Chapter 1077 - 810: Basis
After the girl sat down, her mother also put her bag down again, looking at Director He hesitantly.
All the auditing students, including Nan Zhubin, unconsciously held their breath, adopted a learning posture, and paid close attention to Director He’s next move.
Director He leaned back in his chair, looking at the girl: "Why not?"
"If I don’t go to school, what will I do in the future?" The girl’s hands were resting on the edge of the chair, her body leaning slightly forward, "Right now, if I drop out, forget college, I won’t even have a high school diploma. What can I do in the future?"
"How old are you this year?"
"Sixteen."
Director He stretched out a hand, palm open, as if gesturing something.
"At sixteen, you’re just at the beginning of your life."
"If you’re not studying now, there are still many fields you can explore, many things you can do that you’ve never even thought of. You have plenty of time to trial and error."
Director He was saying things that to outsiders might seem like standing and talking without a backache.
The girl’s lips moved slightly.
"Studying is not the only way out." Director He continued earnestly, "You’ve probably heard this before, but you might have never taken it seriously. You think it’s over if you don’t study, right?"
"... Or else?" The girl’s voice started to carry a throaty tone, "Everyone I know is in school. If I’m not, what does that mean?"
"You can stay at home for a while, or you can go out and see the world, get in touch with society outside." Director He said calmly, "What you need most now is to get out of the environment that’s making you uncomfortable.
"As for what to do after coming out, you can think about it slowly. You’re only sixteen, not sixty, you have all the time in the world."
...
The girl didn’t speak. She sat there, clutching the hem of her clothes with both hands.
The auditing students exchanged glances, even Nan Zhubin’s eyes seemed a bit unfocused.
Although he had known before, Nan Zhubin still had to say — the difference between Director He’s clinic and Psychological Consultation was truly too great.
The room was silent for a few seconds.
At this moment, the mother, who had been standing silently on the side, took a small step forward.
She glanced at her daughter, deliberating over her words: "Dr. He, I want to ask if you can arrange a leave of absence for her?"
The girl’s ears seemed hooked by this proposal, she suddenly turned her head to look at her mother, and then back to Director He, her eyes shining.
"Right, can I take a leave? I don’t want to drop out, let me take a year off, and I’ll go back when I get better. Doctor, could you give me some kind of certification, I can take it to school."
"Not necessary."
Faced with this proposal.
Director He responded decisively, without the slightest hesitation: "We won’t take a leave, we’ll just drop out."
The girl’s voice was almost pleading: "Even with a leave, I don’t have to go to school, what if I’m better in a year..."
"Are you better?"
Director He interrupted her.
The girl was momentarily stunned.
"It’s been three years, we’ve essentially tried every method." Director He’s voice was not loud, "You’ve been uncomfortable since middle school, now in high school, still uncomfortable. A year’s leave, what do you plan to do? Rest at home?"
"And what about a year later? Go back to school to feel uncomfortable again? And then? Another year off?"
Director He extended a hand, as if pointing towards the girl’s future.
Then she folded both hands together, making a cyclic gesture.
The girl opened her mouth but couldn’t speak.
"Your problem isn’t something a year of rest can solve, nor have we not taken leaves sporadically before, but none were effective. Extending the leave time won’t make any fundamental change."
Director He sighed: "You take a year’s leave, go back and it’s the same environment, the same classes, the same pressure. When you come to me then, what can I say? Give you another year’s leave certification?"
"If this continues, we’ll keep standing still, neither your condition nor your life will make any progress."
"Instead of this, it’s better to cut the knot, end this path, and start anew in a different direction, don’t you agree?"
The girl’s lips trembled slightly.
"Then..." Immediately after, she started arguing, speaking faster, "If I drop out, what can I do with just a middle school education?"
Her speech suddenly quickened, like words pent up for too long rushing out: "I’ve only graduated middle school, no high school diploma, who would hire me for a job?"
"I can only work in places with no education requirement, wait tables, be a cashier, stand on a factory assembly line. Three or four thousand yuan a month, after rent, there’s not much left."
"In the future, while others go to college, graduate, and work in offices, I’ll keep doing this kind of dead-end job, I, I..."
Her speech speed increased, and her voice got louder.
"And then? I’ll be a marginal person in society, right? No education, no skills, can’t do anything, salary will always be at the lowest rung. When people ask what my education is, I say middle school graduate, how would they see me?"
She paused for breath, her eyes already red.
"How can I not go to school?"
...
From the moment the girl sat back, Nan Zhubin had a sense of absurdity.
This absurdity wasn’t just because of Director He, as a doctor, giving the suggestion of "let the child drop out and not study".
But also because of what the girl said.
Nan Zhubin looked at the mother beside him, then at the little girl.
Always feeling that the lines of these two people were somewhat out of place with their respective roles.
And Director He watched the girl, waiting for her to finish speaking, waiting for her to catch her breath.