a loud echo.

Lin Chen laid on the wooden bed while Cong Lian occupied a simple mattress laid on the floor.

No matter how calm someone was, after experiencing such unsettling things over two short days, anyone would suffer from insomnia. Especially when the death had only just occurred, and there was now heavy rainfall at midnight.

Lin Chen opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. He couldn’t sleep.

He thought of Yu Yan Qing. The world was full of things painful enough to make people want to die, but there were not many that could make someone desperate for it.

He thought of the people in the world who would easily believe in others, and the very few that would bring someone home they’d only known for two days.

This could be called trust, but it was even deeper than that. This was probably an absolute, detached sense of self-confidence.

Lin Chen leaned over and looked at the person on the floor.

Early the next morning, it wasn’t the strong wind that knocked on No. 6 Yan Jia Street, but a pair of fat, young hands.

Xing Cong Lian’s eyes quickly opened, but Lin Chen continued to sleep soundly. Cong Lian crept to the door, and when he opened it, he found a chubby boy about as tall as his waist.

Two adults accompanied the boy on either side, each holding his hand and looking embarrassed.

“Sorry to disturb you. Our stinky boy wanted to find Mr. Lin. We went to the school, but they said Mr. Lin moved away. . .” The Chubby Ball’s father tried to explain.

“You’re here to find Lin Chen.” Cong Lian looked at the child, “How’d you know Lin Chen was with me?”

He had yet to finish speaking when he felt warm on his calf. Like a koala, the boy hugged his thigh tight.

His parents were very embarrassed and pulled on the back of the kid’s collar, but he wouldn’t budge.

“We asked the school, and they said Mr. Lin left with an officer surnamed Xing. And the stinky boy led us here. . .”

When Lin Chen opened his eyes, this was what he saw.

Cong Lian dragged his leg, a giant sandbag attached to it.

Lin Chen sat up, and the Chubby Ball eagerly looked up at him, holding Cong Lian still.

Recalling his previous teachings to the boy, Lin Chen was speechless.

“Useful method, correct target, but a tad excessive.”

The Chubby Ball threw away his shoes before he could finish talking and climbed into the bed, clinging to Lin Chen’s neck like a monkey.

Lin Chen looked at Cong Lian, who stood decisively in front of the door, blocking the boys’ parents’ view.

The boy buried his face in Lin Chen’s neck and pointed at himself, then said sullenly, “Water.”

Lin Chen seemed to understand. Pulling the little guy away, he said, “If you care too much about your challenges, that will become your biggest obstacle.”

When the Chubby Ball’s mother saw her son clinging to someone with such a death grip, she took the first step in trying to move him away. “Sorry, sorry, my son. . . isn’t very bright, here. . .” She pointed to her head. “Sometimes, even we don’t understand what he’s talking about.”

“What do you mean by that?” Lin Chen asked, staring at the mother coldly.

The woman was terrified by this look and turned to her husband for help.

Before her husband could speak, Lin Chen continued, “Do you feel because he can’t articulate himself well, because you can’t understand what he’s talking about, that he’s mentally retarded? You feel ashamed to bring him to see people?” Lin Chen set aside the child. “I don’t know about your parenting, but considering he could enroll in a normal primary school, you should have confidence in his intelligence. Have you not considered the possibility of him not being retarded but autistic instead?”

Xing Cong Lian had never seen Lin Chen this angry.

Based on the word-vomit, Cong Lian lit two candles for the boy’s parents.

“You’re saying. . . he’s a genius.”

The mother’s face was red, but no longer from shame or embarrassment.

“I gave him the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, and the results proved that.”

“Can you teach us how to guide him?”

Lin Chen didn’t answer. Instead, he looked at the boy beside him and asked, “Tell me slowly, what happened. . .”

“Grandma. . . afraid of water. . .” He pulled at the corner of Lin Chen’s shirt anxiously.

Lin Chen frowned. He couldn’t quite grasp what he meant from the keywords.

The boy pointed at himself then the door, trying to drag Lin Chen from the house.

“You mean, your grandmother is afraid of water, so you want me to treat her?” Lin Chen tentatively asked.

The little guy nodded immediately.

Lin Chen had an epiphany. He turned to the boy’s parents and asked, “Was his grandmother bitten by a dog recently?”

The boy’s father seemed unsure. He looked at his wife. “Mother didn’t mention it, right?”

“Did he pull on his grandmother and mimic a dog barking?” Lin Chen rephrased his question.

“How did you know?”

“Take your mother to the hospital right now!”

Cong Lian got into his jeep and drove down an empty street.

Lin Chen sat in the passenger’s seat but didn’t utter a single word the entire way.

Cong Lian looked into the rearview mirror and sat the two parents in the backseat, holding their child. Eventually, he couldn’t help himself from trying to lighten up the atmosphere, “Chubby Ball’s grandmother was bitten by a dog, why come find you. . .”

“Because his parents didn’t understand what he was trying to say. . .” Lin Chen replied frankly, and the two in the back wore embarrassed expressions again. Though he was angry, he still explained patiently to Cong Lian, “Chubby Ball is afraid of water. I taught him how to handle it. So he came to me in hopes I could treat his grandmother. . .”

“Hydrophobia?”

“Yes.”

“Communication between you geniuses is beyond us mere mortals, ah. . .”

Their back and forth ended in Cong Lian’s sigh, but the boy’s parents in the backseat were confused.

“You mean, my son has hydrophobia. He’s always been afraid of water since he was a child, but he’s been getting better lately. . .”

“Fear of water is fear of water, hydrophobia is hydrophobia. The latter is also another name for rabies. I think Chubby Ball knew his grandmother was bitten by a dog, and since you didn’t understand, he turned to Lin Chen,” Xing Cong Lian explained.

Originally, the boy’s father was skeptical. Now that he knew his mother was bitten by a dog and hadn’t taken a vaccine, he anxiously grabbed the front seat and said, “Please speed up.”

When they arrived, the old woman carried a tai chi sword and was about to head to the park for her regular exercise.

Her son and daughter-in-law rushed over and started asking this and that. The old lady waved her hand and said it wasn’t a big deal. She wasn’t sick, and it didn’t hamper her activities.

The boy’s father handed his son to Lin Chen while his wife took his mother to the garage and said, “Mr. Lin, I trouble you to look after my son for a bit.”

Chubby Ball stared in the direction his parents left, worried. Lin Chen took the child’s hand and patted his head. His voice was gentle, “You did a good job.”

“You’re only seven years old, so smart. Very good, ah.”

To prevent a minor from suffering secondhand smoke, Cong Lian only held an unlit cigarette, and his voice was faint.

Lin Chen held the child’s hand and walked over to his side.

“His IQ is four times higher than average for his age, about 160. He’s not just smart. But very, very smart.”

“It’s a pity he’s in that family, treated like an idiot despite being a genius,” Cong Lian said to Lin Chen, flatteringly.

“His parents are very accommodating towards him, they’re not bad.” Lin Chen paused and looked into Chubby Ball’s large eyes, imparting seriously, “It’s because of this, you’ve had a calm, stable childhood.”

It was because his parents didn’t force him to study 24/7 that he could grow like a normal child until now.

“Then why say that to his parents just now?”

“Because it’s time.”

Xing Cong Lian didn’t understand what Lin Chen meant by that. He was going to ask, but Chubby Ball looked up at Lin Chen and nodded solemnly, like an adult.

The captain could only remain silent and play with his cigarette. “Kid really is a superman. Can already seek a psychologist for treatment. . .” His point was, the kid had accurately found him.

“Yeah, he’s pretty scary. The first time he snuck in to play with the sand table, I thought he was stealing one of the toys. Then he said ‘Sand table game’ so perfectly,” Lin Chen shook his head.

“Even Lao Fu didn’t get it right,” Xing Cong Lian was very dedicated to roasting the other psychologist.

“He can even express his symptoms accurately and shows the desire to overcome his own psychological troubles. . .”

“He’s afraid of water. Did you manage to treat him?” Xing Cong Lian couldn’t stop himself from making an astounded expression. He wanted to repeat his previous lament. The communication between geniuses went beyond the ordinary person’s comprehension. “If there’s something I’m afraid of, I can talk to you about it. . .” he said shamelessly.

“You can overcome your fears slowly. First from afar, using system desensitization. Easier said than done. You need perseverance and a strong will to overcome your fear.”

“For example, if you’re hydrophobic, you need to slowly approach water?”

Lin Chen nodded, “If you’re hydrophobic, then you need to find a safe environment where you can see water and try to relax. It’ll be uncomfortable at first, but you can adapt at a certain distance. The next step is to shorten the distance and relax again, then repeat the process over and over again.”

“No wonder he spent so much time on my bed. He could see the river. . .”

Cong Lian abruptly stopped and turned to look at Lin Chen.

There was a spark of light in Lin Chen’s eyes that looked back at him.