Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Ji Tan poked his head out from behind his brother in shock, looked at President Xie, who was dressed in a riot of colors but had jet-black hair, then at his brother, who looked as though he were facing a mortal enemy. "Brother, don't you recognize him? He's not some blond delinquent. He's Xie Zhi!"

How could he fail to recognize his best friend? Ji Tan thought his brother's glasses must have broken and hurried to explain.

But Ji Sinan reacted as though he had heard, "Daddy, he's not some penniless boy!" His breathing suddenly quickened. "I don't care whether he's Xie Straight or Xie Gay. I'm telling you, some men like to pretend they're straight to trick innocent kids like you!"

He spread his wings like a mother hen, shielding his younger brother completely, afraid that the boy would run off with the blond delinquent the moment he let his guard down.

At a loss, Ji Tan looked at Xie Zhi.

Xie Zhi spread his hands, seemingly unsurprised, and let Ji Sinan wave the broom and drive him out the door.

Only after sweeping the room's sole mobile hazard outside did Ji Sinan release his brother's hand and start cleaning everything else. Telling Ji Tan to stay still in a clean corner, he began tidying the room inch by inch like a robot vacuum.

Ignoring the three hulking men on the floor, Ji Sinan stepped over them in two strides, picked up the pot lying upside down, and put it in the sink to scrub. His way of scrubbing was strange, like sterilizing surgical instruments: holding a steel scourer, he made seven circles to the left and seven to the right; then he picked up a sponge, squeezed cleaning foam onto it, and wiped seven circles to the left and seven to the right; afterward, he rinsed the inside seven times and the outside seven times.

Once he had finished, he put the pot back on the stove. Then he picked up a rag and scrubbed the floor where the tomato noodles had spilled, seven circles clockwise and seven counterclockwise. As he scrubbed, he muttered, "Too messy, too messy, too messy! Tomato and egg, tomato and egg, tomato and egg! Damned floor, damned floor, damned floor!"

His hand scrubbed faster and faster, only barely stopping once the uneven, cheap floor tiles had been polished to a jade-like sheen. Then he returned to the kitchen, picked up the pot from the stove again, put it back in the sink, and turned on the tap to scrub it, seven circles to the left, seven to the right...

The steel scourer scraped against the cheap aluminum pot with a piercing screech.

Ji Tan stood where he was, watching his brother scrub over and over, his fingertips trembling and his whole body cold.

"Psst, psst." Xie Zhi made a sound outside the door, bringing Ji Tan back to his senses.

Turning and catching sight of that dazzlingly colorful outfit, Ji Tan instantly broke free of that indescribable fear. He rubbed his face and stepped out of the barricade his brother had arranged for him.

While his brother was busy battling the pot, the two carried the three "flattened moles" outside and stacked them in the muddy alley.

"You saw it yourself. There's something wrong with his mental state right now." Xie Zhi watched Ji Tan, carefully observing the emotions in his eyes. "And he only has memories of this world, not the past."

"I'll take him to see a doctor tomorrow." Naturally, Ji Tan knew something was wrong with his brother's mental health: very typical obsessive-compulsive disorder, possibly accompanied by an obsession with cleanliness and other conditions.

He had also noticed that Ji Sinan did not recognize Xie Zhi and called him "Little Tan." His brother had stopped calling him "Little Tan" many years ago and had always called him "Tantan" since then.

Originally, because their names sounded somewhat similar, the family had always called the two children "Nannan" and "Little Tan" to distinguish them. When Ji Tan was little and didn't know any better, he heard their mother call his brother "Nannan," thought it was fun, and copied her.

"Nannan, I want some water."

"Nannan, I want to watch cartoons."

"Nannan, Nannan, Lanlan..." When Ji Tan once again charged into his brother's room on his short little legs, shouting, Ji Sinan finally lost patience and pinched the child's chubby cheeks.

"Ji Little Tan, you're not allowed to call me Nannan. Call me Brother."

Ji Tan said, "Lanlan."

Ji Sinan said, "Brother."

Ji Tan answered, "Yes?"

Ji Sinan said, "..."

Then Ji Sinan, who couldn't bear to smack him, came up with a trick and started calling him "Tantan" and "Bouncy Ball." Ji Little Tan immediately objected and burst into tears. "My name isn't Bouncy Ball!"

Later, Ji Tan was cured of his habit of calling his brother by his childhood nickname, but Ji Sinan developed a lasting habit of teasing him. Ji Sinan was the only person in the family who called him "Tantan." When he was little, Ji Tan would still get angry and jump up to kick his brother's butt whenever he heard it, but eventually, he grew used to it.

Now, Ji Sinan clearly remembered none of this.

It was all right. Past life or present, it was all one great dream. If he had forgotten, so be it. Ji Tan took it in stride. After all, compared with the cold brother in the coffin, his living brother was adorable even if he had to scrub a pot seven times.

"You're staying here?"

"Yes."

"..." Xie Zhi raked a hand through his hair in agitation and kicked the "stack of burly men" hard. "I have to go. If my enemies see me getting too close to you two, it'll bring you trouble."

He said he would deal with the three men and told Ji Tan to go inside and leave it to him.

"Call me if anything happens." Xie Zhi took the phone out of Ji Tan's pocket and saved his number.

Ji Tan looked at him strangely. "Didn't you already give me your number?"

Back at the public security office, Xie Zhi had entered his number when he gave Ji Tan the phone.

Xie Zhi handed the phone back and smiled. "That was my North District number. This is my West District number. Cross-district calls are expensive." Then he waved, signaling for Ji Tan to go inside. He was going to use supernatural power to take the three burly men away.

Dubiously, Ji Tan closed the door without daring to look any longer, afraid he would faint again. In his brother's current state, he would probably pinch the spot above his upper lip seven times.

Back inside, he righted the toppled table and chairs, then picked up the photo frame on the table to examine it closely. It held a family portrait of four people. The missing couple-the original owner's parents-did not look like Ji Tan's parents in reality. But the teenage Ji Sinan in the photograph looked exactly like his brother had in his teens.

Exhausted, Ji Tan sat on the old sofa with its tiny floral pattern and looked around the two-room bungalow. One room served as living room, dining room, and kitchen; the other was a bedroom. The bedroom was only a few square meters, with a metal bunk bed and a shabby desk.

He should have stood up to take a look around, but his body, which had not rested since he opened his eyes, seemed to have rusted solid and welded itself to the soft sofa. Ji Tan took the phone out of his pocket, intending to use the electronic device to quickly learn about this world.

Then he learned nothing at all.

He searched the phone's app store from top to bottom. There was no search engine, no map, not even a messaging app. The only things available to download were one social media app and countless news apps that looked full of gossip.

He opened a news app called "North Star Guide" and was greeted by a pile of red headlines with exclamation marks.

[Wang Group faces an equity crisis, Gu Group raises its final butcher's blade!]

[Shocking! The Shen Family's eldest daughter was switched at birth! The true heiress was found two days ago, and the marriage alliance with the Gu family may be renegotiated!]

[Shocking! The Huo Family's young master stops at nothing to cure his first love, even cutting out his legal spouse's heart!]

[Breaking mega-gossip: the Huo Family's young madam embraces a mysterious man! Young Master Huo comes to blows with him! Click to watch the saved livestream!]

Ji Tan said, "..."

Dazzled by the string of red exclamation marks, Ji Tan backed out and opened the sole social media app. The social butterflies' posts looked relatively normal, but the row of trending topics was full of gossip about wealthy families too.

Even something as important as #City A welcomes its new chief executive# ranked near the bottom.

Ji Tan tried searching the social media app for basic information about City A. There was some, but it was so fragmented that reading through it was incredibly taxing.

By the time Ji Sinan finally finished battling his pots and pans and lit the stove to cook again, Ji Tan had exited those exclamation-mark-filled apps and opened his contacts.

There were only two numbers in his contacts: Xie Zhi North and Xie Zhi West.

His slender finger swiped between the two numbers before finally tapping "Xie Zhi North."

The call connected quickly, and Xie Zhi's voice came through. "What's wrong?"

Ji Tan went to the door, glanced outside through the gap, and asked casually, "Where are you now?"

Xie Zhi paused, seemingly checking a street sign, then said, "Just left the Broken Line Street neighborhood. I'm going to dump them at the subway entrance in Fist Plaza. By tomorrow morning, they'll probably have been robbed naked. They won't be coming to trouble you before they find some pants. You can get a good night's sleep."

Ji Tan chuckled. "All right. Stay safe."

Xie Zhi fell silent for a moment, then added, "Broken Line Street is too dangerous. Move out as soon as you can. Call me if anything happens. The public security office there doesn't do much."

"Little Tan, come eat." Ji Sinan came out carrying a bowl of noodles. Seeing Ji Tan on the phone, he immediately called out, "Who are you talking to? Is it that blond delinquent?"

"No," Ji Tan quickly answered, then hurriedly hung up.

The house was tiny, with no dining table, only a small coffee table in front of the sofa. Ji Sinan set the noodles on it so Ji Tan could eat without getting up.

Ji Tan picked up his chopsticks and looked up at his brother.

Ji Sinan stared at him with bright eyes, waiting for him to eat.

"Aren't you eating?" Ji Tan glanced toward the kitchen. The pot had already been washed. There was only this one bowl of noodles.

"I've had dinner." Ji Sinan pushed the bowl a little farther forward, aligning its base with a faint mark on the coffee table before withdrawing his hand and staring at Ji Tan again, waiting for him to eat.

Ji Tan paused. If his brother had already eaten, why had he still been cooking noodles before they arrived?

"You used to finish work at midnight. This was always when you got home." Ji Sinan seemed a little more lucid and answered Ji Tan's unspoken question.

The original owner had sold drinks at a karaoke club, working until midnight every day before coming home. So his brother cooked every day, waiting so he could have something hot to eat when he returned. And after he went to the North District with Huo Zhaixing, his brother still cooked at this time every night...

Ji Tan felt a pang. He lifted a chopstickful of noodles into his mouth, and a large tear plopped into the broth. This was the taste of his brother's noodles! The taste he had grown up eating!