Doctor Zeng was introduced to Jian Yan by Lin Zhen. She had been receiving psychological treatment from Doctor Zeng for the past few years.

  Recently, due to her busy work and the relatively stable state of her condition, she hadn't been to the counseling room. Unexpectedly, she took the initiative to contact Doctor Zeng today.

  "All right, I have half an hour available at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. Come at nine."

  "Okay." Jian Yan made an appointment with her for the time and then hung up the phone. Feeling that she wasn't in a good state today, she deliberately only drew until ten o'clock and then went to bed.

  She took a hot bath before going to bed, but it didn't seem to help much with her sleep. She still had a bad dream.

  In the dream, the bare house, the drunk father, and the red paint sprayed by the debt collectors at the door were all so real. When Jian Yan woke up with a start, her forehead was covered in sweat.

  She took several deep breaths, and her pounding heart gradually calmed down. She went to the kitchen to make herself a cup of hot milk, then held the glass and went upstairs. She looked at the time on her phone.

  It was half past two in the morning.

  She sighed. Afraid that she would have another nightmare if she fell asleep, she found a song by Nan Si in her phone's playlist and put on the earphones.

  The quiet night was perfect for listening to this kind of lyrical song. Coupled with Nan Si's unique magnetic voice and singing style, Jian Yan felt as if she had been saved.

  After drinking up the milk in the glass, Jian Yan closed her eyes again.

  This time, she slept through the night without any dreams.

  The next morning, her biological clock woke her up on time. After having breakfast, Jian Yan arrived at the psychological counseling room ten minutes early. Doctor Zeng hadn't come to work yet, but the secretary girl at the front desk was already there.

  "Ms. Jian, please wait a moment. Doctor Zeng will be here soon." The receptionist asked her to sit on the sofa in the counseling room and poured her a cup of hot water.

  "Thank you." Jian Yan sat and waited for a while. Doctor Zeng pushed open the door of the counseling room right on time.

  "Good morning." She took off her coat, hung it on the hanger, and sat down opposite Jian Yan. "That checkered coat you're wearing is nice."

  Jian Yan said, "Thank you. It's a co-branded collaboration style that I designed and was launched not long ago."

  Doctor Zeng nodded in understanding. "It does look familiar. Actually, I've always liked checkered patterns, but the combination of checkered patterns on top of each other gives a cumbersome feeling."

  "You can try matching checkered patterns of different colors and densities with each other."

  Doctor Zeng thought for a while and said, "I'll give it a try next time."

  Jian Yan asked, "So, can I get a discount for my counseling session later?"

  Doctor Zeng smiled and said, "Sure, I'll give you a 9.9 discount."

  Jian Yan: "…"

  So her fashion advice was only worth that 0.1 discount?

  "Let's talk about your male colleague." Doctor Zeng quickly got to the point. "I remember that all your assistants are female. Why do you have a male colleague?"

  "Recently, in order to gather materials for my new work, I went to work as a salesperson at Xingguang Department Store."

  Doctor Zeng seemed a bit surprised, but she quickly accepted this situation. "I see. 'Shang Ke' has just ended. Why don't you take a break? Do you still feel extremely uneasy and have nightmares?"

  "I hadn't had nightmares for a long time, but I had one again last night."

  Doctor Zeng nodded and said, "It seems that your male colleague really has a great influence on you. You said he grabbed your hand. What exactly happened?"

  "We went out for a meal. I was walking in a hurry and almost got hit by a car, so he pulled me. When that male classmate in junior high school just pulled my braid, I even sent him to the hospital."

  "This should be due to multiple reasons. You were too young in junior high school and very impulsive. You weren't as good at managing your emotions as an adult. On the other hand, you've received treatment for such a long time, and it has had some positive effects."

  Jian Yan thought for a while and said, "But when I come into contact with men, I still feel very uncomfortable. I usually keep a certain distance from them. But yesterday, he touched me, and I wasn't as repulsed as I thought I would be."

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Doctor Zeng said, "This might be a good change. Can you describe your male colleague?"

  "Um..." Jian Yan organized her words a bit. "He's the manager there. He's tall, handsome, and has a nice voice. He's also good to the employees. However..."

  "However, what?"

  "He seems to be gay. I think it might be because of this that I'm not as repulsed by him."

  Doctor Zeng fell silent. After a while, she asked, "How do you know he's gay?"

  "Just some clues. Now the whole sales area is talking about it."

  Doctor Zeng was silent for an even longer time before saying to her, "A rumor repeated often enough becomes credible. These rumors may not be true."

  "But last time when Lin Zhen and I went to have a meal, we happened to meet him, and his good friend sang a song to confess his love to him."

  …

  Doctor Zeng said, "I think you might try to get to know him."

  "Get to know him?"

  "Yeah, maybe this way you can figure out why you're not repulsed by him."

  Jian Yan didn't speak, seemingly deep in thought. Doctor Zeng then changed to another topic. "You said you had a nightmare last night. What did you dream about?"

  "The same things as before, things from my childhood."

  "Such as the debt collectors?"

  "Yeah."

  "You've earned a lot of money now and don't owe anyone any debt. No one will come to collect debts from you. Relax a bit."

  Jian Yan sighed. "I know all the things you're saying, but I can't help it."

  Doctor Zeng looked at her, deep in thought. When she first came, her psychological state was far from as good as it is now. The lack of money made her feel extremely uneasy, and only by constantly making money could she slightly relieve this feeling. In the past two years, her works have sold extremely well, and the generous income has slightly alleviated the uneasiness in her heart, but it hasn't been able to completely eradicate it.

  Some psychological traumas can be gradually healed with the passage of time, but some will be deeply branded in the bottom of one's heart like a brand, and they won't disappear no matter how many years pass. All she can do is to help the patients relieve this pain.

  "If making money can give you a sense of security, I actually support your efforts to make money. However, there should be a limit to your work. After all, the body is the capital of revolution. Only if you're alive can you make more money."

  Jian Yan thought it made a lot of sense. "I have a physical examination on time every year."

  "Just having a physical examination is not enough. You need more rest and relaxation."

  Jian Yan nodded. "I understand. Lin Zhen has already asked me to start my new comic after the Spring Festival. I will try to rest during this period."

  "That's for the best. Maybe one day, you'll find something that can give you more a sense of security than money."

  "Such as what?"

  Doctor Zeng smiled but didn't answer her. Instead, she started chatting with her about Doctor Zhang next door. "Doctor Zhang has always believed that love can cure most psychological illnesses. It sounds a bit unreliable, but one of his patients who had a dissociative identity disorder actually recovered without medication after meeting his current wife."

  Jian Yan gave a bitter smile. "Unfortunately, I have androphobia."

  Doctor Zeng looked at her. "You know, you don't have to accept all the men in the world. As long as there is one man you can accept, that's enough."

  After leaving Doctor Zeng's place, Jian Yan was still thinking about this sentence. Should she really try to get to know Manager He as Doctor Zeng said?

  Driving on the street in a distracted state, Jian Yan suddenly missed her mother. Calculating that she hadn't been to her mother's place for over a month, Jian Yan turned around at the intersection ahead and drove in the direction of her mother's house.

  On the way, she passed a global cosmetics retail store. Jian Yan went in and bought a set of skincare products for her mother by the way.

  Her mother still lived in the house they had lived in when they first came to City A. She had asked her mother several times to move in with her, but her mother just didn't want to.

  City A's economy was now booming, but there were still some places that retained the original old houses. Jian Yan drove her car over the uneven ground and happened to see her mother holding some vegetables in her hand, standing downstairs in the apartment building and chatting with several aunts.

  "I've watched that daughter of the Zhou family grow up. In the blink of an eye, her son is already one year old. Time really flies."

  "Yeah. Speaking of which, Jian Yan is probably twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old. Why haven't we seen her find a partner yet?"

  "Right. How about I introduce someone to your Jian Yan another day?"

  Jian Yan's mother smiled and said, "There's no rush."

  "You're not in a hurry? Women age quickly. After the age of thirty, there's not much of a market for blind dates."

  Jian Yan's mother still smiled and said, "What you said, our Jian Yan isn't a commodity."

  "Hey, don't think I'm speaking harshly. It's not good for a woman to have a child when she's older, right?"

  "Medical science is so advanced nowadays. I've seen many people have children in their thirties. And it's not necessary to have a child."

  The neighbor aunt seemed a bit surprised. "What's the point of a woman not getting married and not having a child?"

  Jian Yan drove the car over with a "whoosh" and stopped in front of the aunts. She held the skincare products she bought for her mother in her hand and got out of the car wearing knee-high boots. "Mom."

  Jian Yan's mother was taken aback and looked at her. "Yanyan, why did you come here?"

  Jian Yan smiled and walked up to link her arm with her mother's. "I missed you, so I came. Oh, by the way, these are the skincare products I bought for you."

  Her mother looked at the things in her hand and said, "You're wasting money again. What are all these messy foreign words written here?"

  "I'm not wasting money. It's only a few tens of thousands of yuan. These are all made in France, and there are Chinese labels on the back."

  The expressions of the aunts beside them subtly changed. Jian Yan's mother said, "I don't need these."

  "Why don't you need them? You're not even fifty years old yet. You still need to take good care of your skin. This set of products was specially developed for people in your age group."

  "All right, all right. You always have a point."

  Jian Yan laughed twice. The aunt who had just said she would introduce a partner to her said, "Jian Yan, you've become even more beautiful after not seeing you for a long time."

  Jian Yan said, "It's mainly because of my mother's good genes."

  The aunt laughed twice. "We were just talking about introducing a partner to you. What kind of person do you want?"

  "Me?" Jian Yan thought for a while. "I don't have many requirements. As long as his income is higher than mine. Men have egos. If I earn more than him, he'll be embarrassed, right?"

  "Yes, yes."

  Jian Yan smiled. "Then I'll trouble you, auntie. His annual salary doesn't have to be too high. Just one hundred million yuan will do."