“Clients these days are just impossible to please.”
At night, in a barbecue stall somewhere in Wanquing City, Director Yi, Yi Xi, had just gotten off work and was drinking and skewering with an old classmate, cursing their dog of a boss.
“Yeah, we’re all in the same boat. Things are rough for me, too,” Zhang Junfang, Yi Xi’s old classmate, took a bite of grilled meat, grumbling incessantly.
“These days minors are absolutely out of control, even dared to smash up my lab! If they hadn’t paid compensation in the end, there’s no way I’d have let it go!”
“And you know how it is, I’ve got a few major clients out of province. Their old problems have been acting up, so in three days I took seven flights. I feel numb all over from flying.”
“Making money now is really not easy!”
“Sigh, enough talking, let’s eat. I recently met a big shot, tonight’s on me!!”
“Sure, I’ve got nothing going on anyway, got some time tonight.” Zhang Junfang agreed with a big grin.
“Hey… Old Yi, what’s that big case you took on recently?”
“Treating the split personality of some rich second-generation’s girlfriend.” Yi Xi gulped down some cold beer, clicking his tongue in disbelief. “The things rich people play with nowadays, it’s not even about people anymore, it’s about personalities!”
“Tsk tsk! And they gave me a strict order! Erase the main personality, keep the secondary!”
“As expected, Mr. Zhou was right. The richer they are, the more they love tricks, and the more twisted their tricks, the richer they get!”
“Heh~ That’s nothing. You have no idea about my most lucrative job…”
“I know, wasn’t it some finance tycoon buying an island to play role-playing games with his little girlfriend? You’ve told me about it plenty of times, everyone in the circle knows you, Zhang Junfang, just loves making money off the rich.”
“By the way, Old Yi, what do you think about that fire video from the Muk family’s paternity test clinic a few days ago?”
“Probably another shady scandal. Illegitimate sons and daughters are common enough in those circles. Take that recent oil tanker incident, tsk tsk, never mind, let’s not talk national affairs.”
As they chatted, they clinked glasses again.
The more they talked, the more they hit it off; the more they hit it off, the more they talked. By the end, both were more than a little drunk and hardly able to hold their liquor.
“Meow~ Teacher, what are you doing here?” Just as Zhang Junfang was getting tipsy, a soft, childish voice piped up beside him.
A little boy in a blue and white striped robe, wearing an oversized baseball cap, had somehow appeared at his side. He held a bottle of milk with a straw in his mouth, blinking in confusion as he looked at him.
“Your son?” Yi Xi, seeing the little boy next to his old classmate, asked in surprise.
“My nephew. Sent to me for tutoring this summer break.” Zhang Junfang, drunk, patted Yan Qing’s little head.
“Yan Qing, call him Brother Yi.”
“Hello, Brother Yi.” Yan Qing called out obediently.
But those big, round, orange-gold eyes were fixed on a skewer of grilled fish on the table. Yi Xi couldn’t help but chuckle, picked up the grilled fish, and handed it over.
“Thank you, Brother Yi.” Yan Qing’s eyes lit up as he took the grilled fish, eagerly taking a big bite.
*****
“Mom, Qingchan and I went hiking today. Yeah, the scenery out of province is beautiful, we took lots of pictures.”
“Qingchan? She’s already asleep, too tired.”
“We really didn’t do anything like that, really.”
“……”
In a small inn somewhere in Wanquing City, after hanging up the call with his mother, Jiang Chi sat down and gently rubbed his brow, then drew an unopened report from the drawer.
This was delivered today by Director Yi: Ji Yueyan’s “Split Personality Diagnosis Report.” Director Yi had told him to look it over first and prepare himself mentally.
His fingertips paused for a moment at the seal. Jiang Chi pursed his lips but didn’t open it to check the result. Instead, he left it, planning to look at it together with Ji Yueyan.
He wanted Ji Yueyan to see just how fragile her lie—”I don’t have Ji Qingchan in me”—really was. He wanted her to understand he had plenty of ways to bring Ji Qingchan out, and to make Ji Yueyan admit she had a split personality!!
“Dingdong!”
A message came through, the phone vibrating slightly. Jiang Chi picked it up, expecting a message from his parents, but instead it was one from the paternity test institution.
“Dear customer, due to a fire caused by mismanagement at our hospital, both the sample you provided and the paternity test results were destroyed. Please come to the hospital within three days to provide a new sample for testing…”
“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. All fees for this test will be fully reimbursed by our hospital. We are truly sorry for the delay.”
Destroyed?
The man’s deep blue eyes dimmed, then he shook his head.
Is another test even necessary now? He already knew the truth.
But, Uncle Mu’s hospital caught fire… could it have been arson? After all, paternity tests… some so-called public organizations see them as home-wreckers, affecting birth rates.
*****
Tap, tap, tap…
Shiny, polished leather shoes clicked crisply against the floor. Holding the “Split Personality Diagnosis Report,” Jiang Chi walked down the hospital corridor, hearing wails and pleas from the rooms even from afar.
“I really am Ji Hong’s second son!”
“Miss, please, just call my brother at the number I gave you. I promise he’ll give you half a million, and if that’s not enough, how about an apartment in the city center?”
“If that’s still not enough, I’ll have my brother be your boyfriend! He’s the top heir of the Hongyuan Group, a real diamond bachelor. You’ll live in luxury for the rest of your life.”
“Even I’ll have to call you sister-in-law then!”
Jiang Chi reached the ward. The nurse was about to bow in greeting, but he stopped her with a finger to his lips, then pointed outside.
Understanding, the young nurse tiptoed out.
On the bed, Ji Yueyan hadn’t noticed the change of nurse due to her position. Seeing her pleas fail, she turned to muttering resentfully.
“Jiang Chi! Damn your ancestors! All I did was trick your feelings a little, did you have to go this far?!”
“You’re just a love-starved little boy! What you like is Ji Qingchan, right? What you like is a girl who can perfectly accept everything about you!”
“Fuck!”
“★*, Jiang Chi, you ***”
“*!!!”
“Are you done cursing?” Suddenly a male voice spoke up beside her. Ji Yueyan immediately shrank back, glancing at the figure by the bed.
It was a tall, handsome young man in a white T-shirt, holding a file. His features were refined and his demeanor gentle, giving off a sense like a spring breeze.
“Uh… I…” Ji Yueyan swallowed. Cursing behind someone’s back and getting caught red-handed, was this the end for her?
“Ji Yueyan.” Jiang Chi shook the file in his hand, a gentle smile on his lips. “Didn’t you say my Qingchan doesn’t exist? Let’s prove it with science.”
He sat on the bed, tore open the report, ignored all the front pages and turned straight to the last. There, in bold red font, it read:
After professional evaluation, the patient Ji Qingchan exhibits no symptoms of split personality.
“Aha~ See? I told you there’s no such thing.”
“Ji Qingchan is just me acting.”
“If you ask me, maybe you should get a psychiatric evaluation.”
Ji Yueyan was at first delighted, then amused when she saw the report and wanted to say something, but suddenly noticed the man on the bed’s face darken, his gaze coldly fixed on her.
Ji Yueyan shivered involuntarily, panic rising inside. “Jiang Chi, you…”