After leaving the hospital, Zeng Li saw something like dust falling from the sky. She caught it with her hands and found that it was actually snowflakes. She smiled slightly, picked it up with her fingers and put it in her mouth.
The New Year is really coming soon.
Zeng Li was almost late for the hospital the next Saturday. She was not someone who didn't keep her word, so she rushed to the hospital. However, the two elevators in the hospital stopped at the seventh floor, so she had to go up by herself.
On the fifth floor, there were only two or three people in the waiting hall. She turned into the corridor. There were clinics on both sides of the corridor, separated by huge glass, so she could clearly see what was going on inside. The clinics were very large, and they looked very empty even though there were seven or eight dental treatment beds. On the left side of the corridor was the room where Zhou Wen and his friends were. The sky was particularly gloomy, and the lights in the huge clinic were not on. It was in sharp contrast to the brightness of the waiting room and the corridor.
Zeng Li walked in breathlessly, suspecting that he had got the time wrong.
She took a quick look and didn't see Zhou Wen. Just when she didn't know what to do, she noticed a slender figure standing by the window on the other side.
That person is Ai Jingchu.
Because there was no light and the sky was dim, he stood quietly in the corner and was almost ignored. He was seen with his arms folded, silently looking out the window. Zeng Li moved a few steps closer and followed his line of sight. Outside was a road with a constant flow of vehicles. The weather was bad and the visibility was poor. Many car lights were on, which made the gray morning feel a bit like evening, but it was also hard to understand what he was thinking about while looking at those lights.
Not sure if it was Zeng Li’s footsteps that startled him, or her breathing, but Ai Jingchu slowly turned around and was not surprised to see Zeng Li, so he nodded lightly.
Zeng Li didn't know what this nod meant, so he said, "Doctor Ai... I'm looking for Zhou Wen."
He didn't answer, but walked straight to the door and turned on the light.
All the lights in the clinic came on one by one, sweeping away the darkness. The bright light shone on his face, and his black eyes darkened slightly in discomfort.
He turned back and walked to the sink by the window, turned on the faucet, washed his hands carefully, and then said, "She went home last night because of an emergency." Zeng Li was a little surprised from the moment he uttered the first word. His voice, which was originally extremely pleasant and textured, was hoarse at this moment. He only said six words with great effort, and the word "回" was almost hoarse and inaudible.
He paused and tried to say, "Your phone is not connected."
Zeng Li then remembered that his cell phone was out of service yesterday, and he went online to recharge his phone bill in the middle of the night.
As he was talking, Ai Jingchu had already washed his hands and motioned her to lie on the treatment bed, then adjusted the angle of the chair and turned on the light. He moved the mobile shelf next to him and went to the next room to get some things and put them on. Zeng Li took a glance and saw her dental model, as well as a bunch of stainless steel-like iron wires and small bumps. Then he washed his hands again and put on his gloves.
Zeng Li then realized that he was going to put the braces on her by himself.
She had seen them do this during her first few visits to the clinic, and had heard Zhou Wen explain it to a patient. Before that, she had seen many children wearing braces and had thought they were removable metal devices.
The process is very simple. It is to nail the small metal bumps one by one at the right angle, stick them to the corresponding position of each tooth with special synthetic glue, and then clamp a fixed steel wire to string the upper and lower teeth together. Finally, screw on the extremely thin iron wire and add it between each tooth to adjust the position of the teeth by applying force to each other.
This seems to be a basic skill in orthodontics, so it is usually done by nurses and students. Two people are required, one to mix the adhesive and the other to stick it, and they need to work well together, otherwise the adhesive will dry easily. In addition, the brackets need to be at an angle, and a slight error will prevent the fixed wire from being stuck in place.
In short, it is definitely a laborious technical job that requires carefulness and time-consuming, not to mention that you have to glue Zeng Li's entire mouth shut.
He put on the light blue mask and sat down.
Zeng Li lay on his back and opened his mouth consciously.
He was not a talkative person, and she kept her mouth open, so the whole process was extremely quiet.
Because of the angle, she couldn't see his face, and just let his fingers operate skillfully inside and outside her mouth. Sometimes, his hand would go around her head and reach over from the other side to touch the skin on her face, and through the layer of not-so-transparent medical gloves, it felt unreal.
When sticking in the opposite direction, he gently supported her head and signaled her to turn her head. So Zeng Li turned her face towards him obediently. Her ears were pressed against the leather surface of the headrest of the treatment table. She could see him nearby as soon as she raised her eyes. However, most of his face was covered by the mask, leaving only a part of his nose and eyes.
His eyebrows are slightly thick, and his eyes are as deep as ink.
When he was doing things, his eyes were focused and his mind was not distracted. He didn't even notice Zeng Li's gaze. After gluing the one on his hand, he withdrew his attention and used tweezers to pick up another one on the aluminum dental tray. The rubber gloves stuck tightly to the skin of his hands, hiding the protruding knuckles unique to men, making his fingers look more slender and well-proportioned. With hands like that, he must be either a natural pianist or a doctor. It was not until this moment that he realized that Zeng Li was staring at him. He glanced at her lightly and said, "You can close your mouth and rest for a while." Perhaps because he hadn't spoken for too long, his voice sounded even hoarse than before.
Zeng Li finally dared to close her mouth and moved her stiff jaw. She suddenly had some thoughts. Facing such a doctor who worked overtime for her despite being sick, shouldn't she say thank you or show concern for his health? But if she asked him if he had a cold or if he had taken medicine, would he be misunderstood? Fortunately, Zeng Li still had a plastic support in her cheek, which separated the skin of her mouth from the teeth on both sides, making her tongue unable to move at all. So, she simply gave up.
She just felt that if she looked in the mirror, she would look extremely stupid.
It was because of her delay that the original adhesive was exposed to the air for too long and evaporated excessively. He had no choice but to open the box again, scoop out the powder with a spoon, and add water to mix it.
I originally thought that since he didn't like to smile much, he must have a bad temper, but I didn't expect that to do this job one has to be extremely patient and meticulous.
After the adhesive was ready, she and he continued to work together.
It didn't take long to complete the first two steps, and then he began the last procedure - twisting thin wires on the small nails on each tooth. The wires were not much thicker than a hair, but he skillfully used tweezers to lock, tie, and cut them one by one, twisting them one by one. A pair of hands seemed to be carving on ivory, and those fingers operated the tools with amazing dexterity, whether left or right.
Zeng Li couldn't help but think of when he first started learning the piano. Whenever he came across unfamiliar music scores, he would go crazy several times because his fingers were so clumsy that he even wanted to chop them off to vent his anger.
At this time, a nurse on duty came in and saw Ai Jingchu and asked loudly: "Why is Teacher Ai working overtime alone?"
Ai Jingchu didn't look back, and continued with his hand movements. After a delay, he said in a hoarse voice, "I have some temporary work."
The nurse approached and was originally staring at Zeng Li, ready to take a good look at what kind of person Ai Jingchu asked him to do on a temporary basis. But when she heard Ai Jingchu's voice, she turned around and said, "Teacher Ai, is your throat tired again? Did you have a lot of patients yesterday?"
This time, Ai Jingchu didn't say anything else and just nodded to end the conversation.
It was not clear whether the nurse gave up or realized the situation, and she left in embarrassment.
Zeng Li suddenly felt that he was indeed an unpleasant man. Fortunately, she didn't say much just now.
After all the procedures were completed, Zeng Li moved his cheeks, which were sore and numb from stretching. But Ai Jingchu took off his gloves and threw them into the medical waste basket. He then went to the washstand by the window to wash his hands again, changed a pair of gloves, and sat back down.
"Open your mouth," he said.
Zeng Li did as he was told immediately.
He inserted his rubber-wrapped right index finger into her mouth, and then used the tip of his finger to rub back and forth the iron nails and small steel wires that were fixed on the surface of her teeth.
Left, right, up, down.
Gently and delicately.
The temperature inside the mouth is originally higher than the skin, and he had just washed his hands with cold water. Even through the rubber, she could still feel the slowly sliding of his slightly cool fingers.
His movements were very natural, and his professional habits as a doctor made him feel that there was nothing wrong.
As for Zeng Li, she felt a little embarrassed. Even though she knew that he was just checking the braces and looking for any sharp spots that might make the patient uncomfortable.
Time moves so slowly.
Finally, he said, "Okay."
Zeng Li returned to Carol's, Ma Yiyi and Dou Dou were on duty. Dou Dou was actually a student from the nearby A University, working part-time in the store.
Zeng Li smiled, which immediately scared Ma Yiyi's heart.
"I've become a girl with steel teeth." said Zeng Li.
"Didn't you say it would take the whole morning? Why are you here so early?" Ma Yiyi asked while helping someone pay the bill at the bar.
"Yes, that student was absent due to some matters, so her teacher took her place, so she is much more agile."
"Ai Jingchu?" Ma Yiyi asked again.
"Yeah." She mentioned Ai Jingchu to Ma Yiyi.
"You are so lucky!" Ma Yiyi gestured, "Do you know that the students from their college who just came are still talking about him?"
"What are you talking about him?"
"Handsome and young, and..." Ma Yiyi deliberately stopped at the critical moment.
"what else?"
"Complain that he is the King of Hell, and there are countless innocent souls under his control."
Zeng Li couldn't help laughing.
Dou Dou took the cup and came over to ask, "What is Sister Zeng Li so happy about?"
"She's feeling amorous." Ma Yiyi joked.
Zeng Li glared at Ma Yiyi, then turned to Dou Dou and said, "Don't listen to her nonsense."
Dou Dou is an undergraduate student in medical school. He can take any medicine he wants, but he cannot say anything he wants.
Ma Yiyi had no choice but to change the subject and said, "Don't you feel uncomfortable with so much metal in your mouth?"
"It's true that I feel a little uncomfortable." Zeng Li opened his mouth to show Ma Yiyi.
Ma Yiyi frowned and said, "You can't take it off? Is it fixed there?"
"Um."
"Can I chew on the bones?"
"I don't know, probably not."
"Is it always impossible?"
"have no idea."
"What if it falls off?"
"have no idea… "
"How can your doctor be so good as to not explain everything to you clearly?"
"His voice is hoarse, and it's too painful for anyone to hear him. We can only contact him by phone." Before leaving, Ai Jingchu had a lot of precautions to tell Zeng Li, but he had difficulty speaking and could hardly squeeze out a complete sentence, let alone such a long medical advice. He told Zeng Li not to bite hard objects and so on, and he had to repeat it two or three times before Zeng Li could hear it clearly, so he finally decided to tell him by phone.
"I'm dying, I'm dying. Do you have his private phone number?" Ma Yiyi suddenly became excited.
"Yes, he wrote down his number and asked me to call his cell phone." Zeng Li replied.
Dou Dou finally couldn't help but ask in confusion: "Who are you talking about?"
"Children should not interfere in adult matters." Ma Yiyi waved her hand and drove Dou Dou away.
"Why are you so excited?" Zeng Li said calmly, then turned down the volume of the speakers in the store and changed the CD.
"Ai Jingchu's true form! I haven't even seen him, and not only did you see him, you also spent the entire morning alone with him and even asked for his phone number."
"I didn't ask him for it. He was too lazy to open the computer to look at the medical records, and his cell phone was left in the locker room, so he just asked me to call him." Zeng Li explained with a headache.
"Anyway, everyone has a gossipy heart. Haven't you seen their school forum? They are gossiping about them very enthusiastically."
"Oh." It turns out that everyone is still supporting that post.
Then, not long after, Zeng Li began to feel his teeth sour and uncomfortable, and the metal grinding in his mouth made his lips painful every time he closed them.
At noon, several people in the store ordered lunch boxes together as usual, but Zeng Li basically didn't eat any of them. She chewed two bites and felt uncomfortable, so she had to put down her chopsticks.
Later on, Zeng Li almost didn't want to talk anymore.
In the afternoon, Zeng Li suddenly received a text message.
Try to eat soft food recently, don't chew hard objects, don't eat hot and cold food, and brush your teeth carefully. You will feel sore for a few days after wearing the braces, your speech pronunciation may not be normal, and you will drool more. These are all normal phenomena. If the oral mucosa is scratched more seriously, please contact me. If the braces are not glued firmly, the brackets are knocked off or loose, please contact me.
When Zeng Li first saw the first half, he thought it was some health-related spam message and almost deleted it. Only after reading the latter part did he remember that it was the medical advice from Ai Jingchu.
She looked at it, put her phone down, and served drinks to customers. After a long while, when she finished her work, she remembered the text message again.
She opened her phone and replied: OK, thank you, Dr. Ai. Suddenly, she remembered that Wu Ying called all doctors in their hospital teachers. Zeng Lizeng curiously asked why. Wu Ying replied: "It feels more respectful to call them teachers than doctors."
So, she finally changed the address to: OK, thank you Teacher Ai.
Around three o'clock in the afternoon, she was tortured by the braces and could no longer bear it, so she asked Ma Yiyi for leave and went to sleep in the lounge upstairs.
In the evening, Ma Yiyi brought a bowl of hot porridge and the phone Zeng Li had left on the counter. Zeng Li drank it with a grin, then picked up his phone and opened it to take a look.
There are no new text messages coming in.
After a while, Wu Ying, the largest shareholder of Carol's, pushed the door open weakly. Ma Yiyi glanced at her and said, "Didn't you take a break today? Why do you still look so lifeless?"
Wu Ying sighed faintly: "Don't mention it, I was tormented by several men all night long."
Ma Yiyi pinched her throat and asked deliberately: "Why did they keep you up all night?"
Wu Ying glared at her.
"I was on night shift yesterday. Then a group of drunk men came in around 11 o'clock. They kept drinking even though they were covered in blood. They turned the emergency room upside down. There was a man in his thirties. I needed to stitch him up, but he actually grabbed my hand and cried for his mom while drunk."
"Pfft—" Dou Dou couldn't help laughing.
"I had just finished dealing with this group of people at three or four in the morning and was about to lie down for a while, but then I got a call from a lower-level hospital in the suburbs saying that an emergency patient needed to be transferred. Then I followed the ambulance to pick up the patient, and it was already dawn when I came and went. The shift started at around nine o'clock, and I just started writing the medical records. It was almost twelve o'clock when I finished. How could I have time to sleep? I suffered from insomnia at home in the afternoon." After saying this, Wu Ying yawned.
Zeng Li finally asked, "When did you go to the emergency room again?"
Wu Ying said, "Don't we have to go through each department once? What's wrong with your mouth?"
Ma Yiyi said: "Her mother was afraid that she would not be able to get married, so she took her to get plastic surgery."
"It's orthodontics, not plastic surgery..." Zeng Li explained.
"Why don't you go to our hospital for your dental treatment? I know a doctor who is pretty good. I would have taken you there earlier."
"Your hospital?" Ma Yiyi asked.
"At least we're in the top three." Wu Ying was not convinced. She had a strong sense of collective honor no matter where she was.
"They went to A University Dental Hospital. Can you compare?"
"Whose account did A use?"
"Ai Jingchu."
Ma Yiyi originally thought that Wu Ying would continue to ask questions incessantly given her personality, but she didn't expect that after hearing this name, Wu Ying looked at Zeng Li and remained silent.
After a while, Ma Yiyi asked secretly, "Is there really nothing going on between you and that guy?"
"It's true. It's more real than pearls." Zeng Li answered Ma Yiyi confidently, looking very honest and sincere.
Ma Yiyi was lost.
Zeng Li glanced at her and sighed softly in his heart. If there really was anything, it might just be a curiosity lingering in memories.
That's all.