Ghost Says - Chapter 6.2

The low pressure surrounding Qiao Gang continued until he returned home after work. After dinner, Lin Xian also noticed his unusual behavior.

“Did something happen today?” he asked.

Qiao Gang’s face darkened again as he stiffly replied, “No.”

Having encountered such an embarrassing situation, he didn’t have the face to tell anyone about it.

Lin Xian smiled and didn’t ask further. He picked up a fruit knife and began peeling an apple. His technique was skilled, as if he often did this. Lin Xian said it could train hand dexterity.

Qiao Gang wasn’t good at peeling, he usually just bit into the apple, skin and all.

After finishing peeling, Lin Xian cut the apple flesh into pieces, stuck them with toothpicks, and placed them on a plate to hand to Qiao Gang.

Qiao Gang frowned, “Why go through all this trouble just to eat an apple?”

Lin Xian picked up another apple and started peeling, saying, “Apples are rich in nutrition. They contain various vitamins and acids. The pectin in them can lower cholesterol. Apple skin contains rich antioxidants and bioactive substances, but pesticides can penetrate the waxy layer of the skin, so it’s best not to eat it with the skin.”

“Wow, you’re quite knowledgeable about this stuff,” Qiao Gang clicked his tongue.

“That’s because my mother is a nutritionist.”

“Lucky you, then. You must get to eat great meals every day.” Qiao Gang had a deep impression of nutritionists evaluating culinary skills on food shows. Someone who understood food so well must be a good cook themselves, he thought.

“I don’t think her cooking skills are that great. I just remember being forced to eat green peppers every day.”

Mother Lin often said that picky eaters weren’t good children.

“So you don’t like green peppers? But didn’t I see you eating them today?”

One of the dishes for dinner that day was stir-fried green peppers with meat, and he had seen him eat quite a bit.

“Even foods you don’t like, you get used to after eating them for over a decade,” Lin Xian said flatly.

Qiao Gang didn’t understand. If you like something, you like it; if you dislike something, you dislike it. Why force yourself to accept things you don’t like?

“Good thing my family didn’t have so many rules.”

“By the way, how come I rarely hear you mention your family?”

Qiao Gang had finished eating the apple and was playing with the toothpick in his hand. Hearing this, he didn’t even look up.

“Dead. They’re all dead. It’s just me at home now.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“What are you saying sorry for? It’s not like you killed my parents.”

Qiao Gang smiled as if he didn’t care, but Lin Xian clearly saw the sadness that flashed in his eyes for an instant.

“My dad was a drunk. He’d beat my mom when he was drunk. I remember when I was little, as soon as my mom heard my dad coming home, she’d hurriedly hide me away to avoid both mother and son getting beaten.”

Seeing Lin Xian’s surprised look, Qiao Gang smiled again. “Back then, I just wanted to grow up quickly so I’d have the strength to protect my mom. But before that day came, the old man died.”

Qiao Gang’s expression was cold. He had no regrets about his father; one could even say he was relieved. But his mother had no job, and before his father died in the hospital, he had spent all of their meager savings, plunging their life into difficult circumstances.

“After I started high school, my mom’s health was always poor. She passed away not long after I graduated.”

To support his education and maintain the family’s livelihood, his mother went to work. However, being naturally frail, she quickly fell ill due to exhaustion. Qiao Gang’s high school life was split between studying and working. Every day after classes, he would rush to his part-time job, sometimes juggling multiple jobs, often returning home late at night.

Under these conditions, naturally, there wasn’t much time to focus on academics.

Lin Xian looked at Qiao Gang, who was speaking about all this matter-of-factly.

Actually, he already knew all of this. After taking on this case, he had investigated thoroughly. But hearing it directly from Qiao Gang felt very different from reading a report.

“Don’t you… hate your father?”

“Why should I hate him? Although he wasn’t a good father, he raised me, never let me go hungry or without clothes. The only person he wronged was my mom, but in the end, she forgave him. If mom could forgive him, what reason do I have to hold a grudge?” Qiao Gang smiled gently, pure and clear like a summer sky.

Lin Xian found this smile almost too dazzling to look at directly. Sometimes, light that’s too bright can burn one’s eyes.

“Besides, after the old man died, although mom and I had it tough, we felt very happy. After my mother passed away, people around me were very kind. Most colleagues I met were friendly, I made a good friend in Jian Xia, and most fortunately, I got to be with Xiaoyu.” Mentioning Jian Xia and Xiaoyu, Qiao Gang’s smile faded, his eyes dimming slightly.

“Don’t worry, we’ll definitely find the culprit,” Lin Xian couldn’t help but comfort him.

However, whether the culprit could be brought to justice once found was another matter.

Early the next morning, Qiao Gang, still sleepy-eyed and wearing slippers, got up to use the bathroom. He saw Lin Xian already dressed and standing by the door with a small suitcase.

“I have an urgent business trip. I’ll be back in about a week.”

Qiao Gang nodded, then yawned as he entered the bathroom.

The sound of the door closing came from behind.

After rinsing his mouth and taking a quick shower, his mind finally registered what the other person had said earlier.

From then on, Qiao Gang began his week-long single life.

On the plane, Lin Xian gazed deeply at the documents in his hand.

Recent data collected showed that Song Yuan, due to poor health as a child, had been hospitalized for a long time. Because of this, Song Yuan even delayed starting school by a year. This wasn’t strange, but what was strange was the hospital he was in.

It wasn’t an ordinary hospital, but a psychiatric hospital. Calling it a psychiatric hospital might be a bit excessive; it was a research institute for childhood autism. Childhood autism is commonly known as “Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).”

Song Yuan had stayed there for three years.

The director was somewhat surprised by Lin Xian’s visit but still received him warmly and arranged for the nurse who had cared for Song Yuan to come over.

The nurse, now over forty and promoted to head nurse, still had vivid memories of Song Yuan.

“That child was the first patient I cared for as a nurse. He was only four when he entered the hospital, fair-skinned and delicate, like a little angel. You couldn’t tell anything was wrong from his appearance. It’s really a pity with his good looks.”

She sighed, “Autism is a condition that requires long-term treatment and needs love from those around. How is he now? Is he living well?”

Lin Xian told her about Song Yuan’s death in a car accident. The head nurse was deeply saddened by this news and wiped away a tear.

“So, how can I help you?”

“I came here to understand his condition better. Please tell me whatever comes to mind, just talk about things that happened while he was here.”

The head nurse thought for a moment, “That child was very quiet, didn’t like to talk, and wasn’t fond of getting close to others. This is actually common for many autistic children. When he did speak to people, his voice was flat, completely emotionless and mechanical.

“However, he was extremely intelligent. Among autistic children, about 70% have below-average intelligence, but he was different. He could memorize any character he saw after just one look, and he was particularly quick with arithmetic. At just over four years old, he was already reading second-grade primary school materials.”

“But if you tried to actively teach him, it wouldn’t work. No matter what anyone said to him, he wouldn’t pay attention. He only lived in his own world,” she added.

“That child also liked to draw, although he never said so. I bought him a box of colored pencils, but he never showed his drawings to anyone. He would always tear them up after finishing. He refused to share his happiness with others, which was always a problem that gave me a headache.”

“He also wasn’t like some children who would throw tantrums or show aggressive behavior towards others. In fact, he was a very gentle child… most of the time.”

Lin Xian caught the issue in her words.

“What do you mean by ‘most of the time’? Did he sometimes do something extreme?”

The head nurse seemed hesitant to speak but eventually did so under Lin Xian’s persuasion.

“He was usually very well-behaved. Even if his environment suddenly changed, he wouldn’t react as dramatically as other children. But once he lost his temper, he would become terrifying.”

“Terrifying?” Lin Xian raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised that she would use such a word to describe a child who was not yet six years old.

“Yes,” the head nurse smiled awkwardly, “I only saw him lose his temper once. One time, a child broke his pencil. At that moment, he showed no expression, he even smiled a little. But the next morning when that child woke up, he found a rabbit with its belly cut open on his bed.”

“How did you know it was him?”

The head nurse gave a bitter smile. “Originally, no one suspected him. If he hadn’t admitted it himself, it would have remained a secret forever.”

“After all, we never imagined that a child could steal a rabbit kept by the hospital without anyone noticing, then cut open its belly and throw it on another child’s bed. It was too cruel. We never knew he could be so violent.”

The hospital had a treatment plan at that time, intending to use cute small animals to increase autistic children’s interest in the outside world. They specially bought some small, harmless animals to keep in the hospital. And that rabbit was the favorite pet of the child who broke the pencil.

“Then the next day, I saw him smiling at that child. The child kept crying because of the shock, so I went up to ask him. You should know, he rarely showed such a happy expression.”

“Perhaps because he was happy, he told me the reason. The answer was very surprising. He told me everything he did, including the process of cutting open the rabbit.”

Lin Xian frowned, starting to feel a bit nauseated.

But the head nurse’s expression wasn’t one of disgust. It could even be said that her expression carried a motherly affection. It was as if what he did was just like a naughty child breaking a dragonfly’s wings.

This made Lin Xian very confused.

Contrary to the head nurse’s description of Song Yuan, compared to his childhood autism and high school introversion, he seemed like a completely different person after entering university.

Song Yuan’s university classmates and teachers described him as gentle, considerate, humble, polite, intelligent, knowledgeable, and very trustworthy.

He participated in many club activities, was a key member of the student union, an important assistant to his advisor, a recipient of scholarships every year, and had excellent organizational leadership and social skills. Finally, he won a scholarship to study abroad and returned to the country after obtaining a master’s degree.

If someone said he was autistic as a child, probably no one would believe it.

Why did he change so suddenly and thoroughly, as if he were a completely different person from before?

Lin Xian couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard he thought.