Chapter 11 Aftermath

After the woman in charge finished speaking, the other women crowded around, expressing their gratitude to the doctor in turn. It was clear they were sincere; the earnestness in their eyes was undeniable.

Fatty stood in the corner, his eyes wide with observation. It seemed these women were the mothers of the girls from last night.

There were four girls in the car, and four women in front of him.

The numbers matched.

"Ms. Qin," Jiang Cheng said, putting down his coffee cup and turning his head, facing the elegant women for the first time, "from my observations of Yuan Yuan, she doesn't seem to be as you describe."

The leading woman paused, then cautiously asked, "Dr. Jiang, you..."

"It's evident that although she appears happy in the nightclub, it's just an act. As the environment becomes increasingly noisy, she unconsciously makes micro-expressions and movements such as frowning and adjusting her glasses," Jiang Cheng paused, then continued, "the nightclub environment makes her feel uneasy."

"She doesn't like it there. She's just trying to fit in, trying to appear more sociable."

"What she really needs is companionship," Jiang Cheng said, "she's very lonely."

The woman's expression turned peculiar for a moment. She raised her head, opening her mouth as if to argue, but Jiang Cheng interrupted her.

He stared into her eyes and said calmly, "Spending 2 to 3 breakfasts a week with her doesn't count as companionship."

"It's more like charity," Jiang Cheng's voice was calm, "like a passerby casually throwing scraps to a stray dog, simply to avoid unnecessary entanglement."

"But you're not an irrelevant passerby, and she's not a stray dog begging for scraps," he paused, then said after a moment, "you're her mother."

The woman's face turned even worse upon hearing this.

She was accustomed to a life of ease and comfort. Charity, scraps, stray dogs, entanglement... such metaphors were too distant from her reality, and it was precisely because of this distance that they sounded so harsh.

But her feelings... were clearly not within Jiang Cheng's consideration.

At the intersection of their gazes, Jiang Cheng turned his head and looked at another woman. "Ms. Lu," he said calmly, "compared to Yuan Yuan, your daughter's situation is slightly more complicated."

"She's overly sensitive. Any change in the external environment can lead to her anxiety and unease. She's used to sitting in the same position, walking the same route, and only drinking one brand of beverage."

"When she leaves her familiar environment, she becomes more easily agitated and anxious than others."

"Even small things like the position of her friends changing will make her inexplicably uneasy," Jiang Cheng looked at the woman whose expression was slightly changing, and continued, "she lacks a sense of security."

"The origin of this behavior can be traced back to her childhood. I suspect that something happened when she was very young."

"Elementary school," Jiang Cheng said after thinking, "or even earlier."

"In my conversations with her, she deliberately blurred this memory."

"But she remembers earlier memories very clearly."

"Selective amnesia," Jiang Cheng said, "both extreme idealists and those with post-traumatic stress disorder exhibit this behavior."

Unlike the first woman's reaction, the woman Jiang Cheng was looking at nodded, acknowledging Jiang Cheng's speculation. "When she was 7 years old, her father and I separated. We even had a lawsuit over the distribution of company assets. During that time, we couldn't take care of her, so we found her a boarding school."

The woman had nothing to hide about the past. Apart from Dr. Jiang and the fat man who looked like a janitor, the other three women were her best friends.

They were well aware of the misfortunes she had experienced.

Moreover... everyone's needs were the same.

They were all for their daughters.

Because of their mothers' influence, the four girls had also formed a small group. Although they had their ups and downs, their relationship was excellent.

Based on the woman's conditions, the school she found for her daughter must have been an expensive private school. But not everything can be solved with money.

During the critical period when she most needed her parents' company and personality development, the girl's emotions were left unattended. She likely developed feelings of being abandoned by her parents, of being a burden.

One can imagine the girl lying alone in bed on quiet nights, hiding under thick blankets, curled into a small ball, feeling heartbroken and helpless.

In the woman's previous description to Jiang Cheng, she said that her daughter often threw tantrums for no reason and never allowed her into her room, which often led to arguments.

And after the housekeeper helped her pick up the clothes she had thrown on the floor, she locked herself in her room and didn't come out all day.

She refused to even see the psychologist who was brought to her door.

Because of business dealings, she met Pi Ruan, who strongly recommended Dr. Jiang. In fact, Pi Ruan was quite reliable.

Although most people in her circle looked down on him.

Then, the doctor explained his views to the other two women. For a moment, the atmosphere in the room became subtle.

The doctor's analysis was logical and well-founded, and the examples he used were easy to understand. At least Fatty understood. His eyes widened as he followed the doctor's analysis, as if he were walking into the hearts of each girl.

The first woman's child was named Yuan Yuan. Because she lacked companionship, she was very lonely inside.

She habitually tried to please everyone she met, trying to integrate into everyone's life, even if... she didn't like that kind of life.

She was just afraid of being alone.

So she tried her best to accommodate.

The second girl was named Shijia. Because she was neglected by her parents in her childhood, she lacked a great sense of security inside.

Any change in her life would cause her anxiety and unease, including changing her location, making new friends, and doing things she had never done before.

For her, her room was the last pure land, and an extension of the cold, narrow bed in the boarding school.

Anyone who entered her territory would disrupt her sense of security.

The housekeeper who helped her pick up the clothes she had thrown around, and the psychologist who came to her bedroom door without her permission, were examples of this.

Compared to them, the young man with the excellent appearance, who chose the bar they were most familiar with as the location for their first meeting, and who called himself Jiang Pan'an instead of Dr. Jiang, seemed especially charming.

And even more commendable was that he only loved... the only drink she ever drank.

He seemed used to being silent, never chiming in unless someone started a conversation.

His eyebrows were raised slightly, and his behavior was measured.

He sat alone in the corner, his eyes distant and blurred, gently swirling the wine in his glass. The light reflected by the pale red liquid shattered the girls' slightly tipsy faces.