Hearing what Shi Yu said, the Wang Family couple swallowed hard; this girl was too sly, she actually didn’t bring the whole notebook.

"The investor said he’ll act as guarantor for your family, but he wants seventy percent of the shares in your hands. You should be satisfied."

"Only leave thirty percent for my family? Heh, is that helping me or swallowing us whole? So our four years of friendship are only worth this little? No way, I’ll tear it up!" Shi Yu made as if to rip it.

"Wait! Hold on!" Mr. Wang relayed what was said on the phone, still wanting to nag a few more words, but Shi Yu grabbed the phone from his hand and spoke directly.

"You talk price with me."

"My boss says at most he’ll give you another five points, let you live out the rest of your life peacefully. Think it through, it’s just a notebook, your family is already like this, your father has run off. If you don’t transfer the shares, you won’t get a cent and you’ll still get dragged into lawsuits."

"Your boss? You’re just a pawn, what gives you the right to talk about a family business as big as ours with me? Have your boss call me."

"Little girl, don’t talk so big. I might just be a pawn, but my words still carry some weight. I have full authority on this matter. How about this, I’ll give you another two points, take it or leave it. If you don’t want it, go look for someone else, see who dares to take on such a huge pile of crap like your family’s!"

"Forty points, take-it-or-leave-it price. I have to secure my future life. Half an hour from now we meet at the ’Meet-Up Bar’ downtown. I’ll hand over the goods on the spot, you bring your lawyer to give me guarantees. If you dare play games, I’ll tear up the notebook. I don’t trust anyone right now."

"Fine, it’s a deal."

Shi Yu hung up, gave the Wang Family couple a slight smile, though her eyes were icy cold.

"Many thanks for your ’gracious hospitality’ this time. I’ll remember you."

With that she left, taking Qian’s little notebook with her.

"Tsk tsk, and here I thought she and that Chen Xiaoqian were so close." Mrs. Wang looked at the empty sofa with a sigh; the way Shi Yu had sat there haggling over price reminded her of Shi Yu’s father. Like father, like daughter—if the family hadn’t gone broke, this girl would also be a real piece of work.

"Kids from that kind of family, how many of them are actually simple? Compared to money, so‑called feelings aren’t worth a dime. All that scheming and backstabbing between them has nothing to do with us; we just wait to get paid..."

On the other side of the monitor, the man who’d been on the phone with Shi Yu turned to ask Mu Hualili, who was drifting around in white.

"Doctor Mu, do you think her reaction is normal? Why did she insist on seeing my boss specifically? Could there be some trick?"

"Good, very good," Mu Hualili said seriously.

"What?" The man was stunned.

"The little piece of small‑leaf red sandalwood in her hand is really good—full of golden ’stars’, the oiliness and overall quality are outstanding, clearly a fine piece. I’ve got something similar myself; although mine is made from a larger piece of wood than hers, men’s and women’s wrists are different thicknesses, and bigger isn’t always better. What she’s wearing suits her quite well."

"..." We asked you to analyze the person, who asked you to comment on the bracelet she’s wearing?

If it weren’t for Mu Hualili’s impressive background, the man really wanted to flip the table.

"Doctor Mu, about her—"

"What’s that got to do with me? Aren’t our accounts settled? I’m only responsible for the hypnosis; I don’t care about whatever dirty mess you lot pull afterward."

The man held back his temper, remembering the boss’s order to treat this Doctor Mu with respect, so he forced a smile. "Do you think her reaction today is normal? Is it related to your hypnosis?"

"Yes and no. If you say it is, then it both is and isn’t; if you say it isn’t, then it isn’t, and also is."

"...Could you say something I can actually understand?"

Mu Hualili pointed his prayer beads toward the man. "I did indeed plant a suggestion in her subconscious, telling her not to trust anyone. So she won’t shoot the arrow until she sees the rabbit—no notebook without seeing your boss—that’s theoretically normal. But considering that bracelet on her wrist, I’d say she and Chen Xiaoqian are in a kind of ’either very good or really bad’ relationship, with absolutely no middle ground. So everything is up in the air."

Do top‑tier shrinks all talk this convoluted?

The man tried to figure it out for a long time and still couldn’t really grasp what Hualili meant. He only managed to get the first point: right now, Shi Yu was like a startled bird and didn’t trust anyone.

They’d spent so much money to hire this psychological expert; what he said should be reliable, right...

The man politely said goodbye to Mu Hualili and went off to prepare the money for the deal with Shi Tou.

Mu Hualili shook his head and muttered to the air, "The subconscious is thirty thousand times more powerful than consciousness. But thirty thousand times still isn’t always enough... The bracelet’s already on her wrist—how do you know it can’t beat thirty thousand times?"

The money was already in hand; Hualili hadn’t really been interested in watching this boring little revenge farce anyway.

But thinking of the outcome of that ’thirty thousand times’, Mu Hualili still decided to go see whether the result matched what he had in mind. It’s not like he had anything better to do.

...

In a café, Shi Yu sat in the corner. She’d ordered a glass of juice but hadn’t taken a sip; she just stared at its bright color.

She thought of Qian blowing up the dorm walls into a complete mess, thought of the days when the two of them had sprinted through the mountains together.

And out of nowhere she thought of a love poem.

In the years to come

Two youngsters

One stunned time itself

One gentled the years

Friendship and love always have something in common. That Qian who had dazzled her green years—after today it would be "in the years to come," one year after another...

Shi Yu’s eyes grew damp as she thought. She stared at the juice in a daze and didn’t even notice when someone sat down across from her.

"Miss Shi."

A middle‑aged man in a suit was sitting opposite her. He had a slick face that screamed shrewdness. He put the case in his hand on the table and gestured politely to Shi Yu.

"No lawyer?" Shi Yu asked.

The man patted the case and flashed a toothy smile.

"I’m a lawyer by training. There are some documents I’ll need Miss Shi to sign next. Before that, you don’t mind if I check the goods, do you?"

Shi Yu handed over the notebook. The man took it with both hands and carefully opened it.

"Where’s the other half—huh? What are all these?"

The first page was indeed what Shi Yu had shown him before, but as he flipped further, he started to get shocked.

They were indeed one case file after another, but none of them looked like serious case notes!

The handwriting was Qian’s all right, but what she wrote was a complete mess.

For example, there was a page on marital counseling, and the "introduction" was just one line.

Bitches and dogs belong together forever; barbecue and beer, the more you eat the more you want.

This, this counts as a case file?

"Qian has this habit—she likes to add her personal emotional comments in her notebook. She told me once that during work she treats every client objectively, but outside work she still has her own likes and dislikes."

Qian’s inner world was way richer than she ever showed.

She often jotted down little rants. The professional parts were usually super concise, but the snarky comments always hit the spot.

The man even saw that on the page about some sex‑addicted patient she’d written: "My husband loves me too much and wants it several times a night, what should I do?"

Then on the back she’d actually written an answer: "Of course you forgive him!!!"

She’d even used three exclamation marks.

The man’s mouth twitched again and again as he read.

"You’re sure you didn’t grab the wrong one?"

"This is her carry‑around notebook."

"Why is the first page so proper? And why is there only contact info for patients on the first page? What’s all this nonsense behind it? Did you bring me a fake?"

"Maybe she was slacking off the first couple of years. You’ll definitely be interested in the back half."

"Then where’s the back half?"

"Right here."

The man was just about to say, "Hand it over," when he suddenly realized something was off. Shi Yu was sitting across from him without opening her mouth, so whose voice was that—

He turned around. Qian was standing there holding half a notebook, with Liumei on her left and Qiuqiu on her right. Off to the side, Bai Jin was snapping away with a DSLR camera.

No wonder she was a professional reporter—the angles she picked were absolutely perfect.

Bai Jin walked over and nodded at Shi Yu. Shi Yu unfastened her bracelet and handed it to her. Bai Jin twisted the clasp twice, and a tiny pinhole camera came off.

"Qian, can I really have this?" Bai Jin asked, holding the pinhole camera.

"Of course. Aka’s got plenty of these toys."

Qian waved at the man who was frozen like a statue. Hey, scumbag who tried to act cool and screw me but got busted instead—how you holding up?

Seeing Qian show up, Shi Yu smiled faintly at her. "Did I do okay? Is my acting better than back in college? Did I cooperate with your ’lure the snake out of the hole’ plan?"

Qian nodded approvingly. "You played this undercover in our little Internal Affairs drama just fine. When we get back, I’ll add a chicken leg to your lunchbox."

The man finally snapped out of it. He pointed at Qian and Shi Tou in shock. "You—you two, you set this up together?!"