Chapter 1027: Shocking the Mundane (V)

"Oh, is that so? Is that what he said?" Schiller said while sighing. Opposite him, Strange was already so anxious he wanted to grab the phone, but Schiller said unhurriedly, "Yes, this is already the highest evaluation a father can have for his son..."

After Schiller said this, Strange's eye sockets turned red instantly. And next, Schiller asked another question: "Since that is the case, why didn't Mr. Strange Sr. choose to contact his son?"

"Alright, I understand. Thank you." Schiller lowered his head again, then confirmed some details about the illness with that doctor again, and hung up the phone. He put the phone aside and looked up at Strange, who appeared even more haggard.

Schiller placed both hands on the tabletop, looked at the contents of his notebook, and said, "Your father had relatively obvious symptoms of difficulty breathing about three years ago. This shows that at that time, his lung function had already begun to degenerate."

"You said it was because he smoked, but this doctor has a different view. Mr. Strange Sr. went to him for treatment many times, so he has quite a say in this."

"Your father actually always had a certain degree of bronchitis, right?" Schiller looked at Strange and asked.

Strange nodded somewhat absentmindedly and said, "Hmm, when I was young, he coughed often. At that time, our rooms were a bit close. He coughed in the middle of the night, I couldn't sleep, and my academic performance dropped quite a bit for one semester. Later, he moved to sleep in the small room on the side of the warehouse."

"Bronchitis is generally accompanied by a certain degree of lung infection. It should have been that his bronchitis recurred during a certain seasonal change, and the lung infection was relatively serious, and it wasn't treated in time, leading to damage to lung function."

"Of course, the smoking you mentioned also has a certain impact. According to this doctor, Mr. Strange Sr. is a heavy smoker. But according to you, he only started smoking heavily after your mother passed away, right?"

Strange sighed and said, "Originally he also smoked, but he smoked very little. He was just an ordinary farmer in Philadelphia, like all the farmers there, who liked to have a cigarette while doing farm work."

"But ever since my mother passed away, he started to get worse, smoking a lot every day. This is also the reason why I didn't want to go home. I hate that kind of smell; it makes my clothes stick with a stench that can't be washed off. I couldn't bring this smell into the operating room..."

Strange kept using some intensifying words to express his feelings. Schiller simply comforted him first, then said: "The symptoms of his lungs now are not just because of his bad habits, but may also be limited by the local people's cognition and medical conditions."

"I told him long ago to let him come to New York. Victor... oh, that is my younger brother. He runs around in the fields all day and doesn't study well, and Eugene doesn't care about him either, letting him do whatever he wants!"

"I also once chatted with him about this, but we couldn't chat for two sentences before he would say I am a noble New Yorker and should get out of Philadelphia and never come back. He is just such a stubborn and irritable person..."

"Has he never been to New York?" Schiller asked.

"This is his first time here. If it weren't for Victor and me forcibly getting him drunk and stuffing him into the car, he still wouldn't have been willing to come!" Strange took a deep breath and looked very helpless. He said, "He even coughed up blood, but he just wasn't willing to come to the Presbyterian Hospital. I really can't figure out what's going on? Doesn't he feel uncomfortable at all?!"

Taking a deep breath, Strange calmed down a little, then covered his mouth, and said in a somewhat choked voice: "My mother died accidentally, and he was greatly stimulated. Not long after, Donna also passed away. The two most important women in his life left him one after another..."

"Since then, he has become eccentric. When I was studying, I called him, and he never asked about my studies. We would chat and chat, and in the end, we would definitely chat about Donna."

Strange lowered his eyelids, parted his mouth, revealed the teeth on both sides, and then said: "I admit, part of the reason I didn't want to go back was that he blamed Donna's death on me..."

"We went swimming together, and Donna drowned, I..." Strange's Adam's apple moved up and down obviously. His choking caused the second half of his sentence to be swallowed back, but Schiller knew what he wanted to say.

"I know, Victor thinks so too." Strange covered his face again and said: "I know they don't want to see me, because I killed Donna. Eugene is like this too..."

"He would rather endure the pain of coughing up blood than come to see me for the last time!" Strange finally couldn't hold it anymore. His arms were already shaking so much that he couldn't support his head, so he lowered his head and stopped speaking.

"Is it really like this?" Schiller asked.

"Did your father tell you himself that he wasn't willing to come to New York to find you just because you killed Donna back then?"

"Of course he didn't say that." Strange closed his eyes in pain, then said: "But I know, that's what he means."

"Shi Difen, have you ever thought that these speculations of yours are actually just your own delusions, and the facts might be completely different from what you think." Schiller tapped the desktop lightly with the signature pen in his hand, pulling Strange's consciousness back. Strange looked at him, as if grabbing a straw.

"The problem between you and your father lies in communication. How long have you two not communicated calmly?" Schiller asked.

Strange didn't want to admit it, but finally nodded. Schiller used the signature pen to tap forward lightly and said:

"Many communication misunderstandings between parents and children lie precisely here. When children are young, parents often adopt an authoritarian style in order to establish their authority, always using orders and scolding to urge children to do things."

"But in fact, parents have paid a lot of love behind the scenes, but the children only feel the power, didn't get half a sense of security from this love, and only felt the threat that was everywhere."

"At the same time, they take the love they pay for their children too much for granted, evaluate it too cheaply, and feel that there is no need to put it into words."

"I remember a small detail in your words earlier. Because of bronchitis, your father often coughed in the middle of the night, causing you to not sleep well and your grades to drop. Later, he moved to sleep in the small room on the side of the warehouse."

"Did he tell you the reason why he did this? Have you carefully thought about the reason why he did this?"

"Or is it that he took sacrificing his own living conditions to exchange for your peaceful sleep as a matter of course, and you also completely don't understand what he sacrificed for you?"

Strange's expression paused obviously, but he still said: "Perhaps, he wasn't necessarily because of me..."

"Children who grow up in this kind of family environment always like to reject other people's emotional payment, because no one has ever expressed to you directly that he loves you. So, when others pay feelings to you, you are always questioning, 'Perhaps he isn't necessarily toward me'."

"Some parents always do more and say less, with sharp tongues but soft hearts, but this is actually not a good thing. They see their own love as too cheap, so they feel there is no need to express it. And you, because you have never received love expressed directly, constantly doubt yourself and have no sense of security."

Strange felt that Schiller had hit on something, but he couldn't organize a logical thought to analyze what Schiller had hit on.

"Your father's unwillingness to see you is just a result, but all the reasons you summarized are actually your own conjectures." Schiller pointed out the key point that made Strange feel so troubled.

"If you really want to know why your father is unwilling to see you, you can ask him, or perhaps he has formed a fixed mindset and is unwilling to communicate with you, but you can go find your younger brother."

"Are you saying... Victor?" Strange showed a resistant expression. He hesitated and said: "Ever since Donna died, Victor has... Alright, I know, it's still the same reason. I also haven't contacted him for three or four years."

"You have to know, I am the Sorcerer Supreme, developing the interstellar is so busy, I really don't have time to contact home, I..."

Looking at Schiller's calm gaze, the second half of Strange's sentence could no longer be spoken. Finally, he said somewhat dejectedly: "Alright, I understand. When facing a psychologist, don't make excuses."

"The communication mode between you and your father might have already been formed and cannot be easily changed, but perhaps there is still room for communication between you and your younger brother. You can go find him and talk, and ask what exactly is going on."

Finally, Strange left full of worries. Although he didn't say it on his lips, he had already accepted Schiller's suggestion in his heart.

He was indeed a bit unwilling to face Eugene, his father, but when he was young, his relationship with Victor was still quite good, even much better than his relationship with Donna.

It was just that later, Victor entered his rebellious period, wandering around the farm every day, doing nothing, with poor grades and not loving to read. And at that time, Strange was at the peak of his studies, with his mind full of how to enter the best hospital in New York, so he gradually had nothing to talk about with him.

After leaving the Arkham Nursing Home, Strange called Victor and learned that he was accompanying someone in the hospital, so the two made an appointment in Strange's former office at the Presbyterian Hospital.

After becoming the Sorcerer Supreme, Strange still didn't give up his surgical career path. He used the Time Stone to reverse time and did many things, but he was unwilling to use the Time Stone to reverse the process of surgery.

Even if he had countless opportunities, if the surgery wasn't done well once, he could do it a second time, but he wasn't willing to give himself such a way out. He would develop a perfectionist personality, actually also because there was no way out for surgery.

After the brothers met, they were speechless, because they both discovered that the other had changed too much.

Victor changed from a rebellious rural youth to someone very similar to his father, more like a mature farm owner. The wind and sun made his skin somewhat rough, but his eyes and expression were like those experienced Philadelphia farmers, full of spirit.

And Strange no longer had the high-spirited arrogant posture he had before, looking very disheveled. His hands were still shaking, and he couldn't stop at all, even the small paper cup handed over by the nurse couldn't be held steadily, half a cup of water spilled on his body, and he had no time to look at it.

"Shi Difen." Victor spoke first, and what surprised Shi Difen was that his younger brother's voice had become much thicker, but it was still the familiar Philadelphia accent.

"How have you been lately?" Strange still made a polite remark, but Victor looked into his eyes and said: "I know what you want to ask. Eugene is unwilling to see you, and even didn't let me come to see you."

"You want to know why he would rather endure it himself than come to New York, knowing that his eldest son is the best surgeon, and is unwilling to contact you to find someone to perform surgery on him..." Victor said a series, and Strange also looked at him.

"Shi Difen, do you know? After you went to New York to study, the first time you came back, we were all stunned. You became very different." Victor pursed his lips and said: "We seem to not recognize you anymore."

"You didn't have an accent, didn't wear plaid shirts, but wore white shirts, and had a very beautiful suit. You said it was given to you by your mentor. You could write fancy English, and could understand the names of those drugs posted on the wall of the small town hospital. These are simply not things we farmers can do."

"Dad was very surprised, but actually, he was quite happy. Do you still remember? He invited his farmer friends to be guests at home, wanting them to see you, this top student of New York University Medical School."

"But that day, you said you were busy with something... a thesis? You didn't say a few words before leaving. Actually, we could all see that you weren't willing to talk to us, feeling that there was nothing to talk about with us who do rough work."

Opposite, Strange had already covered his face. He said in a hoarse and choked voice again: "No, don't say it anymore, I just... I just..."

He took a deep breath and said: "Alright, it's all my fault, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have perfunctorily dealt with you, shouldn't have acted differently from you, I should have been more enthusiastic. It's all my fault..."

But at this moment, Victor shook his head and said: "No, Eugene and I both know that you are not easy. It is really too difficult for a small-town youth to make a name for himself in New York, especially when the family cannot provide you with any support..."

Strange was stunned. ===== CHAPTER 1028 =====

But at this time, Victor shook his head and said: "No, both Eugene and I know that you haven't had it easy. It is truly too difficult for a small-town youth to make a name for himself in New York, especially when your family is completely unable to provide you with any support..."

Strange was stunned.