Chapter 11
The commotion was so loud that the Counselor arrived half an hour later.
Bailu sat opposite me, still maintaining her facade as a good, obedient student.
“Bailu, what happened?”
Bailu’s eyes were red, and her left arm was covered in bloody scrapes from her fall.
“I don’t know, Teacher. Xianxian hasn’t been in a good headspace lately. I wanted to take her to see a psychiatrist, but then she-”
My palms were sweating with nerves. “I’ll say it again: it’s Xu Yan and Duan Yan! They’re trying to imprison me!”
The Counselor’s expression went blank. Not just hers-everyone else in the room wore the same look.
They didn’t believe me at all.
“Teacher Zhang, I heard one of the students is having some trouble?”
Xu Yan’s signature voice drifted in from outside. A second later, he appeared at the door, dressed in a sharp suit.
His chin was slightly tilted up, half of his face bathed in light, his expression composed.
An invisible sense of pressure washed over me.
I could even see the amusement hidden in the depths of his eyes, as if… a cat were playing with a mouse trapped in a cage.
The Counselor immediately stood up. “I’m sorry, Professor Xu, I didn’t mean to disturb you. I have a student who says… you want to imprison her?”
Xu Yan looked up, his gaze sweeping over me as he gave a slight smile. “It’s you.”
“You two know each other?”
The Counselor grew tense, instinctively stepping in front of me.
Xu Yan nodded. “She came to the psychiatry department for a consultation a few days ago. The diagnosis was-severe delusional disorder.”
“That’s not true!” I stood up abruptly. “Xu Yan, you’re lying through your teeth!”
Xu Yan adjusted his glasses, his eyes filled with pity. “She’s a good kid. It’s a shame she suffers from mania.”
“I demand a different doctor!”
Bailu burst into tears. “Teacher, Xianxian has been taking sleeping pills for the past few days, and the dosage is getting higher and higher… Sometimes she even has rope burns on her body. Besides, she only met Teacher Duan once a few days ago. How could Teacher Duan possibly have designs on her?”
The Counselor’s gaze shifted from suspicion to concern.
“Xianxian, don’t get worked up. Let’s talk this through slowly.”
Xu Yan calmly offered a suggestion. “Teacher Zhang, for the student’s safety, perhaps you should consider discussing this with her parents and sending her to a psychiatric hospital for further treatment? Of course, if she’s uneasy, I can find another attending physician, and I’ll cover the costs.”
My parents had passed away long ago, and the aunt who raised me had cut off my financial support as soon as I turned eighteen.
I felt a chill run through my entire body. I finally understood why they were so comfortable letting me leave.
There was once a question: If a sane person is locked in a mental asylum, how can they prove they are sane?
The answer is: There is no way.
Xu Yan was an authority in his field. Once he diagnosed a patient, few others would have the courage to overturn his conclusion.
He had completely blocked my path of escape.