Chapter 105: Give Me One Minute (Fourth Update)
The room was very clean, with thick carpeting on the floor. The edges of tables and cabinets were wrapped in thick cloth, and a fruit bowl sat on the coffee table, but no knives or sharp objects were in sight.
"Dr. Gao, please come in." A woman in a white shirt welcomed Dr. Gao and Chen Ge into the home. She looked around forty and was well-maintained.
"Has Wang Xin's condition improved any?"
"She's taking the sleeping pills and the two antidepressants you prescribed, but the effect is minimal." The woman gave a bitter smile. "There's not much improvement in her condition, but the side effects are quite noticeable—dry heaving, hand tremors, chills. At lunch today, she couldn't even hold her chopsticks steady, and the food she picked up fell all over the floor. Dr. Gao, do you think Wang Xin can still get better?"
"Trust me, she will recover."
"Mm." Only then did the woman notice Chen Ge following behind. "And this is?"
"My name is Chen Ge." Chen Ge didn't want to waste time at the door. "Can I see your daughter?"
"Well..." The woman glanced at Dr. Gao, as if seeking his opinion.
"I'll go in with him."
Only after Dr. Gao nodded did the woman reluctantly let Chen Ge in. "She's in the bedroom. She barely ate a bite of lunch before she started crying again."
The woman walked to a door in the inner room and knocked softly. There was no response for a long time. She turned the handle and cracked the door open.
Without a word, she sighed and stepped aside.
"Let's go in." Dr. Gao looked at Chen Ge. "Whatever you do, don't provoke the patient. Consult me before you attempt anything."
"Okay." Chen Ge gave repeated assurances before entering Wang Xin's room with Dr. Gao.
The carpet was extra thick, the corners of the wardrobe and desk were all smoothed down. No sharp objects were visible in the room, and the windows had security bars installed.
There was no bed in the room, just two thick mattresses stacked together. All decorations were solid-colored, with few patterns.
Dr. Gao moved aside, and Chen Ge finally saw the person he was looking for.
On the mattress lay a slender girl in a loose, round-neck white top and light blue shorts.
Her skin was pale, her limbs limp and splayed, giving the impression that they might snap with the slightest carelessness.
Noticing someone enter, the girl slowly sat up on the mattress. She looked nothing like Chen Ge had imagined—she seemed normal, just a bit quiet.
"Wang Xin, does your head still hurt?" The tall, upright Dr. Gao crouched gently by the mattress, keeping his body lower than her line of sight.
The girl shook her head, glanced at Chen Ge, then quickly looked away.
"Can you sleep now?" Dr. Gao continued. This time, the girl reacted more intensely. She grabbed her own hair, pulling hard. When she took her hand away, strands of long black hair were caught between her fingers, yanked out by the roots.
"Still can't sleep, huh?" Standing up, Dr. Gao frowned deeply. "Neither medication works?"
"Dr. Gao, can I say a few words to her?"
"Wang Xin is relatively stable right now. Go ahead and say what you need to."
Chen Ge walked over and crouched in front of the girl, mimicking Dr. Gao's posture.
The girl probably assumed he was another doctor, so she didn't resist much. She just tugged at her sleeve to cover the red marks on her arm—scratches she had likely made herself.
This girl was fragile, like a paper kite held by a thin string. One wrong move, and it would snap, sending her into the dark clouds, torn apart by the wind and rain.
"Wang Xin." Chen Ge took out the ballpoint pen wrapped in transparent tape from his pocket. "Your friend has always wanted to say something to you. I've brought her here."
Wang Xin glanced at the pen but showed no particular emotion. She seemed to try to force a smile in response to Chen Ge's unfunny joke, but found she couldn't.
Dr. Gao and the woman eavesdropping at the door were equally baffled, unable to figure out what Chen Ge was doing.
Wang Xin didn't react, but Chen Ge wasn't in a hurry. He took a blank sheet of paper from the desk and placed it on the mattress, holding the pen upright as if setting up a spirit-writing game.
With his back to Dr. Gao and facing Wang Xin, he mouthed the opening words of the spirit-writing ritual without making a sound.
His lips moved, and Wang Xin's attention slowly shifted to him. For the first time, she turned her head fully to watch his mouth. Suddenly, as if recalling something terrifying, she flailed her arms wildly and pressed herself into the corner of the room.
"What did you do?!" The woman rushed in from outside and, together with Dr. Gao, stopped Chen Ge.
"I'm helping her untangle her heart." Chen Ge carefully shielded the pen in his hand. "Something happened to Wang Xin that none of us know about—that's the root of her illness! Give me one minute, just one minute!"
He was resolute, leaning over the bed while protecting the pen. Before coming, he had only intended to complete the spirit's task, but seeing the girl's pain up close, Chen Ge felt he should do something.
"Let him try." After a moment of hesitation, Dr. Gao decided to trust Chen Ge once. "In all my treatment of Wang Xin, she's never shown such emotions before. Maybe this time there's hope."
The woman was eventually persuaded by Dr. Gao, and they agreed to give Chen Ge three minutes.
They stepped outside the room. Chen Ge got up, drew the curtains, and closed the door tightly.
"Wang Xin, your friend has always wanted to say something to you."
As Chen Ge silently recited, the girl huddled in the corner grew more frightened. The nightmare that had haunted her for years resurfaced in her mind.
Chen Ge steeled himself and continued. Before long, the pen hovering over the paper moved on its own, writing elegant characters on the white sheet—completely different from Chen Ge's handwriting.
"Wang Xin, I never imagined that a joke of mine would hurt you so much. You must hate me, don't you?"
Seeing the familiar handwriting on the paper, Wang Xin froze. In that moment, her heart felt hollow, and she didn't know why such emotions surged within her.
"My death had nothing to do with you. That day, I just saw you with someone else and wanted to scare you as a prank. I set up the noose, but I never expected the chair to slip."
"You did nothing wrong. This was just a petty, selfish little trick of mine."
"I'm sorry, Wang Xin. I don't ask for your forgiveness. I only hope you won't let me affect you anymore. Live on, strive, and be happy."