Chapter 3 second quarter

Walking out of the dean's office, Dean Ge said to Wu Leting: "Our other patients all live on the first three floors of this building. The fourth floor—the floor we are on now—is the dean and doctors. office. The fifth floor is used to store equipment and sundries, and there are some vacant rooms. This old man lives in one of the rooms." "That is to say, he is the only patient living in the entire fifth floor?" "Yes, he likes a quiet life—his illness does require staying away from noise." When they spoke, they had already walked up to the fifth floor.Wu Leting felt a little nervous when she thought that she was about to face this mysterious and special old man.

The dean stopped at the door of a room in the middle of this floor.There was a piece of glass above the door, and the dean glanced inside, then knocked on the door. After waiting for a while, there was no response from inside.The dean shrugged his shoulders and pushed the door open.Wu Leting followed him in. It was a bright, airy room, neat and tidy.There is a wall-mounted TV, as well as chairs and a coffee table.There are two hospital beds in the house, one of which is empty, and the old man sitting on the other bed looks to be about 60 years old, wearing pajama-like hospital clothes, thin and thin, with gray and thinning hair, and his mental condition looks like not bad.Wu Leting noticed that his hands were fixed on both sides of the bed by two leather rings, just as the dean said before.There is no doubt that this hospital bed has been transformed.

The old man was staring at the trees and birds outside the window before, when he saw the dean walking in with a girl, his eyes shifted to them. "Old Di," the dean said to the old man with a smile, "This is Wu Leting, who is new to our hospital today. She has just graduated from medical university. She will take care of you from now on." Wu Leting tried her best to act relaxed and natural. "Hello, old Di." Dinon looked at the girl standing in front of him, his gaze was deep and penetrating, as if he could penetrate the surface and penetrate into the essence.He stared at Wu Leting for a long time, then nodded slightly: "Hello."

Wu Leting secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She felt that this old man named Di Nong—at least at present—was relatively normal, not as neurotic or unapproachable as she had imagined before. "Let's talk for a while. I have something to do, so I'm going out first—by the way, Wu Leting, at twelve o'clock at noon, Mrs. Mai will bring over lunch. I asked her to bring an extra copy, and you will be here for lunch later eat." "Okay, Dean Ge, thank you." The dean left the room and closed the door. Wu Leting smiled at the old man, and walked slowly to the balcony.She took a breath of fresh air, turned around and said, "The air here is really good, don't you think so, Old Man Di?"

"Yes." The old man replied. "Did you enjoy your stay?" The old man was silent for a moment. "Okay." Wu Leting thought for a while. "The food here should be good, right?" "You'll find out soon," said the old man, "I hope you like Mrs. Mai's cooking." They chatted about some ordinary topics again, until Wu Leting couldn't find anything to say.During these conversations, she found that the old man named Dinon had normal thinking and logic, and he could not be seen as a mental patient at all. At this time, the old man laughed: "Sit down, girl. You don't have to be so reserved, you have to try to find something to say to me-I mean, if you want to talk, we can talk for a while; but if If you don't want to talk, just do your own thing. In short, you are completely free to do whatever you want—but, you'd better not leave this room easily."

Wu Leting sat down as promised. "Do you want me to be with you all the time?" "Not quite. I'm thinking of you." "For my sake?" "Yes. If you haven't been guarding me all the time, the dean will blame you if he finds out." Wu Leting was silent for a moment. "It seems that Dean Ge really cares about you." Di Nong raised his head and said with a meaningful smile: "Heh... yes, he really cares about me." Wu Leting couldn't read his mind, and didn't know what to say. Di Nong said to Wu Leting: "If you want to watch TV, just turn it on and watch it. The remote control is in the drawer of the cabinet next to me."

Wu Leting said, "Is this okay? The principal said you like quietness." "It's okay, as long as you don't turn up the volume too loudly." Wu Leting smiled. "Thanks, I don't watch TV right now." "Then what are you going to do? Just sit like this all day?" Wu Leting lowered her head in thought, she hadn't considered this question yet. "Let me give you some advice," said the old man, "otherwise you will not be able to bear this tedious and dull job. Tell me, what is your hobby?" "Well... let's read a book, and travel."

"Traveling is obviously impossible. Reading is a good choice. A good book will bring you wisdom and enlightenment, and illuminate your life." "Do you like reading too, Mr. Di?" The old man nodded. "Then do you want to watch it now..." Wu Leting said halfway, when she suddenly caught sight of the old man's immobilized hands, she quickly kept her mouth shut. There was an awkward silence in the room. The old man broke the silence: "It doesn't matter if you don't read books now-I have been dealing with books all my life-this is my job."

"You work in a library?" The old man laughed: "No, I am a teacher." "Oh, what do you teach?" "the University." Wu Leting was suddenly in awe of Di Nong. "Ah, so you are a university professor. What subject do you teach?" "History." "Really?" Wu Leting said excitedly, "I'm very interested in history." "Then we have a common topic." The old man smiled. "If you'd like to discuss it with me." "Of course I would. Mr. Di, maybe you don't believe such a coincidence. Although I was studying in a medical university, my elective course happened to be history—and literature."

"There are not many young girls who like history. Like the girls who took care of me before, almost all of them are not interested in history. Most of them like modern and fashionable things. Maybe you don't believe it, you are the only one among so many girls One who likes history." Wu Leting opened her mouth and was stunned for a long while. "You say—the 'those' girls who took care of you?" "Yeah, you should know that you are not the first to take care of me, right?" "Ah, yes, I know. But... how many girls have had this job before me?"

The old man thought for a while. "I can't remember exactly. But conservatively, there are always more than a hundred." Wu Leting wondered if she heard it wrong. "You said...how many?" "Not less than a hundred, you heard me right." Wu Leting was dumbfounded for a long time, then shook her head and said, "It's impossible, even if you change someone every day..." "No exaggeration, some of these girls worked for three months - that's a long time. But most of them can only endure this dull job for a week or two. I think one girl worked for four months , she is the one who has stayed here the longest." Wu Leting stared into the old man's eyes and said, "Old Man Di, you know, this is impossible. According to you..." "Yes, roughly speaking, I have lived here for thirteen years."