Hearing Si Moshen's voice, Uncle Shen and Qingmian turned around simultaneously.
They saw the man standing upright on the steps, his gaze fixed on Qingmian without a ripple.
Meeting his eyes, Qingmian took a deep breath and instinctively wanted to turn around and run away.
Then, as if she had thought of something, she stiffly nodded after a long while. Immediately afterwards, she looked up at Si Moshen and asked, "Do you have time now?"
Si Moshen stared at her intently for a while before nodding. "Yes."
"Let's talk in the study."
After saying that, Si Moshen didn't look at Qingmian again. He averted his gaze and turned towards the study on the third floor.
Qingmian silently followed behind him.
Before long, the two of them walked into the study one after the other.
"Take a seat," Si Moshen said, pointing to the chair beside him.
Hearing this, Qingmian sat down.
She didn't say a word and hung her head as if she was deep in thought.
Si Moshen wasn't in a hurry. Instead of urging her, he leisurely fussed with the tea set in front of him.
This was a new hobby he had discovered recently.
China's tea - ceremony culture was extremely rich, but since he had always lived in Europe, he wasn't very familiar with it.
The tea set in front of him was the one left by his father.
He had heard that it was a gift from Aunt Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan seemed to know more about China than he had thought.
Perhaps he could shift his investigation into Jiang Zhirou's biological father towards China.
Si Moshen wasn't very familiar with using the tea set yet. Carelessly, he got burned.
The teapot in his hand suddenly rolled onto the tea tray, making a tinkling sound.
Qingmian found the noise strangely annoying and instinctively frowned.
It was rare for Si Moshen to be bad at something. Looking a bit embarrassed, he ignored the things on the table, coughed twice, and then fixed his gaze on Qingmian.
"The performance is in three days. Instead of rehearsing, you suddenly come to me. Is there something urgent?"
Hearing this, a look of uneasiness flashed across Qingmian's face. Then, as if she had made up her mind, she suddenly asked, "Do you understand hypnosis?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, Si Moshen was taken aback. Then, he looked meaningfully at the woman sitting not far from him.
"Why do you suddenly ask this?"
Qingmian didn't beat around the bush. She directly told Si Moshen what was on her mind.
"Can hypnosis bring Jiang Zhirou back?"
Qingmian didn't use words like "appear" or "wake up".
She used "come back".
In the past two days, she had looked up a lot of information about multiple personalities. She knew that there was no medicine to completely cure it, but hypnosis could.
The only drawback was that only the main personality could be retained, and all the other personalities would disappear.
Si Moshen's gaze towards Qingmian became increasingly complicated.
It was a long while before he asked, "What do you want to do?"
"Will hypnosis... be painful?"
Instead of answering Si Moshen's question, Qingmian asked timidly.
The disappearance on a spiritual level was also disappearance.
It wasn't only physical death that was called death.
Qingmian had never been hypnotized before. She instinctively felt scared and fearful.
It was the fear of the unknown.
The expression on Si Moshen's face became more and more complicated.
After hesitating for a moment, he replied, "Why do you want Jiang Zhirou to come back?"
Hearing this, Qingmian's eyes flickered. She lowered her head and said, "There's no reason."
It seemed that she didn't originally belong to this body.
The real owner of this body was Jiang Zhirou. She was afraid that the longer time passed, the more reluctant she would be to leave.
But Jiang Zhirou would come back sooner or later.
Qingmian didn't want to wait until that day, didn't want to suddenly and unexpectedly disappear without even having the chance to say goodbye to Chi Yu.
It was good now.
The timing was just right.
As long as Jiang Zhirou came back, Si Moshen would surely do his best to help her. Only when Jiang Zhirou appeared could she draw on Si Moshen's powerful influence.
Only then would Kai's family probably push him out.
Whether it was Chi Yu, Chen Yu'an, or her beloved friends, they could all return to their original peaceful lives.
Kai was indirectly brought into their lives by her.
She had the responsibility and obligation to make everything return to the way it was at the beginning.
"Are you sure?"
"Have you made up your mind?"
Meeting Qingmian's determined gaze, Si Moshen still couldn't believe it and asked again.
Qingmian nodded emphatically.
She knew that Si Moshen must have a way to bring Jiang Zhirou back.
But he had never done so... Maybe he wasn't as hateful as she had thought...
But now it didn't matter anymore. She would soon disappear completely.
As if she had never existed.
Si Moshen opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the end, he said nothing. He took out his phone. Before making the call, he took a deep look at Qingmian.
"Are you sure you've made up your mind? Once it starts, there's no turning back."
Qingmian took a deep breath and nodded emphatically again.
"I've made up my mind."
Then, Si Moshen averted his gaze and made the call.
...
...
Meanwhile, at four o'clock in the early morning in the imperial capital, at Yuhaiwan.
Chi Yu was lying on the sofa, still holding Xiaoju in his arms. He didn't know when he had fallen asleep.
In the huge living room, a soft meow suddenly sounded.
Then, Xiaoju jumped off Chi Yu and walked towards the photo of Qingmian placed beside the TV.
She rubbed her head against the photo frame.
With a "click", the photo frame fell over, making a crisp sound.
Chi Yu on the sofa couldn't hear it. He closed his eyes tightly, his eyebrows knitted, as if he was having a nightmare.
Xiaoju drooped her tail, jumped onto the sofa, and rubbed her head against Chi Yu's leg.
Chi Yu leaned back on the sofa cushion. Suddenly, he felt as if his cheek was gently caressed by a wisp of hair, along with that familiar faint fragrance.
"Qingmian..."
Chi Yu suddenly opened his eyes and instinctively reached out his hand, trying to grab something.
There was no one around.
It was empty.
There was nothing.
Xiaoju meowed and jumped onto Chi Yu's lap.
Only then did Chi Yu regain his senses. He reached out and stroked the kitten's head. The moment his hand touched the real object, the uneasiness that had just welled up in Chi Yu's heart gradually subsided.
He took out his phone and opened the chat box with Qingmian.
Then, his gaze fell on the time in the upper - right corner.
Four o'clock in the morning.
It was dawn where Qingmian was.
Chi Yu's finger slid on the screen. He found a few cute good - morning emojis and sent them.
[My dearest Mianmian must have started rehearsing by now.]
[Don't just focus on rehearsing and forget to eat properly.]
After typing this, Chi Yu paused for a moment. After thinking for a while, he decided to tell Qingmian about the treatment.
[Ji Bai has come up with a new treatment plan. After your performance is over, we'll go back together.]
Looking at the message he had sent on the screen, the sense of panic that had just disappeared suddenly welled up in his heart again.
Looking at the chat box on the screen, he typed a few more words.
[Call me back after rehearsal.]
Immediately followed by a kitten - kissing emoji.