Chapter 917 - 916: I Did Have Depression

After Shi Yuhuai finished his story, the previous comedic atmosphere vanished without a trace.

Mu Qiu was so upset she couldn’t stop wiping her tears. She’s the kind of person who reads novels till midnight and gets up to cry, so she can’t stand real life stories like this.

There happened to be only one or two tissues left, and the rest were cosmetic cotton pads or wet wipes. A quarter of the cotton pads on the table disappeared in no time, which was both amusing and absurd.

The protagonist of the story wasn’t too sad and even had time to ask questions.

"Is it time for the next question?"

Whose question is the next one? Who should bring up a very good entry point?

No one spoke. The director lowered his voice and asked another rather distressing question.

"Then let’s ask Guan Yu. Guan Yu, online rumors say you once suffered from depression. Is this true?"

Guan Yu wiped her tears with a cotton pad, still smiling, "You’re asking me? Then everyone better be prepared, I’m going to tell you a very cliché story. Hey, don’t act like you’re preparing for something uncomfortable, okay? It’s just cliché."

"Previously, it was said that I was a comedy actor with such few works that you couldn’t find me. Why was I unknown as a comedy actor? Because from the age of eighteen when I entered film school until I was twenty-three, a total of six years, I only acted in one comedy film directed by a classmate from the directing department at school. That was during sophomore year, taking advantage of having an uncle who was a director, I landed the role of the second female lead. Why only this one work? Because, during the rest of that time, I actually had depression and wasn’t qualified to act in any other works.

The cause was that after getting into that graduation work due to my uncle’s identity, I met a very handsome guy. Polite, pure, would blush just talking to a girl. At that time, I wasn’t like how I am now. Back then, I was still considered a good-looking girl.

A pretty girl and a good-looking boy collided, had shared topics, similar hobbies, even liked books by the same author, could casually run into each other at a milk tea shop, buying the exact same milk tea. The coincidence was almost unreal, not getting together was illogical. So, after sophomore year, we naturally started dating.

It was my first love, deeply fond of the feeling of being with a soulmate, talking endlessly every day, messaging constantly, any small holiday was a good time for surprises for each other. We were inseparable and carefree. But not every relationship remains beautiful. A cursed relationship is a kind of fate too, isn’t it? Being destined but not meant to be is also fate.

And so, I was dumped. He took many of my uncle’s show plans and new comedy scripts, transformed himself into someone else’s boyfriend, someone else’s screenwriter. Actually, break-ups are quite normal, right? But, my uncle’s whole team lost everything because of him and had to compensate the investors...

While recounting, her voice and tone remained casual and indifferent even when touching on painful points. She didn’t choke up or express sadness, just paused for a quite while.

Her expression was calm and serene.

As silence stretched till the director sighed, she continued, now in a very plain tone:

"At that time, my proud uncle fell from grace, and I lost my high and mighty status that I could leverage. All the money in the family was used for compensation. From comfortable, sweet life, I suddenly plummeted into a swamp. I became emotionally sensitive, afraid to go out or connect with the outside world, staying at home every day, watching my grim-faced family discuss whether they should let me drop out, or let uncle give up the film directing industry he had been so determined to make a name in.

In such an extreme change of life, I... I developed depression. Depression is actually quite easy to understand. It’s emotional depression, psychological imbalance, filled with negative thoughts about life. Under the influence of such emotions, patients suffer greatly, leading to symptoms like insomnia, hair loss, anorexia, eventually developing into self-harm and suicide."

"I didn’t dare to commit suicide, not even letting my family know my situation although they eventually did find out. Self-harm was a way to relieve my emotions, but it was also easy to discover. Without ways to vent, not wanting to meet people, I just stayed at home like that for years.

Honestly, depression isn’t like other illnesses where the physical pain is unbearable, but this illness competes with chronic illnesses in terms of duration and acute illnesses in terms of suffering, disfiguring people. Even with efforts to receive treatment, there’s still no sign of improvement. Gradually, the best years of my life vanished.

Until about half a year ago, through my own efforts, my condition basically improved, and I started traveling. During the trip, I heard from my uncle that he still wanted to give it another shot, having found a program type that hasn’t been tried in the domestic variety show scene, and wanted to give it a try. So, I came back again to see if we, as uncle and niece, still had any chance of making a comeback."

The story ended, and she clapped her hands together, sitting up straight, "That’s all, it’s just a story of a sensitive girl encountering someone unreliable, only that the poison left by the story took a bit long to remove.

Oh, I haven’t formally responded yet, have I? Yes, the rumor is true, the director is my uncle, and I did indeed suffer from depression. And this illness isn’t at all glamorous or fun, web users should absolutely not think claiming depression is cool."

A long silence fell all around.

Guan Yu sighed and contributed her cherished remaining half of wet wipes.

"Cotton pads can’t wipe snot, although wet wipes are a bit damp, they can still manage."

Li Yang and Shu Ran, closest by, silently took them.

Li Yang: "I once heard someone say, comedians are the most likely to be depressed in the industry, I didn’t believe it. You seemed so happy every day, hardly like someone with depression."

"From your handsome appearance, I can’t see you as naive sweet dumb either."

Li Yang: "..."

Really felt like tossing the wipe she used on her nose at her!

Guan Yu smilingly glanced at him, then shifted her gaze to others.

"Hey, hey, hey, everyone can ease up on the emotions. Compared to Brother Huai’s story, my story’s scale is still quite small, right? Not as distressing. Okay, even if it is distressing, constantly staying distressed isn’t the program’s purpose. Mu Qiu, how do you still have paper?"

Mu Qiu took out the last two sheets, giving one to Cheng Zhirang, squeezing the other until it crumpled.

Tears were still hanging from her eyelashes, as she rubbed her eyes and spoke muffledly:

"The last sheet. Done. I’m the type who can’t bear to read tragedy stories, listening to your stories means I won’t sleep tonight. There are already over three hundred thousand words of plot extension in my mind, all capitalized as tragedy stories."

"This isn’t called a tragedy story, this should be called the beginning of a happy life. The suffering is past, what awaits now is rebirth, isn’t it?"