The Third Mental Convalescence Centre was built twenty-three years ago. It was one of the earliest private mental health centers in Jiujiang.
From the name, it could be seen that this was not a regular mental hospital, but a rehabilitation center.
The center had three buildings. The first sick hall was much cheaper than a proper hospital, but the conditions were horrible.
The second sick hall was one fifth more expensive than a proper hospital, and it had a specialist nurse and a doctor on duty.
The third sick hall catered to a small group of patients, and the fees were high, several times that of a normal room.
From the notes left behind by the director, it could be seen that when the center was first built, it was completely different from when it was built. At the time, the third sick hall was not a restricted area but the place with the highest fees and the best environment.
After operating like this for about three months, the rehabilitation center welcomed a special patient.
The director recorded the scene in detail. In his mind, that day should have been a turning point.
A car with a license plate from another province drove into the hospital, and two men dragged out an extremely beautiful pregnant woman from the backseat of the car.
The director received them personally, and after some questioning, he found out that the woman suffered from a serious mental illness.
Out of consideration for the woman's safety, the director rejected them.
The man did not mind. He took out ten times the fee and told the director that he would pay for half a year in advance.
Looking at the cash on the table, the director and the doctors were tempted. After the center opened, the normal sickrooms were filled, but most of the rooms at the Third Sick Hall were empty. After all, most patients who did not lack money would choose a proper hospital for their treatment.
With the persuasion of the doctors, the director arranged for the woman to stay in Room 3 of the Third Sick Hall.
After ensuring that the woman was safely admitted, the man gave the doctor his phone number and said that he was the woman's husband. However, when the director wanted to see their marriage certificate, the man could not produce it.
After receiving the money, the matter was settled. Even if the director wanted to go back on his word, he couldn't. All he could do was take good care of the pregnant woman.
After the doctor's diagnosis, the woman did suffer from a mental illness. It was a typical symptom of bipolar disorder. She would not communicate with others, and she would sometimes cry alone or explode in anger. She would smash everything in her sight and even hurt herself.
To protect her, the hospital purposely covered the furniture in Room 3 with thick cotton cloth.
The woman's condition was very unstable, and because she was pregnant, most of the drugs could not be used. The doctors could only take turns to give her psychological counseling.
Just like that, more than three months passed. As the due date of delivery approached, the hospital director specially found a few nurses to guard the ward 24 hours a day.
He didn't know if it was because the child was about to be born that awakened the crazy woman's maternal instincts, or if the doctor's treatment was effective.
The pregnant woman no longer went crazy. Most of the time, she didn't let anyone near her. She just touched her belly and sat alone on the low hospital bed, talking to herself.
Four months later, the baby was born, and the pregnant woman's condition improved significantly.
The hospital director and the doctors in the rehabilitation center breathed a sigh of relief. They called the pregnant woman's husband on the same day, but no one answered the phone.
They had a bad feeling and went to check the man's ID card, only to find that all the documents were fake.
After a discussion, the director and the doctor decided that they would call the police if the man did not return after the advance payment was used up. Considering the woman's condition, they didn't tell the woman about it.
The pregnant woman did not know about this. After the baby was born, she seemed to have regained hope in life. She started to actively cooperate with the treatment, and from time to time, she would actively ask for information about her husband. She believed that after she recovered, her husband would come to pick her up.
However, after waiting for half a year, when all the advance payment was used up, the man seemed to have disappeared and never appeared again.
Different voices appeared in the hospital. Some doctors and nurses suggested sending the pregnant woman away. Taking care of an adult and a small child was too time-consuming and tiring.
The hospital director could not bear to wait, but the nurse who was taking care of the woman accidentally spilled the beans.
The woman volunteered to talk to her husband on the phone, but there was a cold mechanical voice on the other end of the phone. The number was no longer in service.
Before the woman was sent to the rehabilitation center for treatment, the woman seemed to have made an agreement with the man. Now that the agreement had been broken, the woman, who was already sick, became even worse.
She started to feel hostile toward the people around her. It was like she was lost in a dark maze, and she could not find her way out.
To prevent the woman from hurting the newborn, the doctors separated her from the baby.
The woman had gone mad and could not be communicated with. The baby was still young, so the hospital had no choice but to take care of him.
They also actively tried to treat the woman. They wanted to get information about the man through the woman so that he could pay for the follow-up treatment and hospitalization fees.
No one expected this treatment to last for three years. The woman's child grew up in this mental hospital, and in this hospital filled with madmen, he learned to walk and talk.
Between the ages of zero to three, it was the most efficient period in a person's life, and it was also the crucial period to form basic knowledge.
It was in this twisted environment that the woman's child experienced the most important three years.
The advance payment had already been used up, and the doctors and nurses were now volunteering to take care of them. It was fine for one or two days, but as time went on, more and more people started to complain, and the way they looked at the child became complicated.
The crazy mother stayed in the sickroom, and the thing that the child did the most in these three years was to be carried by the doctors and nurses to look at the woman through the window on the door of Room 3.
As time went by, after the child learned to walk, he would sometimes run to Room 3 on his own to look at the door that was several times his height.
The days passed. Children of the same age were accompanied by their families, and the world was filled with color.
However, the world in the child's eyes changed. Cold white dominated most of his memory, and gradually, he started to behave differently from normal children.
Chen Ge turned to the last page without realizing it. The content on the paper was like the director's personal diary. "This child is scarier than my childhood experience."
He thought it was bad enough that he played with plastic skull models and dismantled plastic bones when he was young, but he did not expect to encounter someone worse than him.
Putting down the paper, Chen Ge turned to the unmailed letters.
There was no stamp or signature on the letters. They looked old and yellowed. They were probably written many years ago but had not been mailed.
Following the chronological order, Chen Ge opened the letters one by one.
The first letter was written twenty years ago, when the woman's child was only two years old.
"Doctor Chen, this is the first time I've met such a smart child. I can't believe he learns everything so fast."
"He was born in a place ignored by the normal world and lives in a sickly environment. Should I send him away?"
"This child will grow up to be a genius, but his behavior now makes me feel very uneasy."
"Ever since he learned how to speak, he has been talking to himself, just like his mother. No, it feels more like he is communicating with something that we cannot see. "
"The doctors and nurses are very busy. Other than me, no one has taught him how to speak, but I can always hear some unfamiliar words coming out of his lips."
"Did he learn it by eavesdropping on the conversation between the doctors and the patients? Or is there something else teaching him? "
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