CH 1

POSTED ON FEBRUARY 27, 2022 BY TIBETANTERRIER

Scorching August~!

Dididi…!

The harsh chirping of cicadas mixed with the bustling sound of traffic reverberated the active street. The scorching sun seared the gray-brown asphalt road surface. Under the surging visible heatwaves, the street seemed to be twisted.

Under the shade of the few trees on the roadside, a few youngsters gathered with cigarettes in their mouths, waiting for the traffic lights to turn green.

Suddenly, a young man who breathed out a circular puff of smoke seemed to have discovered something interesting.

“Ah Nuo, what are you looking at?” asked the companion beside him.

The young man named Ah Nuo stared blankly at the street corner, before speaking out, “Hey man… how do the blind people cross the road?”

His companion was stunned for a moment. After a moment of pause, the companion answered slowly, “Generally speaking, there will be someone else looking after the blind person, or he would probably be under a guide dog’s care. If it is in a modern city, there will also be a voice broadcast on the traffic lights by the roadside. Worse come to worst, he can cross the road with the help of sound and his white cane [1]?”

Ah Nuo shook his head, “What if there is no one to take care of the blind person, no guide dog, no voice broadcast, and even the white cane is used to carry the peanut oil container?”

“What? You think you’re funny!?” The companion rolled his eyes, followed Ah Nuo’s gaze, and became dumbfounded at the next moment.

On the opposite of the road, a youth in black short sleeves was standing there. He had thick black satin wrapped around his eyes for a few layers, blocking out all the light completely.

He carried a cheap shopping bag filled with groceries in his left hand. He carried the white cane on his right shoulder, acting like a shoulder pole [2]. There was a yellowish plastic bottle of peanut oil at the end of the white cane on his shoulder!

Black satin wrapped around his eyes, the white cane on the shoulders, groceries in the left hand, peanut oil on the right shoulder…

This fantastic scene immediately attracted the attention of the surrounding people.

“Hey, look, that guy is so weird.”

“Can you see with such a thick cloth covering your eyes?”

“Didn’t you see the white cane in his hand? He was already blind, right?”

“It’s modern times. Blind people typically wear sunglasses. Who still wraps their eyes with cloth on a hot day? Wouldn’t it be too hot?”

“That’s right! Also, have you ever seen a blind person who doesn’t use a white cane to walk, but uses it to carry things instead?”

“Youngsters these days really know how to have fun.”

“…”

The chirping of cicadas in summer couldn’t cover up the whispers of the surrounding pedestrians. They looked at the teen curiously and whispered among themselves whether he was really blind or not. At the same time, they looked at the flashing red light with anticipation.

At this moment, a crisp voice sounded next to the teen.

“Brother, shall I help you cross the road?” It was a little girl in a school uniform, about thirteen years old. She had beads of sweat on her cheeks; coupled with her big black eyes looking at the teen worriedly, she gave off a pure and innocent vibe.

The teen was stunned for a moment. He turned his head to look in the direction of the little girl, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

“En.” He passed the grocery bag over to his right hand, freed his left hand to wipe off the sweat on his clothes, and gently held the little girl’s palm.

Pata-!

The green light was on.

The teen stepped forward and walked across the road with the little girl.

The little girl was nervous, looking left and right to pay attention to the vehicles on both sides. Her footsteps were cautious and timid.

As for the teen, he walked steadily.

In the eyes of everyone, this scene was unlike a kind girl leading a blind man across the road, but like an Oppa crossing the road with a child.

In a couple of seconds, the two reached the other side of the road. The boy thanked the little girl and then walked toward the remote alley without looking back.

“He’s not blind.” Ah Nuo said firmly after he watched this scene, “He must be able to see.”

A young man behind Ah Nuo held his chin in one hand, thoughtfully. Then, he seemed to have arrived into a sudden realization, “Oh, I get it now. He’s cosplaying Lee Sin [3]!”

Pak~!

Arnold smacked on his companion’s head and scolded, “Trash, stop playing games every day. Who has nothing better to do and cosplay a blink monk on the road? It’s suicide!”

After a 2 seconds pause, Ah Nuo murmured and added, “Besides, the blind monk has a red cloth covering his eyes, so it doesn’t look like a cosplay.”

“Ah Nuo, you still complained that I…”

“Shut up.”

“Oh.”

Just as the two were arguing, the young man who had been silent for a while watched the back of the teen leaving, frowning slightly.

“What’s wrong?” Ah Nuo noticed his gaze.

“I know him.”

“Oh, you know him?”

“That’s right.” The young man nodded, “When my cousin was still in elementary school, I heard that a student in their school had an accident and had problems with his eyes, so he could only wrap his eyes with black satin. They said he had mental disorders…”

“Mental disorders?” Ah Nuo was stunned and carefully recalled the situation just now, “I don’t think there seems to be a problem from what I saw.”

“That was all ten years ago. Maybe he has recovered, but things seemed to be quite a commotion at the time. After a few days, the student dropped out. It is said that he was transferred to a special school for the blind.”

At this moment, another person interjected enthusiastically, “By the way, what is the accident? How can it make a person go blind and have mental problems? Is it a ghost-doing?”

“I don’t know.” He paused, “But, I heard it’s more outrageous than that.”

“He’s an unlucky soul.” Ah Nuo sighed. “What’s his name?”

“Hmm, Lin… Lin… Lin Qiye?”

…

In the midst of sunset, Lin Qiye pushed open the door.

Almost instantly, the fragrance of groceries from the house penetrated into his nostrils. He sniffed, swallowed his saliva, and walked into the house with the items.

Squeak—!

The old door made a harsh screech, covering up the sound of cooking from the kitchen. A middle-aged woman pushed open the kitchen door and saw Lin Qiye carrying many items. She exclaimed and hurried up.

“Little Qi, why did you bring so many things back home at one time?” The woman rubbed her hands on the apron and hurriedly helped Lin Qiye to take the things while nagging.

“What a big bottle of peanut oil? Kiddo, have you misused government subsidies again?”

“Aunty, the government’s subsidy for the disabled is for our living. I use it to buy oil to make the best use of it.” Lin Qiye smiled.

“Nonsense, this money is reserved for you to go to college. How can you use it indiscriminately? The money your aunty earns from work is actually enough to support the three of us. Don’t overspend your money.”

Aunty gently wiped the oil bottle with her hand. She mumbled with a slight heartache on her face, “It’s a branded product. Doesn’t it cost a lot of money?”

Before Lin Qiye could say anything, aunty suddenly reacted, “No wait, there’re so many things. How did you bring them back?”

“Oh, I met a few kind-hearted people and they brought the items back for me,” said Lin Qiye calmly.

“Okay, okay, it seems that there are still many kind people in our society. Have you thanked them well?”

“Yes, I have thanked them.” Lin Qiye changed the subject, “Aunty, where is Ah Jin?”

“He was doing his homework on the balcony. By the way, the doctor who runs the routine check at the psychiatric unit this year is here and is resting in the room. You should go and check-up with the doctor. Your aunty will cook the dishes first, and I will call you once I’m done. “

Lin Qiye took a slight pause. He answered perfunctorily, turned around, and walked towards the bedroom.

…

“Hello, I’m a doctor at Sunshine Psychiatric Hospital. My surname is Li.”

Seeing Lin Qiye pushing the door open, the young man sitting on the small bench in the bedroom stood up and spoke gently. He wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses, giving off a gentle air.

Lin Qiye raised his eyebrows in surprise, “Isn’t it Dr. Han who typically does the home visit?”

“Dr. Han was promoted to our deputy chairman last year.” Dr. Li smiled, with a little envy in his eyes.

Lin Qiye nodded slightly and sighed.

Right, Dr. Han is quite old already, and his medical skills are superb. It isn’t a surprise he’s promoted to be the deputy chairman. It is natural to have a junior doctor review my conditions now.

Seeing Lin Qiye sit down, Dr. Li cleared his throat and took out a stack of case files from his bag.

“I’m sorry because I’m new here, and I don’t know much about your situation. I’ll need to understand your situation first,” said Dr. Li apologetically.

Lin Qiye nodded.

“Your name is… Lin Qiye?”

“Yup.”

“You’re 17 years old this year.”

“Yes.”

“Well… According to the files, you were blind for both eyes 10 years ago and were sent to our hospital for some challenges at the same time?”

“Yes.”

Dr. Li pondered for a while, “Have you changed your name?”

“No, why are you asking that?” Lin Qiye was stunned.

Dr. Li scratched his head a little embarrassedly, “Cough cough… It seems like I have overthought it.”

He reached out his hand, pointed to the age on the medical record, and pointed to the three words ten years ago, “Look, you were blind ten years ago, and you were seven years old at that time. Your name happened to be called Lin Qiye, so I thought you changed your name after losing your sight.”

Lin Qiye was silent for a long time, then shook his head and said, “No… I have never changed my name. Before I was born, my parents gave me the name, Lin Qiye.”

“That’s really… *Cough*,” Dr. Li realized that it wasn’t polite and closed his mouth in time.

“It’s a coincidence.” Lin Qiye said lightly, “It’s really a coincidence.”

Dr. Li was a little embarrassed, but he quickly changed the subject, “Well… your record doesn’t seem to describe the accident that caused your blindness and mental disorder in detail. Can you tell me about it?”

Before Lin Qiye spoke, Dr. Li hurriedly added, “I don’t mean to offend you. The more I know about the patient, the better I can treat them. Of course, if you don’t want to say it, I won’t force you.”

Lin Qiye sat there quietly. Under the black stain eye wraps, those eyes seemed to be watching Dr. Li.

After a while, he slowly opened his mouth, “I don’t mind talking about it… It’s just that you won’t believe me, and you may even take me back to the psychiatric hospital.”

“No, no, no, don’t think of our relationship as a doctor-patient relationship. It’s just a normal chat between friends, and things won’t get to that point.” Dr. Li said half-jokingly, “Even if you tell me that Taishang Laojun [4] put you into the alchemy furnace.”

[TN: A soft easter-egg on Sun Wukong’s backstory.]

Lin Qiye was silent for a moment, then nodded slightly.

“Since childhood, I loved astronomy.”

“En, then what?”

“That night, I lay on the eaves of my old house and gazed at the moon.”

“What did you see? Moon Rabbit [5]?” Dr. Li smiled.

Lin Qiye shook his head, and his next sentence made Dr. Li’s smile stiffen.

“No, I saw an angel.” Lin Qiye said earnestly and gestured with both hands in front of him.

“The archangel with 6 white wings shrouded in golden light.”