After the woman ran into the house, a burnt "fragrance" drifted out.
"She's boiling cornal porridge in the pot," Xiao Feng said flatly.
Xue Nuofu said in surprise, "You can sll that?"
"I didn't know how to cook before, so I've drunk this kind of burnt porridge more than a few tis. Slls awful, but it doesn't taste that bad."
As he spoke, the woman ca back to the door and invited Xiao Feng and Xue Nuofu inside.
The furnishings in the room were very simple: a sofa and coffee table, a desk, and behind it a bookcase filled entirely with books on psychology.
Next to the bookcase there was another door, and the burnt sll was coming from there.
Right then, the woman set two cups of instant coffee she had just made down on the table.
Seeing Xiao Feng looking at the bookcase, she smiled. "They're all just for show. To be honest, I haven't read a single one of them."
After that, the two sides went through a round of introductions.
Xiao Feng learned that the psychological expert in front of him was nad Jia Luo, that she'd been in this line of work for five years, and as for the rest, she didn't really ntion much.
Still, if Zhao Guo'an was willing to recomnd her, she had to have so real skills.
"Mr. Xiao, tell what you'd like to consult about. From this mont on, the ter's running." Jia Luo smiled and pressed a button on a Doraemon clock on the table.
Xiao Feng and Xue Nuofu exchanged a look, and both felt a deep new understanding of the phrase "ti is money."
"I have a friend who accidentally killed soone. You could call it self-defense…"
After briefly explaining the background, Xiao Feng focused on describing Iron Doll's current condition in detail.
When Jia Luo finished listening, her eyes dropped, then lifted again. She smiled. "According to what you've described, this doesn't quite fit the typical reaction after killing in legitimate self-defense.
Don't get wrong, I'm not trying to dig out the 'real story.'
It's just that knowing the real cause is crucial for psychological treatnt.
Or, I could simply hazard a guess myself…
Your friend didn't have a subjective intention to kill, but because of him, soone ended up dead. Is that a fair way to put it?"
"Yes." Xiao Feng nodded.
Having gotten a clear answer, Jia Luo stood up and walked to the desk. She took a stack of A4 paper from the drawer and handed it to Xiao Feng, along with a fountain pen. "Please fill out these forms so I can get a more detailed grasp of the patient's situation."
Xiao Feng took them and flipped through, his brows knitting. "Isn't this a bit too detailed? I don't think the household registration office even asks this much."
Xue Nuofu leaned over, craned his neck to look, and flipped a few pages back. His expression changed as well.
Indeed, the items listed on the forms were excessively exhaustive.
Beyond basic info like na, sex, and age, there were questions on personality tendencies, education level, whether he was single, and even whether he'd experienced major upheavals in childhood.
"Aside from the first page, the rest aren't strictly mandatory. But the more detailed it is, the more confident I can be about treatnt, and the more obvious the results will be." Jia Luo explained with a smile.
Xiao Feng picked up the fountain pen, glanced at the clock on the table, and asked, "The ti I spend filling these out doesn't count toward the bill, right?"
He genuinely suspected that this whole form-filling segnt was just to burn ti—which, in his book, was even worse than cab drivers deliberately taking the long way.
After all, when a cabbie takes the long way, at least he's still putting in labor.
But here, he'd be the one doing the work filling forms and still have to pay soone else.
At his words, Jia Luo covered her mouth and laughed. "Other people get charged for it, but Mr. Xiao can be an exception."
She finished speaking and stopped the tir.
Before he started writing, Xiao Feng asked, "Can I ask why I'm an exception?"
Jia Luo pondered for a mont, then answered with a faint smile, "Because… you look a lot like my first love."
Xiao Feng didn't continue the banter and lowered his head to start writing.
Xue Nuofu picked up the coffee on the table, took a sip, and at the sa ti observed Jia Luo across from him.
A coffee-colored sweater on top, leather skirt and stockings below; her looks weren't particularly stunning, she could only be called average.
But the intellectual, gentle beauty she carried, and the comfort she conveyed in her speech, made up for her appearance to a large extent. You could even say her temperant was enough to make people overlook her looks.
Soone like this—what exactly was her relationship with Old Zhao?
"Mr. Xue, would you like so sugar?" Jia Luo took the initiative to ask.
A trace of surprise flashed across Xue Nuofu's eyes. Just now, when he'd introduced himself, he'd only said "My family na is Xue" and hadn't ntioned his gender.
For soone who was used to being mistaken for a beauty, how could he possibly stay calm about that?
"To be honest, you're the first person who's been able to correctly peg my gender on a first eting." Xue Nuofu said slowly, his tone containing a mix of emotions that could have been relief or sothing else.
Jia Luo smiled modestly. "It's nothing special. In my line of work, observation is a basic requirent.
The exterior is just a layer of disguise; the interior is what matters.
I once had a patient who was a one-ter-eighty man on the outside but a girl on the inside."
"And then what?" Xue Nuofu asked with interest.
Jia Luo sighed. "After that, I gave him a full set of psychological tests.
The results showed a sound personality. Apart from having an inner self completely opposite to his physical sex, there were no other issues.
Strictly speaking, I don't think that counts as a ntal illness. But at this stage, this tiny fraction of people still can't be accepted or recognized by the general public."
The more he listened, the more intrigued Xue Nuofu beca, so he said, "Would it be convenient to give a psychological test too?"
"Does Mr. Xue feel there's sothing wrong with his own mind?"
"Not really, but the sick don't always perceive their own illness. Maybe if I take a test, it'll actually uncover sothing."
Jia Luo's eyes turned slightly, and she said in a half-joking tone, "If you want, Mr. Xue, even if there's nothing wrong, I can still help you find sothing."
"Are you saying I'm looking for illness when I don't have one?" Xue Nuofu asked.
"That's not what I an." Jia Luo shook her head in denial. "You probably thought I was only joking just now, didn't you, Mr. Xue?"
"Wasn't it a joke?"
"Yes, and no." Jia Luo added half a spoonful of sugar into the coffee cup in front of her and stirred as she said, "Behind every joke, there's a certain degree of seriousness.
When I say 'yes,' I an I really was joking just now.
And when I say 'no,' I an that joke is sothing I could actually follow through on."
Just as Xue Nuofu was about to say sothing, Xiao Feng had already pushed the stack of A4 paper in front of Jia Luo. "That's about everything I know."
Jia Luo picked it up and looked through it, seeming a bit dissatisfied. "Can't you be any more specific?
What Mr. Xiao doesn't know, you can find out from people closer to your friend—family, or a partner."
"Then give the forms. I'll talk to his girlfriend about it later."
"Sure."
Xiao Feng glanced at the clock on the table, stood up, and asked, "How much?"
"By the book, anything under an hour is still billed as an hour." Jia Luo smiled. "But if Mr. Xiao can answer one question for , we can waive the fee."
Xiao Feng didn't give her the chance to ask. "I choose to pay."
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