Chapter 20: I Have a Friend😅

Pei Xingyan had no idea how he ended up parting ways with Su Shanshan.

He only remembered that before she left, she cheerfully declared that she would come to see him again tomorrow.

He walked in a daze, only recalling his senses after sitting beside the flower bushes for quite a while.

Dissociative identity disorder…

It was an illness he’d only ever read about in books.

But he had only been suspicious, never imagining Su Shanshan might really be a possible case.

That cold, apologetic girl, and the one who hugged him and called him “baby,” were completely different people. There was no other explanation but this.

Pei Xingyan was at a loss for what to do; he started doubting whether he should even continue with this job.

He doubted his own abilities—could he really handle an illness that the whole world seemed powerless against?

What worried him even more was, if he didn’t handle it well, would he end up hurting this girl whose eyes sparkled like stars when she looked at him?

But by now, it was already too late for him to back out easily.

Pei Xingyan looked down at his left hand. Just moments ago, Su Shanshan had happily tied a red string around his wrist, with a bright golden bead hanging in the middle—about the size of a peanut, heavy against his skin.

By his estimate, this was a solid gold bean, at least over 10 grams.

She had given him this gift without any room for refusal.

She said she learned this method online—using a red string to “tie him down.”

Although he couldn’t believe a girl he’d only met a few times would be so smitten with him, facts spoke for themselves—her kindness toward him was almost excessive.

Pei Xingyan began to wonder if he and this girl had some unresolved love or hatred from a past life.

But maybe… she had just fallen for him in those few minutes observing by the door, and from then on, her heart never wavered.

Pei Xingyan knew that encountering such a good thing, he should be grinning from ear to ear. But he also understood better than anyone that these sudden, love-at-first-sight romances were often the most troublesome.

“Sigh—”

He could only sigh helplessly, pondering how to subtly ask Su Shanshan what she was really thinking.

But as luck would have it, when it rains, it pours. His phone started ringing again, urgent as a death knell.

Pei Xingyan was starting to feel overwhelmed. He couldn’t imagine who would be messaging him at this hour—Lin Xiaoyu had agreed to meet at six in the evening, which was still a long way off.

He felt so mentally exhausted that his vision blurred, but the phone kept ringing relentlessly, so he forced himself to check it.

Hm?

To his surprise, it was a message from Shen Zhishu.

[Shu Shu Shu: Come to my office for a bit. I found an expert for the question you asked last time.]

Pei Xingyan could only mutter inwardly, Well, isn’t that a coincidence…

*****

Shen Zhishu’s office was simple and clean, nothing like the typical administrative office that dealt with piles of paperwork every day.

Then again, she wasn’t really an administrative teacher—just someone playing around here. If Pei Xingyan’s class ever had a real issue, they’d have to go to their actual counselor.

Muttering to himself, he arrived at Shen Zhishu’s desk.

“Teacher Shen…” he greeted politely.

“Why are you calling me that again?” she grumbled with a playful pout, but this time she didn’t act difficult. A thick stack of documents sat in front of her, leaving her no room for distractions.

Across from Shen Zhishu sat a man, not very old, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, calm and gentle.

“This is Li Laoshi,” Shen Zhishu introduced, not even looking up. “Didn’t you say you had some psychological issues to deal with last time? I could only invite this big shot from the field for you.”

“Not at all! How could I dare call myself excellent compared to Teacher Shen?” Li Laoshi’s voice was cultured, perfectly fitting the image of a highly-educated intellectual.

He was about to make some polite small talk.

But Shen Zhishu didn’t give him the chance. She cut straight to the point, passing the topic to Pei Xingyan. “I didn’t remember all the symptoms you mentioned. Just ask Li Laoshi directly. I still have some things to take care of.”

Pei Xingyan grinned ingratiatingly, turning to look at the awkward-looking man.

Li Laoshi also smiled awkwardly, pulling over a chair for Pei Xingyan.

Pei Xingyan smiled back, sitting down quietly and carefully.

“So, shall we begin?”

“Mm, alright.” Pei Xingyan nodded. “It’s like this, I have a friend—”

“There’s no outsiders here. You can be honest.”

“It really is a friend!” Pei Xingyan’s awkward smile never left his face. He didn’t know why these psychology experts were always so direct.

Would it kill them to give the client some privacy?

“Alright, your friend.” Li Laoshi casually picked up a ballpoint pen and tore off a sheet of paper, jotting down notes as he raised his hand. “Please continue.”

“My friend, he… well, he’s dating a, uh… girlfriend, I guess…”

“Why the uncertainty? Is she really his girlfriend?”

Seriously, why is this teacher so nosy? Isn’t this the patient’s privacy?

Pei Xingyan grumbled inwardly, but could only admit, “She’s his girlfriend… Yes, definitely his girlfriend. But she has two faces.”

“How would you know someone else’s girlfriend has two faces?” Li Laoshi looked up, smiling with interest.

“Can we skip this part?” Pei Xingyan felt like the psychologist was about to give him a psychological problem. Ignoring everything else, he pressed on, “This girl, sometimes she’s very gentle, a bit too nice, always talking about perfection. It’s like even if my friend was just scraping glass marbles, she’d think it was super cool.”

“That sounds pretty good, though. Girls like that are rare these days.”

“But that’s only sometimes! Other times, it’s completely different!” Pei Xingyan grabbed his head, remembering Su Shanshan’s various behaviors and nearly breaking down. “Sometimes she completely changes, not a trace of her previous self—like a tyrannosaurus, fierce enough to scare people to death. I don’t even know how she can spend a whole day yelling at people on her phone…”

“You know even those details?”

“Please, can you not focus on those details…” Pei Xingyan clasped his hands in a plea. “Do you think she might have dissociative identity disorder?”

“Dissociative identity disorder…” Li Laoshi pondered. “That’s very rare. To be honest, almost all cases of dissociative identity disorder we encounter in daily life are actually just chuunibyou, at most maybe delusional disorder. You have to understand, the real causes of dissociative identity disorder are very complex, often tied to early childhood and adolescent development.”

“Mm, mm.” Pei Xingyan listened intently.

“But from what you describe, your… friend’s girlfriend sounds more like she might have borderline personality disorder.” Li Laoshi adjusted his glasses.

“Borderline… personality disorder?”

“Yes, borderline personality disorder. Patients like this often show the kind of behavior you mentioned. Most of the time, they see their partner as absolutely perfect— and they really mean it. But if something upsets them, like fearing their partner will leave, or not getting what they want for a long time, they can become very agitated…”

“Yes! Yes, exactly!” Pei Xingyan latched onto the keywords, jumping up from his chair in excitement. “So people with this kind of disorder all think their partner is perfect?”

“I have to say, you don’t sound like you’re asking for a friend at all…”

Buried in her pile of paperwork all this time, Shen Zhishu suddenly spoke up. Her voice drifted over from behind Pei Xingyan, ghostly as if echoing through the midnight air.