Qin Tianyi analyzed, "Another possibility is that she's a very good actress. Although she couldn't bribe the experts, someone behind the scenes taught Shu Yan how to feign madness."
As he spoke, two clear traces of worry flashed in his eyes.
Susu asked, "Who would teach her?"
"I don't know." Qin Tianyi didn't voice his deepest concern: the fear that besides Shu Zhongze and Jia Nanfang, there was someone else unknown helping Shu Yan from the shadows, someone whose strength was not to be underestimated.
...
Sophie went to a bar by the city lake. An uncle with completely white hair sat in a corner and waved at her.
She walked over and sat down, exchanging pleasantries with the uncle.
The uncle ordered a cocktail suitable for a girl, and his casual conversation quickly dispelled her nervousness and anxiety.
She then told the uncle everything that had happened with Susu recently, as well as some things she had learned indirectly.
The white-haired uncle was refined and spoke with great eloquence. He patiently helped her analyze the situation, bringing her sudden clarity and a clear path forward.
She had met this uncle some time after Susu had stopped visiting her.
At that time, when she felt depressed, she would go downstairs to the community or nearby supermarkets. Whenever she went to a particular supermarket, she would always encounter this uncle selecting items in the imported goods section.
She also enjoyed browsing the imported food section, where she could find a few French seasonings.
One day, she picked up a jar of French seasoning and read the instructions aloud in French. The uncle happened to be nearby and responded to her in French.
To her surprise and shock, she instinctively became guarded, wanting to escape immediately.
However, as she hastily tried to flee, she knocked over a row of shelves behind her, alerting the supermarket staff.
The expensive imported goods on the shelves were all broken. The staff restrained her and demanded compensation.
She had no money to pay and was overwhelmed with emotion, not knowing what to do.
The staff asked her to notify her family, but she didn't want Susu to come.
She knew she had caused trouble again, and if Susu found out, she would be even less willing to deal with her.
Just as the staff were about to call the police, the uncle stepped forward, paid the compensation for her, and led her out of the supermarket.
The uncle asked her where her home was, but she was still lost in self-pity and couldn't say anything.
At that moment, Sophie's mind went blank as the uncle led her to the city lake. She hadn't heard a single word of his comforting words along the way.
Arriving at the lake and looking at the shimmering water under the lights, she just wanted to leap into the lake and transform into a carefree little fish.
The uncle held her back tightly, sensing her suicidal intent, and said, "Little girl, please don't do anything foolish. If you've encountered any difficulties or unhappy things, you can tell me. There are no unsolvable problems in this world, and I can help you."
Sophie finally snapped back to reality. She looked at the uncle and asked blankly, "You'll help me?" As soon as the words left her lips, she felt an overwhelming sense of grievance, and tears welled up in her eyes.
The uncle handed her two tissues, took her hand, and led her towards a bar nearby, saying, "Let's not talk by the lake. It's safer to talk in that bar."
Sophie didn't know why, but she didn't reject the refined uncle. Sitting with him in the bar, she began to pour out her troubles.
The uncle listened intently to everything she said, didn't judge her, and even offered some advice.
For example, he suggested leaving her residence in the middle of the night without revealing herself immediately, to see if Susu still cared about her, and to find opportunities to be constantly together with Susu.
These methods had some effect, but Susu didn't completely ignore her, nor did she show her exclusive affection, which was not what Sophie wanted.
The uncle heard that Susu was helping a critically ill orphan and was preventing Sophie from visiting the orphan in the hospital. He then offered advice: "I can help you find out where your friend's childhood orphanage was. I'll give you the address, and you can go to that orphanage yourself to inquire. Then you'll know what's going on with that child, and see if there's anything you can do to help. You can appear at the hospital at the right time, and then she won't be able to keep you from knowing about it."
"That's right, why didn't I think of that?" Sophie took a sip of her cocktail, her previous melancholy vanishing. She now knew what to do.
The uncle continued, "Also, if you want to be more important to her than her husband, you need to sow discord between them. It's actually very easy to provoke conflict between a couple; if they argue often, their feelings will naturally fade. For instance, if either of them has been unfaithful, or if there's mutual concealment and distrust, just bring these things up, and their relationship won't survive."
"Oh." Sophie listened thoughtfully, wondering how to instigate conflict between them. They had argued once because of her last time, but they quickly made up. It seemed that deliberately provoking Qin Tianyi hadn't been very effective.
The uncle smiled and said, "You're so smart, you know what to do without me saying more. In reality, so-called happy lives don't come out of nowhere; they require careful cultivation. You need to be someone who cultivates with care to live happily."
Sophie couldn't help but stare at the uncle, wondering how he was so capable, knowing everything, and finding the key points to help her solve her most troublesome issues.
Moreover, his way of speaking and his demeanor made her feel very comfortable, without any tension or anxiety.
She suddenly felt that the uncle was like a therapist. Whenever Susu accompanied her to see a psychologist, she felt this way when talking to the psychologist alone.
"What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Uncle, what do you do? Are you a doctor?"
The uncle shook his head and said, "No. Meeting is fate, Sophie. Why ask so many questions?"
Sophie was slightly taken aback and said, "I don't think I've told you my name. How do you know it?"
"You've forgotten, haven't you? You told me your name was Sophie last time. My surname is Lu. You can call me Uncle Lu from now on." He smiled and added, "Little girl, this is fair, isn't it? We both know each other's names."
Sophie nodded and said, "Fair." Hearing him call her "little girl" made her feel as if she had returned to her carefree school days, and her mood improved significantly.
After seeing Sophie off, Uncle Lu returned to the lakeside greenway alone.
He knew Sophie suffered from depression, which strongly resembled his father's symptoms from years ago: anxiety, irritability, and melancholy.
He was young then and didn't understand his father was ill, nor how much pain his father endured, unable to extricate himself.
It wasn't until his father took him and jumped off a building that he understood how terrifying the illness was.
As an adult, he researched the illness and learned how to treat it, but unfortunately, his father had already fallen to his death, leaving him with lifelong regret.
Therefore, he knew how to interact with patients like Sophie who had depression, how to make her feel comfortable, and how to guide her to take action.