I Opened a Rehab Program for CEO Types in a Psychiatric Hospital

He handed me a card and said, “Your salary is thirty million.” I thought he was talking nonsense, until I saw the balance: 327 million.

My name is Lin Xilou. I’m a graduate student in psychology, and I only meant to spend three months doing fieldwork at a psychiatric hospital, then leave once I’d finished my thesis. But on my very first day, a man in a patient’s uniform stopped me and insisted I was his new secretary.

His name is Lu Shiyan. He has delusions and has been living here for three years. The other patients call him “Chairman Lu.” Mr. Zhang analyzes stock charts using chess; Chairman Wang builds a CBD out of blocks; Mr. Chen watches talent shows on TV and signs the contestants; and Chairman Li holds a radio while developing 6G. They hold a board meeting every week, with an agenda that includes, but isn’t limited to, buying the convenience store, setting up an in-house logistics system, and starting a pig farm.

I thought they were crazy.

Then I realized I was the one who was crazy.

A man who never dared to reach out met someone who never dared to hope. He noticed my cold hands and remembered that I liked sweet milk. With a pay slip written on a tissue that was almost full, he slowly warmed a face that hadn’t smiled in eight years.

Here, I learned one thing:

Crazy people understand love better than normal people, because they dare to go crazy for it.

And at last, I dared to admit it.