“I told you already—she’s not a grown woman, just a girl around fourteen or fifteen!”
The uncle insisted in heavily accented Mandarin, his dialect thick, giving Lu Nanyang a headache.
“Uncle, I already explained—what the law considers a ‘woman’ isn’t the same as what we usually mean when we say it.” Lu Nanyang patiently explained, “In legal terms, any female aged 14 and above is considered a woman…”
“But she’s not a woman!” the uncle argued anxiously, gesturing with his hands. “She’s just a little girl…”
Lu Nanyang sighed and gave up.
Trying to explain legal definitions to someone with absolutely no legal knowledge was completely futile.
In order to finish his unfinished fieldwork report, Lu Nanyang had come out again to do a round of public legal education. The turnout was way larger than he’d expected. When he asked around, he found out there was a market day near the urban village, and all the elderly folks had come to join in the bustle, with or without any actual reason.
People came asking all sorts of questions, and the conversations often veered wildly off-topic into “Oh my, this young man is so handsome,” “How old are you? Where do you go to school? Got a girlfriend?”
It left him scrambling every time to steer the conversation back to the law.
But there were exceptions—some genuinely came with real legal questions, like this uncle in front of him who kept insisting his little niece wasn’t legally a woman.
Lu Nanyang decided to skip that part and pressed on, “So then? What is it exactly that you want to ask?”
The uncle’s expression turned troubled. His thick brows furrowed and relaxed several times before he finally asked, “I mean… if a lunatic, someone with a mental illness, commits a crime, do they not have to go to jail?”
Lu Nanyang paused. “A mental illness?”
“Yeah,” the uncle nodded, lowering his voice but clearly getting angrier. “There’s this crazy guy in our village—head’s not right, always laughing and yelling like an idiot. Everyone says he’s got a mental illness. That bastard attacked a little girl late at night when no one was around—he should be damned to hell!”
Lu Nanyang was stunned. He hadn’t expected it to be such a serious matter. “Did you call the police?”
“How could we report it?” the uncle said quietly. “Wouldn’t that bring shame on the girl?”
From what the uncle described, even if they had reported it, it likely wouldn’t have led to much.
Rape cases require very strict evidence—usually the victim must report immediately and undergo a medical exam. But most victims have already showered by the time they do, and no usable evidence remains.
And if, as the uncle claimed, the perpetrator was a mentally ill man known in the village, police often wouldn’t even file a case. At most, they’d talk to the man’s family and call it a day.
“I just feel it’s not fair,” the uncle said. “So I wanted to ask—if a crazy person breaks the law, do they really not have to go to jail?”
Lu Nanyang felt a sudden pang in his chest, and for some reason, he thought of Xie Quan’s father.
Not only had he killed someone, but he’d also left a deep psychological wound on Xie Quan, who was still just a child at the time. And yet he didn’t face trial—just got sent to a mental hospital. He should’ve been punished more severely…
Under the table, Lu Nanyang dug his fingernails hard into his fingertip.
No—Xie Quan’s past had nothing to do with him anymore.
Whether he was traumatized, or whether his father was crazy—none of it mattered to him anymore.
For a moment, he even wanted to say to the uncle, Yes, mentally ill people don’t have to take responsibility. They get off scot-free. That’s just how cruel and unfair the world is. But he pushed down the irrational urge.
“Not necessarily,” Lu Nanyang smiled at the uncle. “First, whether someone has a mental illness must be verified by a professional institution. Just because people say he’s crazy doesn’t mean he legally is. Second, even if he is mentally ill, it depends on his mental state at the time of the crime. If he wasn’t having an episode, meaning he was mentally stable, then he still has to face legal judgment like anyone else.”
The uncle looked quite pleased with this and nodded, saying no more. With hands clasped behind his back, he walked away.
Lu Nanyang lowered his gaze and started tidying the stack of flyers and materials on the table. Wang Jie, who was organizing the event, beamed with pride and kept praising him, “It’s different with our Xiao Lu here. You’re clear, articulate, and so handsome too. We’ve never had this many people at an event before!”
Lu Nanyang wanted to say it was only because of the market nearby, but he couldn’t be bothered, so he just smiled at her.
Nearby, a few older women who’d overheard the previous conversation started gossiping among themselves about the village lunatic.
“Isn’t that just Han Donkey? Why’s he still wandering around the village? Shouldn’t they lock him up?”
“Where would they lock him? Han Donkey doesn’t have any parents.”
“Isn’t that Sixth Hospital for the mentally ill? Why don’t they send him there?”
“Can’t trust that place either. Just today a mental patient escaped out of there!”
Lu Nanyang’s hands froze. He looked up. “A mental patient escaped?”
One of the aunties, thrilled that the handsome young man had joined her conversation, eagerly replied, “Yeah, didn’t you hear? A mental patient escaped from the Sixth Hospital today. The whole hospital is searching for him—they even called the police!”
“Do you know the name of the patient who escaped?” Lu Nanyang asked reflexively.
“No clue. It’s not like they’d tell us.”
…Right.
Lu Nanyang looked down and stacked the materials, his mood darkening.
Another auntie was still chatting away beside him.
“Oh, do you have a friend or something hospitalized there? Don’t worry—those patients from the inner wards are the dangerous ones. It won’t affect the regular patients.”
Lu Nanyang pulled out two flyers and stuffed one into each of the aunties’ arms. “Today’s legal awareness event is over. You can all head home now.”
The auntie was caught off guard. “Huh? Over just like that?”
“It’s over. Go on.” Lu Nanyang waved them off.
Wang Jie by the side didn’t look too pleased. “Xiao Lu, there are still so many people here…”
“It’s time.” Lu Nanyang raised his phone to show her the time. “I’m not getting paid for this.”
That one line from Lu Nanyang left Wang Jie speechless. All she could do was wave her hand and let him leave.
Lu Nanyang didn’t hesitate—he slung his bag over his shoulder and walked straight out of the event area.
After walking a short distance, he suddenly let out a self-deprecating chuckle.
He realized the way he had just spoken was a bit too much like Xie Quan.
The psychiatric patient who escaped from the Sixth Hospital probably had nothing to do with Xie Quan. There were so many patients locked up in there—it was unlikely to be such a coincidence.
But honestly, if he really wanted to know who escaped, all he had to do was make a phone call and ask.
If it really was that cruel, heartless father of his, the hospital should have notified Xie Quan as the only next of kin.
Lu Nanyang’s thumb brushed over the phone screen inside his pocket.
…Or he could ask Da Ze to check with his cousin who worked at the police station.
Didn’t someone say the hospital had already reported it to the police? The police would definitely know.
Okay. Not bad. That was a good idea. Let’s go with that.
Lu Nanyang dialed the number.
“The hell? You want me to go find out what the name of the escaped lunatic from the Sixth Hospital is in the middle of the night? You’re the damn lunatic!” Da Ze cursed.
“I’ll treat you to a fancy dinner,” Lu Nanyang said sincerely.
“Even an imperial banquet wouldn’t cut it!” Da Ze snapped. “I’m hanging up.”
Lu Nanyang sighed at the phone and slowly scrolled through his contact list.
“Xie Quan” was listed toward the bottom, right next to his parents’ names. Every time he saw it, it pricked at his heart—not too sharply, but just enough to hurt.
Those were two numbers he could never dial again. Like miniature tombstones, forever stuck there.
His thumb hovered over the name “Xie Quan” for a long time, then swiped it away… and swiped back again, irritably.
He knew the chance that this had anything to do with Xie Quan was extremely low. He was the one who cut off contact, even deleted him from WeChat. Calling now over something this uncertain felt kind of ridiculous.
That night he brought a drunk Xie Quan back to the hotel… that had already been crossing a line.
But what if?
What if the person who escaped from the Sixth Hospital really was Xie Yuanqiang?
Even knowing how unlikely it was, that possibility clawed at Lu Nanyang’s chest like a hooked talon.
If it was Xie Yuanqiang… what would happen to Xie Quan?
Lu Nanyang could hardly imagine.
He couldn’t ignore a possibility like this.
In the end, he gritted his teeth and dialed Xie Quan’s number.
He just needed to confirm whether the escapee was Xie Yuanqiang or not. He was helping eliminate a potential threat to society—it was a civic duty, especially for a law student like him.
The phone rang with a steady, unhurried tone.
Once. Twice. Three times…
But it kept ringing until the call was automatically cut off. No one picked up on the other end.
Lu Nanyang didn’t know whether to feel relieved or more anxious.
Maybe he was just busy. Maybe he had his phone silenced in the operating room.
Lu Nanyang put his phone back in his pocket and started walking in the direction of his neighborhood. Halfway there, he suddenly remembered—he didn’t have a single thing to eat at home.
He had no choice but to turn back and head to the nearest mall.
He normally wouldn’t eat at the mall—the food was overpriced and not that good. But going back to his usual places would mean walking a long way again.
His frustration only grew.
Even the mall’s elevators seemed to be working against him—once they went up, they refused to come down, the floor numbers crawling like snails.
Just as he was impatiently considering whether to just take the stairs, someone walked up beside him.
Lu Nanyang lifted his eyes and glanced sideways—and that glance was all it took. The person next to him was someone he recognized instantly.
It was Xie Quan, still in his white coat, not even having had time to take it off.
