Waiting for You in a City

Xu Qin had been following the news of the accident in Liu Ye Tan Bar all day long.

She hadn’t contacted Song Yan since they parted at the hospital in the early morning, knowing that the situation on his side was tense.

The civilian casualties caused by the fire in the bar originally would not have triggered a large-scale discussion. However, the explosion, the sacrifice of firefighters, and the fact that the owner of the bar was a rich second generation made this matter continue to heat up.

On social media, many netizens felt sorry for the dead firefighter, and at the same time questioned why the bar exploded and whether there were loopholes in management and command. Among them were some conspiracy theories, attacking the government and public officials.

Xu Qin was not interested in these remarks at all, and only waited for the official announcement.

As soon as the news came out, she would know what was going on with Song Yan, whether it was good or bad.

But there was still no movement after noon, and she felt too impatient, how could it be that fast.

Xiao Nan’s face was also gloomy. She asked for leave in the morning to visit Tong Ming in the Fifth People’s Hospital. When she came back, her eyes were as red as a rabbit.

Tong Ming suffered multiple burns and a ruptured spleen. After waking up from a coma, he was in excruciating pain. Xiao Nan was so distressed, when she came back and talked to Xu Qin and the others, tears flowed down her cheeks.

But she also looked for the news, and seeing someone questioning why the firefighters went to fight the fire but people still burned to death, and whether it was because the police were too late to rescue them, Xiao Nan was so angry that she burst into tears.

Xiao Bei sighed while comforting her: “This relationship you are in, a nurse and a firefighter. Seeing that there are always people in danger, you are always scolded. The degree of hardship can only be compared to a family with a doctor and a policeman. But last time with that aggrieved party I didn’t see you getting this angry.”

Xiao Nan angrily said, “It doesn’t matter if they scold me, it’s not worth it for Tong Ming…” As she spoke, tears welled up again, “I don’t know what happened with this explosion, but I’m afraid that they will be blamed in the final investigation and they will be injured and blamed…”

Xu Qin said lightly: “Why do you care about those words on the Internet? This matter will develop for the better, don’t worry.”

After she finished speaking, several nurses looked at each other quietly.

Xiao Xi whispered: “Doctor Xu actually comforted someone? Did I hear right?”

Xu Qin: “If you have time to chat here, put your mind on work.”

“Okay.”

Xu Qin temporarily put the fire incident to the back of her mind, Song Yan said that he would handle it well and would not disappoint her.

She believed it.

Today was Friday, tomorrow would be Saturday. But after something like this happened, it was impossible for Song Yan to take a vacation.

It was not easy to endure until the weekend, and they couldn’t see each other once again.

Xu Qin stood by the faucet to wash her hands and sighed inadvertently. After washing, she took a paper towel to dry her hands, put her hands in her pockets, and walked back to the office.

At this moment, the emergency room was not busy, there was even a rare silence.

The afternoon sun spilled in from outside the door and spread over the floor.

It was rare for the emergency room to be so quiet, so the quarrel ahead was very clear, coming from the diagnosis room of Doctor Dong, who was next door to her.

A man roared: “How are you a doctor? I’m in pain now. I told you to prescribe me Dolantin!”

Xu Qin approached and took a look into the diagnosis room. A man with a thin figure was trembling all over: “Will you prescribe me medicine or not!”

Doctor Dong was a newly transferred intern doctor with little experience and a thin skin. The other party looked fierce, so she showed some timidity, but still insisted: “I can’t prescribe it for you. I don’t know what your symptoms are—”

“I told you my head hurts, can’t you understand!” The man lost control of his emotions and slammed the table, “Give me Dolantin!”

Several doctors and nurses followed the noise and walked over.

Xu Qin squinted her eyes to observe the impetuous man for a while, then whispered to the nurse who came over: “He has a drug abuse problem, call the security guard.”

The nurse was taken aback, and hurried to find someone.

“Give me Dolantin!” the man growled and smashed the table again.

Doctor Dong’s face paled: “Calm down! I have to find out what your symptoms are—”

“Will you give it or not?” The man suddenly took out a knife, Doctor Dong screamed and backed away, her feet trembling against the cabinet.

The man’s eyes were red, he rushed to look through the drawers in the office, throwing all the paper files out.

Seeing the nurse leading the security guard running towards them, Xu Qin put her hands in her pockets and was about to leave.

But Dr. Dong panicked, saw Xu Qin at the door, and called for help: “Doctor Xu!”

The man was addicted to drugs, couldn’t find the medicine, and was about to go crazy, when he turned his head and saw Xu Qin, his expression twitched, and he rushed towards her with a distorted face: “Give me Dolantin!”

Xu Qin turned and ran.

But the other party was too fast, grabbed her shoulders and twisted her back. Xu Qin knew that it would be bad if she was held hostage, so she opened his arm with all her strength. The moment she lifted her hand, she saw the light against the knife flash from the corner of her eye, and her hand passed by the silver light.

Xu Qin was startled, a faint chill on her wrist instantly swept across her whole body like an ice spell.

The knife cut her right wrist!

At the same time, several security guards rushed over and pinned the man to the ground.

In the midst of the hustle and bustle, there was a cold reprimand: “Immediately find Director Guo of the Neurology Department!”

Everyone turned their heads, Xu Qin clutched her bleeding right wrist, her face was pale, and she shouted, “Find Director Guo!”

When several doctors saw that she had injured her right hand, they were all frightened and ran over immediately. Some made calls, and the others escorted her to the operating room.

……

……

Xu Qin lay on the table, with her forehead resting on her left forearm, her face was covered with cold sweat, she didn’t say a single word.

Director Guo diagnosed her injury. The wound was not deep and did not hurt the nerves in her hand, so it would not affect her future work.

She didn’t know whether it was because she had post-traumatic stress or was frightened, but she refused to use anesthetics. Director Guo allowed it, it was only a minor injury, and the pain would not be unbearable.

In fact, if this injury was on another area, it would just be a straightforward cut, but when placed on a surgeon’s wrist, it was unavoidable to be shocked.

Director Guo finished treating and explained: “It’s winter now, it’s dry, so it’s not easy to get inflammation. But to be on the safe side, you still have to be careful and take some anti-inflammatory drugs. Don’t get it wet, don’t tear the wound by moving your wrist. Don’t get it infected.”

Xu Qin nodded, thanked him, and left.

As soon as she stepped out the door, she saw Professor Xu Ken sitting on a chair in the corridor with an ashen face, as if he was waiting for her.

Xu Qin was stunned for a moment, then slowly realized that the professor must have heard that her hand was injured, so he was too worried and came outside to wait in person.

She walked over slowly: “Professor Xu—”

The professor looked very pale, stood up and walked in the direction of the emergency exit door. Xu Qin braced herself and followed.

In the stairwell,

As soon as Professor Xu opened his mouth, he reprimanded sharply: “Do you know how important a surgeon’s hand is? You are being irresponsible to yourself!”

Xu Qin didn’t say a word at first, knowing that he was concerned about her, but after, she explained softly: “I usually pay a lot of attention, but this time it was an accident. I was about to leave, but the drug addict saw me.” After she finished speaking, she raised her eyes and glanced at him, and seeing that the professor was still angry, she lowered her voice again: “Fortunately, everything is okay.”

Professor Xu kept a straight face and asked without looking at her, “What did Director Guo say?”

“It’s a shallow wound, it’s fine. Told me to be careful not to let it get inflamed.”

“Take a few days off to rest, come back when your hand is healed.” Professor Xu was about to leave, but stopped again, “When the evaluation paperwork for the attending physician position needs to be completed, make a trip to the hospital, it should be in the next day or two.”

Xu Qin was taken aback: “I passed the review?”

“You deserve it, no need to be surprised.”

“Professor.” Xu Qin stopped him and said briefly, “I know you helped me, thank you.” After speaking, she bowed.

“It’s not considered helping.” Professor Xu said, “It’s rare to find a talent, and the hospital also wants to focus on cultivating it. …Doctor Xu, you have to remember that no matter what line of work you do, the one that can help you in the end is always your own ability.”

Professor Xu left.

Xu Qin stood alone in the stairwell for a while, looking at the gauze on her hand, slowly regaining her strength, and checked the news with her mobile phone.

There was still no official news from Song Yan’s side.

She took a deep breath, and saw the setting sun shining in from the window, it was red and covered the entire corridor.

She walked slowly back to the emergency building in the setting sun. Today, her heart had been lifted up to a tall building, then fell down again, was lifted up again at last, and returned to its original place, beating peacefully and steadily in her chest cavity.

She went to the personnel department to ask for an injury leave, and was planning to go to the infusion room to explain to Xiao Xi and the others before she got off work. Knowing that she was fine, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Just as she was about to leave, the TV on the wall started broadcasting the news:

“…After the fire and explosion on the street of Liu Ye Tan Bar, the Ministry of Public Security urgently set up a fire accident investigation task force to investigate the accident that killed four and injured thirteen overnight. The task force held a press conference this afternoon. In response to the fire, a report was issued to the society, the fire squadron who performed outstandingly in this fire fighting operation was commended, and the family members of the sacrificed firefighters were comforted and compensated. At the same time, the captain and political commissar of the Liu Ye Tan Fire Brigade, who were suspected of dereliction of duty and bribery, and serious violations of discipline during the fire inspection work, will be severely investigated and dealt with, the general public is requested to supervise and report……”

The patients in the infusion room discussed:

“Didn’t I say there was something fishy going on, those corrupted officials should be arrested.”

“This task force has accomplished real things.”

“They were so fast!”

On the TV, the host said: “It took only 15 hours from the time the fire broke out to the time when the person responsible was found out and the press conference was held. This government action can be described as vigorous and resolute, and the public is also full of praise. We can’t help but think about whether relevant departments can learn some experience in dealing with emergencies from this case……”

Xiao Nan also breathed a sigh of relief: “Doctor Xu, you were right, things went in a good direction.”

Xu Qin glanced at the people who were still discussing in the infusion room, bent the corners of her lips very lightly, and left.

What he said, will naturally be done.

……

At night, the courtyard was quiet.

Xu Qin tossed and turned on the bed. After waiting for a long time, the phone still didn’t ring.

She knew Song Yan was busy.

She knew he had done it when she watched the news, but for some reason, she still wanted to hear his voice and what happened.

Waiting and waiting, she fell asleep vaguely. Suddenly, her phone vibrated.

She had a thought in her heart, and immediately woke up, it was Song Yan who sent the message: “Sleeping?”

“No.” She replied, her heart still beating rapidly.

A few seconds later, he called, and before he could speak, she asked first, “Are you done?”

“En.” His voice was soft, “Why haven’t you slept yet? Did you lie?”

“I had a feeling you were going to call me tonight.” She laughed, her voice a little sandy and soft because she had just been woken up.

He chuckled: “Have you seen the news?”

“En.” She nodded, the pillow rustled.

He couldn’t help laughing again: “I can’t see you nodding, dummy.”

She smiled: “You heard me.” She turned over and lay on the pillow, “……Tell me quickly, how did you convince the leader of the task force?”

“The leaders also wanted to solve the problem perfectly. I told them that there were disadvantages and hidden dangers in going another way, and then provided a perfect and meritorious solution.” Song Yan said, briefly describing the situation at that time.

Xu Qin nestled under the quilt, listening to his low-pitched narration, her eyes gradually became blank, as if seeing that scene, she thought for a while, giggled, and said, “You must have been very handsome at that time.”

He snorted and asked back: “Since when was I not handsome anymore?”

“Psh!” She turned over on the bed and lay flat.

Song Yan asked: “What about you, did you meet any disobedient patients today?”

She shrugged her shoulders: “I met a drug addict, came to ask for Dolantin, and cut my hand with a knife.”

His tone was slightly apprehensive: “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, it was a small cut. I was able to get a vacation.” She said.

When he heard her voice, he knew that she was all right, but he still warned: “In the future, if you encounter troublemakers, stay away. Do you hear me?”

“Got it.” She said, feeling that his admonishing tone was charming at the moment, her heart was sweet, and she couldn’t help turning over on the pillow.

From the very beginning when Song Yan heard her squirming back and forth on the bed, he felt a little unspeakable itch in his heart. At this moment, he finally asked, “Are you lying on your stomach again?”

“En.” She replied, “Lying on your bed with a pillow against it.”

“……”

He took a long breath, thinking of her lying on his bed in only a pair of panties, and sighed: “I should have been at home at this time with my arms around you.”

She buried her face in the pillow and smiled for a while. When she remembered something, she became a little more serious and asked, “You haven’t slept all day?”

“En, I’m so exhausted, I just want to sleep…” He stretched his waist and said, “I want to sleep with you.”

She couldn’t hold back her smile: “But I can’t see you this week, we have to wait until next week.”

“Not necessarily,” he said, “We can see each other at work.”

“It’s better not to see each other at work.” She said hastily, “It’s only when something bad happens. Let’s not see each other. Let’s wait safely until the weekend.”

“Whatever you say.” Song Yan said, “However, there will be an earthquake commendation conference on Tuesday, will you go?”

“Ah, I’ll go to that one.”

“Tell me which row you’re sitting in then.”

Xu Qin’s eyes lit up: “Can you come and sit with me?”

“Of course not.”

“Then why did you ask me?” She snorted.

He smiled: “So I can sneak peeks at you.”