"As a last resort, we can only replace people, have assistants take over, and then wash hands again, disinfect, and change clothes."
When asked this, Zeng Li suddenly felt that the image of all doctors became taller.
Ai Jingchu finished eating before her, "You eat slowly, I'll lean on the sofa for a while."
He left the table and walked to the sofa and sat down. After sitting down, he slowly leaned his back against the sofa. When his neck touched the headrest and his whole body relaxed, his cervical vertebrae and shoulder blades felt a sharp pain. He took a deep breath and frowned tightly.
Zeng Li had her back to him, so she didn't see his frowning brows. She felt embarrassed to dawdle alone, so she quickly swallowed it in two or three gulps.
Then, she cleaned the table, took out the toothbrush, toothpaste and cup from her bag, and prepared to rinse her mouth. Before orthodontic treatment, I couldn't understand the feeling of having food residues stuck in the gaps between the braces and the wires, so I had to brush my teeth after every meal, otherwise it would torture me to the point of collapse.
Zeng Li walked to the washroom, took a cup of water, stirred the toothbrush in it for a few circles, wet it with water, and then squeezed toothpaste on it.
"Is this how you brush your teeth?" Ai Jingchu suddenly asked this from the sofa behind Zeng Li, which was beyond his expectation.
She hadn't expected him to be observing her.
"What's wrong?" She had lived for a quarter of a century and didn't think there was anything wrong with brushing her teeth like that.
"It's better to keep the toothbrush head dry before putting it in your mouth," said Ai Jingchu. "Brushing your teeth relies on friction to clean your teeth. It's most effective when it's dry and won't leave your mouth full of foam."
"But it's hard and dry, and it's so uncomfortable to brush."
"You wear braces, so choose a toothbrush with a smaller brush head and softer bristles."
He stood up, opened the locker next to Zeng Li, and took out a new toothbrush from the top drawer. Then he turned around, took a cup, and went to the water room outside the room to get a cup of hot water. He opened the outer packaging of the toothbrush, rinsed it under the faucet, and finally dipped it into the cup of boiling water.
"You can add some salt when you are at home later." said Ai Jingchu.
After a few minutes, he dried the water on the toothbrush and handed it to Zeng Li.
Zeng Li squeezed the toothpaste again as he said, and brushed his teeth under the supervision of the doctor of dentistry. He felt a lot of pressure and was so careful than usual that he brushed every tooth one by one.
She suddenly thought, if Ai Jingchu were to date someone in the future, when they were about to kiss, would he still be fussy and ask the other person: Have you brushed your teeth
Thinking of this, Zeng Li couldn't help but laugh.
When Ai Jingchu saw her strange smile, he asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Zeng Li said this, but a smile was spreading in his eyes.
She suddenly felt that it would not be difficult for her to get along with this serious dentist.
After a few minutes, a student came to the office to look for Ai Jingchu, and Zeng Li took the opportunity to say goodbye and go to work.
The whole afternoon, probably because it was raining, there were few readers in the library. She found a travel magazine and slowly flipped through it for a long time.
When it was almost five o'clock, the phone rang. She opened the drawer and saw that it was her former stepfather, Deng Gang.
"Uncle." Zeng Li shouted.
"Xiao Li, I haven't seen you for a long time."
Zeng Li didn't know how to respond and smiled awkwardly into the phone.
"You and..." Deng Gang asked hesitantly, "How are you and your mother doing recently?"
"Ok. What about you?"
"I'm fine too. I'm on a business trip in City A today. Can we have dinner together tonight?" Finally, he added two more words, "You guys?"
He spoke vaguely, but Zeng Li could fully understand that "you" referred to her and her mother, but...
"My mom...my mom is traveling with her friends and won't be back until next week." She was at a loss and had to lie.
"Oh-oh-right," he answered.
After hanging up the phone, Zeng Li stared blankly at the rainy day outside the window, not moving for a long time.
After a while, she looked at the time, then called Wu Wanxia from next door to take her place, and she secretly left through the back door half an hour earlier.
She came out of the office and took a taxi to the mall.
She seldom bought things for men, and she didn't know what to choose for a moment.
So she called Ma Yiyi.
Ma Yiyi knew that Gu Haidong had been watching over her every day recently, and thought there was some progress, so she teased her, "Wow, things are going well, they've even started sending each other tokens of love."
"Stop talking nonsense." Zeng Li smiled.
"If you buy it for Gu Haidong, I tell you, you don't have to worry about it. He will be so happy even if you spit at him."
When Ma Yiyi finished speaking, Zeng Li suddenly heard Wu Ying's voice on the other end of the phone. It seemed that the two of them were together. Wu Ying interrupted loudly and said, "Who are you spitting on? There is a science to spitting on someone's face. It depends on whether you spit on their face or feed them lip to lip..."
Zeng Li happily hung up the phone and continued wandering around the mall alone.
Finally, she finally picked out the jacket and shirt that were the least likely to go wrong. She was a person who had no ability to make choices. She pondered over the color and size for a long time, but couldn't make up her mind. She hesitated for a long time, and when she saw that she was about to be late for the appointment, she gritted her teeth and paid. Finally, she kept confirming with the salesperson whether she could change it if it didn't fit.
When Zeng Li sat in a restaurant near Deng Gang's hotel, she thought of what Ai Jingchu said at noon. He seemed to have said that they would have dinner together in the evening, but she was not sure whether it was just a polite remark or a real thing.
Just like colleagues or friends who are not very familiar with each other, they would casually say: I will treat you to a meal some other time. Or sometimes, when my stepfather's friends come to my house and we are in a hurry and my mother did not prepare a rich meal, she would usually say: Next time, please let me know in advance and we will make a good meal again.
As for whether this "some other day" or "next time" means tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or a day that will never come, many people will not delve into it carefully.
Zeng Li has always been cautious and prudent. She quickly weighed it in her mind and felt that considering her friendship with Ai Jingchu, it was probably just a false compliment.
But out of respect for the doctor who would continue to treat her for another two or three years, she took the initiative to pick up her phone and sent a text message.
Teacher Ai, thank you for lunch. I will treat you again some other day.
After she read it carefully, she sent this cryptic message out.
As soon as I put down my phone, Deng Gang came.
I haven't seen him for a long time. It seems that the hair on his head has become thinner. He pulled out a chair and sat down. The first thing he said when he saw Zeng Li was: "Girl, order more delicious food, don't save money for me."
This sentence caused Zeng Li to sigh.
When she was in high school, she lived in the school dormitory, and whenever Deng Gang passed by the school to see her, he would say this. Before that, even her biological father had never doted on her that much.
She cried secretly, and then became secretly happy again.
After a few years, when she was about to accept Deng Gang's identity as her father, her mother told her that they were going to divorce.
Zeng Li took out the things he bought and gave them to Deng Gang.
"Uncle Deng, please try it and see if it's suitable."
"It's so beautiful." Deng Gang said with a smile.
He had no intention of trying it on, and just kept saying it was suitable. But at Zeng Li's insistence, he took off his coat and put it on.
"Oh, it seems a little bigger." Zeng Li said with some regret and self-blame.
"No, it fits. Just right."
The shoulders of the jacket were a little wider, causing the sleeves to be longer. It was clearly one size too big, but Deng Gang was full of praise for it, saying it fit well. He also said that he was old and liked to wear loose clothes.
Zeng Li felt mixed emotions, but he didn't argue with him.
At this moment, Ai Jingchu finished seeing to the last patient and returned to the office. He washed his hands, opened the locker to change his clothes, then went out and turned back to lock the office.
He casually took out his cell phone and saw the text message from Zeng Li.
There are snow-white walls on both sides of the corridor, and the floor is covered with blue carpet. The nurses who have not yet finished their get off work are packing up the equipment in the clinic with the students.
Ai Jingchu stood in front of his office door, one hand in his trouser pocket, the other holding his phone, staring quietly at the words Zeng Li had sent on the screen. All he could hear was the rhythmic rolling of stainless steel cart wheels on the floor mat, and the humming of a child waiting for the elevator not far away.
After a long time, he pulled his right hand out of his pocket, switched the phone, and replied to her with three words: No thanks.