Shiller opened the door and nodded to the lady in the wool coat standing by the door. The lady tucked her stray hair behind her ears and smiled at Shiller, "I feel much better now, perhaps just as you said, Professor, Fei Luo is already a grown child. I cannot blame the failure of that marriage entirely on him..."
"Dwelling excessively on the past is always a bad sign," Shiller shook his head, "Perhaps you should be glad that it took him 20 years to shed the prejudices you had against him, to not follow in your footsteps, still having the courage to pursue love. That is something to be happy about."
"Although I still disagree with him being involved with that Mexican girl, he really is different from both of us, he's a born adventurer and should enjoy the world more... Oh, Professor, I've taken up too much of your time, we'll see each other next time."
"It's alright, madam, it's my honor to alleviate your worries," he replied.
The woman turned and left, Shiller closed the door, let out a sigh, and wearily walked over to the coffee table to tidy up the cups. Merkel came in from the back door and said, "I've taken care of the last bit, sir, we can have a cabbage feast tonight."
"Have the potatoes been put in the cellar?"
"Yes, but it's a pity that the cellar in this house is too small. I wanted to store more vegetable and flower seeds, but there's nowhere to put them, and we're also running low on potting soil, so perhaps we'll need to make a trip to the market tomorrow."
"I won't be available from morning to evening tomorrow; I'll ask Waylon to drive you there to have a look," Shiller said as he brewed himself a cup of tea before sitting on the couch, unbuttoning his suit jacket, and taking a sip of the hot tea, finally relaxing completely.
The evening light poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting a golden glow on the green pothos leaves by the window. Outside, passersby hurried along their way home, and children from the community school ran past the door, chatting excitedly with snacks in their hands.
Inside, the room, decorated in a Scottish style, created a warm and tranquil atmosphere as Shiller sipped his tea while organizing records from today's counseling sessions.
Mrs. Hawthorne fell back into sadness over her failed marriage because her son had found an offbeat Mexican girlfriend, and she had scheduled two weeks of psychological therapy with Shiller. Mr. Maricheno's anxiety worsened due to his company's mismanagement, and the psychiatric medication he was taking had developed resistance; he had been receiving treatment here for over a month.
Next door, Anjiele had just started high school and, unable to fit in, developed depression. His family dragged him to see a psychologist, and Dr. Bo'er from the community hospital also made regular visits here to check on his mental state.
The others were patients who had only visited once or twice, leaving little counseling information behind. Shiller glanced at the organized medical records he had prepared and felt Mrs. Hawthorne was recovering well and might cancel the remaining sessions. The good news, however, was that Mr. Maricheno had referred one of his friends who was also struggling with poor management of his company and was in such a bad mental state that he had suicidal tendencies; he might become a long-term client.
Shiller now mostly did psychological counseling for residents of the community. This was an affluent area, and although times were tough, some could still afford medical expenses. The wealthy have always valued their mental health, so upon learning that a world-renowned expert in psychology had joined their community, they no longer sought help far away but instead made their appointments with Shiller.
Shiller hadn't conducted similar psychological counseling in a long time, and initially, it had been somewhat difficult, especially when Mrs. Hawthorne cried to him about her ex-husband's appalling behavior for six hours. Shiller was forced to temporarily increase the purchase of tissues and also replaced the consulting area's trash bin with a larger one.
There was also good news, which was that even though Shiller only charged the standard consultation fee, the fees for psychologists in America are quite high, so with just these few stable clients, Shiller had made a good amount of money.
And during this time, he finally managed to set up the small vegetable garden in the backyard. The first batch of cabbages didn't do well due to too much rain, but there was still a good amount left to eat. The potatoes grew even faster and were almost filling up the cellar.
Merkel had actually returned before these vegetables had grown, but fortunately, he was mostly only interested in gardening and was a bit disdainful of the vegetable garden, so the vegetables that were planted grew up safely. Shiller and the others had agreed to host a harvest banquet tonight.
Since arriving in this community, Shiller had become more and more adept at hosting banquets, whether it was housewarming parties, graduation parties, neighborhood gatherings, weekend camping trips, or fishing parties, he had participated in all of them. He had also become the godfather of two newborns in the community.
Shiller sent messages to everyone who had helped take care of the garden, which were mainly young people, since they either had school or work, so the time of the banquet was set for the evening.
Merkel went back to select and wash the vegetables. Before long, the front door was pushed open, and a figure shook their legs at the doorway and stamped their feet. Shiller went to open the door.
Jason shoved a bunch of shopping bags at him, picked up the rag hanging by the door to wipe his shoes, and after changing into slippers, he tossed his shoes outside the door, complaining, "If they hadn't insisted on dragging me to see the Cheerleading Team's final performance, I wouldn't have missed the time to change shoes."
He squeezed himself through the door, flashing Shiller a brilliant smile. Shiller smelled the scent of grass and earth on him, so he asked, "Did you go play soccer?"
"There was a match this afternoon." Jason's voice had long since deepened after puberty, and now it was very low, resonating through the room and seeming to make the air tremble.
He was no longer a child either. During his three years in high school, he had shot up like a bamboo in spring, growing taller every day. Now that college had just started, he was already 1.9 meters tall.
All of Wayne's children were tall, but Dick danced year-round and was on the lean side, and Tim wasn't particularly fond of sports and wasn't very strong. Only Jason, no one knew where he had inherited this powerhouse gene from, he was both tall and strong, a perfect candidate for basketball or football. Shiller felt that the entire living room seemed a bit smaller as soon as he walked in.
Jason sat on the sofa and when he picked up the cup of tea that Shiller handed him, he did so with a bit of care. The handle of the cup was small already, and he could pinch it with just two fingers, a bit like Zhang Fei embroidering.
"I persist in thinking you should join the basketball team, you might become an NBA star," Shiller said, not just offering encouragement. Jason's physical advantage was just too great, even to play football.
Jason shook his head and said, "I don't want to end up as a walking pharmacy, I don't have much fondness for such confrontational sports, soccer is just a pastime."
"I find it hard to believe you chose classical literature, Bruce and Thomas acted like the sky was falling when they saw your application," Shiller said. "Thomas even whispered to Alfred that he wonders if he had somehow fathered an Englishman."
"I do indeed have plans to study in England," Jason said. "I want to spend a year at Oxford. Their classical literature program is the best in the world, and I also want to take English Linguistics."
"I've never studied in England, but I can ask Brand for you, he seems to have classmates there."
"Speaking of which," Jason, looking around Shiller's house, said, "have you been all right lately, Professor? I was as stunned as everyone else when I heard you were gardening."
"I know none of you thought I could actually grow anything, but I'm sorry to disappoint, this world is just like that, you'll never know what the next unearthed talent might be."
Jason glanced around covertly and then diverted the topic. "It's just a force of habit that makes me think Gotham isn't suitable for gardening, but it's a good thing if things do grow."
"So, you're only concerned about the vegetables?"
"I'm concerned about you, Professor."
Shiller stared at Jason without speaking, while Jason blew on his tea and said, "Will Miss Quinzel be coming today?"
"It's hard to imagine the kind of argument you two had that would lead you to refer to her as Miss Quinzel. Swear to me you didn't get physical with her... oh, you couldn't have, otherwise you'd be lying in a hospital right now."
Jason put down his tea, slumped onto the couch looking at the ceiling, then suddenly sat up and looked at Shiller, asking, "Really?"
"What do you mean?"
"Is the story about Harley Quinn true?"
Shiller, unruffled, crossed his legs, fingertips meeting as he said, "First off, I don't think Jack has a chance of being admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Every institution in Whole Gotham is wary of him, even Thomas keeps his distance."
"Second, Harley's commitment to her psychology studies is sporadic at best, and her grades in Psychoanalysis Method are even worse than Barry's. She's a heretic behaviorist."
"I don't believe she had a chance to psychoanalyze someone and become infected by their thoughts. Her current academic level isn't even sufficient to pry open the door to someone's psychic battlefield."
"The blame might partly lie with me, if she wasn't studying magic, maybe she'd devote more time here. But clearly, her interest in magic far outweighs her interest in psychology, so she's more likely to become a magician rather than a psychologist."
"Finally, in this cosmos there is no Batman anymore, with nobody turning into the Joker, who could possibly turn her into Harley Quinn?"
Jason hesitated to speak.
"Don't look at me," Shiller shook his head, "I've long since stopped being the Joker. The unique interest Harley showed in me was less of a Harley Quinn and Joker curse and more just her thinking I was cool, she's always on the pulse of what's trending."
"What's considered cool?"
"Like the relationship between the male and female leads in 'Léon: The Professional,' a mysterious hitman and an innocent young girl."
"Then you two are like the mysterious hitman and the mysterious hitman," Jason said with a laugh.
"Have you seen Dick recently?" Shiller asked, "Is he still making you keep his love affair a secret? Has Thomas found out?"
"I guess not, Tim and I keep very tight-lipped, and we often cover for him, though I don't know why he needs to hide it from Thomas. Rachel is a great girl; we all like her," Jason replied.
"It's probably because she's a magician. He might think Thomas can't accept someone from the occult circles. It's Constantine who set a bad example."
"Then there's every need to keep it secret," Jason said. "If most magicians are like Constantine, Thomas would definitely be strongly against having such people in our lives."
"The dream god has returned, and Constantine has to face his ridicule every night lately," Shiller said as if recalling something amusing, "If I weren't so busy lately, I would love to see this spectacle."
"What spectacle?" Pamela's head peeked through the front door's crack, saying, "Come and help me bring the stuff inside."