Opening Her Heart

The next few days were especially grueling for Liu Mei.

Her husband, Zhao Jianguo, grew more and more grim-faced each day because of their daughter. At home, he either smoked in silence or sighed and groaned. On the rare occasions he spoke, he either scolded them or said, "I told you so."

Their daughter, Zhao Xiaoyu, was worse than ever. She barely spoke to them, and whenever she came home, she locked herself in her room, slamming the door with an earthshaking bang. The air in the house seemed to have frozen solid, pressing so hard on their chests it hurt.

The business card bearing the name "Wu Man" and a phone number was like a tiny branding iron in Liu Mei's pocket, burning her every so often. Several times, she picked up her phone and pulled up the number, her finger hovering over the call button, only to put it down again in hesitation. A psychological counselor? Wouldn't that be making a mountain out of a molehill? What would people think if they found out? And... how much would it cost?

The turning point came on a Thursday night.

Zhao Xiaoyu came home late yet again, returning with her schoolbag at nearly eleven, a faint smell of smoke clinging to her. Zhao Jianguo exploded on the spot, and father and daughter erupted into the fiercest argument they had ever had. Xiaoyu even screamed, "I hate this family! I hate you both!" Furious, Zhao Jianguo raised his hand, but in the end he didn't bring it down. Instead, he slammed his fist into the wall and stormed out, slamming the door behind him. No one knew where he had gone.

Liu Mei couldn't calm her husband or hold her daughter back. All she could do was watch helplessly as her family fell apart. She slumped onto the cold living room floor and wept silently. Despair, like an icy tide, swallowed her whole.

In the darkness, she fumbled out her phone with trembling hands, its screen lighting up her tear-streaked face. She hesitated no longer and, almost on instinct, dialed the number.

The phone rang for a long time before someone answered. Wu Man's gentle, clear voice came through, slightly hoarse from having just been woken, but without a trace of impatience. "Hello?"

"Teacher Wu... Teacher Wu..." The moment Liu Mei opened her mouth, she choked up, unable to speak. All that came out were sobs she couldn't hold back.

"Hello. Don't rush, take your time. I'm listening." Wu Man's voice seemed to have a magic of its own, soothing her runaway emotions.

Haltingly and incoherently, Liu Mei described the clash that had just taken place, pouring out all the hurt, fear, and helplessness she had bottled up for so long. "...I can't do anything anymore... Teacher Wu... I really don't know what to do... This family is falling apart..."

"I understand, I understand." Wu Man listened patiently, responding softly from time to time. "What you need now is to calm down. If you're willing, we can meet tomorrow and have a proper talk. You choose the place, somewhere you feel comfortable."

The next afternoon, Liu Mei and Wu Man sat down in a corner of a quiet book café. Sunlight streamed through the window and fell across the natural wood tabletop. Liu Mei ordered a pot of fruit tea and cupped the warm cup in both hands, drawing a little warmth from it.

Wu Man wore a warm-toned sweater that day, making her look even more approachable. She had brought no notebook or recording equipment, and simply watched Liu Mei attentively.

Perhaps it was the relaxing setting, or perhaps Wu Man's professional manner put her at ease, but the dam holding back Liu Mei's desire to talk burst completely. She held nothing back, telling her how well-behaved and adorable her daughter had been as a child, and how she had become a different person after starting high school: her grades had plummeted, and she had begun talking back, lying, skipping class, wearing makeup, and hanging around with friends who dressed in an unconventional way.

"When I tell her off, she won't listen at all. She's even fiercer than I am! All Old Zhao knows how to do is hit and scold her. He nearly hit her last time, and now Xiaoyu won't even call him Dad... Boo-hoo... I said this couldn't go on, that the more he hit her, the farther apart they'd grow, and he shouted at me, saying I was the one who spoiled her... I'm caught in the middle, Teacher Wu..." Liu Mei's tears fell into her teacup. "Last night, she smelled of smoke... She's only in her second year of high school... What's going to happen to her..."

Her shoulders shook as she wept, as though she meant to cry her heart and lungs out.

Wu Man listened quietly, neither interrupting nor passing judgment. She simply offered tissues at the right moments and occasionally responded in the briefest of words: "Mm-hmm," "That really is difficult," "You've been through a lot," and "I understand your anxiety." Her eyes were full of acceptance and understanding, making Liu Mei feel that all her emotions had been accepted.

Only when Liu Mei's crying gradually subsided into quiet sobs did Wu Man slowly speak, her voice as steady as ever. "Sister Liu, thank you for trusting me enough to tell me all this." She paused, then continued in a more professional tone. "From what you've described, your daughter is going through a very typical phase of adolescent psychological rebellion."

"Children at this stage are physically close to adulthood, but psychologically they're still far from mature. They crave independence and autonomy and are desperate to break free of their parents' control and prove they've 'grown up.' As a result, their peers have far more influence over them than their parents do. What parents see as care and discipline may well seem like restraint and rejection to them."

Liu Mei listened, stunned. She had vaguely understood these things, but had never heard them explained so clearly from a professional perspective.

"And Mr. Zhao," Wu Man continued, her tone free of blame, "works in a rather unusual environment. For a long time, he's been in a setting that demands a high degree of authority and where orders must be obeyed without question. Professional habits like that can easily be carried into the home. With a child going through a rebellious phase, commands, threats, and even hitting and scolding are not only ineffective; they can provoke even stronger resistance, utterly destroy the parent-child relationship, and drive the child into opposition, or even... toward peer groups that may have a negative influence."

Every word struck Liu Mei's heart like a hammer. She suddenly thought of her daughter's strangely dressed friends with their shifty eyes, and of that barely perceptible smell of smoke. A chill crept up her spine.

"Then... what should I do? Should I just let her do as she pleases?" Liu Mei asked urgently, as though grasping at a straw that could save her life.

Wu Man shook her head. "Of course not. But you do need to change your strategy. Establishing clear boundaries is important, but a bridge of communication is even more important than those boundaries. What we need to consider isn't how to 'defeat' her, but how to 'connect' with her. For example, you could try expressing your care and concern in a letter to avoid face-to-face conflict. Or, when she's calm, you could try to learn about the things she's interested in, even if you don't agree with them..."

She hadn't offered a quick cure, but a new way of thinking. It gave Liu Mei a glimmer of hope, yet it also seemed incredibly difficult.

"But... Old Zhao won't listen to any of this... He thinks it's all just spoiling her..." Liu Mei said dejectedly.

"A family is a system," Wu Man said gently. "A child's problems are often a manifestation of problems within that system. Change takes time, and it also takes effort from both of you. Perhaps you could try communicating with Mr. Zhao differently? Instead of complaining and blaming him, express your fear and helplessness as a mother. For your daughter's safety and future, ask if he can temporarily set aside the way he does things at work, stand with you, and find a solution together?"

Liu Mei sat in silence, carefully turning those words over. For the first time in a long while, she felt that someone truly understood her predicament and had offered what seemed like a workable path forward.

Time slipped by unnoticed, and the pot of tea had gone completely cold.

As they were leaving, Liu Mei instinctively took out her wallet. "Teacher Wu, how much do I owe you for today? I can't let you go to all this trouble for nothing."

Wu Man smiled and gently laid a hand over hers. "Sister Liu, this wasn't a formal consultation. We were just chatting as friends. If you feel this kind of conversation helps, we can make a formal appointment next time, and I'll give you my studio's friends-and-family discount."

Her words were both professional and warm, dispelling the last of Liu Mei's doubts about whether this was a "money-making scam."

When she stepped out of the book café, the evening wind brushed Liu Mei's face. She felt as though the great stone that had weighed on her heart for so long had been pried open just a crack, letting in a faint glimmer of light. She gripped her phone tightly; she had saved Wu Man's studio address and the number for formal appointments in it. This psychological counselor she had met by chance had become the only piece of driftwood she could grasp on the pitch-dark, desperate sea.