Waiting for You in a City

Before things got out of hand, Song Yan spoke in time and said: “This is Doctor Xu.”

Lu Jie stopped immediately, and as soon as he calmed down and thought about it, he realized that he was being rude.

Lu Jie was thinking about how to turn things around, when someone in the corridor shouted, “Doctor Xu?”

Xu Qin put her hands in her pockets: “I’m leaving first.” Glancing at Song Yan, “You have a good rest, don’t talk too much.”

Song Yan: “……”

Lu Jie: “……”

After Xu Qin left, Lu Jie touched his nose: “I was too excited.”

Song Yan put the matter aside and said: “You youngster, long time no see.”

Lu Jie paused when he heard those words, his eyes were a little moist, and he said: “I always thought you were dead, who could have thought that we could meet in this place. Back then……” He got stuck in the middle of his sentence, that disgraceful and obscure past should not be mentioned here and now,

“You—”

He looked Song Yan up and down, and changed the subject, “What happened? Are you here for disaster relief? Are you seriously injured?”

Song Yan was obviously more steady and calmer than him. He looked at him with a light smile and replied: “Aftershock, was hit by a beam.”

“It’s not serious, is it?”

“Won’t die.”

Lu Jie nodded and asked casually: “Which unit are you in?”

“Firefightering.” Song Yan said.

Lu Jie looked a little surprised, hesitated for a second or two, and asked: “Back then—” He asked half of the question, depending on Song Yan’s attitude.

Song Yan pulled up the corners of his lips and smiled, shaking his head calmly: “It’s in the past.”

He didn’t want to mention it, so Lu Jie put it aside. Men were all face-saving, and there were scars that they didn’t want to reveal even to those who were closest to them.

Lu Jie glanced at the door. The direction Xu Qin had left in was empty. For a moment, he almost blurted out: The one just now, has also passed away?

But he didn’t.

Perhaps he vaguely realized that this question would be a stab.

The two were really close back then, and now they were really happy to see each other, but what had been lingering in these years inbetween was a real helplessness.

Lu Jie sighed, suddenly a little sad, for their respective fates.

He looked back at Song Yan.

On the hospital bed, Song Yan was staring at his military uniform, when he was spotted and asked: “Armored troops?”

Lu Jie: “Yep.”

Song Yan smiled: “You look good in this outfit, kid.”

Lu Jie also laughed, a bit sadly.

There was not much time left for them to reminisce, the walkie-talkie on his waist rang, and his superior issued an order.

Lu Jie had to go: “Give me your contact information.”

Song Yan listed his department and phone number. Lu Jie also exchanged information: “Let’s get in touch later. Be sure to.”

Song Yan: “Ok.”

Lu Jie left in a hurry, and the ward returned to silence.

Song Yan was lying on the bed, holding the warm glass bottle in his hand. He stared at the ceiling, his eyes empty. Lu Jie’s sudden appearance opened a small hole in his sealed past.

His body was still painful and weak, and he was groggy. When he fell into drowsiness again, his thoughts flew away inadvertently.

This earthquake, it seemed that soldiers from all walks of life had come, airborne troops, special forces, artillery, armored troops……

In between saving lives, he would unconsciously pay attention to other soldiers passing by.

After all, although he never recalled those days, he never forgot them for a moment.

At that time, halfway through military school, he voluntarily applied to join the army for training. The teacher said that he had ambition and good notions, but when he learned that he was going to the border special forces, he persuaded him that if he wanted to be promoted, it was enough to go to the normal army to get gold medals. The border was too bitter, not a place for people to go.

At that time, he was too ambitious and dreamed of getting ahead, but just looking at her photo would drive him crazy.

What he wanted was not gold medals, but real gold.

Only when he went there did he realize that it was really not a place for people to stay.

18 hours of daily training was just the basics, 30 kilometers of carrying loads back and forth was just a piece of cake, 13 hours of carrying logs and marching, 10 kilometers of wading in mud, no matter how dirty or smelly the water was poured into his nose, he would not make a sound, the whole body was covered with wrinkled skin and had to continue the next day.

Not to mention that extreme wrestling caused them to be beaten up one by one worse than black market wrestling. The high-tower rappelling high-altitude skydiving instructors directly kicked people down with their feet, and endurance trainers were thrown into the water with their hands and feet tied. During break, they played beat the drum, pass the flower1 with real hand grenades. Bricks were also really thrown at people’s heads.

Cold, fever, scraped skin, swollen and sprained, were not injuries, you would still be tortured to death when you went into battle.

All the young men were tortured until they screamed all day long, crying for their father and mother, cursing their ancestors and forebears, all kinds of dirty words were thrown out.

Song Yan didn’t know how he survived those days, everyday he felt that every minute and every second was pulled infinitely painfully long, like he was a ghost in hell being fried and tormented.

One time, during an anti-torture training, the instructor forced him to confess, whipped him, hit him with an electric baton, and injected a syringe of poison into his arm. He suffocated and convulsed until he felt living was worse than death. He really couldn’t take it anymore, he really cried, howled, sobbed until his eyes were bleeding.

In the end, he barely survived. Became one of the best in that batch of cadets.

If he hadn’t thought about her……

If it wasn’t for going back to see her, going to see her openly……

The sun shone through the window and sprinkled on Song Yan’s sleeping face.

How young he was that year.

Glory and sweat, ambition and aspirations were still vivid in his eyes; but in this world, they were just a grain of sand that had disappeared in time, no one knew, and no one remembered.

……

In the next few days, Wangxiang’s disaster relief work was still heavy, and Song Yan and Xu Qin didn’t speak again. Either he was asleep when she came; or she was busy when he was awake.

Once when she came, he was awake, but the doctor was examining him. She stood outside the door and waited for a while, but before the doctor could leave, she left first because of urgent matters.

The two only looked at each other from a distance.

On the contrary, the glass bottle in his hand was always hot, exchange after exchange.

After being able to get out of bed, the doctor asked Song Yan to walk around the medical center from time to time. Once passing the main hall, he saw Xu Qin sitting on the ground, falling asleep with her head against the wall.

Before he approached, a wounded patient was brought in from outside. She was awakened with a start, and immediately got up to receive him.

Most of the time, what he saw was Xu Qin’s figure in a hurry.

Song Yan also went to see Xiao Ge and the others, everyone had lost weight, even the dog. At that time, the disaster relief was coming to an end, and everyone had time for a short rest.

Li Cheng, that brat, still has the mind to browse social media, watch the touching events of the earthquake reported by the media, and be moved to tears.

Xiao Ge said: “The baby we saved that day became famous, and so did Doctor Xu who saved him.”

All the reports were about the doctor and the baby, the attention paid to the firefighters was much weaker, but everyone didn’t mind.

Song Yan asked: “Where is the child’s father?”

“He’s still here, he’s a soldier. He’s also doing disaster relief this time. He was carrying out orders when the accident happened, so he couldn’t save his wife. Look.” Li Cheng showed him the video. On the screen, a man in camouflage uniform was holding the newborn baby, crying bitterly. The reporters on the side were also wiping away tears.

Everyone sighed.

Song Yan was silent, and took out a cigarette from his cigarette case. Before he could put it in his mouth, Tong Ming snatched it: “Your health is not good yet, you can’t smoke.”

Song Yan stared at him intently, and when Tong Ming was about to return the cigarette in fear, Song Yan let it go: “Fine.”

Several people exchanged glances.

Song Yan: “What?”

Li Cheng: “Captain, your temper seems to be better after the operation.”

“……” Song Yan asked, “Where did you get this phone? You asked for it from a fellow villager? Be careful, I’ll punish you to death.”

Li Cheng raised his hand: “That nurse Xiao Nan lent it to Tong Ming.”

The group of men jeered: “Oh——”

Tong Ming blushed.

Song Yan glanced around, understood, and smiled slightly.

Yang Chi approached him: “Ge, when you were buried that day, Doctor Xu was there.”

Song Yan was slightly surprised: “What was she doing there?”

“Looking for you. She looked like she was crying.”

Xiao Ge chimed in: “I ran into her right at the gate of the hospital,  she was very anxious.”

Song Yan didn’t say anything, he had something on his mind.

Yang Chi: “Ge, she seems to like you.”

Tong Ming also whispered: “Firefighters and doctors are a good match.”

Song Yan raised his eyelids, his gaze was sharp, and all the boys shut their mouths tightly.

He bid farewell to Xiao Ge and the others, and returned to the medical center.

Song Yan got a glass of water by the water dispenser, he was thinking, and was drinking water while standing in the corridor, when footsteps came from the side.

He turned his head, just in time to see Xu Qin rubbing her forehead and walking into the corridor.

He was just thinking about her and she appeared, Song Yan was also taken aback for a moment.

She stood there rubbing her eyes, looking very sleepy, and didn’t see him. After rubbing her eyes, she lowered her hands, lowered her head slowly, stood there for half a second, and suddenly fell forward lightly.

Song Yan was startled, like a conditioned reflex, quickly strode over to block her.

Her head fell forward onto his shoulder and she fell asleep.

He opened his arms slightly, and stood there holding a glass of water, neither moving in nor retreating. His whole body couldn’t move, except his Adam’s apple rolled up and down.

He glanced down at her head, and moved his hands idly, wanting to pat her, but before his hands came close, she suddenly woke up, and immediately stood up straight and looked around, thinking that someone had called her to work.

In a blink of an eye, she saw Song Yan’s face so close, she was startled and hurriedly took a step back. With this retreat, she knocked over the water glass in his hand, and the water spilled out. She immediately wiped his sleeves with a tissue, flustered.

Song Yan lowered his head, watched her movements calmly, and when she recovered from the shock, asked: “Tired?”

“Not too bad.” Xu Qin said, couldn’t help covering her mouth, turned around and yawned. When she turned around, her eyes were misty and looked at him.

Those eyes were black and bright, and because they contained water, they seemed a little ignorant and innocent.

Song Yan: “……”

His gaze moved away briefly and then fell back on her face: “Let’s go for a walk.”

She nodded and wiped her face: “Get some air to clear my head.”

Next to the medical center was the school playground, there were rows of resettlement houses for the victims, and the rooms were completely dark. Late at night, everyone was asleep.

There was also a large open space next to the playground. Hundreds of soldiers were neatly lined up, covered with uniform camouflage quilts, sleeping in the wind and dew.

There were not many resettlement houses, so they could only sleep on the ground. The soldiers were exhausted and didn’t care. They huddled under the quilt and covered their heads, as if they couldn’t feel the north wind at night.

Xu Qin looked, and felt a little touched in her heart.

A team of special forces stopped work and passed by.

Song Yan looked back at them unconsciously. Xu Qin happened to bump into him, and somehow felt that the look in his eyes when he turned his head was too complicated and difficult to distinguish, but she couldn’t figure it out on the spot.

She asked, “When did you become a soldier?”

“Eighteen or nineteen years old.” Song Yan replied.

“Oh.” She didn’t think anything was unusual, and said, “I heard people say that the things that are universally and fatally attractive to men besides cars, are military uniforms.”

Song Yan smiled: “You could say that.” After a short pause, “Actually, there is one more thing.”

“What?” Xu Qin turned to look at him.

“Women.”

Xu Qin: “……”

The wind in the winter night was blowing, clear and refreshing. What was rare was that there was a full moon in the sky, and the moonlight was bright and peaceful.

The two didn’t speak for a while.

Xu Qin looked at the moon, thought for a long time, and finally decided to say something, but when she opened her mouth, her words changed:

“Wangxiang used to be beautiful.”

“En.”

“We came here for a spring outing, remember?”

“I remember.”

He remembered everything with her.

The most profound memory of that spring outing was that they walked across a long suspension bridge. He intentionally frightened her by shaking the high suspension bridge, like swinging on a swing. She screamed while clutching at the chain, her skirt fluttering like a flower in the wind. Looking back at this moment, he still remembered that the sun shone on the water at that time, shimmering like a silver mirror.

Xu Qin looked at the ruins around them: “But now it’s like this.”

Song Yan said: “It will be rebuilt.”

She froze for a moment, turned to look at him, and he looked at her. At night, his eyes were dark, deep, and still.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she suddenly wanted to say something, but before she could speak, she saw Xiao Xi running out of the medical center.

“I have to go.”

“Go.”

Another hasty farewell.

Xu Qin walked quickly to the entrance, turned around, and saw Song Yan was still under the moonlight, her heart moved again and she couldn’t suppress it anymore. She took a breath, and suddenly shouted: “Song Yan!”

There was a soft echo over the empty town.

He looked back at her.

She ran towards him.

She ran to him, her cheeks were flushed, she was panting, her eyes were bright: “Song Yan.”

He looked at her: “En?”

“Let’s meet again when we return to Di City.”

“Okay.” He answered.

1beat the drum, pass the flower – game in which players sit in a circle passing a flower around while a drum is beaten, when the drumbeat stops, the player holding the flower must sing a song, answer a question, or drink a glass of wine etc.