Lin Qile has been with children for many years. Although he understands the rules of the adult world, his mind is still naive.
Perhaps it is because of this that so many old friends come to her to confide in her on weekdays.
"What's the point of me working so hard to get into medical school?" Du Shang was on the night shift, eating noodles while talking on the phone with Lin Qile. "I earn money from selling cabbages, but I have the heart of selling cocaine. Look at Wei Yong, he was a bad boy since he was young, he never studied, how come he is doing so well?"
Lin Qile was peeling pistachios at home and watching "Come on, My Mr. Love".
"How would I know?" she said. "Some people are born with the right blood type to meet the CEO. They are just lucky."
"What's the point of studying so hard for so many years?" Duchamp said.
"You can't say that," Lin Qile said, "If people like us hadn't studied hard, we would be worse off than we are now."
Du Shang thought for a moment and said, “You make sense.” Then he lowered his head and started eating noodles.
"Besides," Lin Qile turned down the volume of the TV, and she said seriously while holding her phone, "You've wanted to be a doctor since you were a child, and you've realized your dream, Dushan, how could you be more fortunate than this!"
Duchamp listened and was silent for a while.
"That's true," he said, pausing, "but the feeling before and after entering this industry is really, completely different..."
Lin Qile lowered her head. She could hear Jiang Qiaoxi having a conference call with someone in the next room.
“Everything is different…” Lin Qile said, “When I first started my internship at university, I was also very upset. I felt that the gap between ideal and reality was too big.” She said, “But I think everyone must be moving in a good direction.”
"My life now is almost like your internship experience, Cherry..." Du Shang said softly, "The people we usually meet in school are all similar to us. When we are outside... you know, ever since the violent attack on doctors in our hospital, my fellow apprentices and I remember the most every day. The escape route, how to run..."
Lin Qile heard him say: "Sometimes I really forget... why I wanted to be a doctor in the first place..."
"Is it really that serious?" she said.
"It's serious," Du Shang said helplessly, "Look at us. No matter how well we studied, we all spent eight years studying to get through school. We were working hard, but suddenly we were beaten and paralyzed by some idle people. Who wouldn't be scared?"
Lin Qile said that a police station and a police station should be built in front of the hospital.
Dushan said it was not that simple: "Police officers also have to follow the rules. Hospitals are not the only places in the world where hooligans are found."
Lin Qile said, if he hits you, you hit him back!
Dushan said, no, that would become a mutual fight, you know, and the policeman would have to take me away too!
"Luckily I was a kid, not now," Dushan suddenly sighed, "otherwise I would have been beaten by my dad and went to the hospital. Wow, the doctor was also beaten. Do you think this is normal? People have a mouth but can't use it to talk and communicate. Why can they only beat people?"
“I think some people just don’t know how to communicate,” Lin Qile suddenly said, “I’ve seen some parents love their children very much, but they still beat their children because they don’t know what to do. They themselves are like children—Duchamp, do you believe that not everyone is like you and me... that is, we know how to say something...”
"You mean," Dushan sneered, "those who beat up the doctor actually respect us? They don't really want to beat us up?"
He obviously found Lin Qile's words ridiculous.
Lin Qile was silent for a while. "I mean, I think if they also knew some science, received a real education, and knew how to express themselves, they might not do this."
"Where can such a person be found?" Duchamp asked. "Can you find one such person among a hundred people on the street?"
Lin Qile felt that Duchamp had indeed been greatly traumatized.
Dushan stirred the last mouthful of noodles with his chopsticks and slurped it up.
He said, "Cherry, when you see someone doing bad things, you always think that he lacks education. But do you know that some people in this world do bad things for no other reason than that they are bad? What is the current education rate? Why do these people commit crimes while others do not?"
He added: "No matter how hard you teachers try, you can't educate all the bad people, just like us doctors, no matter how hard we try, we can't cure all the patients!"
Lin Qile stopped talking.
"Look at us," Du Shang said, "You are studying at a normal school, and I am studying medicine. We are both busy, tired, scolded, and poor... Cai Fangyuan is a big boss, and Yu Qiao flies a big plane. I will share my grievances with you."
Lin Qile has always known that she and Duchamp have a lot in common, regardless of gender.
"You're fine now. After all, you've gone to a better kindergarten. The children are taught in the same way. Look at me..." Dushan said.
Lam Chi Lok said: "When I was in Hong Kong, I went to a private hospital there—"
Du Shang smiled bitterly: "Don't mention it. If even people like me are scrambling to go to private hospitals, how can anyone get medical treatment in public hospitals?"
Lin Qile lay down on the sofa. A fantasy idol drama was playing on TV, but the reality they faced was not fantasy at all.
“Duchamp,” Lin Qile muttered, “Do you feel that every day you live is quite valuable?”
Duchamp smiled and said, "Hey... it's OK..."
He told a story. He said there was a little boy in the hospital who had been treated in the outpatient clinic of director Dushan and would stick to him every time he came for a follow-up visit.
"He said he wanted to be a doctor when he grew up. I told him to think about it more carefully. That's how I was tricked into coming here when I was a kid!"
Lin Qile burst out laughing.
Dushan smiled and sighed.
Lin Qile looked at the light bulb on the ceiling and said, "I think it's good. Whether you, me, or Duchamp, we are not the kind of people who can do business, speculate in stocks, open restaurants, and make a lot of money. Our personalities are not suitable for doing those things. Even if we do, we won't be happy, and we probably won't make any money." She added, "If I hadn't been so lucky and met Jiang Qiaoxi, I would definitely only make 2,000 yuan a month now, and I might even go home crying every day..."
"No..." Lin Qile continued, "If I didn't know him... I might still be in Qunshan, because I didn't study hard in junior high school, I just played around, and I couldn't get into a good high school... I don't know what I'm doing now."
Duchamp said, “You won’t.”
Lin Qile said: "Why not?"
Du Shang said, "According to what you said, if I hadn't known you, if Uncle Lin and Uncle Yu hadn't taken care of me and taken me in, wouldn't I have been beaten to death by my father when I was a child? My mother wouldn't have lived long either!"
Lin Qile was stunned.
"There is no such thing as if," Dushan said. "Cherry, everything you have today is what you have worked hard for and you deserve it. The same goes for me. I certainly can't get this little salary for my whole life. We have to persevere in this industry. When I become a director in the future, I will hire two bodyguards to stand at the door of the clinic. I don't know who dares to beat me up."
Lin Qile laughed. She didn't know how to comfort Du Shang.
But as they chatted, they seemed to have come to terms with it without realizing it.
Once you think it through, nothing will be difficult.
"Duchamp, you really need to be careful," Lin Qile said, "You've studied for so many years and suffered so much, so you should run faster when the time comes. What if you haven't become a great person yet—"
"Of course," Dushan stood up, holding the bowl of noodles to throw it, and said while holding the phone, "I will also be the master of ceremonies at your wedding!"
In the ward corridor late at night, there are still many patients and their families who need to rest. This place can be said to be one of the cruelest places in the world.
Dushan quietly walked in a cat-like manner: "What song do you think I should sing at your wedding? There are so many songs I am good at!"
Jiang Qiaoxi met with investors for another day. He was not a chatty person by nature, but he was very good at capturing the key points and getting to the point, so the communication was smooth. In the words of his new partner, "His brain works too fast. This is the characteristic of people who do mathematics: they have clear goals and will do whatever it takes."
Jiang Qiaoxi didn't feel anything when he heard such comments. He didn't care much about other people's opinions, even if they were not good words.
The partner also said that he and Jiang Qiaoxi's former boss at Morgan Stanley both believed that Jiang Qiaoxi was the kind of person who was bound to succeed.
He has a strong ability to withstand pressure, learns very quickly, is careful and attentive to details, and his brain's computing ability is far beyond that of ordinary people. This is an outstanding young man who no matter who he is under, whether it is the professor in the past or the manager now, will be reluctant to let him go.
He is down-to-earth and hard-working, willing to work overtime without complaint, has a calm mind and is cool-headed when faced with difficulties. He seems to be very suitable for the financial industry.
Not to mention, his character is not a problem. He took care of his cousin who had been in trouble for many years in Hong Kong. He had a long-distance girlfriend, who was his first love, and they got married at the age of 22. He never flirted with other girls. There were so many girls chasing him in Hong Kong, but there were no rumors of romance. Now he has returned to his hometown directly for his wife.
The partner asked, what are your plans for the future
Jiang Qiaoxi shook his head.
"Are you going to develop here in the future?" asked the partner.
Jiang Qiaoxi thought about it and shook his head.
Lin Yingtao sent him a WeChat message, saying that he didn’t need to go to the kindergarten to pick her up. She bought some Nanjing duck and was walking home: “Would you like to eat some jujube flour buns? I’ll buy some brown sugar.”
Jiang Qiaoxi parked the car on the side of the road, got out, and walked into the electronics repair shop with the China Welfare Lottery sign.
“Hey handsome guy!” The shop owner was a shirtless man. When he saw Jiang Qiaoxi, he immediately raised his hand to say hello. He was playing the lottery number for an old man. He reached out and took down a box from the shelf behind him that was piled with headphones and old machines. “Here! It’s fixed, the battery is charged, and the files inside are copied out for you! I also got a charger and a USB flash drive, and you have to add 60 yuan to the bill... Headphones? How about this one? I’ll add 40 yuan for the headphones. I’ll give you a discount and give me 400 yuan!”
A few new lottery players came in and said, "There's a Mercedes parked outside!"
The shop owner took the four Mao Zedong notes from Jiang Qiaoxi and glanced at him secretly. Jiang Qiaoxi was looking down and playing the old MP3 player.
He looked like a smart guy, wearing a suit and tie, like an elite, and he never bargained no matter how much he was ripped off. The shop owner said, "See, uncle, buy more lottery tickets, and you will get a Mercedes-Benz or BMW in the future!"
The lottery player who came in said: "I bought this because I won the prize here?"
The shop owner watched Jiang Qiaoxi leave and said, "Who cares if it is or not? Just treat it as it is and that's it. How about I give you two bets of the numbers that this handsome guy just bought?"
Jiang Qiaoxi got into the car and closed the door. He didn't bother to start the car, but just pressed the button on the MP3 to switch to the next song.
He lowered his head.
Why are all the old TOEFL listening questions
Lin Yingtao always listened to this MP3 player when she was in high school. She listened to it on the way to school, after school, and during morning reading and self-study classes. Jiang Qiaoxi remembered that when they went to Beijing during the summer vacation of their second year in high school, Jiang Qiaoxi was not very happy on the train because Lin Yingtao refused to memorize TOEFL words. At that time, Lin Yingtao had this earphone in her ears and the MP3 player in her pocket. She leaned in his arms and did not say a word.
The phone vibrated, and a WeChat message from Lin Yingtao popped up: "Do you want to eat shrimp? The prawns are so fresh today."
Jiang Qiaoxi drove towards home.
He had an earphone in his ear, and the man was reading the TOEFL listening test questions. Jiang Qiaoxi still remembers that he took the test in early 2007, when the TOEFL had just been revised and the listening documents were all old, outdated, and from the past.
When the piano prelude sounded suddenly, Jiang Qiaoxi was not prepared.
A new female singer from the millennium sang: "When I was a kid, I was noisy and willful..."
Suddenly, the music stopped.
Accompanied by the sound of friction.
“…Sing it again, sing it again!”
This was the little girl's plea more than ten years ago.
So the little boy from more than ten years ago began to hum again reluctantly.
like a bird the wire,
like a drunka midnight choir,
i have tried my way to be free.
The red light ahead turned green, reflected in Jiang Qiaoxi's eyes which suddenly became moist.
If I have been unkind, I hope you will try to let it go;
If I have ever deceived, it was because I thought there must be lies in love.
Like a babe that has never been born, like a wild beast with horns;
I stabbed everyone who opened their arms to me.
I swear by this song that all my mistakes will be compensated.
In mid-July, the international kindergarten where Lin Yingtao worked was about to have its summer vacation. Jiang Qiaoxi stood at the door of the "White Horse Class" and quietly waited for his wife to get off work. He stared at her figure and her smile through the window, and listened to her lectures and conversations with the children.
He suddenly received a call from Feng Letian, and he walked to the small garden.
Feng Letian said: "I took a group of photos today! I specially asked a colleague in our office who loves photography to take them. The scenery of the mountains is very beautiful now. I will send them to your email later!"
Jiang Qiaoxi smiled softly and said, "Thank you."
Feng Letian said: "What are you thanking me for? We should be thanking you! I can't wait to attend your wedding ceremony with Lin Qile!"
Jiang Qiaoxi laughed again, feeling a little annoyed by his tone.
"Oh, by the way," Feng Letian said, "I heard that our junior high school class is going to have a reunion, but unfortunately I can't go. Will you go?"
Jiang Qiaoxi remembered that Yingtao had advised him yesterday to interact with more people, especially since he had just returned from Hong Kong.
He said, I haven’t thought about it yet.
Feng Letian said: "Teacher Liu and the others must want to see you."
In the "White Horse Class", several children gathered together and were playing with math teaching aids. Sitting next to them was another little boy, who was wearing glasses at a young age and did not play with the teaching aids given by the teacher. He liked to sit on a small stool with his head down and use a pencil to calculate on his arithmetic book.
Lin Qile often pays attention to him and cares about his needs.
"Teacher Lin," he looked up when he saw Lin Qile, "My mother told me... your husband is a gold medalist in the Olympic Mathematics Competition. Is this true?"
Jiang Qiaoxi was originally waiting for his wife to get off work, but suddenly she pulled him by the hand and dragged him into the house.
Seeing that he had nothing to do, she asked him to come and teach this intellectually gifted child a class in kindergarten math: "I think he really likes math."
Jiang Qiaoxi felt helpless. He pulled his trousers and sat cross-legged on the floor. He looked down at the child in front of him. Lin Yingtao and the teaching assistant brought a small blackboard over. Lin Yingtao gave him a marker pen. Jiang Qiaoxi didn't know what to say. He took the child's math book and looked at it. He uncapped the pen and reached out to draw a circle on the blackboard.
"You take this circle as—"
Before he finished speaking, the little boy with glasses suddenly exclaimed "Wow!" and covered his mouth with his hands.
He suddenly regained his childish nature and looked at Jiang Qiaoxi with sparkling eyes.
Jiang Qiaoxi paused in front of the blackboard, holding a pen in his hand.
Before school was over, all the children in the class gathered around him. They excitedly surrounded Uncle Jiang Qiaoxi and clapped their hands, saying, "Draw another one! Uncle, please draw another one!"
Jiang Qiaoxi held the pen in his left hand, half-lifted his eyelids, and drew another circle. When the children saw it, they covered their mouths with excitement, jumped up and down, and began to cheer, as if they were watching a special performance.
The classmates of Class 1, Grade 2002 of the Provincial Experimental High School had a reunion, and everyone came.
Only two people did not come, one was Chairman Feng Letian who was busy with official duties, and the other was Dr. Du Shangdu who was busy treating patients in Shanghai.
Class reunions are cruel places. Back then, everyone started from the same starting line, but now their life achievements are so different. Jiang Qiaoxi sat in the corner of the crowd, listening to his unfamiliar old classmates chatting with him and talking about the past three years of junior high school.
An old classmate asked Jiang Qiaoxi if he knew that a classmate from the next class had posted something online.
"What sticker?" he asked.
"They posted about you," the old classmate laughed, "saying how handsome you are, that you didn't go to Tsinghua University despite having a gold medal in mathematics, but went to Hong Kong University and joined Morgan Stanley. They also posted your photo, saying that you are a winner in life!"
"Winner in life." Jiang Qiaoxi looked at the classmates he had envied so much back then.
"I never thought," the old classmate said embarrassedly, "that one day I would be able to sit and chat with you face to face like this... Jiang Qiaoxi, I feel that you are much more friendly than before."
Jiang Qiaoxi raised his eyes.
"Friendly?" He found it funny.
My old classmate said, "Yeah, when we were in junior high school, we always felt a little scared when we saw you in school—"
Suddenly, a classmate poked his head over. He was obviously not brave enough to talk to Jiang Qiaoxi. He asked tentatively, "Jiang, Jiang Qiaoxi, are you really married?"
Many junior high school classmates who were eating turned around when they heard this question.
"Yeah." Jiang Qiaoxi nodded without hesitation.
"With whom?" several people nearby asked.
Cen Xiaoman was sitting at another table, chatting with her best friend as if nothing had happened and eating pasta slowly.
Jiang Qiaoxi smiled, seeing how curious they were: "You may not know him."
"An experiment? Is your wife from the provincial capital?"
Jiang Qiaoxi nodded and said, "She studied experimental subjects in high school."
“Who is it??”
"Her name is Lin Qile." Jiang Qiaoxi said.
The students at that time were very confused as they had no impression of this name at all.
"Where did she go to junior high school?"
Jiang Qiaoxi said: "From Qunshan City No. 1 Middle School."
Someone asked weakly: "Is that the girl who wrote you a love letter that year?"
Jiang Qiaoxi nodded and said, "Yes, it's her."
Cen Xiaoman suddenly put her fork next to the plate, stood up, lowered her head and left.
Since childhood, parents have taught us earnestly and teachers have given us advice.
For the sake of your future, be obedient and run forward regardless of everything.
But when I ran too far and looked back, I realized that I had walked all the roads, right and wrong. If you say it is fate, it should be correct. Parents and family, aren't these part of fate
It’s just that some people realize it early on, while others only realize it after they reach middle age.
At the dinner table, a classmate was browsing on his phone when he suddenly shouted.
“Fuck,” he stood up, “Isn’t this guy Duchamp?”
In a video that has recently gone viral online, a chief physician is sitting in the corridor with a bloody head. The patient's family members are very emotional and surround him in groups, grabbing the hair of two young nurses and fighting them.
At the end of the corridor, a group of young doctors and nurses had just run away and hid, when suddenly one of them stopped in the corner. He hesitated for less than a second, then suddenly took off his white coat and ran back.
The director was surrounded by angry family members. The young male doctor rushed over and hugged their director. After being kicked, he reached out and pulled the stethoscope off the director's neck. The next second, all the family members suddenly took a step back.
I saw the young male doctor dancing wildly in the middle of the crowd, holding the stethoscope in both hands as if he were holding a nunchaku, with a ferocious expression, screaming and roaring, constantly changing poses, sometimes standing on one leg, sometimes spreading his wings like a white crane. Although he didn't touch anyone, he really confused the family members watching nearby.
The young doctors and nurses in the distance all ran back, and two of them quickly dragged the director to the next department.
A family member came to his senses and shouted, "The doctor hit someone—"
Before he finished speaking, the hospital security team came upstairs. The young male doctor was so frightened that he fell to the ground and pretended to faint.
Cai Fangyuan's company's signature web game launched an advertisement today with his childhood goddess as the spokesperson. He spent a lot of money on promotion, but when he saw the trending search on Weibo, Cai Fangyuan's face turned pale.
"What the hell..." He grabbed the company artist's mouse and dragged the video back and forth, "... What's going on??!"
Yu Qiao was eating in the base cafeteria and reading the news on his mobile phone. He squinted his eyes and almost vomited his food when he saw Dushan's face.
He sent a WeChat message to Dushan: "Are you okay?"
The author has something to say: －－－－－－
Notes to this chapter:
＊ "Shan Shan Comes to Eat": A contemporary urban love idol drama adapted from the short story "Shan Shan Comes to Eat" by writer Gu Man. It premiered on Jiangsu Satellite TV's evening show Happiness Theater on July 8, 2014.