Chapter 34 Black-hearted Bastard
Chapter 35
Yu Yu looked to be in good health and in a stable condition; even the look in her eyes was calm and even.
Even though things didn't go well, Jiang Zhiyan pieced together Xia Zhiyu's entire psychological journey from hesitating about whether to reconcile to becoming determined to sue, all from Xia's parents.
Xia Zhiyu was his student, and he knew her better than anyone else. Just because she seemed gentle didn't mean anyone could trample on her.
Jiang Zhiyan found that the data he had recently read about intimate relationships had indeed had some effect. At least now, although he still felt angry and scared, and his heart was pounding so hard that his fingertips were tingling.
But he has begun to learn to restrain himself, to refrain from questioning Xia Zhiyu's choice.
Yu Yu has her own perspective on the world, which is a good thing.
His tension and fear stemmed from his own insecurity, and he couldn't transfer his feelings onto Xia Zhiyu.
Jiang Zhiyan lowered his brows, the man who had just been filled with anger managing to calm himself down. He suddenly nodded and asked Xia Zhiyu,
"Let's not talk about that. I heard your aunt and uncle said you've been busy with the legal aid case lately. How's it going? Is everything going smoothly?"
His calm demeanor was completely unlike the Jiang Zhiyan that Xia Zhiyu knew.
Xia Zhiyu gasped, feeling that Jiang Zhiyan was even more terrifying than before.
—
After the shareholders' meeting was successfully held, most things were settled, and the handover of the Jiang family business went exceptionally smoothly. After the heavy workload came to an end, Jiang Zhiyan's insomnia not only did not improve, but worsened.
Even the moment he closes his eyes, he automatically begins to recall Xia Zhiyu's devastated state as she accused him.
Memories always become clearer the more you recall them. He masochistically recalled every detail, from Xia Zhiyu standing behind Ren Yu with fear in her eyes, looking at him, to her resolutely shaking off his hand and coldly saying that there was no possibility between them.
Whenever I think of Xia Zhiyu's icy profile, my heart aches as if it were being pierced by a thousand arrows.
He didn't even want to go home, and even after the shareholders' meeting ended, he would still stay in a hotel, because every corner of his home could evoke Jiang Zhiyan's beautiful memories of the past.
They can only eke out a living like zombies.
Just before Chen Yue was about to forcibly take Jiang Zhiyan to see a psychologist, on a sunny day, Jiang Zhiyan voluntarily chose psychological intervention.
Dr. Liu was previously in charge of Jiang Jing's mental health and also tried to help Jiang Zhiyan mediate his relationship with his parents when he was young.
The doctor suggested home therapy for Jiang Zhiyan when she was sixteen, but Jiang Zhiyan refused.
At that time, Jiang Zhiyan refused to open her heart to anyone.
The consultation room was very comfortable, with linen wallpaper and soft fabric sofas. It didn't look like a place for mending and healing the human spirit at all, but rather like one of the small coffee shops near the city gates that Xia Zhiyu liked to go to.
Accompanying him during treatment was a chubby orange cat. Upon seeing Jiang Zhiyan, it slowly climbed onto his lap, skillfully and steadily turning over to expose its belly, a stark contrast to Xia Xiaojiang at home, who hisses whenever it sees him.
In a cute pet video that Xia Zhiyu had sent him before, the blogger said that the fat orange cat was a kind of uncle-like cat, as if it could forgive all human mistakes. Then the blogger quickly went through all seventeen or eighteen of his cats from head to toe, and sure enough, only the fat orange cat remained motionless like a turtle until the end.
"Kiss the kitten's head, kiss the kitten's ears, kiss the kitten's mouth, oh my, oh my, how can our little Jiang be so cute!"
Late at night, countless short one-minute and fifteen-second intervals healed Jiang Zhiyan's numerous breakdowns.
The doctor turned his head and saw a tall man with red eyes, trembling as he stroked the cat's back.
Large drops of water fell onto the orange cat's dense, short fur.
Da Ju glanced at Jiang Zhiyan as if it were nothing out of the ordinary, then spread his hands out even more flat in a very uncle-like manner.
Stop crying, human, come and lie down on Mimi's broad chest.
After Jiang Zhiyan calmed down, the doctor made him a cup of tea and listened quietly to the story from Jiang Zhiyan's perspective.
The doctor gazed at him gently. "I understand how you feel, but I also understand her actions. Zhiyan, you say you love her, so can you describe to me what love is?"
What is love?
Jiang Zhiyan remained silent for a long time, unable to respond.
"Then let me ask you another question," the doctor said. "Do you think your mother truly loves your father?"
"Love, but this love has now turned into obsession."
Why do you feel that your mother's love has become obsessive?
Jiang Zhiyan lowered his eyelids, and the image of Zhao Qian sitting on the sofa like a defeated general when he was young involuntarily surfaced in his mind. Jiang Jing stared coldly at Zhao Qian, his smile both smug and twisted.
Zhao Qian's figure gradually overlapped with Xia Zhiyu's.
A dry, hoarse voice suddenly rang out; Jiang Zhiyan desperately dissected himself.
"Because the person being loved is in pain."
Zhao Qian was in great pain, and so was Xia Zhiyu. They were in so much pain that they could only survive if they left Jiang Jing and him, the source of the infection.
The room gradually quieted down.
After waiting for him to calm down for a while, Dr. Liu began to say, "This kind of obsessive love, to put it more accurately and simply, is called emotional manipulation. It is a personality problem caused by a deficiency in self-awareness."
"Your self-perception deficiencies are marked by your family, which is why you feel that you are so similar to your mother. In fact, it's not that you are similar to her, but that you are also one of the victims of your mother's psychological manipulation."
"This is not your fault, nor is it the girl's fault."
“Zhiyan, you can try to imagine your life and other people’s lives as ships sailing alone on the sea. Every encounter is just a brief stop at the same dock, but after leaving the port, you have your course and she has her goal.”
"The simplest way is to first learn to block out other people's radar signals, but allow yourself to have your own thoughts. On your own ship, you can do whatever you want, but please don't look at what cargo is loaded in other people's holds. Staying away is not escapism, but protecting your self-awareness."
Jiang Zhiyan understood the doctor's advice.
But from that day on, Jiang Zhiyan never saw a psychologist again.
They only sent two boxes of high-quality cat food to that big orange cat with a strong sense of paternity.
—
Xia Zhiyu scratched her head, couldn't help but glance at Jiang Zhiyan several times, and asked hesitantly, "Where did you learn this face-changing technique? I want to learn it too."
Song Yue poked her head out of the kitchen, her tone reproachful, "Look at you, child, how can you talk like that? Xiao Jiang is worried about you."
Song Yue, who usually plays the role of a strict mother at home, had an unusually cheerful expression on her face.
"Xiao Jiang helped find your second uncle. Oh, we really have to thank Xiao Jiang this time. After finding him, he immediately reported it to the court. Now your second uncle has been taken into custody by the court."
"So fast?"
Xia Zhiyu was taken aback. "Where did you find this person?"
"Hong Kong City," Jiang Zhiyan said, his gaze falling lightly on Xia Zhiyu. "I have a client who was also cheated out of money by him. When I was checking the files, I found that he also had a case against your family. After finding him, I contacted your court directly."
Of course, Jiang Zhiyan himself approached the client, and he painstakingly secured the case through several intermediaries. Even Xia Zhiyu's second uncle was found by Jiang Zhiyan's people.
But what's the point?
Xia Zhiyu wouldn't ask, and Jiang Zhiyan wouldn't mention it.
"What a coincidence," Xia Zhiyu said, twirling a lock of hair around her little finger. Her tone was light, a smile playing on her lips, and her eyes were as peaceful as his.
Jiang Zhiyan shouldn't have needed to come here for this, but for some reason, he's been having nightmares every night about Xia Zhiyu being bullied when she first started working, looking at him pitifully with tears welling up in her eyes.
Jiang Zhiyan couldn't bear to see her cry.
By some strange twist of fate, I boarded a plane to Sichuan.
Old Xia was cooking and chopping vegetables with the kitchen door closed. Xia Zhiyu's range hood was twenty years old, and even with the door closed, the sound of the old thing running was comparable to a tractor at the construction site downstairs.
The house that Xia Zhiyu lived in was allocated by her school before she was even born. It wasn't a big house, just over 80 square meters with two bedrooms and a living room. It was just right for the three of them, and it didn't feel crowded. When Xia Zhiyu got a little older, her parents even set aside a study room for her.
But when Jiang Zhiyan sat on the fabric sofa in the living room, the one she had always lounged on since she was a child, Xia Zhiyu suddenly felt that her living room was as small as the palm of her hand.
"You could have just told me this on your phone, why did you have to go through all that trouble?"
As Xia Zhiyu spoke, she poured a glass of Old Xia's secret pear juice for Jiang Zhiyan and Ren Yu.
Ren Yu's cup has a handle and looks like it's part of a set with the other cups on the table. Jiang Zhiyan looked down at his own cup.
The difference in closeness or distance is obvious.
As they were talking, Song Yue brought over several plates of peeled and chopped fruit and placed them on the table. He smiled broadly and called to Jiang Zhiyan, "Little Jiang, these oranges are from your uncle's relative's own land. They may look a little ugly, but they are very sweet. Try some."
Jiang Zhiyan became gentle and polite again. He stood up, leaned forward naturally, thanked him, and then politely took a few bites.
He was always good at interpersonal relationships, and this time was no exception. Even when praising someone, he seemed a hundred times more sincere than others, which made Song Yue smile from ear to ear. He even changed his address from the unfamiliar Xiao Jiang to Zhi Yan, and bluntly said that Xia Zhiyu should learn some speaking skills from Jiang Zhi Yan.
“Look at him, and then look at you. You’re both lawyers, and Zhiyan isn’t that much older than you. How come you’re so clumsy at everything you do? I don’t know how you’ve been supporting yourself in Beicheng all these years.”
At this point, Song Yue got angry. "Zhiyan, all of you who work in big cities need to take care of your health. I was shocked when Yuyu came home a few days ago. Her arm is so small."
Song Yue exaggeratedly made a small circle with her hand, pointing her finger at Xia Zhiyu, "You're as skinny as a stick, you only eat a little bit, and one minute you're complaining of a stomachache, the next you're complaining of dizziness and nausea. If you ask me, don't go back to Beicheng. Look at what that heartless bastard boss has done to you. It would be so much better to find a job near home, where your parents can take care of you. Zhiyan, look, doesn't she look much healthier lately?"
Jiang Zhiyan glanced at Xia Zhiyu and said, "Indeed, she looks much better after she got home."
No matter how much Song Yue rambled on, Xia Zhiyu remained unmoved, not even lifting her eyelids, and steadily nestled on the sofa, stirring the soft and tender white fungus and lotus seed soup that Song Yue had stewed.
Mom, Mom, my dear mother, can we stop talking? That heartless bastard is sitting right in front of you.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
