Zeng's mother always reminded Zeng Li that there are three kinds of men in this world who you should not marry: policemen, teachers and doctors.
Ma Yiyi was very surprised when she learned about this. "Why? Aren't these all good son-in-law candidates in the mother-in-law's mind?"
"My mother said that being a police officer is dangerous and that you can't take care of your family. Teachers always have young female students who want to have wild thoughts about them, generation after generation. When one class graduates, the next class comes. As for doctors..." She thought for a moment, "She has a prejudice against doctors."
"What prejudice?"
"She felt that every time she went to see a doctor, as long as no one died, the doctor would think it was no big deal. They were professionally cold and had no sympathy. And..."
"what else?"
Zeng Li smiled and said, "Also, she said she couldn't recognize the words written by the doctor."
Ma Yiyi was happy.
Zeng Li buried his face, flicked the straw in the Coke cup under his eyelids, and his smile faded. In fact, there is also...
On the second Wednesday of New Year's Day, she asked for leave from the director and went to the affiliated hospital of A University for a follow-up visit.
After several failed blind dates last year, Zeng's mother summarized Zeng Li's shortcomings from head to toe and came to two conclusions: besides being too thin, his teeth were crooked, which affected his facial features.
Zeng Li has two big buck teeth in his mouth. In Ma Yiyi's words, he looks like a rabbit when he smiles. And the canine tooth on the right protrudes a little more than the two sides, as if he was betrayed by the surrounding teeth neighbors who collectively took a step back.
When she was a child, she didn’t like to laugh. When she laughed, others would stare at her mouth, which felt extremely awkward.
Later… Later someone said: “When you grow up, maybe you will smile like Joey Wong.”
Zeng Li seldom watched TV or movies, and had no idea who Joey Wong was, so at the time she didn't know whether the remark was a compliment or an insult to her.
Finally, Zeng's mother came to the conclusion that she should take her to have her teeth fixed.
"Mom, have you ever seen someone wearing braces at my age? It's so embarrassing!" When Zeng Li said this, he had already been pulled into the hospital corridor by his mother.
Zeng's mother did not refute this time, but nodded silently, asking her daughter to look over there. Zeng Li followed her mother's line of sight and saw several posters of dental knowledge on the wall of the opposite corridor, one of which was a white old lady wearing braces.
"… "
Facts speak louder than words. Zeng's mother won easily without saying a word.
Doctor Li was a specialist clinician, and there were so many people that it was not until noon that she could see him. Zeng Li didn't know whether it was because her mother's acquaintance introduced her or because she had good medical ethics, but Doctor Li was very kind and friendly.
The dental department of the medical school of University A is one of the best in the country, and many people come from all over the country to see it. Because it is a teaching unit, the specialist clinics are all accompanied by graduate students, and each clinic is like a lecture hall. After Zeng Li's physical examination, Dr. Li was very hospitable and explained the entire treatment process in detail in front of Zeng's mother. A female student who was listening to the lecture said, "Your daughter is already beautiful. After her teeth are fixed, her smile will be perfect."
Zeng's mother was overjoyed to hear this and quickly made a decision, urging Zeng Li to pay the fee and sign.
When Zeng Li came back with the payment receipt, Doctor Li said to the female student, "Zhou Wen, write a prescription and tell her to have the tooth extracted first."
Zhou Wen asked: "Which one should I pull out?"
Doctor Li said, "4 on the left, 4 on the right, pull them all out, top and bottom." Then he went on to deal with the next patient with a friendly and kind attitude.
Zeng Li asked tremblingly: "What does left 4 right 4 mean?"
"Count from the middle of your teeth, the fourth on the left and the fourth on the right."
"up and down?"
"Yeah, up and down."
Zeng Li suddenly felt a little dizzy. Her mother watched her pay the money, then left after she thought the game was over, leaving her alone with her legs weak.
Zhou Wen said, "Don't be afraid, today we'll only remove two on one side."
Zeng Li continued to ask: "What about the other side?"
"It depends on the situation. If the situation is good, it will usually be fine after a week."
Zhou Wen wrote the order and asked again, "I'm going to the surgery on the second floor to have my teeth extracted. Oh, by the way, are you on your period?"
Zeng Li didn't understand, "Huh?"
"You can't have teeth pulled during menstruation. The bleeding will be severe. Is that you?"
“No…” Zeng Li blurted out, then stammered and corrected himself hurriedly, “Yes, yes, yes.” It seemed as if he had grabbed a life-saving straw.
Zhou Wen glanced at her, took the form back, and said, "There's nothing we can do about it. I'll talk to Teacher Li about it. We'll do it next time. Anyway, Teacher Li sees patients every Monday and Wednesday morning. You can just come directly after you finish your session."
Then Zeng Li ran out of the hospital as if escaping.
However, she could not resist her mother's persuasion, and after two months she went to the hospital with the determination to die. She was thinking about how to explain to Zhou Wen and Professor Li that she had disappeared for two months.
"After my period was over, I forgot about it, and when I remembered it, it came again the second time."
Or: "I'm sorry, Zhou Wen, I've been having my period for two months."
That's so tragic.
She thought about the reason over and over again, and finally made up a credible reason, then resolutely walked into the hospital.
She climbed up to the orthodontics department on the sixth floor and found that the huge clinic on the right was empty. She looked left and right through the glass in the corridor and didn't see anyone in a white coat. She hurried in and found that even the nameplate that Dr. Li had hung outside the cubicle was gone.
She paid more than 10,000 yuan. I wonder if they will abscond with the money.
Just then a nurse came in and asked Zeng Li, "Who are you looking for?"
"Isn't Professor Li seeing patients today?"
The nurse looked at me and asked, "Are you Mr. Li's patient?"
Zeng Li nodded.
"He went to Africa to provide aid in construction. He left temporarily at the end of last year, and the patients were handed over to Teacher Ai." He pointed to the clinic opposite.
"Oh, thank you."
Zeng Li walked to the opposite door without thinking too much and found that there were many patients. Each cubicle had a treatment bed, and there was one doctor for each patient, all busy. There was only one doctor left, who happened to be sitting on a stool, with his back to her, communicating with two people. She was not close enough to hear clearly.
She didn't know who to bother and ask, and was about to leave when someone suddenly walked in from the corridor and asked, "Are you Zeng Li?"
Zeng Li turned around and saw that the girl who called her was Zhou Wen.
She greeted him sheepishly: "Doctor Zhou."
"Hey, why did you take so long to come? I thought you were scared away by me last time." Zhou Wen smiled.
"No, I was on a business trip and didn't make it in time." Zeng Li quickly made up a lie to explain.
Zhou Wen said, "Teacher Li went to help overseas, and all his students were transferred to Teacher Ai. But there were too many patients, so some of them were divided out. Don't worry, you are still under the care of Teacher Ai. We even looked at your films and medical records in class that day."
"Um."
"Please wait a moment. Teacher Ai will personally see every patient. He is communicating with the family members over there."
Zeng Li thought, this teacher’s surname is really nice, he loves it so much that he can adapt it into “Five Stress, Four Beauties and Three Loves”, love the school, love the major, and love the teacher.
She couldn't help laughing at her own thought, and turned around inadvertently, only then did she see a nameplate of the attending doctor nailed to the wall. There were three words printed in black bold font on the silver-gray sign. The first one was "Ai", with a space between the surname and the first name, and the last one was "Jingchu".
She was so surprised that her mouth slightly opened. Just when she didn't know what to do, she heard Zhou Wen say, "Teacher Ai, Zeng Li, who was transferred from Teacher Li, is here."
She watched the man, who had his back to her, take the medical record from Zhou Wen, turn around, and then walk towards her step by step. He was wearing a white coat, with a gray and black plaid shirt with a little collar showing. The central air conditioning in the hospital was turned on very high, so they didn't wear coats when they were working. Zeng Li was wrapped in a down jacket and scarf, which made her feel a little hot, and her palms were sweating.
He stopped and asked, "How old are you?"
"25."
"Why do you think of orthodontics?"
“Uh…” This stumped Zeng Li.
Zhou Wen smiled and took over the conversation, "Your mother was very interesting last time. She said that you couldn't find a boyfriend because of your teeth."
Zeng Li glanced at Zhou Wen in a cold sweat, but she didn't expect Ai Jingchu to turn his gaze from the medical record to her. His gaze moved from her chin to her nose, eyes, forehead, and finally fell back to her mouth, saying lightly: "The protrusion has little impact."
Zeng Li was stunned for a moment, not being able to hear clearly whether the protruding teeth had little impact on her appearance, or whether the teeth had little impact on her prospects of finding a boyfriend. But he was a person with a very cold aura, so she dared not say a word.
At this time, Ai Jingchu took a pair of unopened rubber gloves from the operating table and put them on. Because there were no extra treatment beds, she could only stand like this to be examined. Fortunately, Zhou Wen pulled a stool over, and he sat while she stood. He took out the flashlight from his chest pocket and told her to open her mouth.
At the same time, Zeng Li was praying hard, hoping that there was no residue left in his teeth after eating.
After a while, Ai Jingchu turned off the flashlight and said, "I have read your medical records. Actually, the protrusion is not too obvious and has no impact on your life. You don't need treatment. But since you are willing and Professor Li has accepted you, let's continue. My plan is the same as Professor Li's. Extract the teeth first, but the two lower teeth can be kept. We will make a decision later after we have a look at the operation." He turned around and asked Zhou Wen to write a tooth extraction order for her, but when he turned around, he saw that Zhou Wen had been called away by another patient. So Ai Jingchu had to write it himself.
He picked up the pen and asked, "Is it called—"
"Zengli. The carp."
"Period?" he asked.
"… no."
An hour later, Zeng Li came out of the surgical tooth extraction room biting a cotton ball to stop bleeding. He felt a little dizzy, so he sat on a chair in the outpatient hall. On the wall on one side of the registration desk, there were several rows of names and photos of the hospital's experts. Zeng Li found Ai Jingchu at a glance, who always had a stern face and wore a white coat.
At this time, there were many patients queuing nearby waiting to register.
"I want to call Ai Jingchu." Someone stood in front of the window with money in hand and said loudly.
"Professor Ai's class is full today." The person inside the window answered through the loudspeaker.
"What about the afternoon?"
“It’s full all day.”
"Then I'll hang up tomorrow's."
"Tomorrow is Thursday. Professor Ai only sees patients on Wednesday and Friday."
"No way. I came all this way. Do I have to wait two days?"
"Are you still hanging? If not, hang up the next one."
"Hang up, hang up. Please hang up something else."
Those conversations and questions were drowned out by other noises.
She suddenly understood why Zhou Wen told her not to worry, because the doctor was Ai Jingchu.
As a result, the tooth extraction was not as painful as Zeng Li had expected, and she went to "Carol's" at night as if nothing had happened. Carol's is a small coffee shop jointly opened by Zeng Li, Ma Yiyi and Wu Ying. In fact, the money was mainly paid by Wu Ying, but she was very busy working in the hospital, so it was usually Ma Yiyi who took care of it, and Zeng Li came to help when she was free. The coffee shop is very close to the east gate of A University, so the customers are mainly students. The walls of the shop are covered with green wallpaper, which has a nostalgic flavor. There is a small blackboard on the outside, which is a place for customers to leave notes, just like most student shops that pretend to be petty bourgeoisie.
It was a cold winter evening and not being a weekend, Carol's was a little deserted.
Ma Yiyi is frothing her latte.
Dou Dou, a young girl working in the store, had nothing to do, so she took out the tarot cards from the drawer and played with them for a while. A customer asked for more water, so she put the cards on the table and went back to work.
Zeng Li gathered the cards together for her, but one of them fell to the ground.
"The wheel of fate".
She looked at the card and put it back in silence. After a while, she took out the follow-up card from her bag and unfolded the small paper card.
The inside page of the card has the time of the next follow-up visit written on it. Then, turning it over, the front has the names of the attending physician and the patient. Above "Ai Jingchu" is "Zeng Li".
In fact, he didn't know her.
She almost didn't know him.
However, the wheel that is regarded as the turning wheel of fate is really a strange thing.
Half a month later, when she went for a follow-up visit, her gums had almost recovered. Now, she can't smile too much, otherwise she will have a missing tooth on each side of her mouth, which is very creepy.
This time she specifically brought a toothbrush, toothpaste and a water cup with her, and brushed her teeth carefully before going in.
As soon as she lay on the treatment bed, Zhou Wen invited Ai Jingchu over.
He opened the drawer on the workbench next to him, changed his gloves into a new pair, and then sat down. Several students who were listening nearby also gathered around Zeng Li, turned on the lights, lowered their heads, and looked at her teeth like visiting a giant panda. Among them was a burly black student.
Ai Jingchu spoke in English. Zeng Li didn't understand a word of the unfamiliar and lengthy professional vocabulary. She just saw him gesturing on her teeth while he spoke.
She didn't dare look at him.
Zeng Li was afraid of doctors, teachers, and leaders in his life. If he had a headache or fever, he would go to the pharmacy to buy some medicine and take it. If he had pain anywhere, he would search online to see if it was a big problem. If it was just a minor problem, he would just bear with it. In short, he would avoid it if he could.
Zeng Li did not dare to look at anyone above her head. She could only act as a living teaching model, opening her mouth stiffly and looking straight ahead. But after a while, the orange light dazzled her, but she could not move around.
She squinted her eyes, feeling a little uncomfortable.
He was talking about the depth of the upper and lower teeth, and when he finished the phrase "overbite depth indicator", he paused for a moment and calmly pushed the handle of the lampshade downward with the back of his gloved hand. The angle of the lamp was slightly adjusted, and the light no longer hurt her eyes.
After that, she was done with, Ai Jingchu gave Zhou Wen some instructions, and then moved on to the next patient. Zhou Wen asked the nurse to help her get a dental mold for Zeng Li.
Zhou Wen said, "You can come on the weekend next time."
"Do you work on weekends too?"
"No, winter vacation is coming soon. If I don't hurry up and get it done for you, you'll be delayed for more than a month. Besides, you're getting full-mouth braces, which will take several hours to glue. Normally, there are too many patients in Teacher Ai's clinic, more than a hundred people, and we can't handle it all. I'll work overtime for you on the weekend."
Zeng Li smiled sheepishly, "Thank you for your help."
"Teacher Ai assigned you to me, and this is my job. By the way, remember our number. If you need any advice, call the nurse and ask for me. Teacher Ai doesn't have time to answer the phone."
She followed Zhou Wen's gaze and saw a new patient coming in. Ai Jingchu was standing there with his back to them, communicating with someone. He personally looked at every patient, even if they were just coming for a follow-up visit, asked for guidance, and then taught the student in charge of the patient what to do next, and finally accepted the patient.
There are very few unnecessary words in his conversation, and he never smiles. He has almost nothing to do with words like "approachable" and "affable". No wonder he always gives people a stern feeling.
"Is this weekend okay?" Zeng Li asked.
"This week," Zhou Wen thought for a moment, "I need to make the mold first, and then compare the dimensions. I'm afraid I won't have enough time. Maybe next weekend. I won't be gone by then, so it will definitely work."
"Oh, that's good."
"Nine o'clock, I'm waiting for you alone. If you don't come, be sure to call me in advance, otherwise I'll have waited in vain." Zhou Wen said, taking Zeng Li's follow-up card and writing down the time and date.
After hearing what Zhou Wen said, she became cautious and picked up her phone to set a reminder.