Jiang University, Taoyuan Conference Hall.
After Liu Xining and the others returned, they found Pan Jingchen still lying in bed asleep, and couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Although there was an assistant left in the room to look after her, Liu Xining was still quite worried before, fearing that if Pan Jingchen woke up and found everything around her unfamiliar, she would be scared to emotional breakdown, and at that time, one assistant wouldn’t really be able to handle it.
She placed the takeaway thermal lunch box on the coffee table, then said to the female assistant named Liu Qian:
"Qianqian, I had someone bring you some food back, you should go eat something, you’ve had a long day, and rest early after eating, I’ll watch over things here."
"Oh, okay, thank you, Sister Ning."
Liu Qian was Pan Jingchen’s life assistant, and her usual work involved taking care of Pan Jingchen’s daily routine and life.
Seeing Liu Xining doing what needed to be done at this moment, she naturally felt quite grateful.
Liu Qian wasn’t very old, probably around twenty-five or six, and had never understood depression before. Now that Pan Jingchen has suddenly been struck by this illness, honestly, Liu Qian feels quite unsure inside.
If she hadn’t worked with Pan Jingchen for many years, and if Pan Jingchen were not so generous and kind to her assistants, never treating them like servants at the slightest whim, she might have slipped away when Pan Jingchen got sick.
After Liu Qian left, Liu Xining walked over to close the door and locked it, then took out a clean set of clothes from the suitcase she carried, planning to take a shower first.
She had been driving all afternoon and been busy non-stop until now, and she was already very tired, just wanted to quickly shower and rest well in bed.
Because Pan Jingchen was still asleep, Liu Xining didn’t dare to take too long in the bathroom, hurriedly took a shower, didn’t even wash her hair, and came out wrapped in a thick bathrobe.
After leaving the bathroom, she hurriedly came to the room and saw that Pan Jingchen had already woken up somehow, she was curled up with the quilt in the corner, head down, shoulders trembling.
Pan Jingchen was silently crying!
Liu Xining’s heart trembled, hurriedly walked over, reached out and hugged her, comforting, "Chenchen, what’s wrong? Was it a nightmare?"
"Yes, I dreamt of my mom again."
Pan Jingchen leaned her head against Liu Xining’s chest, tears like broken pearls falling from her face as she murmured,
"Summer came, my mom wanted to buy me a little dress but couldn’t afford it, so she went to ask my dad for money. But he not only refused but also beat and scolded my mom! I, I was so scared, I could only hide and cry..."
"Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid!"
Liu Xining took a tissue from the side, carefully wiped the tear stains off Pan Jingchen’s face, and said softly,
"These are just dreams, they’re not real."
"It’s not fake, when I was little, my dad really used to beat my mom like that."
Pan Jingchen shook her head, said quietly,
"My mom passed away so early because my dad killed her. He inherently favored boys over girls and didn’t want us, mother and daughter, to live well, wishing we’d die sooner."
"..."
Liu Xining had read a lot of books about depression recently, knew that Pan Jingchen was being stubborn here, always suspecting others of wanting to harm her.
Thinking about it, she said, "Didn’t you tell me before that your mom died of illness? And when she passed away, your dad even cried his heart out."
Pan Jingchen sighed, said, "He might have had feelings for my mom, maybe he felt he was too useless, couldn’t earn money to support the family."
Pan Jingchen’s words now somewhat contradicted what she said before, but Liu Xining wasn’t surprised at all, that’s the duality of thinking typical of depression patients, on one hand trying to understand, on the other absolutely suspicious.
A depression patient once said they felt like living in two worlds, wandering between them, very painfully.
And that’s the state Pan Jingchen is in at the moment.
Pushing aside all chaotic emotions in her mind, Liu Xining gently patted Pan Jingchen’s arm, smiled, and said:
"Let’s not talk about these now, you haven’t eaten anything all day, you must be hungry, right? I brought you your favorite food, why don’t you try it and see how it tastes?"
Pan Jingchen shook her head, said, "Forget it, I don’t want to eat."
"How can you not want to eat without knowing what it is?"
Liu Xining ignored her, walked over to the coffee table, took the thermal lunch box, and as she opened it, said to her,
"Besides, how can you not eat, eventually you’ll be too weak to even get out of bed.
I was hoping you’d go to the movies with me one day, Willie Cruise’s new film ’Black Swan’ is about to hit theaters!"
The thermal box was quite effective, even after nearly an hour from the Seventh Dining Hall to the hotel, the tomato stewed oat noodles inside was still steaming hot, an enticing sour aroma wafting up with the steam, making Liu Xining swallow involuntarily.
"Chenchen, guess what I brought you?"
Liu Xining moved the box in front of Pan Jingchen and said with a smile,
"This is your absolute favorite tomato stewed oat noodles, remember how you always said your grandma’s oat noodles were your favorite? Come try this and see how it tastes!"