eurekapd Chapter 1285 Yun Rui's sincerity: Sick for Lin Xu
Chapter 1285 Yun Rui's sincerity: Sick for Lin Xu
London's night wind blew raindrops against the hotel glass. Qi Ruixiang put his phone back into his pocket, the coolness of the screen still lingering on his fingertips.
Yang Xiaotang's voice just now was like a cotton thread soaked in warm water, gently strangling his heart - she was clearly testing him, but pretending to be nonchalant, and that cautiousness was very much like his hesitation in front of Gu Yunxi's door at this moment.
He leaned against the corridor wall and looked at the closed door.
Inside the door, Gu Yunxi might still be crying in front of Lin Xu's photo;
Outside the door, he, an "outsider", was running around for her. Thousands of miles away, Yang Xiaotang, the girl who had revealed the truth at the birthday party, was seeing through his lies by intuition.
Why did you think of asking Yang Xiaotang for help?
Qi Ruixiang rubbed his brows; the turmoil and entanglement in his heart could not withstand the honesty of his body.
When his phone lit up again, he dialed the number without hesitation.
At the same time, Yang Xiaotang stood in the entrance hall, her fingertips pinching the cold door handle, Snowball rubbing against her ankles, and she whimpered in grievance.
When her phone vibrated again, she picked it up almost immediately, as if she had been waiting for a long time.
"Xiaotang," Qi Ruixiang's voice was filled with a hint of fatigue, "Can you do me a favor?"
Yang Xiaotang paused holding the pen, and the tip of the pen left a dot of ink on the diary: "You say."
"The man who committed suicide in the Thames River a few days ago in the news is an old acquaintance of mine, but my ability is limited!" He paused and added, "He is a Chinese citizen, so you are the only one who can help me with this."
Yang Xiaotang was silent for a moment. In the end, he could only take a deep breath, preferring to say that it was his old acquaintance who was in trouble rather than admitting that everything was because of Gu Yunxi...
She didn't ask Qi Ruixiang why he didn't find one himself, nor did she mention Gu Yunxi. She just said softly, "I'll try."
After hanging up the phone, she opened the address book and found a number with the note "Uncle Zhang".
Uncle Zhang is an old colleague of my father. Now he is retired and has opened a private detective agency, specializing in finding people and things.
Her father always said that he was "unruly", but he often took her to eat maltose when she was a child.
"Uncle Zhang, help me check someone." Yang Xiaotang's voice was steady. "Lin Xu from Cambridge University, a citizen of our country, has recently disappeared."
"What's going on? You actually came to me for help." Uncle Zhang's voice was full of laughter. "This is a cross-border job. It's not easy to handle."
"It's not about my dad." Yang Xiaotang walked to the window and looked at the dim street lights downstairs. "It's about a friend of mine... He's very important."
"Okay," Uncle Zhang sighed, "Send me the information you know. By the way, your father..."
"Don't let him know." Yang Xiaotang interrupted him, "I owe you a favor."
After hanging up the phone, she sorted out Lin Xu's basic information, time of disappearance, and last place he appeared and sent them to Uncle Zhang.
The corridor of St. Thomas' Hospital was filled with the mixed smell of disinfectant and lilies. Gu Yunxi sat on a plastic chair in the waiting area, his fingertips repeatedly stroking the edge of the medical record book.
The gold-stamped letters on the cover were polished to a shine, just like her forced calmness at the moment - this was her third visit to the psychiatric department for a follow-up consultation. The sycamore leaves outside the window were more yellow than the first time she came, and the sound of them falling to the ground was bleak and crisp.
"Miss Gu." The nurse's voice interrupted her daze. She raised her head and saw the pen clip exposed from the cuff of her white coat flashing a cold light.
When she walked into the clinic, her high heels slipped on the terrazzo floor and she almost stumbled - these days Qi Ruixiang always said that she walked too fast, as if she was chasing something, but she knew that she was just afraid to stop. Once she stopped, the image of Lin Xu falling into the water would repeatedly wash over her mind.
The doctor pushed his gold-rimmed glasses and pushed the printed diagnosis report in front of her.
"Generalized anxiety with moderate depression." The man's voice was as steady as a scalpel. "Sleep monitoring shows that you only have 20 hours of deep sleep per week. If you continue like this, your immune system will have problems."
The “PHQ-9 scale score of 16 points” on the report was circled in red pen, like a glaring warning.
Gu Yunxi's eyes fell on the words "post-traumatic stress disorder tendencies" and his throat tightened.
She recalled the recurring nightmares: Lin Xu was struggling on the surface of the Thames, and she reached out to grab him, but only got a handful of cold river water.
Every time I woke up, my pillow was wet and I couldn’t tell whether it was sweat or tears.
"You need to increase the dosage of the medication." The doctor wrote on the prescription, and the sound of the pen tip scratching the paper was particularly clear. "In addition, I recommend that you undergo cognitive behavioral therapy. You need to face up to..."
"I'm fine." Gu Yunxi suddenly interrupted him, his voice sharper than expected, "I'm just a little tired. I'll be fine once I find Lin Xu."
She grabbed the diagnosis report, her fingertips turned white from the force, and the edge of the paper left red marks on her palm.
As she walked out of the clinic, sunlight slanted in through the glass windows in the corridor, casting mottled shadows on her.
Qi Ruixiang was leaning against the wall at the end of the corridor, with the collar of his black coat standing up, covering half of his face.
Seeing the report in her hand, he frowned slightly, but did not ask any further questions. He just took her bag naturally and said, "Want to have a cup of coffee?"
The jazz music in the cafe was soft. Gu Yunxi stirred the latte in the cup, and the milk foam gradually dissipated with her movement.
"What did the doctor say?" Qi Ruixiang's voice was very soft, as if he was afraid of disturbing something.
She pushed the diagnosis report over to him without saying anything. Looking at his tense jawline as he read line by line, she suddenly felt a little absurd - she was seeking medical treatment for a missing person in the UK, and the man who was with her was another man who made her feel complicated.
After reading the report, Qi Ruixiang folded the pages into neat squares and put them in the inner pocket of his suit.
"Starting next week, I'll accompany you to treatment." His tone was unquestionable, yet with a cautious tenderness, "Don't carry it alone."
Gu Yunxi raised her head and met his deep eyes. There was heartache, worry, and some emotions she couldn't understand, like the undercurrent at the bottom of the Thames.
She suddenly remembered what Yang Xiaotang said at the birthday party, and those hints about ginkgo leaves surged in her mind.
"Qi Ruixiang," her voice trembled a little, "Do you think... Lin Xu is really gone?"
She had asked herself this question countless times, but this was the first time she had the courage to say it out loud.
Qi Ruixiang held her hand on the table, and the warmth of his palm came through his skin. "No matter what the result is, I will be with you."
He didn't answer directly, but gave her a guarantee that was heavier than a promise.
The sunlight outside the window gradually set in the west, stretching the shadows of the two people very long.
Gu Yunxi looked at her blurry reflection in the coffee cup and suddenly realized that the storm caused by Lin Xu's disappearance had already dragged her and Qi Ruixiang into the same vortex.
The cracks in the diagnosis report were not only engraved in her medical record, but also quietly engraved into this entangled relationship.
She didn’t know how long this kind of life would last, nor did she know how long Qi Ruixiang’s “accompany” would last.
But at this moment, holding his warm hand, her nerves, which had been tense for a long time, finally relaxed a little.
Perhaps, before finding Lin Xu, she could temporarily allow herself to rely on this sudden tenderness...