20 years of restarting life

Chapter 3821 Liu Zhonghe

"I've had this since I was a child, but it wasn't very noticeable back then. Occasionally, it would hurt when I overworked my brain or when I was feeling down. It would get better after I calmed down, slept, or drank some wine. But as I've gotten older, it's become more severe and frequent, gradually turning into a sub-healthy state that can only be relieved but not eliminated. I've had many tests done, taken a lot of both Chinese and Western medicine, and tried aromatherapy, massage, and physical therapy. Except for Western medicine, which can temporarily suppress it, or drinking alcohol, nothing else has been effective. In the past few months, in addition to headaches, it has also affected the nerves in my face, causing me to lose control of my facial expressions."

Fear was evident in Shen Youli's eyes, but the soft lines of her pretty left half of her face were stiff and unable to effectively express her inner emotions. Meanwhile, the muscles on her right side twitched from time to time, creating an unbalanced and comically absurd scene with a strong contrast.

For a profession that requires presenting a personal image to the public, failure to manage facial expressions has already sealed her career.

Moreover, it's not just in one's career; in future interpersonal relationships, even when buying breakfast at a breakfast shop, an uncontrolled facial expression can easily lead to all sorts of unpredictable troubles and misunderstandings.

This is a life-threatening situation for a young and beautiful girl like Shen Youli.

Just like Shan Cai in Zhao Chang'an's previous life, she dropped out of school to go into business after losing a leg. Her remarkable business acumen made Shan Cai Education very successful. However, even a veteran employee like Zhao Chang'an, who had worked at Shan Cai Education for more than ten years, had only seen Shan Cai from afar a few times, let alone up close.

He never gives interviews, dislikes showing his face in public, and always drives his car to the chairman's private area in the underground parking garage before taking the company's private elevator directly to his office floor.

She almost never inspects the various branches and training schools, often misses the year-end meetings, and communicates and interacts remotely via screen sharing. Even twenty years later, when technology is advanced enough that her legs could be fitted with alloy joints, she doesn't know why she has never had them done.

These may all stem from deep-seated inferiority and stubbornness, as if using all pride and self-esteem to build a solid shell for oneself, hiding inside and refusing all change.

“In the past few months, I have visited several hospitals at home and abroad because of my facial nerve problems. All the tests came back normal, and they couldn’t find the cause at all. Not long ago, I asked someone to find Master Liu. He said that my facial nerve had been overloaded for many years and was starting to lose control. This is completely different from the pathology of facial paralysis and is very difficult to treat. He speculated that medication or minimally invasive surgery would not be effective, but facial massage or acupuncture might be effective. He mentioned that you, Brother Zhao, used acupuncture to awaken Dang Chenying and suggested that I have you take a look.”

The Master Liu that Shen Youli mentioned is Liu Zhonghe, who had previously seen Dang Chenying. He is a top-tier TCM expert in China who doesn't actually practice medicine but rather serves as a member of an expert group for the health of important figures.

The fact that Shen Youli was able to persuade this person to take a look at her is quite significant. Just like Ke Yaqing and Zou Huanan have such a good relationship, Zou Huanan might be able to persuade Liu Zhonghe to take a look at him and his family, but he couldn't ask Old Liu to take a look at one of his friends.

Zhao Chang'an nodded and said, "I'll talk to Wenye about this tomorrow when I have time. Give me your phone number, and I'll call you if I need anything. As for whether we can give it a try, I can't say for sure right now."

Zhao Chang'an exchanged phone numbers with Shen Youli and said to Ke Yaqing, "Sister Yaqing, why don't you go take a shower first? I also need to use your bathroom to wash off the smell of alcohol. I'll give you a massage for a while."

The words already implied that Shen Youli should be driven away.

Although Shen Youli is truly beautiful, among the dozen or so women in the room, apart from Ke Yaqing, who has the graceful beauty of a peony, her appearance could absolutely overshadow the other women, but those girls were all top-notch women with excellent figures.

One might not be as good as Shen Youli, but two of them would be about twice as happy.

This means that Zou Xiaojun cares so much about this girl, but beautiful women are no longer a scarce resource for Zhao Chang'an, so it's not worth letting a woman affect his life.

Moreover, Zhao Chang'an, who had drunk a little wine, was actually quite eager and looking forward to giving Ke Yaqing a massage later. Last time on the plane, Zhao Chang'an volunteered to massage Ke Yaqing, and Ke Yaqing fell asleep comfortably. But in reality, Zhao Chang'an was looking at this slender, beautiful woman so close to him, her hands holding hers.

Pressing her delicate skin and smelling her perfume, the excitement inside me far outweighed the calm on my face.

At first, I simply massaged her temples and acupoints on her head in a very ordinary and routine manner, then the acupoints behind her ears, the back of her long and elegant neck like a swan, and then I started rubbing her warm, translucent, and plump little ears and cheeks.

When the hand reached the cheek, a young man's rough, large hand gently caressed the exquisitely beautiful woman's palm-sized, smooth, alabaster-like face. The implication of probing and teasing was quite clear.

However, Ke Yaqing was already a little dazed from the massage. Seeing that she didn't object, Zhao Chang'an moved his hands along her face to her pointed chin, then to her neck, collarbone, and shoulders, until he had massaged the upper two-thirds of her neck.

This massage was a pleasure for both Ke Yaqing and Zhao Chang'an; that's why they say working together as a couple makes the work easier.

However, if there is an outsider watching over them, they will inevitably seem a bit hesitant and unable to operate the equipment properly.

"Xiao Shen will stay here and sleep with me tonight. We'll be talking about dance tonight."

Ke Yaqing said to Zhao Chang'an, "After Lao Liang and I got married, we always slept in separate rooms. Before that, I slept with Liang Lian until she went to high school. My insomnia and headaches can't affect her sleep and studies anymore. I also like to sleep with these young people. Talking about work and things makes it easier to fall asleep. Although their schedules are generally regular and good, most of them still go to bed later than me, so it won't affect them. Often, after I fall asleep, they are still reading books and magazines."

Ke Yaqing's family has a large collection of books, mostly of the kind that women like to read, and she also subscribes to many fashion magazines.

Although the girls in the troupe are beautiful, have good figures and temperaments, it would be easy for them to go out and earn money. However, if they were to live an honest life, they could only rely on a little over a thousand yuan a month to make a living. Unless they came from wealthy families, they were generally not very well off. Therefore, these fashion magazines were very attractive to them.

As a group full of beautiful women, almost every unmarried woman in this troupe has very high expectations for her future partner due to their competitive nature.

Besides practicing dance, putting on makeup, performing, shopping, and having fun, they spend their days gossiping and engaging in subtle competition, exchanging tips and precautions on how to snag a rich husband.

You can't even dream of meeting these beautiful women in KTVs and clubs. Even if a wealthy patron spends tens of thousands of yuan a night, it's impossible to get these girls to work in those places.

In this era, families that can afford to cultivate dance skills from a young age are generally urban intellectuals or working-class families with good income and benefits, and the parents are also more visionary and open-minded.

At this age, they haven't yet formed their own systematic outlook on life and values. They are greatly influenced by their parents and elders and don't have a strong desire for money and material things. Instead, they pay more attention to their social status and the opinions of those around them.

(End of this chapter)