Waiting for You in a City

When Xu Qin got up early to brush her teeth, she found that the toothpaste was used up. She pulled open the medicine cabinet behind the mirror to look for new toothpaste, and saw several boxes of medication, which she had gotten different doctors in various hospital clinics to prescribe for her.

She poked her head to look out of the bathroom, Song Yan had already gone downstairs.

Xu Qin threw the pile of medication into the trash can, and pulled a few paper towels to cover it.

After washing up, she went downstairs. Some of their breakfast had already been served. The fried eggs were golden and round, with a tangy aroma.

Xu Qin took the garbage bag and put it by the door, then went back to the sink to wash her hands, and asked: “It’s Monday the day after tomorrow, are you going to work?”

“En.” Song Yan was filling a bowl with congee, “My sick leave has gone on long enough.”

“Oh.” Xu Qin turned off the faucet and asked, “Then I won’t see you until a month later?”

Hearing this, Song Yan glanced sideways at her. She was wiping her fingers with a paper towel. The surgeon’s hands were white and thin, with slender fingers. Her face was calm, and she wiped her fingers slowly and carefully.

He teased in a low voice: “Living alone, you’re not used to it anymore?”

“No, I always used to live alone.” She tried her best, “These days with you being here, that’s what I’m not used to.” She took the bowl of congee from him, walked to the dining table and sat down.

Song Yan thought it was funny, sat across from her, and said: “Maybe I’ll be back next weekend.”

Xu Qin’s eyes lit up, but her expression remained unchanged, and she asked: “Why do you say that?”

“I received documents at the end of last year, the work system in the squadron was reformed. The previous monthly leave system was replaced by a weekend rotation system.”

Xu Qin asked about the details: “What do you mean by weekend shifts? Are several groups of people on rotating weekend shifts and one group has a day off; or is it as long as there is a weekend, those who are not on duty can leave the camp and take two days off?”

“Recently I haven’t returned to the squadron, so the specifics are still unclear.”

Xu Qin scooped at the congee in her bowl, nodded slightly, no matter if it was one day or two days, she was already satisfied, at least she didn’t have to wait a month.

She said: “It’s pretty humane this way.”

Song Yan stared at her expression, laughed, and said: “There are even more humane ways.”

Xu Qin: “What?”

Song Yan: “Married individuals can go home every night.”

“…..” Xu Qin was dubious, “Really?”

“Really.” Song Yan leaned forward a little, and Xu Qin could feel his imposing manner even from across the table. He stared at her with dark eyes, and coaxed in a low voice: “You think about it, come and rescue me?”

Xu Qin’s face became hot.

Rescue him for what, to let him come back every night to torment her?

She regarded him with a blushing face, and was trying to judge whether he was flirting or serious when he said this, when her cellphone on the chair started to ring.

Xu Qin quickly looked away and went to get her phone.

Song Yan hooked the corners of his lips in a funny way, picked up the fried egg with chopsticks, and put it in his mouth to take a bite.

Xu Qin turned around and picked up the phone. When she saw the words displayed on the screen, her heart skipped a beat. Without looking at Song Yan, she picked up the phone and walked quickly to the balcony to pick it up: “Hello?”

“Qin Qin.” Fu Wenying’s voice was a little low, and she could hear that she was not in a good mood.

Xu Qin’s scalp tingled immediately: “Hey, mom.”

“Are you working again this weekend?”

“En.”

“I asked you to come back last weekend, but you didn’t. This child has grown up, and become more and more disobedient.” Fu Wenying said, “And doesn’t miss their parents anymore.”

Xu Qin walked to the corner of the balcony and said in a low voice: “It’s because I’m a little busy with work.”

“Look, didn’t I say before, this job of yours neglects the family. You don’t have time for blind dates, you don’t have time for love, and in the future you won’t have time for marriage. Qin Qin, you are 28, you are not young anymore, you know?”

Xu Qin turned to look at Song Yan who was indoors, he was eating and ignored her. She looked back at the wintry Wu Fang Street downstairs, bit her lip slightly, and said: “Mom, I can handle my own affairs.”

As soon as these words came out, there was no reply for a few seconds.

She rarely said such things.

The long silence made Xu Qin feel a little uneasy: “……Mom?”

“Qin Qin,” Fu Wenying said again, “Come home tonight, you haven’t been home for a month.”

Xu Qin raised her hand and pressed against her forehead: “Tomorrow, I’m off tomorrow, I will come back first thing in the morning—”

Fu Wenying interrupted: “Come back tonight. If you are so busy that you can’t come home for a month, I’ll call your supervisor and ask for a leave of absence.”

“……” Xu Qin frowned slightly.

There was silence on both ends of the phone.

After a long silence, Xu Qin said: “Understood.”

Fu Wenying hung up the phone.

Xu Qin stood on the balcony, breathed slowly, relaxed the expression on her face, and then opened the French doors and walked back into the house.

Song Yan didn’t ask her about the phone call, only told her to eat breakfast while it was hot.

He didn’t say much, but she understood very well in her heart. She had avoided going back last week, and he knew it.

After entering the elevator, Xu Qin asked: “What will you do these two days?”

Song Yan: “Stay at home and rest.”

“Oh.” Xu Qin nodded, scratched her hand, and said, “My mother urged me to go home again.”

“En.” Song Yan sized her up for a moment, then asked, “Finding it difficult?”

“No.” Xu Qin immediately denied, and when she wanted to say something more, the elevator stopped halfway, and other residents walked in.

Xu Qin pursed her lips and didn’t continue. She waited until she got out of the elevator before talking again: “I almost forgot that I met Zhai Miao in the hospital before. ……Did you tell your family about us?”

“When they asked, I answered with one line. I didn’t say much.”

Xu Qin said: “Zhai Miao’s attitude towards me has changed quite a bit, I thought you told your family a lot.”

Song Yan said briefly: “I didn’t.”

He asked again, “Why, does this make you stressed?”

“No.” She immediately denied it again.

While talking, the two had already walked out of the corridor. Song Yan squinted at the gray January sky, then looked at Xu Qin, and said: “Go to work. Be careful on the road.”

“En, you should rest well at home.”

“Okay.”

Just as Xu Qin was about to leave, she took another step back and said: “By the way, I won’t be coming back tonight. I’m going back to my mother’s house.”

Song Yan took out the cigarette case in his pocket and nodded to express his understanding.

Xu Qin thought about it, and added: “I will come back to find you tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Song Yan said, “I’ll wait for you.”

……

When Xu Qin arrived at the hospital parking lot, there were still five minutes before the start of her shift.

She hurried upstairs, changed her clothes and washed her hands. The nurses were gone, they had probably already gone to their posts.

She quickly tidied herself up and walked out towards the consulting room. Before she got close to the hall, she heard ear-piercing noises making a clamor: “It’s your doctor who performed the operation, return my wife and my son!”

She saw a group of people pulling Doctor Li from another group and pushing and shoving,

A middle-aged woman about fifty years old screamed: “Just giving birth to a child, how could somebody die? Acting as if we haven’t given birth before?! It’s your medical skills that are poor, blindly giving treatment!”

A man in his early thirties beside her also yelled: “My son was alive in my wife’s stomach. He died after coming to your hospital. You killed my son!”

It was the husband of the pregnant woman from the car accident that day. At this moment, a group of family members had gathered to make trouble, and the conflict escalated from pushing and shoving. They began to grab and beat Doctor Li. Several doctors and nurses next to them stepped forward to protect Doctor Li, and the security guards also rushed over to pull them away.

The crowd of onlookers formed a large group.

People who were going to the outpatient clinic to see a doctor passed by the emergency building and also followed the sound, watching curiously.

Seeing there was an audience, the family members who came to make trouble suddenly became more arrogant and increasingly fierce: “Everyone come and see, come and see, this doctor from the Third Hospital killed a pregnant woman, one corpse and two lives!”

The two groups of people pushed and shoved even more fiercely.

Xu Qin put her hands in her pockets and did not get close to the rioting crowd. She walked around them keeping a distance, returned to the office and took out her cellphone to call 110.

Xiao Xi said: “I called two minutes ago, the police will be here soon.”

Xu Qin put away her phone.

Xiao Nan frowned, her tone was already bad: “What are they fussing about?”

Xiao Xi said: “They want the hospital to pay two million.”

Xiao Nan stared: “What?!”

Xiao Bei immediately snorted coldly: “Heh, it’s so easy to make money these days. That day when the patient was brought in, Doctor Li already said that they wouldn’t be able to keep the child alive, and would try their hardest to save the mother. That man and his mother refused regardless of life or death, insisting on telling the doctor to save the child. Doctor Li said on the spot that it was impossible, our hospital had no such precedent of not saving the adult. They saw that Doctor Li wanted to save the mother first so they procrastinated and quarreled. The patient was already in a dangerous condition but they continued to delay treatment. Well, now that the mother is dead, they are claiming Doctor Li made a mistake in the treatment, if the child was saved first, maybe they could have left an heir. Fuck.”

Xiao Bei, who was always polite, was so angry that she swore,

“This kind of person is a rascal. He just wants to extort money from the hospital. After extorting money, he’ll turn around to marry a new wife and have a new son. He won’t remember how this current wife died.”

Xu Qin remained silent, flipping through the medical records.

“In our line of work, the more we work, the more aggrieved we become.” Xiao Nan lowered her head and adjusted the bandages, and said, “This hospital is such a good place. People are sent here, it’s their right that they should be cured. If they aren’t cured, they’ll be paid a huge sum of money. If you’ve already come here, you can’t lose.”

Xiao Dong: “The last time I was suspected of being infected with AIDS, I didn’t leave; but this is really annoying……fortunately, I’m just a nurse, not a doctor, otherwise I would have to bear the brunt of the accident.”

Xu Qin said lightly: “Don’t think too much about it, it will all be resolved according to procedures. Doctor Li didn’t do anything wrong, so nothing will happen.”

Xiao Bei: “Doctor Xu, you don’t understand. That’s how things may go, but I can’t stand people making trouble. I’m afraid that the hospital will pay compensation in order to settle the matter. It would be really letting that disgusting man off lightly.”

Xiao Xi: “Seeing this kind of man, I don’t have any hope for marriage. What kind of marriage is this?”

“There are good men and bad men.” Xiao Nan, who was currently in love, was not yet in despair, “But to be honest, you must be cautious when you get married, and you have to choose a good man. Otherwise, it’s better not to get married.”

As Xu Qin listened, she suddenly remembered those dark eyes.

You think about it, come and rescue me?

At this time, the siren sounded and the police came. They don’t know whether it was mediation or the people were taken away, the emergency building finally returned to a quiet state.

Except for this episode, the rest of the day’s work would be as busy as usual, nothing different.

Xu Qin had a minor operation before getting off work, and was half an hour later than usual. There was another traffic jam on the road, and it was already dark when she returned to the Meng family house.

Meng Huaijin and Fu Wenying had been waiting for her to eat dinner.

Meng Yanchen wasn’t there, she didn’t see his car when she was outside.

“Yanchen came back last week, but you didn’t; you came back this week, but he isn’t here again. Was this planned or something?” Fu Wenying said.

Xu Qin wiped her hands with a hot towel, but said nothing.

“Qin Qin, come, have a bowl of soup. I haven’t seen you for a month. Let dad look at you. No matter how I look, it feels like you’ve gotten thinner.” Meng Huaijin scooped up a bowl of scallop soup for her, “Drink more.”

“Thank you Dad.”

“You and your brother haven’t seen each other for a long time, right?” Fu Wenying asked.

Xu Qin drank the soup and responded vaguely.

Fu Wenying folded the napkin, thoughtful: “Recently, I always feel that child has something on his mind and looks depressed. Qin Qin, ask him about it when you have time. I ask, but he is always melancholy and doesn’t answer.”

“En.” Xu Qin ate silently.

Fu Wenying looked at her for a long while, then sighed: “The two children both don’t like to talk, and the house is always deserted. You all should start families earlier. If you have children, the house will be lively.”

When Xu Qin heard this, the alarm bell rang in her mind, and after a moment of deliberation, when she finally wanted to say something,

Fu Wenying said: “Which days will you be off next week? Last time your Auntie Ge came over, she said that her nephew was comparable to you, and she was also worried about finding him a girlfriend. It seems like he likes your type. Mom has seen his picture, and he looks pretty good. I’ll make an appointment for you to meet each other.”

Xu Qin didn’t make a sound.

Fu Wenying was picking up vegetables, but seeing no response, she turned to look at her: “Qin Qin?”

Xu Qin slowly put down her chopsticks: “Mom, I have a boyfriend.”

Surprise flashed across the faces of the parents.

Fu Wenying put the vegetables into the bowl, lowered her eyes, pondered for a moment, and asked, “How long have you been together?”

“More than ten days.”

“En.” Fu Wenying nodded slightly, with a calm complexion, and judged that this was just a simple and easy-to-clean up little fling, not worth mentioning, “Then separate as soon as possible.”

Xu Qin said: “I have known him for more than ten years.”

This time, Fu Wenying turned her eyes over, showing a little more vigilance.

Xu Qin took a breath: “It’s my boyfriend from high school.”

Fu Wenying raised her eyebrows slightly, as if recalling: “Song……”

“Song Yan.”

“En, what is he doing now?” Mother asked leisurely.

Xu Qin lowered her voice slightly: “Firefighter.”

Fu Wenying’s face was full of turmoil, as expected, she deliberately asked only to wake her up.

She picked up the chopsticks again, and said with a final word: “That’s not allowed, neither your father nor I will agree.”