(1)
“Officer Chen, why are you here? We haven’t had any psychiatric patients escape recently.”
“Uh… I think I might not be in the best mental state lately.”
“That’s good.”
The psychiatric hospital director in front of him was beaming.
“Very good.”
Officer Chen twitched his mouth, barely holding back from punching that smug face.
He unbuttoned the top two buttons of his collar and leaned his elbow on the glass desktop.
“Why is it good?”
“If you can realize that your mental state isn’t good, it proves your mental state is actually quite fine!”
Many times, Officer Chen felt that this director’s degree and medical license must have been bought.
His eyelids twitched.
“I have insomnia at night and always have nightmares.”
“Your work stress is too high.”
“What should I do?”
“Go drink, sing karaoke, and touch some ladies.”
“…”
“Yes, I’m serious.”
Officer Chen wanted to say, ‘I didn’t even fucking ask yet,’ but he swallowed it back.
“I’m a public servant. I can’t do anything that indecent.”
“Obviously, that’s the reason for your insomnia.”
The psychiatric hospital director, with a full head of hair, said seriously.
“Don’t you want to ask what dreams I’ve been having first?”
“What dreams have you been having?”
“I keep having the same dream.”
Officer Chen took a deep breath, slowly recalling the vague fragments of his dream.
“In the dream, it seems I’m controlling a huge construction machine—like a tower crane that can walk on two legs—and then I’m constantly destroying things in the city…”
“That’s you releasing stress in your dreams. That’s a good thing.”
“No, no… But in the end, I always get beaten to death by a giant humanoid machine. And in the dream, I can’t control myself—I always want to destroy things. Even after I wake up, I feel an urge to smash everything in the house. I think my mental state really is getting worse.”
“That’s your rationality controlling you, preventing you from venting that violent impulse at work.”
“What you said actually makes some sense.”
Officer Chen pressed on his temple.
“But having nightmares like this isn’t sustainable. Is there any solution?”
“Go drink, sing karaoke, and touch some ladies.”
“Something else!”
“If you prefer men, I can recommend a few places…”
Officer Chen stared at Director Chen.
If it weren’t for the fact that they shared the same surname and that this man was technically his distant uncle (though they had almost no blood relation), he would have flipped the table already.
“Can’t you just prescribe some medication?”
He finally couldn’t hold back.
“Officer Chen.”
Director Chen’s expression gradually turned serious.
“Only psychiatric patients need medication.”
“I think my current mental state is really bad. At least prescribe some sleeping pills.”
“No… not needed.”
Director Chen shook his head slowly, his neck as stiff as plaster.
“Your mental state is very good. There’s no problem at all.”
“What’s good about it? I’m telling you, I’m extremely irritable right now. I wanted to hit you just now, you know that?”
Officer Chen slammed his fist on the table.
“That proves even more that your mental state is healthy.”
Director Chen gave a punchable smile.
“If you don’t have a mental illness, you can’t just take medicine randomly. Once you take it, even if you weren’t sick, you’ll become sick. Then you’ll have to be admitted to the hospital. Easy to get in, hard to get out…”
“Then what do I do? Just keep suffering from insomnia?”
“Officer Chen, actually…”
“That method of yours won’t work!”
“No, no, I mean, there’s another way.”
“What way?”
“How is your son doing in school lately?”
“Don’t even mention it. The moment you do, I get angry. His math is failing, Chinese barely passes, and English is all random guesses. At this rate, by the time he gets to high school, he’ll have forgotten everything from middle school.”
“Excellent. Go home and give him a beating to vent. I guarantee you’ll sleep well tonight.”
“No way. I don’t believe in corporal punishment. My dad beat me all the time when I was a kid. Back in school, I swore that when I grew up and had a family, I would never hit a child.”
“You see, the facts prove your father was right. It’s because of his strict upbringing that you became a police officer, and even a high-ranking one.”
“What you said makes sense.”
Officer Chen nodded firmly.
“That little rascal has been getting more and more outrageous because I never hit him. When I get home, I’ll beat him!”
“Excellent, Officer Chen. You’ll definitely sleep soundly tonight. Here’s your talk therapy bill. That’ll be two hundred and fifty yuan.”
“Ha—?!”
(2)
「First, never act on impulse. Second…」
In the long, narrow fast food restaurant, a TV hanging from the ceiling was playing the “cartoon” that kids loved most, allowing parents who had brought their children to enjoy their dinner in peace.
The restaurant’s storefront wasn’t big, but it was very deep inside.
Walking in with a tray felt like walking through a train car.
Originally, Yu Mingfei wanted to take An Jing to a home-style restaurant for a proper meal, but An Jing insisted on coming to this fast food place that got especially busy every mealtime.
“See? I told you we should have ordered dishes. There aren’t even seats.”
Yu Mingfei couldn’t help complaining.
“So many people…”
“Let’s check further back.”
An Jing carried her tray deeper inside and finally found an empty small table.
She eagerly set down her tray and chose a seat directly facing the TV—there was also a large floor-to-ceiling window here, still showing the orange-red setting sun.
「I’ll be the referee for this Peace Star battle!」
The TV hanging from the ceiling continued playing B-Fighter Kabuto.
Many children sat in their parents’ laps, staring up blankly.
Even if their parents shoved vegetables they normally hated into their mouths, they barely resisted.
Although it was already 2010, not every household had a TV, especially those renting apartments.
Even those who had TVs at home mostly couldn’t monopolize them.
So watching TV was still very appealing to kids.
“What’s got into you today, suddenly wanting to save me money? Usually you always want the best and most expensive stuff. Every time I treat you to a meal, you clamor for KFC.”
“I just think this is more convenient…”
“What’s up? In a hurry to do something?”
“No, nothing…”
An Jing glanced at the chat history on her phone screen showing several messages that said “Image cannot be viewed,” and quickly turned off the screen.
“If I had to say, it’s just that I haven’t eaten fast food in a long time. I wanted to experience the lively atmosphere.”
“Lively… yeah, it’s really lively. So many people.”
“Five yuan for two meat dishes and one vegetable—it’s way cheaper than ordering dishes. If you order, even a plate of hot and sour shredded potatoes costs five yuan, right?”
“It’s already gone up to seven yuan this year. Yu Xiang Rou Si is eight yuan now.”
Yu Mingfei clicked her tongue, stabbed her chopsticks into the fried egg, and took a big bite.
“Everything’s going up, but fucking wages aren’t!”
“Looks like Sister Fei’s performance isn’t great this year?”
“I told you, I hate sales. If I could find a higher-paying job…”
Yu Mingfei puffed out her cheeks in frustration.
“Sigh.”
“How about Sister Fei comes with me to the provincial capital? The salary there must be higher.”
“But the cost of living is high too. It’s not that easy to go to the provincial capital. A few of my classmates went there and said life is tough.”
“Then why don’t they come back?”
“They’ve built their careers there, so it’s inconvenient to come back.”
Yu Mingfei used her chopsticks to split the pork chop in her bowl in half.
“This pork chop is too sweet. Here, half for you.”
“I think it’s nice and sweet.”
“You’re a true small-town person, always loving sweet things.”
Yu Mingfei picked a piece of green pepper from An Jing’s plate and put it in her mouth.
“Mm… no good, not spicy.”
“That’s a green pepper. How could it be spicy?”
“Why didn’t you get chili peppers?”
“I don’t eat spicy food…”
“Nonsense. Didn’t you enjoy it when you ate Twice-Cooked Pork?”
“That one isn’t good if it’s not spicy.”
An Jing looked up at the TV screen.
“Ah, Shark Chili.”
“…What? Oh… you mean that one?”
“Yeah, I really wanted to buy that toy when I was a kid.”
“I remember one year, didn’t you buy one at the market?”
“That was B-Fighter Kabuto’s one. I bought it with New Year’s money. Twenty yuan each… terrible quality. After transforming a few times, the head almost fell off.”
An Jing rested her chin on her hand.
“When I was little, I could go a whole month without snacks just to buy a toy…”
“You bought so many random toys. Most of them got broken, didn’t they?”
“I told you, they were too cheap.”
“Or is it because you were too rough with them?”
“Cough…”
An Jing lowered her head and shoveled two mouthfuls of rice, then picked up the pork chop and took a bite, a satisfied expression on her face.
At that moment, the orange-red light of the setting sun completely faded outside the window, and the sparse streetlights turned on.
“Ah, has the sun set?”
“Not yet. We just can’t see it. Look, the sky is still bright, right?”
Yu Mingfei mumbled, lifting her arm to check the time.
“Six forty-something. It’s not completely dark yet. Sure is summer.”
“I remember last year there was a time when it was still bright at 7:30, right?”
“I think there was such a time.”
Yu Mingfei nodded, then turned to glance at the robots competing for the Peace Star on TV.
“Is it that good? Didn’t you watch it many times as a kid?”
“It’s not like I rented the DVDs. There are always some episodes I haven’t seen. And even the ones I’ve seen, I’ve mostly forgotten…”
“Little one hasn’t grown up yet.”
“Who says you can’t watch this when you’re grown up? I actually think watching it again as an adult lets you see something different… like some life philosophy or something.”
“So that’s why you keep watching that Ultraman over and over again online?”
“Yeah! People who think watching this is childish are the ones who haven’t grown up!”
“Huh, I haven’t even said anything yet, and you’re preemptively attacking me?”
“Anyway, I know nothing good comes out of Sister Fei’s mouth…”