I was in a car accident when I was traveling alone in Sichuan. The person who caused the accident was called Yang Lin.
I was sitting on the ground in agony, but when I looked up and saw his face, I immediately wanted to laugh.
Since the day I was born, I have had a memory that lasts for seventy years.
Then, I grew up in China after the reform and opening up for ten years, carrying with me the memory of this feudal dynasty.
Yang Wan once told me six hundred years ago that “time travel” is not a lucky thing at all, and it may even be cursed by “concepts”.
In the process of reconciling with memory and reality, I gradually realized the pain she had suffered.
The pain was not physical, but I had to accept and remove the stigma on myself, but also hide it, accept the interpersonal relationships around me again, and live positively like everyone else.
Today I am 30 years old, and I am not married, or even in a relationship. My parents are always urging me to get married.
Before this year's Spring Festival, I finished my work in Chengdu. In order to avoid being nagged by my family, I did not go home immediately. Instead, I gathered all my vacation time together, packed my backpack and walked around Sichuan to see the sights.
On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, I went to the Taoist temple in the front mountain of Qingcheng. It was almost noon when I came down from Qingcheng Mountain. I picked up a bicycle and was about to go to a restaurant two kilometers away to eat fish. Who would have thought that after riding a few meters, I collided with Yang Lin. Yang Lin landed on his hands, then his face, and finally fell flat on his face.
I was a bit miserable. When I fell, my legs were crushed by Yang Lin's car. Of course, this was not the worst. The worst thing was that his entire body weight was also on my calves...
He looked exactly the same and I could recognize him at a glance. He was an old friend of mine.
But I gained some weight and my hair changed.
I looked at his forehead and finally understood why Yang Wan was so afraid of me losing my hair at that time.
Pedestrians on the road called the police for us, and soon a car from the hospital arrived.
When I was carried into the car, I was still staring at Yang Lin. He couldn't help but said to me, "Don't look at me anymore. I can't run away. I will pay for what I owe."
After that, he started making phone calls.
However, his hand was injured and had to be immobilized, so he had to ask the doctor to help him use the hands-free function.
So as soon as the phone was connected, I heard the most familiar voice in my memory, this time speaking fluent and clear Sichuan dialect.
"Hey, bro."
"Where is it?"
"School library."
"…Come to Dujiangyan right away."
"Come to Dujiangyan now? What's the matter?"
"There was a car accident... someone was hit."
The other side seemed to be stunned for a moment, "What? Didn't you not drive there? Did your sister-in-law know?"
Yang Lin said anxiously, "Didn't your sister-in-law go on a business trip abroad last week? She hasn't come back yet. Hurry up, it's still a big deal. If she didn't hit him by a car, she must be very angry. Don't tell mom and the others."
"oh… "
There came the sound of buttons snapping together and tables and chairs being pushed and pulled, "Are you hurt?"
Yang Lin sighed, "My hand seems to be sprained and my chin is bruised, but nothing else is wrong."
"What about the person who was hit? Is he seriously injured?"
"They were both rolling around, how could they be that powerful? But I saw that he couldn't stand up at the time, and I guess his leg bones were broken. No way, I must make him pay properly."
The person seemed to be going downstairs, but the voice was raised, "Don't reply here. Forget about the medical expenses. You have to compensate for the lost wages and nursing fees. Ask others seriously what they do and whether they are locals."
After hearing this, Yang Lin turned to me who was lying next to him and asked, "Brother, I see you didn't even call home, are you a local?"
I shook my head and agreed, "No, I'm from Beijing and I'm in Chengdu on a business trip."
"Oh, what does it do?"
"architecture."
As soon as I finished speaking, Yang Lin asked directly, "Are you married?"
"ah?"
I didn't know what to say when I heard someone on the other end of the phone shout, "Brother, are you asking me?"
"I didn't ask you anything. Oh, forget it. Come quickly. Drive my car. The keys are on the refrigerator at home. Be careful on the road."
"Where is your card? Where did you put it? I'll bring it to you."
Yang Lin was a little embarrassed and lowered his voice and said, "How would I know where my sister-in-law put the card? Please save it for now. I will return it to you as soon as my sister-in-law comes back."
The hospital beds in Dujiangyan were very tight, so I was arranged to lie on a bed in the corridor. Yang Lin was slightly injured, so there was no bed for him to lie on, so he could only sit on the chair opposite me to get an IV drip. He seemed to be very busy at work, and although his mouth was still swollen, he kept making phone calls after sitting down. The police officer who handled the accident came to ask me, and I didn't have any requirements for the handling of the accident.
I propped myself up on the bed and sat up a little straighter, and said to the police, "You guys have already helped me negotiate very well just now. I don't have any other requests."
Yang Lin put down his phone and said to me, "I found this guy is so easy to talk to."
I laughed and said, "Could it be possible that he should be cheated?"
Yang Lin patted his head and said, "It's all my fault. There's nothing much to say. By the way, we're sitting here anyway, so why don't we chat for a while? The general just said that you're in the construction industry, right?"
I nodded, "Yes."
"Where do you work?"
"In a design institute under a state-owned enterprise in Beijing."
"oh."
Yang Lin seemed quite interested in me, and then asked, "What specific direction are you working on?"
“Building to resist floating.”
"Anti-floating?"
This topic is probably outside of his expertise, but he seems quite interested in it.
“Is it one of those buildings on the water?”
I took a look at the amount of dripping and began to explain to him seriously, "No, buildings on the ground will also have buoyancy. Many buildings are actually below the groundwater level. According to Archimedes' theorem, such buildings will generate buoyancy like a ship. The magnitude of the buoyancy is equal to the weight of the groundwater displaced by the building (refer to relevant information here). When I went to Chengdu, more than 800 buildings were floating (the data here comes from a friend who studies building buoyancy)
“It’s that serious.”
I smiled and said, "It's not that serious. The problem of building floating is very common. Most of the floating buildings will not be a big problem as long as the anti-floating engineering is done well."
Yang Lin smiled and said, "It's like a mountain between two different professions."
I asked Yang Lin, "What do you do?"
“Oh, I work in IT.”
I smiled and replied, “That’s a very high income.”
Yang Lin waved his hands, "Hey, it's useless. We're married now. If you don't want to pay me back, I have to ask my sister for help. I don't know if she doesn't have that much money."
I asked, "Is she still in school? I just heard her say in the car that she is in the school library."
Yang Lin curled his lips. "She is studying for a doctorate and usually teaches some classes outside. She can support herself."
I hesitated for a moment and asked tentatively, "Is she married?"
"marry?"
Yang Lin almost didn't stand up, his eyebrows knitted together, his expression a little exaggerated, "Marriage is impossible, do you know what she is studying?"
"What?"
"A eunuch named Deng during the Ming Dynasty. What was Deng's name?"
Yang Lin didn't think of it, so he simply stopped nagging me and continued to complain to me, "I don't really understand those people who are doing academic work, but I heard that she has been doing pretty well recently, and has published some articles. She has become very popular. Her family introduced someone to her, but now she is too lazy to meet someone. My mom asked me to take care of her, but I can't do that, so I just leave her alone."
As he was speaking, the nurse came to change my IV drip, took a look at the wristband on my hand, and confirmed my name.
"Bed number 13, what's your name?"
I looked up and agreed, "Deng Ying."
Yang Lin stood up quickly and asked, "What's your name?"
The nurse glanced at him and said, "Doctor, please sit down."
Yang Lin didn't bother to talk to the nurse, and said to me directly: "Just now, that name was on my lips but I couldn't say it. As soon as you said it, I remembered that her research subject was called Deng Ying. This is amazing. I must get to know her."
As he spoke, he called Yang Wan, "Hey, where are the people?"
The person on the other end of the phone seemed a little anxious. "We've already arrived at the hospital. We've been looking for you in the surgical ward for a long time but can't find you. Your phone is always busy. Where are you?"
Yang Lin said hurriedly, "I'm sorry, I just went to make a phone call to arrange work. There are no beds in the surgery department. We are now sitting in the corridor of the orthopedic ward on the fifth floor. Come up."
"Okay, I'm coming up."
Just as he finished speaking, the elevator door opened and a girl in a white sweatshirt came out carrying a big bag.
She was still so beautiful. She didn't put on a full makeup, just drew her eyebrows, applied light lipstick, and tied her hair into a cute bun.
I imagined meeting this girl many times.
I'd better dress properly and cleanly at that time, and not be as dishevelled as before, but man proposes, God disposes.
Fortunately, she didn't look at me. She walked straight to Yang Lin, took the bag and slammed it next to him.
"Come, some clean clothes and some food."
Then he put his bag on his back, took out his wallet and took out the card, "Here, I didn't bind this card. It contains all my savings. Please give it to me for emergency and compensate others."
Yang Lin stared at the bag and said, "I sprained my wrist. I will probably be discharged from the hospital tomorrow. I won't need so many clothes. It's mainly because this brother is unlucky."
He raised his chin towards me and said, "I just took an X-ray and it looks like there is a slight fracture."
"Broken bones? Did someone else break a bone?"
Yang Lin lost his temper after being scolded, "I didn't mean to do that. I never thought that the bicycle would crush his legs..."
His voice got lower and lower.
Yang Wan asked him, "Have you hired someone to look after him?"
"No, isn't this waiting for you?"
"How did you negotiate?"
"Please ask him to take care of him. He is from another place and his family is in Beijing. This is the only way for now. Otherwise, please ask him again."
Yang Wan turned around and saw me lying behind her.
I don’t know what happened to me. My first reaction was to hide under the quilt.
But she showed a hint of suspicion, "You look... familiar."
Yang Lin said from behind her: "Just ask him his name yourself."
Yang Wan turned her head and said, "You hurt me, and you are still so rude to me."
"You're welcome, I..."
Yang Wan glared at him, then turned to ask me, "Excuse me, what's your name?"
I pinched my fingers and tried to calm down: "Deng Ying."
She stood in front of me for a moment, then started laughing.
"Mr. Deng, I'm really sorry. My brother is not a reliable person, but don't worry. I'm on vacation. I'll take care of your situation."