Chapter 122 It's Not Your Fault
In the last room in the backyard.
"Sister-in-law."
Chen Yun called out softly, then waved her hand behind her back towards Gao Ming before entering the house and closing the door behind her.
Gao Ming pulled Gao Tiejun, who wanted to follow him into the house, and whispered a few words to him. The father and son quickly walked towards the front yard.
Qiu Zhifang's hair was disheveled, her collar was open revealing several wounds that were still bleeding, her unfocused gaze seemed to be fixed on nowhere, and she was practically slumped on the bed.
Instead of sitting on the edge of the bed, Chen Yun took a stool that was slightly lower than the bed and sat down next to Qiu Zhifang's legs, so that she could see all of Qiu Zhifang's expressions as long as she looked up.
Chen Yun, who is not even a novice in psychotherapy, can only try to apply what she has learned from books.
"Sister-in-law, your clothes are torn. Would you like to change into something else?" Chen Yun's voice was very soft. She got up naturally and drew the curtains. "I'll help you find one that you want to wear."
"I don't need your pretense," Qiu Zhifang said, her tone still harsh, but her voice trembling slightly. "There isn't a single good person in your Gao family."
“I know you have a lot on your mind that you can’t talk to. I’m a bit oblivious, and I don’t understand or care about many things… Now that I think about it, it really is annoying.”
Qiu Zhifang's eyelids trembled suddenly, and she secretly glanced at Chen Yun's profile out of the corner of her eye.
“Don’t even mention my sister-in-law, I also have a lot on my mind that I can’t talk about.” Chen Yun sighed, her tone full of frustration: “Outsiders think I’m living a great life, but actually I have a lot of messy things that I’m too lazy to talk about.”
Qiu Zhifang chuckled, but didn't respond with her usual sarcastic retort.
Chen Yun sensed a good sign, cleared her throat and turned her head slightly: "Have you been sleeping poorly lately? You seem to get tired very easily too."
Qiu Zhifang didn't reply, but her hand on her knee started trembling involuntarily. Chen Yun looked down and suddenly raised her hand to press down on that hand: "Your nerves are too tense. Your hand will shake when you feel uncomfortable, right?"
"Did Gao Fei send you to take me to the mental hospital? You all think I'm mentally ill..."
“I’m a doctor. If I say you’re not mentally ill, then you’re not. Your brother isn’t a professional doctor, so his word doesn’t count!” Chen Yun could clearly feel that Qiu Zhifang’s trembling lessened considerably after she said that.
Chen Yun smiled and said in a relaxed tone: "Everyone has emotional problems. Take our hospital's Vice President Zheng for example. He used to curse people every day, cursing anyone he could... Later, he realized he had a problem and quickly went to see a neurologist. After two or three months of adjustment, he came back to work!"
"You can get treatment for being in a bad mood at the hospital?" Qiu Zhifang clearly didn't believe it.
Chen Yun nodded: "Being in a bad mood is similar to catching a cold or having a fever. Who can control themselves from getting sick? Getting sick is a normal thing."
"I'm not sick," Qiu Zhifang said again, but this time her tone was noticeably more relaxed.
“I’m not saying you definitely have an emotional disorder, but you don’t want to be unable to sleep, unable to eat, and find fault with everyone every day…” Chen Yun quickly scanned through the Gao family members in her mind and soon thought of Gao Liang, who was far away in Guangdong Province: “Gao Liang called home a few days ago and asked about you!”
"Did Gao Liang ask me?"
"Of course! He also said he would go back to Beicheng to personally take you to the hospital for treatment."
"..."
"But Gao Ming stopped him. He had just established himself in the branch office, and if he left now, he would have to start all over again."
"We can't...we can't let him come back." Qiu Zhifang suddenly choked up, her hands trembling even more violently than before.
“Shirley told me that neither of them blamed you. You were starving when you gave birth to Gao Yi, so you didn’t want your grandson to go hungry. She also knew that you secretly went to see Gao Su…”
These were the words that Wang Xueli said to Chen Yun during dinner.
Qiu Zhifang's outbursts or running away from the hospital that day were mostly due to guilt, which made her increasingly sharp and extreme.
Chen Yun now feels that the reason she chose to have a child through surrogacy instead of finding Gao Yi a new wife is probably out of guilt... Qiu Zhifang wants to give a child back to Wang Xueli.
“Gao Fei said I’ve ruined the family… Don’t you think it’s all my fault? I clearly… clearly didn’t want to, I just wanted to live a peaceful life, but nobody understands me. They all wish I were dead, they all wish I would leave this family as soon as possible.”
"It's not your fault. Your bad mood controlled your body, which is why you said those hurtful things." Chen Yun stood up, placed one hand on Qiu Zhifang's shoulder, and gently patted the back of her hand with the other.
"You'll get better. As long as you listen to the doctor and get proper treatment, you will definitely get better."
Will it be alright?
"I'll definitely get better!" Chen Yun said firmly, her eyes glistening with tears. "Make me noodles again when you're all better! I still remember the hand-pulled noodles you cooked the night I arrived in Beicheng."
In her memory, her sister-in-law Qiu Zhifang was gentle and shy, and that bowl of hand-pulled noodles was a taste that Chen Yun always longed for.
"Okay." The answer was dry yet solemn.
A thin ray of sunlight pierced through the gap in the curtains, casting a bright line. Qiu Zhifang sat in the darkness, tears streaming down her face. Chen Yun reached out her hand to her.
She grasped him tremblingly; Chen Yun's hand was no longer smooth, but his knuckles still held her firmly as he led her across the light.
As the door opened, Qiu Zhifang watched as the light was enveloped by the sunlight outside.
Over the years, she has watched herself become bitter and hysterical.
Qiu Zhifang was always terrified after arguing with someone; she felt as if she had split into two people.
One is Qiu Zhifang, a gentle and smiling country girl; the other is Qiu Zhifang, who uses the most hurtful words to insult people.
She was afraid of forever becoming Qiu Zhifang, whom everyone hated, but she was powerless to stop it. She could only alleviate the fear that was about to engulf her by walking around the yard in circles.
Her closest husband said she was crazy and mentally ill.
Qiu Zhifang believed it...
But just then someone came and told her that she wasn't mentally ill, but just had some emotional problems.
Although this person didn't get along with her usually, she never lied, so Qiu Zhifang trusted her more.
A row of people were standing outside.
Those faces that once seemed to harbor ill intentions were now filled with worry as they looked at themselves.
Gao Tiejun said, "Dad brought you a birthday cake. Eat it on your way to the hospital."
Dong Qiaoying's smile was forced, but she still nodded.
Wang Xueli grabbed her daughter's left hand, which was hanging limply at her side: "Tell Grandma that we're waiting for her to come home."
"Mom," Gao Yi called out, his voice trembling with tears.
Gao Fei didn't speak, just quietly looked at his wife whose hair was already half white.
He recalled his days as a sent-down youth, the two of them exchanging tokens of love under the big banyan tree at the village entrance, and the scene of their wedding ceremony.
"I'll go get the car!"
The sudden surge of soreness in his nose left him somewhat at a loss, and he quickly turned away to avoid the tears that were about to well up.
Gao Ming is right... He bears the greatest responsibility for Qiu Zhifang becoming what he is today.
Qiu Zhifang was taken to the hospital.
Gao Fei and his family of three drove ahead, while Gao Ming and Chen Yun followed behind in their car.
“My brother promised me that no matter how serious my sister-in-law’s illness is, he will not give up on her and he will definitely cure her!” Gao Ming said.
Chen Yun nodded.
Where did you and Dad go just now?
"We took that woman named Meiling to the police station," Gao Ming said.
Although Chen Yun and Qiu Zhifang didn't talk much in the room, they had actually been inside for over an hour.
During this time, Gao Ming and Gao Tiejun caught Meiling, who was about to escape after stealing the items, and took her to the police station.
“I felt something was wrong at the time. My older brother and sister-in-law were fighting so fiercely inside the house, but the woman was nowhere to be seen.”
"Who is this woman?"
“They’re scamming people.” Gao Ming kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead, steadily following Gao Fei’s car, but his tone was somewhat helpless: “This is a gang that specializes in scamming people. They plan to take the deposit and run away.”
The idea of finding someone to have a son is just a scammer's tactic. She's willing to do whatever the other person wants, her only goal being to gain their trust.
Once the deposit is received, someone will come to pick them up. If the host is wealthy, they will stay a few more days to steal things; if they encounter a poor host, they will run away on the same day.
The woman named Meiling originally planned to stay a few more days to figure out the Gao family's situation and steal more things, but she didn't expect an unexpected situation to occur in the afternoon.
The woman decided to take advantage of the chaos to steal something and leave, but Gao Ming caught her red-handed.
"The police officers said that this group of people are habitual offenders who have been committing crimes in various alleys of the city for the past year or two, and the mastermind is the same person."
"That sister-in-law..."
"The two only had a verbal agreement and didn't pay each other. Plus, my sister-in-law needs to go to the hospital for treatment. The police station will send someone to our home to take her statement, so there shouldn't be any major problems."
“My sister-in-law may need to be hospitalized,” Chen Yun said.
"..."
After a series of detailed examinations and assessments, Chen Yun's psychiatric colleagues told her that Qiu Zhifang could be diagnosed with a personality disorder.
Furthermore, through their conversations, he discovered that Qiu Zhifang likely also suffered from moderate depression.
Depression can trigger a range of physical reactions, and some endocrine-related tests may be necessary.
Qiu Zhifang was admitted to the hospital.
After thinking it over all night, Gao Fei decided to temporarily close the store the next day and also put the second house he bought with a loan on the market through a real estate agency.
He then tidied up the bed and went to the psychiatric ward to stay with the patient.
Everything is moving in a positive direction!
***
Beicheng Film Academy.
The iconic old locust tree at the entrance was bare at this time, and the entrance was crowded with students from all over the country who came to take the exam.
Chen Yun took off the woolen hat that Gao Ming had put on Gao Nian'an before she left, clumsily braided two braids and let them hang down her shoulders. Seeing that the other female students seemed to be wearing light makeup, she quickly took out her lipstick.
Gao Nian'an tilted her head to avoid the lipstick: "The teacher said we can't wear makeup."
“Why are all the other girls putting on makeup?” Gao Nianping pointed to the female students who were also taking the exam, and nine out of ten of them were looking in the mirror and touching up their makeup.
"Who cares about others!" Gao Nian'an wasn't going to wear makeup anyway, as it would definitely hinder her reading performance later.
The cold wind of late February had not yet subsided, but most of the candidates were dressed very lightly, and many of them had bare legs that were red from the cold under their cotton-padded coats. Chen Yun felt cold for these children.
"Hey, we'd like to interview you."
Chen Yun was suddenly pushed aside, the shelf brushing past her face. A tall man carrying a camera was almost shoved into Gao Nian'an's face.
Chen Yun was not annoyed at all; on the contrary, he turned around to look at Gao Ming with delight.
Only students who stand out in the crowd get individual interviews from the media, and Chen Yun was overjoyed.
Gao Ming helped Chen Yun up, and the couple tacitly pulled Gao Nianping, who was trying to get closer, aside.
A commotion suddenly broke out in the crowd, and everyone looked in this direction.
Everyone was looking at Gao Nian'an, unaware that someone outside the crowd was actually looking at Chen Yun.
-----------------------
Author's note: I'm recommending a novel by my best friend, a novel with no romantic pairing for the female lead.
Title: Don't Fall in Love, Get Rich Quickly [Quick Transmigration]
Copywriting:
Qian Yi worked for eight years, commuting for three hours every day, working the 996 work schedule, and receiving harassing phone calls from his stupid boss on Sundays. Yet, he never saved 100,000 yuan before he died suddenly.
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself as a woman tormented and wounded by love.
Heartbroken over love, shedding tears, bleeding, and even suffering a miscarriage?
Spending huge sums of money on scumbags, only to lose your career and property in the process?
Qian Yi: I can't give you my life, and I definitely can't give you money!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
