Zeng Li, Wu Ying and Ma Yiyi were roommates at Z University. There were originally four people living in the dormitory, but one of them dropped out after only a few months, and the empty bed was never filled by a new person.
The three of them did not study the same major. Zeng Li studied library and archives, Ma Yiyi studied hotel management, and Wu Ying studied clinical medicine. Z University was not a well-known university, but it was located next to A University, and with the reputation of a famous university, it had barely developed into a comprehensive university.
Zeng Li's major was the most obscure. She originally applied for the Computer Science Department, but was transferred there because the admission line was too high that year.
She has always been a person who is afraid of loneliness. When she arrived at Z University, all her high school classmates and good friends disappeared, so she quickly turned her attention to the two people in the same room.
However, Ma Yiyi and Wu Ying were high school classmates and had been close friends for a long time. They also happened to attend the same university, and Wu Ying's father had someone specially assigned them to the same dormitory so that they could take care of each other and adapt to the new environment. Naturally, from the beginning, they excluded Zeng Li from their circle.
Zeng Li is tall, slender and pretty. There are not many girls in the archives major. In addition, she is not good at using her appearance to interact with people. She can talk a lot with acquaintances, but can't say a word to strangers for a long time. It is easy for people to misunderstand that she is pretending to be cold and aloof, which often makes people stay away from her. She didn't study well since she was a child. She was very lucky to be admitted to Z University, but the little excitement after entering the university campus was diluted by this lonely melancholy.
In addition to love, how to win friendship among the same sex is perhaps what girls of that period care about most.
The next day was Sunday, and Zeng Li had to work this week. When everyone else was off, it was their busy days, so they usually took turns to rest. As soon as she opened the door in the morning, she took the time to pick up the books that her colleagues left behind when they got off work yesterday. When she finished her work and sat down, it was already past nine o'clock, and several readers appeared. Everyone was quietly looking for books, and sometimes they stopped in front of the bookshelf to read carefully.
On the other side of the reading room is a huge glass window with several round tables under it. Because there is a special reading room downstairs, there are not many tables and chairs here, and they are only for readers who cannot borrow books to sit and look through materials occasionally. However, Zeng Li's academic major is at the highest point of the library. In winter, there is plenty of light, and the window faces a corner of the municipal park next to it. Many people like to sit here and bask in the sun.
After a while, a reader asked Zeng Li to help him find a book. Zeng Li checked the code and took the reader to the innermost part, but he didn't know if someone had flipped through the book before and put it in a random place or something, and he couldn't find it after searching for a long time. Zeng Li was afraid that there was someone waiting at the door to borrow or return books, so he had to give up.
Returning to her seat, Zeng Li saw a book on the table. She didn't know which reader had just come in and was about to return it. It was probably someone who didn't see Zeng Li when he came in, so he just put it next to the scanner. The title of the book was "Distraction Osteogenesis of the Craniomaxillofacial Skeletons". It was a thick and heavy translation book, like a brick, and it was very expensive. From the first time it was put on the bookshelf to now, the number of times it has been borrowed can probably be counted on five fingers. However, Zeng Li still remembers it clearly because she once sprayed celery and dough on the skull on the cover of the book...
Zeng Li took a few steps, looked around, and saw Ai Jingchu.
He took a book and patiently sat on the chair in front of the window to read. The sun was particularly bright today, shining through the glass, and beams of light warmly illuminated the floor, table, and profile of the reading room. The light made him squint his eyes and frown slightly, and in the semi-darkness, his facial features looked more three-dimensional.
One of his long legs under the table was stretched straight, while the other was slightly retracted, while his upper body was slightly leaning forward toward the table. His left hand was holding the pages of the book, and the five fingers of his right hand were slightly curled and clasped on the table. Under the stretch of the sun's shadow, he looked particularly slender. Suddenly, the fingers of his right hand moved, starting with the little finger, then the ring finger, middle finger, and index finger. From left to right, the four fingers rhythmically tapped on the table. His nails were short, and he used the area between the pulp and the fingertips, so there was no sound of the nails knocking. He tapped lightly and quickly, making very little sound. After tapping once or twice, he would stop for a few seconds, and then tapped again carelessly.
Ai Jingchu sat quietly in the morning sunlight, half bathing in the warm sun and half vaguely in the light and shadow.
Zeng Li suddenly remembered what Zhou Wen had said when she was discussing medical records. According to the aesthetics of humans, especially Oriental people, the most perfect outline ratio is when the nose tip, mouth tip and chin tip can be connected into a straight line when viewed from the side. Some people's teeth are not protruding at all, but because the chin is slightly retracted, it will give people a sense of discomfort and abruptness; some people have a little buck teeth, but the chin and nose are very three-dimensional, supporting these three points in a straight line, and this appearance will not make others think that the teeth are ugly.
She raised her head and looked at Ai Jingchu's profile again. She was definitely the perfect beauty that Zhou Wen described.
At this time, a reader wanted to borrow a book, so Zeng Li returned to his seat, moved Ai Jingchu's book to the side, and continued working. Many people came and went, some borrowed, some returned, and everyone was silent.
After some time, Zeng Li had some free time and looked in the direction of Ai Jingchu. There was a row of tall iron bookshelves between them, and Zeng Li could see half of Ai Jingchu's figure through the uneven row of books and periodicals.
It seemed that they were the only two people in the huge library. There were no footsteps or voices, and only the faint music from the playground in the park downstairs could be heard. As time passed, the sunlight slowly moved its angle of illumination on him.
If Ma Yiyi's mother saw this, she might say the phrase she often says: "How could a mother give birth to and raise such a good son? It is such a blessing in eight lifetimes." He is young and promising, handsome, a returnee from a famous overseas brand, with a high degree and a good job, each of these is a halo.
Zeng Li smiled, somewhat self-deprecatingly, and reopened the browser on her computer, entering the local forum "Dadi.net" that she often visited. She was one of the moderators of a section called "Urban Outlook". She could access the Internet at work and had most of her free time, so she applied for a moderator position in this place she often visited. Usually, she deleted advertisements, sorted out the order of posts on the forum, and also made some friends.
Some time ago, the posts about the teacher at University A were drowned out by other topics. She hadn't appeared for two days, and nothing serious had happened, so I randomly opened some new top posts, one of which was about organizing a hot pot meal for all forum users to pay for it on an AA basis.
At this time, Ai Jingchu stood up and walked towards Zeng Li with the book in his hand to go through the book borrowing procedures.
He was standing and she was sitting, with a table between them.
She was sitting in front of the computer, a little hesitant, not knowing whether she should say hello to him. She had always had some communication barriers with people she didn't know well, and was always hesitating between saying hello and not saying hello. She was afraid that he didn't recognize her and it would be rude to speak rashly; she was also afraid that he had recognized her, but she pretended not to know her, which would be even more rude. What's more, the doctor-patient relationship would continue for a long time in the future, and it might be even more difficult to get along.
So Zeng Li raised his head and raised the corners of his mouth reluctantly, "Doctor Ai, what a coincidence."
Ai Jingchu lowered his head and glanced across her face, a little confused.
Zeng Li sighed inwardly. He really didn't know her very well. She wore a dark blue dark striped suit as her uniform at work, and her hair had to be tied up in a bun at the back of her head. It was as ugly as it could be, and she looked ten years older, completely different from her usual attire. Moreover, every time he saw her, her mouth was wide open, and her face was distorted for a long time. He usually saw hundreds of patients a day, so he probably couldn't tell who was who.
I should have known better than to have less trouble.
But now he was in a difficult situation and it would be even more strange if he didn't explain. So Zeng Li stood up and introduced himself, saying, "I'm your patient." As he said that, he opened his mouth and showed his braces to Ai Jingchu.
As soon as Ai Jingchu saw her braces, he uttered two words calmly: "Zeng Li."
When he pronounced her name, the ending tone would be a little longer, going down, turning, and then rising, with a strange texture. His voice was still a little hoarse, but much better than yesterday. Fortunately, he recovered well, otherwise it would really disappoint many young people of the opposite sex.
He really has a voice that is unforgettable.
Zeng Li smiled faintly in response and suddenly found the man in front of him quite interesting. He couldn't remember the patients' appearances, but he could clearly remember the dental conditions and medical records of each patient, and he had to see the braces before he could remember what they were called.
Perfect professionalism.
The conversation became a little dull at this point.
Zeng Li hurriedly picked up the book and the card and handed them back to Ai Jingchu, "You go about your business, I'll continue to work." This was his closing farewell.
Ai Jingchu took it and left silently.
After two or three days, Zeng Li felt that he had adapted to the braces, and it was not as scary as some people said. The inside of his lips was a little worn, but his gums were not red or swollen.
The Chinese New Year is the winter vacation, and most of the dental hospital's departments will be on vacation, except for the staff on duty and the inpatient department. So Ai Jingchu told Zeng Li last time that if there is no special situation with the braces, the next follow-up visit will be after the Chinese New Year, the day before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
In the first few days, Zeng Li followed the doctor's advice and drank a lot of porridge carefully. Later, when he saw Ma Yiyi eating braised food alone, he was really greedy, so he tried to eat two chicken wings. After eating, he found that there was nothing wrong with it, so he boldly started to break the rules one by one.
Dou Dou said, "Sister Xiaoyu, don't be careless. There are people in our dormitory who are getting their teeth straightened. I heard that if the braces are knocked off once, it will delay the treatment for several months."
Zeng Li said guiltily: "Don't scare me, is this true?" She is old and can't afford to waste time on treatment. Last time I heard Zhou Wen say that it would take at least one or two years, and at most three to five years. The treatment time for adults is longer than that for children. She wanted to bang her head against the wall and die. If two teeth had not been pulled out, she would have left immediately. Three to five years? Doesn't it mean that if she gets married in two years, she will have to wear braces when she wears a wedding dress and gives birth? Zhou Wen comforted her seriously: "Don't worry too much about this. Pregnant women will take them off because teeth are loose during pregnancy, which is not suitable for treatment and is prone to periodontitis. However, I have not met anyone who is still getting braces after pregnancy. Maybe Teacher Ai has experience." Zeng Li was not relieved.
Ma Yiyi smiled and said, "Ai Jingchu glued it on himself, how could it fall off? I guess diamonds are not as hard as your braces."
After Dou Dou's advice, Zeng Li didn't dare to eat recklessly anymore. But on Saturday, it happened to be the day for the website to have a New Year's dinner and celebrate its anniversary, so Zeng Li had to go.
The event was very lively. We set up an outdoor stage and invited a radio host to host a program. In between the cultural programs, we reviewed and summarized the major events of the website in the past year.
First came the women's section, literature section, real estate section, and self-driving and cycling section, and finally the social hot spots section where Zeng Li was located, as the finale.
They and the education section planned two activities in the middle and end of the year. One was to build an extracurricular library for children in mountainous areas during the summer vacation; the other was to collect winter clothes in the fall. It was a spur-of-the-moment idea after seeing the current situation of the children in the mountainous areas during the summer.
Zeng Li proposed the donation of the library. At that time, the station director wanted to launch a meaningful public welfare activity in the station and asked everyone to give suggestions. Zeng Li recalled that she had followed the director to the townships and cultural bureaus below and inspected the construction of rural cultural undertakings with local leaders. The books in the library were not good enough. From this, one can imagine what would happen to the small villages in remote mountainous areas.
It just so happened that the city library was also going to organize a similar event and needed media and social support, so Zeng Li contacted the library on behalf of the website.
"Jia Xiaoyu." A man called Zeng Li's online name from behind.
Zeng Li looked back and saw that it was the moderator "Daofeng" who managed the "City Outlook" section with her. "Daofeng"'s real name was Ning Feng, who was neither fat nor thin, had a neat crew cut, and also had an unusually tough vest name.
"Lao Ning, what's the matter?" Zeng Li asked.
"The reporter from the Education Channel wants to interview you." Ning Feng said.
"Interview me?" Zeng Li was surprised and suddenly became nervous.
A young female reporter appeared from behind Ning Feng and said to Zeng Li with a smile, "Just a quick chat."
"I... I... You interview them, I have nothing to say." Having said that, Zeng Li wanted to hide.
"We're doing a special feature, and everyone has been interviewed, so why don't you say a few words too, and help out."
"I can't say."
"It's okay. We still have to edit it at the end. If it's not good, we won't broadcast it."
After hearing this, Zeng Li felt relieved.
Seeing Zeng Li agreed, the female reporter turned around, took the microphone, communicated with the cameraman, and was about to start.
Zeng Li took the opportunity to tidy up her hair with her hands, but regretted it as soon as she opened her mouth. She was wearing braces...
After the event, everyone went to a dinner party, and even more people attended. The entire first floor of the hot pot restaurant was booked, and the business even hung a banner at the door that read "Warmly welcome Dadi.com netizens, 20% off on all dishes", which made Zeng Li feel very awkward. Everyone was warm and peaceful while eating, and from time to time introduced each other's online names and real names. It was also the first time that Zeng Li attended a gathering with other ordinary netizens besides the moderators.
After the dinner, Ning Feng wanted to take her home.
Zeng Li waved his hand and said, "I'll take the subway myself. It's very close."
She walked for seven or eight minutes and arrived at the opposite side of the subway station. When she crossed the street, she saw the local news on the electronic screen on the other side of the street, and the person speaking into the microphone was Zeng Li herself.
Zeng Li once read in a magazine that it is very easy to torture a beauty-loving woman to collapse. Just lock her in a room and don't give her a mirror. When she was in school, the most beautiful girls in the class always liked to put mirrors by their side or on the table, and take them out to look at themselves at any time. But Zeng Li herself didn't like to look in the mirror, always feeling that the feeling she got from the mirror was not what she wanted.
When she stood on the street and suddenly saw herself magnified on the screen for the first time, she felt so awkward that she wanted to dig a hole in the ground or cover the screen with a piece of cloth. The screen was like a huge mirror, exposing all her shortcomings, even the slightest anxiety in her eyes.
She was walking while looking at the screen, and her steps became stiff. Suddenly, her phone rang. She was looking for the phone in her bag, and she bumped into someone without paying attention. The two of them bumped into each other, and the phone fell to the ground and broke into two pieces.
Zeng Li looked up hastily and saw a middle-aged woman wearing a blue community traffic uniform, collecting temporary parking fees on the roadside. She was also running towards the red car parked on the other side of the road, anxious to collect the fees, so she didn't notice Zeng Li.
Originally, it was no big deal, and Zeng Li was ready to apologize first, but before Zeng Li could finish his words, the middle-aged woman started to curse. As she walked away to continue collecting fees, she turned back and cursed Zeng Li, using the most obscene words possible.
Zeng Li was stunned, picked up the phone, blushed, stood for a while, then turned and left.
When she had already walked to the subway station to wait for the train, she came to her senses. She was not good at talking and had never been able to argue with others since she was a child. When someone scolded her, she could only squeeze out a few words. Often, after the other party had finished scolding her, it was a long time before she remembered how to respond to the previous sentence.
In Ma Yiyi's words, "The daylily is cold, why are you still thinking about the last round?"
At this moment, Ai Jingchu was sitting in front of the TV in the living room with Grandpa Ai after dinner. The old man took a walk in the morning, read the newspaper in the afternoon, and watched the news in the evening, from CCTV to local stations, from the prime minister's visits abroad to the hot spots in the city.
During the winter vacation, all the patients were moved away and Ai Jingchu finally had some free time.