Chapter 1038: The Shocking Commoner (Part 16)

"Philadelphia is far from being as prosperous as New York, and besides, we are not from Philadelphia. The family farm is in the suburbs of the suburbs, and it takes half an hour to drive to the nearby town, let alone Philadelphia."

Victor shook his head and continued: "Donna's illness cost the family quite a bit of money, and after Mom and Donna passed away, holding a funeral also cost a sum of money. The farm's harvest wasn't very good, which led to us not even being able to pay a part of your tuition, so you had to take out loans for everything."

"In addition to university expenses, the medical school expenses were terrifyingly high. We didn't know when you paid off the loans... did you really pay them off?" Victor asked somewhat hesitantly.

Strange was stunned. He had, of course, paid off all the loans because he had earned a large sum of money from the immortal factor industry and had even bought a nice house and a good car in New York.

"Didn't I tell you all?! You can come to New York to live. I've said it many times, but you just won't come!"

"Shi Difen!" Victor raised his tone and said: "Even if the family can't provide you with more help, we can't drag you down anymore! Both I and Eugene think this way!"

"The reason he is unwilling to come to New York for medical treatment is that he is afraid of being mocked for his Philadelphia accent, because one year, when you went home, you said you spent a lot of effort to get rid of this accent. If you used this accent to speak in class, no one would even invite you to parties."

Strange opened his mouth. He recalled it. He seemed to have said such things, so he hurriedly explained: "No, I didn't mean... I didn't mean that there was anything wrong with the Philadelphia accent, but here in New York, they are just..."

"We know, of course." Victor looked into Strange's eyes and said: "Even when I go to the town to deliver things, those people feel that I am a suburbanite and are unwilling to talk to me much, let alone New York?"

"People from small places are hard to mix in big cities. This is a truth everyone knows. You have no friends here, no relatives, and you have to study and live, but the family can't provide you with any help. Although Dad never says it, he has been worrying."

Strange said somewhat blankly: "Didn't I tell you? I earned a lot of money. I remember I already said that??"

"But, how much money is considered a lot?" Victor asked back: "Yes, your salary is high, you are the most excellent surgeon, you must be able to earn a lot of money. But what about New York's housing prices? What about the cost of living here? Don't you need to get married? Don't you need to raise children here? Don't your children need to pay tuition for university? Do you want him to take out loans like you?"

Strange was stumped by his questions. He calculated his savings. Although it was enough to deal with these problems, if it were according to his kind of perfectionist expectation, it indeed couldn't be considered very abundant.

Although, regarding the so-called marriage and having children, Strange hadn't considered it at all now, but he had a bigger burden, which was Kamar-Taj.

The mages of Kamar-Taj, active in the society of ordinary people, also need to spend money. Although the solar system development plan will now approve funds for them, it is still not enough.

Victor counted with his fingers on his own: "You work at the Presbyterian Hospital, so you can't buy a house too far away, but land here is worth its weight in gold. Even if you don't buy it on Manhattan, you can't go to too remote places."

"If you don't buy it within walking distance, you must buy a car. I see that the cars parked in the parking lot downstairs are not cheap, and it's not like we can just buy a pickup truck in the suburbs to drive."

"If you want to fall in love with a local girl in New York, you always have to book a restaurant, treat her to dinner, and if you encounter holidays, you have to give gifts and so on..."

"I just asked the nurses in the hospital about the salary standard, as well as the salary standard for surgeons. It is indeed a lot, but if it is used in these aspects, it can only be said to be stretched thin, not to mention the education problem of children. Private schools are very expensive..."

Strange was about to open his mouth to say something, but Victor said: "If Dad and I come to live, you can't live in a single apartment anymore. At least you need a two-bedroom house."

"Listen, Victor, these are not problems!" Strange tried hard to explain: "I earned a lot of money, much more than you imagine. I have a big house in the most prosperous street in Manhattan, which can overlook the night view of the whole New York. I can take you over tonight..."

"No, Shi Difen, these are not the most important." Victor frowned and said: "Dad told me that if he told you about his illness, you would definitely let him enter the Presbyterian Hospital for treatment."

"So what?" Strange asked puzzled: "Isn't the Presbyterian Hospital good enough? This is New York, and even the best hospital on the entire East Coast!"

"Precisely because of this, he cannot go." Victor looked into Strange's eyes and said: "You are not a New York local to begin with, and your interpersonal relationships here are not stable. If you want to join the circle of your colleagues, of course, you have to follow the rules of New York."

"If Dad and I come, they will definitely know that you are the son of a farmer from a small place. That will make you looked down upon by others."

Victor sighed and said: "It's not easy to mix in the circles of other places. You must disguise yourself as a local, forget your origin that is not so affluent, and talk about some trendy topics."

"But if there are relatives and friends from those places before, your disguise will not be able to be maintained." Victor looked at Strange through his high-arched brow bone and said: "Shi Difen, we all understand you. You don't want to break your perfect image, and we don't want to break you either."

Strange was already completely blank. He took a deep breath and said somewhat absurdly: "So, he would rather endure the pain of his lungs rotting away than come here???"

He stood up from the chair, spread his hands, and paced in place, saying: "You are all crazy! You are all a bunch of lunatics! You don't..."

Suddenly, he stood in place again and fell silent. Victor also stood up, patted him on the shoulder, and said: "Before, Dad woke up. He said he didn't tell anyone that he was your father, so your colleagues and nurses should not know yet. As long as you two don't have any intersection, it won't..."

Strange shook off Victor's hand and said: "In your eyes, am I a monster who has no feelings and doesn't care about any relatives in order to maintain a perfect image?"

Victor seemed to not understand what he was saying. At this time, there was a knock on the door. Then, Strange saw a look of fear on Victor's face. He subconsciously took a step back, seemingly wanting to find a place to hide.

The look of fear and cowardice in his eyes made Strange completely collapse. He leaned against the chair beside him in a somewhat rude squatting posture that he would absolutely not do usually, and wept with his shoulders shaking.

Shiler pushed the door open, walked in lightly, and lowered his voice to say to Victor: "I am his friend. You go out first, I have something to talk to him about..."

Victor glanced at his brother, hesitated, but still went out. Shiler helped Strange up, and at this time, Strange was even crying to the point that he couldn't care about his image.

Shiler did nothing, just walked to the door and twisted the anti-lock button.

He could clearly see that Strange, hearing the "click" sound, had his shoulders shake, and then the twitching brought by crying weakened a lot.

Shiler shook his head. Strange's symptoms were too typical. Because the family education model was too traditional, he lacked a sense of security somewhat excessively. The way he sought security was to build himself into a perfect person. As long as others couldn't find fault, he could always be in a dominant position.

Unlike in the comics, the Strange Shiler knew could be called smooth sailing, having experienced almost no twists and turns.

First, he was muddle-headedly pulled into the big pit of the immortal factor by Shiler, and then because of the cosmic demon co-prosperity project, he smoothly took over the burden of the Sorcerer Supreme and also possessed the Sanctum Sanctorum.

Later, when the solar system development plan began to be implemented, the mages under his leadership constantly overcame difficulties and developed quite a few magical energy civilian technologies, making his reputation even higher.

He didn't experience the despair of broken hands, didn't give up on himself, didn't buy wine every night, and didn't find a little light in the darkness of despair, abandon everything, and escape into the empty gate.

This Strange didn't see through it, but he saw through it too much. Precisely because he now occupies a level that is already too high, he can conversely understand how much ordinary people like his father and brother have worried for him in these daily busy secular lives.

Precisely because he is now successful, he doesn't have too many things that need to be worried about, so he can feel how much extra energy these worries, which are insignificant to him and can't change anything, take up for an ordinary person who hasn't yet transcended the life of human society.

How much consideration must one have to share precious heart and mind from the already difficult life to think for others? Not only that, if one has to endure pain and avoid shadows additionally, it is even more like a saint.

Shiler spent more than an hour barely comforting Strange, letting him slow down from the twitching of deep crying. Just as he planned to drink some water, his phone rang again.

"Dr. Shiler, sorry, you should be fine now, right?" The voice on the opposite side was Steve's. Shiler heard his tone trembling, so he understood that he should be having an episode.

"Listen, Steve, take a deep breath, just like I taught you to do before. Yes, stare at something without moving, look at its details, block those hallucinations that appear in front of your eyes... Where are you now?"

"Avengers base? Spider-Man is also there? Give the phone to him... Hello? Peter? Yes, I know his condition is not good. Oh, no, don't comfort him first, leave there first... I'll be there immediately." ===== CHAPTER 1039 =====

"Listen to me, Peter. I am a professional psychiatrist. Yes, find an excuse to leave that place first and let Steve be by himself for a while... I will be there immediately."