Return of the Antagonistic Lady Boss

"What kind of man suits me? Someone who looks up to me? Someone who is utterly obedient? I don’t need that; if I have the energy, I’ll just spend some money to hire a few male servants and have them do whatever I want."

"You didn’t understand what I meant. When I say suitable, I mean mutual affection, like between me and your brother. He’s willing to make concessions for me, which you can interpret as him being obedient to me. But this foundation is built on me seeing him in a positive light. Think carefully, is there a man who doesn’t come across as unpleasant to you?"

"I have many male friends around me, but they’re all just regular friends."

"Let’s do a process of elimination. Imagine the end of the world is coming, and you have a small boat. Your family and all your male friends are in the water. After bringing your family onto the boat, there’s only room for one more. Which male friend of yours would you want to bring up?"

"Can I kick Yu Laomao off? He swims well, probably won’t drown. And kick the big brother off too; he’s so fat he’ll definitely float. Kick Mr. Yu off as well; he flies a plane, doesn’t need a boat."

"...I’m grateful you’re kindly leaving me on the boat." Qian sighed. Communicating with artists requires learning reverse thinking.

"You can only bring one; tell me intuitively, who’s it going to be?"

"Hai Zhao."

Mingxi regretted her words immediately, chiding herself for speaking too hastily.

Qian was satisfied.

"That’s because we’ve played together since childhood. Don’t overthink it. Besides, such hypothetical scenarios have no reference value. You psychologists just love digging pits!" Xiaoxi said in frustration.

"You’ve played with many since childhood. Why specifically him?"

Qian was sure then that even if Mingxi wasn’t romantically interested in Hai Zhao, she certainly felt better about him than ordinary friends, at least there was some affection—meaning there was still hope for Comrade Hai Zhao!

"I just said it in passing, doesn’t count." Mingxi immediately denied it.

"Then why didn’t you randomly mention Sun Xia?"

Qian stabbed right into Mingxi’s heart.

Yeah, why didn’t she mention Sun Xia? Mingxi was puzzled too.

"Think thoroughly about this tonight. I won’t provoke you now. I’ll analyze your growth experience professionally. You were born into a family where you were adored by thousands. In your youth, you had a crush on someone—"

"I didn’t have a crush! It was just a typical teacher-student relationship! We never even held hands!"

"Who’s the doctor here? Me or you? I say you had a crush, so you did. Why else would you wander off to become a child star? The question is, did you love him or your music? Admit it, Mingxi—you turned music into a person and invested too much emotion into it. Everything that followed was inevitable. Let me put it bluntly: was this crush real or fake?"

Oh dear, why do these lines sound so familiar? Qian remembered she’d said almost the same thing to Hai Zhao.

These two, tut-tut, their thought patterns really are similar.

"Chen Xiaoqian, what are you saying? What’s this about real or fake liking? If you like something, you like it—there’s no real or fake."

"See! Your reaction is just like his! This means there’s potential!" Qian realized that Mingxi’s reaction was just like Hai Zhao’s.

"Like whom?"

"Who it’s like doesn’t matter; what matters is analyzing the issue. It’s a teenage affection problem. Many parents alarmingly guard against early teenage romance like it’s a crime, fearful their kids might make mistakes. The concept of early love is seen as a monstrous flood."

Yet how many kids spend their youth dealing with abortion issues?

It’s true, but not overly common. Those cases usually involve parents not guiding properly in advance. Most pregnant teenage girls face various degrees of parental neglect; even without an abortion, there would be other issues, but early love shouldn’t shoulder full blame.

If someone had positively guided Mingxi back then, she wouldn’t face such serious psychological barriers, maintaining a restrained attitude toward marriage and love.

She won’t admit her crush on Sun Xia, yet a supposedly beautiful and pure feeling twisted into severe psychological harm, causing her to hold back when she should be enjoying love.

Instead of saying she tortured Hai Zhao, rejecting his gifts symbolizing loyalty, it’s better to say she was punishing herself, trapped in that past affection unable to move forward.

Thus poor Hai Zhao became collateral damage.

"If it’s not right, should we encourage it? Chen Xiaoqian, would you hope your daughter at thirteen likes someone and ruins their life?"

"Your upbringing emphasizes responsibility so heavily that after things happened, you’ve been trying to make sense of it all, using a justified mindset to unravel the causes. But after going around in circles unsuccessfully, you turned it on yourself."

"I don’t understand your words."

"You do understand, you just refuse to think about it now. Once you clear your thoughts, resolving your psychological obstacles will be simple. Back to your question about having a daughter in the future: she’d share love letters she receives in school with me; she’d tell me when a boy asks her out to play. We would view the little stirrings of adolescent boys and girls calmly. It’s natural for a person to develop interest in the opposite sex at a certain stage. It’s human instinct. As long as parents guide correctly and don’t interfere mindlessly, 99.99% of kids can handle emotional issues appropriately. It’s a simple matter, made complicated by clueless parents."

Just because parents slap labels or severely criticize kids, these labels often become reality, causing unnecessary trouble.

Humans at a certain stage naturally develop affection for the opposite sex—this is completely normal. When puberty begins, interest in the opposite sex awakens; like Mingxi towards Sun Xia. But sometimes, this emotion is immature, different from adult relationships.

"Is saying these things to me now even useful?" Mingxi asked sarcastically. She felt even a deity couldn’t save her.

She just has a rejection towards marriage and love, so even finding the cause won’t change anything.

"How could it not be useful? If you’re interested in changing this state, I can help you. Your issue lies with Sun Xia. Allow me to treat you, and maybe within a year, you can face your true feelings again."