LRAB Chapter 32 Tomoko Suzuki
Chapter 32 Tomoko Suzuki
The garden clearly refers to Xiaolan's matter.
In order to deceive everyone and allow Ran to stay in Beika Town with peace of mind, Hayashi Shuichi, Kisaki Eri, and the Mori couple agreed on a story: no matter who asked about Ran's whereabouts, they would lie and say that she had temporarily gone abroad to relax.
"I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do about this." Lin Xiuyi shook his head helplessly.
Fortunately, Sonoko didn't really blame him. She just grumbled a few times and then returned to her usual lively self.
"By the way, sir," the girl suddenly leaned closer to Lin Xiuyi with a strange expression, "do you know my mother?"
"...Why do you ask that?" Lin Xiuyi's heart skipped a beat, but he remained outwardly calm.
"It was the day before yesterday. After I got home, I told my mom about Xiaolan going abroad, and I mentioned you too."
Sonoko tilted her head, her face full of confusion.
"When Mom heard your name, Uncle, her expression changed immediately. She stared blankly for a long time and then asked me a lot of questions about you!"
"Didn't you ask her why?" Lin Xiuyi's tone remained gentle, but she was becoming increasingly nervous.
"I asked! Mom said you used to be her therapist, and you helped her a lot back then!"
As Sonoko Suzuki spoke, the doubt on her face gradually turned into curiosity.
"Uncle, this is the first time I've heard that my mother saw a psychologist before!"
"She's always been so strong-willed and can handle everything on her own, so how could she have psychological problems?"
"By the way, sir, why did she come to see you? Was something bothering her?"
Sonoko pressed for details with a gossipy look on her face, clearly curious about her mother's past.
"This involves patient privacy, and I cannot disclose it."
Lin Xiuyi shrugged and answered sincerely.
"As a psychologist, I must protect my patients' privacy and cannot disclose their information casually. I hope you can understand."
"Can't I tell you?" Sonoko asked, slightly disappointed. "I thought I could finally find out why Dad and Mom have been at odds for so many years..."
Seeing the girl who had been so lively and cheerful just moments before suddenly become so worried, Lin Xiu felt a pang of heartache.
"Are there problems in your family relationships?"
"It's not just bad! It's absolutely terrible!"
Sonoko slumped over the table, muttering weakly, "My parents, it's bad enough that they live separately most of the time, but when we do meet, they're like strangers—no, worse than strangers!"
She paused, her tone becoming increasingly aggrieved.
"Strangers at least exchange a few words when they meet, but these two either argue the moment they see each other, or they ignore each other like enemies!"
"In all my years, I've never seen them chat properly, go shopping, or even eat together like other couples!"
"What's the reason?"
Lin Xiuyi gently patted the girl's shoulder, softly comforting her.
"Everyone has a reason for arguing, let alone couples. Your parents must have had something to do to cause this, right?"
"I think it's because Mom is too domineering?"
Sonoko looked up, her eyes filled with exhaustion.
"From my earliest memories, my mother always made the decisions in our family, big or small, and my father never had a say."
"Later on, even matters concerning the company and the Suzuki Group were all decided by my mother, and my father was just a figurehead."
The girl frowned, recalling memories of her childhood.
"I remember once, I hid outside the door and overheard my father questioning my mother, asking why, even after he had already demoted Uncle Jirokichi to a sinecure, she still wanted to drive him out of Japan and prevent him from coming back."
"My mother was so angry that she yelled and said that my father was being unreasonable and taking the side of outsiders. The two of them argued fiercely and almost came to blows."
"Another time, I overheard my mother talking on the phone with someone, saying that she didn't marry my father for love, but only for the benefit of the Suzuki family. She said that if she hadn't not given birth to a son, she wouldn't have suffered so much injustice in the Suzuki family."
"I don't even know if my parents still have feelings for each other..."
……
These words seemed to have been suppressed in Sonoko's heart for a long time, and she never had the chance to say them.
Now, when Lin Xiu asked her, she blurted out everything like beans spilling from a bamboo tube.
After she finished speaking, her eyes turned a little red.
As Lin Xiuyi listened to Sonoko's complaints, he also recalled the scene when he met Suzuki Tomoko, Sonoko's mother.
That happened more than 20 years ago, when Lin Xiuyi was still in college.
The two first met in a secluded bar.
When Lin Xiuyi saw Suzuki Tomoko sitting alone at the bar, drinking one glass of whiskey after another, she looked forlorn and looked somewhat haggard from the alcohol, but she still couldn't hide her mature and beautiful temperament.
On a whim, he went up and struck up a conversation.
Lin Xiuyi intended to use his psychological knowledge to provide psychological counseling to this beautiful woman who was clearly troubled, and incidentally improve his favorability towards her, but unexpectedly, he caused Suzuki Tomoko's emotions to completely collapse.
Clutching her wine glass, she buried her face in her hands on the bar and wept uncontrollably, pouring out her grievances.
It turns out that Suzuki Tomoko was in an extremely difficult situation in the Suzuki family at that time. She had to face all kinds of accusations and criticisms every day, and the reason for all of this was that she had not given birth to a male heir for the Suzuki family.
For a large conglomerate like Suzuki, the male heir is crucial to the conglomerate's future and succession.
Because of this, Suzuki Tomoko faced a lot of questioning and harassment from Suzuki family elders and relatives every day. They said she was incompetent, that she had let the Suzuki family down, and some even suggested that Suzuki Shiro divorce his wife and marry a woman who could have a son.
But having a child is not a one-person affair.
Although Tomoko Suzuki has had a strong personality since childhood and always wants to be number one in everything.
In Japan, women already have a low social status, and she married into a wealthy family with strict rules.
Even the most assertive personality had to be tempered and made more cautious after entering the Suzuki family, for fear of attracting more criticism if she didn't do something right.
Suzuki Tomoko's husband, Suzuki Shiro, has an overly easygoing personality.
When he inherited the Suzuki Group, he already owed these relatives a lot of favors, and in order not to offend them, he dared not stand up for his wife.
Perhaps in his heart, he was also blaming Suzuki Tomoko for not giving him a son, which made him unable to hold his head high in the family.
As time went on, Tomoko Suzuki naturally became increasingly depressed and became a regular at that secluded bar, using alcohol to numb her senses and drowning all her pain in the spiciness of whiskey...