“You are a scumbag who hurt my mom, “An Xiulan truthfully replied.

This actually made him laugh. He was happy that she wasn’t acting polite to him and genuinely expressing her real feelings to him. He saw her standing up and packing her luggage.

“What are you doing?” Lu Zhaolin couldn’t help but ask.

“I’m going back to my house, “An Xiulan replied.

“Why?” Lu Zhaolin asked in a panicked voice. “This is your home.”

“This is not my home. This is not my family. This is Lu Xuan’s family. And even he proved he is not my brother, “An Xiulan replied as she began packing her clothes into her bag.

“What did he do?” Lu Zhaolin asked. His son needed a beating, did he?_.

“He cheated me in a game, “An Xiulan replied, making him shake his head.

Lu Zhaolin kneeled on the ground and began doing sit-ups. “I will ask for your forgiveness. Don’t go. I will make sure you are happy here.”

An Xiulan gasped as he looked at her father doing sit-ups that she had a hard time doing in school. The cherry on the top was – he was even holding his ears.

“Father, don’t forget you’re a fifty years old man, An Xiulan deadpanned. “I know you are a scumbag but it’s too heavy a punishment for someone like you. Please stand up. If you want me to stay, get me a written apology from your mother. She must apologise for calling my mom bad names and provide me with emotional compensation.”

“What if you turn back on your words?” Lu Zhaolin retorted as he looked up at her. He wasn’t the country’s best lawyer for nothing.

“You can trust my words, ” An Xiulan replied.

“Words are not credible in court, ” Lu Zhaolin replied with innocent words. “You must write on the paper with your signature that you will stay once you get the written apology until your mom returns.”

“First get me a written apology and a self-reflection letter from your mom and compensate me for the emotional distress, ” An Xiulan replied, looking at him without fear.

“You will make a good lawyer, “Lu Zhaolin ended up saying with a smile.

“I will never become a lawyer, ” An Xiulan replied with an attitude.

“Fine, “Lu Zhaolin sighed. He should accept that the twin had no intention of inheriting his law firm. “What do you want in emotional compensation? Clothes? Shoes? Makeup? Extra pocket money?”

“What do you think I am? A materialistic baby?” An Xiulan asked with a huff. “Though extra clothes never hurt anyone. Never mind, I want you to attend family therapy with us to treat our dysfunctional family.”

Lu Zhaolin fell silent. He didn’t take her words seriously yesterday when she talked about therapy as he didn’t know what she was talking about. But now it seemed as if he had a gist of a problem.

“Can you elaborate what family therapy is in your words and why our family needs this?” Lu Zhaolin asked like a sharp lawyer he was. It wasn’t that he didn’t know the answer to this question. He just wanted to know what her objective was.

An Xiulan wiped her face with the sleeve of her shirt and took a seat on his bed and even asked him to sit near her. She took out her laptop and showed him the presentation that she had prepared to convince her parents to join family therapy in case they refused. She was thoroughly prepared for this.

She just wanted to treat this dysfunctional family. She was doing this for the original Xiulan who deserved peace in her afterlife. If the girl was seeing her family from above, she hoped that the girl would be happy to see her family together.

Wasn’t it weird how everyone cared about almost everyone but had such poor and pathetic communication skills?

An Xiulan showed her father the first slide of the presentation. “Father, by family therapy, I mean our family should seek counselling together. I’m not including Grandma, Auntie and Xiaobao. I’m talking about mom, Lu Xuan, you and I.”

Taking a deep breath, she went on, “Don’t you think our communication skills suck so bad? You couldn’t even say a word to us without overthinking about it several times? Our relationships with each other are not normal. We need to explore further to come to a common ground where all four of us could co-exist without harming each other mentally or emotionally.”

Lu Zhaolin looked at her as if he didn’t know what to say.

“We have to solve the problems existing in our family. But father, how will we solve the problems if we don’t even identify them? Family therapy will help us identify those problems, “An Xiulan said in a soft voice. “We four can’t sit in the same room without a conflict breaking out between us. I want our family to be a normal family. Lu Xuan wants the same but he didn’t know this yet. You know what? He doesn’t even know what he wants. He said he doesn’t like you but he misses you a lot. He is jealous of Gu Shangyan when you show the former more respect and care than him.”

“I know parents divorce all the time, “An Xiulan said with a shrug. “Lu Xuan might think that our family would have been normal if you and mom hadn’t divorced. But I think the impact would have been greater if you and mom had stayed married. She doesn’t love you that way and you don’t love her that way too. I think divorce all those years ago was the right decision but you both didn’t know how to handle it. And thus, the dysfunctional family we have today.”

“Most of all, father, I want to go to family therapy because my mom deserves closure. You have an amazing family without her but she is stuck bearing the consequences of the divorce and leaving Lu Xuan behind. I think it’s time you both identify your mistakes, accept them and move on. My mom deserves to move on.”

With this amazing presentation, she looked at her father and waited for his answer.

____

A/N: Most of you must think that An Xiulan is being to Adult-y in the chapter but what do you expect from her? she just wants a normal and peaceful family and if there is a way for her family to be peaceful and normal again, she would no leave stone unturned to do that.historical

Do you think it’s shameful to go to family therapy and accept that our family has problems?

Most people suffer in such dysfunctional families because they are ashamed of taking such a step.

Family therapy is not a cure but what’s not possible with hard and true efforts?