Dear Freud

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Zhen Yi neatly folded the blanket and, without wandering around, obediently retraced her steps to head back.

As soon as she returned to the psychiatric hospital, she saw Xiao Ke waving at her. “Miss Zhen, can you give me a hand?”

Xiao Ke was in charge of performing physical exams on psychiatric patients. All the other patients had completed their exams, leaving only the tricky one: Mei Mei. Zhen Yi had a vivid impression of Mei Mei—the beautiful woman who had declared she wanted to sleep with “Doctor Xiao Ke.” When Xiao Ke started her exam, Mei Mei cooperated by unbuttoning her shirt and grabbing Xiao Ke’s hand, trying to place it on her chest. Xiao Ke was so scared that he quickly ran out, while the other patients curiously gathered at the door to watch.

One patient, who thought he was a zookeeper, asked, “Mei Mei, do you need someone to help you milk yourself?”

Another patient helpfully brought out an imaginary “milking machine” pretending to plug it into an invisible power source and switch it on. The others watched intently, even discussing the technical mechanics of the machine.

Zhen Yi: “…”

Mei Mei ran out, pulling Xiao Ke along. “Doctor Xiao Ke, come check on me, my chest hurts! It’s killing me!”

Maybe she had watched too many period dramas, as she posed like a courtesan from Baihua Lou, with her white arms and soft pink shoulders, wrapping herself around Xiao Ke. Xiao Ke was completely overwhelmed, his ears turning a transparent shade of red. Zhen Yi stepped in to help untangle Mei Mei from him and sent her back into the exam room.

Zhen Yi, along with a few nurses, helped restrain Mei Mei’s hands and feet so Xiao Ke could reattempt the exam. His face was flushed as he tried again, but as soon as he touched Mei Mei, she started wriggling her chest and making suggestive moaning sounds. Xiao Ke, embarrassed to his core, bolted from the room, refusing to go back in.

The exam was clearly not going to happen. The nurses led the patients away, but Zhen Yi noticed another female patient glaring viciously at Mei Mei. When the patient saw Zhen Yi, she turned her angry gaze towards her as well, as if the whole world was her enemy.

Xiao Ke explained, “That’s Zhi Zi. She has paranoid delusions and thinks everyone is trying to steal her things.”

Zhen Yi was curious and was about to ask more when Xiao Ke’s walkie-talkie crackled to life: “Disturbance in Zone B3, disturbance in Zone B3. Outdoor activity in Zone A is canceled, Zones B2 and B1 are on lockdown. All medical personnel…”

“What’s going on?” Zhen Yi asked.

“It must be Yao Feng causing trouble again,” Xiao Ke said as he rushed toward Zone B.

Yao Feng was Yang Zi’s first criminal case client and someone who made headlines in the news, although his fame didn’t surpass that of Lin Ziyi’s cases. Under different circumstances, Yao Feng would have shocked the nation:

A PhD student at K University, reclusive in nature, who brought a knife and acid to class after an argument with classmates, resulting in the deaths of four, three severely injured, and others suffering various levels of minor injuries. Convicting him was easy, but sentencing him was difficult, as he was suspected of having a mental illness.

Zhen Yi was puzzled. Shouldn’t mentally ill criminals be sent to specialized facilities? She then remembered that Yang Zi had once asked if she had any way of finding out Yao Feng’s psychiatric evaluation results early. He had been sent here for assessment.

Zhen Yi hurried after Xiao Ke, but along the way, she saw the patient she had encountered on the bridge earlier, dressed all in white, standing quietly in the hallway. His eyes were bright, and he smiled warmly at her.

Zhen Yi instinctively stopped and, without thinking, asked, “Why are you standing here? Where’s the nurse to take care of you?” She remembered the nurse mentioning that his condition was severe.

“I’m fine. I don’t need anyone to take care of me.” He smiled brilliantly, his voice clear and gentle. “Would you like me to tell you a story?”

Zhen Yi glanced in the direction Xiao Ke had disappeared and hesitated.

She didn’t realize how she appeared in his eyes at that moment—like a child lost at an amusement park, lingering too long at the kaleidoscope, separated from her parents. He smiled again, softly saying, “It won’t take long.”

Without waiting for her response, he began telling the story—

…In a southern city, there was a girl who liked a boy in the grade above her. One evening, they were walking home together. The boy walked quietly while the girl chirped around him like a little bird, happily chatting…

Zhen Yi was startled. He continued—

…That summer night, the stars were bright, and the branches of the trees on either side of the road were thick, casting shadows over the soft glow of the streetlights. The girl suddenly looked up and saw the beautiful starry sky. She grabbed the boy’s hand, her voice as joyful as a bell, and said, “Let me show you the stars!”

She ran to the center of the wide road and lay down on the ground.

The boy said, “A car will come and run you over.”

But she didn’t get up. She stretched lazily on the road like a cat, saying, “There are hardly any cars on this road. Isn’t it rare to find such a peaceful street in the city? Come on, lie down and look at the stars. From here, the night sky is really beautiful.”

She smiled as she looked up at the sky.

The boy didn’t look at the stars. He stood straight, gazing down at the girl at his feet.

He believed her.

Because at that moment, her smile was truly beautiful, and in her dark eyes, the stars reflected like tiny diamonds—so stunning that it was beyond words.

He had never done something so reckless before, but, as if guided by some invisible force, he lay down in the middle of the city road beside her.

The pavement still held the warmth of the day’s sun, along with a faint smell of asphalt, seeping through his shirt and into his skin. It was warm, but there was a cool breeze at night.

Lying in the middle of the road felt so new, the peacefulness so intense.

He looked up at the sky. The edges of his vision were framed by the still green trees, and in the center was a vast, deep blue sky, like soft velvet. The stars twinkled like scattered diamonds, so beautiful it took his breath away.

Inside, he felt utterly quiet, not a sound in his mind.

Suddenly, the girl beside him rolled over and leaned on him. In the dark, her face was clear and pale, her eyes deep and filled with emotion. She said ten words to him…

At this point in the story, the patient smiled gently and asked, “Dear girl, do you know what those ten words were?”

Zhen Yi found her breathing had unknowingly quickened. She stood frozen, staring at him, fear creeping in along with disbelief. She wanted to run but found she couldn’t move.

At that moment, Xiao Ke returned, calling out, “Miss Zhen, why are you here?” He saw Li You and his face immediately changed. “You go ahead. I’ll take care of this patient.” It was like Zhen Yi had been rescued, and she quickly turned and ran off.

When she reached Zone B3, it looked chaotic but was actually orderly. There were only a few psychiatric patients left, and they were being evacuated.

Yao Feng was swinging a chair around, hitting people, while several staff members and plainclothes officers struggled to approach him. He was in an agitated state, his expression twisted, looking terrifying. One of the officers shouted, “Yao Feng, you can’t escape! No matter how much you resist, we will capture you!”

Yao Feng didn’t listen to the police. His eyes were wide like bronze bells, and he muttered nervously to himself, “Ghosts, ghosts, you’re all ghosts. Your long tongues, you,” his hand trembled as he pointed, “your claws, you’re all demons! Don’t catch me! Don’t catch me! Ah!” He lost control again, swinging the chair around wildly.

One of the policemen lost his patience and shouted angrily, “The doctors have already diagnosed you as not having any mental illness. Stop pretending! You should have thought about this when you killed people! There’s no way you’re getting out of this by faking insanity!”

Zhen Yi was taken aback. Was he pretending to be crazy? But right now, he certainly looked like a genuine lunatic.

She looked around and quickly spotted Yan Ge, who had his hands casually in the pockets of his white coat, watching indifferently from a distance. Perhaps to a professional like him, Yao Feng’s performance was just a futile struggle.

But still, given the chance to live, who would want to die?

Yao Feng continued to mutter to himself, his expression becoming more and more horrifying: “You’re all demons sent from hell. I will destroy you.”