It was Wednesday, the day to meet Ai Jingchu again.
She arrived so early that she met Zhou Wen at the hospital gate.
Zeng Li thought of the change of doctors as soon as he saw her, "When did you tell Teacher Ai about this? Didn't you say you didn't tell him? But he knew everything."
Zhou Wen was a little guilty and said, "Is that so? Maybe I remembered it wrongly?"
"Did you talk on the phone? Who called?" Zhou Wen asked with interest.
"I called." She originally wanted to talk about something else on the phone, but Ai Jingchu misunderstood her before she even opened her mouth.
"Oh, the boss is really not proactive." Zhou Wen said, "God the talk went well?" Nothing broke out
"He was quite angry and hung up on me without saying a word."
Zhou Wen groaned weakly, "Oh My God!"
They walked to the outpatient hall. Zeng Li asked her whether she should climb up or take the elevator. Zhou Wen said, "Take the elevator. I need to keep enough energy to face the hard work of the whole day. But let's go inside. It's too crowded here."
So Zeng Li followed her to the other end of the corridor and saw two more elevators.
"Is this for doctors only?" Zeng Li asked.
"The operating room is used to pick up and drop off patients, so we don't have to be crowded with other patients." Zhou Wen said.
As soon as he finished speaking, the elevator came up from the parking lot on the second floor below ground. When the door opened, it was Ai Jingchu who was standing inside. Ai Jingchu was not wearing a white coat.
Maybe it was too hot recently, so he cut his hair very short. He was wearing a simple white shirt, the hem of which was neatly tucked into his pants, and his sleeves were not buttoned but rolled up to his elbows. He was wearing black pants and a belt, and black leather shoes. The simple alternation of black and white made his legs look longer.
Zhou Wen reacted quickly: "Good morning, Teacher Ai."
The second sentence is: "You look so handsome today."
Zeng Li estimated that the student who was least afraid of him in the whole school was Zhou Wen.
He took a step back, and Zhou Wen pulled her in quickly.
"That patient is Li Xiaoxiao. Her mother called and said that she was in terrible pain after the rubber band was put on her. I asked her to remove it first and come to the hospital to see you today. And..."
Zhou Wen took the time to carefully report to Ai Jingchu what happened during his absence. She was usually naughty, but she was very serious when it came to serious matters.
Ai Jingchu answered and asked from time to time.
Seeing that both of them were concentrating on talking about work, Zeng Li's heart calmed down.
He stood behind Zeng Li, so she could see Ai Jingchu's silhouette on the stainless steel elevator door as soon as she looked up. He had thick eyebrows and a slightly high brow bone, so his eyes looked deeper, but also a little sharp. When his face was expressionless and his lips were pursed, there were two small fleshy dimples half the size of a pea at the corners of his mouth. If he smiled, the corners of his lips would sink deeply, and become even deeper, which made him look a little lazy and sunny, but also a little childish and very charming.
The first time she saw him smile was the night they had sex in the car. He had drunk and she was ordered to drive for him. She thought he was drunk, so she secretly grumbled to him, but he was not asleep at all. When he heard her words, he smiled deeply. At that time, he squinted his eyes first, and then the smile on his mouth spread out.
From then on, she hardly dared to look at his face.
"Is it? Zeng Li?" Zhou Wen's words disrupted her thoughts.
"Huh?" She didn't hear what they said at all.
"Didn't you tell me last time that you were scared when you heard you had to have two more teeth extracted, so you secretly told me you wanted to change doctors, right?" Zhou Wen asked her expectantly.
Ai Jingchu was staring at her straight, and the question came too suddenly. She hadn't yet recovered from her previous emotions and didn't know how to answer for a moment.
Fortunately, the elevator arrived at this time.
I originally planned to call her in first, but then another mother with her son came in and said that her child had only taken two classes off and was waiting to go back to class as he was about to take the college entrance examination and could not be delayed, so she asked if she could cut in line.
"This..." Zhou Wen was in a dilemma. They did not have the right to change the order of visits at will, otherwise other patients would have complaints.
"Let him go first, I'll wait a while, there's no rush." Zeng Li smiled.
Not long after, it was Zeng Li's turn.
"My gums were swollen a few days ago, but they healed this week," Zeng Li confessed honestly.
"Where is it swollen?"
Zeng Li opened his mouth and pointed it at Zhou Wen.
"How long has it been swollen?"
"It's been over a week. I don't know if it's because of the braces or if it's because of the food I ate that caused me to get angry."
"Why didn't you say so earlier?"
"I was thinking I was going to come for a follow-up anyway, so why bother? Who knew you'd call and say you'd have to postpone it for a week."
"Have you seen another dentist?"
"It would be troublesome if they break the braces. Just be patient with it," Zeng Li replied.
Zhou Wen rolled his eyes at her, "Do you think you are a Ninja Turtle?"
After a while, Ai Jingchu also came, and the follow-up procedure was the same as usual.
Just like last time, Ai Jingchu did not mention the phone call, nor did he mention changing doctors, and he still didn't say a word to her.
Zeng Li was looking at the small orange light above the treatment bed, wondering whether he should ask him what he meant by his last words on the phone a few days ago. Also, he should tell Ning Feng about the news he got.
However, until he left, she still hadn't come to a conclusion.
Before leaving, she secretly glanced at his back and simply sent him a text message.
We have found the older child you mentioned last time, but we haven't found the younger child you want yet.
After sending the message, Zeng Li breathed a sigh of relief. Text messages are more useful.
Near noon, he replied to her: Thank you.
A few days passed uneventfully.
On Saturday, Zeng Li was helping out at the coffee shop when Wu Wanxia called and said she wanted to borrow her bicycle. So she went home at noon when there was no business and gave the bicycle to Wu Wanxia.
The scorching sun at one or two o'clock was too strong. She applied sunscreen but still felt uneasy, so she put on a hat, sun sleeves and everything else.
After leaving the residential area, there was a long downhill slope after the traffic lights. She stepped on the brakes and slid down slowly. Unexpectedly, a child suddenly appeared from the gap between the cars parked on the roadside, trying to run across the road, and suddenly appeared in front of Zeng Li. It happened suddenly, and she was startled and stepped on the brakes hard. Unexpectedly, she braked too quickly, and the inertia made the car tilt a little, and she fell heavily to the ground.
Her chin hit the ground hard.
The child saw her lying on the ground and seemed a little scared. He looked at her twice and ran away.
Zeng Li felt that she had been hit by the collision, and her head was full of stars. She wanted to prop herself up, but she felt that she had no strength. She had fallen off the car countless times when she was in school, so she thought that apart from some scratches, there should be nothing else. It was just that she fell so ugly and was lying there, which was really embarrassing.
At this moment, an aunt's voice sounded from behind: "Are you okay, girl? I didn't see clearly, was there a car that hit you?"
Then the aunt walked up to Zeng Li and prepared to help her up. Unexpectedly, when she saw her front, her face turned pale and she said, "Oh, this is not good. Should I call 120 for you?"
Following her gaze, Zeng Li touched his chin and neck and found them wet. He put them in front of his eyes and saw blood on his hands. He even panicked.
The aunt was arranged by the community to collect parking fees on the roadside. She hurriedly called a companion to help Zeng Li up, then moved him to the sidewalk on the roadside, and took out her mobile phone to call an emergency number.
Zeng Li looked at the bloodstains on the ground, which formed a pool next to the bicycle and then extended to her feet. She had never seen herself bleed so much before, and she didn't know what was going on. She vaguely felt that something was wrong with her jaw or teeth, but she didn't feel anything, and it didn't hurt. She just felt dizzy, and her entire mouth and tongue were numb, and she couldn't even speak clearly.
Seeing this, the aunt was also a little worried and kept complaining that the ambulance was too slow to come. "Why don't I just ride my electric bike to take you there?"
Zeng Li waved at her.
At noon, the temperature is high and body fluid circulation is fast, which is when the blood is most active.
She put her hand to her chin, hoping that she wouldn't bleed so quickly.
The aunt was also anxious, "Girl, do you have a cell phone? Give it to me, I'll call your family first, otherwise what will you do if you go to the hospital alone!"
Zeng Li took it out with his other hand and handed it to his aunt, and the white phone was immediately stained with blood.
The aunt flipped through the phone, but she didn't know how to use it very well, and she finally saw the word "Address Book".
"How do I scroll down?" the aunt asked her colleague next to her.
"How should I know? Just hit any one at random." the man replied.
So, the aunt reluctantly pressed the number of the first contact above several times and finally dialed it.
"Hello - do you know the girl holding this phone? Can you call her family? She was in a car accident and we are waiting for the ambulance." Then, the aunt exchanged a few words with the other party in a hurry and finally left her address.
The first person listed in the address book was none other than Ai Jingchu, whose name started with the letter A.
Almost immediately, before the ambulance arrived, Ai Jingchu arrived.
When he followed the blood trail and saw Zeng Li on the side of the road, his face turned pale and he carried her into the car without saying a word.
He was driving very fast. The green light in front was about to end and flashed to a yellow light, but he still stepped on the accelerator and rushed forward.
Zeng Li didn’t know how the aunt happened to call his number. Her mind was clearer than before. When she saw him running a red light, she wanted to remind him.
"You..." She moved her mouth and finally squeezed out a word.
"I know what to do, don't worry." He said, "Close your eyes and take a rest. Don't talk, don't move, and don't look at the mirror next to you."
Zeng Li closed his eyes obediently.
At this time, an ambulance happened to pass by. Ai Jingchu took a look at it in the rearview mirror and ignored it.
Ai Jingchu called Ge Yi: "Are you in the hospital?"
“Yes.”
"Tell someone to prepare your department's operating room."
"What's wrong?"
"There is a patient here with a broken jaw. He needs stitches."
"Are your bones and joints injured?"
"I don't know," he said.
After Ai Jingchu hung up the phone, Ge Yi looked at the phone, a little dazed. She had known Ai Jingchu for so many years, but this was the first time she heard Ai Jingchu say "I don't know". When it comes to work-related matters, when would he not know? Under normal circumstances, a complete rupture of the skin of the mandible is not a serious matter. She remembered that when she was in school, she had seen a patient who fell down the stairs and had a comminuted fracture of the mandible. Basically, the entire lower half of the face had to be reshaped. At that time, Ai Jingchu only said one sentence: "No problem." It can be seen how familiar he is with this operation and how confident he is.
But this time he actually said, "I don't know."
After Ai Jingchu finished talking to Ge Yi, he looked at Zeng Li again.
Because her chin hit the sharpest part, a two-centimeter wound was formed horizontally. This, like the temple, is the most vulnerable part of the face to cracking, and the wound is very deep, exposing the bones inside, so he told her not to look in the mirror.
Although the blood from the wound had already coagulated, her hands, neck, and clothes on her chest were all covered in blood. She closed her eyes obediently, enduring the discomfort and not moving, looking too quiet.
Ai Jingchu suddenly felt a little panicked. Although he knew that it was an impossible situation, he still couldn't suppress his inner anxiety and shouted, "Zeng Li."
"Hmm?" She hummed in her throat.
Hearing her voice, he felt a little more at ease.
After crossing a street, he called out again: "Zeng Li."
This time she did not respond, but opened her eyes and looked at him suspiciously, wondering what he wanted to say after calling her twice.
"Close your eyes and rest, but don't fall asleep. When I call you, just answer me," he said.
"Um."
When they arrived at the hospital, Ge Yi checked Zeng Li's wound and asked her to make several mouth opening and biting movements.
"The wound is deep, but everything else is fine. The jaw joint should not be damaged." Ge Yi said to Ai Jingchu beside him.
"It's better to do a CT scan later." Ai Jingchu said.
"You sew it or should I sew it?" Guy asked.
Ai Jingchu looked up at Zeng Li and didn't answer.
"You have always been better at sewing than me. It is impossible for you to choose the bad over the good on a girl's face," Guy said again.
Ai Jingchu nodded.
Zeng Li was fiddled with by Ge Yi for a few times. Although it hurt, the numbness was much better. She tried to ask, "Do you want to have surgery?" She didn't dare to use too much force, nor did she dare to move her jaw, so her speech sounded a little slurred.
Ge Yi comforted her: "You don't have to go to the operating room. It only takes a small suture. We can do it directly in our treatment room here."
Zeng Li had never had such an experience in her life, not even hospitalization. She was a little timid when she saw the nurses bringing in needles, medicines and equipment. At this moment, she was very grateful to the aunt who called for her, thanked her for her kindness, and thanked her for worrying that she would be scared to go to the hospital alone and wanted to find a family member to come for her.
Ai Jingchu saw the fear in her eyes and couldn't help but comfort her: "It just hurts a little when the anesthesia is injected."
"Um."
"Don't worry, my senior brother is here. He is very good at acupuncture. There will definitely be no scars on your face." Ge Yi smiled. Doctors usually only worry about whether there is any functional damage, while girls usually worry about whether they will be scarred and ugly. After saying that, she went out to ask someone to get anesthetics and needles and thread.
Zeng Li looked at Ai Jingchu.
At that time in Dongshan, Ge Yi said something similar, saying that he sewed the wound very well. At that time, he had a fever and the child was crying non-stop, but he was calm and decisive, without the slightest hesitation. Later, when Fatty came to the library, he opened his mouth to show everyone like a medal of manliness. I don't know if it's because the child has a strong healing ability or because he sewed well, it's really hard to tell.
She couldn't help but want to touch her wound.
"Don't touch me." Ai Jingchu quickly stood up and grabbed her hand.
It was only then that he noticed that Zeng Li had many scratches on the back of his hands and elbows. He was stunned for a moment, went to the nurse's station to ask the nurse to bring disinfectants and gauze cotton balls, and then washed Zeng Li's wounds himself.
When wiping the dust out of the wound with cotton, Zeng Li couldn't help feeling the pain. He shrank his hand, frowned tightly, and hummed twice in his throat.
His hands also shook.
At this time, Ge Yi came over and said, "It's almost ready. Let her go to the next room. Brother, go disinfect first."
Another nurse came in, took the things from Ai Jingchu, and continued to wash Zeng Li's wound.
Ai Jingchu stood up, but did not move. He lowered his eyes and stared at the nurse's movements. After a moment, he called Ge Yi who was about to leave.
Guy turned around in response.
He said, "You come and sew for me."
A doctor will only refuse to operate on a patient if he or she is extremely disgusted with or cares extremely about the patient.
Ai Jingchu didn't seem to dislike Zeng Li, so he could only care about her. Because caring makes people nervous, and nervousness is the enemy of surgery.
Ge Yi opened her mouth slightly and stared at Ai Jingchu for a long time, until Zeng Li hissed in pain again under the nurse's wipe. Then she looked away and glanced at Zeng Li, then answered: "Okay."
The suture was done on the treatment table next door. After lying down, Zeng Li's face was covered with a piece of cloth to block his view.
Ge Yi's voice came, "The wound is quite deep, so we need to sew it in two layers. The thread is very thin, so you may feel a little bit of pulling on the wound. Just relax."
When injecting anesthesia, the needle is thin and long, and it is different from ordinary injections. It is pushed a little here and a little there.
Zeng Li didn't dare to hide or make a sound, she just stared at the cloth covering her face with wide eyes, her eyebrows knitted tighter, she habitually bared her teeth and wanted to bite her lips, but her lips had long been numbed by the anesthetic and didn't obey her. She clasped her hands stiffly on her chest.
Just as she twisted her fingers together, a hand came over, separated her tightly clasped hands, and then held them in the palm of her hand.