"Which way?" Qingmu asked.
The man chuckled, saw the cigarettes on the Qingmu table, and reached out to take them.
Director Liu slapped his hand and scolded, "Hey, you really don't think you're an outsider! This isn't your home!"
The man withdrew his hand, looking aggrieved, and squatted down in the corner, arms crossed, saying nothing more.
Director Liu shook his head, sighed, and said, " Teacher Qingmu, please don't take offense, he's just a little... well, something's wrong with him!"
"I'm fine!" the squatting man argued.
"Shut up!" Director Liu snapped, then turned to Qingmu and said, "His Liu Huaian, an old neighbor from Liuying Lane, and actually from the same clan as me! It's a pity that a fire more than twenty years ago burned his entire family to the ground, leaving him the only survivor. He probably suffered a shock, and ever since then, he's become mentally unstable, constantly claiming to be psychic and knowing people from over there, but I don't know which over there he's talking about."
Director Liu made no attempt to conceal Liu Huaian, and Liu Huaian seemed accustomed to hearing people talk about his family's past. Apart from constantly insisting that "I'm not sick," he quietly squatted in the corner listening.
Qingmu picked up the cigarette case on the table, shook it twice to release half a cigarette, and gestured for Liu Huaian to come and get it.
Liu Huaian crouched down and half-squatted over. He glanced at Director Liu again, and seeing that she didn't object, he pulled out the cigarette with three fingers. Seeing that there was still half a cigarette sticking out of the cigarette pack, he tucked the cigarette behind his ear, took another one, and chuckled as he retreated.
Qingmu asked Director Liu, "Haven't you been to the hospital?"
Director Liu said, "He went, of course he went! In the beginning, he was wandering the streets like a lost soul, carrying a knife, handing it to everyone he saw, saying he had some kind of chip in his body and asking people to remove it. Can you believe it? So everyone forced him to go to the Seventh Hospital. But the hospital costs money, right? We can't keep asking the neighbors to chip in for his hospital stay, these days, nobody's money grows on trees! Later, seeing that he wasn't seriously ill, and the hospital said his condition wasn't serious, he was discharged."
"And now?"
"Things are much better now than before. A few years ago, the neighborhood committee even helped him find a job as a cleaner at a supermarket. He was doing quite well, but then he secretly went to smoke and set the warehouse on fire. Luckily, they caught him in time, or he would have been in serious trouble!"
As Director Liu finished speaking, he glared fiercely at Liu Huaian. Liu Huaian, who was smoking, shifted his position in the corner, avoiding looking at Director Liu's face.
"Since then, the neighborhood committee hasn't dared to assign him any work. Who would want him? Now he just idles around all day, living off the government subsidies."
"So you mean...?" Qingmu didn't understand why Director Liu had brought Liu Huaian to see him.
This is a community mental health counseling center, not a psychiatric clinic. He only works here part-time to provide counseling and guidance. A counselor is not a psychiatrist and cannot prescribe medication. In principle, this kind of place should not treat mentally ill patients, and given that Liu Huaian's mental illness has persisted for decades, recovery is unlikely, and further treatment would be of little benefit.
"Oh, it's like this..." Director Liu seemed a little embarrassed, "As you know, the higher-ups are getting stricter and stricter on community assessments these days. Environmental protection, people's livelihood, employment—they have to consider everything. We're really having a headache over Liu Huaian's situation. His mental health assessment doesn't meet the disability criteria, and he can't find a job. Sigh, one bad apple spoils the whole bunch. Our Liuying Lane's reputation as an advanced community has been ruined by him!"
Director Liu rambled on and on, but Qingmu still couldn't understand what he meant. It was Liu Huaian spoke up, "She wants me to work for you."
Qingmu was taken aback. "What?"
Director Liu snapped, "Shut up! I didn't tell you to speak!" Then he gave Qingmu an awkward smile, "Well, no... actually, what I meant was... you're a psychologist, right? You see if you can handle him. If you can, then you can have him work at Huahua's bar, he can do anything. Your bar is expanding, you need to hire people, right?"
Qingmu then realized that all of Sister Liu's roundabout talk was just to get Ruhua Bar to take in Liu Huaian, this burden.
"This... I can't make that decision," Qingmu said, spreading his hands.
"I know Huahua, she listens to you," Director Liu said with a smile. "You take a look at him first, see if he's easy to manage, if you can control him. I'll talk to Huahua about it."
Just as Qingmu was about to say that it wasn't a matter of whether or not they could control the situation, Director Liu stood up. "Well, I have something to do. There's a ton of work waiting for me in the community. You guys keep chatting..."
As she walked over to Liu Huaian, she gave him a light kick, uttering three words through gritted teeth, "Be smart!" Then, her plump body swayed like a goose as she left the consultation room.
After seeing Director Liu leave, Liu Huaian stood up from the corner, chuckled, and sat down across the table from Qingmu.
"I know you, you're from over there," he said again.
"Oh, which way?" Qingmu asked with great interest.
"It's over there." Liu Huaian looked at Qingmu, then suddenly became serious. "I know you're very secretive."
"You mean a spy?"
"A spy? Well, you could say that."
Qingmu initially judged that this person had delusions. Of course, he wouldn't easily waste his Mental Power on such a person, but he chatted with him casually for the sake of Director Liu.
"So, you're a spy too?"
"Me?" He smiled mysteriously. "I have two sides."
"Oh..." Qingmu nodded, "Double-sided tape."
"No, it's not double-sided tape!" he exclaimed, almost indignantly. "It's a double agent, a spy!"
"You're angry!" Qingmu said.
"I didn't," Liu Huaian denied.
But I saw you were angry.
"Did I?" Liu Huaian became a little insecure. "You're the one who provoked me; you didn't respect me!"
"I didn't provoke you," Qingmu said. "A spy isn't easily provoked."
Liu Huaian smoked his cigarette, lost in thought. After a while, he finished the cigarette, burned his fingers holding the butt, winced in pain, and quickly stubbed it out in the ashtray.
"You're right, I shouldn't have gotten angry," he said.
"Alright, do you have anything to say to me? If not, I'm going to sleep." Qingmu stretched and yawned as he spoke.
Liu Huaian thought for a moment, then tentatively said, "I have a chip on my back, could you help me remove it? Or you could find the remote control for me."
What chip?
"You didn't know?" Liu Huaian looked surprised. "Don't all the people over there have chips implanted? Some are in their brains, some in their necks, some in their backs. Where's yours?"
Qingmu shook his head and said, "I don't have a chip."
"Impossible," Liu Huaian said. "You don't need to hide it. I know everything about what's going on over there. I'm two-sided." He gestured with his hands, turning them over and over, and then emphasized, "Not the two-sided kind of double-sided tape."