Since the last Gotham Frozen incident, the city's temperature has begun to drop. Not long after the summer, the temperature dropped a lot. Until last night, the fine drizzle turned into ice. Early the next morning, when I came to Ah
Schiller, who works at Cam Hospital, put his umbrella at the door of his office and sighed.
When Mrs. Miller walked in the door with a hot water bottle, she looked back at the umbrella leaning against the door. She put the hot water bottle on Schiller's table and said, "Dr. Rodriguez,
Why are you still using that broken umbrella?"
While Schiller took the kettle and poured himself some water, he shrugged and said, "It wasn't too damaged before. I asked someone to make an extra frame to reinforce it, and it's still usable. Who knows these days?
It's not rain in Gotham, it's hail, so..."
He looked past Mrs. Miller and towards his umbrella. It was obvious that one of the ribs on it had been broken. Even if it was not opened, there would be obvious dents.
Mrs. Miller was once a head nurse. After her retirement, she was re-employed by the hospital. Now she is the housekeeper of Arkham Psychiatric Hospital. She is a somewhat thin old woman, but she is in good spirits.
She stretched out her hand to tighten her woolen shawl and said, "The weather has been getting weirder and weirder lately. It's hailing today, and it might snow tomorrow. I'll have someone come over and light up the fireplace later."
"
"Oh, madam, you always like to exaggerate, but you are still far from it." Schiller took a sip of hot water and said.
Then he pulled out his schedule and asked Mrs. Miller: "Who is the first patient this morning? Is there anyone who needs my room?"
"I don't think so." Mrs. Miller shook her head and said. She picked up a notebook from the side, looked at it and said: "There is a follow-up consultation with Mr. Oswald Copperpot this morning, which will last about two hours. After that,
Anthony and Miss Scott on the third floor also have follow-up consultations, which last two hours, so I will come over at 12 noon to collect the cases and files..."
Mrs. Miller closed her notebook with a snap and said, "This afternoon is private time. Two of your friends have already made an appointment. Is there anything you need my help with?"
"No, thank you. Oh, by the way, I have a friend coming over in the evening, but he is calling my personal phone number..."
Mrs. Miller put the notebook back on the bookshelf on the table and said a little helplessly: "Dr. Schiller, you have to know that generally speaking, mental hospitals do not allow people to enter without an appointment, and appointments need to be made one day in advance.
The hospital's phone number, if it is to contact you through your personal mobile phone, it must be at least two days in advance..."
"Yes, I know, Mrs. Miller, but this friend of mine has a special situation. If I don't allow him in, he might go to the TV station to grab the camera."
"Okay, I can make an exception this time, but please remember to remind him next time that he must call the hospital to make an appointment. Otherwise, if any problems occur, the hospital will not be responsible. Dr. Schiller, this is also for your own good."
"okay, thank you."
The hot water was poured into the cup, making a soft "sizzling" sound, and fine white smoke rose from the cup. Schiller took a sip of the hot water, and when he put down the cup, he looked at Cobot's face through the smoke on the opposite side.
Face.
He is much better than his previous haggard state. Although his cheeks are still thin and his eyeballs are sunken, it can be seen that his hair has been styled, his face is much rosier, and his lips are no longer chapped.
Schiller looked through his medical records and said: "Although I have told you many times, I still want to emphasize again that your current living environment is not conducive to your recovery. If possible, it is best to change it."
house."
"Not to mention the poor lighting and air environment there, hygiene alone is a big problem."
Schiller put down the medical records again, looked at Copot and asked: "How is your mother?"
"she's fine."
"What's wrong? You seem to have something to say?"
Schiller saw some hesitation on Copot's expression across from him. He put the case in his hand on the table, then stacked it with other documents on the table, aligned the edges on the table, and put it aside.
He put his arms on the table and said: "The normal follow-up consultation is over, but there are still 20 minutes left. Next is free consultation time. You can say whatever you want."
"Professor Frith suggested that I... go to high school." Cobblet also put his hand on the table, but he crossed his fingers and squeezed them tightly. He said, "That's ridiculous, isn't it? How can I
Maybe go to high school?”
"Why do you think it's ridiculous? Why do you think it's impossible for you to go to high school?"
"I..." Copot hesitated, as if he didn't know how to express his emotions, so Schiller said for him: "Because this is not common in Gotham, right?"
"Almost everyone around you is not studying, let alone high school. They may have left school without even finishing elementary school. The same is true for you."
"Perhaps in your life plan, you have never followed the step-by-step route of studying and then entering college..."
Cobot nodded, but he still looked very nervous, and his Adam's apple was always trembling up and down. He said: "This won't work, I can't go to school, I don't have tuition, and my mother also needs someone to take care of her."
"But now, these shouldn't be problems. The money you earn now is enough for you to live on and pay for tuition. It's also enough for you to hospitalize your mother for treatment. You can even hire a nurse to accompany her all day."
"Yes, but I don't know how to choose..." Cobot hesitated. He didn't want to hide anything, but his expressive ability prevented him from fully describing his current state of mind, so Schiller could only
Guide him and say: "I don't know what to choose, what are your options?"
"I can continue to work, earn a lot of money, open a restaurant, and then buy a luxurious house for my mother to live in. This is what I originally planned..." Cobot bit his lips and said vaguely.
.
"When you describe your goal, you seem to feel a little ashamed. Why?"
"Because Professor Frith described to me a completely different life, his experience..."
"what is that?"
Cobot hesitated for a moment, but seemed unable to speak. This was completely different from the eloquent state he was in when describing his criminal plan.
His imagination of a better life is very poor, and the language and vocabulary used to describe this state of life are even more scarce.
"He lives in a very good family. He has a big country house, a big yard, brothers and sisters, and a dog. He goes to and from school by car, sits in the classroom and reads, from junior high school to high school.
Then I was admitted to a good university with very good grades..."
Copperpot's vocabulary is very empty, and his adjectives for these lives are nothing more than good, big, and happy. Schiller heard this and said: "What kind of house do you think is big?"
Cobot wrapped his hands around it and said, "It's probably similar to the houses in the wealthy areas in the south."
"Is this how Professor Frith described it to you? He has a house about the same size as the wealthy area in the south?"
Cobblet shook his head and said, "No, he didn't say that."
"Perhaps your focus is a little distorted. The focus of him telling you these things is not how nice his house is, how big his yard is, or what kind of car he drives, or how good a school he attends."
"His essence is not to show off to you how happy his childhood life was, nor to tell you that as long as you go to high school, you can live this kind of life..."
"You must have a good memory, so did you notice any difference between when he described this kind of life to you and when you are relaying his words to me now?"
Cobot was silent for a moment, and then said: "I don't have as rich a vocabulary as him, and I don't have as much emotion. I feel like my brain is blank..."
He seemed to be talking, but there was still a tremor at the end of his tone, as if he was eager to spit out the last words.
"When he described this kind of life to me, it was very contagious and made me both envious and jealous. But now I'm asked to describe it, but I can't say it..."
"There may be two reasons for this problem. One is because you have never experienced that kind of life. All fantasies about a better life are just fantasy. This is a matter of experience, but more importantly..."
"Cobot, do you know why people study?" Schiller took a sip of water, and Cobot answered him: "To learn knowledge? And then get a degree?"
"This is all just part of it."
Schiller put down the cup and said to Copot in the most concise and understandable metaphor possible: "Your brain is like a sophisticated machine, but even the most sophisticated machine needs regular activity to prevent it from rusting."
"When your brain always turns in one direction, it will generate inertia. Those gears and parts will change their structure according to the direction of your rotation, and then in this regard, your brain will turn faster and faster.
, the more it turns, the smoother it becomes, and then the running-in between the parts and the gears becomes better, so it turns faster,”
"This will make your talents in a certain area stand out, but it will also cause many problems. When these parts are specialized in a certain direction, they are actually sacrificing balance in exchange for efficiency, which will reduce
People’s mental stability.”
"You should have discovered by now that when you think about conspiracies, crimes, interpersonal relationships, and business connections, your brain is extremely smooth. This is normal, because you were born in Gotham and grew up here. These things are much better than
Art, literature, and philosophy are more useful."
"But the process of learning is actually the process of regaining your brain's balance."
"You don't have to memorize all the books on art, literature, and philosophy in the world and apply them in your life. It's impossible."
"Just like if you learn advanced mathematical theory, it won't be of any great help to you in managing the tap water system. It's just that you don't need any advanced theory to manage the tap water pipes."
"But it's actually helping the parts and gears of your brain to grind in the other direction, making it more balanced and stable."
"In addition to knowledge, we also learn ways of thinking. When you face something, using more ways of thinking and looking at the problem from a more comprehensive perspective can greatly improve your ability.
Mental stability.”
"When you have more angles to look at something, you can largely avoid your thinking from going into dead ends or your emotions from falling into extremes."
Cobot saw an all-encompassing calm power in Schiller's eyes, which was stronger than what he felt in Victor.
For the first time, he understood the metaphor "eyes are the windows to the soul" because he saw the endless vast ocean in Schiller's eyes.
The last time he felt this way was when he was facing his godfather, but the godfather carried an irresistible power, more like a violent storm on the sea, but Schiller was more like the endless deep sea, quiet.
, peaceful, but bottomless.
Cobot rubbed his clenched index fingers together, and he felt a cool breeze, but it was not because of the weather.
In his slightly deficient imagination, he was like a penguin standing on the ice, waddling on the ice. Above him was the stormy night in Gotham, and below him was the bottomless sea.
.
Now, there are two paths before him. Should he be a bird flying in the wind, or should he jump into the sea and become a fish that bravely moves forward in the sea of learning?
His brain, which was always turning in one direction, made the sound of friction between parts and gears for the first time, which sounded to him like thunder on a cold night.
Dankobot didn't feel scared. After the fireplace in the room was lit, there was an imperceptible warmth.
If the rain in Gotham persists all year round, and he doesn't have an umbrella to protect him from the wind and rain, then let him jump into the sea and swim forward in the currents and whirlpools until he finds his shelter and takes the rain there.
Water freezes into ice cubes and builds a house for itself.
With a "clack", Schiller heard the sound of Cobot swallowing hard, but it sounded more like the sound of some kind of young aquatic bird jumping from the ice into the sea.