Chapter 1 – Black Satin Wrapped Around the Eyes
Hot August.
Tick-tock-!
The ear-piercing cicadas mixed with the sound of honking sirens rising and falling echoed in the crowded streets, the scorching sunlight scorched the gray-brown asphalt pavement, the heat surged, and the whole street seemed to be twisted.
Under the shade of the few trees along the roadside, several young men were clustered together, holding cigarettes and waiting for the traffic light.
Suddenly, one of the youngsters who was gulping down the smoke seemed to have realized something and gave a light eep, his gaze falling somewhere on the street corner.
”Arnold, what are you looking at?” The companion beside him asked.
The young man named Arnold stared blankly at the street corner, and only spoke after a long time, “You said …… how do blind people cross the street?”
The companion froze, after hesitating for a moment, slowly spoke, “Generally speaking, the blind go out with someone to take care of them, or a guide dog to guide them, if they are in a modern city, there is also a voice announcement of the traffic light on the side of the road, so if you really can’t do it, maybe you can rely on the voice and the guide cane to move a little bit to get across?”
Arnold shook his head, “Well, what if there’s no one to look after them, no guide dog, no voice announcement, and even the guide cane is used to carry peanut oil?”
”…… You think you’re funny?”
The companion rolled his eyes and followed Arnold’s gaze, and the next moment the whole group froze in place.
Only to see that on the opposite corner of the road, a teenager wearing black short sleeves was standing there, his eyes wrapped with thick circles of black cloth satin, blocking all the light tightly.
His left hand was carrying a cheap shopping bag full of vegetables, and his right hand was dragging the guide stick on his shoulder, as if he was carrying a flat burden, and at the end of the guide stick, a big bucket of yellow peanut oil was shining in the sunlight!
Black satin wrapped around the eyes, blind cane on the shoulder, left hand vegetables, right hand anti-oil ……
This unbelievable picture immediately attracted the attention of a large wave of people around.
”Eh, look, that person is so strange.”
”With so much cloth over his eyes, can he see the road?”
”Can’t you see the guide stick in his hand, he was originally a blind man, right?”
”What era is this, the blind basically wear sunglasses, who still wrap their eyes with cloth satin in the hot day, not afraid of covering the panic?”
”That’s right, and have you ever seen a blind person who doesn’t use a cane to walk, but instead uses it to carry things?”
”Young people nowadays really know how to play.”
”……”
The summer cicadas couldn’t hide the whispers of the surrounding pedestrians, who were curiously sizing up the teenager, discussing in whispers whether he was truly blind or falsely blind, while looking at the flashing red light with some anticipation.
Just then, a crisp voice rang out from the teenager’s side.
”Brother, let me help you cross the street?”
It was a little girl wearing a school uniform, around twelve or thirteen years old, with a few drops of crystalline sweat on her cheeks, and a pair of big black eyes were gazing at the teenager worriedly, purely and simply.
The teenager froze slightly, looked sideways in the direction of the little girl, and a smile emerged from the corner of his mouth.
”Uh-huh.”
He hung the bag carrying the vegetables on his right hand, wiped the sweat on the corner of his coat with his free left hand, and gently held the little girl’s palm.
Snap-!
The green light came on.
The teenager took a step and walked with the little girl towards the opposite side of the road.
The little girl was nervous, looking left and right, paying attention to the vehicles on both sides, her pace was careful and timid.
As for the teenager …… he walked very steadily.
In the eyes of the crowd, this scene is not like a kind girl holding a blind person across the road, but like a big brother with a small child across the road.
The road is not wide, but more than ten seconds, the two arrived on the other side of the road, the teenager said thank you to the little girl, and then did not look back towards the remote alleyway.
”He’s not blind.” Arnold saw this scene and said with certainty, “He must be able to see.”
A youngster behind Arnold had one hand on his chin, pondering, then as if he thought of something, he suddenly realized:
”I get it, he’s cosying up to the Blind Monk!”
Slap–!
A big slap on the back of his head, Arnold cursed and opened his mouth, “Rubbish, all you know is playing games all day long, who the hell has nothing better to do than to cosplay a blind monk on the main street? Do not want to die?”
Pause for two seconds, Arnold muttered in a low voice and added: “Besides …… the blind monk’s cloth to cover his eyes is red, this cos is not like ah.”
”Ano, you’re still talking about me ……”
”Shut up.”
”Oh.”
Just as the two people were bickering, the young man who had been silent on the sidelines gazed at the teenager’s departing back, his eyebrows slightly wrinkled.
”What’s wrong?” Arnold noticed his gaze.
”I know him.”
”Know him?”
”That’s right.” The young man nodded, “When my cousin was still in elementary school, I heard that a student at that school of theirs had an accident, had problems with his eyes, had to wrap them in black satin, and supposedly had mental problems ……”
”Mental problems?” Arnold froze, carefully recalling the situation just now, “It seems like there’s nothing wrong to me.”
”That was ten years ago, maybe the person has already been cured, but at that time things seemed to be quite a big deal, within a few days that student dropped out of school, and it was rumored that he was later transferred to a special school for the blind.”
Just then, another person interjected with interest, “Say, what kind of accident was that? It’s amazing that it can make a person go blind and have mental problems, it can’t be a hit of evil, right?”
”I don’t know.” He paused, “But …… I heard it was something more outrageous than that.”
”It’s a bitter one.” Arnold sighed, “What’s his name?”
”Seems to be called, Lin …… Lin …… Lin Seven Nights?”
In the evening sun, Lin Qiye pushed open the door.
Almost instantly, the aroma of dishes coming from inside the house drilled into his nostrils, he sniffed, gulped, and walked into the house carrying his things.
Creak-!
The old door of the room let out a piercing shrill, muffling the sound of stir-frying coming from the kitchen, a middle-aged woman pushed open the kitchen door, seeing Lin Qiye carrying a large bag, she let out a cry of surprise and hurriedly walked forward.
”Xiao Qi, why are you carrying so many things back at once again?” The woman rubbed her hands on her apron and hurriedly helped Lin Qiye pick up the things, rambling.
”Such a big bucket of peanut oil? You child, have you been messing around with government subsidies again?”
”Auntie, the government’s subsidy for the disabled is for living, I used it to buy oil to make the best use of it.” Lin Qiye laughed.
”Nonsense, this money is reserved for you to go to college, how can you use it indiscriminately, I can tell you ah, the money my aunt earns from her part-time job is actually enough to support the three of us, don’t shell out any money yourself.”
Aunt gently wiped her hand carefully on the oil drum, her expression was a little heartbroken, and she muttered in a low voice: “Such a big drum of oil, or brand …… has to cost a lot of money, right?”
Before Lin Qiye could say something, Auntie suddenly reacted.
”No …… so many things, how did you bring it back?”
”Oh, I ran into a few kind people on the road and helped me bring it back.” Lin Qiye calmly said.
”Good, good ah, it seems that there are still more good people in society ah …… Have you thanked people properly?”
”Thanked them.” Lin Qiye changed the topic, “Auntie, where’s A Jin?”
”He’s writing homework on the balcony …… By the way, the doctor who routinely reviewed this year’s psychiatric hospital side is here, resting in the room, you go to show the other doctor, aunt first go to do the dishes, and when it’s ready, I’ll call you.”
Lin Qiye’s pace slightly lurched, oh, turned around and walked towards the bedroom.
”Hello, I’m a doctor from Sunshine Mental Hospital, my name is Li.”
Seeing Lin Qiye push the door in, the young man sitting on the small bench in the bedroom stood up and spoke gently, his face wearing a pair of large black-framed glasses, looking svelte.
Lin Qiye raised her eyebrows in some surprise, “Wasn’t it always Dr. Han who used to come?”
”Dr. Han was already promoted high to vice president last year.” Dr. Li smiled, some envy surfacing in his eyes.
Lin Qiye nodded slightly and let out an oh.
It was also true that Dr. Han was old and had excellent medical skills, so he wasn’t surprised that he was promoted to vice dean, and it was only natural that he would get a younger doctor to regularly review himself.
Seeing Lin Qiye sit down, Dr. Li cleared his throat and pulled out a stack of case files from his bag.
”I’m sorry, since I’m also new here, I don’t know much about your situation yet, I’ll take a brief look first haha.” Dr. Li opened his mouth somewhat apologetically.
Lin Qiye nodded.
”Name is …… Lin Qiye?”
”Right.”
”Seventeen years old this year.”
”Right.”
”Well …… the case says that you were blinded in both eyes ten years ago while being sent to our hospital due to some problems?”
”Right.”
Dr. Lee pondered for a long time, “Did you change your name?”
”…… No, why do you ask?” Lin Qiye froze.
Dr. Li scratched his head in some embarrassment, “Cough cough …… It seems like I overthought it.”
He stretched out his hand and pointed to the age on the medical record, and then pointed to the three words ten years ago, “Look, you went blind ten years ago, you were exactly seven years old at that time, and your name happened to be Lin Qiye, so I assumed that you changed your name after you went blind ……”
Lin Qiye was silent for a long time and shook his head, “No …… I’ve never changed my name, before I was born, my parents settled on the name Lin Qiye for me.”
”That’s quite …… ahem,” Dr. Li realized that it wasn’t very polite when he was halfway through his sentence and promptly closed his mouth.
”Quite a coincidence.” Lin Qiye spoke indifferently, “Indeed quite a coincidence.”
Dr. Li was a bit embarrassed, but he quickly changed the topic, “Well …… the case doesn’t seem to go into detail about the accident that caused you to go blind and insane, can you tell me about it if it’s convenient?”
Before Lin Qiye could say anything, Dr. Li hurriedly added, “No offense intended, knowing more about the patient is the only way to treat them better, of course, if you don’t want to talk about it, I won’t force it.”
Lin Qiye sat there quietly, and underneath the black ribbon, those eyes seemed to be watching Dr. Li.
After a long time, he slowly spoke:
”There’s nothing that I can’t say …… It’s just that, you may not believe it, and you may even take me back to the mental hospital again.”
”No, no, no, don’t identify our relationship as that of a doctor and a patient, this is just a normal chat between friends, it won’t come to that.” Dr. Li said half-jokingly, “Even if you tell me that you were pulled into the alchemy furnace by Lord Tai Shang Lao, I’ll still believe it.”
Lin Qiye was silent for a moment and nodded slightly.
”When I was little, I liked astronomy.”
”Hmm, and then?”
”That night, I was lying on the eaves of my old house looking at the moon.”
”What did you see? A moon rabbit?” Dr. Li laughed.
Lin Qiye shook his head, and his next sentence directly caused Dr. Li’s smile to freeze on his face.
”No, I saw an angel.” Lin Qiye spoke seriously, his hands still gesturing in front of him.
”A blazing angel shrouded in golden light with six white feathered wings.”