Waiting for You in a City

Early morning deep in winter, the temperature was extremely low.

Xu Qin sat by the road beside the ruins, lowered her head and wiped the blood on her wrist with a tissue.

Footsteps sounded from the ruins behind her, Song Yan stepped down, the orange trousers stopped in her line of sight. She lowered her head, and wiped her hands.

He stood still for a second or two, and finally sat down on a broken rock opposite her.

Xu Qin lowered her head and did not raise it.

Song Yan didn’t look at her much more. After a short glance, he looked away, took out a cigarette and lit it.

The north wind blew the pale smoke, lingering between the two.

They didn’t say anything, just sat there in silence.

In the eastern sky, the light from a corner of the sun seeped out from the morning glow, a ray of golden and weak sunlight penetrated the haze and sprinkled lightly over the ruins.

Firefighters lay or sat on the side of the road, taking a moment to catch their breath.

The cigarette in Song Yan’s hand had been burned out, but Xu Qin was still wiping her hands repeatedly, making her wrists turn red.

Song Yan’s eyes turned back to her, and after a while, he said: “Stop wiping it.”

Xu Qin’s hand stopped for a second and wanted to wipe it again. Song Yan said: “It’s already clean.”

Xu Qin didn’t move for a moment, clutching the piece of tissue tightly.

Song Yan didn’t say much, put out the cigarette, and stood up: “Return to the team!”

The soldiers who had just lay down to rest immediately sat up again, and they had to rush to the next location.

Song Yan had just taken one step, the ground suddenly shook slightly, Song Yan stopped in an instant, turned around and stretched out his hand towards Xu Qin, but stopped when he was about to grab her shoulder.

He stood still for a second, and the aftershock passed.

He withdrew his hand, turned and left.

Xu Qin raised her head to look at Song Yan, the morning light shone on his orange rescue suit.

He walked among the team members, said a few words, and a group left. However, after walking away for a few steps, Song Yan suddenly stopped, bowed at his waist, and vomited out a puddle of clear water.

Xu Qin watched and stood up unconsciously.

Jiang Yi, Li Cheng and the others hurried to help, Song Yan waved his hands before straightening up, then bent down suddenly again, and spit out some more clear water.

His silhouette was unusually thin and painful. It was because of exhaustion.

Xu Qin was still observing, but Song Yan seemed to be fine, and the men continued on their way.

Xu Qin suddenly shouted: “Wait a minute!”

The person at the other end stopped, Xu Qin hurried to the car, and found a few bottles of water and a few bags of compressed biscuits, which were issued by the medical center that morning. At present, there was a shortage of supplies, and people on the front line weren’t able to drink water or eat food.

Xu Qin ran over with the water and biscuits, stuffed them into the pocket of Song Yan’s rescue suit, and instructed: “Remember to drink water. Eat something. Sleep for ten minutes every few hours. If you continue like this, something bad will happen. It may be serious, cause sudden death.” She continued to hand the supplies out to the other firefighters, “The same goes for all of you.”

Song Yan looked at the biscuits and water he received, then at Xu Qin, and said: “Thank you.”

Xu Qin shook her head.

Song Yan: “I’m going.”

Xu Qin didn’t move her gaze, and when he passed by, she said softly: “Be careful.”

His figure flashed in her peripheral vision.

The north wind blew bits of paper and rolled them around in the middle of the deserted street.

Xu Qin stood for a while, then turned around, and saw a row of firefighters walking away from her. The backs of those tall men were a little dirty and desolate, but the rising sun was reflected in the crowd, glowing orange, it melted with their rescue suits into a single color.

……

Xu Qin went back to the emergency center and went to see the baby first. Everything was normal with the baby and under the supervision of doctors and nurses.

After the news came out, some media came to cover and report, crowding the ward. Several new mothers who were still breastfeeding came to the hospital and volunteered to breastfeed the baby.

Xu Qin didn’t look at the child up close, but only glanced from afar. The baby was small and had already been cleaned, lying in a warm incubator and sleeping sweetly. The slight aftershock did not wake him up, and the child slept soundly.

On the side, the media carefully took pictures for fear of waking him up.

The person in charge of the Liaison Department asked Xu Qin to also be interviewed, but Xu Qin refused.

Then, between work, Xiao Bei came over with her mobile phone to show Xu Qin. In the news, the reporter looked compassionate and said: “The one who rescued this child was Xu Qin, a surgeon from the Third Military Hospital of Di City. Because Doctor Xu is still fighting on the front line of the disaster relief work, we were unable to interview her, but we will continue to pay attention to the follow-up developments……”

An ID photo of Xu Qin in a white coat was displayed in the corner of the video.

Xu Qin: “……”

Xiao Bei: “People all over the country are watching. Doctor Xu, you are famous now, everyone is thanking you.”

Xu Qin: “Record the case of the injured patient just now.”

Xiao Bei: “Oh……”

After Xu Qin finished prescribing the medication list, she suddenly asked: “Xiao Bei.”

“Eh?”

Xu Qin: “Soldiers who disobey orders will be punished?”

“Of course they will.”

“En.” Xu Qin lowered her head and continued to work.

“Why are you asking that suddenly?”

“It’s nothing.” Xu Qin said again, “There are so many orphans from this earthquake, have you heard how they will be adopted?”

Xiao Bei: “It’s hard to say right now. There are many relatives who are separated and can’t be contacted. It will take a few days to confirm whether they are orphans. But for adoption, the Red Cross will handle it according to the official procedures.”

Xu Qin: “En.”

It was another busy day. Xu Qin was at the emergency center in the morning and at various sites in the afternoon. Except for sleeping against the wall around noon for about ten minutes, she never took a break.

At night, soldiers began to appear among the wounded to be treated.

Some were injured by stone slabs during the rescue process, and some were so tired that they passed out. There was a PLA rescuer in the village who carried an injured villager on their back for more than ten hours on the mountain road. When they arrived at the emergency center, they fell straight down.

Xiao Nan sighed softly: “I don’t know how that team of firefighters is doing.” She was very concerned about Tong Ming, and all the doctors and nurses knew about it.

Xiao Xi comforted: “It will be fine, they are very strong. Now that the electricity is repaired, they can continue to store power and use equipment. They won’t have to rely on carrying people like last night. Don’t worry, it’ll be okay.”

“Hey, I just heard some people from the PLA say that firefighters are actually the most professional in rescuing people from the ruins.” Xiao Dong interjected, “I didn’t know before, those heartbeat life detectors, demolition machinery, and concrete cutters, a bunch of advanced and powerful equipment were brought by the firefighters.”

Xu Qin listened to them, but did not participate. It was just that when she heard that the doctor in the general surgery department was performing an operation on a soldier who was so tired that his omentum perforated, she remembered the way Song Yan bowed his waist and vomited in pain this morning.

For some reason, this image lingered in Xu Qin’s mind, like some kind of hidden omen.

But she still tried her best to get rid of distracting thoughts in her mind, and soon prepared for the next operation.

The operation had just started, the operating table and shelves shook slightly. Xu Qin and the nurses were used to such small-scale aftershocks and didn’t mind them.

But an hour later, when the operation was about to end, the ground shook again, the operating table shook violently, and the entire makeshift operating room trembled.

The plates, scalpels, and forceps on the shelf rattled eerily.

The intensity of the aftershock this time was not small.

Xu Qin’s face remained unchanged, calmly switching between the scalpel, hemostat, and suture. She led the nurses to finish the operation in an orderly manner.

She was not distracted at all, nor was she aware that at that moment, not far from her, a building collapsed for the second time.

After the patient was sent to the ward, several nurses were covered in cold sweat, discussing that they had never performed surgery under an earthquake.

Xu Qin regained her composure, but indescribably, a haze began to cast over her heart.

When passing the main hall, there was a screeching sound of brakes outside. In the night, a van stopped, the door opened, and two people in orange rescue suits fell out of the car. The driver jumped down to help.

Xu Qin already had a bad premonition in her heart, and she strode over to meet them, but it was Xiao Ge and Tong Ming. Xiao Ge’s forehead was bleeding, and he was holding Tong Ming, whose leg was seriously injured and his expression was distorted.

Xu Qin: “What’s happened?”

“Aftershocks.” Xiao Ge said, “We happened to be in a dilapidated house.”

Xu Qin was taken aback, and asked almost reflexively: “Where is Song Yan?”

“I don’t know, I was close to Tong Ming. Seeing that he was seriously injured, I sent him over first.”

Xu Qin’s palms felt cold, and her mind went blank for a second. When she came back to her senses, she immediately helped the two of them in and handed them over to the orthopedic surgeon. After she asked about the location of the incident, she rushed out with the medical kit on her back.

The cold wind in the middle of the night poured into Xu Qin’s heart and lungs from her mouth and nose. When she was almost at the collapsed movie theater, a shout came from the front: “Help lift it! People are crushed below!”

Xu Qin gritted her teeth and quickened her pace, and saw another group of people on the ruins, including firefighters and soldiers.

Xu Qin’s heart was throbbing in her chest, and she gasped for breath. She searched the crowd, saw Yang Chi, rushed up and grabbed him: “Where is Song Yan?” She didn’t realize that her voice was trembling like a ghost.

“Below.”

Xu Qin looked in the direction he pointed and was hit in the face with shock. A few rescuers blocked her view, all she could see was a man’s hand protruding from the ruins, fingers curled weakly. The original wounds and bloodstains on the hand were buried by the dust, like a hand made of clay, blending with the broken surroundings.

Xu Qin’s heart turned from blood red to gray at that moment, she recognized it, she knew it was him.

She squatted down numbly, trembling, and gently held his hand, which was cold and rough, as if there was no warmth.

After ten years, she would never have thought that holding his hand again would be in this situation.

The people in front of her dispersed, and she saw Song Yan in an instant. His eyes were closed and his face was covered with blood lying under the ruins. A beam pressed against his chest. The dust and gravel buried him completely, and she couldn’t even see the color of his clothes.

He was like a dead man buried in the dust.

Xu Qin’s eyes stung, and a line of tears welled up. Her lips parted, trying to shout something, but she couldn’t pronounce a single syllable. She slammed her mouth tightly, turned around and ran down the ruins.

She shrunk her shoulders and stood beside the ruins, without screaming, crying, urging, or venting. She just bit her finger fiercely to calm herself down and restrain all her emotions. Do not move around, shout, or affect the rescue process.

She stared unblinking at the men, as they sliced ​​through the beam with their tools, as they moved the wall away from his legs, as they lifted him out of the dust.

The moment he was moved under the ruins, she couldn’t hold back anymore, and rushed forward to wipe the dust off his face, to confirm his life or death. But before her fingertips could touch him, she was knocked aside.

His pale lips flashed past.

Several soldiers quickly carried him into the car and drove towards the hospital.

Couldn’t blame them, no one knew the relationship between this woman and him.

The rest of the people quickly continued to rescue others, and no one cared about Xu Qin’s presence.

Here, life, or death, were all so common. It was so common that people couldn’t get used to it, but also couldn’t accept it.

……

At that moment, in the town high school located in the south of Wangxiang, the officers and soldiers under Lu Jie had just escaped the violent aftershock. After a short pause, they continued to dig out people under the collapsed teaching building.

In the past day and two nights, they rescued 96 students, but also dug up more than a dozen corpses.

When the layers of cement boards and walls were lifted and the dead faces of the young men were buried in the dust underneath, the soldiers’ eyes were red, they carried them out one by one and put them away with tears in their eyes.

Lu Jie squatted aside, staring at the ground with his head down. When the cold wind blew late at night, a piece of white paper was blown in front of his eyes.

It was a torn student ID card, torn off just where the photo was, it was the smiling face of a female student.

Lu Jie picked up the photo, looked at it, and suddenly remembered a person.

Suddenly, his eyes were red.

“I remember.” He murmured.

The soldier beside him turned his head: “What?”

“I remembered where I had seen the surgeon.”

His classmate, his comrade-in-arms, had always carried such a photo of a female student during his lifetime.

To this day, he still remembers the young man named Song Yan saying: “When I become a proper human being, I will go back and marry her.”