At night, Wu Ying suddenly came home and said that she didn't bring her keys and had to go to the hospital for duty. It was so cold and she had nowhere to go, so she had to sit with Zeng Li for a while. She wanted to take a bath and drink hot tea, and she didn't bother to be polite to Zeng Li. After taking a bath, Zeng Li found a nightgown for her to change into.
The two of them sat cross-legged on the sofa watching TV. "News Investigation" was reporting on the Chinese people's abuse of antibiotics and their love of intravenous drips when they were sick. After analyzing from all aspects, it was found that it was due to both the patients and the doctors.
Wu Ying said indignantly: "You always say that our doctors are not good. You don't even know that I met two patients yesterday who got angry with me if I didn't give them intravenous drips!"
"Are there people like this?" Zeng Li asked.
"There are so many! It wasn't a big deal in the first place, so I told you to get one shot and then another tomorrow. Guess what happened?"
"how?"
"He said I ignored his pain, didn't understand him, didn't value him. He was so ill, but I didn't give him an IV. I just asked the nurse to give him an injection. Injections are a method from the past."
"Male or female?"
"He's a man, in his forties. I explained to him for a long time, but he just wouldn't give in. I got a little impatient, and he said he was going to complain about me." Zeng Li knew that if Wu Ying and others were complained by patients, their bonuses would be deducted at the end of the month.
Wu Ying continued, "Finally, I asked the nurse to give him 500 milliliters of saline solution and put the injection I just prescribed into it to give him an infusion. Only then did he feel relieved. Don't you think this is just looking for trouble?"
Zeng Li was happy.
"The point is, a little while later another one showed up who was exactly the same. I almost got complained about twice in one day."
Zeng Li took a sip of water and said, "But don't tell me, Sister Wu in our unit, her daughter is just two months old, and she occasionally coughs a little. The doctor in your hospital prescribed antibiotics for her to take for a week, and said that although she didn't have pneumonia, it's good to take some preventive measures."
Wu Ying opened her mouth and finally said, "Nowadays, most of the hospital's expenses are paid by ourselves. If we don't prescribe medicine or check, we won't have food to eat. Besides, people are divided into good and bad people, and doctors are also like that." Wu Ying is a person with a strong sense of collective honor. Usually, she doesn't like anyone saying that their hospital is not good or the doctors are not good. So Ma Yiyi and Zeng Li always bring up some counterexamples to temper her nerves.
After talking about this topic, the two turned around and watched TV again.
During the commercials, Zeng Li looked at Wu Ying. She didn't say anything after that, staring at the screen. Zeng Li felt that she must be worried, including that she came to his house without any warning and said that she didn't bring the key, which were just excuses.
When he first entered college, Wu Ying and Ma Yiyi had been good friends for many years, and Zeng Li could not get between them at all. Sometimes when he went to the cafeteria to eat, if there were two empty seats, Ma Yiyi and Wu Ying would definitely sit together, and Zeng Li could only consciously sit at another table.
She had thought countless times about how to please Ma Yiyi or Wu Ying so that they would accept her. So, if the two of them wanted to go to the bathhouse to take a bath or go shopping in the city, even if Zeng Li herself didn't want to go at all, she would pretend to be happy to go.
She was afraid that they would become more distant from her and no longer want her.
Zeng Li wanted friends so badly at that time, but she didn't speak up, and they didn't pay close attention to her loneliness.
Until one afternoon, when Ma Yiyi went to an aesthetics class and Zeng Li and Wu Ying were alone in the dormitory, Wu Ying suddenly asked her, "Zeng Li, what do you think love is?"
Zeng Li raised his head from the diary, thought for a moment and said, "It's air."
"Air?"
"I can't leave him/her and I can't let him/her go. When I eat, sleep, walk, go shopping, or even go to class, I will think about what the person I'm in love with is doing now." This was the answer of 19-year-old Zeng Li.
Wu Ying smiled and said, "You are different from Yiyi in this respect. She always says I am stupid." Wu Ying was flirting with an online friend at the time.
Ma Yiyi and Zeng Li were both certain that she was in an online relationship, and that the person was in a long-distance place.
Later, halfway through the summer vacation, Wu Ying suddenly called Zeng Li and asked, "I want to leave something at your house. Is that convenient?"
"what?"
"Luggage." Wu Ying replied.
"What are you going to do?" Zeng Li smelled an unusual scent.
"I want to go find him. I want to elope." Wu Ying said excitedly on the phone. "The train is next Monday. I'm afraid my mother will catch me, so I'm going to move my luggage out today while they're not around."
"You..." Zeng Li's heart was beating fast, "Have you thought it through?"
"I've thought about it decades later, so I don't have any impulse."
"What about studying? I finally got admitted, but I will be expelled from school."
"They might as well fire me. There are many people who can succeed without going to college. I don't want to learn clinical medicine anymore." Wu Ying then complained a lot, and Zeng Li stopped trying to persuade her.
Although she had never thought of eloping with anyone, she had thought about running away from home and returning home after ten years of success. Unfortunately, the longest time she ran away from home lasted only one day. When she returned home at night, her mother didn't notice it at all and even scolded her for not studying hard at home during the day and going out to play with classmates.
Thinking of this, Zeng Li suddenly admired Wu Ying's courage.
"What did Ma Yiyi say?" Zeng Li asked.
"I didn't dare tell her." Wu Ying replied.
"Why?"
"Her family and mine are too familiar with each other, so they would keep in touch at the slightest sign of trouble. Besides, if I disappeared, my mother would definitely be the first one to look for her. It would be fine if she doesn't know, but if she knows and lets it slip, all our efforts would be wasted. Besides, I'm going to E City, and Yiyi's hometown is E City. If I really haven't looked for Yiyi, my mother would definitely rule out that place. This is called the Empty City Strategy!" Wu Ying analyzed the situation to Zeng Li in a very clear and logical way, as if she were filming a spy movie.
After sharing this terrifying secret, Zeng Li and Wu Ying became closer.
Wu Ying's plan was very thorough, but perhaps because her mother had noticed something was wrong with her daughter, she had to be more cautious. She took advantage of the time when she walked the dog in the morning, afternoon, and evening to move her luggage and clothes out one by one, and put the things she moved out in the coin-operated box on the first floor of the big supermarket on the other street, and then Zeng Li would go to pick them up in the evening.
On Monday morning, Wu Ying told her mother that she was going out to buy sanitary napkins, and then she swaggered out of the house with empty hands.
Wu Ying's battle plan was rather complicated. She would go to E City first to experience the life of a solo traveler, then stay there for a month, and when things calmed down, she would go to T City to meet up with her boyfriend. Coincidentally, Zeng Li had a good junior high school classmate in E City who did not continue to study after graduation and worked hard there for a few years. Zeng Li took the opportunity to call and hand Wu Ying over to her.
However, little did we know that that month would not be peaceful at all.
On the day Wu Ying disappeared, her mother didn't see the letter she left on her bed until the evening, and then she went crazy looking for her. As expected, the first person to be questioned and suffered was Ma Yiyi. However, under the bombardment of questioning from both parents, Ma Yiyi only showed a frank and confused look.
After several rounds of investigation, Wu Ying's parents found Zeng Li. To be honest, Zeng Li would be lying if she said she wasn't scared at all. This was just a trick. If Wu Ying got into any accident, she would be the number one accomplice. However, she was now in a dilemma and could only answer all the questions without knowing anything.
Mother Wu then said, "I know we control her too strictly. She was dating that boy online, and his father beat her up several times after he found out. I have advised her father that his daughter is grown up and has a strong sense of self-esteem. How can he just beat her? We should communicate well. Now we don't know where she is, and she said she wanted to live her own life. If she really went to that boy's place, we would be relieved. Now her whereabouts are unknown, how can we be worthy of her deceased grandparents?" Mother Wu burst into tears as she spoke, "You classmates, if you really have any news about her, please tell us, either let her come back or we go to see her. In short, as long as we can hear from her, we won't beat her or scold her, and she can do whatever she wants."
Zeng Li was moved by what she heard, and almost blurted out Wu Ying's news several times, but she thought of the oath she made in front of Wu Ying and held back. Zeng Li didn't know how things developed later. At that time, they were too willful and naive, had no understanding of society, had no experience of what setbacks were, and could not understand their parents' painstaking efforts.
After the school started, Wu Ying still didn't come back. A few days later, Wu's mother came to the school with a hospital certificate and quietly asked for a long vacation for Wu Ying. Zeng Li then told Ma Yiyi what had happened as promised. Ma Yiyi jumped up on the spot and almost strangled Zeng Li to death.
When Wu Ying came back, half of the semester had already passed.
Father Wu used some connections to allow Wu Ying to continue studying medicine. He also changed many of the old family rules and promised not to beat her again. The young man from T City was also taken in by Father Wu and given a job. Although the two parents lived far apart, they often visited each other. Everything was developing in a direction that Wu Ying liked.
But in the summer of the following year, Wu Ying and the boy broke up.
Zeng Li said: "They were so against it before. It was so difficult for you and you were so far away, but you still insisted on being together. Now they don't object anymore, why are you doing this instead?"
Wu Ying smiled bitterly and didn't answer.
No one can answer.