Return of the Antagonistic Lady Boss

Chapter 485 - 459: Different Choices

Shi Touyu felt a chill down her spine as Qian’s piercing gaze bore into her.

"Qian, what are you doing... maybe we should just get two more chicken wings!" Shi Touyu said, trembling.

Was it really necessary to stare at her with such a see-through-life look just for snatching one chicken wing from Qian?

"It’s not about the chicken wings." Qian looked at Shi Touyu, her eyes reflecting a profound understanding.

"Then... boss, add a skewer of meat, and 3 chicken wings!" Shi Touyu decisively ordered more for Qian. Qian, could you stop suddenly getting so profound!

Qian looked at Shi Touyu and understood what was going on with Lone Wolf’s fiancée.

She wasn’t suffering from multiple personalities; the premise of multiple personalities is based on having at least two distinct personas. But Hu Meijing was showing a stable persona, one distinctly different from before!

Qiuqiu’s words had just triggered Qian’s memories; she almost forgot that the illness Shi Touyu had in her past life was also the reason she was slapped by Mr. Liu.

Dissociative fugue, colloquially known as alternate identity disorder, is characterized by forgetting one’s previous persona after a stimulus and living under a new identity, which is why Hu Meijing forgot everything from before, including her original persona.

It’s as if she was granted a second life, starting anew, marrying calmly, and living her own days.

The mystery unraveled: Hu Meijing had the same illness as Shi Touyu in her previous life!

Mr. Liu said she almost had a good daughter-in-law before. Newt and Yu Minglang both mentioned that Hu Meijing was a heartless woman. These two completely different voices turned out to be true—reality was thus conflicted yet intertwined.

Hu Meijing was indeed very good in the past. Despite her temper, she loved passionately with Lone Wolf and was recognized by Lone Wolf’s mother, Mr. Liu.

But after Lone Wolf died, Hu Meijing couldn’t accept this cruel reality and developed a severe psychological disorder that resulted in an alternate personality. So, she forgot the past with Lone Wolf, yet subconsciously remembered her affection for him.

She repeatedly made small wolf toys but lived a peaceful life in another identity.

The reason behind Mr. Liu frequently finding Hu Meijing was now evident.

Qian had previously been puzzled, thinking that based on her teacher’s unsociable personality, even if he liked someone a lot, he wouldn’t engage with them frequently in a short period. But he took special care of Hu Meijing, often visiting her.

Turns out, the teacher frequently looked for Hu Meijing not out of longing but to help stabilize her personality, which was an extremely difficult task.

Qian had a deep understanding of this illness; it wasn’t known when the key events in the new personality might be recalled. That was the part where the collapse occurred.

The time to recollect the past could be months or decades because those who suffered from this illness had undergone massive trauma. There was always a debate in the industry about whether they should be cured or not.

In Qian’s past life, she cured Shi Touyu; Shi Touyu remembered those traumatic times and collapsed, committing suicide. The teacher then severed all ties with Qian because of this.

Qian was reborn and felt a bit defiant towards the teacher because even if she didn’t cure Shi Touyu, those who had this disease might just remember things by themselves, like a shoe suspended in midair, never settling firmly.

Qian always felt this problem had no perfect answer.

But she never thought the teacher would encounter such a patient and provide a near-perfect solution through his actions.

If Hu Meijing didn’t have that layer of connection with the teacher, this would be nothing since he was just a professional psychological consultant.

But the teacher’s son was Lone Wolf, and Lone Wolf’s departure was tragic.

Whenever the teacher contacted Hu Meijing, it was akin to tearing open a freshly scabbed wound time and again.

Helping the once-future daughter-in-law forget her son again and again, eliminating the son’s imprints from her time after time, required enormous mental resilience.

Recalling the teacher’s mournful act of burning incense for Liu Shuang and how he regularly visited Liu Shuang’s fiancée for treatment, a strong sense of empathy spread in Qian’s heart.

Only she could understand this pain...

Shi Touyu looked at Qian, who stared at her with penetrating eyes, and began to cry.

Terrified, Shi Touyu quickly tried to console Qian.

"Qian, please don’t cry; it’s just two skewers of grilled meat. I can order more for you, please don’t cry! Or you could grill me like a chicken wing if that makes you stop crying..."

Qian realized her loss of composure, wiped her tears, and sniffed, "I just thought of some things, it’s okay now, let’s eat."

"Lately, everything has been so annoying; the boss at my job is incredibly annoying, always picking fights every day. I really want to find an opportunity to beat him up." Qiuqiu changed the topic after seeing Qian’s mood was a bit off.

"Yeah, things haven’t been great for me either lately. My parents still don’t know about me and my brother’s situation. I don’t know how to tell them, and I feel like I might flunk this semester." Shi Touyu chimed in.

Looking at Qian’s deep eyes, Shi Touyu cautiously said, "Qian, please don’t burden yourself, relax."

"I’m fine, let’s eat."

Qiuqiu and Shi Touyu comforted Qian, and someone behind them called out to Qiuqiu.

"Qiu! Mr. Chen~"

Qian and Shi Touyu turned toward the voice, seeing Jingjing and another girl standing behind the stall, waving happily as they saw Qiuqiu.

Qiuqiu immediately stood up, with a barely noticeable hint of joy on his face.

"Jingjing, why did you come here?"

"I’m here to hang out. How could you eat delicious food without inviting me?" Jingjing now looked much better than before; though a bit thinner, she seemed like a normal girl.

"I thought you’d be busy, haha, come and have some..." Qiuqiu invited Jingjing over, who brought her new friend, and they all assembled at a table, conversing happily.

As they nearly finished eating, Qian and Shi Touyu prepared to return to the hotel. Qiuqiu took the chance when Jingjing wasn’t paying attention to pull Qian aside to a secluded spot.

"Qian, how is Jingjing’s treatment going?"

"The rabbit has grown; you should notice her situation has improved a lot. Maybe in three more sessions, I can change her mental image world to be positive. After that, we can do memory-sealing hypnosis. But Qiuqiu, I must tell you something: if I seal this part, her goodwill toward you might change. I can seal it halfway or completely; what do you want to do?"

Forgetting painful things also means forgetting the joy that once existed. The problem Mr. Liu faced was now the same challenge presented to Qiuqiu. Qian was suddenly very curious to know how different people might choose when faced with such a dilemma.