That day, Zeng Li walked into the cafe alone. When he pushed the door open, he saw four people playing mahjong in front of the bar, but there was no customer at all.
As soon as Ma Yiyi saw Zeng Li, she wailed, "Fish, they are playing cards and carrying a sedan chair. That's too much. They are just trying to win my money!"
Ning Feng smiled, not knowing how to explain.
Wu Ying said, "You have to accept the defeat. Who will carry the sedan chair? If you don't want to fight, get out of the way and let Zeng Li take over."
"No way!" Ma Yiyi pointed at Pan Siyu and said, "Okay, Xiaoyu is here, you can go now! Pan Siyu, can you play cards? You are here just to cause trouble for me!"
Pan Siyu looked at Zeng Li aggrievedly.
Zeng Li hurriedly tried to smooth things over, "I'll take a break and drink some water. You can play a few games for me first."
While picking up the cards, Wu Ying asked Zeng Li: "What were you doing just now? My cell phone was not working and no one answered the phone at home. Where did you go in the middle of the night? Whose phone did you use?"
"From a friend." Zeng Li took a glass, filled it with half a glass of water, and took a sip.
After she finished speaking, she couldn't help but glance outside through the glass. The room was brighter than the street outside, and there were reflections on the glass, so it wasn't very clear.
She sat down next to Ma Yiyi and watched them play two games.
After a while, a customer came in. He was a young man. When he saw the mahjong table in front of the bar, he asked uncomfortably, "Can we still have a meal?"
Zeng Li immediately went over with a smile and said, "Sorry, we only have wine and drinks."
The young man said "Oh" and walked out again.
Zeng Li walked the other person a few steps, and inadvertently looked in the direction where he had just gotten off the car. Suddenly, he found that Ai Jingchu's car was still parked there.
She didn't quite trust her own judgment. It had been so long, what happened to him? Did the car break down
She wanted to push the door open to see what was going on, but she heard Ma Yiyi calling her, "Xiaoyu, come here, quickly help me figure out which card I should play and which I should keep. I'm going to faint!"
She had no choice but to sit back down, take a look and say, "Three of a kind."
When she was helping Ma Yiyi sort out the cards in her hand, she heard someone honking a car horn hurriedly on the road. She turned around and saw Ai Jingchu's black SUV driving away.
At night, the three of them slept together on the second floor, lying side by side on the same bed and chatting.
"Did you take a taxi here by yourself? Or did someone send you here? You seemed so reluctant to leave." Wu Ying said.
"No."
"It's obviously not right." Wu Ying said, "Also, whose phone did you use to call me?"
"I already said he was a friend."
"Who is it?" Ma Yiyi asked.
Zeng Li hesitated.
"You actually have friends that neither of us know? That's strange." Wu Ying said.
"You can tell something is wrong when you see her like that. Where's your cell phone?" Ma Yiyi asked Wu Ying the next question.
"What for?" Wu Ying handed it to her.
"She's not cooperating at all, so why don't we just call her back and ask?" As he said that, he started to look through the call records in Wu Ying's phone.
Zeng Li screamed and tried to grab the phone, but she was outnumbered and couldn't beat the two of them.
First, Wu Ying hugged Zeng Li like an octopus, and then Ma Yiyi rode on Zeng Li, pressing her down, and then she looked down at Zeng Li with her phone in her hand, saying, "You little brat! You're such a rebel! I know there's something fishy going on when I see you like this."
"If you want to fight, do it quickly. I can't hold on here for much longer." Wu Ying said.
"Ma Yiyi, you dare!" Zeng Li shouted.
"Don't make a noise," Ma Yiyi said proudly, "otherwise I'll call them and they'll think we're having a threesome, which will ruin your image."
Zeng Li wanted to cry but had no tears.
Ma Yiyi fiddled with it for a while and said, "Wu Ying, how do you look through the call records on this phone?"
“…” Wu Ying was speechless.
"Stop fighting, it's so late. Can I confess on my own initiative?" Zeng Li said helplessly.
"That's pretty good." Ma Yiyi smiled triumphantly.
Next, Zeng Li told everything that had happened between him and Ai Jingchu during this period.
Ma Yiyi concluded: "If he doesn't like you, I will fry fish for you."
"How is that possible?" Zeng Li was surprised.
"A bystander sees more clearly, Xiaoyu." Wu Ying said.
"He must have wanted to take advantage of you. Listen to me, he was definitely a hooligan." Ma Yiyi added, "You should have slapped him in the face and cried and asked him to take responsibility. Then we can threaten him and ask him to come to our store to be a living sign. If you spend more than 100 yuan, you can get one kiss. If you spend more than 200 yuan, you can get two kisses. You can accumulate them on the same day, and there is no upper limit. We'll just be waiting to count the money. Ouch—"
Wu Ying twisted Ma Yiyi's arm hard, interrupting her dream, "Why don't you open a dental clinic and ask him to come and see patients, it will be more profitable."
Zeng Li smiled.
Wu Ying suddenly asked: "Do you like him?"
Zeng Li was stunned, and asked again: "How is it possible?"
"Since you thought he was just a passerby, why were you worrying about his car just now, which was parked there?"
“I… I…” Zeng Li said “I” twice in a row and was at a loss for words.
In the middle of the night, Zeng Li couldn't fall asleep because she hadn't slept in this bed for a long time or for some other reason. She was afraid of disturbing Ma Yiyi's sleep, so she turned over gently, but heard Wu Ying, who was lying on the sofa, calling her softly.
"Zeng Li."
"Um?"
"You haven't been asleep yet?"
"Yes." Zeng Li asked.
"Me too."
"How are you and Ning Feng?"
"I think he is nice and likable," Wu Ying replied.
"That's good." Zeng Li smiled.
"What about you?" Wu Ying asked her back.
"how do I?"
"Do you feel that this is unfair to Ai Jingchu? If he really likes you, what will he think when he knows the truth?" Wu Ying said.
Zeng Li did not answer.
Wu Ying added: "You know who he is and his relationship with Yu Yi, but he doesn't know who you are. Aren't you approaching him because of Yu Yi?" Because the two of them felt sorry for each other at the time, Wu Ying was the person who knew the relationship between Zeng Li and Yu Yi best.
"I don't."
"Don't say no. Yiyi doesn't know, so how can I not know? He looks a lot like Yu Yi, doesn't he?"
“No.”
"You know I'm not talking about looks. When you were in Dongshan, he helped you, just like Yu Yi helped you in your hometown. He always came to save you when you were in trouble. How is he different from Yu Yi? You looked for Yu Yi's shadow in him, and wanted to get news about Yu Yi from him. If he was not Yu Yi's classmate, and he was not the one who called you on behalf of Yu Yi, would you ask him for help that night when Ma Yiyi couldn't go to Dongshan? You didn't even tell me at the time. Would you get in his car? Would you run down the mountain to give him something? Can't you live without having a relationship with Yu Yi in this life? Can you have some backbone?"
By the end of her speech, Wu Ying was getting louder and louder, and angrier and angrier, and she directly woke Ma Yiyi up.
Ma Yiyi turned on the light, squinted her eyes, and saw Wu Ying sitting on the sofa with an aggressive look on her face. Then she looked at Zeng Li who was silent beside her, "What are you two doing in the middle of the night?"
"Didn't you see they were arguing?" Wu Ying was furious.
"We haven't had a fight in years. What were we fighting about? Tell me about it." Ma Yiyi asked with interest.
Wu Ying repeated what she had just said.
It was at this time that Ma Yiyi learned about the relationship between Ai Jingchu and Yu Yi for the first time.
After she understood, she immediately picked up the pillow and threw it at Wu Ying. She stood on the bed and pointed at Wu Ying's nose and said, "Wu Ying, why are you so unfaithful and pretending to be a saint here? Is Yu Yi your real brother, or is Ai Jingchu your real brother? Didn't we agree not to mention that bastard Yu Yi? What does it have to do with us whether it is fair to that person? Who made him know Yu Yi when there are so many other people to know! Who made him treat Xiaoyu's teeth when there are so many other people to know? Who made him like Xiaoyu when there are so many other people to know? He deserves to be mad at you. Our Xiaoyu can do whatever she likes. Yu Yi is so evil, we can't deal with him, can't we deal with his classmates?"
Ma Yiyi said a lot of things, and both she and Wu Ying couldn't help laughing.
Zeng Li also sneered, "You two are playing a double act, one is playing the white cop and the other is playing the red cop."
After a while, Zeng Li's smile faded, and he murmured, "In fact, I wanted to tell Ai Jingchu twice, but when the words came to my lips, I couldn't say them. I was so childish and ridiculous at that time, not to mention that he had read the letter. If he forgot it, it would be fine. But if he still remembered it, I would be too ashamed to face others."
"If you don't want to say it, then don't say it. What obligation do you have to tell him?" Ma Yiyi said.
"And he won't like me, don't worry. Maybe he just thinks I'm pitiful, so he helps me every time." Zeng Li lay down on the pillow again, "Didn't I ask Ning Feng about something just now? That's because Ai Jingchu is looking for a child with a cleft lip. He will try his best to help anyone he meets on the street. He seems to be like this, he looks cold and lonely on the outside, but he is actually very kind in his bones."
If it weren't for his kindness, perhaps she wouldn't have had so many interactions with Yu Yi later.
But if it weren't for his kindness, the long-awaited beautiful feeling of first love might have remained in her heart forever.
So should she be grateful to him or not
Zeng Li smiled bitterly.
"Let's not talk about this anymore. Let's talk about something happy." Wu Ying said, "Ma Yiyi, how much money did you lose tonight?"
"Bah - you just try to make yourself happy by making other people unhappy." Ma Yiyi spat.
The three of them chatted and finally fell asleep together.
In fact, she didn't feel that Yu Yi owed her anything.
It's just that she has been obsessed with that time and can't forget the past, and her best friends love her too much, so they simply sent Yu Yi to hell.
On Wednesday afternoon, Zeng Li went to the dental hospital with mixed feelings.
After that breakup, she and Ai Jingchu only had one phone call about finding the child. After discussing business matters, neither of them had anything else to say and hung up the phone.
Because many colleagues were out for further study during this period, she couldn't take leave and finally left early. She came too late and hurried upstairs without even having time to register.
When the nurse took the follow-up card, she said, "Why are you so late? Go wait outside. Professor Ai and the others are having a meeting next door. I'll ask them if they're still going to see him. I'll call you later."
She thanked him and walked to the door, only to meet Ai Jingchu coming towards her.
Zeng Li was a little surprised, but it was the nurse who spoke first and asked, "Professor Ai, there's another patient here, would you like to see him?"
"Look. But wait."
"Sorry, I'm late." Zeng Li explained.
Ai Jingchu simply nodded and said nothing else.
In fact, Zeng Li had something else to say, but she didn’t know whether she should communicate with Zhou Wen first or go directly through Ai Jingchu.
The nurse noticed her hesitation and said, "Patient, please go to the waiting room outside. I told you to wait a while and I'll call you when the time comes. Don't wait here. Professor Ai has to have a meeting with his students first."
Zeng Li responded embarrassedly and walked out with his head down.
She arrived at the waiting room near the elevator and chose a chair to sit down. At this time, other teachers and students came down the elevator one after another, and there were also some patients who were late like her. She looked at the time, it was actually just after four o'clock, but they didn't take a break at noon, so they got off work earlier than other places.
Facing the elevator, she suddenly realized that she was sitting here again. The arrangement and position of the chairs were exactly the same, which made people feel that they were on the same floor. The only difference was that she was on the ninth floor last time and this one was on the fourth floor.
That night, he squatted in front of her, whether he wanted to kiss her or check her braces, perhaps she would never know.
Half an hour later, Zhou Wen came out to call her.
Zhou Wen said to her as they walked, "This skirt looks really good on you. Where did you buy it? You are obviously older than me, so why do you always look younger than me? No wonder our so-and-so... treats you..." Zhou Wen raised an eyebrow at Zeng Li, as if everything was self-explanatory.
Zeng Li ignored her teasing. After walking a few steps, she pulled Zhou Wen to make her stop and asked, "Zhou Wen, I want to change doctors. Is that okay?"
"Don't you like me?"
"no."
Zhou Wen felt a little aggrieved. "I am Teacher Ai's most proud disciple. Although he sometimes annoys me, I am very serious about my work. I just like to tease you. I..."
Zeng Li knew she had misunderstood, and hurriedly explained: "That's not what I meant. I was asking if we could get our teeth straightened with another teacher instead of Teacher Ai."
Zhou Wen was even more surprised this time, and stared, "What happened to you two? Did you have a fight? Did you break up?"
Zeng Li asked: "Don't ask anymore. Can you just tell me?"
Zhou Wen saw that she was serious and didn't seem to be joking, "Do you really want to change it?"
"Yeah." Wu Ying's words that night touched her deeply. She was indeed too selfish. Whether he liked her or not, she shouldn't have gotten close to him with other purposes.
"It's not impossible. Aren't you transferred from Professor Liu? But other teachers generally don't like to admit patients mid-term, and you can't give a good reason."
Zeng Li was in a dilemma.
Zhou Wen added: "There is another way."
"What?"
"It's a bit wicked."
"Um?"
Zhou Wen looked around and said to Zeng Li cautiously, "Go to the school office to complain about Teacher Ai and say that it's either you or him, and that's it."
After he finished speaking, Zhou Wen couldn't help but blame himself: "Look at my idea, it's all about 'destroying the master for the sake of justice'."
Zeng Li didn't dare to adopt this bad idea.
"It's okay. Some doctors receive countless complaints a year. At most, we'll deduct some of Teacher Ai's bonus, or give him an incompetent performance appraisal, or sue him for physically harassing patients and ask him to suspend his work." Zhou Wen deliberately fanned the flames.
The two were whispering here when the nurse came out and shouted, "Zhou Wen! Where is the patient you called? Professor Ai has been waiting for you for a long time. Aren't you going to get off work?"
Zhou Wen and Zeng Li then responded and went back.
Zhou Wen added, "If you really want to transfer, you should tell Teacher Ai first. I was just teasing you. Changing doctors midway won't be good for your treatment."
When they walked in, they saw Ai Jingchu already sitting beside the treatment bed waiting.
Zeng Li and Zhou Wen exchanged glances and took their positions.
Ai Jingchu put on rubber gloves, put the mouth mirror into her mouth and looked back and forth, then after giving Zhou Wen a few instructions, he went to other students.
Zhou Wen always felt that his boss was not right, but when he thought about it carefully while working, it seemed normal. He was always so frugal with words.
Zeng Li’s follow-up visit was simple. The small pins of the orthodontic appliance had not fallen off. He just needed to adjust the position and thicken the steel wires.
After she finished, she asked Ai Jingchu to come and check.
This time, Ai Jingchu examined very carefully and asked Zhou Wen to follow him to the computer desk to look through Zeng Li's electronic medical records. The two of them discussed it.
Later, Zhou Wen came back to report, "You may need to extract two more teeth."
"ah?"
"Teacher Ai, let me explain it to you." Zhou Wen said as he made a biting shape with his hands. "When the upper teeth are retracted inward, the lower teeth press against them and there is no space. So we have to pull out the two lower teeth and integrate them inward to make room for the upper teeth. Do you understand?" Zeng Li nodded.
Zhou Wen felt very good about herself. She was almost learning from her boss. Afterwards, she couldn't help but grumble in her stomach. Sure enough, there was a problem. The boss actually sent her to talk. Although this is the case in general, can Zeng Li be classified as a patient in general? One wanted to change doctors, and the other was like he owed him 200 yuan. Both of them were wrong. Did they really break up
"Do you want to pull it out today?"
"It hasn't come to that stage yet. Teacher Ai said to observe further."
"Oh." Zeng Li breathed a sigh of relief.
"Do you really want to change doctors?" Zhou Wen asked secretly, "Forget it. I see that Teacher Ai has already decided on your new plan. If you change doctors and they don't agree with this idea, it will delay your treatment time."
At this time, a junior sister named Zhou Wen helped her mix the adhesive.
Zhou Wen said, "I'll be right back."