Chapter 11: Never Hide Your Symptoms When Dealing with Mental Illness

In a quiet alley off Wangjiang Road, the black Phaeton slowly came to a stop.

Qiao Nian unbuckled her seatbelt, picked up her bag, and said to the man in the driver's seat, "Thank you."

Ye Wangchuan tilted his chin slightly. One hand rested on the steering wheel while the other propped against the car window. The string of brown Buddhist prayer beads wrapped around his fair wrist looked like a shackle on a lazy, slumbering lion. He glanced at the gate by the roadside, unable to see anything special about the place, and asked, "Do you want me to go in with you?"

Qiao Nian refused without a second thought: "No need, I can go in by myself."

Ye Wangchuan narrowed his eyes but didn't speak.

Anxious to get away from him, Qiao Nian closed the car door, waved at him, and said, "Then, Brother Ye, I'm going in now."

"En."

Ye Wangchuan watched as she walked familiarly into the two-story white villa, then sat in the driver's seat and took out his phone.

He had lived in Beijing for a long time, but he had a good grasp of property values in Raocheng.

The house Qiao Nian had just entered was located in a prime area of the south side of the city. Any storefront in this commercial district was expensive, and a standalone property like this, which looked like a private studio, could not possibly be cheap.

Jiang Li had told him that Qiao Nian's adoptive parents had a little money, but they treated her very poorly, not even willing to let her attend a decent school.

How would she know about a place like this? She even looked like she came here often.

He took a photo of the white villa.

Soon, a message came back.

【I know this place! It's a psychological clinic on Wangjiang Road. The doctor is notoriously hard to book! And the fees are incredibly expensive. Master Wang, are you... feeling unwell mentally? If you have a psychological illness, you must not avoid seeking treatment!】

【Get lost.】

Ye Wangchuan replied with one hand and raised an eyebrow, looking toward the girl who had already entered the doorway.

A psychological clinic?

Expensive?

He had seen Qiao Nian's file; it was unremarkable. Yet, after interacting with her, she was nothing like what was written in the file.

He was just about to reply to the message when his phone screen lit up with an incoming call.

Ye Wangchuan answered the phone, his voice low and hoarse: "What is it?"

"Master Wang, the young master, the young master is missing!"

His expression sank abruptly, his chiseled jawline tightening. With no mind left to care about the psychological clinic, he slammed on the gas, spun the steering wheel, and instructed the person on the other end: "Where are you?"

The black sedan sped away—

(End of chapter)