Madman's Love

Originally titled "Tidal Lock" [A seemingly flirtatious but actually cold-hearted psychologist who knows how to lure people in] x [A wildly domineering woman with an overwhelming possessive streak] [1] Qi Suian is a psychologist. She makes a habit of giving newly arrived patients bunches of snowdrops, a symbol of moving forward bravely. When a patient had a panic attack and scratched her ear, she still held them gently and whispered softly. As her colleague put it, even a rabid dog would melt into a puddle at the sight of her tenderness. Tong Xianchu wasn't a rabid dog. She was a mad snake. She kept a pet snake named after herself and, in her spare time, held her own funeral. When someone went over to ask her why she was holding a funeral, she lay in a black coffin lined with red velvet, her hands folded peacefully. With half-lidded eyes, she said, "Looking for someone." [2] The two women couldn't have been more different, but one stormy night they crossed paths and struck a deal over a "problem": Qi Suian would accompany Tong Xianchu in doing three things. Qi Suian had heard Tong Xianchu was crazy, but she didn't take it too seriously. She figured that if she just helped her do those three things, then once the rainy season ended, she and the woman would have nothing more to do with each other. But the more she interacted with Tong Xianchu, the less she could understand her. Tong Xianchu always spoke in half-truths, behaved abominably, and wore black leather boots that reached her knees. She brazenly hooked the toe of one boot around Qi Suian's suit pants. She blew smoke in her face, then cradled her chin and kissed her. With a smile in her eyes, she said she hated Qi Suian's face, the one that smiled at everyone. She danced the tango with her and said with a soft laugh that love was nothing but an utterly stupid kind of violence. Sick with a fever, she let her sweaty black hair fall loose and stubbornly pressed a finger to Qi Suian's heart, making an absurd demand. "You have to say you love me." [3] Their deal came to an unexpected end after they had done only two things, and so did their time together that rainy season. After the rainy season was over, Qi Suian kept remembering that day when Tong Xianchu had her back turned to her and murmured, "Are you going to leave me too?" Qi Suian never forgot the way Tong Xianchu had said those words, as faint and fleeting as a ribbon veiling her eyes. Qi Suian cut off contact with Tong Xianchu. Later, when she saw Tong Xianchu again, the woman greeted her politely with a "Long time no see." Qi Suian thought that rainy season had faded from Tong Xianchu's memory, but the next day, she received an invitation bearing a lipstick print, from a cruise ship bound for spring. That night at sea, Tong Xianchu gripped her wrist bone and brought her red lips close to her ear. "Dr. Qi, never leave my side." The third thing was absurd. Tong Xianchu wanted her to love her wildly, excessively. [4] Qi Suian struggled countless times in this tangled relationship. But in the end, she willingly lay down in the black coffin lined with red velvet, holding Tong Xianchu's shivering back close. "Why did you look for me back then?" Tong Xianchu covered her eyes and took a deep breath against her neck. "Sometimes you know someone is your kind the moment you first see them." "You like everybody, which is to say, you are indifferent to everybody." - Oscar Wilde [Reading Guide] 1. At its heart, this is a sweet, melancholy, bittersweet, and crazy love story. Both women are a little unhinged, and neither their thoughts nor actions follow the usual rules. 2. The place names are fictional. The plot has been dramatized to some extent, and there are many invented details. 3. Dr. Qi has an ex-girlfriend in her backstory, but the ex will not appear. The next book, "Red Lips and Wisdom Teeth", is now available for pre-order. It is not this novel. Here is the blurb: Kuang Lai has been jealous of Xu Wentang since childhood. As Kuang Lai's grandma put it, Xu Wentang's family had so much money, it was like they had an oil well hidden in their backyard. They lived in a manor surrounded by iron gates, Xu Wentang's mother looked like a movie star, and Xu Wentang herself looked like one too. But Kuang Lai's family had nothing. They lived in a cement house built just a few years earlier. Kuang Lai's mother was a madwoman who ran off without her daughter, and Kuang Lai herself was a little crazy, constantly acting up without a moment's rest. But her grandma and Xu Wentang's grandma were good friends. So Kuang Lai had no choice but to play with Xu Wentang from childhood. - At three, Kuang Lai was naughty and broke a bowl. She cut her own face badly, and left a scar on six-year-old Xu Wentang's palm. At nine, the adults joked that if Xu Wentang couldn't find a husband when she grew up, it would be Kuang Lai's fault. Kuang Lai put her hands on her hips and protested, "She doesn't want to get married anyway! She can just marry me!" Beside her, Xu Wentang tugged at the white dress Kuang Lai had nearly rolled into the mud. With great poise, she played along: "Wifey, your dress needs washing." At fifteen, Kuang Lai boldly helped a classmate deliver a love letter to the older girl she had a crush on. The girl was so frightened that she went to her best friend for advice. Her best friend, Xu Wentang, threw the letter in the trash, tapped Kuang Lai on the head without a trace of politeness, and said, "Kuang Lai, no dating before you're an adult." At eighteen, Kuang Lai was still jealous of Xu Wentang. Because twenty-one-year-old Xu Wentang was dressed to the nines, attracting admirers left and right, and so beautiful she was beyond compare. At twenty-eight, on the first day after her dreams had fallen through and she returned to her hometown in disgrace, Kuang Lai ran into Xu Wentang. When she saw her old nemesis, Kuang Lai turned and fled. But before long, Xu Wentang showed up at her house to stop her. The woman, usually so well-behaved in front of the elders, was furious enough to grit her teeth. "Who was it that pinned me in a closet and kissed me in secret on the night I turned eighteen?" The woman leaned close, tugging on Kuang Lai's reddened earlobe. "And then ran off right after kissing me, and stayed gone for ten years." "Kuang Lai, what do you think you're doing?" - Kuang Lai had always been jealous of Xu Wentang. Because twenty-one-year-old Xu Wentang was rich. She had everything eighteen-year-old Kuang Lai couldn't have, including Kuang Lai's love. Theme: Be yourself, and you'll have limitless possibilities.