“…” Shu Nian thought what he said was very puzzling. Her round eyes widened slightly, her expression perplexed and strange, “I wouldn’t scold you.”

Xie Ru He put his phone back in his pocket without making a sound.

Shu Nian also withdrew her gaze, her head drooping as she pondered to herself, looking as if she was reflecting on something.

The two walked in silence for a while, neither initiating conversation. After some time, as if still unable to understand, Shu Nian couldn’t help but ask: “When have I ever scolded you?”

Seeing that she seemed to care a lot about this, Xie Ru He thought for a moment and rephrased: “You haven’t, but you would reason with me.”

“Oh.” Shu Nian recalled her previous interactions with him and felt this explanation was more acceptable. She was mindful of her image and nodded rapidly like a pecking chick, “Yes, reasoning with you, not scolding you.”

After speaking, Shu Nian deliberately emphasized once more: “I never scold people.”

Xie Ru He remained silent, but the corners of his mouth curved upward.

Shu Nian waited for quite a while but didn’t hear his response. This silence felt like a silent rebuttal to her words. She pressed her lips together, feeling a bit unhappy: “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Xie Ru He hadn’t yet spoken.

Shu Nian asked very directly: “Do you think what I said is wrong?”

Xie Ru He shook his head: “No.”

Shu Nian frowned and began to lecture him very seriously: “Then you should respond to me. I’m talking, and you’re ignoring me. And then you keep not saying anything, that’s not good, it’s very impolite.”

Xie Ru He was taken aback, looking at her tense face, even feeling as if he had returned to the past.

He stammered: “I’m listening to you.”

Shu Nian couldn’t quite accept his explanation: “It’s not like using your ears means your mouth can’t speak.”

Her words made Xie Ru He feel that his behavior wasn’t appropriate. He licked his lips, just about to properly apologize when Shu Nian suddenly added: “If you think what I’m saying is wrong, you can just tell me directly.”

“…”

Shu Nian’s tone was very serious: “I won’t get angry, I have a very good temper.”

Hearing this, Xie Ru He glanced at her again, feeling that she was already angry. He raised his hand to touch the back of his neck, hesitantly saying: “I don’t think what you said is wrong.”

Shu Nian made a sound of acknowledgment, muttering: “You can speak directly if you have something to say, I’m very reasonable.”

Xie Ru He stared at her, his expression thoughtful.

Her way of speaking was a bit different from usual, sounding strange. After saying a few words, she would start praising herself, and quite bluntly. Simple and direct, she seemed to be trying to brainwash Xie Ru He.

After a while.

Xie Ru He raised his eyebrows: “I can speak directly if I have something to say?”

Shu Nian nodded with a straight face.

He tilted his head slightly, his back arching as he looked at her at eye level. His eyelashes were thick and long, like two brushes, curled upward, his eyes bright and dark.

The bit of sullenness in Shu Nian’s heart instantly scattered far and wide.

She resisted her nervousness, maintaining eye contact with him for three seconds, but then couldn’t help but look away.

The next moment, Xie Ru He asked in a hoarse voice: “Can I kiss you in public?”

They arrived at the hospital.

Shu Nian released Xie Ru He’s hand, looking somewhat uneasy. She instinctively glanced at Xie Ru He, and after meeting his reassuring gaze, she finally summoned the courage to enter the psychology department.

Xie Ru He waited for her outside.

It had been a long time since she had seen Wang Yue.

Shu Nian sat in front of her and greeted her.

Wang Yue smiled at her, gently asking about recent events, her condition, and her symptoms.

Shu Nian spoke slowly, honestly summarizing.

Unwillingness to go out, easily startled by small noises.

Low mood most of the time, with sudden feelings of guilt.

Poor sleep quality, frequent dreams.

Negative mindset, repeatedly recalling very small details.

Resistance to others mentioning traumatic experiences, actively avoiding any triggers.

Difficulty concentrating.

Palpitations, chest tightness, accelerated heartbeat, difficulty breathing, a suffocating feeling of impending death.

Wang Yue listened quietly, occasionally providing some guidance, then reassessed and diagnosed Shu Nian, having her complete symptom self-assessment scales and an event impact scale measuring trauma levels.

The results were moderate somatization, moderate depression, and severe anxiety.

An hour later, Shu Nian left the department.

Xie Ru He was sitting on a chair outside, holding his phone, but most of his attention was focused in her direction. He quickly noticed Shu Nian coming out and stood up to walk over to her.

“How was it?”

Shu Nian handed him the items in her hand: “Need to get medication.”

Xie Ru He took them: “Hmm? Do you need to take medicine?”

Shu Nian’s mood wasn’t good, and she lowered her head: “Yes, take medication. And then one hour of psychological therapy each week.”

Xie Ru He took her hand: “Why are you unhappy?”

“It’s more serious,” Shu Nian rubbed her eyes, “than I imagined.”

Xie Ru He made a sound of acknowledgment: “It’ll be fine with proper treatment.”

Hearing his words, Shu Nian became nervous again, her tone stiff and lacking confidence, her volume also very small: “You’ll stay with me, right?”

“Yes.” Xie Ru He raised his hand to stroke her head, saying softly, “Let’s go get the medicine.”

Shu Nian looked up at him, standing still.

Xie Ru He said: “Why aren’t you moving?”

Shu Nian sniffled, her eyes feeling a bit sour.

She always felt he was too good.

No matter what kind of person she was, whatever her condition, he seemed able to accept it.

His reaction was always unconcerned.

As if no matter how bad her condition got, it wouldn’t change anything between them. He wouldn’t despise her, treating it as a very ordinary matter, not believing it would affect their relationship.

Not thinking that because Shu Nian had this illness, she would be in an inferior position in their relationship.

Every time she asked questions out of insecurity.

He was never impatient, never dismissive.

It just made her feel very good.

It made her feel that this world was still very beautiful.

Thinking about how she had just remained silent without answering him, Shu Nian felt a bit guilty. She hesitantly moved closer to him, contemplated for a moment, and then said softly: “It’s okay.”

Xie Ru He didn’t immediately understand: “Hmm?”

“That is,” Shu Nian’s ear tips turned red, pretending to be calm, “you can kiss me in public.”

“…”

Xie Ru He’s gaze paused, looking at her bright eyes. His eyes were deep, tinged with a hint of sensuality as he raised his hand to brush the corner of her eye: “There are too many people here.”

This response was essentially a refusal.

Shu Nian’s composure instantly crumbled, and she immediately lowered her head, playing dead.

Xie Ru He withdrew his gaze, pulling her forward.

Before long, Shu Nian heard Xie Ru He speak again, his tone lazy and casual.

“There are fewer people over there.”

They didn’t linger outside.

Xie Ru He took Shu Nian to a nearby dessert shop, letting her pick a few cakes. Seeing her eyeing a milk tea shop outside, he also took her to buy a cup.

Then they returned home.

Shu Nian went to the bathroom to wash her feet.

When she came out, she saw that Xie Ru He had already taken the items out of the bags, unwrapped them, and placed them on the coffee table. At that moment, he was sitting on the sofa, looking at Shu Nian’s medical records and the various forms they had brought back.

Shu Nian walked over barefoot and sat down beside him.

Xie Ru He looked up at her, suddenly bent down, and grasped her ankle. Startled by his sudden action, Shu Nian stiffened and looked at him: “What are you doing?”

He didn’t respond, just took a few tissues to dry the water on her feet.

Shu Nian didn’t dare move at all: “I can wipe them myself…”

Xie Ru He moved quickly, saying softly: “Already wiped.”

Shu Nian made a sound of acknowledgment, her toes curling uncomfortably. She coughed lightly twice, pretending not to care, picked up a cake from the table, but couldn’t help glancing in Xie Ru He’s direction.

At that moment, Xie Ru He was staring at the floor, lost in thought.

Shu Nian withdrew her gaze, silently eating her cake.

Before long, Xie Ru He suddenly murmured: “Should we put down a carpet?”

Shu Nian looked up: “Huh?”

She saw that his gaze had already moved to her bare feet, his brows slightly furrowed, as if contemplating something very important, then he said to himself: “Let’s put down a rug.”

“…”

Shu Nian hadn’t taken medication for a long time.

When she secretly took medicine behind Xie Ru He’s back a few days ago, she didn’t dare take it carelessly. Normally one would take one pill a day, but Shu Nian only took half. Side effects vary by person; for her, they include headaches, nausea, and drowsiness.

She didn’t dare show these symptoms in front of Xie Ru He.

When her headaches were severe, Shu Nian didn’t dare tell him. She would just pretend to be sleepy and sneak back to her room to rest. When she felt unwell, she would just pretend to be in a bad mood.

But now, whenever Shu Nian felt uncomfortable somewhere, she would tell him directly.

It was like when she was young, secretly running outside to play, accidentally getting hurt, and not daring to tell Deng Qing Yu because she was in the wrong. But after being discovered, although she would be scolded, she would dare to cry out when it hurt later.

Shu Nian had a strong reaction to the medication because she wasn’t yet used to it.

She threw up her breakfast and had some diarrhea. She couldn’t eat lunch either. Xie Ru He coaxed her into eating half a bowl of porridge, after which she returned to her room and lay down, unable to fall asleep.

She felt chest tightness, palpitations, and shortness of breath.

Shu Nian rolled around on the bed, feeling so uncomfortable she wanted to lose her temper.

Soon, Xie Ru He also came in, holding a tablet. Perhaps not knowing that taking medication would make Shu Nian so uncomfortable, he looked somewhat at a loss, asking: “If you can’t sleep, do you want to play a game? Or watch something?”

Shu Nian obediently nodded and took the tablet.

She didn’t know what to do, feeling inexplicably irritable.

Shu Nian opened a video app and randomly clicked on a popular web drama. She sat up, leaning against the headboard.

Xie Ru He went over to sit beside her and felt her forehead: “Still feeling unwell?”

Shu Nian shook her head, saying softly: “No.”

Xie Ru He’s eyes showed concern, but he didn’t say much.

Shu Nian adjusted her position, reducing the distance between them. She fairly shared half of the screen with Xie Ru He, so he could also clearly see the content on the screen.

The opening theme was playing on the screen.

Shu Nian quietly stared at the screen, looking at the woman who appeared most frequently, feeling she looked familiar. She hesitantly pointed and asked: “Do you know this person?”

Xie Ru He wasn’t paying attention to the web drama. Hearing this, he glanced at it and honestly said: “I don’t know her.”

Shu Nian was slow to react, stared a bit longer, and then clicked out to look at the cast list.

The female lead’s name showed three characters: “Lin Qi Qi.”

She thought for a long time, finally remembering that she knew this person. It was someone she had met during an audition, who later found her on WeChat and asked if she wanted to audition together.

Shu Nian realized, nodded to herself, and clicked back into the video.

The opening theme had finished, and the first episode began. The female lead appeared on the screen, with a bright demeanor, very smiley, and particularly eye-catching. Shu Nian’s expression was absent as she murmured: “How is she so beautiful?”

Hearing this, Xie Ru He looked over.

Shu Nian met his gaze and asked again: “Do you remember her?”

Xie Ru He had no impression of this face at all: “I don’t know her.”

“She was at the audition before, the one you scolded,” Shu Nian said with low spirits. “Then she thought you liked her, she probably liked you too.”

Xie Ru He made a sound of acknowledgment, not seeming to care much.

Shu Nian pressed her lips together, suddenly getting angry at him: “Are you doing this on purpose?”

“…” Xie Ru He turned his head, not understanding why she was suddenly angry, “What?”

Shu Nian didn’t answer, holding the tablet as she shifted position, noticing his gaze was still on her. She unhappily closed the video, stuffed the tablet under the blanket, and sulked: “I’m not letting you watch.”