“Any patient suffering from mental trauma is someone worth listening to. The primary goal of psychiatric care is not to provide patients with an unachievable state of happiness, but rather to help them build up their own patience and resolve to confront their own struggles.”

“Professor, does that mean that you believe that mental illnesses can’t be treated?”

“No, quite the opposite in fact. Mental illnesses can be treated, as long as we provide these patients with sufficient patience and resolve."

“Then, professor, what if your patient ends up falling in love with you because of that?”

Cheng Xi raised her head and smiled at the student who had asked the question, a young, pretty girl who immediately hid behind her neighbor upon noticing Cheng Xi’s gaze.

Cheng Xi was a psychiatrist and, at the same time, a lecturer at a medical university. Because of her age, wit, and looks, she was very popular among all the students, and her lectures every Thursday were almost always filled to maximum capacity. Of course, this meant that she also received all sorts of strange questions at the end of every lecture.

This wasn’t the first time she had been asked such a question, and so she was able to answer it handily. Smiling, she said, “I think I’d be very happy, because that would mean that the patient’s mind is under a wonderful misconception.”

Someone else followed up and asked, “Professor, do you think that love is a misconception?”

“Rather than that, I’d call it more of a temporary illusion.”

“Have you had such an illusion, professor?”

“No, because I’m already old.”

“Boo----” The whole crowd of students playfully booed her comment. “Pretending to be old is shameful!” A bold student even jokingly asked, “Professor, I don’t mind that you’re old, so can I date you?”

Cheng Xi smiled as she nimbly shot back, “A date in the lab as my test subject?”

The student who had just asked her about dating quickly recanted with a serious expression on his face. “Love between students and faculty isn’t permitted. Professor, I’ll do my best to work on my self-restraint.”

Everyone laughed, including Cheng Xi. “How regretful.”

The classroom once again filled with laughter. The bell rang not too long later, signaling that it was time for the students to file out of class. While saying goodbye to her students, Cheng Xi packed up her books and teaching materials. But just as she was about to leave, she noticed a male student that was resting his head on his desk, sound asleep.

She walked over to him, and quickly prodded him awake. The male student rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked at her.

“Do you want some candy?” asked Cheng Xi as she extended her hand, a colorfully wrapped sweet resting on her palm. “I’m sorry that my class made you feel so bored.”

The student looked at her in a daze, as if she were a monster.

Cheng Xi smiled, left the sweet on his desk, and stepped out of the classroom.

While walking, she received a call. “Cheng Xi, where are you?”

The phone call was from Cheng Xi’s own professor, Madam Cai Yi. She was both Cheng Xi’s doctoral advisor and a national authority on psychiatry. After retiring, she felt restless about doing nothing, and subsequently opened up her own office and lab.

“I just finished teaching.”

“Good. Come to my office.”

Cheng Xi left her things in her office and immediately headed over. Madam Cai’s office was right next to her home, and its surroundings were the definition of natural beauty. By her office was a lake, and by the lakeside was a flock of pigeons. The surroundings were filled with vibrant shrubs and blossoms, and, even more unusually, the water itself was clear and limpid. It was truly a relaxing place to be.

The only problem was that it was a bit far from the school, and the evening rush hour only exacerbated the long drive. By the time Cheng Xi arrived, it was already late enough that the early winter’s dusk was only being held at bay by the surrounding lights.

She pushed the door open and entered, bringing wisps of the winter cold in with her. Madam Cai’s hair was streaked with gray, and her gold-rimmed glasses gave her a classic scholarly air. She was sitting on the sofa in front of her desk, talking with the young man sitting beside her.

Upon hearing Cheng Xi enter, both people looked over at Cheng Xi. Madam Cai smiled at her. “You’re here already? It’s cold outside, isn’t it?”

Cheng Xi cheerily replied, “It’s fine, just a little windy.”

The two made small talk as Madam Cai motioned for Cheng Xi to sit by her side. She pointed at the young man and introduced the two, saying, “This is the CEO of Donglai, Lu Chenzhou, or Director Lu.” And to Lu Chenzhou, she said, “This is the young, pretty, and creative Dr. Cheng that I’ve been telling you so much about.”

Cheng Xi knew of Donglai, a large drug manufacturer; many of Madam Cai’s projects were supported by the company.

She just hadn’t expected their CEO to be so young. He was a relatively handsome man, and probably not even thirty yet.

However, Cheng Xi’s first impression of Lu Chenzhou was not only that he was young and handsome, but also cold and aloof. When their gazes met, it was as if she were but a speck of dust in his eyes.

Having seen all sorts of patients, Cheng Xi was very tolerant towards people with slightly unusual behavior, and didn’t mind his demeanor that much. Since her teacher had introduced her, she smiled and greeted, “Nice to meet you.”

But Lu Chenzhou kept staring at her, his forehead slowly creasing. “You only have one dimple?”

Cheng Xi, slightly baffled, automatically replied, “Yes.”

“How ugly!”

This unexpected evaluation left Cheng Xi speechless. Cai Yi also looked on blankly for a moment before laughing heartily. “Your students would probably cry if they ever heard that someone evaluated a professor renowned for her beauty as ugly, haha.”

She laughed so happily that Cheng Xi felt a bit exasperated, and she said to Lu Chenzhou, “I’m sorry for disgusting you with my ugliness. Do you want me to cover up that side of my face?”

This sparked another bout of laughter from Cai Yi, but it was as if Lu Chenzhou couldn’t sense the humor in her tone. He expressionlessly looked down at his watch. “Let’s go.”

Cai Yi wiped the tears of laughter off of her face. “Your grandparents aren’t here yet.”

“They’re late. Do we need to wait for them?” Lu Chenzhou responded indifferently; his voice detached.

Cheng Xi had some more time to look at him now. Lu Chenzhou was indeed expressionless, his handsome face as apathetic as still water.

She raised her eyebrows slightly upon seeing that Cai Yi was blinking rapidly at her. “Let’s go.”

“Hm?”

“To get food with us.”

“Oh.” Cheng Xi helped her teacher up, and then followed along somewhat confusedly.

Lu Chenzhou’s grandparents never showed up, so it was only the three of them at the dining table. Lu Chenzhou was reticent, and it was mainly Cheng Xi and Cai Yi doing the talking during the meal.

But just as the waiter served the last fruit platter, he did say something. “Remove it.”

The waiter hesitated, and Cheng Xi and Cai Yi stopped talking.

Lu Chenzhou pointed at the platter a little impatiently. “What are you thinking, plating the fruit in such an ugly fashion?”

The waiter, Cai Yi, and Cheng Xi all looked at the platter. Quite honestly, the fruit platter was plated beautifully, with care and precision. The platter consisted of half a honeydew carved into the shape of a flower, which was then filled with a variety of vibrant fruits; it was a natural piece of art.

But Cheng Xi quickly noticed that on that platter was a lopsided cherry tomato, the likely reason for Lu Chenzhou’s distaste.

As expected, this person has a very serious form of OCD.

Cai Yi did not seem to find his behavior unusual, and waved at the waiter with a smile. “Take it away, will you?” And, as if nothing had happened, she turned to Cheng Xi. “Keep talking about that patient from just now.”

Cheng Xi continued explaining, “Her family invited a spirit medium to purge all the ghosts from their house, claiming that she must have been possessed. During the ritual, the girl was badly scared, and in her panic, accidentally killed her grandmother. When I saw her during my daily rotations, her condition had already reached a very severe state; she firmly believed that someone had cut her head off, and that she was a headless corpse.”

Lu Chenzhou looked at Cheng Xi after she finished talking. It was perhaps the first time he had directly looked at her after having commented on her lone dimple.

Cheng Xi was talking about one of the patients currently in her care, one with a serious case of Cotard’s syndrome, colloquially known as the walking corpse syndrome.

Cai Yi responded,  “This is truly a classic case of Cotard’s syndrome. It’s a very rare illness in this country. How do you plan on tackling it?”

But before Cheng Xi could respond, Cai Yi’s phone rang. Cheng Xi heard her say a few words into the phone, before saying to the group, “Something urgent came up at the office, I have to go.”

Cheng Xi stood up. “Let me walk you outside.”

As a doctor, there were always sudden, unexpected situations, especially in the psychiatry department—when patients’ illnesses flared up, most people wouldn’t be able to handle them. Cheng Xi wasn’t bothered by Cai Yi’s sudden departure, only thinking about how she might be able to help out.

But Cai Yi stopped her. “It’s fine, my assistant is coming to fetch me, and there are enough people on the scene already. You should stay here and enjoy a nice meal with Director Lu.” She then looked over at Lu Chenzhou. “You’ll help me take care of Cheng Xi, won’t you?”

Lu Chenzhou, indifferent as usual, replied, “That’s fine.”

Cai Yi smiled and patted Cheng Xi’s hand. Before long, Cai Yi’s assistant had arrived, and Cheng Xi was walking Cai Yi to the door. By the time she returned, Lu Chenzhou had already put down his chopsticks. “Are you full?”

Lu Chenzhou nodded.

Cheng Xi retrieved her jacket that was draped on a nearby chair. “Then, let’s go as well.”

She kept thinking about what Cai Yi had mentioned. In general, patients that could alarm even her teacher were quite remarkable, and she very much wanted to observe her teacher in action.

However, Lu Chenzhou didn’t move. His distant gaze, as if covered in a thin layer of frost, landed on her face. “It seems that you’re really quite unaware,” he sneered. “Did you think that your teacher really had an emergency? Or why my grandparents said that they would come, but never showed up?”

“What do you mean?”

“Their actions were all premeditated.”

“Premeditated?”

Lu Chenzhou looked at her and couldn’t help but ask, “How on earth did you become a psychiatrist? This is a blind date in disguise. Could you really not tell?”

Cheng Xi was at a loss for words.

She coughed violently to break the awkwardness. “Hem hem, I didn’t know.” She had thought that the reason behind her teacher introducing Lu Chenzhou to her was for something important, like helping her raise funds for a grant she was writing.

Lu Chenzhou’s face remained expressionless, and Cheng Xi felt a bit embarrassed. “Sorry, I really didn’t notice Professor Cai’s plan.” Cai Yi had been single her entire life, so Cheng Xi had never imagined that she would try to be a matchmaker for her.

Lu Chenzhou snorted lightly. “It’s fine.” His knuckles rapped on the table as he continued, “You still haven’t mentioned how you planned to deal with that patient of yours.”

It seemed like he had really taken an interest in the subject. Cheng Xi thought for a bit, sat down again, and started outlining her rough plan. “Patients suffering from Cotard’s syndrome generally find social interaction difficult, but can often be savants in their personal areas of interest. I’d like to have her start doing personally interesting activities. That way, she can immerse herself in her fantasies and I can slowly help her accept reality using her fantasies as a medium.”

“I’d have imagined that you would start by restraining her or locking her up.”

“Unless it’s absolutely necessary, I don’t support severely restricting patients in general.”

“How confident are you of curing her?”

“Doctors can only be fully confident in patients who firmly aim to get better.”

Lu Chenzhou remained silent for a while, before finally asking her, “Would you sleep with one of your patients?”

“Hmm?” Cheng Xi didn’t understand.

Lu Chenzhou’s tone was as tepid as if he were discussing the weather. “What if you accidentally got into bed with your patients?”

Cheng Xi laughed. “That’s impossible.”

“But what if it happened?” Lu Chenzhou was unexpectedly insistent on this point, and looked at her intently. “Would you continue treating him?”

Cheng Xi was unable to follow his logic, and was still confused at how the subject had suddenly changed from a patient suffering from Cotard’s syndrome to a patient getting into bed with their doctor. But she could see what kind of answer Lu Chenzhou wanted, so she responded, “No.”

Lu Chenzhou laughed lightly. This was the first time Cheng Xi had ever seen him laugh. His lips curved slightly up and his eyes were without any sense of warmth, but his mien had an unexpectedly handsome coolness.

After that, Cheng Xi ate dinner patiently. Lu Chenzhou’s behavior seemed similar to that of a robot with a pre-programmed routine: he wouldn’t do anything else before finishing a given task.

For example, with regards to this blind date that seemed unfathomable to Cheng Xi, Lu Chenzhou instead seemed determined to check all the boxes. Once the duo left the restaurant, Lu Chenzhou said, “Next in the schedule is watching a movie, taking a walk, or drinking at a bar. Which do you want to do?”

His businesslike tone left Cheng Xi’s lips twitching. “...…can I skip all of those activities?”

“Then let’s go drinking.” His matter-of-fact tone had already made the decision for her. Snapping his fingers, Lu Chenzhou signalled an approaching taxi to stop. He pulled the door open, waiting for Cheng Xi to get in.

This series of actions was really quite smooth, Cheng Xi noted silently.

She hesitated for only a few seconds before getting into the car. Reflecting upon it later, Cheng Xi dismissed her actions as the occupational habit of a doctor: Lu Chenzhou’s actions dripped with oddities, and such oddities boasted a near-instinctual attraction for psychiatrists.