Chapter 46 Chapter 46 Mental Disorder
Chapter 46
There weren't any decent cafes on Nanwei Street, so they went to Tianfang □□.
"Just tell me what you know. I'm very busy." Xiaoman rested her hands on her chest, still looking so arrogant.
Xiao Xiao said directly: "You are from the nearby Beishui County, right?"
Beishui County?
Xiaoman was stunned for a moment, then she reacted and chuckled, but then she thought of something and her face turned stern again.
"Your parents died a long time ago, and you were adopted. Your adoptive parents were also very poor, and you had a younger brother in junior high school. When you were in your second year of high school, your adoptive father broke his leg and became disabled. You started working part-time at night to help support the family..."
When Xiao Xiao said this, he had a condescending and superior feeling.
Xiaoman listened with a frown on her face.
It turns out that she grew up in such an environment.
Compared to myself, she has really had a hard life over the years.
"You're clearly a pauper through and through! Now you come here, change your name and identity, and pretend to be rich, right? Even Jiang Chi was fooled by you!"
Xiao Xiao's face twisted slightly. "You're actually Chen Yonghao's mistress, right? You took all your money from him!"
After she finished speaking in one breath, she saw Xiaoman chuckle, a very sarcastic and contemptuous laugh.
This reaction made Xiao Xiao feel very unhappy.
"Are you done?" Xiaoman raised her eyebrow slightly, and was too lazy to explain because it felt too absurd.
Xiao Xiao didn't understand why the other party could remain so calm even after his secrets were exposed.
Xiaoman originally thought that she was just a mean-mouthed and jealous little girl, and she never bothered to take such a small shrimp seriously, but her current behavior has touched her bottom line.
"Is your father in real estate?" Xiaoman asked casually.
"What does this have to do with you?" Xiao Xiao disagreed.
Xiaoman leaned forward slightly: "It was none of my business before, and I don't know about it anymore."
Understanding the threat in her words, Xiao Xiao snorted disdainfully: "With you, you still want to threaten me?"
But Xiaoman's expression, as if she was staring at her, made her feel inexplicably uneasy.
The little girl couldn't hold her temper any longer: "What do you want to do? You...you want your lover Chen Yonghao to cause trouble for my family, right?"
Xiaoman raised her eyelashes slightly, but still said nothing.
Xiao Xiao continued to swear, "Aren't you afraid that I'll tell him about you seducing Jiang Chi? If he kicks you out, I'll see how arrogant you can be!"
Xiaoman laughed out loud this time. She laughed louder and louder, more and more wantonly, even the coffee on the table was shaking. In the end, she even exaggeratedly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her hands.
What's so funny? What is she laughing at? Xiao Xiao thought she was just like a lunatic.
Just as I was about to call her crazy, she stood up without warning and walked towards the door without saying anything.
Xiao Xiao felt humiliated. She put her hands on the table and stood up, trying to stop her: "I haven't finished talking yet!"
Xiaoman stopped and turned around, the smile on her face still looking ironic.
What he said was irrelevant to the question.
"Little boy, it's class time now. Don't skip class and get yourself into trouble again. It's very dangerous."
After saying that, Xiaoman stopped looking at her and walked straight to the door.
But then he heard the man who had lost control of his emotions yelling behind him: "...your mother is a lunatic, you are a lunatic too!"
*
In the evening, just after Ruan Yan finished her meal, she received a message from Xiaoman.
[Are you available to talk now?]
She stood up from the sofa in the living room and replied: [Okay.]
He walked upstairs silently to answer Xiaoman's call.
Xiaoman's voice was a little deep: "Maybe it's because of me that I caused you some trouble."
Ruan Yan returned to the room and closed the door: "What's wrong?"
Xiaoman briefly explained the whole process.
"I didn't know that little girl would secretly investigate me, and I didn't expect her investigation would lead to you," Xiaoman said on the other end of the phone. "I thought about it and decided it would be better to tell you first."
"I'm fine. Even if she investigates further, it won't have much impact on me. But you," Ruan Yan said worriedly, "I heard that her family is quite powerful in the local area. She was able to easily find out so much, and she has come to provoke you time and time again. I'm afraid she has other tricks waiting for you. You'd better be careful over there."
She knew too well that in such a remote and poor place, money and power could have many powers that could cover the sky.
Xiaoman said nonchalantly: "It's okay, she will soon have no time for those little tricks."
After a pause, he added, "Don't worry, I won't let her disturb your adoptive parents again."
Ruan Yan understood the meaning behind her words: "Have you thought of a way to deal with it?"
"Hmm," Xiaoman on the other end of the line opened a can of beer and said half-jokingly, "So what if you're rich and powerful? Can you be richer than me?"
Hearing the ease in her tone, Ruan Yan seemed to be quite confident. She breathed a sigh of relief and smiled as well. "You sound like you're in a good mood. Any good news lately?"
"Is there?" Xiaoman took a sip of beer slowly, and the coolness went straight to her heart and lungs.
Ruan Yan recalled their last topic and teased, "I almost forgot, you're dating that little boy now, right?"
"Do I look like someone with no conscience?" Xiaoman replied, "We agreed that we'll discuss everything after he takes the college entrance exam."
"Oh——" Ruan Yan deliberately lengthened the tone.
"what?"
"Of course I'm happy for you. You see, breaking yourself down and starting over again really does lead to a happier new life, right?"
"Um."
When Ruan Yan said this to her, she numbly replied, "Really?"
It was not a question, nor a rhetorical question, but just a period without any emotion.
At that time, she felt hopeless and thought that her world had collapsed and was destroyed, and there would be no more happiness and joy.
Now think about it, people who are trapped in the emotional wall always love to torture themselves.
No matter how painful and insurmountable the situation may seem at the moment, as long as you keep moving forward and look back, you will find that letting go can actually be a very easy thing.
As long as you are willing to let yourself go.
The two chatted for a few more sentences, and Xiaoman suddenly remembered something.
"By the way, that little girl said something yesterday that has always been on my mind."
"What did she say?"
Recalling what she shouted before she left - "Your mother is a lunatic..."
Xiaoman was puzzled: "Is the 'biological mother' she mentioned referring to our mother? How did she find out?"
*
Ruan Yan had spoken to Wen Ying on the phone in advance and knew that she was in the company, so after get off work, Ruan Yan went directly to Ruan's Enterprise to have dinner with her.
Ruan Yan arrived early and Wen Ying was still in a remote video conference.
She tactfully sat on the sofa on the other side so as not to disturb those who were working.
"This project cooperation is extremely important to us. On the other hand, Hengli is also watching our every move closely, so we must not let our guard down..."
After the meeting, Wen Ying walked towards her and asked, "You're leaving get off work so early today?"
"Yes." Zhuo Lu's attendance management is relatively loose, and there are no strict regulations on clocking in and out. As long as the phenomenon of being late or leaving early is not too exaggerated, the higher-ups will not care.
"What would you like to eat?" Wen Ying asked while putting on her coat.
Ruan Yan: "Just eat something light."
They went to a nearby tea restaurant downstairs from the company.
In the car on the way back after dinner, Wen Ying found that she was absent-minded today. She used to have a good appetite for everything, but now she obviously had no appetite.
"You are in a bad mood. Is there something on your mind?" Wen Ying couldn't help asking.
Ruan Yan lowered her head, then raised it again: "Sister, what disease did my mother die of?"
"I think you asked me about this before. I was studying out of town during that time, and I was still young, so I don't remember the details very clearly." Wen Ying tried to sound relaxed. "Why do you suddenly think of asking this again?"
Ruan Yan's voice was very low: "Does she... have a mental illness?"
Wen Ying was stunned for a moment, and subconsciously asked, "Who told you?"
It is true.
Ruan Yan's eyelashes trembled slightly.
"Did someone tell you something?" Seeing her depressed, Wen Ying said hurriedly, "Don't worry about what others say. Just remember that your mother is a very, very good person. That's all that's needed."
Ruan Yan: "Sister, you said before that I had a twin sister who got lost when she was very young. Is my mother's illness related to this?"
Wen Ying hesitated for a moment before saying, "It does matter..."
"So, was my twin sister lost because of her?" Ruan Yan could hear her voice trembling slightly. "Was she forcibly taking my sister away... and giving her to someone else?"
The red light ahead came on and Wen Ying almost didn't have time to step on the brakes.
"Xiaoyan, what are you talking about?" Wen Ying turned around and raised her voice. "You can't talk about your mother like that. She's not that kind of person at all!"
Ruan Yan lowered her eyes, her knuckles clenching her palms so hard they turned white.
When she was little, she was always laughed at by some naughty kids - "Your mother is crazy, you are a little crazy!"
"Little lunatic, little fool, you are a little piece of trash thrown away by your mother."
She ran home crying. Her adoptive mother Wang Peiyun knew that she was being bullied outside again. She hugged her and comforted her while scolding the gossipy neighbor.
After she became a little more sensible, she asked Wang Peiyun: "Why did that person leave me here?"
There was pity and heartache in Wang Peiyun's eyes: "She probably didn't do it on purpose. She was already a little crazy when she first came here... She was already a little unconscious."
At that time, Wang Peiyun and his wife felt that the woman and the baby were so pitiful, so they temporarily arranged for her and her mother to live in the empty old house next door.
"So where did she go later?"
"I don't know. She just disappeared one day. It was a very cold winter. Some said she fell into the river, while others said she had a seizure and ran away. Anyway, no one ever saw her again."
"Alas, you were almost sent to an orphanage by the village. I saw you were so small, so fair and pretty, I couldn't bear to let you suffer there, so I took you home..."
Whenever Wang Peiyun talked about this past, Ruan Yan always hugged her tightly, not knowing whether it was because she was afraid of the orphanage she was about to go to, or because she was afraid that her biological mother might have passed away.
When she grew up, she never asked Wang Peiyun about her mother again.
She believed from the bottom of her heart that she had let it go, and the man never came to her again, which said it all.
But the unexpected events that followed turned the world she had always believed in upside down. She was caught off guard and had many questions.
Later, with these questions and an indescribable emotion, she came to City C alone and came to the Ruan family.
She carefully played the role of the amnesiac young lady who survived the accident and returned home luckily. On the one hand, she wanted to find the answer to the mystery, and on the other hand, she was curious.
I am curious about the color and shape of my life in the parallel world.
If I try to fit in, what will my life be like?
She remained calm and cautious, secretly observing everyone, switching between disguise and true feelings for a long time. Sometimes even she herself could not tell how much of her behavior was true and how much was false.
Until she found the report about this incident.
Young Mistress Ruan disappears with her daughter! Is there any lingering affection? The child's origins may remain a mystery!
[Nguyen's missing daughter-in-law returns alone and is mentally ill, and the whereabouts of her child are still unknown!]
…
The report stated that Jiang Shuyu, the then-youngest wife of the Ruan family, was suspected of having an affair after marriage and had a close relationship with another man. After giving birth to twins, she seemed to plan to "escape" from the Ruan family with her daughters. After being missing for nearly a month, she returned alone and in a state of disarray...
The words "his background is a mystery" and the suspected infidelity hurt her eyes.
So, was she abandoned?
Did her mother deliberately abandon her in Beishui County?
She continued to dig deep into all the news reports about the incident that year, but apart from Jiang Shuyu, who had become mentally ill, and the "man" whose whereabouts were unknown and whose identity was unclear, there was no mention of any other insiders in the news.
So Ruan Yan could only start by asking people around her who might know the inside story, such as Aunt Wang and Wen Ying.
But they seemed to have agreed to keep the events of that year secret and not mention them at all.
This time, even an insignificant outsider found out about this matter, and it was really difficult for her to calm down.
…
Wen Ying realized she was getting a little emotional, and she said slowly, "Xiaoyan, I don't know where you heard that, but when your sister disappeared, your mother was undoubtedly the one who was most heartbroken and in pain."
Every time Wen Ying thought of Jiang Shuyu's decadent state in her later years, she felt sad and regretful.
She was once such a wonderful person, but ended up in such a miserable situation. God was really unfair to her.
"I know I shouldn't say that about my mother, I'm just... curious about what happened back then." Ruan Yan stared at the car window in front of her and her voice gradually became lower.
In fact, Wen Ying could understand her thoughts. She had a vague impression of her mother since she was a child. In addition, Ruan Xingkun deliberately did not let his family mention related topics. After she grew up, Ruan Yan only knew that Jiang Shuyu died of illness, and she knew nothing about the other complicated plots, so she was not very curious about what happened that year.
But Ruan Yan was different at this time. She lost all her memories at once. In order to get her past memories back, she would inevitably search for things in many ways. It was normal for her to accidentally discover this sensational news event and want to find out the truth.
But Wen Ying was still young at that time, and many things were confusing to her.
She only knew that Jiang Shuyu had changed completely after she came back. She would either sit there stupidly for most of the day, or suddenly start shouting like crazy, or else she would cry and want to go out to find her daughter.
At this time, Wen Ying was temporarily sent to live elsewhere by Ruan Xingkun, so she knew very little about the inside story. After Jiang Shuyu's death, this matter became a taboo topic in the Ruan family.
However, Ruan Xingkun would mention his other daughter who was missing from time to time. He spent all his money and sent people to inquire about his daughter's whereabouts. He never gave up. Unfortunately, so many years have passed, but there is still no clue.
He was still worried about this matter until the time before he left.
"I don't know where she is now, how she's doing, and whether her family treats her well..." Wen Ying's voice was a little moist. "She must be very beautiful, just like you."
Ruan Yan's slightly cool fingertips on her knees moved slightly. She had many more questions to ask, but suddenly stopped talking.
When we got home, Wen Ying, who was walking next to us, suddenly frowned with an uneasy expression.
Seeing her hand covering her abdomen, Ruan Yan hurriedly supported her and said anxiously, "Sister, what's wrong? Does it hurt?"
Wen Ying relaxed for a moment and shook her head: "It's just that my stomach suddenly feels a little uncomfortable, it's okay now."
Seeing her like this, Ruan Yan was worried at all: "Do you often feel this way? When did it start? Have you seen a doctor?"
The stomach discomfort had eased. Wen Ying slowly stood up and spoke in a normal tone, "It started a while ago. It only happens occasionally. It's not serious. It might be because the fried rice was a little undercooked."
"Didn't you go to the doctor?" Ruan Yan knew that she was busy with work and her meals were always irregular, so it was easy for her to get stomach problems due to hunger.
"I have regular physical examinations every year, and there's nothing wrong with me," Wen Ying said, putting her arm around her shoulders. "I'm not that fragile."
Ruan Yan was still worried: "Do you have time tomorrow? I'll go to the hospital with you for a check-up."
"It's just a check-up. I can go by myself. A client will come to sign a contract tomorrow. I'll go to the hospital after I'm done." She didn't want Ruan Yan to take leave for her own business.
After sending Wen Ying back to her room to rest, Ruan Yan also returned to her room.
Thinking back to what Xiaoman said last night and what Wen Ying said today, she felt her mind was a mess, like a tangled thread, and she didn't know where to start.
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The author has something to say: This chapter transitions to the next plot~~~
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