WBLNOFY Chapter 35

Chapter 35 – Extra 3: A Chilled New Year’s Eve Dinner (Part 3) -END-

Extra Story 3: A Chilled New Year’s Eve Dinner, Part 3

Novel Title: We Best Love: 永遠の１位 (We Best Love: No. 1 for You)

Original Script Writer：林珮瑜 (Lin Peiyu)

Author：羽宸寰 (Yu Chenhuan)

Japanese Translator 1：李佳歆 (Li Jiaxin)

Japanese Translator 2：夏海 (Natsumi)

English Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)

Protagonists: 周書逸 (Zhou Shuyi -MC) & 高仕德 (Gao Shide -ML)

*Please read at knoxt.space, the original site of translation. TQ*

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Patients with emotional disorders exhibit weakened emotional responses to external stimuli. They lack confidence and self-worth, and often do not feel shame or guilt. Yet, they are usually unaware of their own emotional impoverishment.

Ordinary people, when they see someone crying beside them, feel a tightening in their chest. When a friend falls ill, they feel sympathy.

But someone with an emotional disorder perceives everything as though it has nothing to do with them. They won’t hand a tissue to the crying person, and even if it’s a family member lying sick in bed, they won’t so much as glance their way. Even when they themselves are in pain, they cannot reach out for help.

To ordinary people, such a person appears emotionless and cold. They are labeled as abnormal, shut out by the towering wall of emotion, and left unseen as the psychologically impaired patients they truly are.

“Director, please calm down. Apart from medication, the most important thing is…”

The head of psychiatry glanced toward the young man sitting on the bench, his face cold and unreadable. After a moment’s hesitation, he sighed and said—

“As you may know, Director, medication is only a supplementary treatment for emotional disorders. It is not a fundamental cure. The most crucial thing is to reduce the sources of psychological stress. For example… expectations regarding academic performance.”

The Director’s Family Affairs…

As both a staff member and the attending physician, he had heard bits and pieces about the hospital director’s family situation.

He had always felt pained knowing that such an outstanding child had been driven to this point — but as an outsider, there was nothing he could do. Never in his life had he imagined that this boy would one day step into the psychiatry department as a patient in need of treatment.

“What kind of nonsense is this! My son is not ill! My son is not sick!”

Pushing the attending physician aside, the mother rushed toward Pei Shouyi. She grabbed her son by the arm, trying to drag him out of the consultation room.

“Director, please calm down. Please listen to me—”

“What stress are you talking about? My son is brilliant! There’s no way he could be under stress! Don’t make me laugh. And you call yourself a psychiatric expert? The idea that my son has a problem is absurd. Impossible. Absolutely impossible!”

Like a madwoman, she tried to pull her son up from his chair while shouting angrily at the doctors in her own hospital.

“Shouyi, come with me. I’ll take you to another doctor. You don’t have an emotional disorder. It must be something physical — that’s all it can be.”

Pei Shouyi coldly brushed his mother’s fingers off his arm and slowly stood up. He lifted the corners of his mouth — a gesture he had learned from observing others — and imitated the kind of smile ordinary people made as he looked at his attending physician.

“Doctor, thank you… for explaining the answer to the question that’s been in my heart.”

For years, he had lived like a clumsy actor, struggling to play the role of a ‘normal person’.

When was he supposed to smile?

When was he supposed to feel sad?

When should he say words of comfort?

When should he hand a tissue to someone who was crying?

Through constant practice, his sharp mind memorized each of these behaviors one by one.

And today — at last — the medical answer to his lifelong ‘abnormality’ had finally been given.

That answer was—

Emotional Numbness.

Emotional Disorder.

“Mom, thank you for raising me. When you get home, please tell Dad this too: thank you for raising me to be someone who can live on his own.”

A look of relief, as if all his doubts had finally been resolved, appeared on Pei Shouyi’s face. He gently returned his mother’s grasp and showed her a practiced smile.

“Shouyi, what are you saying? I don’t understand.”

His mother quickly sensed something was wrong — something terrifyingly wrong — in her son’s demeanor. The boy standing before her now was completely different from the son she’d always known.

“What you and Dad have always wanted is a son who’s always number one, right? I’m sick of it. I don’t want to keep pretending anymore. Starting today, I’m leaving home to live on my own. I’ll transfer money to your account every month to cover the costs you’ve spent raising me.”

As long as he lived under the same roof with parents who cared about appearances more than anything, he knew he would never be able to become a normal human being.

He would live forever in fear — fear of no longer being the perfect son, fear of being humiliated before others, fear of never again meeting his parents’ impossible standards.

Hearing her son’s words, his mother’s face went pale. Then she snapped and shouted, her voice trembling.

“You’re just a college student! Do you really think you can get through school on your own? Do you think you can get a good job with a good salary in the future? What can you possibly do without your father and me?”

“Maybe you’re right,” he replied quietly, “but at least then, I can live like a human being, not like a slave elephant.”

“An elephant? What are you talking about?”

“Mom, do you remember our family trip to Thailand when I was little? We saw an elephant there — the one that was chained up and forced to work for tourists.”

Even when its thick skin was rubbed raw and infected by the chains, the elephant had to keep working. If it didn’t, it would be mercilessly whipped.

“I’ve always been like that elephant,” he said softly. “Always trying to save face for you and Dad, carrying the weight of your ever-growing expectations. But I’m tired now. I don’t want to carry it anymore. Dad once said, ‘I don’t need a son who isn’t excellent.’ Now that even the doctor has diagnosed me with an emotional disorder, I guess to him, it’d be better if that son was dead.”

He spread his arms wide and embraced his mother — the elegant woman who always walked with confidence in her tailored suits and high heels.

“Mom, I’m going now. Take care of yourself.”

Then he let go and turned toward the door.

“Shouyi… Shouyi, please… come back…”

“Mom, there are only two months left until New Year’s Eve. Finally, I’ll be able to finish the New Year’s dinner while it’s still warm. I’m glad.”

With those words, Pei Shouyi opened the door and stepped out of the warmly lit, colorfully decorated consultation room.

From the other side of the slowly closing door came his mother’s screams — her voice filled with desperation and pleading.

“Don’t be ridiculous! Pei Shouyi, come back! Come back!”

***

After that, he moved out of the house he had lived in since childhood, rented an apartment, and made it his home.

Being a prodigy and a student at T University’s medical school, he had no trouble finding work as a private tutor. Parents gladly paid high hourly rates, pleased at the thought that their own children might one day become T University medical students under Pei’s guidance.

With the income from tutoring, he completed medical school, passed the physician’s exam, and obtained his license. Later, on the recommendation of a senior, he took a position as the school doctor at a certain high school.

“Waaah — doc, stop—!”

“Try fighting me again! If you’ve got that much courage, don’t start crying here!”

“Ugh…”

A scuffle that began with a student from another class had escalated into a large brawl. One by one, the boys who’d been involved sat obediently before Pei Shouyi and received treatment from the school doctor — who showed no mercy.

“Keep the wound out of water for two weeks. If it gets worse, I’ll smack you. Got it?”

“Got it. Got it.”

“Aren’t you going to say anything else?”

“Thank you, doctor.”

“Get out!”

“Y-yes — thank you so much, doctor.”

Having finished treating them, the boys dashed out of the infirmary. While everyone fled, one kid — like a car driving the wrong way down the street — walked back in carrying a freshly opened cup of instant noodles. He wandered into Pei Shouyi’s space, beaming with a youthful grin, and asked happily,

“Do you want some instant noodles?”

***

～The University Infirmary

As he looked at the chipped mug sitting on his desk, Pei Shouyi found himself remembering the one who had broken it. Back when he worked as a school doctor at a high school, there had been a student named Yu Zhenxuan.

Not only was the boy unafraid of him, he would often sneak into the infirmary and secretly eat instant noodles hidden inside the anatomical model. No matter how many times Pei told him to stop, it was useless.

“I wonder if that kid has grown up properly,” Pei Shouyi murmured with a faint smile.

He gently placed the mug back into the drawer, picked up his bag, locked the door, and left the university infirmary.

[End of Extra Story 3]

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*Afterword (by the Author): 

This is my second time adapting one of Peiyu’s scripts into a novel. As a fan, the greatest joy for me was being able to experience the story ahead of everyone else. As expected, this work once again delves into the question of “What is the true nature of love?” — a story that truly grips the heart.

When I first read the script and character settings, the one who drew my attention the most was Pei Shouyi. And when I learned that his role would be played by Ray Chang, I felt an even deeper affection for the character.

A family of doctors — and a model student admired by all.

Yet, to his parents, he was valued only by the numbers on his report card…

It reminded me of a close friend I had during my school days — someone who also came from a family full of doctors.

If over eighty percent of your relatives — your grandparents, parents, and siblings — all graduated from medical school, and more than half of them were from the prestigious T University Medical Faculty, then when the time came for you to choose your own path, imagine being told that any school other than T University’s medical program was not an option.

What kind of person would you become?

The phrase “It’s for your own good” is one of the most hated words among children, according to online polls. How many parents, I wonder, have used those words to slowly suffocate their children’s hearts?

Because of this theme, I decided to expand on Pei Shouyi’s past in Extra Story 3. Having never been truly loved, he learned to shut down all of his emotions and eventually developed a psychological illness — one that, even as a doctor himself, he could not cure.

But ever since Yu Zhenxuan appeared, Pei Shouyi’s world began to regain warmth, color, and the irreplaceable presence of someone dear.

I am deeply grateful to Peiyu for bringing Yu Zhenxuan into Pei Shouyi’s life — just as Zhou Shuyi came to realize his feelings for Gao Shide, and as Liu Bingwei did for Shi Zheyu…

The message this drama seeks to convey is simple yet profound: Love transcends gender — love is simply love.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to ‘Result Entertainment’ for delivering this warm, beautiful drama in the cold season; to the screenwriter, for creating such rich and compelling characters; and to my editor Jun, who has always stood by me.

And finally, a special thanks to Pei Shouyi. Because of your existence, many people who have gone through similar pain will find comfort, courage, and hope.

I truly hope you enjoy this novel adaptation. As for me — I’ll keep pushing toward the deadline for ’We Best Love: Fighting Mr. 2nd’. (*bows*)

May 2021 be a year full of happiness for all of you.

📝 Yu Chenhuan, heading toward the deadline together with a dear friend

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*Translator’s Note: That’s the end… Sayounara! I’ll be going back to translate the darker themed novel now. -K

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