Chapter 5: You Should Pluck Up That Stretch of Sea

After teasing Gu Ran, Su Qing's expression was calm, even a bit icy, when she walked into Room 102.

The speed of the change was so swift, the transition so nimble, it was as if she was simply putting on a different mask, considering the context, one might even call it schizophrenic.

Gu Ran and Chen Ke were flipping through the profiles in their hands.

The patient in Room 102 was a young woman.

Liu Xiaoting was only two years older than them, ready to get married before she was hospitalized, but then she was diagnosed with cancer, and her mental state also started to falter.

At first, her boyfriend visited frequently, but after a while, he stopped showing up.

After being admitted to Jinghai, Zhuang Jing personally took on her care, and Liu Xiaoting's mental health soon improved, but she refused to be discharged and wished to spend the last days of her life in Jinghai.

Not wanting to be discharged, and facing certain death, no one could be sure that Liu Xiaoting's condition wouldn't relapse, which was why she resided on the ground floor—the fall from the window wouldn't be fatal.

Naturally, the power outlets in the first-floor rooms were for show and weren't electrified.

Even when it came to taking medication, nurses would check under the patient's tongue like coaxing a child, to prevent them from hiding the pills.

"Liu Xiaoting." Su Qing spoke up.

Liu Xiaoting was painting by the window, a vast blue sea with yachts trailing frothy white wakes.

"Good morning." Liu Xiaoting turned around with a smile.

Chen Ke recognized her, one of the "window greeters."

Inwardly, she couldn't help feeling sorry for Liu Xiaoting, who had delicate features and an appealing physique, in line with the general aesthetic, a slender girl.

If not for the cancer, she should have been a happy bride—at least happy for a while, instead of waiting for death like she was now.

"How are you feeling today?" Su Qing asked.

"The frequency of questioning 'meaning' has decreased, no reluctance to get out of bed this morning, and the sense of alienation from the world has also weakened...."

Su Qing listened quietly.

In the end, Liu Xiaoting said, "Concerning daily life, I would like to get some books about oil painting."

Su Qing looked towards the three nurses, one of whom hurriedly took notes.

Finally, Su Qing's gaze turned to Gu Ran and Chen Ke.

Chen Ke said, "I'll take this one."

Su Qing stepped aside, arms folded across her chest, and stood next to Gu Ran, looking less like a doctor and more like a peerless beauty posing as one for a photo shoot.

"Hello." Chen Ke greeted with a smile, "I'm the new doctor, Chen Ke."

Liu Xiaoting laughed, "I remember you, were you late this morning?"

"Thank you for cheering me on." Chen Ke's smile deepened, and she glanced at the oil painting behind Liu Xiaoting, "Do you like to paint?"

"Yes."

"You're very good, did you study art?"

"No, I majored in Japanese in college."

"So you're self-taught?"

"Yes, I would draw on my tablet when the business was slow."

"A store?" Chen Ke asked curiously.

"Guess." Liu Xiaoting didn't say directly.

Chen Ke pursed her lips in a smile, pondering, "A Japanese translation office or something?"

"Japanese is simple, there are too many people who know it."

"A milk tea shop?"

"Not that."

"Clothing?"

"Wrong again."

Chen Ke declared, "I give up."

"Spicy hot pot." Liu Xiaoting seemed to think it should be obvious.

"I prefer skewers." Chen Ke said.

"No wonder my business has always been slow, I should have opened a skewer shop from the start. Next time we have group therapy, I'll make skewers for you all," Liu Xiaoting said with a laugh.

Such a good person, who didn't seem to exhibit any fear of death.

However, whether a business thrives or fails, or whether one's body is healthy, has nothing to do with personality; the world may be stirred by this notion, but it can also be infuriating.

After chatting for a while, the six of them left the room, and Su Qing asked Chen Ke to share her thoughts.

After phrasing her words meticulously, Chen Ke said:

"She seems fine, but too positive and bright. I have seen a depressed patient who appeared happy and optimistic on the surface, even to a giggly extent, but deep inside was planning how to commit suicide afterward—we still need to keep a close eye on Liu Xiaoting."

Su Qing nodded.

In a psychiatric hospital, doctors and family members must be vigilant because psychiatric patients really might suddenly commit suicide, no matter how normal they seem in the moment before.

The six of them continued making rounds.

The residential area encompassed three floors with nine rooms in total, all single rooms, and currently housed six patients in total.

The higher the floor, the patients' symptoms were not necessarily better, but the risk of suicide was definitely lower.

The first floor housed only Inner Gate Expert Zhao Wenjie, and Spicy Hot Pot Liu Xiaoting.

The second floor also housed just two patients, who were both stable today.

'Stable' here means that the condition is steady, with no occurrence of 'uncontrollable thoughts.'

One of them was the swimming old man Gu Ran had met once, residing in 201.

According to his file, he wasn't a Hydro Mage, but an "Yugong," and unlike Yugong who moved mountains, he wished to pull rivers.

Using his body to pull up the river water, he was currently practicing hard in the swimming pool, hoping everyone else would learn as well.

When asked why he was doing this.

He replied, "Isn't the continent in the sea? Actually, the continent also plays tug-of-war, and it is because of the continent's tug-of-war that the sea water keeps following the Earth.

"And since humanity originally came from the sea, if all humans learn to tug, then we can each pull up a part of the ocean and use it as a spaceship for space travel."

It feels somewhat related to 'gravity,' doesn't it?

Asked if he had any interest in jumping out of windows or dying by electrocution.

He said he had no interest in air or electricity at all; too many experts are studying air and electricity, and that path only leads to learning initially, devoid of the joy of exploring the unknown.

After leaving 201, Su Qing instructed, "Increase the medication, from half a pill to one."

"Yes!" The male orderly responded.

The old man was his responsibility; after all, only a man could potentially stop another man who often exercised and swam from committing suicide.

202 was a 57-year-old auntie.

She stayed in Jinghai to learn about Jinghai's operating model because she also had qualifications in psychotherapy and could enter psychological shadows.