Lu Bancheng slowly pressed on the gas after the taxi had driven some distance. As he slowly drove past the entrance where she had walked in, his face immediately turned pale. It was a private psychology clinic.
Why did Xu Wennuan come here?
For a second, Lu Bancheng felt his heart almost stop. He was able to guess what was going on, but he didn’t want to think about it. He stopped the car, turned off the engine, and sat quietly while waiting for her to come out. She was gone for a long time.
As Lu Bancheng waited, his mind wandered all over the place, as if it didn’t even work. All his thoughts were random and disjointed, and even if he had jotted down all the things he had thought about, it still wouldn’t make sense. It was dinner time by the time Xu Wennuan finally exited the building. Upon seeing her, Lu Bancheng regained his composure and, worried that she would see his parked car, he immediately started it up and pulled forward a distance.
In his rearview mirror, Lu Bancheng saw Xu Wennuan get in a taxi, which did a U-turn and proceeded in the opposite direction. He didn’t look away from the rearview mirror until he saw the taxi disappear. He then stared straight ahead for a while before deciding to turn off the car. He pushed the door open, got out, and walked to the psychology clinic. Lu Bancheng looked up at the neon lights ahead of him for a few seconds before he walked into the building.
The private clinic was not large, and only one psychologist was working. He assumed that Lu Bancheng was there as a patient and cordially took him into his office. After Lu Bancheng took a seat, the psychologist passed him a glass of water.
Lu Bancheng stared at a green plant not far from him while waiting for the psychologist to sit down at his desk. When the psychologist asked with a smile, “How can I help you?” Lu Bancheng looked away from the plant to the psychologist. “The lady who just walked out of here is Xu Wennuan, right?”
The psychologist was visibly shocked that Lu Bancheng knew his client’s name, which is all Lu Bancheng needed to see to know he was correct. He stared at the psychologist without blinking and asked, “What’s wrong with her?”
Because his client’s information was confidential, the psychologist could not tell anyone any details about her, even though the man in front of him apparently knew her. He politely responded, “I’m sorry. I have signed confidential agreements with all my clients. I cannot tell you.”
Xu Wennuan always used to be outgoing and carefree. I would never have believed she might need to see a psychologist someday.
Does she have any mental problems?
Lu Bancheng pressed his lips together when he thought about her nightmare at the hospital last night. He didn’t care that the psychologist had refused to tell him any information about Xu Wennuan based on confidentiality. He asked, “Has she been coming to see you since March?”
The psychologist did not verbally answer him, but the shocked expression on his face clearly told Lu Bancheng that he was correct.
“Did she tell you that she often had nightmares about being…” Lu Bancheng looked down and continued, “Raped by a man?”
The psychologist looked even more shocked.
“Did she blame herself for losing a baby and feel horrible about it?”
After Lu Bancheng had correctly stated so many facts, the psychologist could not help but ask, “How do you know about all of this?”
Lu Bancheng tightly gripped his hands together with interlocking fingers. He lowered his head, stared at his hands, and ignored answering the question. Instead, he pulled his wallet out of his pocket and took out all the cash. He placed it on the desk in front of the psychologist, asking, “Can you tell me what she told you?”
