Ji Yanzhi's schizophrenia

At the same time, the same questions filled Ji Yanzhi's mind.

Things had been peaceful lately, and the two of them had gone abroad to unwind. What reason did Lin Qing have to lie to Ji Ting?

And what had she lied about?

He wanted to know more, but no matter how long he waited, Ji Ting's inner voice remained silent.

Ji Yanzhi's brows knitted tightly. Judging by that last thought, Ji Ting seemed certain that Lin Qing had lied to him. But how had he confirmed it?

He lowered his eyes and pondered quietly. Before long, his gaze suddenly sharpened-

Right, WeChat!

When Ji Ting had been in the study, he had said he hadn't checked Lin Qing's WeChat in a long time. He must have checked it after returning to his room, which had led to what happened afterward.

That left only one question: what exactly had Lin Qing told Ji Ting?

Ji Yanzhi considered calling him downstairs again. Even without asking directly, he could probe a little and glean some clues from his thoughts.

But he quickly dismissed the idea. Ji Ting had become smarter, and doing this over and over might arouse his suspicions.

He couldn't rush this. Ji Yanzhi decided to sit tight for now and look for another opportunity later.

The next day.

Today was the day of Ji Ting's follow-up appointment with his psychologist. But since Lu Yanchu had an "informant" at Ruihe, he had privately arranged to meet her at her counseling studio instead.

Although this was a little inconvenient, he hadn't felt any strong aversion to Doctor He during their last session, so he wasn't planning to switch doctors yet.

"Mr. Ji, please follow me."

Ji Ting followed the receptionist to a room. She knocked twice, then opened the door after hearing permission to enter.

"Hello, Ji Ting."

Doctor He rose with a smile and gestured for him to sit on the cloud-shaped sofa opposite her.

"Are you comfortable with the natural light? Would you like me to close the curtains?"

"No, thank you."

Doctor He poured him a glass of water and set it beside him. After sitting down, she asked, "Shall we begin?"

Ji Ting nodded. "All right."

Doctor He didn't rush to ask about his psychological state. Instead, she first chatted with him about everyday topics, such as whether he had eaten anything surprisingly good or had any pleasant experiences with the people around him.

As they talked, she noticed that Ji Ting expressed himself more fluently than last time and could generally understand what she meant. Such a change in so short a time surprised her.

"You weren't diagnosed with Asperger's until you were eight. Starting social skills training so late must have been very difficult at first, right?"

Ji Yanzhi fell silent for a moment. "Yes."

Doctor He noticed that, for the first time, Ji Ting avoided her gaze when answering this question.

She immediately shifted her line of questioning. "During your early treatment, were there any methods your doctor recommended that you found particularly helpful?"

"No." Ji Ting's eyes were half lowered, his voice flat and quiet. "From eight to ten, I couldn't understand what he said or what he meant."

Doctor He took a small breath. This was rather unusual.

With Asperger's, the younger the patient was when intervention began, the better the results. Given Ji Ting's current condition, she would normally have expected his early treatment to have been very effective. How could he have made no progress until he was ten?

As Doctor He was considering how to phrase her response, Ji Ting suddenly said, "The kind of particularly helpful method you mentioned might have come from my aunt."

Doctor He's eyes brightened slightly. "Would you feel comfortable telling me more?"

At her words, Ji Ting's gaze dropped, and he bowed his head slightly. He neither refused nor nodded.

This time, he was silent for a long while.

"My aunt once... she said..."

When he spoke again, Ji Ting was clearly struggling to express himself. But Doctor He didn't intervene immediately. Instead, she leaned a little farther toward him.

"She said, go play with them. If they won't let you join in, take the candy in your pocket out and give it to them."

"If they still won't, then you should..."

"Then tell them jokes. Everyone likes someone who can tell jokes."

At first, Ji Ting's voice held little emotion. Gradually, however, his tone became gentle and firm, as though he were recreating the voice in his memories.

"Later, telling jokes became what I was best at."

At this, the corners of Ji Ting's lips lifted slightly. In his memory, his aunt was laughing and clutching her stomach, her laughter echoing throughout the room.

In truth, he had known from the beginning that his aunt was lying. Not everyone liked hearing jokes. Even when the others laughed, they were laughing at how awkwardly he stammered back then.

But he had still been willing to try. It didn't matter if he made a fool of himself. At least it would make his aunt happy.

A faint ache stirred in Doctor He's chest. Rather than rushing to speak, she quietly waited for Ji Ting to work through those emotions himself.

"And afterward? Did you discover any other strengths?"

Once he had recovered, Ji Ting raised his head, his expression returning to its usual calm. "At first, I was just faster at mental arithmetic than other children my age. When I was twelve, I tried using matrix calculations to derive emission coefficients and discovered I was fairly good at atomic physics. Later, after I joined the Huake Academy of Sciences, the range of fields I was good at kept expanding. For the past three years, my strongest area has been military technology."

Doctor He: ...

She stared blankly at Ji Ting. For a full half minute, her mouth opened and closed, then opened again. "M-military technology, meaning..."

"Yes." Ji Ting cut off her question with that single word. Clearly, he couldn't disclose anything in that area.

Doctor He froze for a moment, then nodded repeatedly. "Ah. Oh, I understand. I understand."

The abrupt turn left her momentarily at a loss. It was Ji Ting who continued by discussing his medication.

Before this counseling session ended, Doctor He asked about her previous suggestion.

"How has communication with that person been going? Have you developed a more nuanced understanding of his emotions?"

Thinking of Ji Yanzhi, Ji Ting shook his head. "Most of our communication is ineffective. I don't think social skills training with him will accomplish much."

Doctor He considered this. "Hmm... would you like to tell me why?"

"His emotions are very unstable. One moment he's perfectly normal, and the next, it's as if he's heard or seen something, and he suddenly gets angry."

"I think he might..."

Ji Ting suddenly paused, then pressed his lips together slightly. Ji Yanzhi's schizophrenia is his private business. I have no right to disclose it to anyone else.

Besides, he wasn't a medical professional and couldn't draw a firm conclusion.

"He might what?" Doctor He asked.

Ji Ting came back to himself. "Maybe it's because he dislikes me. That's why he loses his temper so easily."

At the same time, inside a car parked by the road downstairs.

After waiting for days, Lu Yanchu had finally caught Ji Ting going out alone. Now he looked upward, his eyes full of astonishment.

What? Ji Yanzhi actually had schizophrenia?!