Chapter 716 Ronald Tang

Chapter 716 Ronald Tang

The place 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. They were not heavy or rushed, but very slow, as if they were pacing, and as if every step was filled with complicated thoughts.

The footsteps stopped, and then there was a knock on the door. It was not impatient, it was very gentle, but not gentle, it was a little weak, which can almost make people think of the psychological state of the person knocking behind the door.

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

The door opened, and it was a dark-haired man who looked very happy, with drooped eyebrows, but a very bad complexion. He pressed the door handle and opened the door and walked in. He looked up and saw a man sitting at leisure behind the desk. looking beautiful psychiatrist.

The psychiatrist is a woman, wearing a spotless white coat and a black knitted sweater that highlights her good figure. She is of Chinese descent, but she does not look like the stereotype of Chinese Americans in the minds of Americans. She is a very traditional classical beauty with slightly upward eyes. The typical charm of peach blossom eyes is more important than appearance, and the facial features and skin are so exquisite that it almost makes people think that they are at a talent show or a movie shooting scene, and the person behind the desk is a beauty pageant champion or a movie star.

The man swore that he did not choose his psychiatrist based on appearance in the first place. If that was the case, he could go to nightclubs or other sensual and wealthy places, but this is indeed the best private psychiatrist's clinic in Chicago, whether it is for women. The white coat, the case files on the bookshelf, or the simple decoration style in the office, and the ink painting 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 at the end of the pen according to the frequency. She smiled and looked at the man who came after closing the door. man.

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

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

"Are you still having nightmares?" The woman spoke softly and calmly, pressing the ballpoint pen rhythmically, turning it from time to time, letting it fly like a butterfly through flowers between her slender fingers.

"No." Old Tang replied, "At least not in the past three days."

"Let me guess, you haven't slept for three days?"

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

"Mind reading is indeed a required course for psychiatrists. There are 44 muscles in the human face, which can be combined into more than 10,000 expressions, of which more than 3,000 expressions have specific emotional meanings. This is the secret of mind reading. However, 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 no-return path of psychology." The woman smiled and looked at Old Tang, "But you don't need to know that you haven't slept for three days. Looking at the micro-expressions, your dark circles are almost as thick as your avatar on social media (Lao Tang’s avatar on social media is a big-headed panda).”

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

"Just because you were able to walk a horse on your arms when you were young doesn't mean that you won't have lumbar disc herniation in old age. Mr. Ronald, if you don't wait for youth, it's hard to renew time. If you overdraw your youth capital and squander your freedom in advance, you will be punished in old age. "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 you that I'm angry now?" Old Tang was a little confused.

"You are lying flat now, and it is difficult for me to see your whole face clearly. And not every psychologist is proficient in this technique. The people who most often use this technique are not us psychologists, but a group of Chinese fortune tellers. 'In their profession, their "Micro Expression Science" even deviated from the textbook and went to the practical school. "The woman said wittily, "Maybe if no one asks me for psychological consultation 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 but sigh.

"That will happen in the future too. Now I am still your psychiatrist, the most professional psychiatrist in Chicago and the most sought-after psychiatrist by people from all walks of life. Just like you now, no matter what you will become in the future, at least you are now It’s still Ronald Tang, isn’t it?” the woman said with a smile.

"Doctor, you are really philosophical in what you say." Old Tang commented pertinently.

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

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

"Perhaps this is the charm of language. Most of my patients have one thing in common, that is, there is no place to express the accumulated emotions and words in daily life. If the emotions are stagnate for too long, they will deteriorate and lead to pathological changes. "

"But I haven't poured out the black mud yet. Let me tell you about the nightmares and troubles I've had this week."

"Mr. Ronald, I never thought it was those nightmares or insomnia that troubled you." The woman tapped the 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 called "StarCraft" to open a room, and hundreds of people rushed in to ask me to give them advice. How could I be lonely? "

The woman looked at Old Tang and turned his head slightly and asked, "Then when the game is over, in the dead of night, and everything is silent, you suddenly feel hungry and look around at the empty room and the Christmas Eve lights in the city outside the window. Can you find someone to accompany you?" Are you going out for a hot pot meal late at night?”

"Why do you want to go out to eat hot pot? Besides, all the hot pot restaurants are closed in the dead of night. Only barbecue restaurants and late-night snack bars are still open."

"Of course, barbecue is also possible, but Chicago is currently holding a low-carbon life parade, so it is estimated that it is difficult to find a barbecue stall that is open normally." The woman shrugged and spread her hands, "But I hope you can catch the focus of my question."

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

"Then are the takeout cards at home so thick?" The woman raised her finger to compare the thickness.

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

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

"Okay, okay, you win, doctor, damn "Microexpression Science"." Old Tang scratched his eyebrows instead of scratching his head, staring at the ceiling in confusion and said, "Am I really lonely?"

"If you weren't alone, you wouldn't have those nightmares." The woman wrote something down in her notebook, "You have had insomnia in the past three days, so you didn't have any nightmares. What about three days ago? What did you dream about again? Is there anything else? Good transition.”

"It's still a nightmare." Old Tang paused and said.

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

Old Tang was lying on the sofa in silence, and the woman continued, "The last time we chatted, you mentioned that what makes you more uncomfortable than fear and panic is the sadness in nightmares, like having Some kind of switch is turned on, making you want to cry bitterly. The emotion of the destruction of the world oppresses 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 several of my friends, and they all have channels to get me special medicine for depression." Old Tang sighed and felt a little depressed.

"It's hard to tell whether it's depression or not. Your symptoms are really rare. In my opinion, you're still in a pre-disease stage in psychology, which is the process of so-called 'mental sub-health' that has not yet reached 'disease'. "The woman said, "You mentioned that with every nightmare, you will have a clearer understanding of those dreams. From a vague bystander at the beginning, to a first-person experiencer, you can gradually feel the temperature of the flames, those dreams. There were only a few words of noisy curses, and even the angry faces of the dense figures could be seen clearly. So to this day, how real is this dream? "

"It feels like I'm watching a 5D movie. Doctor, are you relying on the real-life experience of my 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 there is always another figure accompanying you in your dreams, but at the end of the dream, he often separates from you in the form of farewell. That’s why you feel so heartbroken and heartbroken when you wake up from the nightmare.”

"It's better not to use such trivial words as heartbroken and heartbreaking to describe me. It would be more appropriate to describe me as crying and bursting with tears." Old Tang accurately found his position.

"Your dream has become 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. It means that your subconscious has gradually paid attention to this. It's about something." The woman nodded slightly to comfort her.

Old Tang thought to himself that it was not only the details of the picture, but also some of the dialogue lines in the dream. It was just that speaking out seemed a little too naive. He had never been embarrassed to tell this beautiful doctor.

"Mr. Ronald, you have an emotional breakdown every time a nightmare ends. As time goes by, the more clearly your dreams become clearer, the intensity of your fear and emotional breakdown will also increase. If it were in the past, it would be difficult for me to identify you. Where is the depression in your heart, but as you understand the dream better, I can probably determine what is troubling you now," the woman said softly.

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

"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 dressed in white. In reality, his appearance and form may be completely different from those in the dream." The woman said, "What you are afraid of It’s not the existence of this boy, it’s just the loneliness you’re afraid of after this boy leaves.”

"But I've really 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 alone again?"

His words seemed a little convoluted, and he always felt like something was stuck in his throat and wanted to blurt it out. The black vortex deep in his brain was slowly spinning. When he was in a daze, he suddenly woke up with the crisp sound of his fingers. It was like a clear spring was released in his mind, and the cold feeling brought his rationality back to its peak. He turned to look at the woman who was smiling at him.

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

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

"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 your sense of responsibility will make you Forget your loneliness for now," the woman said slowly.

I understand what Old Tang said. Every time he is half exhausted after running a mission, he will forget the good movies he downloaded on his computer. This is called work overpowering his desire. Now, if we replace nightmares and cats, this is to prepare him to use his sense of responsibility to overwhelm him. Too lonely?

It seems to make some sense.

"From my staged treatment and observation, it seems that your disease has finally reached the stage of 'disease', so what we have to do next is not just talking, but treatment." The woman opened the desk drawer. Prepare to take something out inside.

"But Dr. Lin, isn't this my last course of treatment?" Old Tang said in confusion, and then suddenly became alert as if he had realized something, "You don't want to fool me into giving me a few more treatments, do you?" The treatment fee is extortionately expensive!”

"In other words, I have promised three months of psychological treatment. If the patient does not receive the treatment he deserves, then I will give a full refund without any charges. This is the last course of treatment, although our conversation did not last long. , that’s because the main treatment method 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 gaze of Old Tang who sat up from the sofa. Inside the box was an insulin needleless syringe that Old Tang was familiar with. He had seen it. A hunter I worked with in the past tried this thing before eating. I heard that only people with diabetes would use this thing, and there were actually neatly arranged ampoules (small, sealed glass bottles for injections, used for medicine) arranged neatly next to the syringe. When the bottle neck was broken), it contained a mellow red liquid.

"Aren't these insulins?" Old Tang asked this question naturally.

"If insulin tastes like strawberry, they probably do." The woman smiled.

The color of insulin is basically the same, showing a light milky white color. The medicine in these ampoules is so red that it makes Old Tang panic and have inexplicable palpitations.

"Inject once a day until the medicine is used up." The woman pushed the metal box to the opposite side of the desk.

"Let me ask in advance, this medicine is included in the treatment fee. I won't have to pay for it alone, right? If you have to pay alone, I will leave!" Old Tang came over and took the metal box and took a look at the typical three-no product. , there is no qualification mark from the Food and Drug Administration, no production date, ingredients, functions and indications, adverse reactions, etc. It is just a metal box containing a syringe and a glass bottle.

"Of course this is included in the treatment fee. There is a reason why my psychological treatment is expensive." The woman smiled naturally.

"Isn't there any teaching for novices?" Old Tang looked at the needleless syringe, "I see that all those diabetic patients have their stomachs pierced. Where should I pierce them?"

"Oh, of course there are instructions for use. The patient's health is my top priority." The woman took out a USB flash drive and placed it on the metal box. She looked up at Old Tang and said with a low smile, "Everything you want to know. It’s all in it. If used well with medicine, it can solve all the nightmares that have troubled you for half a year. I promise that the medicine will cure the disease. ”

"You sound like a salesman of Dali Pills. But a USB flash drive? This is the first time I have seen the instructions for using the drug in a USB flash drive." Old Tang picked up this cheap USB flash drive, which is also a Sanfei product, and complained. There was actually a logo of a half-dry, half-prosperous tree on the USB flash drive. There had never been an electronic product manufacturer like this on the market. But why did he still find this logo familiar to him inexplicably?

"If you are worried, you can report or sue me to the Food and Drug Administration or the court." The woman sat back and gently folded her hands.

"No need, your reputation is quite good. Although you charge expensive fees, you are all famous people. If something happened, you would have been exposed. And I feel a lot more comfortable coming to your place these days. Is it your place?" The feng shui is very good?" Old Tang put away the metal box and USB flash drive and looked at the woman, then observed this ordinary office.

"Maybe it's the $10,000 monthly rent that makes this place more comfortable? The high fee is because psychologists also need 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 will give you a banner." Old Tang muttered, "Bian Que alive or Hua Tuo reborn? You choose one."

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

"Then Asclepius alive, Hippocrates reborn." Old Tang spoke nonsense without knowing who he learned it from.

"Compared to a banner, if the treatment is effective, why not give me a book." The woman thought for a while and smiled, "How about Greymarcus's "Norton Reader"?"

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

"'It enables each species to survive in a specific environment. But the environment is not static, it varies from time to time and from place to place, even in the short life of an individual. In order to more effectively find food, mates, avoid predators and carry out the necessary survival and reproduction, animals must adapt to the ever-changing special environment they live in. In other words, they must learn.'" The woman read out a long string of words and looked at Lao Tang, "This is an excerpt from the third chapter of the book."

"Evolution?" Lao Tang seemed to understand.

"No, strictly speaking, this is a psychology book, which fits 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 book on the table, "Today's psychological treatment is over, Mr. Ronald, please close the door gently when you leave."

"Hey, one cent for a quarter of an hour, it's really ruthless, can't you add an hour." Lao Tang picked up the metal box and the USB drive and muttered and turned around.

"Of course, but you have to pay extra for extra hours, which is a well-known truth." The woman shrugged. Old Tang almost fell over because of this bold metaphor. No wonder this beautiful psychotherapist is so popular. She is really open to all kinds of things when chatting!

When opening the door and preparing to leave the office, Old Tang suddenly seemed to remember something and shrank back and pointed at the sofa, "Doctor, do you want to sell your sofa?"

"No, I believe that after tonight you will not miss my sofa 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.

"How stingy." Old Tang sighed. You know, his treatment fee is enough to buy everything in this office, but the other party is not even willing to give up a sofa.

"By the way, Mr. Norton."

"What?" Old Tang subconsciously turned his head. For a moment, he thought the woman called his name wrong, but seeing the other party's smile and expression, it seemed that he just heard it wrong (Ronald and Norton are similar in American pronunciation).

"Tips, I recommend using the medicine and USB drive I gave you before meals." The woman tilted her head and said, "Also, if you have a chance, go to the pet market before going home. You can always find a cat as pitiful and weak as the little boy in your dream."

"Got it." Old Tang raised his hand and left the office, closing the door gently when he left.

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

Because she knew that after today, this man would never return to this psychological counseling room again. Just as she said, she never lied. After tonight, this man would always find a bed that was more comfortable than her sofa. It might not be luxurious, or it might be made of vines, but there he would no longer be troubled by nightmares, because by then he would have been in the deepest cruel reality.