Fang Jiayue lay on the bed, having just completed her second therapy session.

This time, she was calmer and more familiar, without as much nervousness.

An Yuci sat on the side, making notes on her treatment, the sound of his pen scratching on paper making a pleasant rustling noise.

Fang Jiayue opened her eyes and listened to the music. She felt like a naive little deer, or a child just learning about the world, and all her worries were gradually fading away.

Since her last therapy session with Dr. An, she had started taking medication, and her inner world had become much calmer. She had also started making an effort to regulate her own emotions.

In this small therapy room, she could forget about the things that troubled and bored her, like a snail retreating into its own shell.

She could speak her mind and express her frustration without reservation.

She had gradually come to love the feeling of therapy.

Fang Jiayue looked up at the starry sky on the ceiling, each point representing a star scattered throughout the universe, impossible to count. She couldn’t even find which small point was Earth, and even the planet where humans lived seemed so tiny. So what about each individual person? Were they not even smaller, like specks of dust?

An Yuci finished taking notes and asked her, “Are you getting used to the medication?”

He had prescribed two kinds of medicine for Fang Jiayue: one was the Western medicine Venlafaxine, which treated depression, and the other was a Sweet Dreams oral solution, which helped with sleep.

Fang Jiayue whispered, “Mm, I sleep better now. Also, taking the medicine gives me a feeling of happiness, a really happy and blissful feeling…”

Like she had returned to her childhood, with her parents by her side, and all her worries gone.

Fang Jiayue felt like there was a switch in her brain that controlled her happiness, and every time she took the medicine, she felt a little happier. But once she stopped taking the medicine, that feeling of happiness would disappear.

Fang Jiayue shook her head and said, “Forget it. My mother… she didn’t study much, so communication might be a bit difficult.”

An Yuci suggested, “Wear more clothes in front of your stepfather, don’t argue with him, avoid direct contact with him, and try to avoid being alone with him.” He then added, “Let me give you my phone number. If you encounter any difficulties, you can contact me.”

TN: How about the man just stops being a perverted asshole preying on a child huh? I hate this kind of logic towards s*xu*l assault!

Fang Jiayue took out her phone and An Yuci gave her his number. She entered it into her phone and said, “Thank you, Dr. An.”

There are still many good people in this world. Last time, the police officer gave her a business card, which Fang Jiayue saved in her phone. Now, she added Dr. An’s number, feeling much safer.

An Yuci reminded her, “Our rule is that we cannot contact patients privately during non-working hours, so you must keep this confidential.”

Psychological counselors find it difficult to maintain a distance between themselves and their patients. Many patients develop a dependence on their counselors and may misinterpret their feelings as love or other emotions, resulting in unnecessary entanglements. 

Moreover, many mentally unstable people are invisible psychopaths who can do shocking and unreasonable things at any time, even threatening the lives of their counselors. Therefore, many psychological counselors choose to distance themselves from their patients’ personal lives.

However, An Yuci believes that those patients are not living in a vacuum, and only treating them in the clinic without understanding them deeply will not solve the problem. He will do his best to help those people.

Fang Jiayue nodded and labeled the number as “An” in her phone, making it the first name in her contact list.

“Last week, I found a bird that had crashed into a window,” An Yuci suddenly spoke to the girl. “At the time, everyone thought it might not survive, but I took it home, gave it water, and even fed it some bird food. At the beginning, it was basically unconscious, but after two days, it started to react, blinking its eyes and making low noises. Now, a week has passed, and although it still can’t fly, it can eat on its own.”

An Yuci shared the experience with her joyfully.

Fang Jiayue listened attentively, her eyes full of longing. “That’s great…”

“So, you will also get better,” Dr. An smiled at her and said, “Today’s treatment is over.”

Fang Jiayue got up from the chair, still feeling a bit reluctant. She clenched her phone tightly and walked out of the clinic.

After the clinic door closed, An Yuci took out his phone from the drawer and casually opened the uploaded materials. He browsed through them and suddenly saw a completed questionnaire. He sent a message to the group: “Contact this person.”

Someone in the group immediately replied with a “OK.”

Then An Yuci put down his phone and glanced at the desk, where there were two small black things. He got up and followed Fang Jiayue out, “Fang Jiayue, you forgot your hair tie.”

Fang Jiayue had just picked up her medication for the week with her mother. She suddenly remembered that her hair was getting a bit long, so she tied a small braid. However, it was a bit bothersome while lying on the treatment chair, so she took the hair tie off.

She turned around and took the hair tie from Dr. An’s hand. His hand was warm.

Then An Yuci waved at her with a smile, “See you next week.”

Fang Jiauye whispered, “Goodbye, Dr. An.”

Liao Qinghe was waiting for her outside the door, and stood up when she saw her. She asked, “Was that your doctor just now? Why was it a male doctor? And so young?”

Liao Qinghe believed that there was some relationship between Fang Jiayue’s psychology and Zhang Fumin, and those difficult-to-mention matters were obviously more suitable for a female doctor to listen to.

Moreover, she felt that An Yuci was too young and must not have as much experience as an older doctor. She thought it was inappropriate to arrange a young and handsome male doctor for a young girl like Fang Jiayue, which went against Liao Qinghe’s conservative mindset.

Fang Jiayue replied with a cold face, “Dr. An is very good.”

Liao Qinghe continued to ask her, “What did the doctor say to you? Did he say when you can get better?”

“Mom, I have depression, and it’s not that easy to get better,” Fang Jiayue walked ahead, and the good mood from the conversation just now was reduced by her mother’s questions.

Since Fang Jiayue ran away from home last time, Zhang Fumin seemed to have become afraid recently and had become more restrained. Liao Qinghe seemed to have forgotten those dangerous things.

She carried her bag and followed Fang Jiayue, rambling on that although the medical treatment was free, the cost of the medicine was expensive, and it was unclear when it would end.

TN: Some parents are just so ugh…

Liao Qinghe also said that she didn’t think Fang Jiayue had such a serious problem. Sometimes when she couldn’t think straight, it was just a mood swing, and the side effects of taking medication could be worse. What would happen if she got used to it at such a young age?

Liao Qinghe also reminded Fang Jiayue not to let her schoolmates and teachers know, in case they discriminated against her and treated her like a crazy person.

Liao Qinghe’s attitude towards depression was both indifferent and ignorant, but she was afraid, which made Fang Jiayue feel annoyed.

The daily trivial nagging almost offset the effect of the one-hour medical treatment.

Fang Jiayue felt a little sorry for Dr. An. He was a doctor who didn’t charge a single consultation fee, and yet he wanted to cure her as a stranger they met by chance.

But her own mother, as her biological parent, wanted to push her into the abyss at every turn.

Listening to Liao Qinghe’s incessant chatter, Fang Jiayue finally couldn’t take it anymore, turned around and interrupted her mother’s words, “Mom, I’m just sick. The root of my illness lies with Zhang Fumin. Instead of saying this to me, you should take care of your husband.”

After saying this, she turned and walked away quickly. If possible, she wanted to abandon her mother, her stepfather, and the whole world.

It was already 5 p.m and within the Nancheng City Bureau several members of the Major Crimes Unit were working overtime. This week, Xia Mingxi had added detailed annotations to all the previous cases, marked all the suspicious points, and sent the records back to the various branches.

Qu Ming was responsible for sending personal information to that website. He was afraid that he wouldn’t catch the other party’s attention, so he also forged two sets of data and sent them up.

Qu Ming researched every question thoroughly, imbuing his depressed emotions into them and racking his brains to make people see that this was a person with psychological problems seeking help.

However, the other party still did not contact him.

Several people in the team were discussing and brainstorming ideas when Lu Junchi walked into the office with Su Hui behind him.

During this period, the team members had become accustomed to Captain Lu and Consultant Su being inseparable.

Qu Ming said, “Captain Lu, um…I haven’t received a reply from the other party yet.”

Lu Junchi said, “No need to bother, we have contacted Sleeper.”

“Contacted?” Qiao Ze raised his head curiously and asked, “How did you contact them?”

Lu Junchi gave a brief introduction, “Consultant Su uploaded an answer.”

Qu Ming hurried over and said, “Let me see what content Consultant Su has filled in!”

Lu Junchi looked at Su Hui, who didn’t object, and gave them his phone. Qu Ming looked at it and still couldn’t figure it out, “This doesn’t look like depression at all…I can’t see it. How did they make contact?”

But the fact is, the other bait they prepared didn’t catch anything, but Su Hui’s side was successful.

At first, Lu Junchi also thought it was superstition or coincidence, but later he looked at all the content that Su Hui sent and felt that Su Hui was right.

He couldn’t say what was different between this answer and what Qu Ming had prepared, but he felt that every sentence read made people emotionally touched and their chest tight.

Compared with Qu Ming’s previous content, it was indeed a bit too superficially sad.

This is roughly the world where people with depression reside. People who have experienced it or those who understand psychology can easily distinguish it. However, outsiders cannot see much more clues.

Qiao Ze also picked it up and looked at it, adding another point of admiration for Su Hui: “Anyway, it’s a good thing that the fish has taken the bait. Is the other party a man or a woman? When did you arrange to meet?” 

Lu Junchi said, “The other party called and it was a woman. She used a protected number, and the phone displayed a blocked number. We arranged to meet at the 7-11 convenience store next to the City Garden at ten o’clock tonight.”

Qiao Ze took a look and knew that the phone number was encrypted, so it was no wonder that abnormal numbers could not be found when retrieving the other party’s call records before. This looks like a randomly displayed harassing call.

Several people on this side of the City Garden knew that it was located in the south center of Huadu, not far from the General Bureau. It was adjacent to a block of office buildings, which were crowded during the day but much quieter at night. The 7-11 convenience store over there is relatively large, with a full three hundred square meters and a row of transparent floor-to-ceiling windows.

Lu Junchi knew that his younger brother, Lu Haochu, had worked there part-time before. He had driven him there twice, and each time he passed by, he felt that it was very quiet. So when the other party suggested meeting there, he agreed.

Qiao Ze asked, “How should we arrange ourselves tonight?”

After reading it, they handed the phone back to Su Hui. Su Hui sat quietly with lowered eyelashes, waiting for Lu Junchi to make a decision.

Lu Junchi made arrangements: “We will install a listening device on Professor Su and let him meet the other party. The others will set up ambushes and defenses outside.”

TN:

I read a comment questioning the validity of having a male psychologist treat a female victim of SA considering the conflict with the assaulter being male. The comment was against it. On one hand I agree, coz if you’re bitten by a dog, then it’s only logical that you would be afraid of dogs and be more comfortable with cats. But on the other hand, if you’re bitten by…let’s say a jacked up Rottweiler, should you also be afraid of a Pomeranian. I feel like being exposed to a positive male species, will help alleviate the harm done by the f*cked up male species. But I also understand that this can also cause harm to the victim especially if it’s too soon after an attack(like immediately drinking milk after being found to be lactose intolerant). I’m not a victim of SA so my thoughts may be wrong. Only they know what they’re comfortable with and how much they can handle.

Venlafaxine is used to treat depression. Venlafaxine extended-release (long-acting) capsules are also used to treat generalized anxiety disorder (GAD; excessive worrying that is difficult to control), social anxiety disorder (extreme fear of interacting with others or performing in front of others that interferes with normal life), and panic disorder (sudden, unexpected attacks of extreme fear and worry about these attacks)

Venlafaxine is in a class of medications called selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs). It works by increasing the amounts of serotonin and norepinephrine, natural substances in the brain that help maintain mental balance.

Sweet dream oral liquid (SDOL), a traditional Chinese herbal compound contains 17 traditional Chinese medicines. It has various pharmacological effects, such as improving brain dysfunction and increasing sleeping quality.