That soup... should he drink it or not?

Zhou Ze frowned slightly, then put the bowl down, looking at Wang Ke, and at Wang Ke's wife.

Wang Ke's wife pulled up a chair and sat down, then rubbed her heel, complaining:

"Honey, my heel still isn't better."

"Who told you to be so careless? It's lucky nothing was broken."

Wang Ke carefully examined his wife's heel, smiled, and said:

"You should go back to the room and rest. Don't run around so much these days. It's too hard on you walking on tiptoe all the time, especially in high heels."

"Alright, alright, wasn't I just trying to make myself look nicer so you'd be more comfortable looking at me at home?"

The woman rolled her eyes at her husband, then smiled slightly at Zhou Ze. "You guys chat, I'll go up first."

After the woman left, Wang Ke pointed to the bowl Zhou Ze had just put down, reminding him:

"The soup's getting cold."

Zhou Ze took out a cigarette, lit it, and started smoking as if he were in his own home.

After a while, Zhou Ze asked:

"What's this about?"

"Just felt like it." Wang Ke shook his head, then pointed to the pot of meat soup, and said, "Earlier, did you think this pot of meat soup was made of human meat?"

Zhou Ze didn't say anything.

Wang Ke also took out a cigarette, lit it on the gas stove, and said:

"It's psychological suggestion. Everyone encounters this kind of psychological suggestion to some extent in their daily lives. For example, you just leave home, and suddenly an aunt next door tells her child to lock the door after people leave, or the house will be robbed.

"You will subconsciously reflect on whether you have closed the door, and then constantly recall and struggle, and finally run back to see with your own eyes whether the door is closed.

"This is relatively common and simple. A slightly more advanced one is to achieve this effect through repeated psychological suggestion behaviors and consciousness operating from the sidelines.

"For example, you think I actually cooked a pot of human meat soup in my own kitchen, and you don't dare to drink it."

Wang Ke shrugged.

"Sounds absurd? Yes, it's absurd, but you believed it. That's the most absurd thing, but it's also the most normal thing."

Zhou Ze asked, "Is this part of the treatment?"

Wang Ke shook his head. "No, this isn't an illness. We psychologists rarely call psychological problems 'illnesses'. This is your own hang-up.

"It's like why you think I would cook human meat. This kind of psychological suggestion has actually been going on for a long time. For example, my wife, who always likes to get her hair done outside, but her hairstyle doesn't change much when she comes back.

"What do you think my motive is to kill her?

"I've been cuckolded. She found a man outside and gave me a lovely green hat."

"Lovely..."

"Okay, let's ignore the adjective 'lovely' for now, but it's undeniable that this is the biggest suggestion that you mistakenly believe I'm cooking my wife's meat at home.

"Because you think I already knew about this, and in fact, I did already know about this. Then you naturally think I would be angry. Okay, I was indeed very angry.

"After that, you think I have the motive to kill her and eat her meat, because I should vent my anger in this way.

"Of course, there are some auxiliary suggestions in this, such as my identity. My biggest hobby is actually cooking a big pot of meat soup at home that I can't finish by myself, simply to satisfy the regret of not being able to eat meat when I was in the orphanage as a child.

"This contrast makes it difficult for you to admit it, and your brain naturally begins to form your own line of thought, a line of thought that you think can be explained.

"That is what we often say, the 'truth' that you think you know, just like many online gossiping crowds, a very simple event can often be hyped and fermented by some people with ulterior motives, which is also based on this reason.

"Everyone has a Shakespeare living in their heart, and also a Sherlock Holmes."

Wang Ke picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks, dipped it in the dipping sauce, then put it in his mouth and chewed it with his eyes closed.

"Really not going to eat any? It's very tasty. I remember you used to fight with me for meat when we were in the orphanage."

"In the end, you always left your chicken leg for me," Zhou Ze said.

"Haha, who told you to be younger than me? Who told you to call me big brother?" Wang Ke waved his hand dismissively. "Actually, at that time, I also really liked to eat meat, but I was never full.

"Now that I have the means, I can eat meat to my heart's content, but every time I enthusiastically and wholeheartedly cook a big pot, I'm full after eating so little.

"My body isn't as good as it used to be, I'm not a young lad anymore. Plus, my living conditions have slowly improved since I started working.

"Now, I actually feel that the most delicious time was when I was in the orphanage watching you eat my share of chicken leg."

Wang Ke picked up another piece of meat, put it in his mouth, and sighed after eating it.

Zhou Ze exhaled a smoke ring, didn't say anything, just leaned silently against the kitchen wall, watching the white smoke billowing inside, watching the vicissitudes and sighs of this middle-aged man.

"Let's talk about your problem. Actually, the problem is still with yourself. To be honest, it was most comfortable when you were a doctor, right?

"No matter what problems you encounter at work, no matter how much infighting, no matter how much you're squeezed and suppressed,

"When a patient is sent to you, it's always right to treat the sick and save people.

"It's in line with your job nature, and in line with the moral ethics of human society.

"The heart of a doctor is like the heart of a parent, which allows you to ignore the patient's identity, ignore the patient's personality, ignore what the patient has done before, whether they are good or bad, rich or poor.

"As long as they are sent to you, the only thing you must do is to heal them.

"But now, you have encountered a dilemma. In some choices, you need to consider more situations, and you need to grasp the scale yourself, which makes you very uncomfortable and困扰.

"You want to be determined to be yourself, like a character in a Wuxia novel, free and easy, but you have to be tied down by the present.

"In fact, this is the norm for most people, A-Ze. You used to live too much for yourself. Both you and I grew up in orphanages. We have both experienced the misfortune of childhood and endured the pressure and inferiority complex of lacking a family in our youth.

"In fact, both of us have more or less psychological problems. These are seeds, and now they are blooming and bearing fruit in you.

"You say your conscience is gone, but it's actually there. You are instinctively rejecting it, instinctively hating it, but you can't let it go.

"So your subconscious created this situation. Your conscience has been eaten by you, so you can perfectly ignore it."

"How should it be resolved?" Zhou Ze asked.

"Unless there is a master of psychology who can completely override you in consciousness, break the shackles in your heart in one fell swoop, and allow you to be hypnotized without resistance.

"Otherwise, you can only slowly wear it down yourself. Perhaps you wear it down, or it wears you down."

Wang Ke took another sip of the soup. It must taste very delicious, as a look of satisfaction appeared on his face. "Your brother's level is not enough. Or rather, I can still help with the psychological problems of ordinary people, but you are not an ordinary person."

Zhou Ze nodded. "So, all this can only take its course?"

"You don't have to resist it. Instead, you can accept it, and even treat it as a person, as your other side." Wang Ke tried to give his own solution. "What I'm saying is a bit abstract. It would be best if you can understand it, but it doesn't matter if you can't understand it. Letting nature take its course is also an option."

After putting down the bowls and chopsticks, Wang Ke and Zhou Ze walked to the living room, where Wang Ke brewed another pot of tea.

The local news of Tongcheng was being broadcast on TV. Coincidentally, a face that Zhou Ze found somewhat familiar appeared in the news. It was an honest face, and he was crying and roaring.

However, most of the news had already been broadcast, and this was already the ending.

Seeing Zhou Ze watching the news, Wang Ke explained, "This matter has been hyped up quite a bit recently. His son has leukemia and wants to find his second daughter, whom he gave away in the past. After mobilizing the media, he finally found her.

"But the second daughter and her adoptive parents refused to donate. He and his wife went to block people at their door, cursed their daughter for being ungrateful at the entrance of their residential area, and even went to the second daughter's high school to post big-character posters, listing the sins of their second daughter, forcing their second daughter to come out and donate."

"Oh."

Zhou Ze picked up the tea and took a sip.

"These days, all sorts of strange things happen," Wang Ke said with emotion.

Zhou Ze looked at Wang Ke and said, "Actually, there were strange things in the past too, but there wasn't such an advanced information network back then."

"Are you implying something?"

"No."

"Don't look down on your brother." Wang Ke suddenly said seriously.

Zhou Ze shook his head.

"Everyone has their own difficulties. Your brother doesn't want to, but your brother can see it clearly."

"I'm leaving. Thank you for today's diagnosis."

"You're welcome. As I said, I won't look for you again in the future, but you can come to me anytime if you need anything."

Under Wang Ke's farewell, Zhou Ze walked out of his house, turned his head to look at the balcony on the second floor of his house, and the little loli was not there.

Yes,

The little loli couldn't be there. She should have already taken the Faceless Woman and a group of ghost soldiers to Rongcheng.

He hailed a taxi, got in, and the driver turned his head: "Where to, buddy?"

"Take me to the most haunted place."

Zhou Ze felt that he should take the initiative to go out and do something to earn some performance points.

"Yo, are you a writer, brother? Going out to find inspiration?"

"Something like that."

"Alright, I actually know a place."

The driver patted his chest, promising to find a good place for Zhou Ze. That place has been very strange recently, and ordinary people don't dare to pass by there at night.

Then,

The driver dropped Zhou Ze off in front of "Midnight Bookstore."

That damn crow reappeared, flying slowly through the air, "Caw, caw," as if it was very good at flying out when it was most needed.

A breeze blew, and fallen leaves swirled at Zhou Ze's feet, making a "swishing" sound.

Zhou Ze turned his head and glanced at the taxi that had already driven away.

Suddenly, he felt that he should talk to Xu Qinglang about the relocation.

…………

Pushing open the bedroom door, Wang Ke walked into the bedroom. His wife was lying on the bed playing with her phone. Seeing her husband coming over, she changed into a graceful pose.

"He's gone?"

"Yes, he's gone." Wang Ke smiled and sat down on the edge of the bed, reaching out to caress his wife's cheek and saying:

"Getting old, meat that's too lean gets stuck in my teeth."

As he spoke,

Wang Ke reached out his finger and picked out some meat floss from between his teeth.

"Don't lose any more weight."