Chapter 249: Campfire on a Snowy Night (IV)

Since the last ice-covered Gotham incident, the temperature of the city has begun to drop. Not long after the summer, the temperature dropped a lot. Until last night, the fine drizzle turned into ice. The next morning, Schiller, who came to work at Arkham Hospital, put his umbrella at the door of the office and sighed.

When Mrs. Miller walked into the room with a kettle, she looked back at the umbrella leaning against the door. She put the kettle on Schiller's table and said, "Dr. Rodriguez, why are you still using that broken umbrella?"

Schiller took the kettle and poured water for himself, shrugging and saying, "It wasn't too bad before. I asked someone to make an extra frame to reinforce it. It can still be used. Who knows that it's not raining in Gotham these days, but hail, so..."

His eyes passed Mrs. Miller and looked at his umbrella. It was obvious that one of the ribs on it was broken. Even if it was not opened, you could see obvious dents.

Mrs. Miller was once a head nurse. After retirement, she was rehired by the hospital and is now the housekeeper of Arkham Mental Hospital. She is a skinny old woman, but in good spirits.

She stretched out her hand to tighten her woolen shawl and said, "The weather has been getting weirder and weirder recently. It's hail today, and it might snow tomorrow. I'll have someone come and light up the fireplace later."

"Oh, ma'am, you always like to exaggerate. It's still a long way to go." Schiller said after taking a sip of hot water.

Then he took out his schedule and asked Mrs. Miller: "Who is the first patient this morning? Is there anyone who needs my ward?"

"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: "This morning, Mr. Oswald Cobble will have a follow-up visit, which will take about two hours. After that, Anthony and Miss Scott on the third floor will also have follow-up visits, a total of two hours, so I will come to collect the cases and files at 12 noon..."

Mrs. Miller closed the notebook with a "snap" and said: "The afternoon is private time, your two friends have made an appointment, is there anything I can help you with this part?"

"No, thank you, oh, by the way, I have another friend coming over in the evening, but he called my private number..."

Mrs. Miller put the notebook back on the bookshelf on the table, A little helpless, he said: "Dr. Schiller, you have to know that generally speaking, mental hospitals do not allow people without appointments to enter, and appointments need to be made by calling the hospital one day in advance. If you are contacted through your personal mobile phone, it must be at least two days in advance..."

"Yes, I know, Mrs. Miller, but my friend's situation is a bit special. If I don't allow him to enter, he may go to the TV station to grab the camera."

"Okay, you can make an exception this time, but next time please remember to remind him to make an appointment by calling the hospital, otherwise if any problems arise, 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 "sizzling" sound, and a fine white smoke rose from the cup. Schiller drank a sip of hot water, and when he put down the cup, he looked at Cobert's face through the smoke on the opposite side.

He is much better than before. Although his cheeks are still thin and his eyeballs are sunken, it can be seen that his hair has been groomed, his face is much rosier, and his lips are no longer chapped.

Schiller flipped 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 recuperation. If possible, it is better to change houses."

"Not to mention the poor lighting and air environment there, the hygiene alone is a big problem."

Schiller put down the medical records again, looked at Cobert and asked, "How is your mother?"

"She is fine."

"What's wrong? You seem to have something to say?"

Schiller saw that Cobert opposite him looked a little hesitant, 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 arm on the table and said, "The normal follow-up is over, but there are still 20 minutes left. Next is the free treatment time. You can say whatever you want."

"Professor Freese suggested that I... go to high school." Cobblepot also put his hands on the table, but he crossed his fingers and squeezed them tightly. He said, "It's ridiculous, right? How can I go to high school?"

"Why do you think it's ridiculous? Why do you think you can't go to high school?"

"I..." Cobblepot 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 doesn't go to school, let alone high school. They may not even finish elementary school and leave school. You are the same. "

"Perhaps in your life plan, you have never followed the path of studying step by step and then taking the college entrance examination..."

Cobert nodded. He still looked very nervous, and his Adam's apple kept trembling up and down. He said: "This won't work. I can't go to school. I don't have tuition fees, and my mother needs someone to take care of her."

"But now, these should not be a problem. The money you earn now is enough for you to live, and then pay for tuition fees, and it is also enough for you to have your mother hospitalized for treatment, and 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?"

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"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 lip, a little confused. explain.

"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's 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 expensive, and the language and vocabulary used to describe this state of life are even more expensive.

"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, 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 get out the last words.

"When he described this kind of life to me, he was very contagious and made me both envious and jealous. But now I am 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 smoother it turns, the better the running-in between the parts and gears, and the faster it turns.

"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 balance in your brain."

"You don't have to memorize all the books on art, literature, and philosophy in the world and apply them to 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 going into a dead end or your emotions going into extremes.”

Cobot saw an all-encompassing calm power in Schiller's eyes, stronger than he had ever felt in Victor.

For the first time, he understood the metaphor of "eyes are windows to the soul" because he saw the endless vast ocean in Schiller's eyes.

The last time he had this feeling was when he was facing the Godfather, but the Godfather carried an irresistible power, more like a violent storm on the sea, but Schiller was more like an endless deep sea, quiet, peaceful, but bottomless.

Cobert rubbed his clenched index fingers together, and he felt a cool breeze, but it was not because of the weather.

In his slightly lackluster imagination, he was like a penguin swaying on the ice, with Gotham's night storm above his head and the bottomless sea under his feet.

fantuan.

Now, there are two paths before him. Should he be a bird that rises with the wind, or jump into the sea and become a fish that bravely moves forward in the sea of ​​learning?

For the first time, his brain, which always turned in one direction, had the friction of some parts and gears, which sounded like thunder in the cold night to him.

But Cobblepot did not feel scared. After the fireplace in the room was lit, a subtle warmth came.

If the rain in Gotham never stops and he does not have an umbrella to shelter him from the wind and rain, then let him jump into the sea and swim forward in the ocean currents and whirlpools until he finds his shelter, freezes the water there into ice, and builds a house for himself.

With a "Gudong", Schiller heard the sound of Cobblepot swallowing hard, but it sounded more like the sound of some young aquatic birds jumping from the ice into the sea.