The Psychiatric Ward

Li Huowang sat in his wheelchair, pushed out of the ward by his mother, Sun Xiaoqin. His hands, thin as chicken claws, were cuffed to the armrests with silver handcuffs.

Going outside without even a double-layered restraint gown was a surprise, even to Li Huowang. It seemed they really thought he was getting better.

“Just going out for a bit of fresh air. Do we really need this many guards?” Li Huowang asked, glancing at the four burly prison guards beside him.

“Ah, just let them follow. It’s a strict order from above. Xiao Liu and the others don’t have it easy; don’t make things hard for them.”

Hearing his mother’s words, Li Huowang gave a faint smile. She was already using nicknames. It seemed Mom had gotten pretty close with the people around here.

“Son, it’s raining out today, so we won’t go outside for some sun. Let’s just walk around indoors.”

“Oh, sure.”

Soon, Li Huowang was wheeled down a hallway, took a few turns, and arrived in a larger open space.

Some patients, wearing the same blue-and-white striped gowns as Li Huowang, were staring up at a TV hanging on the wall.

They say practice makes perfect, but you can’t become a good doctor from being sick. Still, with a glance, Li Huowang could roughly tell what was wrong with his fellow patients.

The ones who talked nonsense, or who had clear thoughts but couldn’t stop talking—those were probably schizophrenics. The most well-known type of mental illness.

They made up a large part of the group. Most of them looked like they’d been abandoned by their families, wandering the streets until they were picked up and sent to this public hospital.

The quiet ones, who didn’t interact with anyone and seemed very introverted—those were most likely depressives.

The ones with extra energy, always in high spirits, were probably hypomanic.

As for those who seemed a bit out of it, with dazed expressions and vacant eyes, they’d probably been given their meds by the nurses, and the meds hadn’t worn off yet.

There were also some who acted completely normal. Whether they were almost cured, or had an eating disorder, or were pretending to be normal, or had some other illness—only they knew for sure.

Seeing these people, Li Huowang thought it wasn’t a bad place. There weren’t any manic patients randomly hitting or yelling.

Of course, maybe those types were locked up tight, just like he used to be. The ones let out to watch TV had relatively stable symptoms.

These were the majority in a psychiatric hospital. As for the rarer breeds… well, he wasn’t a doctor, so he didn’t recognize them.

But soon, Li Huowang noticed that these people had all stopped watching TV. Instead, they turned their heads in unison, staring at him with wide eyes, as if his face was far more interesting than anything on the screen.

Looking back at the crowd giving him their full attention, Li Huowang asked, confused, “Why are they all staring at me?”

The guard, Xiao Liu, spoke up. “Xiao Li, you’re a big deal in this White Tower detention area. Hell, they all know you. The whole prison’s got fifteen zones, and there’s not a soul who hasn’t heard of you.”

“I’m that famous?” Li Huowang said, a little surprised.

“Famous? That’s putting it mildly. It’s died down a bit now, but back when you stormed the university campus to save your girlfriend, you were number one on the trending charts every single day. You think that’s why the warden gives you so much leeway?”

Hearing this, Li Huowang finally understood what kind of figure he was to these people.

Then he noticed a strange, invisible boundary around him. No mental patient dared to come within ten meters.

“Mom, stop here. I want to watch TV for a while. I haven’t watched it in a long time.” Li Huowang looked up at the midday news on the screen.

The images he used to find boring now seemed so novel in his eyes.

“Hello, viewers. Today is the 23rd of the twelfth lunar month, Little New Year. As the saying goes, on the 23rd, you send the Stove God off; on the 24th, you clean the house. Across the provinces…”

“It’s New Year’s again?” Li Huowang felt a sudden sense of time travel. For a long time, he’d had no concept of time at all.

“Yeah, it’s New Year’s. You’re another year older. Son, what do you want to eat for New Year’s? Tell me, and I’ll make it for you.”

“I heard there’s a pretty popular game out. After you get out of the hospital, I’ll give you some New Year’s money, and you can go buy it and play.”

“Mom, I’m not a kid anymore.” Li Huowang said, a little helplessly.

“How old are you? You’re only eighteen! The law says you’re an adult, but you’re still just a kid.”

The time passed slowly, to the sound of Sun Xiaoqin’s nagging and the festive background music of the news.

Li Huowang liked this peaceful feeling. He liked this quiet life. He hoped it could last forever, until the day he grew old and died.

Under this quiet, peaceful illusion, everything he’d been through before felt like a dream.

“Mom, where’s Dr. Yi? I haven’t seen him around lately.”

“Him? I heard he’s too busy to come to work. Something about writing some paper.”

“A psychiatrist suddenly publishing a paper?”

“I wouldn’t know. I don’t understand that stuff. But from what Sister Ma in the cafeteria told me, there were even people from the TV station interviewing him. I think he’s going to be on TV.”

“Really? Well, good for Dr. Yi.”

“Yeah, yeah. Doctors as dedicated as Dr. Yi are rare. And I heard he’s over thirty and still hasn’t found a wife.”

“Can you imagine how worried his mother must be? If you’re still single that late in life, I’ll be beside myself!” Sun Xiaoqin said, empathizing strongly.

Li Huowang felt like scratching his head at that. Did middle-aged women really have such good gossip networks? They even knew Dr. Yi wasn’t married.

“Sister Sun, that’s not fair. It’s a different world now. Not getting married by thirty is super common,” one of the guards chimed in.

It was clear that Li Huowang’s gradually stabilizing condition had eased the minds of the staff, enough for them to shoot the breeze with Sun Xiaoqin.

“Ah, you young people just want to have fun. There are advantages to marrying early. If you marry early, your parents can still help you raise the kids. And if a woman has kids young, the recovery period is easier.”

“It’s not that we don’t want to get married. But by the time we’re out of school, we’re already in our twenties. We’ve got no money in our pockets, no car, no house. Who would marry us? And with our job here in the prison, we work fifteen days on and fifteen days off. How are we supposed to find someone? The moment they hear they’ll only see their partner half the year, they run.”

“Oh, come on! You guys have stable jobs and you’re still worried about finding a wife? What about all those migrant workers out there? Are they supposed to just give up on life?”

Soon, another single guard joined the debate. Sun Xiaoqin, however, perked up. She fought harder and harder, holding her own against the two of them without backing down.

Seeing his fiercely competitive mother back in action, the corners of Li Huowang’s mouth lifted slightly. He still liked seeing Sun Xiaoqin like this, full of life.

Just as he was watching the debate reach its climax, Li Huowang suddenly felt his scalp tingle. He turned his head and looked down the corridor to his left.