Return of the Antagonistic Lady Boss

Chapter 1141: Chapter 1113: Found the Breakthrough

"You’re right, it really works!" Akka wiped off the paint and looked up, giving him a big smile. After the two had been at odds for so long, seeing her smile so openly made Zheng Xu feel like he was in a different world.

Actually, when the two first met, this silly girl even gave him a ridiculous nickname, but she smiled at him quite sincerely, just like now.

Zheng Xu snorted arrogantly, "Nonsense, Xu never does anything he’s not sure of. Hurry up, we’re getting on the highway soon, and I’ll speed up."

"Yeah, yeah, drive fast, let’s go save Qian together!"

With this little favor, Akka didn’t find Zheng Xu as off-putting, though she didn’t particularly like him either.

The car drove towards Lishi, and as it was now late, Qian returned from the market, bundled up, holding a dog leash, with a basket clutched in her mouth containing a large cabbage.

This scene drew glances from others in the neighborhood, with some neighbors stopping to greet Qian, while observant ones teased her with a few remarks.

"No class today, huh? First time I’ve seen you buying groceries."

This beautiful and wealthy lady was quite the enigmatic figure in the courtyard, rumored to be a student, yet neighbors never saw her buying groceries, as if she was someone who wouldn’t touch household chores. What happened today?

"I won’t be as busy in the future, I’ll cook more." Encouraged, Qian decided to change her image, feeling that if she didn’t find something to do, she might fall apart.

"So, is your little housekeeper getting laid off?"

Qian pulled the corners of her mouth, pretending not to hear such probing comments disguised as jokes.

Let them think what they want; her Xiaoqiang had developed post-traumatic stress syndrome, and from today she would let herself go.

Returning home, Qian started contemplating with the recipe she bought, pretending to be an ordinary housewife, pretending her husband was a reticent businessman, pretending all the hurt never happened.

This was a pathological reaction, but Qian refused to acknowledge it.

She took the cabbage, and with a chop, it rolled while the knife accidentally cut her hand, but fortunately, it wasn’t too deep, just a graze.

Blood gushed out, and Qian felt the pain after a few seconds, she applied a band-aid and continued.

She remembered to sauté the pan, added oil, then the vegetables, but she didn’t control the heat well, and when the pan got too hot, it caught fire. As she tried to extinguish it by adding the vegetables, even before they hit the pan, she smelled burning hair, realizing her hair draped to fit the housewife image had been singed at the ends, and hurriedly used her fingers to pinch it, but burnt some and scalded her fingers.

The oil was too hot, and when the cabbage was added, it turned the oil black, sticking to the cabbage looking disgusting, uncertain if such food would be detrimental to health.

Qian, out of spite, turned off the stove and discarded the vegetables, looking at the mess she made in the kitchen, the piercing pain in her finger causing her composed demeanor to unravel.

She stood amidst the chaos, staring blankly at the disorder she created until Beauty nudged her with a whimper, snapping Qian out of her daze.

What exactly was she doing?

"I’m such a fool."

"Woof!"

Beauty rubbed her leg with its head, sensing something was off in Qian’s confused state.

Tears streamed down Qian’s face, "What am I doing? Did I think pretending to be a housewife would let me escape everything? Fact is, apart from being a doctor and saving people, I can’t do anything else, not even cook a decent meal. What good am I?"

Her current mood was likely akin to Yu Minglang’s mood now.

When the love between couples runs deep, their thoughts often synchronize, one person’s anxiety infects the other, Yu Minglang is now overthinking things, and Qian is affected by him.

Beauty couldn’t understand what was wrong with the couple, just knew the home felt different. It preferred the original home, even though the lady used to chase and frighten it, compared to the eerie atmosphere now; it missed the days of playing with the lady, then sneakily fed snacks by the man.

Qian kneeled on the floor, hugging Beauty, losing control saying, "I feel so useless, always thinking I lived more and gained experience than others, believing I had both love and career achievements but now I see, I’m not better than my past life. Thought I was a mighty tree, but when the storm hits, I’m useless, what’s the difference between me and the one who ruined him in my past life?"

Yu Minglang blamed himself for letting down a friend in the past, he agonized over not being able to fire a gun.

Qian blamed herself for not helping Yu Minglang in her past life and being powerless in this life; she agonized over not being able to use her medical skills to save him, failing at cooking a fine meal for him.

"I was useless in my past life, I didn’t recognize him as my benefactor, was foolishly kidnapped and saved by him. I should’ve noticed his issues then – wait a minute, he saved me?!"

Originally venting her breaking heart while hugging Beauty, Qian couldn’t voice these thoughts to anyone, only unfolding them to the dog. But as she spoke of this, a light suddenly flashed in her mind, something wasn’t right!

Suddenly, Qian remembered and leapt to her feet, rushing to the tiny bedroom, leaving Beauty spinning twice in fear.

It’s over! Is its lady crazy, crying one minute then excited the next? Is human behavior always this strange...

After rushing to the bedroom, Qian grabbed paper and pen, starting to form a timeline. She drew two temporal lines, one from the past, and one from the present.

Normally, there’s no need for this, but this timing coincides with Qian’s phase of madness from being overwhelmed due to Yu Minglang; better safe than sorry with a timeline.

On the timeline, she marked the times she met Yu Minglang, the events in their relationship, then compared both timelines.

In her past life, although meeting Yu Minglang was when she jumped in the river, he saved her, but their relationship truly advanced when she was kidnapped at the bar, and he rescued her.

Calculating the time, several years later compared to now, Yu Minglang’s personality had changed, suggesting his post-traumatic stress from the Balan incident in the past likely extends from now to several more years.

As Qian didn’t return in her past life, Mr. Li’s handover timing is uncertain. If they found a doctor, maybe it started from this year; if not, they’d wait until Mr. Li passed away, triggering Balan’s cargo-snatching and pursuit by Yu Minglang.

But the timing isn’t vital, what matters is Qian thought of one thing.

Her pen circled the event where Yu Minglang saved her.

This is it!

She found a breakthrough!