Chapter 3

I only do two sets of each exercise. This is not a deep workout, it’s just to get myself into the state.

I completed my squats and leg presses, stretched my muscles with yoga, and examined myself in the gym’s mirrored wall.

My buttocks couldn’t be more perfect, they are big and round, but also very straight. The back groove and waist dimples are deep, dotted with crystal sweat beads. I am 175 cm tall, with long legs, slender calves and full thighs, which is not inferior to Miss Universe and supermodels.

My waist is very thin, and with my wide hips, I have a perfect waist-to-hip ratio. I look at myself from the front, back, and side, and I feel that no matter from which angle, I feel that I have curves and curves. Sometimes I am a little perfectionist, and this character is unconsciously reflected in my figure.

It’s almost time. In forty minutes, Brian will pick me up to attend Raymond ‘s charity gala.

I took a shower in the gym, blow-dried my hair, put on makeup, and put on black sexy lingerie, then black silk stockings. The stockings were dark black, semi-transparent and semi-reflective, and then I changed into the dark red cheongsam that I had prepared. Finally, I put my silk feet into the pair of black pointed patent leather high heels that my son had ejaculated into yesterday.

I grabbed my clutch, walked over to the mirror, and examined myself with the most critical eye possible.

The skirt of the cheongsam was very short, showing my legs wrapped in black silk stockings as much as possible. The satin of the cheongsam was very tight, constricting my waist and making my round breasts stick up high. My makeup was sexy, which contrasted with the dark red cheongsam, dark long hair, and snow-white skin, showing a hint of seductiveness.

No matter how you look at it, it’s perfect. And this feeling of perfection brings a sense of self-pleasing, which makes me feel comfortable.

I spun around in front of the mirror, admiring my erect figure from every angle, then picked up my clutch and headed across the gym toward the door.

In that testosterone-filled space, all the men turned to look at me, and a female coach greeted me: “ Abigail, are you coming to the dinner again?”

“A charity reception.”

“I’m so envious!”

A few boys gathered together and said to me:

“Who is that beautiful lady? A supermodel?”

“Oh fuck! Goddess.”

“What’s going on? Why is she so beautiful?”

“The legs are so beautiful, I can’t handle it.”

“She also wore black stockings, a cheongsam and high heels. That’s a crime.”

“Your butt is so lifted?”

“Big breasts.”

“She has such a beautiful face!”

“Don’t you guys come here usually? Don’t you know that sister?”

“Who is she?”

“Abigail!”

“Is she really a supermodel?”

“She’s a career person. She’s the editor-in-chief of a major media outlet. A supermodel? Even supermodels are not as good as her.”

“Does she have a Weibo account?”

“Yes, search for it yourself.”

“Found it, the editor-in-chief of Huanya Media, with millions of fans. No way? She has a son? I thought she was in her twenties.”

“So how old is she?”

“Let me see, 36 years old.”

“Oh fuck! I’m excited! I love these thirty- somethings the most.”

“Hahaha...”

“Wait a minute, look, his son is amazing.”

“Who is her son?”

“Let me see. Her son is a psychology genius. He is only eighteen years old and is already studying for a master’s degree in psychology at Lanang University.”

“No way, shouldn’t I be a freshman at 18? I was 20 before I started college.”

“You are mentally retarded.”

“What did you say?!”

...

I took the elevator down, walked from the first floor of the mall to the street square, and waited for Brian to pick me up.

As I waited, I remembered what I said to him in the morning.

After I got up, I left the stockings I wore yesterday on the sofa. I knew Brian would help me wash them, but he would inevitably play with them before washing.

I was a little curious and wanted to know what he smelled, so I put the stockings-covered feet in front of my nose and sniffed them.

The socks smell of roses and violets, along with the faint fragrance of my feet, no wonder Brian is addicted. But the most important reason is because this is my smell, right?

　　Brian got up early today and prepared breakfast for me. We ate and talked. I asked him: “How does hypnosis work? Why can hypnotists change other people’s minds?”

The reason she asked him was that Brian had recently published a paper on hypnosis in a core journal, and her mentor Hannah had also achieved great results in hypnosis.

　　Brian said, “Mom, the questions you asked just represent most people’s misunderstanding of hypnosis.”

“oh?”

“You must have been influenced by movies.” He smiled and said, “In movies, don’t hypnotists like to implant a clear and understandable piece of information into the hypnotized person? For example, memory, image, or sound. This is a big mistake. Hypnosis is science, not magic. It is impossible to implant information into the frontal lobe. Well, maybe the brain-computer interface in the future can do it.”

“I’m a little confused.” I said, “If this is not the case, then how does hypnosis work?”

“It relies on structural defects in the brain.”

I savored his words: “Structural defect in the brain?”

“Well, hypnosis is not just a psychological thing, it’s more of a physiological thing. Mom, do you know where our consciousness exists?”

“Prefrontal cortex? Frontal lobe?”

“Yes!”

“But what about the subconscious and emotions?”

“Hippocampus? Amygdala?”

“That’s right. The prefrontal cortex is in the front of our brain, behind the forehead, while the hippocampus and amygdala are in the middle of the brain, in the middle of the head. Consciousness and subconsciousness are not the same thing. They are just connected by nerves.”

I thought about what he said and said, “So when we fall asleep, the prefrontal cortex is shut down and consciousness disappears, while the hippocampus and amygdala are still functioning, so we are dreaming but cannot have real consciousness.”

“Mom, you are so smart. Can you figure out the principle of hypnosis now?”

“Hypnosis ... hypnosis wouldn’t be ... bypassing the frontal lobe and communicating directly with the organ that controls the subconscious mind, right?”

“You see, you understand it immediately, don’t you?”

“So ... it is impossible to implant memories into a hypnotized person or to erase their memories?”

“That’s not entirely true.” Brian ‘s face was full of confidence. “It’s just that the method of implantation is not like in the movies, where you say something to implant the content directly into the consciousness. Instead, it bypasses the consciousness and implants it into the subconscious by attacking the hippocampus and amygdala, so that the hypnotized person can imagine that memory and then replace the original real memory.”

I asked, “What is the specific form of implantation?”

“Anything is possible. It could be a piece of seemingly meaningless low-frequency noise, an abstract painting, a combination of colors, a song, a changing pattern in a crystal ball, or of course, like in the movie, a dangling pocket watch.”

I said, “But no matter what form it takes, they are all meant to bypass the barrier of consciousness and communicate directly with the subconscious, right?”

“Yes, I said you are too smart. You are worthy of being called the goddess of high IQ!”

I started thinking about what I could do to get around the shield of consciousness, but I couldn’t help laughing. After all, psychology and hypnosis are sciences that have been honed over hundreds of years. How could I figure it out in just a few thoughts?

I asked Brian, “If I want to consult an expert on hypnosis, who should I go to?”

“Would you like to do a report on this? You can interview my mentor Hannah.”

“No, I don’t do reporting. I just have a special topic that requires a truly professional consultant.”

“If we were to ask who is the most authoritative person in the country on hypnosis, it would of course be Raymond, a clinical psychologist at Eastern University.”

“I seem to have heard of this person, but I don’t have a deep impression of him.”

“What a coincidence! He’s holding a charity dinner at his own winery tonight. Professor Hannah received the invitation and she asked me to go on her behalf.”

“Can I come with you?”

“Of course, you will be very popular!”

I was standing on the side of the road and saw a brown coupe speeding towards me from a distance. That car was mine and the driver was my son Brian.

“Mom, get in the car!”

We got on the highway and headed towards the sea. We could see the sea from the highway and Raymond ‘s winery in the distance.

Raymond was a rich second-generation. His parents died in an accident when he was thirty years old. He inherited the family business but continued to engage in research in psychology.

He is 52 years old and 192 cm tall. Judging from the photo, he has an ordinary appearance, even ugly, but a strong body. He is a fitness man and has won awards in bodybuilding. He likes to wear a pair of glasses without prescription as decoration.

　　Raymond ‘s mansion was built in the vineyard, and it was already dark when we arrived.

The scale of the dinner exceeded my expectations. The luxury cars of dignitaries were parked in a long row on the road. Most of the men were in suits, and the women were dressed differently. There were some wearing evening gowns and long skirts, some professional women in business suits, and there were also many beautiful women like me wearing small dresses or cheongsams.

I saw the champion of the previous Miss World, several famous models, internet celebrities, and some young male actors. Walking next to them were several famous entrepreneurs, directors, and a founding designer of a luxury brand.

I walked onto the red carpet with Brian ‘s arm around me. In the distance, reporters were constantly taking pictures, and internet celebrities were live-streaming. I suddenly realized that almost all the cameras were pointing at me, so I waved to them and quickly walked into the mansion with Brian.

No photography is allowed here.

　　Raymond ‘s mansion is extremely luxurious and magnificent, reminding me of the mansion in “The Great Gatsby”.

We walked through the lobby and passed through a huge glass door into the fountain garden behind the mansion. Celebrities of all kinds gathered here, chatting and chatting under the dim and ambiguous lights.

“Brian?” A white girl came towards us. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, and was wearing a pink dress. She was very beautiful and dazzling. She said to Brian excitedly, “You are here too! Of course you are here. You and Professor Raymond are both studying psychology.”

The girl looked at me with a surprised expression and said, “Excuse me, are you Miss Abigail?”

“Do you know me?”

“I’ve been following you! I especially like your outfits! I also like your articles!”

She looked at me, then at Brian, and said, “You, you are...?”

　　Brian said, “I am her son.”

“Really?!! Miss Abigail has a son? Or you?!”

“Didn’t I tell you?” Brian introduced the girl to me again: “This is Jasmine, a Czech student, and I’m her ... study partner.”

“Study partner?” I was also a little surprised. I studied sex crimes and knew that study partners were a widespread topic on pornographic websites, usually black international students and Asian campus beauties. But I didn’t expect that my son’s study partner was a Czech beauty.

　　Brian explained: “ Jasmine didn’t give me a lot of trouble.”

　　Jasmine said to me,” Miss Abigail, can I borrow Brian for a while?”

I looked at my son and said to Jasmine, “Go ahead.”

　　Brian asked, “Where are you taking me?”

“I want you to meet my sister.”

“Your sister?”

I said, “If I’m not mistaken, Jasmine ‘s sister is Miss World Lillian, right?”

“You guessed it right!”

　　Jasmine was about to pull Brian away. Brian looked at me and I said to him, “Have fun.”

After the girl took Brian away, I planned to go look for my target Raymond.

I first found a few friends in the literary and art circles. Among them was a producer who regarded me as his muse. He was well-informed and told me everything, so I asked him about Raymond.

“Raymond really knows how to hypnotize!” He said, “I had headaches all the time before, and I thought it was a nerve problem. As a result, he hypnotized me, and I slept for about ten or twenty minutes, and then my head never hurt again. He told me that I was under too much pressure.”

“Where is he now?”

“Abigail is stressed too?”

I smiled and said, “I’m planning on doing a video show on hypnosis.”

“That would be a big hit, but you can’t ask Raymond.”

“Why?”

“He is too low-key and never accepts media interviews. If I hadn’t attended his charity dinner before, I would never have imagined that there is such a person in the world.”

“Thanks for your advice, but I still hope to hear him reject me himself.”

A co-founder of an Internet company who came over said,” If Abigail goes to him in person, maybe Raymond will agree!”

A newly debuted actress came to talk to the producer and heard our conversation. She said, “I heard that it’s hard to see him at the party. He always comes out at the end.”

“Why?” asked the pretty girl with her.

The producer joked, “Because there are too many people with headaches in the world! He’s afraid he won’t be able to see all the doctors!”

The Internet CEO said: “I think there are too many people suffering from insomnia, and they all need hypnosis.”

The two girls laughed. The actress introduced her female companion to the producer. The girl tried hard to hint that she would sleep with the producer as long as she could get a role in the TV series. The actress herself wanted to meet the Internet CEO. But both men wanted to talk to me more. But I wanted to meet Raymond right away.

After chatting with them for a few minutes, there was a commotion in the crowd and I noticed that many people around me were looking behind me. I turned around and saw Raymond.

His sturdy figure of 1.92 meters tall is really eye-catching, with broad shoulders and a solid chest. Even though he is wearing a white suit, it is easy to imagine how well-developed his muscles are.

I know why he always wears a pair of glasses without prescription, because his face is a bit fierce, no, very fierce, like a beast. It was not until he took out the pair of gold-rimmed glasses from his suit and put them on that the fierce feeling gradually gave way to a scholarly temperament.

Walking next to him was a beautiful woman in her early 20s. I had an impression of her. I had seen her at Milan Fashion Week. She was the first model for a fashion brand. Today she was wearing a short golden tassel skirt, revealing a pair of supermodel long legs.

I thought, how can I get around all the people who want to see him, and the supermodels who are holding his arm, and have a long, uninterrupted conversation with him? But I saw him looking around, looking for something, repeatedly apologizing to people who tried to chat with him, and then finally found me.

He looked at me from afar, identified me carefully, then whispered intimately to the supermodel next to him. The supermodel let go of him, and he walked straight towards me.

I was a little surprised when he walked up to me. I looked at him with interest and said,” Raymond?”

“Miss Abigail?”

He really came to see me.

Only when you get close can you feel how big he is. Compared with me, he is like a huge elephant, and his arms are probably thicker than my thighs.

I asked him,” Professor Raymond, have we met before?”

“I’ve seen you, but you won’t remember it.”

“Your words make me curious.”

“You gave a speech at Eastern University. I was listening in the audience and applauded you.”

He stretched out his hand and I shook it gently. His hand was warm and big, and there was a great sense of power, as if he could crush my hand with just a little force.

I wanted to take my hand back, but he continued to hold it and said, “It is my honor to have you visit my humble home.”

I looked around and said, “If this is my humble abode, then everything outside is just a huge slum.”

He let go of my hand and said, “This is just a slum compared to what you’re about to see.”

“Oh? What will I see?”

“Please follow me.” He gestured to the waiters, and they began to lead the guests deeper into the garden, with Raymond leading me in front.

We walked through a tree-lined avenue and gradually could smell the salty sea breeze. Then we went down a flight of stairs and entered a platform.

The place was already filled with small round wine tables, cold dishes and drinks were also prepared, and more than a dozen waiters were standing upright waiting to serve the guests.

There is a huge screen at the other end of the platform, and I don’t know what is being played.

When most of the guests had arrived, Raymond whispered a few words to one of his supervisors, and the supervisor left. Not long after, a flowing artistic light curtain lit up on the screen.

I didn’t understand what it meant, and watched the blue light curtain dissipate and turn into blue stars.

I wondered if Raymond was trying to use the blue light to hypnotize us. But I was very clear-headed now, and I didn’t feel hypnotized at all. After all, a hypnotized person wouldn’t know he was hypnotized, right? So I could only say that I didn’t feel sleepy.

I was about to ask him, but he took the initiative to say to me: “ Miss Abigail, please look.”

I saw the curtain parting to the sides, and behind it was the sea. But the sea today was different from usual, and it was covered with blue light beads, which spread all over the sea surface and extended outward for an unknown number of miles. It seemed that there was a huge city with flashing blue lights under the gentle sea.

“This is...” I was thinking, if this is not hypnosis, then it is...”Is it the Hispanic Scimitar Firefly?” I said.

“Miss Abigail, you are so smart to call it by its scientific name.” Raymond made a joking expression, “But we usually call it blue tears.”

“It’s a cute name, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s just a bioluminescent plankton.”

“I didn’t expect you to be such a rational woman. Most women would scream at a time like this.”

Indeed, women’s screams were heard one after another, and guests were flocking to the edge of the platform, vying to see the wonders of nature.

I thought I had to seize the opportunity to be alone with Raymond and try to get him to provide me with hypnosis consultation. But he invited me to a secluded dark place, we sat at a small round table, and he poured me a glass of red wine.

I asked him,” Professor Raymond, is there such a thing as hypnosis?”

“If you mean the kind of hypnosis that puts you to sleep quickly, then it’s true.”

“I’m talking about hypnosis that can change a person’s free will.”

　　Raymond shook his head: “That’s just a daydream created by an artist.”

Since he wanted to tease me, I challenged him and said, “So, you are just a charlatan with a name in name only?”

　　Raymond was undeterred. He said, “I am a clinical psychologist, not a stage magician.”

“Will you let me sleep here?”

“Now?”

“Now.”

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“You are too rational and too smart. Have you ever taken an IQ test?”

“You’re asking such a personal question.” I smiled at him.

“Then I’ll guess you did. What was the result? 120? 125?”

“135.”

“Then you can’t hypnotize me. Your intelligence is too high, which means your consciousness is too active. It’s like a filter that filters all the information leading to your subconscious mind. When you use reason to understand them, they can’t act on your subconscious mind. Other women will be moved by the glowing sea. They will voluntarily put aside reason, sanctify the scene, and succumb to its magic. But to you, they are Hessian bent-throated sea fireflies, a kind of plankton.” Raymond looked at me with interest and said, “It will be much more difficult to hypnotize people with an intelligence higher than 125.”

“Isn’t the application of hypnosis too limited?”

“Not at all, because the average intelligence of humans is only 100, and only 2.2% of people have an intelligence above 130. There are ignorant beings everywhere. But for people like you, as long as you take precautions, it is difficult for you to be hypnotized.”

“What if I let my guard down?”

　　Raymond laughed, shook his head, took a sip of red wine, and said,” Miss Abigail, you still want me to show you those legends, why?”

I wondered whether I should tell him the truth, or whether I should lie to this highly intelligent professor of clinical psychology and say that I just wanted to do a show.

He looked me in the eye and said, “Don’t tell me you just wanted to do a show about hypnosis. If that were the case, your friends in the arts would have introduced you to me a long time ago. Is it because of Brian?”

“You know my son?”

“He is a genius. I read his papers and they are very bold. However, his hypotheses are still difficult to verify with contemporary brain science.”

“It was indeed Brian who recommended you to me.”

“He didn’t recommend Hannah?”

“He recommended you.”

“If that’s the case ... then you’re in big trouble.”

Now that we have come to this, I decided to be frank: “ Professor Raymond, do you know about the hypnotist incident 20 years ago?”

“You’re talking about the incident that led to the suicide of journalist Oscar.”

I was a little surprised to hear him say that, “Yes, you know a lot about this?”

　　Raymond shook his head. “I only knew about it through the news media. At that time ... it hadn’t been long since my parents passed away. It was really scary.”

“You mean to say that you think that hypnotist really exists?”