Love in a mental hospital

Chapter 320 South City Night
After the train had been running for about an hour, there was almost no movement in the carriage except for the uncontrollable coughing.

The princess didn't say anything either.

Su Qing was sitting on Gu Ran's left, and He Qingyan was on his right. Su Qing was reading a book, while He Qingyan took out her tablet, put on headphones, and started reading "The Secret".

At first Gu Ran didn't care, but later he had to remind her that if she watched this in public, it might attract the police.

"What do you want to see?" He Qingyan asked him.

Gu Ran knew her condition for not watching X-rated films in public: he would watch other serious films with her.

"The Matrix Part Two?" Gu Ran suggested.

"When you are away from home, can you please stop thinking about An Yao?" He Qingyan said as if An Yao was Gu Ran's wife.

Gu Ran thought for a moment and answered honestly: "It's difficult."

Su Qing, who was sitting by the window, smiled and turned the page of the book.

He Qingyan clicked on the screen, and "When the Peach Ripened" continued to mature.

Gu Ran took the tablet and found a serious movie in her "files", "Pride and Prejudice".

He Qingyan raised the corner of her mouth slightly and put an earphone into his ear.

After doing all this, she moved slightly and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Would you like some peanut drinks or coffee?" The conductor who was selling things passed by pushing a cart. The volume of his voice was just right, not waking up those who were asleep, but still loud enough for those who were awake to hear.

As she passed by, she occasionally glanced at where Gu Ran and the others were, and the hawking stopped.

He Qingyan leaned on Gu Ran's shoulder, and Gu Ran's hand was on Su Qing's leg.

If the conductor had been driving the cart instead of pushing it, he would most likely have had an accident.

The train arrived at South City and they checked their tickets and exited the station. Because there were so many people, it was no longer realistic to stay at Chen Ke's house, so they - this had nothing to do with Gu Ran, so it was them - rented a homestay.

It is not far from the Qinhuai River, where the waves are leisurely and reflect countless histories and customs.

The entire homestay was booked. Su Qing and He Qingyan shared a room, Xie Xiya and Gege, Fei Xiaoxiao and An Yao were alone, and Gu Ran was alone.

Chen Ke goes home.

Fei Xiaoxiao is a native of Nancheng. Her home is too far away, but she doesn't mind living in the same room with An Yao, whom she just met. The two have developed a hand-in-hand relationship.

"Then I'll go back first. I'll come early tomorrow morning and go to Qixia Mountain to watch the sunrise. Tickets are not required before seven o'clock!" said Chen Ke.

"I'll walk you two steps." Gu Ran said.

"Okay." Chen Ke smiled.

"Let's go home together to meet our parents." He Qingyan smiled, leaning against the door with her arms folded, like a young lady from the Republic of China, and with a bit of the charm of a wife at a young age.

Gu Ran and Chen Ke didn't say anything and walked out of the B&B where the Impatiens flowers were in full bloom.

The streets are filled with the fragrance of osmanthus.

"Is it far?" Gu Ran asked.

"It takes an hour by subway." said Chen Ke.

She smiled and said, "It's near the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum. I didn't dare to tell you because I was afraid of Xie Xiya."

"Haha!" Gu Ran laughed.

His laughter would not be annoying even in a library. Just the sound and the way he laughed would make people feel good about him. When you look up to see who is laughing, you will see that people - especially women - are already smiling.

Gu Ran was very curious, so he asked, "Are the houses expensive near scenic spots like the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum?"

"You asked this question." Chen Ke looked at him with a smile.

"so what?"

“It’s expensive.”

"Now that you've become close enough, you no longer need to hide your identity as a rich second-generation?" Gu Ran said with a smile.

"Is it just cooked?" Chen Ke asked back.

“It depends on what standard you use.”

"Ok?"

Gu Ran thought of a small incident, so small that he didn't even write it in his diary, but now he found it very interesting.

"I called Su Qing 'wife' and she said 'we are not that familiar'. So are Su Qing and I familiar with each other or not?" he said.

Chen Ke burst out laughing.

The two chatted as they walked towards the Confucius Temple subway station.

"There are a lot of people." Gu Ran said while standing in front of the traffic light.

"It is said that there is no off-season for tourism in Nanjing," said Chen Ke.

After a pause, she lowered her voice and said, "Can we hold hands? It's just one traffic light, and we'll let go after we pass it."

"The princess is behind." said Gu Ran.

Chen Ke subconsciously looked back and tried hard to hold back.

"The light is green." Gu Ran took her hand and took a step forward.

Chen Ke looked at him in surprise.

"Our relationship isn't such that you'd be so surprised if we even held hands, right?" Gu Ran said with a smile.

"Gege."

"You're scared?"

Chen Ke shook his head slightly and followed Gu Ran forward: "I thought you didn't want to."

"I feel really happy, actually." Gu Ran said, "For an old-fashioned, male chauvinist like me, I will never let go of a woman, especially if it's my first time, unless I have no other choice."

"What if it wasn't for that time? Would you still hold my hand?"

"Is it something a psychologist would do to worry about something that is impossible?"

"A woman in love does."

Gu Ran turned around and looked at Chen Ke. The girl who would do such a thing as "stuck the fallen leaves of the phoenix tree in the book" was also looking at him.

"Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?" Gu Ran continued to walk forward.

I don’t know if it’s the case for the entire South City or just this traffic light. The red light is particularly long, and the green light is particularly short, and it has started to flash.

"The truth."

"You look quite homely, curled up on the sofa with your arms around a pillow," said Gu Ran.

".Ah?" Chen Ke was puzzled.

"When we were on an uninhabited island." Gu Ran said.

Gu Ran hoped that she could say something so that even if he couldn't read her mind, he could still roughly judge her emotions, but Chen Ke said nothing.

He was too embarrassed to look back at her expression.

Chen Ke just followed him and let him lead her forward.

When Gu Ran returned to the courtyard of the B&B, thinking that "it only takes two hours to get from Haicheng to Nancheng, but it takes Chen Ke an hour to get home from Qinhuai River", Gege was vividly describing what she had seen and heard.

They drank tea and ate fruits in the yard. They also followed the trend and built a small clay stove and put fresh chestnuts on it.

"October is the season for eating chestnuts." Gu Ran's tone was full of nostalgia, as he recalled the time when he stole chestnuts as a child.

Su Qing glanced at the grill and used a pair of tongs to pick up a completely cracked golden chestnut that was roasted and given to him.

"Sister Su Qing, you're not going to deal with him?" Gege couldn't believe it.

"Xiya, what do you think?" He Qingyan asked.

"I think," Xie Xiya murmured, as if she was applying the psychology knowledge she had learned during this period, "the better you treat Gu Ran, the more guilty he will feel. Sister Su Qing wants this non-violent way to turn Gu Ran into a psychopath."

Well, this is definitely not psychology. Psychology is not that dark. This is what Xie Xiya studies.

Gu Ran was so scared that he handed the peeled chestnuts to Su Qing.

Su Qing didn't answer.

She asked, "Do you know that Gege is following behind?"

"I know." Gu Ran replied.

Let me interrupt for a moment. Fei Xiaoxiao, Chen Ke’s good friend, was already video chatting with Chen Ke. The two were not talking. Chen Ke should be on the subway, while Fei Xiaoxiao was cracking melon seeds and drinking tea, as if she was sitting under the stage.

"You knew but still held Chen Ke's hand?" Su Qing asked again.

"Yeah." Gu Ran said.

"Why?" Su Qing seemed to be simply curious.

“I don’t want to just passively accept love from others.”

Su Qing picked up the chestnut in his hand, ate it, and said, "People who just passively accept the love of others are not worthy of love - I don't like what you do, but I like you as a person."

"How amazing." An Yao exclaimed.

"It's hard to understand, right?" Fei Xiaoxiao whispered in agreement. "Yeah." An Yao nodded.

“But it’s up to them as long as they like it.”

"Uh-huh."

He Qingyan looked at Gu Ran with a happy expression that showed she had not made a mistake.

Xie Xiya glanced at Gege, meaning: I have good taste, right?

The princess declined the offer. She didn't want to share a man with three women. It was better for three men to share her as a woman.

Gu Ran, who was acquitted, looked at Gege.

The princess also looked at him, like a rooster raising the feathers on its neck ready for a duel.

"Don't do this kind of thing." Gu Ran said, "You are not familiar with the place, it's dangerous for you to go out alone."

".Do you think I'm a three-year-old kid?"

If it was Gu Ran, Gege felt that it was not impossible to consider it, but three people were too many, two at most, and the one who got the marriage certificate had to be her.

Seven people sat in the courtyard with a quaint appearance, looking at the crescent moon in the night sky, drinking tea, eating fruits, roasting chestnuts, taro and sweet potatoes, and petting the cats in the store.

"I used Impatiens to dye my nails when I was a child." Fei Xiaoxiao said as she looked at the flowers in the corner of the yard.

"I read about it in a book." Xie Xiya nodded and took pictures of Impatiens and Fei Xiaoxiao very seriously.

"I'm curious about something." An Yao asked Su Qing and the others, "I've always heard that doctors' handwriting is hard to read. Is that true? Is it the same for you?"

"Try asking them to write the bill." Su Qing ate the burnt orange with a smile on her face.

"I guarantee that even a blind person can see the amount he should pay." Gu Ran said.

"Hey." An Yao asked another question, "Doctor He, I heard you are also mentally ill?"

"Jung once said that only a wounded healer can truly heal a patient - I am a real psychologist," said He Qingyan.

"I think Gu Ran is probably a real psychologist." Gege was cracking melon seeds, not caring that her skirt was covered with shells.

"Hahaha!" Everyone laughed. The tea tasted better and the food tasted better.

"You will get beaten sooner or later." Gu Ran said.

"Doctor Gu." Xie Xiya handed him the camera, "Take a picture for us."

The girls sat on bamboo chairs with backrests, and Gu Ran pointed the camera at them.

"How was the filming?" He Qingyan asked.

"It looks like a movie still." Gu Ran replied.

"Take a separate photo of me, Su Qing and Xie Xiya." He Qingyan said again.

Gu Ran raised his eyes, as if there were two stars in the yard. Those two stars were He Qingyan's eyes, and he felt malice.

"Why are you three together? I want one too." Gege leaned over.

Xie Xiya raised her hand, pointed her index finger at Gege's shoulder, and pushed her away.

Of course one finger can't push someone away, but Gege didn't insist.

"Wait!" Fei Xiaoxiao stretched one hand to the end, holding a mobile phone in her hand. The screen on the phone showed a photo of Chen Ke wearing Hanfu and playing the guzheng.

Gu Ran couldn't help laughing while looking at the camera.

But Chen Ke looks very beautiful in Hanfu.

They chatted in the yard for three hours, until the charcoal fire in the small clay stove went out, and everyone went back to their rooms to rest.

The room was not as luxurious as a hotel, but very homely, as if the owner had given up his best room for them to stay in.

After taking a shower, Gu Ran turned on the homely desk lamp, read a book for a while, and wrote in his diary.

I turned off all the lights, stood in front of the window in the dark, and looked at the moonlight for a while.

Once again, according to the "Life Map Therapy", I told myself not to miss the past and not to envy the future. The present is the 'past that the future will miss' and the 'future that the past will envy'.

Be happy at this moment, enjoy the present.

After looking at the moon for a while, he lay down on the bed and went to sleep.

“Brother Gu, Brother Gu!”

Gu Ran woke up and found Li Bai beside him.

"Where is this?" he couldn't help asking.

"Jinling." Li Bai lifted the bamboo curtain on the bow of the boat. "Qinhuai River."

Outside the curtain, there is the sound of gurgling water and people flowing on both sides of the river. There are prostitutes waving their sleeves and laughing, there are women playing the pipa, and there are young men who are unrestrained.

"Aren't we in the Tang Dynasty City That Never Sleeps?" Gu Ran was puzzled.

"Hahahaha!" Li Bai laughed wildly, "Brother Gu, you are drunk. This place is the emperor's residence, and this mountain is a dragon and tiger circle. We are clearly in Jinling!"

After laughing, he fell down with a bang. Those who knew the inside story knew that he was drunk, while those who didn't think he was shot dead by a sniper.

"Jinling? Yes, I am in Jinling, here for tourism." Gu Ran woke up and seemed to be really drunk just now.

After calming down a bit, he looked at the drunk Li Bai lying on the ground and said, "Brother Li, what do you want from me this time?"

"Do me a favor." Li Bai closed his eyes, as if he was talking in his sleep.

"What's the deal?"

"Write a poem for me in front of Confucius Temple."

"No."

"Just say that Li Bai asked you to write it."

"That's even worse." Gu Ran refused firmly.

Li Bai opened his eyes and looked at Gu Ran: "If I were still alive, I would write a poem to scold you and make you famous through the ages."

"Fortunately, you died early." Gu Ran picked up the wine, sniffed it, and then took a sip.

"I'll take you to see Xi Shi, Diao Chan, Wang Zhaojun, and Lin Qingxia"

"Wait, Brigitte Lin is not dead yet." Gu Ran said.

"She was a beauty when she was young." Li Bai crawled forward and climbed to the table, "Help me."

Gu Ran picked up the wine jug and poured wine into his open mouth.

Li Bai drank as if he had just crawled out of the desert.

"It's better to die, it's better to die, after I die I can drink as much wine as I want." He laughed inexplicably again, and suddenly burst into tears.

Gu Ran probably knew why he was looking for her: because he was lonely.

He stood up, opened the curtain, walked out of the cabin, stood at the bow, and admired the charming ancient night scene.

Ok?
He looked to the south, where there was a ginkgo tree towering into the darkness. Lights flickered on the tree, and they were lanterns.

"Zhu Yuanzhang held a lantern festival there. The one with the highest lantern received a white fruit. After eating it, er," Li Bai hiccuped and staggered out of the cabin, "he could gain a trace of dragon vein power."

"Brother Li is a sword master, why don't you participate?" Gu Ran was curious.

Li Bai showed a drunkard's unique smile: "A ginkgo nut? Me? Unless Zhu Yuanzhang's throne allows me to sit on it for three days."

Before he could finish his words, he fell down again, this time directly into the Qinhuai River.

There were dense lights on both sides of the river, but the river was so dark that there was not a single light.

"Brother Li? Brother Li? Are you okay? If you were already dead, I wouldn't have saved you!" Gu Ran shouted on the boat.

"Gululu~" Li Bai suddenly poked his head out from three meters away, making a sound like he was about to drown, while waving his hand to tell him not to worry.

Gu Ran hesitated for a moment, but still didn't jump down to save the person.

He had no change of clothes, and yet he took off all his clothes in public.

"I hope Dean Zhuang Jing and Confucius will bless you." This was the only thing Gu Ran could do for Li Bai.

Then, he looked at the ginkgo tree that reached into the sky and was hung with lanterns. As the night wind blew, the lights on the tree seemed to be taking the ginkgo tree with it to eternity.

"Can the power of dragon veins make me stronger in my dream? Or make me an emperor in reality?" Gu Ran muttered to himself.

He drank the wine in the bowl, threw the glass into the river, and then turned into a black dragon and flew into the sky.

There were cries of surprise on both sides of the Qinhuai River, and prostitutes, young men and their clients opened their windows to look in.

Li Bai was washed ashore by the river, but he did not stand up. He just sat half on the shore and half in the water.

"Boy," Li Bai raised the wine jug that he had held even though he was almost drowned, "This Lantern Festival is for you."

"Pooh!"

There was no wine in the jug; it was all Qinhuai River water. Not far away, a prostitute was peeing into the river in a dark corner, staring at the drunk.

----

《Private Diary》: Friday, October 9, South City
The South City is nice and more approachable than the North City.

(End of this chapter)