If I don't have money to go to college, I can only go to slay the dragon

Chapter 716 Ronald Don
The location is Chicago, and the time is three months later.

The elevator stopped in front of the corridor, the door opened, and then footsteps sounded in the corridor, not heavy or rushed, but very slow, as if pacing, and as if each step was accompanied by complicated thoughts.

The footsteps stopped, and then there was a knock on the door. The process was not impatient, it was very light, but it was not gentle, with a little weakness, which could almost remind people of the mental state of the knocker behind the door.

"Please come in." A gentle female voice sounded from inside the door.

The door opened. It was a very happy-looking black-haired man with drooping eyebrows but a bad complexion. He pushed the doorknob and opened the door and walked in. He looked up and saw sitting behind the desk, sitting leisurely. beautiful psychiatrist.

The psychiatrist is a woman, wearing a spotless white coat, lined with a black knit sweater that highlights her figure, Chinese, but not the stereotyped image of Chinese in the eyes of Americans, she is a very traditional classical beauty, with slightly upward eyes, The typical charm of peach blossom eyes is more vivid in form, and the facial features and skin are so delicate that one can almost think that one is at an audition or movie shooting scene, and the person behind the desk is a beauty pageant champion or a movie star.

A man swears he didn't choose his therapist based on looks in the first place, if so he could go to a nightclub or other sensual and rich places, but this is indeed the best private psychiatrist clinic in Chicago, whether it is a woman The white coat of the office, the case files on the bookshelf, or the simple decoration style in the office, the ink of the word "heart" hanging on the wall all confirm this.

"Mr. Ronald, I haven't seen you for a week. Has anything good happened recently?" The woman sat on the swivel chair, picked up the ballpoint pen on the table and pressed the button on the end of the pen according to the frequency, and looked at the door with a smile. man.

Don Ronald, or Old Tang, as those who know him well call him.Old Tang walked to the long gray fabric sofa on the side of the living room in front of the desk, lay down as usual, leaned on the pillow facing east, and stared at the carved chandelier hanging from the green ceiling.

He breathed a long sigh of relief, as if he could temporarily let go of his fatigue only here, he closed his eyelids slightly and said weakly, "Nothing happened, doctor."

"Are you still having nightmares?" The woman said in a gentle and gentle tone, pressing the ballpoint pen rhythmically, turning it from time to time, letting it flutter among the slender fingers like a butterfly.

"No." Old Tang replied, "At least not for these three days."

"Let me guess, haven't closed your eyes for three days?"

"Doctor, is mind reading a compulsory course for psychiatrists?" Old Tang asked feebly.

"Mind reading is indeed a compulsory course for psychiatrists. There are 44 muscles in the human face, which can be combined into more than 10000 expressions, of which more than 3000 expressions have specific emotional meanings. This is the secret of mind reading, but in the industry we I prefer to call him "Micro-expression Science" - this is the only reason that attracts modern young people to join the path of no return in psychology." The woman looked at Old Tang with a smile, "But you don't need to know that you haven't closed your eyes for three days. Looking at the micro-expression, your dark circles are almost as thick as your social software avatar. (Old Tang’s social software avatar is a big panda)”

"Is it so serious? I always thought I was in good health and wouldn't have dark circles." Old Tang muttered and rubbed his eyes.

"You can walk on your arms when you are young, but it doesn't mean you won't have a lumbar disc herniation when you are old. Mr. Ronald, youth does not wait, and time is hard to continue. Overdrafting the capital of youth to squander freedom in advance will bring retribution when you grow old. .” The woman said with a faint smile.

"Hey, is this really what a psychiatrist can say to a patient? Can your micro-expression science tell that I'm angry now?" Old Tang was a little puzzled.

"You are lying on your back now, it is difficult for me to see your whole face clearly. And not every psychologist is proficient in this technique, the most frequent use of this technique is not our psychologists, but a group of Chinese called 'fortune tellers' ', their "Micro-expression Studies" even broke away from the textbook and went to the practical school." The woman said humorously, "Maybe if no one asks me for psychological counseling in the future, I will pack up and go back to China to give people fortune telling."

"So now a future fortune teller is giving me psychological counseling? It's really reassuring." Old Tang twisted his body on the sofa and couldn't help expressing emotion.

"That will happen in the future. Now I am still your psychiatrist, the most professional psychiatrist in Chicago and the most sought after by the upper class. Just like you now, no matter what you will become in the future, at least you are now Still Ronald Tang, isn't it?" the woman said with a smile.

"Doctor, your words are really philosophical." Old Tang commented pertinently.

"My younger brother praised me so much, so thank you." The woman accepted the compliment very naturally, "Do you feel more relaxed after chatting like this?"

"It's indeed a little more relaxed. I don't know why. Every time I come to the doctor, I feel a little more relaxed. I feel that insomnia can be cured. Is there some special incense in your office? Can you sell me a little? "Old Tang asked curiously with his eyes closed.

"Maybe this is the charm of language. Most of my patients have one thing in common, that is, the backlog of emotions and words that are not expressed in the daily life. If the emotions are stagnated for too long, they will deteriorate and lead to pathological changes. .”

"But I haven't poured out the black mud at all. Tell you about the nightmares I have had this week and the troubles that have troubled me."

"Mr. Ronald, I never thought it was the nightmares or insomnia that bothered you." The woman tapped her notebook lightly with a ballpoint pen and said with a chuckle, "In my opinion, you are just too lonely."

"Me? Lonely?" Old Tang couldn't help but opened his eyes, "Doctor, are you mistaken? I opened the room of "StarCraft" and called out. Hundreds of people crowded in and asked me to give them advice. How could I be lonely? "

The woman looked at Old Tang and asked slightly, "Then when the game is over, in the dead of night, when everything is still, you suddenly feel hungry, look around the empty room and the Christmas lights of the city outside the window, can you find someone to accompany you?" Do you go out for a hot pot meal late at night?"

".Why do you want to go out to eat hot pot? Besides, the hot pot restaurants are closed in the dead of night, only barbecue restaurants and supper shops are still open."

"Of course, barbecue is also available, but Chicago is holding a low-carbon life parade recently, so it is estimated that it will be difficult for you to find a normal barbecue stand." The woman shrugged and spread her hands, "But I hope you can grasp the point of my question."

Old Tang was stunned for a long time, then scratched his head and said, ".Isn't it good to order takeaway at home? I have to go out to eat."

"Then are the takeaway cards in your home so thick?" The woman raised her finger to compare the thickness.

"Half." Old Tang scratched his eyebrows and said.

"Is it half of this thickness, or is this thickness only half of the correct answer?" The woman narrowed her eyes.

"...Okay, okay, you win, doctor, damn "Micro-expression Science"." Old Tang scratched his eyebrows instead of scratching his head, staring at the ceiling wondering, "Am I really lonely?"

"If you weren't alone, you wouldn't have those nightmares." The woman wrote something down in her notebook, "In the past three days, you had insomnia, so you didn't have nightmares. What about three days ago? Did you dream about something again? Nice change."

"It's still a nightmare." Old Tang said after a pause.

"Burning flames, noisy figures, noisy noises, men, children, and huge bronze pillars." The woman flipped through the notebook on the table, and said about Ronald Tang's previous case records, "These dreams have troubled you enough It’s been three months, and every time I fall asleep, I have the same dream, in which you feel scared and panicked, but you can’t express it, so it creates a huge psychological burden.”

Old Tang who was lying on the sofa was silent, and the woman continued, "When we chatted last time, you mentioned that, compared with fear and panic, what hurts you more is the sadness in the nightmare, just like having Some kind of switch is turned on, prompting you to cry bitterly, the feeling of world destruction oppressing your brain all the time, even if your consciousness is clear, you can’t get rid of that disgusting feeling of sadness .”

"So doctor, can you confirm that this is depression? If so, I will quickly prescribe medicine. I asked a few of my friends, and they all have channels to get me special medicine for depression." Old Tang sighed a little depressed.

"It's hard to say whether it's depression or not. Your symptoms are really rare. In my opinion, you are still in a psychological pre-disease stage, that is, the so-called 'mental sub-health' has not yet reached the 'pathological' process. The woman said, "You mentioned that every time you have a nightmare, you will have a clearer view of those dreams. From the vague bystander at the beginning, to the No. 1 personal experiencer, you can gradually feel the temperature of the flames." , those noisy cursing voices, and even seeing the angry faces of dense figures so until today, to what extent is this dream real?"

"It feels like I'm watching a 5D movie Doctor, are you relying on my experience of nightmares to judge the severity of my mental illness?" Old Tang said blankly looking at the ceiling.

"You can understand it this way." The woman said, "You once told me that in dreams, there is always another figure by your side to accompany you, but at the end of the dream, he often separates from you in the form of parting, That's why when you wake up from the nightmare, you will be so distraught and heart-piercing."

"Distraught, heart-piercing, don't use such petty words to describe me. It would be more appropriate for you to describe me as crying and tearing." Old Tang accurately found his position.

"Your dream is so real that you can still remember the details three days after waking up. At first you could only describe some vague pictures to me. This is a good thing, and it means that your subconscious mind has gradually paid attention to it. It's over." The woman comforted with a slight nod.

Old Tang thought to himself that it was not only the details of the picture, but I still remembered some dialogue lines in the dream, but it seemed a bit too second-guess to say it, and he had never been embarrassed to talk to this beautiful doctor.

"Mr. Ronald, every time your nightmare ends, you will have an emotional breakdown. As time goes by, the clearer the dream, the intensity of your panic and emotional breakdown will also increase. If it was in the past, it is difficult for me to be sure about you Where is the depression in your heart, but as you understand the dream more and more, I can probably determine what is bothering you now." The woman said softly.

"In your dream, every time you wake up from a nightmare is the moment when you part with the figure beside you, that is, the "brother" of the protagonist of the dream. Parting makes you feel sad, and loneliness makes you feel uneasy. Maybe the figure in the dream That 'brother' is your real cause."

"But I don't have a younger brother. I grew up in an orphanage." Old Tang shook his head.

"Dreams always have referential meanings. In the dream, your 'brother' is a boy in white clothes. In reality, his appearance and form may be very different from the dream." The woman said, "What are you afraid of? It's not the existence of the boy, it's the loneliness you're afraid of when the boy is gone."

"But I've been alone since I was a child." Old Tang didn't understand. "If I'm used to being alone, why am I suddenly afraid of becoming a person again?"

His words made him feel a little confused. He always felt that something was choked in his throat and wanted to blurt out. The black vortex entangled in the depths of his brain slowly rotated. When he was a little dazed and fascinated by it, he was suddenly awakened by the snap of his fingers. It was like a clear spring was released in his mind, the cold feeling brought his reason back to its peak, and he turned his head to look at the woman who looked at him with a smile.

"Mr. Ronald, have you considered buying a cat?"

"Cat?" Old Tang didn't turn his head around.

"Psychology believes that animals can be the best companions for lonely people. They may not be able to talk to you like people, but when you are alone in a quiet space, a weak and pitiful living creature needs you to take care of it, and the sense of responsibility will let you You temporarily forget your loneliness." The woman said slowly.

Old Tang said I understand this, every time he was exhausted after running a task, he would forget the good movies on the computer, this is called work overwhelmed sexual desire, now replace the nightmare and the cat, this is to prepare him to use the sense of responsibility to overwhelm him. ever lonely?
It feels like it makes sense.

"Your illness has indeed finally reached the process of 'lesion' according to my staged treatment observation, so what we need to do next is not just talk, but treatment." The woman opened the drawer of the desk Get ready to get something out of it.

"But Doctor Lin, isn't this my last course of treatment?" Old Tang wondered, and then he suddenly became alert as if he had realized something, "You don't want to fool me into taking a few more courses of treatment, do you? The treatment fee is too expensive!"

"Where, I promised that three months of psychological treatment, if the patient does not receive the treatment they deserve, then I will refund the full amount without charging a cent. This time is the last course of treatment, although we did not talk for a long time , that’s because the main method of treatment will change from “talk therapy” to actual drug treatment.”

The woman placed a metal box on the table, and gently opened the box under the watchful eyes of Old Tang who sat up from the sofa. Inside the box was an insulin-free syringe that Old Tang was no stranger to. A hunter who worked with me used to play this thing before eating. I heard that only people with diabetes will use this thing, and there are really neatly arranged ampoules next to the syringes (small sealed glass bottles for injections, used for medicine) When the bottle neck was broken), it contained a mellow red liquid.

"These can't be insulin, right?" Old Tang asked this question naturally.

"If insulin tastes like strawberries, they probably are." The woman smiled.

The color of insulin was basically the same, showing a light milky white color, and the medicine in these ampoules was so red that Old Tang felt flustered for no reason.

"One injection a day until the medicine runs out." The woman pushed the metal box to the opposite side of the desk.

"A question in advance, this medicine is included in the treatment fee, so I won't be the only one to pay for it, right? If you want to pay for it alone, I'll just turn around and leave!" Old Tang walked over and took the metal box and took a look at the typical three-no products , there is no qualified mark of the Food and Drug Administration, and there is no production date and ingredients, functions and indications, adverse reactions, etc., just a metal box containing syringes and glass bottles.

"Of course this is included in the treatment fee. My psychological treatment is expensive for a reason." The woman smiled naturally.

".Is there no novice teaching?" Old Tang looked at the needle-free syringe, "I see that group of diabetic patients are all pierced in the stomach. Where should I pierce?"

"Oh, of course there are instructions for use. The health of patients is the most important thing for me." The woman took out a USB flash drive and put it on the metal box, looked up at Old Tang and said with a low smile, "Everything you want to know It’s all in it, and if you use it well with drugs, it can solve all the nightmares that have plagued you for half a year. Personal commitment, the medicine will cure the disease.”

"You sound like you're selling Dali Pills. But a USB flash drive? This is the first time I've seen the instructions for using a drug in a USB flash drive." Old Tang picked up the cheap USB flash drive that was also a Sanfei product and complained. There is actually a half-dried and half-glorious tree logo on the USB flash drive. There has never been such an electronic product manufacturer in the market. But why does he still find this logo somewhat familiar?

"If you don't feel at ease, you can report to the Food and Drug Administration or the court to sue me." The woman sat back and gently folded her hands.

"No need, your reputation is quite big. Although the fees are expensive, the guests you receive are all famous people. If something happened to you, you would have been exposed. And I feel much more comfortable when I come to your place these days. Could it be you? Is Feng Shui good?" Old Tang put away the metal box and USB flash drive, looked at the woman, and then observed the ordinary office.

"Maybe it's the $[-] a month rent that makes this place more comfortable? The reason for the high fees is that the psychiatrist also has to eat." The woman lay on her back on the transfer and spread her hands, "You are welcome to give me feedback after using the medicine , Mr. Ronald Tang."

"Okay, if it works, I'll give you a golden banner." Old Tang muttered, "Bian Que is alive or Hua Tuo is reborn? You choose one."

"Psychotherapy is strictly regarded as Western medicine, so neither Bian Que nor Hua Tuo is suitable." The woman commented.

"Then Asclepius is alive, and Hippocrates is reborn." Old Tang said nonsense, and he didn't know who he learned from.

"Compared to the pennant, if the treatment is effective, why don't you give me a book." The woman thought for a while and said with a smile, "How about Greymarkus' Norton Reader?"

"What book is that? What is it about?" Old Tang had never heard of the title of the book.

"'It equips each species with the ability to survive in a particular environment. But the environment is not static, it varies from time to time and from place to place, even in the short lifetime of an individual. To find food more efficiently, Companions, avoiding predators and carrying out the necessary survival and reproduction, animals must adapt to the special and ever-changing environment they are in. In other words, they must learn.'" The woman read out a series of lengthy words, looking at Old Tang, " This is an excerpt from Chapter 3 in the book."

"Evolution?" Old Tang seemed to understand.

"No, strictly speaking, this is a psychological book, which is very suitable for my identity." The woman shook her head and pressed the button of the ballpoint pen for the last time, and put away the medical record on the table, "Today's psychological treatment is over, Rona Mr. De, please close the door gently when you leave."

"Hey, a penny and a quarter of an hour is really ruthless, can't you add an hour." Old Tang picked up the metal box and the USB flash drive and turned around muttering.

"Of course you can, but it's a well-known truth that you have to pay more to add the clock." The woman shrugged, and Old Tang almost fell over because of this bold metaphor. It's popular, and it's really meaty and vegetarian when chatting!

When he opened the door and was about to leave the office, Old Tang suddenly recalled something and pointed to the sofa, "Doctor, is your sofa for sale?"

"No, I believe that after tonight, you won't think about my sofa any more when you want to sleep, and you will find a more suitable place for you to rest." The woman sat behind the desk and chuckled.

"That's stingy enough." Old Tang sighed, knowing that his treatment fee was enough to buy all the things in this office, but the other party was not even willing to give up a sofa.

"Yes, Mr. Norton."

"What?" Old Tang turned his head subconsciously. For a moment, he thought the woman called his name by mistake, but when he saw the smile on the other person's face, it seemed that he just misheard (Ronald and Norton are similar in American pronunciation).

"Tip, the medicine and USB flash drive I gave you are recommended to be used before meals." The woman turned her head and said, "Also, if you have a chance, you can go to the pet market before you go home. The little boy in the dream is as pitiful as a weak cat."

"Received." Old Tang raised his hand, left the office, and closed the door gently when he left.

Behind the door, Old Tang's footsteps gradually moved away until they disappeared, and the woman behind the desk also threw the medical record with "Ronald Tang" into a metal trash can full of waste paper , lit a match and threw it in, and waited until the flame spread from the bottom of her eyes and burned.

Because she knew that after today, this man would never return to this counseling room again.As she said, she never lied, after tonight this man can always find a bed that is more comfortable than her sofa, maybe not as luxurious, maybe only made of vines, but there he will not Troubled by nightmares again, because by then he had already entered into the cruelest reality.

(End of this chapter)