Zeng Li met Ai Jingchu again a month later. To be exact, she did not go to see him, but to the hospital for a follow-up visit. He had made an appointment with her on the day he was going to put braces on her teeth.
She registered, handed her follow-up card to the nurse, and then sat in the hall waiting. There were too many people, probably because it was the first day of work after the New Year, so the patients who had been there for more than a month were piled together.
Zeng Li arrived a little late, and after sitting for more than an hour, there still seemed to be no arrival.
A beautiful woman nearby couldn't help but start a conversation with Zeng Li, "Tell me, what is going on here?"
As soon as she opened her mouth, Zeng Li couldn't help but marvel in his heart and blurted out: "Your teeth are so white."
The beauty was very pleased, "Everyone says so."
"It's rare to be able to look so white even with braces."
The beauty smiled, confidently took out the makeup box from her bag and took a picture of it, "I was thinking of adding some rhinestones."
After a while, the beauty started to complain again, "It's so annoying to wait so long. Hospitals are supposed to be service industries, how can this be possible?"
"Yeah." Zeng Li couldn't help but sigh.
At around eleven o'clock, Zeng Li's name was finally called.
She rushed into the consulting room.
Zhou Wen saw her and greeted her, saying, "Zeng Li, you have to wait a moment, there is another person in front of you." After that, he buried his head and continued to work hard on the stool beside the treatment bed.
The child standing in front of Zeng Li was still wearing his school uniform and seemed to have had his braces knocked off.
Zhou Wen asked, "How many fell?"
"Two." The boy replied.
"How did you lose weight when you ate so many delicious foods during the Chinese New Year?"
"I gnawed a piece of ribs."
"It seems like you didn't remember any of the things that Doctor Zhou and Teacher Ai told you to pay attention to?" Zhou Wen scolded the child in a good-tempered manner, "I told you not to eat hard, cold, or hot and cold food. If you lose your weight again next time, I won't care about you anymore. You're just causing trouble for me."
The child stuck out his tongue.
Zeng Li, who was standing by and waiting, was ashamed of what she said. She was a generation older than the child, but she didn't remember it.
She looked around and found Ai Jingchu in front of the farthest treatment bed. He looked completely different in his white coat than in casual clothes. He seemed cold and distant.
A few minutes later, another female student came over and asked, "Sister Zhou, what are we having for lunch? We need to order food. Teacher Ai will treat us."
Zeng Li was surprised, "Don't you guys take a break at noon?"
"Usually I take a break for an hour, eat something, and then continue working at one o'clock. There are too many people today, so I probably don't even have time to eat." Zhou Wen replied.
At this time, Zeng Li's phone rang. It was Zeng's mother.
"Xiao Li, we are waiting for you."
Zeng's mother asked someone to arrange a blind date for Zeng Li, thinking that Zeng Li had taken a day off to come to the hospital for a follow-up visit, so they could arrange a lunch date. Zeng Li didn't expect that she would have to wait so long, and she couldn't refuse after explaining to her mother on the phone. At this moment, both families had arrived, except for her.
So she asked Zhou Wen how long it would take.
"Your braces haven't fallen off, have they?" Zhou Wen asked.
"It fell." Zeng Li answered embarrassedly.
Zhou Wen wailed, "Why aren't you guys listening? He needs another twenty minutes, and he's already been doing it for you for at least half an hour."
Zeng Li looked at the time and said, "It's too late. Can I wait in line and come back in the afternoon?"
"Why?" Zhou Wen said.
Zeng Li and Zhou Wen were about the same age, and they were familiar with each other after a few encounters. Zeng Li didn’t beat around the bush, so he put his hands together and said to Zhou Wen, “I need to go on a blind date, and it’s too late. Otherwise, I’ll be scolded to death.”
Zhou Wen couldn't help but laugh, "Is that so?"
"Yeah." Zeng Li frowned and nodded.
"Then go ask Teacher Ai for leave."
Zeng Li was stunned when he heard this.
Zhou Wen immediately laughed, "I was just kidding you, remember to come this afternoon."
After getting permission, Zeng Li hurried downstairs and took a taxi to the banquet.
Ai Jingchu had just finished his work and took a breath and sat down. There were several follow-up cards lined up on the table, and Zeng Li's card was on the top. Ai Jingchu saw the name at a glance.
He asked, "Zhou Wen, where is your next patient?"
Zhou Wen had just finished the work in her hands and stood up. "Zeng Li waited for me all morning, but then something urgent happened and she told me to come back in the afternoon." She was afraid that Ai Jingchu would have a bad impression of Zeng Li, and was afraid that he would think she acted on her own, so she hurriedly explained for Zeng Li.
Ai Jingchu didn't say anything, took out the card and put it aside.
At about two o'clock, Zeng Li went back and waited for more than an hour before it was her turn. At this time, there were only a few patients left, and she was almost the last one.
As soon as she lay down, Zhou Wen invited Ai Jingchu over.
"Have you glued the bracket that fell off?" Ai Jingchu asked.
Zeng Li heard that his voice was a little hoarse again.
"No." Zhou Wen answered and glanced at Ai Jingchu. She felt more and more that her mentor was out of her reach. He could tell that one of the patient's brackets had fallen out before the patient even opened his mouth. If Zeng Li hadn't told her that morning, she would have been caught off guard.
Ai Jingchu sat down, changed a pair of gloves, took a dental mirror from the sterilized dental tray and examined Zeng Li. Then he gave Zhou Wen instructions on what to do next and continued to check on other patients.
Zhou Wen took the mouth mirror from Ai Jingchu's hand. The first thing he did was not to put braces on Zeng Li, but to observe Zeng Li's teeth back and forth, and then asked the students next to him to continue watching.
Zeng Li felt uneasy when being stared at. "What's wrong?"
"artwork."
Seeing Zeng Li's puzzled expression, Zhou Wen explained, "I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about your braces. Don't you think so, Fanfan?"
The girl named Fanfan nodded quickly, "Teacher Ai did it herself, it's perfect."
"I haven't seen Teacher Ai with his mouth glued all over for a while. I should take a picture of it."
Zeng Li's face was filled with black lines, and his mouth was filled with black metal objects. I don't know how this is related to beauty...
Zhou Wen said, "I had made an appointment with you that day, but something happened and I couldn't come. You didn't get through on the phone, so I wanted to tell the nurses to wait for you to come and ask them to make another appointment for you. But Teacher Ai got very angry when she heard that."
Zeng Li opened her mouth and waited for Zhou Wen to get the wire for her. She couldn't respond and could only continue listening.
Zhou Wen moved the pliers in his hand and said, "He often told us that we should be 'keep our word and do what we say'. Doctors and patients should be honest with each other. The word 'honesty' means 'being honest in the heart and trustworthy to others'."
Zeng Li could finally shut up and rest. She asked curiously, "Is Teacher Ai a nagging person?"
"Narrative? Why would he associate himself with these two words? Normally, if you ask him to say one more word, he would probably think it's a waste of words."
"Then why are you so afraid of him?"
"Other people's bosses are so kind and friendly, but ours never jokes with us. Also, you don't know how strict his exams are, and the thesis requirements are simply terrifying. A senior student in our building was so upset that she cried during her defense. If it's our turn, we might be scared to death." Zhou Wen looked at Ai Jingchu and complained secretly.
Zeng Li couldn't help laughing after hearing this, as she remembered the night when Ai Jingchu almost scared her to death.
Then, Zhou Wen glued the nails, and Fan Fan stood by to help her stir the adhesive. After a while, it was done, and Zhou Wen called Ai Jingchu to check and arrange the next step.
However, Ai Jingchu still couldn't get away.
Because Zeng Li was Zhou Wen's last patient, there was nothing left as it was almost time to get off work. Seeing that Ai Jingchu would take a while to leave, she hurried to go to the bathroom.
Zeng Li was also bored and began to study the sink on her left. She didn't understand why the thin water pipe on the sink could flow water for a while and then stop by itself, so she frowned and started to think hard, but she didn't expect someone to come over.
She quickly lay back down, and when she glanced around, she realized that the person sitting down was Ai Jingchu.
She wanted to say hello to him, but she didn't know how to start.
During their last meeting, she was so out of control, as if she was acting out a sad drama. And he certainly didn't know how much trouble his thank you had caused her at work.
"Uh—Zhou Wen went to the bathroom." Zeng Li said.
"Wait a minute then," he said.
At this time, the rubber band that Zeng Li used to tie her hair fell to the ground. She didn't notice it, but Ai Jingchu saw it, took off his gloves and picked it up for her.
Just as she was bending over, Zhou Wen ran back. Because of the partition between the cubicles, she didn't see Ai Jingchu, and thought he hadn't come yet, so she walked closer and asked Zeng Li excitedly, "By the way, how was the blind date at noon?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Wen saw Ai Jingchu's figure and stuttered, "Ai... Is Teacher Ai here?"
"Yeah." He paused and put the rubber band into his pocket.
Then, the same procedure was repeated, with Ai Jingchu instructing and Zhou Wen watching from the side.
At this time, the head nurse walked in and said, "Xiao Ai, I found two bundles of the No. 4 steel wire you asked for." The head nurse was a slightly plump aunt, about fifty years old.
Ai Jingchu thanked him and let Zhou Wen take over.
The head nurse took a quick look and saw that this was the only patient left, so she leaned over the table and started chatting with Ai Jingchu. She talked about the Chinese New Year and the hospital, and Ai Jingchu responded intermittently.
Suddenly the head nurse said, "Hey, Xiao Ai, I heard you have a girlfriend?"
She suddenly asked this, and everyone who heard it, including the student who was taking notes in the next room, stopped what they were doing and pricked up their ears to eavesdrop.
Ai Jingchu was about to say something when she heard the head nurse say, "Don't hide it from us aunties. My old classmate told me, what's its name? It's a very unique name, look at my memory." The head nurse pondered for a moment.
Everyone including Zeng Li was waiting for the answer from the head nurse.
"Oh, right!" The head nurse suddenly realized, "Your name is Zeng Li! My old classmate said that you plucked all the flowers in the library."
When Zeng Li heard his name coming out of this aunt's mouth, he was so scared that he almost rolled off the treatment bed.
Even Ai Jingchu himself was stunned for a moment.
Another person who was equally surprised was Zhou Wen.
Zhou Wen looked at Ai Jingchu suspiciously, then at Zeng Li, and was trying to determine whether the "Zeng Li" the head nurse was talking about was this Zeng Li.
Fan Fan, who had just walked over, glanced at Zeng Li and said, "What a coincidence, isn't her name Zeng Li?" Zhou Wen looked at Fan Fan with admiration. He had always thought that she was quite introverted, but he didn't expect that she would stand up and block the bullet hole at the critical moment. She was simply determined and resolute.
None of these students did not know the name Zeng Li, because Ai Jingchu had taken out her medical records and talked about them in class yesterday. Although they only saw the black and white projections of the front and side of the skull and did not know what she looked like, everyone remembered the two words "Zeng Li" clearly.
Zhou Wen pondered for a moment, Zeng Li is the master's wife
That's impossible, how could she not notice that at all.
If it was true, why did she cover up the crime for Master's wife and let her go on a blind date
It's not as simple as a heart attack. The boss is forcing her to become a pervert.
Zhou Wen's wrinkles suddenly became a little messy.
When all eyes were focused on her, Zeng Li wanted to dig a hole in the ground and crawl into it. She also emptied her mind to think about how to excuse herself. But she thought again, why should she explain for him? He didn't explain clearly at the beginning, which caused her colleagues to gossip about her, and she couldn't explain it clearly. Now he finally reaped the fruits of his own labor, and she could be considered to have avenged her.
Unfortunately, she didn't have Ai Jingchu's aura and determination. After holding it in for a while, she hurriedly waved her hands: "No, it's not like that!"
Seeing everyone's inquiring gazes, Zeng Li continued to explain: "It is definitely not what the people in our unit said. We just... we..." She was not good at speaking to begin with, and in a hurry she had no idea what to say.
Zeng Li finally got anxious, "Ai Jingchu, say something!"
Zhou Wen's heart skipped a beat. Apart from his girlfriend, who else in the world would dare to speak to the boss in such an attitude
Ai Jingchu didn't expect that his casual thank you would bring her into a storm.
That morning, he was eating white rice porridge with pickles for breakfast, but a bunch of people sat down around him and asked for his phone number, chattering non-stop. He didn't like to chat with people, but most of the people on the other side were elders, so he had to give his number. Then they promised to take good care of Zeng Li, not to let her be bullied at work, not to let the leaders assign her hard work, and not to force her to write summaries, experiences, plans, etc. He suddenly remembered the way she looked like a punching bag when she talked about her past on the top of the mountain in the morning, so he casually said thank you.
At this moment, Ai Jingchu glanced at Zeng Li, who was as nervous as an ant on the hot pan, and said slowly while taking off his gloves: "Did you charge for the bracket you re-sticked on her?" The large and quiet clinic had a bit of an echo. His voice was hoarse, but not too serious, so it sounded a little deeper than usual.
However, the person he was addressing was not Zeng Li, but Zhou Wen, as if the gossip they were asking about had nothing to do with him.
Be calm and composed, and be cool and composed.
Zhou Wen quickly shook his head in denial.
Ai Jingchu said, "Then write a bill for 20 yuan and ask Zeng Li to go downstairs to pay the bill first, so that they won't be unable to find him after get off work. We'll take the next step when he comes back."
So, in front of everyone, Zeng Li suppressed his urge to strangle Ai Jingchu to death, stood up, took the payment slip and left the clinic.
Even in this situation, he still remembered to ask her to pay the money before others get off work!
Zeng Li gritted her teeth and walked to the payment window on the first floor. It seemed that everyone had come to pay at this time, and there were quite a few people in line. She stood there for a long time before it was her turn. When she climbed up to the fourth floor and returned to Ai Jingchu, she found that the situation was different.
The whereabouts of the head nurse are unknown.
Fan Fan and several other students were busy making molds.
Zhou Wen sat next to the treatment bed waiting for her.
Ai Jingchu was looking through medical records in front of the computer.
There was no sound in the clinic, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, as if everyone had returned to their positions and all inquiries and gossips had subsided.
She handed the bill to Zhou Wen.
Zhou Wen collected the tickets, told Zeng Li to lie down without even looking away, and quickly completed the remaining tasks one by one. He then asked Ai Jingchu to come and check.
"Okay, make an appointment with her for next time." Ai Jingchu said to Zhou Wen.
All this made Zeng Li almost think that it was all an illusion, so she was extremely curious about what happened after she left.
Zeng Li stood up and remembered that when she lay down just now, she took off her hair tie because her ponytail hurt the back of her head, but now she didn't know where it was. She bent down and searched the ground but couldn't find it. She searched her bag but still couldn't find it.
"Let's make an appointment for Wednesday?" Zhou Wen asked.
"good."
Zeng Li was still looking for her hair band when she suddenly saw Zhou Wen winking at her. Zeng Li looked puzzled. Zhou Wen glanced and found that Ai Jingchu had his back to them, so she quickly wiped her tears, looking pitiful.
When Zeng Li left, he looked at Ai Jingchu's back hesitantly.
She still has one crucial thing to accomplish...
But in front of everyone, and after what happened just now, she really couldn't ask. When she asked for leave yesterday, Director Li once again reminded her to ask Ai Jingchu when he was free, and he wanted to treat her. When she asked for leave for follow-up visits before, he usually only allowed her to take two or three hours, or at most half a day. But this time he was very straightforward and asked her directly if a day was enough. So she was able to take advantage of Ai Jingchu and go on a blind date at noon.
If she fails again today and Director Li thinks that she is incompetent and doesn't care about his affairs, it will be troublesome if she makes things difficult for him at any time.
Zeng Li was extremely conflicted, but he couldn't say it in front of everyone. In the end, he could only sigh in his heart and walk out.
After waiting for the elevator for a long time, she calmed down and suddenly understood why Ai Jingchu wanted her to pay the bill. She walked back and stood on the side of the corridor. Through the glass, she saw Ai Jingchu still sitting there. Finally, she mustered up the courage to pick up the phone and called Ai Jingchu.