“Brother Zhi.” Jiang Wei’er chose not to play along with Xue Baoyi’s gag. On the contrary, she felt somewhat concerned about Jiang Zhi. “What’s the matter?”
Jiang Zhi’s hair was still soaking wet from being in the rain just now. He seemed to have had his energy completely sapped away as he lay motionlessly on the sofa, staring at the ceiling soullessly.
“What do you mean by what’s the matter?”
Jiang Wei’er was pretty interested in whatever Jiang Zhi was currently facing. “Let me guess, this is about Zhou Xufang?”
Jiang Zhi turned over so that his back faced Jiang Wei’er. “It’s nothing.” Not feeling like answering any more questions, he fished up his phone and called Ah Wan’s number. “I need you to get some men over to remove the chandelier in my living room.”
Ah Wan was shocked.
“Was there anything wrong with the lamp? A-are you dissatisfied with its quality?”
Jiang Zhi, feeling displeased, furrowed his brows. “Cut back on the questions. An order’s an order.”
“Oh.” Ah Wan responded.
Before Jiang Zhi was able to hang up the phone, the sudden sound of a can being cracked open interrupted his thoughts.
Jiang Zhi’s eyes lazily rotated over to the source of the noise before sitting up straight with a bewildered look on his face. “Where’d you get that can of milk?”
Xue Baoyi’s pinky was still hooked onto the pull tab of the can when he replied, “On the sofa, of course.”
Jiang Zhi’s posture changed in the blink of an eye.
“Xue Baoyi.”
The man’s eyelid twitched. “H-huh?”
Jiang Zhi had called him by his full name!
This was the sure sign of a brewing disaster, which sent a jolt up Xue Baoyi’s spine. He had merely felt like drinking a can of milk, but for some inexplicable reason, that had invited Jiang Zhi to unleash his fury upon him. All of a sudden, the feisty young master’s leg came swinging like a golf club, his bony shin smashing painfully against Xue Baoyi’s leg.
Jiang Zhi huffed and puffed angrily with eyes reddened by sheer rage.
“Don’t you f*cking dare drink that milk!”
“…”
While Xue Baoyi was momentarily stunned by the young master’s sudden outburst, Jiang Zhi took the chance to reclaim his prized possession back from that good-for-nothing’s clammy hands. With a pair of fiery eyes, he glared at Xue Baoyi. At that moment, his eyes were projecting a complex mix of emotions which included annoyance as well as disgust.
Xue Baoyi was completely clueless as to what had happened. Which exact moment was it that he had roused the anger of this sweet prince? Eh, it didn’t matter anyway. Xue Baoyi tried to put up with Jiang Zhi’s rage. “Isn’t this just a single can of regular milk? No biggie, I’ll buy you a car later. Wait, no. I’ll buy you a house!”
After all, he didn’t call himself the “Second Master” for no reason. What he had was cash, lots of it, which he used to express his affection for those around him.
Jiang Zhi, on the other hand, could no longer stand his carefree attitude. His face turned beet-red in an instant, followed by a series of loud, whooping coughs. After he stopped coughing, however, his face had lost all its color and was of a dangerously pale complexion.
“Get. Him. Out. Of. Here.” He painfully squeezed one word after another out into Jiang Wei’er’s ears.
Xue Baoyi’s heart felt as though it had been crushed after witnessing how merciless Jiang Zhi could be. “Am I worth less than a can of milk to you!?” He flicked his head away before boldly announcing to everyone in the room, “Brother Zhi! I hereby renounce my friendship with you!”
Thud!
Jiang Zhi slammed the door in his face.
“…”
Jiang Wei’er looked at Xue Baoyi with pitiful eyes as if she was looking at a mentally-stunted kid, and together, they left Jiang Zhi’s house.
Jiang Zhi propped himself against the locked door and remained there, coughing uncontrollably for quite a while.
His phone was still on speaker mode, so Ah Wan could hear very clearly what was happening on Jiang Zhi’s side. He patiently waited for the young master’s coughing to cease before asking reluctantly, “Boss, did the Second Master accidentally crack open the can with the teeth marks?”
“Doo, doo, doo, doo…”
Jiang Zhi had hung up.
Ah Wan’s mind, which had initially been clouded by doubts, was now crystal clear.
It was a cold winter. Jiang Zhi, who had been out in the rain was affected by the cold, which created a wave of dizziness that overwhelmed him. Even his lungs were starting to hurt with each cough. Struggling to remain on his feet, he searched around for his pills before finally washing them down with a glass of warm water. Suddenly, his body felt like it was made out of lead, and realizing that he wouldn’t make it to his bedroom, he collapsed onto the sofa while gasping for air.
He lay there motionlessly, staring at the can of milk that Xue Baoyi had accidentally cracked open. Slowly, he got back up and dialed a number.
Tonight was a silent night, and it was already well past 9 pm.
Doctor Qiu slurred lazily over the phone. “M-master Jiannng?”
Because it was already bedtime for some people, Jiang Zhi’s voice over the phone sounded more chilling than usual. “I let her into my house.”
“Um…”
Jiang Zhi ignored the doctor and focused on expressing his emotions by using his words.
“I even let her use my bathroom. My. Bathroom.” He paused for a moment, prompting Doctor Qiu to mumble a response to indicate that he was still listening. It took a while before Jiang Zhi started speaking again, probably because he was being overwhelmed by a tidal wave of thoughts. “And… those clothes. They were mine.”
“Uhuh…”
Jiang Zhi’s hands gripped the open milk can tightly. At one point, it sounded as if he was speaking to himself and not to Doctor Qiu. “I even promised to give her a light fixture that is worth 2 million yuan.”
He was now gently massaging the empty glass of the marshmallow container with his fingers.
“No one can touch my favorite sweet but her.”
“Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough…”
His eyes were slightly bloodshot after a series of coughing. Sounding a bit out of breath, he continued. “I even considered giving her the entire factory.”
“I wanted to send her home.”
“But she declined.”
Suddenly, he repeated with greater emphasis. “How dare she decline my offer!”
Finally, the menacing vibe that Jiang Zhi usually exuded made its appearance.
“Hmm…”
Doctor Qiu was panicking now.
After going silent over the line for a while, Jiang Zhi’s tone suddenly shifted. His voice when he decided to throw a question at Doctor Qiu sounded devoid of life. Still, that was plenty intimidating owing to him being an heir of an influential family. “So, tell me. What is this mental illness of mine?”
To be honest, in Doctor Qiu’s many years of experience as a psychologist, he had observed countless patients whose minds had gone cuckoo and was beyond the point of salvation. Despite this, not a single one of them had acted the way Jiang Zhi was currently acting.
“From what I’ve seen… Master Jiang, I think your love toward that girl is what they call, unrequited-”
Jiang Zhi’s eerie laughter cut Doctor Qiu off.
“Unrequited love?” Jiang Zhi licked his lips. Smiling mischievously, even his eyes turned into tiny slits. “You’re saying that I, a homosexual, am experiencing unrequited love?”
Jiang Zhi was absolutely sure that he was attracted to men and men alone.
According to a psychological theory Doctor Qiu had studied about, people like Jiang Zhi would tend to gravitate toward extremist thinking and display odd behaviors when having an obsession with something or someone.
A cure could not be developed overnight, and the only thing Doctor Qiu could do was to guide Jiang Zhi step by step toward the desired goal. “Your sexual orientation, I think, has… perhaps it has gone back to normal.”
The Doctor was treading carefully as if he was walking through a minefield. “If you’re still unsure about this, we can schedule a test to be done.”
Jiang Zhi remained silent. He brushed his fingers across the teeth marks on the milk can before tilting the can over his mouth. Ice-cold liquid suddenly filled his stomach, causing a slight pain to arise within his belly.
Shortly after, the good-for-nothing advisor started drawing up plans for Jiang Zhi’s love offensive.