When Lin Xiao pushed open the door of Zhou Qichen's ward, he suddenly felt as if it was yesterday. She still had her neat short hair and the silver ring on her finger. As usual, she quietly pushed open his door, as if she was afraid to disturb his rest. The only difference was probably that Lin Xiao was promoted to head nurse. It was not her turn to be on duty today. She knew that Zhou Qichen had just had an operation to remove the fixed steel plate, so she came here specially to chat with Zhou Qichen.
Zhou Qichen also told her about the whole story with Lang Feng. Lin Xiao felt it was a pity and tried to persuade Zhou Qichen to have a deeper chat with Lang Feng. As if it was planned, Lin Xiao said the same thing as when Fang Hao came to see him before: "Doctor Yu is Doctor Yu, not everyone is him, and you... shouldn't speculate about everyone like this."
Zhou Qichen shook his head and said, "They are all very rational people."
Lin Xiao didn't say anything. After a while, she sat down, approached Zhou Qichen's bedside, and poured him a glass of water, just like she did three years ago. "No regrets?"
Her question hit the nail on the head. She knew him too well.
"It's better to suffer a short pain than a long one." He did not respond to the question directly, but tilted his head back and drank a whole glass of water.
Lin Xiao said: "How can you be sure that it is Changtong? Maybe it is Changle."
"That's what I told myself at the time," he said. "I've fallen in love with my sex partner before, and I've been open with my heart before. I've tried everything, but nothing worked."
What he said was, of course, his confession to Yu Xiaoyuan two years ago. At that time, Lin Xiao was still working in Beijing. On the first day after Zhou Qichen moved, he called her to a bar. After receiving his call, Lin Xiao guessed that it was probably true.
"Xu Weiran is still waiting for me at home." Lin Xiao said on the phone at that time.
Zhou Qichen just said to her: "Ask her to come along."
That night, in a quiet corner of a relatively unknown bar, the resident singer sang innocent folk songs, and two girls in love accompanied a lonely man to drink in the corner all night. After drinking, Zhou Qichen got up to pay the bill, and then took out several hundred-yuan bills from his wallet and left them in the guitar case of the resident female singer.
Lin Xiao teased him for spending money lavishly and said: I won’t save money for Arui’s tuition.
Zhou Qichen was about 60% drunk, smoking with Xu Weiran outside the bar. He smoked two cigarettes before he spoke. He said, I want to be unrestrained for once. Lin Xiao's eyes were red again because of what he said, and Xu Weiran noticed it. She silently reached out and put her arm around Lin Xiao's shoulders.
The scene in her memory overlapped with the one in front of her. Lin Xiao felt sorry for his situation, but she still tried to persuade him: "I didn't hear much from you, but I think Evan is a very gentle and kind person."
Zhou Qichen didn't say anything. He habitually swiped open his phone and took a look, then clicked on the call log. The last call between them was still hanging on the homepage. Lang Feng's number was an international number starting with +31. The call time was 5:29 pm almost two weeks ago, and the call lasted 4 and a half minutes. He didn't save the number because he knew they probably wouldn't contact each other often in the future.
He knew that Lin Xiao was right. However, Yu Xiaoyuan was also a kind person. His kindness was reflected in not getting entangled, not dragging his feet, never betraying him, and never giving him false hope. The two of them separated decently and neatly. Lang Feng was indeed kind, and he knew it in his heart. However, not all kindness can overcome all obstacles. What he needed was more than kindness. He needed to be unreserved.