The Real Young Master Wants To Get Married First When He Returns Home Chapter 34
byChapter 34: Do You Like Him?
Zhao-ge waited until it was almost time to clock out before he finally worked up the nerve to ask his question. He had been thinking about it for days but felt too embarrassed to bring it up. Today, as he stroked his own hair—which was already showing the classic thinning patterns of a veteran programmer—he simply couldn’t hold it back anymore.
“Hair maintenance?” Shen Li touched the top of his own head after hearing the question. “I have no idea.” He had never actually done anything to maintain it.
Hearing this, Zhao-ge felt an even deeper sense of envy and jealousy. How could someone be so naturally gifted even when it came to their hair?
“If there’s nothing else, I’m heading out.”
It was time to get off work. Shen Li had already finished packing his things. He snapped his laptop shut, ready to make his escape.
Xu Cheng had been acting mysterious all afternoon, insisting that Shen Li had to leave exactly on time today because he had something to discuss. Shen Li was curious, and since the project progress had been good that afternoon, he decided to leave right on the dot.
“Let’s go.” Xu Cheng finished packing as well and threw an arm over Shen Li’s shoulder from behind. “Zhao-ge, we’re taking off.”
“Bye, bye!”
The group said their goodbyes at the elevator and went their separate ways.
“Why are you being so mysterious? What do you want me to do?”
“See a doctor.”
“Huh?”
Shen Li didn’t understand what he meant.
“I mean it. A real doctor.”
Xu Cheng leaned forward to give the driver their destination before sitting back. “You didn’t go when I told you to see a doctor last time, right? Zhao Yingying told me all about it. It just so happens I have time to accompany you today.”
Oh. Shen Li realized what was happening. They were still fixated on his psychological issues.
Ever since Xu Cheng and Zhao Yingying had somehow concluded that he had an emotional detachment disorder, the two of them had been worried sick.
However, they were worried in different directions. One was terrified that he would be tricked into a relationship without understanding what was happening. The other couldn’t wait to ship him off, hoping that love would cure his cognitive errors.
The former was Xu Cheng, and the latter was Zhao Yingying. Their attitudes toward Gu Yunzhao were also polar opposites.
Xu Cheng had said long ago that he should see a doctor. Seeing that Shen Li hadn’t made a move for so long, he had decided to take matters into his own hands.
The doctor was someone Zhao Yingying had recommended. Xu Cheng dragged him through the registration process and pushed him into the consultation room, repeatedly reminding him to be completely honest.
“I get it.”
Shen Li gave him an ‘okay’ gesture. Even without Xu Cheng’s reminders, he intended to be honest for the sake of the examination and consultation fees. After all, it cost several hundred yuan.
“You’re here?”
The psychologist inside was a young woman in her early thirties with her long hair tied back in a bun. Her eyes weren’t large, but she had a very gentle smile.
Seeing Shen Li being ushered in, she stood up and invited him to sit down.
“Would you like some water?” The doctor pulled a paper cup from the desk. “Don’t be too nervous. Have some water and relax. Just think of this as coming over for a chat.”
“My surname is Zhou. You can call me Dr. Zhou, or you can call me Big Sister.”
As she spoke, she gave Shen Li a slight smile. “Actually, based on age, you should probably call me Auntie, but allow me to act a bit younger for a moment.” When she smiled, her right eye blinked slightly, making her expression look lively and playful.
“Ah?”
Shen Li took the cup of water from her, momentarily stunned by Dr. Zhou’s words. Auntie? Dr. Zhou clearly looked like she was only in her twenties, or at most her early thirties. Calling her Auntie seemed a bit much, didn’t it?
Dr. Zhou seemed to see through his confusion. “Do you think I look very young, maybe in my thirties?”
“No.” Shen Li shook his head. “I thought you were in your twenties.” He wasn’t trying to flatter her; in reality, this Dr. Zhou looked much younger than the thirty-something aunts he had seen back in the village.
“I’m more than just thirty,” Dr. Zhou said with a laugh. “But I’m not going to tell you my real age. After all, a woman’s age is a secret.”
Shen Li was amused by her words, and the tension in his body since entering the room relaxed slightly.
Before coming here, he had searched online to see how psychiatrists in hospitals conducted consultations. The serious expressions and cold words in the videos had made him somewhat nervous.
Seeing him relax, Dr. Zhou didn’t immediately shift the topic to his medical condition. Instead, she changed the subject and started asking him about his thoughts on pets.
“Pets?”
Shen Li blinked. He hadn’t expected the conversation to jump from age to pets so suddenly. But after thinking it over, he answered truthfully.
Shen Li used to have a dog named Da Huang.
He had picked it up from a muddy field. It had likely been left behind by its mother and couldn’t crawl out after a rainstorm, getting stuck in the muck.
He had heard its nearly silent whimpers while on his way to dig for wild vegetables. He dug it out of the mud, brought it home, cleaned it up, and left it by the fireplace.
“Whether you live or not depends on your own luck,” Shen Li had muttered to himself by the firelight, holding the puppy’s paws in his hands to warm them and wrapping its body in old clothes. “If you can pull through, I’ll give you a name, and you’ll be my dog from now on.”
There were no pet hospitals in the countryside. The nearest veterinary station was in a town over ten miles away. Whether a dog lived or died really depended on itself. Fortunately, Da Huang was resilient. Relying on the fireplace, the clothes, and the half-bowl of vegetable porridge Shen Li shared from his own meal, the dog managed to snatch its life back from the brink.
Shen Li kept his promise, gave him a name, and raised him for five years.
Later, when the Shen family came to take him back to the city, those people looked down on Da Huang for being an ugly mutt and wouldn’t allow him to bring the dog along.
“And then?”
Dr. Zhou leaned against the desk, listening to his story about Da Huang.
“And then…” Shen Li took a sip of water before continuing, “I left Da Huang in the village.”
Dr. Zhou tapped her fingers on the desk twice, seemingly in thought, before asking another question. “Did you miss him?”
“Yes,” Shen Li replied.
He had thought of Da Huang many times. He thought of Da Huang when he missed his grandmother, when he felt wronged, and even when he was eating a big feast.
In the past, he and Da Huang shared a single bowl of food. He ate half, and Da Huang ate half.
Now, he was the only one left to eat that bowl of food. Sometimes Shen Li would pick at his hands and wonder why the food seemed like so much now—so much that one person couldn’t quite finish it.
Dr. Zhou was still reflecting. In fact, she had read the notes before Shen Li came in. Zhao Yingying was her cousin and had explained Shen Li’s situation to her.
However, so far, only the grandmother and Da Huang had appeared in Shen Li’s stories. She couldn’t yet determine exactly where Shen Li’s emotional perception was confused.
The notification sound of a WeChat message suddenly rang out, sounding exceptionally clear in the quiet consultation room and interrupting both of their thoughts.
“Can I check my phone?”
“Of course.”
Dr. Zhou turned and sat back in her chair.
The only Dad: Still working overtime?
The only Dad: My meeting is over.
The only Dad: [Kitten peeking emoji]
It was a message from Gu Yunzhao. Only then did Shen Li notice the time. He had been chatting with Dr. Zhou for a long time; he had been inside for nearly an hour.
Li Li Li Li: No, I’m out taking care of something 0.0
The only Dad: Okay, stay safe.
The only Dad: Message me when you’re almost home, I have a surprise for you.
Shen Li’s brow relaxed. Another surprise?
Gu Yunzhao had given him so many gifts, almost every one of them perfectly tailored to his tastes. Now that he suddenly mentioned a surprise, Shen Li couldn’t help but feel expectant.
Li Li Li Li: Okay!
“Finished chatting?”
Seeing him put down his phone, Dr. Zhou, who had been observing his expression, spoke up. She had watched Shen Li for a while; his brow had smoothed out, the corners of his lips had curled up, and his gaze was focused and soft. These were all signs of a person being happy.
Dr. Zhou’s intuition told her that the breakthrough might be on the other end of that phone.
She acted casual as she steered the topic toward the other person’s identity.
“Uh…”
Shen Li was suddenly stuck, not knowing how to introduce Gu Yunzhao’s status. Fiancé? Boyfriend? The male lead of a CEO novel?
None of them seemed quite right.
“Is it a romantic partner?”
Dr. Zhou thought for a moment and made a bold guess.
“Maybe… I guess so…”
If he followed the plot formulas of CEO novels, Gu Yunzhao had held him and kissed him. He had given him gifts and was obedient to his every whim.
Was this love?
But Shen Li still felt a faint sense that something wasn’t right.
Seeing his expression, Dr. Zhou knew she had found a lead. She continued softly, “Then how do you view the relationship between you two?”
Shen Li stared at her blankly. It took him a long time to snap out of it, and he shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
He didn’t know. He didn’t know what kind of relationship this was.
Shen Li had always been using the plot formulas of CEO novels to measure his relationship with Gu Yunzhao, but now Dr. Zhou was asking for his own perspective.
He didn’t know.
It wasn’t a friend; friends felt like Xu Cheng and Zhao Yingying. It wasn’t a relative; that was his grandmother. And it certainly wasn’t like Da Huang.
But his feelings and thoughts regarding Gu Yunzhao were different from all those people.
Shen Li lowered his head and began to pick at the skin on his fingertips, hoping the pain would make his thoughts clearer and help him explain exactly what kind of relationship he had with Gu Yunzhao.
“It should be love.”
He thought about it back and forth. Within his range of knowledge, this was the only type of relationship that was different from everyone else.
Dr. Zhou, however, frowned as she looked at him. “Xiao Li, can I call you that?”
“Yes.”
He kept his head down, still picking at his fingertips.
“Do you know what love is?” Dr. Zhou spoke to him gently. “Love is liking someone. You like him, and he likes you. That is a normal romance. It’s an answer that shouldn’t require hesitation. Xiao Li, do you like him?”
Like…? Did he like Gu Yunzhao?
Shen Li instinctively bit his lower lip. The skin on his fingertip was pulled away by his force, leaving a red mark.
But the pain didn’t make his thoughts clearer as he had hoped. He still didn’t know.
“What is ‘liking’?” Shen Li asked Dr. Zhou very humbly.
Dr. Zhou hadn’t expected him to ask such a question.
“Liking is an instinct,” she said softly. “Everyone’s feeling of liking is different. This question can only be asked of your heart. Only your heart knows whether you truly like him or not.”
“What if my heart doesn’t know either?” Shen Li shook his head. “I don’t know what kind of feeling the heart should have for it to be called ‘liking’.”
“Hmm…” Dr. Zhou seemed troubled by this question as well, a thoughtful expression appearing on her face. She deliberated for a long time before speaking softly. “Xiao Li, when you meet the person you like, your heart will weep.”
Shen Li didn’t understand what she meant.
“Liking is an emotion that is both joyful and painful. When you truly feel it, your heart will give you the answer. When you like someone, you don’t need to think about it. A very mysterious feeling will appear. It’s like you’ve been walking alone through wind and snow for a long time, and when you look up, you see a courtyard. Someone hands you a bowl of hot water and says, ‘This is my home, let me take you inside to hide from the storm.’ And when you follow him into the house, the wind stops and the snow ceases. In that moment, what would you feel?”
Shen Li thought for a long time. “I don’t know, but I think it would be…”
He weighed his words carefully before finally choosing two words to express his thoughts. “…Safety.”
“You could say that.” Seeing him reach an answer, Dr. Zhou brought the topic back to the previous question and asked with a light smile, “So, does he make you feel safe?”