bodyguard against fate

Chapter 1 Mental Evaluation

"How did you get in?"

Judging by his face alone, Lao Zheng looks every bit the leader: tall and thin with a long, thin face. He looks a bit like Teacher Chen, who likes to learn English from Russian beauties—serious yet lewd.

"My ex-wife brought me here for a checkup!" Feng Weida replied calmly.

"Ex-wife?"

"We got divorced last week."

"Why?"

"Have you watched the live stream?" Feng Weida's mental state was unusually stable, as if he were talking about someone else's affairs.

"I've seen it." Old Zheng nodded. As non-aggressive level 2 mental patients in the ward, being able to use their phones within the allotted time is a perk they long for.

"Have you seen my wife?"

Old Zheng shook his head. Unlike other patients who enjoyed watching beautiful women dance, Old Zheng's focus ranged from the Talmud to "Earn two million easily in three months"—money was all he cared about, and he had no interest in women.

"We've been married for three years. Three months ago, my wife made a million yuan from live streaming."

"Why did you earn a million less? Was it because you didn't work hard enough?" Old Zheng was puzzled by the woman's laziness.

"The reason she lost a million is that the guy who tipped her said he'd give me a million if I divorced her."

That makes sense. Earning two million in three months is more like it. What's the point of working if you're only earning a million less? I also have a way to earn ten million in three months!

"Your wife reads the Talmud too?" Old Zheng asked.

"What is the Talmud?"

"It's a book that teaches you how to invest and make money. From an investment perspective, you've hit the jackpot!" Old Zheng analyzed for him. "The bride price in Zhaodong is 200,000 yuan, and it's even lower in our Leping Town, where the average annual income is around 40,000 yuan. Even if you hand over all your salary every month after three years of marriage, the maximum you'll pay is 140,000 yuan. Take into account your pre-marital dating costs, annual holiday red envelopes, and wedding expenses. Do you two have children? If not, you'll make at least 500,000 yuan in profit. That's a 130% return on investment. What a great deal!" Old Zheng's calculations were going off like a machine gun.

Feng Weida shook his head: "She told my older brother that it wasn't necessary to spend that money, so..."

"So you came in?" Being a man himself, Old Zheng felt deep sympathy for Feng Weida's situation. "Regardless, you have good taste; at least your ex-wife knew how to manage a household!"

"I think so too. My ex-wife still loves me, she just doesn't know it!"

"What does she know?"

"She knows that even if she gave me that million, I wouldn't take it."

Why?

"Zhao Dong's bride price is 200,000 yuan, and I can't disrupt prices."

Old Zheng shook his head: "That's not the problem. The problem is you haven't even gotten the 200,000 yuan, and you might never get out of here!"

"Is it that serious?" Old Zheng's question was clearly beyond Feng Weida's comprehension.

"I joined in 03, and now it's 2025."

"Why did you come in?"

"Yeah, why did I come in?" Feng Weida's question made Lao Zheng fall into deep thought. "I shouldn't have been here. I was framed!"

"Were you also sent here by your ex-wife?"

"Not his ex-wife, but a friend, a man." Old Zheng said indifferently.

"Ex-boyfriend!"

Feng Weida looked at Lao Zheng with new respect.

Liu Yan told the dean that Feng Weida had gone mad. He had been drinking and said he wanted to see God, then physically assaulted her. Several people couldn't restrain him, and he left her covered in bruises, unable to leave her house for several days. She insisted that Feng Weida undergo a comprehensive and systematic examination, and that he be confined and treated if necessary. After deliberation, Dean Gao believed that this situation required serious attention, as allowing it to continue was extremely dangerous. However, the test results might take two to three weeks. He asked Liu Yan if she could wait, and Liu Yan said she could; once diagnosed, she was willing to stay in the hospital for life!

Feng Weida didn't hate Liu Yan. From childhood, Feng Weida was taught that men should be hardworking, strong, responsible, and considerate of women... As he grew up, he learned that men also needed to be good at making money, good at sweet talk, good at providing emotional support in various ways, and good at turning a blind eye to certain things... Unfortunately, schools didn't teach these things. He instinctively thought that his poor life was because he wasn't working hard enough, that his wife was unhappy because he didn't have time for her, that he couldn't blame the government for his misfortune, or society for his bad luck. He believed that Liu Yan had her reasons for sending him to a mental hospital, and that he himself hadn't been able to provide her with a stable life all these years. With the rise of the internet, the booming real estate market, the widespread adoption of Bitcoin, and the rise of live streaming... he hadn't seized any of these opportunities to create wealth, so there must be something wrong with him. It was right for him to come and see.

Mental disorder assessment is divided into six levels. Levels one and two are non-aggressive, while levels three and above are increasingly violent. When Lao Zheng first came in, he was a max-level expert. After so many years of treatment, he has gradually decreased from level six to level two. After a series of professional tests, Feng Weida was finally assessed as level 0 to level 1. As a result, the opinions of the judges were not very consistent.

First, Feng Weida said he couldn't remember what had happened before. Experts analyzed that this was a typical symptom of shirking responsibility and not daring to face reality. Second, he was not immune to helping people. Even if he knew the other party was a swindler, he would not hesitate to provide humanitarian assistance as long as the other party said they needed it. This was specifically manifested in his frequent lending of money to Chen Ergou.

Chen Ergou is Feng Weida's neighbor, two years younger than him. Chen's father was one of the earliest people to get rich in Leping, a true self-made millionaire. A few years ago, after Chen Ergou went abroad, he repeatedly borrowed money from Feng Weida. Feng Weida never refused, as long as he had the money. Chen Ergou's reasons included, but were not limited to, overdrawing his bank card, his friend's dog passing away, buying a bag for a girl, and spending the night at an internet cafe with a foreign prince, asking Feng Weida to transfer him 50 euros. What puzzled experts was why Chen Ergou, who presented himself as a rich second-generation, preferred to borrow money from a working-class Feng Weida. Feng Weida's explanation was that Chen Ergou's father had passed away, and when they were children, he often played the role of Chen Ergou's father in pretend play—

"Do you know how humans domesticated wolves?" Feng Weida looked at the expert with a sincere expression. "First, you have to give it a piece of meat, and then it will come to you for a second piece, a third piece—"

"Excuse me," the expert said, "what does this have to do with Chen Ergou asking you for money?"

"Humans are similar to animals in some ways. If an animal develops an associative cognition about something in the first few weeks after birth, which is equivalent to a human being seven or eight years old, it will almost never change throughout their life. Therefore, whether it is training wolves or dogs, the best time is during their early childhood."

"You mean, you want to tame Chen Ergou?" The expert tried to connect the two things.

"No, I mean, Er Gou might sometimes think of me as his father, and I can't let him down..."

This answer was the main basis for Feng Weida being classified as a level one mental patient.

Of course, some judges disagreed with this judgment. They argued that Feng Weida was logically sound and articulate, and that even if he were to be Chen Ergou's father, it would be based on solid reasoning. He also performed well in other aspects, and could even be described as having extraordinary stability. The main criteria for diagnosing mental illness are emotional agitation and violent tendencies, and Feng Weida was completely devoid of both.

After several rounds of intense discussion, the judges asked Feng Weida one last question.

"If, and I mean if, Chen Ergou fell in love with your wife, what would you do?"

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!" Feng Weida's emotions finally wavered a bit. The expert seized the opportunity, "We also know it's impossible, so let's just hypothesize: if they really got together, would you let them be together?"

Feng Weida remained indifferent.

"Will they still retaliate?" the expert added fuel to the fire.

"Your question is like asking me, if I slept with your wife, would you celebrate with a meal or by eating shit?"

"What do you mean?"

"If eating shit would prevent me from sleeping with your wife, would you eat it?" Feng Weida remained calm and composed, like an old dog.

The expert was successfully provoked; he became emotionally agitated and mentally excited, shouting, making verbal threats, and even engaging in aggressive actions. He was eventually forcibly taken away and placed in mandatory quarantine.