After a slight hesitation, Du Heng looked at the girl with his most sincere gaze and asked, "Can you tell why? You know, I’m a doctor, and I have confidence in my skills. If you tell , maybe I can help you."
The girl averted her gaze; for the first ti, she didn’t look directly into Du Heng’s eyes. "Didn’t I just say that I’m not very interested in that kind of thing?"
Du Heng carefully chose his words and said in a gentle, unambiguous tone, "After our conversation, I truly admire your perspective and your attitude towards work and life. I believe we still have a chance to discuss things further."
At this point, Du Heng paused briefly. Seeing no impatience in the girl’s expression, he continued, "Having a problem isn’t frightening. We just need to find a solution. What’s truly frightening is hiding the problem. That not only harms a person’s body but also wounds their spirit. A buried scar is like a growing mouse, constantly gnawing at the heart. It draws nourishnt from the damaged core, slowly growing larger until it eventually consus its host."
The girl’s expression flickered slightly. She kept her head bowed, staring at the coffee cup in her hands.
"I am a doctor, a general practitioner of Chinese dicine. If you tell , perhaps I can help. Of course, if you feel it’s unnecessary, or if it’s a private matter you’re uncomfortable sharing, you don’t have to."
Having said this, Du Heng watched the girl’s shifting expressions, fully prepared for rejection.
Unexpectedly, just as Du Heng finished speaking, the girl looked directly at him again, her deanor returning to what it had been during their earlier conversation.
"I have a girlfriend I love, the kind I want to marry."
"Oh, that’s very... proper..."
****, what did I just hear?
Du Heng hastily fell silent.
At this mont, his mind was reeling, like an airplane engine revved to its absolute limit. But for now, this engine was rely idling. He had lost the ability to think and speak. In the past, online, he had most often seen stories of won who beca wives to *those* n, and everyone pitied them. But who would have thought *he* was the one about to beco such a husband? Would *he* be pitied too? And he’d even had the audacity to think he could ’save’ this girl! In reality, he should thank her for her candor, for letting him off the hook.
Du Heng gave up.
He didn’t discriminate against such things, but that didn’t an he could accept it for himself. As for treatnt? Forget it. It wasn’t a disease; it was a matter of self-identity. To ’correct’ this, one would have to shatter the very foundations of her thinking, her core cognitive logic, and then rebuild it anew. But was that even possible? At least, not right now. It was impossible. Rebuilding core cognitive logic ant starting from absolute zero, a complete blank slate. And the only human with such a blank slate for their fundantal cognition was a baby—not even an imbecile would qualify. Forcing such a change would only inflict imnse suffering, driving the person to madness and self-destruction. If anyone could actually accomplish all that, Du Heng figured, it would have to be a god.
Then, Du Heng offered the girl an apologetic smile and said softly, "Sorry, I didn’t know about this. My apologies for intruding."
He picked up his coat and walked to the counter to pay the bill.
****, the coffee here is so expensive! Two cups for 120 yuan. What a rip-off! I’m never coming back here again.
Outside, it was already 3:30 in the afternoon. The weak spring day sun hung in the west, offering Du Heng no warmth at all. He couldn’t help but put on his coat, zip it up, and wrap himself tightly.
As he headed to his parking spot, Du Heng squinted at the descending sun. Its center was soft, but the periphery was bright—so bright it was blinding.
Du Heng cursed under his breath again, covering his eyes that had nearly been blinded, and hurried to his car.
The indescribable blind date ca to an abrupt end. Sitting in his car, Du Heng began to ponder how he should explain this to Li Jianwei.
The situation was absurd, but Du Heng knew Li Jianwei, his uncle, couldn’t have known about this. That ant he hadn’t intentionally tried to deceive him or set him up to be made a fool of. Jinzhou was a relatively open-minded inland city, and in modern society with its free flow of information, such things were becoming more common. Still, that didn’t an people wouldn’t gossip about it or discriminate. Most people felt it had nothing to do with them, as long as it didn’t happen in their own circles, so they didn’t want to waste too much energy on it. But if it happened in their own family, it would be an absolute catastrophe. If it happened to soone they knew, or in their vicinity, it would undoubtedly beco the main topic of gossip—the hottest and most enduring kind. Towards strangers, people would employ the utmost hypocrisy to hide their discrimination, even offering flashy, insincere encouragent and support. But if it was one of their own, they would unleash the full force of their prejudice. Using the most blatant stares and the cruelest words—all under the guise of ’it’s for your own good’—they would attack. They would assail you from what they perceived as the moral high ground: ethics, biology, psychology, morality. Their criticism would be relentless, tearing you apart until you felt utterly destroyed, until life itself felt worse than death.
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