Zeng Li lay alone for a while, then felt uncomfortable and stood up, and saw Ai Jingchu nearby. Ai Jingchu was sitting in front of another treatment bed, driving the tooth-grinding robot arm to instruct a student to grind the metal buccal tube in his hand.
He was wearing goggles and was very focused.
Zeng Li looked away, sat back and stopped looking at him.
In less than a moment, Zhou Wen came back and filled out the follow-up card and handed it to her.
Before leaving, Zeng Li asked hesitantly, "Zhou Wen, can you tell Teacher Ai for me?"
"About changing doctors?"
"Um."
"You are definitely harming me." Zhou Wen wailed softly, "But you must think it over carefully. If it were any other professor, they might not accept you. What if they can only replace you with an ordinary attending physician or something, and they won't refund you the difference in price? You'd be at a loss."
After Zeng Li left, Zhou Wen glanced at Ai Jingchu. He never looked back at Zeng Li, nor did he say a word to her.
Zhou Wen couldn't help but sigh. He didn't know how Zeng Li had offended the boss's proud self-esteem.
Zeng Li came out of the hospital and went to the subway station, and received a call from Ma Yiyi on the way.
Ma Yiyi complained about Pan Siyu's bad behavior over the past two days on the phone. After talking for a long time, she asked, "Are you coming over today?"
Zeng Li looked up at the time on the subway screen and said, "Okay."
So she came out of the subway station again, and seeing that the weather was good, she prepared to walk through the campus of University A and go directly to the cafe.
Ai Jingchu had just come out of the hospital and was driving on the campus.
He had no classes on the day of his clinic, but a teacher had to go out for a meeting that week, so he swapped two classes with him. This way, he had classes that evening. He didn't have time to go home, so he planned to eat something at school and go to class.
He took the same route as Zeng Li, so he saw her as soon as he entered the school gate.
Zeng Li was wearing a light blue dress, with her hair untied, and walking around the campus with her face bare, looking like an ordinary student. She was just a little thin and tall, so it was easy to identify her from behind.
When Ai Jing first saw her walking alone on the sidewalk under a tree, swaying slowly, he did not stop the car and let her go farther away, nor did he step on the accelerator and drive past her. He just drove quietly and slowly, keeping a distance and following her.
She passed the lotus pond and the library, and then she stopped at a used bookstall set up by a student at the entrance of the cafeteria.
She lifted her skirt, squatted on the ground, carefully selected for a while, took out two comic books, paid for them and continued walking forward.
Ai Jingchu followed her all the way to the street where the coffee shop was. When he saw the sign from afar, he stepped on the accelerator and drove past her quickly.
He wondered if he was crazy.
The inquiry into the child with cleft lip did not go smoothly.
Zeng Li found the image of the older child in the photos of the website activities. Zeng Li had some impression of him because on the day when the extracurricular library was built, the child stood in the first row and saluted the Young Pioneers with the leaders. As a result, because he was too nervous, he raised his hand the wrong way, and his arm bumped against the classmate next to him, causing everyone to laugh.
When Ning Feng called to inquire, the school told them that the child went to school in the city with his parents. They could not tell where the parents were or how to contact them, and finally only gave the number of the child's uncle.
But Zeng Li called many times, but the phone was always turned off.
A month passed in the blink of an eye, and on Tuesday morning Zeng Li received a call from Zhou Wen.
"Zeng Li?" Zhou Wen said.
"Your follow-up appointment was scheduled tomorrow, but it's been cancelled. Teacher Ai has gone to a meeting somewhere else and won't be back for a few days."
"oh."
"Your time will be moved back one week. Come next Wednesday, okay?"
"good."
"I won't say any more to you. I have a lot of calls to make." Zhou Wen said.
"Thank you." Zeng Li said.
"Oh, by the way, I haven't told Teacher Ai about your change of doctor yet. You might as well tell her yourself. If you feel embarrassed to come to the hospital and tell her in person, just call her."
"Thanks."
Zeng Li reeled in the line and touched her right cheek. She and Ma Yiyi had eaten hot pot for three consecutive days before, and her teeth began to hurt. Now the gums of her big teeth were swollen. There was a buccal tube in the braces that was specially encircled on the big teeth, which was even more uncomfortable, just like a smaller tight hoop on the head of Sun Wukong.
She originally thought she could take a look tomorrow, but now it has to be delayed for another week.
She felt so much pain at night that she went to the drugstore and bought some medicine.
On the weekend, Wu Ying celebrated her birthday and insisted on going to Dongshan to take a hot spring bath.
"It's almost summer, and you still want to take a hot spring bath. Do you want us to get our skin peeled off?" Ma Yiyi said.
"I don't care. My mom is going too. Are you guys going? If not, forget it."
"Is your mother going to show up too?"
"Of course, she said she would pay."
"Oh, your mother is going, so of course we have to accompany her." Upon hearing that she could eat and drink for free, Ma Yiyi immediately showed her fawning attitude.
So on Saturday, Wu Ying's family, Ma Yiyi and Zeng Li went up the mountain together.
Dongshan in early summer is completely different from winter, with cool breezes, chirping summer insects, and much lower temperatures than in the city. Staying in Dongshan Hotel, after dinner, Zeng Li's teeth began to ache again. The medicine she brought with her was ineffective, so she went to the hotel's infirmary.
Wu Ying was enjoying herself in the outdoor hot spring pool, so she asked her, "Can you find it? Do you want me to go with you?"
"No need." Zeng Li said.
Around the small garden, there was a two-story building, and the first floor was the infirmary. The lights in the infirmary were on, and from the angle she was standing, she could just see the door and the treatment bed.
Zeng Li did not continue moving, but stopped.
That night, there was a man standing there, enduring the pain in his own body, saving the dying and the wounded.
She never dared to let herself think of Ai Jingchu when she was lonely late at night, not even the slightest thought of him.
He is so beautiful.
Just like the feeling Yu Yi gave her at the beginning.
Zeng Li sat down on a chair in the small garden and looked up at the stars in the night sky.
She didn't dare to get close to him, but she was greedy for everything about him.
Zeng Li didn't know why she was so obsessed with him. Because she didn't know, she was very scared.
How did your initial liking for him begin
Maybe it was because of his voice. The first time I heard it was on that overseas phone call, and five years later in the library he said to her, "Luckily it wasn't on my face."
So many years had passed between them, and he didn't know her, but she had never forgotten her.
The year she graduated, she accompanied Wu Ying to get porcelain teeth, and saw his name in the doctor introduction on the first floor of the dental hospital. It was the first time she knew that "Ai Jingchu" actually had these three characters.
It listed his job title, the school he graduated from, and his photo.
At that moment, she suddenly felt that this was like a fairy tale. He was not a person she imagined, but existed so truly.
Later, Dou Dou came to work in the store. She indirectly learned about Ai Jingchu's whereabouts from the medical student.
So one time, she pretended to be an undergraduate student in medical school and secretly attended his class.
She sat in the corner of the last row, hanging on his every word.
His voice was almost the same, just a little calmer than before.
At that time, she thought, let it be, let this fairy tale live forever in her heart.
But by chance, Ai Jingchu actually became her doctor. When Zhou Wen and the nurse mentioned the title "Teacher Ai", she did not think of him until she saw the nameplate of the attending doctor hanging on the wall.
At that moment, she hesitated, retreated, and even wanted to turn around and run away, but when he stood in front of her and asked her age and name in person, she breathed a long sigh of relief.
Because—he didn't know her at all.
He doesn't know her.
But she has known him for so many years.
If it weren't for these, would she have pulled him and begged him to help her at the foot of Dongshan Mountain that evening? She thought about this question for a long time, and perhaps she wouldn't.
In the past, even if her fingers hurt so much that she couldn't sleep all night and she endured it for more than half a month, she never asked anyone for help.
If she hadn't gotten into his car, then none of the things that happened later would have happened. His car wouldn't have broken down, he wouldn't have walked her up the mountain, he wouldn't have slept in the Dongshan Hotel, he wouldn't have met her when watching the sunrise, there wouldn't have been those rumors, Director Li wouldn't have forced her to treat him to a meal, and she wouldn't have crashed his car later.
To the point that she wasn't sure whether she was so attached to him because of Yu Yi or just because he was Ai Jingchu.
She doesn’t know, doesn’t know, doesn’t know…
She looked up for too long, and her neck was a little sore. Finally, she simply bent her knees and lay down on the chair facing the starry sky. A corner of the administrative building appeared in her field of vision. She counted the rooms in the building from bottom to top, but unfortunately her sense of direction was not very good, and she could not find the balcony of the suite where Ai Jingchu lived.
Someone walked by and looked at Zeng Li suspiciously. Zeng Li got up quickly, tidied his hair and clothes, went to the infirmary to talk to the doctor, and got some painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs.
On the way back to Wu Ying, Zeng Li received good news from Ning Feng. He said he had called the child's uncle, who said his brother and sister-in-law were working in City A with the child. Ning Feng also asked about their address in the city.
Zeng Li thanked him repeatedly and hung up the phone with some relief. She thought of Ai Jingchu and wondered whether she should tell him the news.
Zeng Li opened the address book on his phone and saw the three words at the top. He hesitated and pressed the dial button. After pressing it, he felt a little regretful and wanted to hang up in a hurry, but found that the call had been connected.
"Hello—" Ai Jingchu's voice appeared in her ears.
"I'm Zeng Li." She said, "You're out of town? I hope I didn't disturb you?"
"Um."
"I have something to tell you." Zeng Li said.
"Zhou Wen told me that you want to change doctors." He calmly took over her words.
"Ah? When did you say that?" Didn't Zhou Wen say that? He even asked her to call him.
He did not answer her, but simply advised: "It is not a good idea to change doctors midway. It will not only delay your treatment time, but also damage the treatment effect. If you are not satisfied with my treatment plan, we can communicate. If you think that my medical skills and medical ethics are lacking..."
"No!" Zeng Li quickly denied.
She interrupted him, so he didn't continue, and she didn't know how to explain. So the two of them fell silent at the same time.
It was so quiet where he was that he could hardly hear any other sound.
On her side, there were the cheerful chirping of summer insects at night and the laughter of people bathing in the large open-air hot spring pool in the distance.
Zeng Li recalled the last time she said she was afraid of a dull silence, but Ai Jingchu was disdainful. "Speak when you want to speak, and don't speak when you don't want to speak," he advised her.
So, now he is probably unhappy and doesn't want to talk to her
Just when Zeng Li thought that she would be the one to break the deadlock, she heard Ai Jingchu's voice again through the receiver.
He said, "Zeng Li, is your heart still there?"
Faced with this sudden remark, Zeng Li was at a loss, "What?"
She didn't understand what it meant.
However, he did not repeat, explain, or ask further questions. He just remained silent for a while and then hung up the phone.
The next day, just after coming down from Dongshan, I received a call from my stepfather.
"Xiaoli?" said the stepfather.
"uncle."
"Your mother went to the countryside to buy a chicken and cooked some soup today. Come over for dinner tonight."
"OK."
It was dinner time. When Zeng Li arrived outside the community, she went to buy some fruit before going in. Her stepfather saw her and hurriedly welcomed her in. "Your mother is cooking in the kitchen. I'll go call her."
"No, no."
"Have you two had a fight recently?" asked the stepfather.
"No… "
"She was very angry after she came back from your place that night. I asked her, but she didn't say anything. She didn't send you any delicious food she made in the past month, and I felt that something must be wrong." My stepfather used to work in the unit as a political and ideological worker for his subordinates, and he was very good at persuading people. "Children and parents don't hold grudges overnight. Look, today she asked someone to buy a chicken from the countryside and said she wanted to make soup. I wanted to add kelp to it, but she insisted that you like to eat pure chicken, with nothing but salt, and then she asked me to call you. I told her to call you herself, but she still got angry with me. She has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. When she gets angry, she can say anything, but when she calms down, she treats people as kindly as a living bodhisattva."
Zeng Li couldn't help laughing at this metaphor.
She glanced at the closed kitchen door and saw her mother and stepfather's wedding photo from a few years ago hanging in the hallway.
After my mother divorced her second husband, Deng Gang, she married her current stepfather within half a year. My stepfather worked in the provincial party committee of City A. He divorced his first wife many years ago because of personality incompatibility. Later, his daughter went abroad to study and had some free time, so he remarried after being introduced by someone.
If Zeng Li instinctively rejected the first stepfather her mother brought her and then accepted him with all her heart, she was almost numb to the second stepfather.
But every time she went back home, her mother would always ask her to drive her stepfather's car around the county town, and then she would listen to other people flattering her: "Defang has married better and better people, and she has been promoted step by step. I'm afraid she will marry the president next time!"
Who can't hear the hidden meaning
Zeng Li was mortally ashamed, but Zeng's mother didn't care, "If you can't eat the grapes, of course you will say they are sour."
Zeng Li remembered the day her mother told her that she was going to divorce Deng Gang. Zeng Li cried and said, "Mom, don't you love Uncle Deng anymore? Before you married him, didn't you tell me that you were with him because you loved him and thought he was better than Dad?"
"It's an adult matter, why should a child care so much?"
As a stepdaughter, she suffered so much and struggled so much before she finally accepted Deng Gang. But at this moment, her mother said that she didn't love him anymore and wanted a divorce.
A year later, Zeng's mother began to prepare for her second remarriage.
On the night before getting the marriage certificate, Zeng Li quietly watched Zeng's mother happily matching clothes for the next day, humming a song.
She asked, "How many people did you invite to the banquet?"
Zeng's mother replied cheerfully, "Not many, just four or five tables."
"is it necessary?"
"Yes, Lao Peng said that we should invite some friends to liven up the party, as long as I'm happy." Lao Peng is the groom tomorrow.
Zeng's mother added, "When I married your father, I just carried my bedding roll to his house and made do. It was not as happy as you young people now, wearing wedding dresses, traveling, receiving red envelopes, etc. At that time, I was not yet of age in the factory, and the leaders refused to sign for us. It was your grandmother who made a fuss, saying that family planning should be implemented and that late marriage and late childbearing should also be implemented. Are the factory leaders waiting for the Zeng family to have no descendants before they will be satisfied?"
Zeng Li had heard about this from other people before.
At that time, my grandmother was extremely opposed to it. First, Zeng's mother was young, and second, she was as beautiful as a flower at that time. Many young men were chasing after her, including the young son of the factory director. In the end, she only fell in love with a poor boy who had nothing.
"Have you ever loved my father?" Zeng Li suddenly asked.
Zeng's mother suddenly felt annoyed by this, "I loved you, how could I have you if I didn't love you?"
"Yes, you also loved Deng Gang."
"What do you know!" Zeng's mother got angry.
"Now you love Uncle Peng again. How can you have so many loves? One after another."
"Zeng Li!" Zeng's mother threw the comb in her hand towards Zeng Li. It hit her chest and fell to the ground.
"I'm already in my sixties, do I need you to educate me? Aren't you doing this for Deng Gang? He has only raised you for a few years, why don't you count how many years I have raised you? Do you think you have really become his daughter? Yes, I love this one sometimes and that one sometimes, but I, Zhao Defang, have never cheated on a man or had an affair in my life! I dare to love and hate, and I am upright! Even though your father treated me like that, I still have to be faithful to him? Deng Gang's behavior is getting more and more unbearable for me, so I still have to cling to him to death?"
"But..." Zeng Li burst into tears.
"Don't give me a but, but, if you have the ability, don't be like me!"
"I will never be like you. I will love one person in this life and it will never change." Zeng Li said, wiping away tears.
Mother Zeng sneered and said, "Okay, let's wait and see."
That night, Zeng Li repeated the oath in his mind almost obsessively, over and over again.