Medicine

"Doctor," the Fat Man said as he watched Jiang Cheng polish off his second bowl of rice. "Slow down. Nobody's going to steal it from you."

Jiang Cheng poured himself a bowl of soup and gulped it down. Then he set the bowl aside, wiped his mouth with a tissue, and looked satisfied. By then, the Fat Man had barely managed to eat half his first bowl.

In a concerned tone, Jiang Cheng asked, "Why aren't you eating any vegetables?"

The Fat Man glanced at the two small pieces of potato left on the plate and the lone cabbage leaf drifting in circles in the soup pot. He slowly set down his chopsticks. "Doctor," he said, looking up, "I'm trying to lose weight."

"Oh." Jiang Cheng nodded. "Then I won't encourage you to eat."

After the meal, the Fat Man went to wash the dishes, as usual. Jiang Cheng sat at the desk in the studio, the crisp tapping of his keyboard betraying a certain absent-mindedness.

Once he had finished the dishes, the Fat Man sat down on the sofa, shaking his hands dry as he asked whether the studio dealt exclusively with patients' mental health. Jiang Cheng confirmed that it did.

The Fat Man blinked, as if there were something he couldn't quite figure out. "Doctor, I saw a lot of medicine in the kitchen cupboard just now, but most of it was for treating injuries and relieving pain. Why do you stock so much of that?"

Jiang Cheng looked perfectly healthy. The Fat Man even thought that if they had a contest to see who could eat more, Jiang Cheng might beat him. It was obvious he didn't need those medicines for himself.

To the Fat Man's surprise, Jiang Cheng seemed to give the question serious thought. Then he went into the kitchen and took out a box of cooling pain-relief patches.

He opened the box, pulled out a patch, then turned around and fixed the Fat Man with a scrutinizing look.

Every so often, he lowered his head to glance at the patch in his hand.

The Fat Man had no idea why Jiang Cheng was staring at him. A sudden sense of foreboding gripped him. "Doctor," he blurted out, "why are you looking at me?"

"Nothing." Jiang Cheng put the patch away, returned it to its place, then went back to his desk and sat down as if nothing had happened.

At first, the Fat Man had his doubts, but when he remembered the nightmare, he decided none of it mattered anyway.

The afternoon passed in a lazy blur. While there were no customers, the Fat Man tidied up outside the door again. When he came back, he somehow ended up dozing off on the sofa.

By the time he woke up, it was already dark. The Fat Man rubbed his eyes and realized Jiang Cheng was gone from the desk. He turned to look in the kitchen, but Jiang Cheng wasn't there either. He jolted fully awake.

Night had fallen, and there was no telling when the nightmares might come. Without Jiang Cheng, any nightmare would spell the end of him.

"Doctor?" the Fat Man called.

The surroundings were silent. Nobody answered.

The Fat Man panicked. Just as he was about to go upstairs to look for him, the door suddenly opened, and a tall, slender shadow fell inside.

Jiang Cheng walked in carrying several bags and casually shut the door behind him.

The Fat Man looked as if he'd just seen hope. "Where did you go?"

Jiang Cheng handed a few of the bags to the Fat Man, who had hurried over to help. Inside were small boxes of medicine, just like the ones he'd seen in the cupboard that afternoon.

"These are..."

"Medicine." Jiang Cheng took off his coat and hung it on the rack. "You can put it in the cupboard you saw this afternoon."

"Doctor, why did you buy so much medicine?"

Jiang Cheng went to the shelf where the case files were kept and pulled out a file marked in red. He flipped it open and replied casually, "To keep on hand."

The Fat Man's confusion deepened. There were only the two of them here, and neither of them was injured. Who were all these medicines for?

Suddenly, the scene he'd witnessed in the villa flashed through his mind. A chill ran up the inside of the Fat Man's thigh, and cold sweat broke out all at once.

He wondered whether Jiang Cheng might be a pervert, planning to keep him locked up for a long time, just like the family in the villa from his mission.

The wound medicine and painkillers were for him, to keep him from dying of his injuries.

The more the Fat Man thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Jiang Cheng's earlier excuse about kicking him out must have been nothing but a ploy to lower his guard.

No wonder Jiang Cheng had figured out the villa family's scheme so quickly. They were two of a kind!

That was why he'd seen right through their trap!

He had to find a way to escape, and the sooner the better.

Just as he was rolling his eyes and racking his brains for an excuse to leave the studio without making Jiang Cheng suspicious, Jiang Cheng's voice suddenly rang out. "Nobody's interested in kidnapping and abusing a fat guy."

The Fat Man whipped around to look at Jiang Cheng. He was leaning against the desk, reading the file in his hands without even looking up.

Jiang Cheng turned a page and continued, "Your legs work just fine. You can leave whenever you want, but I'll tell you this: once you walk out that door, don't even think about coming back."

"Can I really leave?" After hearing Jiang Cheng say that, the Fat Man wasn't so sure anymore. The man in front of him was a little strange, and his way of thinking was somewhat skewed compared to normal people's, but he didn't seem like a vicious criminal.

A few seconds later, the Fat Man made up his mind. "Doctor, I think I'd better stay. At least we can look out for each other."

He paused, then licked his lips and asked sheepishly, "But could you tell me what all this medicine is actually for?"

"Phew—" Jiang Cheng seemed to have finished dealing with whatever was in front of him. He closed the file and looked up at the Fat Man, his eyes seeming to ask, Are you sure you want to know?

The Fat Man nodded repeatedly.

Jiang Cheng pressed his lips together with a hint of helplessness, as if he'd given the matter serious thought. "All right," he sighed. "I'll tell you, but you must never let this secret out. It's very important to me."

Moved by Jiang Cheng's solemn manner, the Fat Man straightened up too, his posture as grave as if he were taking an oath.

Somehow, he suspected Jiang Cheng had an embarrassing hidden condition and needed the medicine for it.

He remembered Jiang Cheng telling Chen Xiaomeng that thirty seconds would be enough.

Maybe he hadn't been lying.

The Fat Man suddenly began to feel sorry for the handsome man in front of him.

He sighed, thinking that Heaven really was fair. Everyone had a pain hidden deep in their heart, something they never shared with anyone else. And now Jiang Cheng was willing to confide in him.

With that in mind, the Fat Man looked at Jiang Cheng with nothing but encouragement. "I'm ready. Go ahead."

"All right." Jiang Cheng nodded. "The bandages are for tying you up. Medical tape will seal your mouth so you can't call out and bring the police. The painkillers will keep you conscious while you're being tortured. I also have two boxes of stimulants, but you have to understand, they're hard to come by and pretty expensive, so whether you get to use them will depend on your luck." Jiang Cheng seemed to think of something and continued, "Oh, right. I've also prepared some hallucinogens to mix into your drinking water. Don't worry, I'll bring you some in a bit."

The Fat Man: "???"