Do You Think There's Something Wrong With Me Too?

Shen Yu thought he was such a show-off.

Shen Yu didn't want to bother with him.

Shen Yu turned back expressionlessly and focused on the stall owner wielding his spatula.

Wen Wenyu, who had smiled expecting a response: "..."

Lu Yanjin was even less inclined to pay him any attention.

As though he had been left out, Wen Wenyu raised a hand to push up his glasses. "I'm..."

Your brother's friend.

Before he could finish, Shen Yu had already taken the jianbing guozi the owner handed him. Lu Yanjin paid, and Shen Yu pointed at a milk tea shop and said he wanted to go there. Lu Yanjin whisked him away in his wheelchair.

Wen Wenyu: "?"

Wen Wenyu pulled a photo from his pocket and compared it with the person in the wheelchair. They were identical.

But hadn't his brother said he was frightened and anxious, excessively cautious, and afraid of the whole world?

Wen Wenyu chuckled softly.

Interesting.

He took his jianbing guozi but didn't eat it, instead going after Shen Yu.

"Fifty percent sugar, less ice, and extra crystal boba, please."

Lu Yanjin vetoed it outright. "Room temperature."

Shen Yu's face fell.

"Then make it hot. It doesn't taste good at room temperature."

"I'll have the same as him, but iced."

Hearing the familiar voice, Shen Yu impatiently turned his head. Sure enough, he saw that pair of pale purple eyes, full of probing curiosity.

The young man had both hands resting on his wheelchair, his braid hanging to one side, and the ruby around his neck was especially conspicuous. But Wen Wenyu's attention wasn't on that. It was on those brilliant blue eyes, clear as a pool of water, which were looking him up and down. Irritation rippled in their depths, and his gaze held a trace of disgust.

For some reason, Shen Yu just disliked him.

He made no effort to hide it.

But to Wen Wenyu, it looked like a fierce front, intimidating on the outside but weak within, making him want to strip away that mask and expose the fragile core beneath for him to knead as he pleased.

Wen Wenyu bent down slightly. "Has anyone ever told you how beautiful your eyes are?"

Lu Yanjin immediately stepped in front of him.

"Don't be so hasty. I'm a friend of Consultant Luo's. He said his younger brother would be coming in his place today, but it looks like you don't know me. That's all right, though. I've seen your photo." Wen Wenyu pulled up his chat history with Luo Ningsang and Xie Shuyang and handed it to Lu Yanjin to look at.

"We agreed to meet at the Tea-Tasting Coffee Shop at three."

Shen Yu couldn't see anything from behind him. He only heard Lu Yanjin say "mm" before returning to the back of the wheelchair, no longer stopping Wen Wenyu from approaching.

Shen Yu: "..."

Shen Yu: "You're not my brother's friend."

Wen Wenyu stood looking down at him. "Why do you say that?"

Shen Yu didn't like tilting his head up to look at someone he disliked. He beckoned with a finger. "Crouch down and I'll tell you."

Wen Wenyu obediently crouched down, his expression full of gentleness.

Shen Yu reached out and yanked the half-exposed business card from the breast pocket of his suit, holding it between two fingers. "Wen Wenyu, current consultant to the International Joint Psychological Association. What an impressive title. Isn't coming to see someone like me a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut?"

"And if you're meeting for a meal, why not pick a proper restaurant? Why meet at a coffee shop? Has foreign technology already advanced to the point where coffee alone can supply the human body with energy?"

Shen Yu stuffed the card back and gave it a pat.

Wen Wenyu tapped his head, looking a little troubled. "Oh dear, your brother told me to keep it from you, and I accidentally messed it up."

Shen Yu raised an eyebrow. "Did you do it on purpose, or did you accidentally do it on purpose?"

Playing that game with me?

He might as well have held the card up in front of his face.

Wen Wenyu's expression didn't change. "I didn't do it on purpose."

So you did mean to do it.

Shen Yu took a sip of his boba milk tea. It was nice and hot.

"You've seen me now. There's nothing wrong with me, so you can leave."

Wen Wenyu smiled gently. "Patients like you who claim there's nothing wrong are the ones with the biggest problems, just as someone with a mental illness wouldn't say they have one."

Shen Yu looked up at him, wanting to hear what other bullshit he could spout.

"Then by your logic, everyone has psychological problems, and everyone has a mental illness?"

"No, that can't be debated or proven at all."

Wen Wenyu changed tack. "But humans are strange creatures. They use a system called 'morality and order' to define the boundaries of a normal person, and we generally call those who cross those boundaries patients."

"And I'm merely... hmm, a tool for measuring your distance from those boundaries?"

Wen Wenyu took the same milk tea as Shen Yu's, put in a straw, and took a big gulp. His expression turned strange. "It's tasteless. Did they add sugar?"

Shen Yu glared at him.

Tasteless guy.

"I just got out of the hospital. I can't drink anything too sweet."

Wen Wenyu's expression returned to normal. Carrying both the milk tea and the jianbing guozi at his side, he strode toward the Tea-Tasting Coffee Shop.

"Oh, right, I forgot to mention that my consultation fee is five thousand an hour. The clock started when we began talking just now. Your brother's paying."

Shen Yu gritted his teeth.

Threatening me with money?

"Charge!" Shen Yu waved his hand.

Lu Yanjin pushed him so fast he nearly took flight, and as they passed the unhurried Wen Wenyu, he didn't forget to pull him along.

The Tea-Tasting Coffee Shop.

A private room on the second floor.

Of the three, only Wen Wenyu was panting.

"Hurry up and ask. Don't waste time," Shen Yu urged.

How much did Luo Ningsang make in a month? He was going to spend five thousand in a single hour! Judging by how Shen Yu had lived before, that was enough to last him two or three months.

Wen Wenyu: "..."

Wen Wenyu caught his breath. "I give up. I'll pause the clock first. Let me catch my breath."

Satisfied, Shen Yu said, "All right."

Then he began bombarding Luo Ningsang with messages.

Shen Yu: Consultant Luo really has money to burn.

Shen Yu: This is the first I've heard that Consultant Luo has a friend in a psychological association all the way overseas?

Shen Yu: So Consultant Luo didn't believe a word I said and even had to find someone to sound me out?

Luo Ningsang: "..."

Luo Ningsang didn't dare reply at all.

Lu Xianchang listened to his boss's phone buzzing nonstop, while the man himself looked as guilty as a thief. A little gleeful at his misfortune, Lu Xianchang said, "He found out? I told you Xiao Yu was smart, didn't I? You should've had an open and honest talk with him. Now you're done for."

Luo Ningsang: "Shut up."

Lu Xianchang shrugged.

Xu Shenzheng gave him a thumbs-up.

That took guts, brother.

You're really not afraid the boss will settle the score with you later?

Lu Xianchang met Xu Shenzheng's admiring gaze, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly as he wiggled his eyebrows.

With Xiao Yu around, what are you afraid of?

We've got a new boss!

Xu Shenzheng understood, and realization dawned on him.

Luo Ningsang tapped away, trying to salvage their precarious relationship, but before he could finish, Shen Yu's next message arrived.

Shen Yu: Do you think there's something wrong with me too?

Luo Ningsang's fingertips hovered over the screen. His mind went blank, his breathing stopped abruptly, and even his heartbeat slowed.

Those words lingered in his mind like a curse.

He could imagine Shen Yu's breakdown the moment he discovered Wen Wenyu was a psychological counselor. Even the person closest to him didn't trust him, indirectly reminding him...

He wasn't a normal person.

The young man's dimmed eyes flashed through his mind again.

Luo Ningsang (Brother): We won't do this anymore. I'll come take you home.

But when the three of them went upstairs, all they found was an empty private room.

Luo Ningsang, rarely so rattled, grabbed a passing server. "Where are they? Where are the people who were in this room?!"

The server looked bewildered. "Huh?"

Lu Xianchang's gaze abruptly turned cold. He pulled out his credentials. "We're from the agency, investigating a case. Get your manager out here."