Fortunately, I Met You

Before Cheng Xi could respond to Shen Wei, Shen Wei’s mother, who had followed Cheng Xi in, anxiously replied, “He’s dead. Completely dead!”

“Dead?” Shen Wei stilled, and then started laughing loudly. “He’s dead? Hahaha, is he finally dead?”

And then she suddenly started crying loudly, “He’s a murderer, he wanted to kill me! Why didn’t you guys believe me? Why?”

As Shen Wei monologued, she gritted her teeth and stared at everybody in the room. Her eyes were slightly discolored, and her normally beautiful face now seemed sinister and frightening. Her demented expression scared Shen Wei’s elder sister-in-law so much that she shuddered and slid back as she tremblingly said, “If she goes insane, she’ll kill someone. Why not… why not send her to the hospital?!”

Shen Wei suddenly stood up, and her sister-in-law was so scared that she let out a shriek. Cheng Xi turned around and tried to push everyone else out, but just as she was about to close the door, Shen Wei’s father stopped her. “You alone? Why don’t I stay here too?”

Cheng Xi twisted her head to look at Shen Wei, and then tacitly approved of Shen Wei’s father’s suggestion. In that time, her mother also took the opportunity to squeeze back into the room.

She wasn’t reassured about her daughter’s condition.

Glistening tears were still dripping from Shen Wei’s face, but she was laughing while standing on the bed with one hand on her hip and the other pointing at them. “A madman, a lunatic. Kill him!”

She normally liked to be clean and pretty, but she was unabashedly wearing yesterday’s dirty and creased clothes, her hair in a complete mess. Shen Wei’s parents had two sons and a single daughter, and they loved her as dearly as could be. But they didn’t expect that their daughter, whom they had raised with all their heart, would end up like this.

Shen Wei’s mother had to bite down on her hand to keep herself from crying out, and her father was just standing there, dazed. He might have considered her earlier condition a fluke, but was no longer able to do so after hearing her shout about killing someone while turning in circles to try to find a weapon. 

“Let’s send her to the hospital.” Shen Wei’s father said even as tears fell from his face. “I’ll make the call.”

Cheng Xi said nothing as she walked up to hug Shen Wei, who was getting ready to jump off the bed and head outside. 

Shen Wei struggled forcefully against Cheng Xi’s arms. “I’m going to kill you, Fu Mingyi! It’s better that we die together!”

She howled and continued screaming even after her throat went hoarse. Shen Wei’s mother was scared and tried to snap her out of her reverie. “Shen Wei! Shen Wei!”

She then turned to her mother and yelled, “Who’s Shen Wei? Who? I’m not Shen Wei! I’m not! Shen Wei’s dead! She’s dead!” Her expression looked as though she was about to rush out and murder someone.

Cheng Xi was almost unable to restrain her, but her father responded quickly, rushing over to also stop her. He was stronger than Cheng Xi, and the three of them fell off of the bed together.

Shen Wei was unable to break free from their grapple, and resorted to howling out like before. In the end, Cheng Xi had to roll up her sleeves. “Are you quite finished yet?!”

Her sudden outburst shocked Shen Wei’s parents, and Shen Wei’s mother even weakly tugged at her in protest. Cheng Xi ignored her, continuing to stare at Shen Wei. “Yes, Shen Wei’s dead! Killed by Fu Mingyi, that murderer! So are you going to go crazy because of that? Who’s going to benefit from this?”

“Shen Wei, I’m telling you, Fu Mingyi isn’t dead. He’s living happily and well. Even if you go crazy or die, he’ll still live well. After a few years, he’ll once again get together with another woman…… Either way, the two of them will go on to lead a happy life.”

“Are you satisfied with things turning out this way? To admit defeat like this? To give everything you have up to someone else? If you’re willing, then alright, I’ll satisfy you. If you want to die, then I’ll stab you. If you want to go crazy, then we have spots open at our hospital. And even if we didn’t, I’d leave you a spot!”

Shen Wei’s throat had long gone hoarse from yelling, and now, when she was provoked, she couldn’t say a single word. So, Cheng Xi’s voice easily dominated over hers.

She started yelling again, and Cheng Xi let her, only hugging her tightly and preventing her from moving. The three of them, Cheng Xi and Shen Wei’s parents, were prepared this time and handily suppressed her. 

Cheng Xi thought that Shen Wei would do what she did before: yell until she lost her voice. Then, without any other alternative, they would have to send her to the hospital. She didn’t expect that this time, Shen Wei actually gradually calmed down before finally laying her head against Cheng Xi’s shoulder and crying miserably.

Shen Wei cried as she collapsed, but not very loudly, possibly because she wasn’t physically capable of making that much noise at this point. But when Cheng Xi heard her soft sobs, she knew that Shen Wei had truly woken up this time.

She put her hand on Shen Wei’s back and slowly patted her, letting her cry her heart out.

When Shen Wei finished crying, Cheng Xi could see that Shen Wei had truly calmed down. Next, Cheng Xi had Shen Wei’s parents leave the room before closing the door, leaving only herself and Shen Wei in the room.

Cheng Xi poured her a glass of water. “Have some.”

Shen Wei gulped it down. Her emotions had finally stabilized, but she was still feeling a bit dazed and lacking her usual quick-wittedness.

Shen Wei remained in that state for quite a while before she seemed to jolt awake. She quickly covered her face as she laughed bitterly. “Cheng Xi, why was I so dumb? Why didn’t I notice anything? She said that she wanted to be my bridesmaid, and I even agreed. Ha, she didn’t want to be my bridesmaid! She just wanted to stand by his side in front of everyone! But I was so stupid that I agreed!”

Cheng Xi was stunned speechless by Shen Wei’s words. 

A bridesmaid, and even someone who could provoke Shen Wei into madness… Cheng Xi had a good idea who Fu Mingyi’s illicit lover was.

Shen Wei had once even wanted to help that homewrecker get together with Lin Fan. Given Shen Wei’s pride and arrogance, how could she not go crazy from anger?

Her best friend and her newlywed husband… Why did her life have to be filled with so much drama?

Shen Wei gritted her teeth furiously. “Why couldn’t he be with someone else? Anyone else! Why her?”

Cheng Xi silently listened on as Shen Wei kept ranting. Only when Shen Wei’s emotions started deteriorating did she interrupt. “I remember that you once said that a man who could be enticed away wasn’t your man. If he’s not yours, then why would you be upset over him?”

“No, you don’t understand at all!” Shen Wei looked at her with red eyes. “You’ve always excelled in everything you’ve done. It would have been fine if all you did was leave us in the dust in school alone, but you even have the same capability with men. Lin Fan, Lu Chenzhou… after losing one, you still had another. Both are wonderfully talented men, and you’d be happy no matter whom you ultimately chose. How could someone like you understand me?”

Actually, Cheng Xi was wondering why she had to have a man at all. She didn’t expect that Shen Wei’s unrestrained appearance was actually just a facade.

But she couldn’t say this, as Shen Wei’s emotions were about to go haywire again. Instead, Cheng Xi quickly said, “I can understand you.” She looked at her friend, who had almost gone crazy due to love, as complicated emotions filled her gaze. “It’s just that I don’t want to talk about my difficulties. You’re right. Lin Fan’s a good man, and I’ve liked him for many years. Didn’t you use to always ask me why I didn’t look for a boyfriend? It’s because I felt that no one was better than Lin Fan, and that no one understood me better than him!

“When he first returned, I thought that it was a miracle brought about by fate. I ignored my instinct and disregarded the timing and recklessly confessed to him. But then, a few days later, a girl came up to me and told me that she and Lin Fan were already in a relationship, and that the one he loved wasn’t the me of the present! She even sent me photos of Lin Fan acting intimate with other girls, and when I sent them to him, his response was that he had been set up. Do you know how disappointed I felt? Even if he had frankly said that he had fallen in love with her, it would have been better! When I later suggested breaking up, he didn’t show a single sign of wanting to fix the relationship! As for me, I had to hold myself back as I didn’t want to ruin my name as a psychiatrist. I didn’t even dare to curse him or shed a tear. Instead, I had to force a smile onto my face and say, ‘Ah, it must be fate. Please bravely seek true love! I’ll give you my blessings!’”

Shen Wei looked at Cheng Xi, shocked.

Cheng Xi continued pouring out her feelings. “As for Lu Chenzhou… I don’t love him, so no matter how good he is, what good can come out of it?”

When she said, “I don’t love him,” Cheng Xi felt a trace of discomfort surface in her heart, but she forcibly repressed this feeling. After telling her whole story, she looked at Shen Wei and concluded, “Do you understand now? I’m also suffering, and also feeble. Even worse, when a disaster befalls you, you can vent and go crazy, but I can’t. I can’t because I’m afraid of losing my job, and even more afraid that I’ll provoke the other party enough to become my patient. Then, I would even have to treat his illness, and having to deal with that…… honestly, it’s too terrible. I don’t want to live that kind of life.”

“Ha!” Shen Wei couldn’t help a laugh from slipping out, and as soon as she did, she hugged Cheng Xi again. She was still crying as she said, “Cheng Xi, I’m sorry. I didn’t expect that you would also have to deal with these things.”

Cheng Xi sighed, and then relaxed.

Comparing misfortunes really wasn’t a good thing, but it was a very useful method to ease patients, psychologically speaking.

Compared to someone else’s misery, especially an outstanding person’s, one’s own misfortunes usually didn’t look so bad after all.