“Junior Jiang? Didn’t you say your cleanliness obsession was cured? What brings you here? Your father has already compensated for the lab that got damaged last time.”
At a psychological clinic in Wanqing City, not long after Zhang Junfang opened the door, a blue-eyed young man with a cold and silent expression, carrying a shoulder bag, walked in.
Jiang Chi didn’t say much. He quietly sat opposite Zhang Junfang, placed his bag on the table, then looked at him.
“I have a question.”
“Please go ahead,” Zhang Junfang adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose professionally and took out a medical record form, ready to take notes.
Jiang Chi chose his words carefully, paused, then said, “I have a friend.”
“Yes, you have a friend,” Zhang Junfang said, resting his pen against his chin.
“Really, it’s a friend of mine.” Jiang Chi frowned slightly.
“Indeed, I never said he wasn’t your friend.” Zhang Junfang nodded seriously and continued, “Rest assured, we are professionally trained and will never disclose any patient information.”
Seeing this, Jiang Chi didn’t bother arguing and directly revealed his friend’s situation.
“I have a friend, male, who likes to dress in women’s clothing. Sometimes he’s a man in women’s clothes; other times, he dresses very much like a woman, and his personality changes accordingly.”
He used deliberately vague wording.
“Gender transformation,” “shape-shifting”—unless seen with one’s own eyes, it’s hard to convince others.
“That sounds like mild dissociative identity disorder symptoms,” Zhang Junfang thought seriously for a moment, then asked, “How is his daily life? Any abnormal behaviors?”
“Sometimes he dresses as a woman to flirt with men,” Jiang Chi recalled his personal experience.
“That’s about a 30% chance of dissociative identity disorder.”
Zhang Junfang stroked his chin. “A few years ago, I diagnosed a dissociative identity disorder patient. Due to family reasons, he imagined having a little sister accompany him from childhood. When the family discovered it and sent him to me, the diagnosis was confirmed. He’s currently receiving treatment in the hospital.”
“Dissociative identity disorder?” Jiang Chi whispered the words as if trying to extract some hidden meaning.
“Does the gender of split personalities remain fixed? For example, a carefree male persona and a quirky female persona—these two personalities,” Jiang Chi asked.
“That’s a good question,” Zhang Junfang adjusted his glasses and began explaining professionally: “In modern medicine, dissociative identity disorder usually refers to a severe mental disorder of unknown cause, involving significant abnormalities in perception, thinking, emotion, cognition, and behavior.”
“Most patients develop it in late adolescence or early adulthood. Onset is often gradual, with a protracted course tending toward chronicity and mental deterioration.”
“Main symptoms include hallucinations, delusions, disorganized thinking, emotional discordance, cognitive decline, abnormal behavior, and decreased social functioning.”
“The gender, thought patterns, and personal preferences of split personalities depend on the aspect the host personality desires. For example, a child growing up in an abusive home may long for a protective older brother; a child from a single-parent household may yearn for a loving mother or a stoic father, craving familial affection.”
“Is it possible then…” Jiang Chi suddenly felt his mouth dry and asked, “That a carefree male personality and a quirky female personality can share one body and switch seamlessly?”
Without hesitation, Zhang Junfang replied, “Yes, that’s very common among dissociative identity disorder patients!”
“Have both personalities ever existed in this world?” Jiang Chi asked again, a faint spark lighting up his otherwise indifferent eyes.
“Of course,” Zhang Junfang nodded.
The two discussed the concept of “personality” for a while longer. Before leaving, Jiang Chi bought an expensive book on “personality treatment” from Zhang Junfang.
Exiting the clinic, Jiang Chi reached out and stroked the photo he used as his phone wallpaper—the quirky girl on the vivid blue background. The wild look in the youth’s eyes softened into tenderness, gentleness, and love.
At the same time, a storm seemed to brew deep inside Jiang Chi’s heart.
……
“Fight! Fight! Hurry up! The lane’s getting pushed!”
“Marco Polo’s shooting is so dirty! Daji, control him for me!!”
“You little—just you wait!!”
In Dorm 802, including Su Tian, the five-man team was engaged in a heated 5v5 battle.
Ji Yueniang played very seriously, Liu Chan built a tank and charged ahead, absorbing damage and drawing aggro so that Su Tian’s Hou Yi in the backline could safely deal damage.
Suddenly, a slight vibration from his phone caught Ji Yueniang’s attention. A message marked as ‘special concern’ flashed on the screen. He slightly turned his body to shield the phone and casually opened the chat window.
Jiang Chi: Qingchan, let’s go traveling this summer break. The peach blossoms out of province bloom in full glory in July.
If it were just an ordinary travel invitation, Ji Yueniang would have politely declined, but the next line made his heart leap.
Jiang Chi: After this summer, at the start of next semester, I want to propose to you—right at school, under the blessing of all teachers and students.
A proposal? A confession?
Heh heh heh!! (Villainous laugh)
Though two months later than expected, it wasn’t unacceptable. Just imagining Jiang Chi proposing in front of the entire school and then him flatly rejecting it, watching Jiang Chi break down in tears, clutching his head—
Ji Yueniang’s heart twisted with excitement like a writhing worm.
Delightful, so delightful!
“Guys, what’s the plan for this summer break?” Suddenly, while playing, Yao Shiming asked.
“Keep working,” Hu Li controlled Daji to lock down the enemy’s Nuwa. Yao Shiming followed up with an ultimate, instantly killing her.
“I found a waiter job at a bar, six thousand a month, not bad.”
“Aren’t you going home, Hu Li?”
“I had a fight with my family,” Hu Li said flatly.
Yao Shiming didn’t press further.
“As for me, my good buddy said he’d go with me on a vacation to Hawaii,” Luo Yikang tried to liven up the mood, half-joking, “Maybe I’ll meet a bikini beauty and have a short, sweet romance, hahaha.”
The group burst into laughter.
“Old Ji, what about you? What’s your plan for the summer?”
Hu Li suddenly looked at Ji Yueniang curiously.
“Me?” Ji Yueniang rubbed his chin. “Taking my girlfriend to see the peach blossoms out of province.”
“Peach blossoms? Tsk tsk tsk, didn’t expect you to be so carefree on the outside, but so delicate inside.”
“When will you bring your wife back for us to see?”
“Yeah, yeah, Brother Ji, you’ve been dating so long, and we haven’t even seen your wife—not even a photo.”
“Go, go, go, stop it. I told you she’s shy.”
Near the end of their sophomore year, just before summer break and the upcoming college entrance exam, the five teased each other, and Dorm 802 was once again filled with laughter.
Among them, Ji Yueniang was unaware that the gears of fate had already begun to turn and that he was about to step into a real turning point in his ‘male’ life.