Love in a mental hospital

Chapter 249 McDonald's Past

After watching the fireworks, the two drove back to the city.

"Going back directly?" Gu Ran asked.

Su Qing didn't answer.

Gu Ran glanced at her quickly, then looked straight ahead, and asked while driving seriously, "Are you tired?"

"There's a place I want to take you to." Su Qing looked out the window.

"Okay, how do we get there?" Gu Ran said.

"Aren't you going to ask me where I'm going?" Su Qing turned her head and looked at him.

"I said I'm going to take you to a place and you'll ask me something."

Su Qing smiled and said, "It seems that you also know that you are unreliable."

"It's just going somewhere. If you were asked to eat something, wouldn't you doubt it?"

"will not."

"Isn't it?" Gu Ran was proud.

"I also hope that next time I give you something to eat, you won't doubt me and just drink water and swallow it."

"I tried to think positively, but I couldn't think of anything other than medicine that I needed to drink and swallow. We might end up going the wrong way if we didn't tell them where we were going."

"No." Su Qing looked ahead, "McDonald's is everywhere."

“When it comes to us, you can’t avoid McDonald’s.”

Su Qing seemed a little tired, which was completely different from her slightly excessive excitement in the morning.

Gu Ran found the nearest McDonald's.

This McDonald's is located on Beicheng Road, and along the street are the famous sycamore trees in South City - most people would think they are French plane trees, but after being pointed out by Chen Ke, a local in South City, Gu Ran knew the real name of the tree.

The time is nine o'clock in the evening.

Maybe because today is Saturday, or maybe because Haicheng is like this, at this time, the store is still half full.

The two found a double seat by the window.

"What do you want to eat?" Gu Ran opened the app. He had ordered McDonald's Family Meal before, so he was very experienced.

"One serving of French fries will do." Su Qing said.

"We've walked so much today, it doesn't matter if we eat a little more at night." Gu Ran said with a smile.

Su Qing couldn't help but laugh: "Then have another strawberry McFlurry."

"it is good."

After placing the order, Gu Ran put down his phone, and Su Qing supported the table with her hands, resting her chin on her palms, looking out the window.

Following her line of sight, there were sycamore trees painted in moonlight, and beyond the layers of sycamore leaves was the clear and distinct moon.

Gu Ran picked up his phone again and quietly took a picture of Su Qing in front of him.

Although it is McDonald's, because the subject of the photo is her, the picture looks like a high-end restaurant that overlooks the night view of Haicheng.

"This photo is beautiful." Gu Ran put the phone on the table and pushed it in front of Su Qing.

Su Qing retracted her gaze, looked down, and smiled: "You can set it as your new phone wallpaper."

After Gu Ran set up the new wallpaper, the ordered food was also ready.

He got up and got some chips, a strawberry McFlurry, and a Sprite.

After eating two French fries, Gu Ran asked, "Is there something wrong?"

"Did you see that?" Su Qing asked back.

"You look like you have a terminal illness, so you regard today as your last day with me and are ready to break up with me."

"Want to break up with me? That's impossible even if I die." Su Qing said.

"That's good!" Gu Ran took a sip of Sprite, "It almost made me lose the mood to drink Sprite - what's the matter? Tell me, as long as it's not a breakup, it's nothing."

"Are you happy during the day?" Su Qing asked.

"Of course I am happy." Gu Ran didn't understand why she asked this question, "Are you unhappy?"

He could use [Mind Reading], but he didn't want to.

Because he himself doesn't want to spend his life with someone who can "read minds" and "read minds" at any time.

"Happy." Su Qing said, "But life is not all about happy things, even if we now have enough confidence in the future."

"Can't argue with that."

"So I want to tell you some unhappy things after being happy."

"That's difficult." Gu Ran laughed, "I'm very happy talking to you."

"Do you know about my father?" Su Qing asked.

"I know a little." Gu Ran's expression calmed down. "He Qingyan said it. You were there. She said just that little at the time."

Su Qing's father died in a car accident.

Died on the way to pick up Su Qing.

Because Zhuang Jing neglected the family, her father, for some psychological reason (to prove his love for his daughter? His contribution to the family?), insisted on picking up Su Qing after staying up late, and then got into a car accident.

"Every time my father comes to pick me up, he takes me to McDonald's," said Su Qing.

Although Su Qing's father is a little paranoid in his feelings towards Zhuang Jing, his love for Su Qing is true fatherly.

“Actually, I don’t like McDonald’s.”

"Don't you like it?" Gu Ran asked.

Su Qing nodded. She looked at the French fries on the table and said, "I liked it at first, but later I didn't like it."

"When was 'first'? And after what was 'later'?"

"My mother started eating vegetables when she was young. Every time my father brought me to McDonald's, we were both very happy. It was like a little secret. Later-"

Su Qing lowered her head and smiled, as if she was mocking herself.

“Later,” she continued, “my father passed away, and my mother planned to burn all his diaries, but I begged her to keep the ones after I was born.

“My mother didn’t allow it, saying that my father didn’t take the initiative to show us his diary when he was alive, and we should respect him even after his death.

"I kept crying, and my mother finally allowed me to keep one diary. In that diary, my father wrote clearly, 'December 12, cloudy. Xiaoqing also had piano lessons today. After picking her up from school, I went to McDonald's again. Every time I saw her eating McDonald's, I felt the joy of revenge on Zhuang Jing.'"

Su Qing held a French fry as if she was fiddling with a match, and had no appetite for it.

Even He Qingyan thought that Su Qing liked to eat McDonald's.

Gu Ran didn’t know what kind of mood Su Qing was in every time she ate McDonald’s over the years.

"Everyone has a dark side, and a diary is an extremely personal item. Just because your father wrote these things in it doesn't mean he is really that kind of person," said Gu Ran.

But no matter what, children are not tools of their parents.

Unfortunately, few parents can always remember this sentence.

"My father asked me to play the piano," Su Qing said to herself, "I don't know if he completed another revenge on my mother when I played the piano. By analogy, I began to doubt the purpose of all his actions."

"Of course." She added, "My thoughts at that time were extreme. Now that I think about it carefully, my father loved me, but at that time... Anyway, since then, I don't like the things I used to like. Eating McDonald's is to make me remember this incident forever."

"Have you been trapped by your father's diary?" Gu Ran asked.

"How could that be?" Su Qing laughed. "After she started studying psychology out of spite, her mentality gradually improved. This might also be the reason why Xiya's mother allowed her to study psychology. Besides, so much time has passed, and even the fiercest typhoon has disappeared."

But have all the damage caused by the typhoon been repaired?

"I really want to comfort you, and even scold your father a few times, but." Gu Ran said, "That's memory, and memory can be biased. Your father may really want to use you to anger Aunt Jing, but the happiness he felt when he secretly ate McDonald's with his daughter must have been real."

"I don't deny it." Su Qing said.

She wiped her hands, picked up the spoon, and scooped a small spoonful of strawberry McFlurry. "My mom does the same," she smiled, "never mind, the ice cream has melted."

As she put the food in her mouth, her eyes seemed to sparkle.

The most important thing in Zhuang Jing's heart is her dream, not her father or herself.

"Can I ask a question?" Gu Ran said softly.

"Sure." Su Qing's tone was slightly relaxed. She was eating a strawberry McFlurry, as if she was trying to block something.

"Are you and He Qingyan tolerating her because you don't get love and care from your parents?" Gu Ran was so careful as if he was touching a freshly sharpened blade with his hand.

"She's the same as me." Su Qing said, "Some mental illnesses are hereditary, and her father is worried that his superiors will suspect that he will also have a mental illness in the future. Because of this small reason, he kind of dislikes her.

"Her mother, Aunt Xiang, wanted to cure her. At that time, He Qingyan's condition was much more serious than it is now. When she was in kindergarten, she had to move a stool to sit in a different position in the classroom every day. She also liked to draw on other people's faces during lunch break. So Aunt Xiang was very strict with her. He Qingyan, who was still a child, was probably very afraid of her.

“There are no children of the same age who are friends with her.

"So, since no one wants us, we can only get together."

"Now we are together." Gu Ran smiled, "Although it was a tragic past, with such a past, after becoming a psychologist, you can empathize with patients more, right?"

"From this point of view, it is indeed a good thing." Su Qing also laughed, "What about you? Tell me about your miserable story as well."

"poverty."

"I know all about you."

"You peeked at my diary?" Gu Ran was surprised.

"I won't read it until you're dead, so just pray that I die before you do - I learned about you from my mother."

"If you know, why are you asking?"

"I want to hear you say it yourself." Su Qing put down the spoon, supported her chin with her hand, and looked at him with a smile on her elegant and beautiful face.

"To put it simply, you are just scaring yourself." Gu Ran said.

"We look like a couple." Su Qing kept looking at him.

"Really? Don't flatter yourself."

"You don't like 'reference answers with only answers', and neither do I, so we are very similar."

"Okay." Gu Ran smiled, "To put it a little less simply, it's that parents let a child who just graduated from kindergarten walk a long way to go to school alone."

"Not the details of the matter, I want to hear about the psychological changes."

"Psychologically?" Gu Ran took a sip of Sprite. The Sprite without the gas tasted very bad.

"Yeah." Su Qing still looked at him with her chin in her hand.

“How should I put it? At the slightest movement, I feel like there’s a ghost nearby, or someone behind me;
“The chirping of insects and the sound of the wind, things that we usually take for granted, in that darkness that made no distinction between morning and night, also sounded like whispers and gave people a feeling.”

"Feel?"

"Once I understand, I will never be able to leave that night again. I will keep walking on the night road like a ghost, or be dragged into a grave in the pine forest beside the road, buried there forever. No one will find me, and even if someone comes along the road to look for me, they won't be able to hear my cry for help."

"My mother installed a street light for you?" Su Qing said.

"Yeah." Gu Ran smiled.

"After I decided to study psychology, my mother, although busy, would still care about my studies. At that time, I hated her and didn't want to talk to her. One time, I was lying on the table thinking, and she came in. I pretended to be asleep, and she carried me to the bed. I secretly opened my eyes and saw her helping me clean the table."

"Aunt Jing is the best." Gu Ran said proudly.

"Eat this." Su Qing pushed the melted strawberry McFlurry in front of him.

"Aren't you going to eat?"

"I'm full of jealousy."

"Hahahaha!" Gu Ran just laughed twice when Su Qing glared at him. Because he laughed so proudly, everyone around him looked at him.

Coming out of McDonald's, the two walked towards the parking lot.

It was night now and the sun had already set. Gu Ran did not park the car underground, but in an open-air parking lot, so the two of them could enjoy the refreshing night breeze.

"Have you slowly forgiven Aunt Jing since she carried you to bed?" Gu Ran asked.

"I was so naive at the time that I softened my heart immediately. I thought that even though my mother was wrong, she loved me, and there were only the two of us. Now that I think about it, how could she not know that I was pretending to sleep?"

“Are you a good actor?”

"Yeah, actually I was just acting when I liked you, just to be with you, and then to destroy your happiness and my own happiness with my own hands, and to get revenge on my mother."

"Hey, don't say things like that! But I completely understand you now. It's really creepy."

"So please be careful with your words next time."

"understand!"

"Also, remember what happened today. Life is full of happiness and sadness. Even if we are walking at night, from now on, we will walk back together." Su Qing fulfilled Gu Ran's wish this morning and took the initiative to hold his hand.

"I'll take you to a place too." Gu Ran held her hand.

"I didn't bring my ID card." Su Qing said immediately.

"I saw you brought it when I checked your ticket this morning!"

"There was some in the morning, but not now."

"Don't worry, you don't need an ID card."

The two got in the car, and Gu Ran drove Su Qing to another McDonald's, the McDonald's at the bus station, where the two met for the first time after many years.

They did not get out of the car. In the dim car, they silently stared at the brightly lit store, as if they were watching a short movie with simple scenery.

"For you, McDonald's is a place where you remember the pain, but for me, it is a beautiful memory of life. I hope that when you think of this place in the future, while remembering the pain, you can also feel a little bit of beauty." Gu Ran looked at Su Qing who was sitting in the passenger seat.

The dim light gave her a hazy beauty.

"I'm not sure," she said.

"It doesn't matter if there is none," Gu Ran said, "In short, let's not bully or retaliate against ourselves together with others, because when you retaliate against others, you will also hurt me."

"Nice words are useless to me." Su Qing was very calm.

"That's true." Gu Ran smiled bitterly.

How could Su Qing not understand such a simple truth?
"So," Su Qing continued, "we must cover up the pain with better memories."

"Ok?"

Su Qing unbuckled her seat belt and took the initiative to kiss Gu Ran.

The kiss was long, hard, and attentively.

After the kiss, Su Qing even looked a little lazy and weak in the passenger seat.

Gu Ran looked at her, and she turned her head to look at him. They looked at each other and smiled at the same time.

"Life has happiness and sadness, but after sadness, there is also happiness," said Gu Ran.

"I like happiness." Su Qing said.

"I would also like."

"Have fun more often."

"Oh." Gu Ran responded obediently and then smiled.

----

"Private Diary": September 20th, Saturday, a date day

The fireworks were beautiful. After leaving the castle, Su Qing and I went to McDonald's.

December 12st was Su Qing's birthday. Perhaps that was why she felt that her father had gone too far.

The past is over now. From now on, I hope McDonald's will be a beautiful memory for Su Qing.

(End of this chapter)