For two weeks after that, Zhou Qichen would think about this incident and Lang Feng whenever he had free time, such as cooking, cleaning, bathing, or even lying in bed. Although he had lived for more than 30 years, he had only said goodbye twice and broken up once, which was with Yu Xiaoyuan in Shenzhen. But the difference was that before that breakup, he felt more of a sadness that their time together was coming to an end and the overall situation was already decided. This time, it was a huge regret. This regret was not about what he did or did not do, but about how good it would be if he was still him, but I was not me, without my past, without my worries and obsessions.
I don't know if it's a mental illness. Although the bruise on his lower back has basically disappeared in the past two weeks, he still feels pain in that area from time to time. It could also be a soft tissue contusion, he's not sure. He initially thought it was because he flew too much during the Spring Festival, and the intensity of his work was basically to fall asleep as soon as he got home, resulting in not getting enough rest. Or it could be a psychological reason. He was worried about the place where he had been injured before, and the more he worried, the more abnormal he could feel. But it's been two weeks, and it still hurts from time to time. As a pilot, his health is related to the safety of the crew and all passengers on the plane, so he didn't dare to delay anything and rushed to the hospital for an X-ray.
As a result, it was a blessing in disguise. The bruise was actually fine, but the X-ray also showed the steel plate that fixed his lumbar spine. The doctor frowned when he held the X-ray - the X-ray showed a faint shadow on the steel plate, which was suspected to be a crack.
The doctor gave him two options: remove the plate now or remove it later. The advantage of removing the plate is that he won't have to wear it for decades, but the disadvantage is that he will have to go through surgery again and won't be able to fly for two or three months, and then he will have to undergo another physical examination before he can resume flying. But if he doesn't remove it, if the crack becomes real, the plate may break, which will inevitably cause pain, and he will have to undergo surgery to remove it.
Zhou Qichen thought about it over and over again at home all night, then he suddenly thought of the contact person, found his name on WeChat, and asked him a question.
Yu Xiaoyuan responded quite quickly and asked him to send over the new X-ray.
About half an hour later, Yu Xiaoyuan sent two voice messages of more than 50 seconds. Zhou Qichen hesitated for a moment, but still clicked on them. His tone was still the familiar calm and indifferent one he had heard before. He spoke very quickly and professionally, using many medical terms. He was not an orthopedic surgeon, so he asked his colleagues to confirm. In short, they all suggested that he remove the tube immediately.
"You are a pilot, so you should go and take it out. It will be safer without a steel plate in the future. In fact, you should have taken it out long ago. I didn't expect you to wait until now." He said finally.
He was so calm that Zhou Qichen felt cold, and the last sentence even had a tone of reproach. He didn't even think about asking why he delayed. In fact, he was not afraid of the operation itself. He delayed it for so long just because it took three months to recover after the plate removal operation, plus the physical examination, and he couldn't fly for three and a half months, but he wanted to be promoted to captain before the end of the year, so that he could get more year-end bonus. From the first day he switched to civil aviation, he opened an account to save tuition for his sister Zhou Qirui to study abroad, and by the end of the year, he was almost saving enough. It's not that he didn't think about going home to find Zhou Qirui, but the last time really left him with too much shadow and trauma. He always felt indebted to her, and couldn't think of any other way to compensate her. So he originally planned to save enough money and go to her again at the end of the year. By that time, Zhou Qirui would be 18 years old and an adult, and go to college, and she should no longer listen to her parents. Maybe, he could repair their relationship. But if he took a break, he wouldn't be able to catch up by the end of the year, and it would take another year. In fact, he told Yu Xiaoyuan about these things when he confessed that time.