CH 7

Xu Qin had a calm week, working and living as usual.

During public holidays, the outpatient clinic took their time off in rotations, while the emergency department went to work as per normal.

As soon as it was a holiday, there were drunks, those sick from overindulging in food and drink, as well as those with unexpected accidents brought in by 110, the entire emergency department was busy nonstop.

Late at night, another drunken male-female pair was sent in. When Xu Qin entered the observation room, the two were lying on beds next to each other and talking.

Xu Qin asked the nurse to measure their blood pressure. The boy was talking to the girl when he saw Xu Qin and laughed mischievously: “Angel jiejie, you’re so pretty.”

The girl pointed at the boy and laughed: “You idiot, you’re drunk, I’m the angel, I’m over here!”

The boy was not convinced: “You’re the one that’s fucking drunk, I don’t get drunk even after a thousand cups.”

Girl: “Shut up! Do you believe I’ll turn you into stone with a kiss?”

The boy lifted the blankets to get out of bed: “Come on, kiss, whoever doesn’t kiss is the grandchild!”

The nurses exerted a lot of effort to push the two people back to bed.

Xu Qin glanced at the two of them and instructed the nurse: “Routine monitoring and infusion will do.” After closing the diagnostic book, she put away her pen and left the observation room.

Xiao Nan followed closely.

Xu Qin: “These two know each other?”

Xiao Nan: “They don’t know each other, they were sent here from two different directions.”

Xu Qin: “They act unexpectedly familiar.”

Xiao Nan: “These two aren’t that bad. Yesterday, some of them hugged together and rolled around, the bed got covered in urine.”

Xu Qin said lightly: “The country shouldn’t give holidays, humans are like animals, they don’t know how to control themselves once they’ve broken away from their restraints.”

Xiao Nan quietly reminded: “Doctor Xu, then we will also have no vacation, and then we will die of exhaustion.”

Xu Qin thought for a while: “……Oh……”

Barely a few hours later, Xiao Nan once again profoundly experienced what it meant to not understand restraint.

It was two o’clock in the morning, Xu Qin and several other surgeons, as well as several nurses, stood under the bright white lights of the consultation room looking in the same direction, everyone was frowning.

A male patient was lying on the examination table, his face was red, his legs were curled up, and a short steel tube with a narrow inner diameter was wrapped around his genitals.

From the preliminary consultation, it was learned that due to physiological sexual impulse, the patient inserted his genitals into the short tube to seek stimulation, but got stuck inside and could not get out. The genitals could not be softened due to the blood pressure and congestion, remaining firm for a few hours. It had been so painful that he was on the verge of collapsing. The patient was desperate, and kept crying: “You have to save me doctor, I don’t have kids yet, I’m the only heir in nine generations, these family jewels can’t be wasted.”

“Only heir in nine generations, won’t you take it easy?”

After Xu Qin and the others discussed it, they tried to give him a few injections, but that thing would not soften, and it was impossible to try to pull out the tube. The patient would cry out in pain if that region was moved even a little bit.

When they were all out of ideas, Xu Qin said: “Let’s call the firemen over.” Seeing everyone’s puzzled expressions, she added, “They have specialized tools. Like if a child’s hand got stuck inside a toy, or an adult’s leg got stuck in a revolving door, or a finger got jammed inside a small ring, the firefighters can get it out. They can also catch snakes and wild animals or other things.”

Everyone had wide-eyed expressions. The patient was still in the mood to interject and laughed: “Damn, what kind of idiot would get his leg stuck in a revolving door?”

Xu Qin slowly glanced at him.

Xiao Nan went to call 119.

Dr. Li sighed: “I didn’t know firefighters could do these things.”

Xu Qin said: “Firefighters are prodigies filled with knowledge……” Seeing everyone’s expression, she changed her statement, “…… an occupation that broadens our horizons.”

Not long after, a car came.

At her office window, Xu Qin saw a group of men get out of the car. This time, they were wearing orange uniforms, not the calm inky blue one they had on when they were fighting the fire. This orange was especially bright in the dimness of the night.

She couldn’t pick out which one was Song Yan, perhaps the uniform was too standardized.

When the firefighters came into the consultation room, there was no Song Yan amongst the unfamiliar faces.

After Xu Qin explained the situation, she asked one extra question: “Which fire brigade do you all belong to?”

“Shi Li Tai.”

They belonged to Song Yan’s team. Seems like it was a different shift. That’s true, who could endure a 24-hour service on their own.

Xu Qin stepped aside quietly and looked at the ambulance outside the window. He wouldn’t be there either.

Needle-nose pliers, cutting pliers, electric sander…it took the firefighters an hour and a half to finally remove the short steel pipe from the man, who was handed over to the doctors for further treatment.

By the time the incident was over and the patient wanted to thank the firefighters, the team had long since withdrawn.

It was already bright outside.

……

At base camp, Song Yan was leading the officers through a training class.

As the old saying goes, the mastery of study lies in diligence, no matter how good your skills are, you’ll be out of practice if you don’t train for eight or ten days. In the event of a fire, the smallest mistakes could be fatal.

The training schedule set by the fire squadron itself was already very strict, including physical training, skill training, knowledge and psychological training, to name a few. Plus Song Yan was an extremely strict captain, normally he would be laughing and joking around, but did not allow anyone to be absent-minded, lazy or resort to shortcuts in class.

The team members had long been accustomed to his team-leading mode, they knew to cherish their own lives, and each one was earnest in training hard. Time and time again at detachment competitions, the firefighters from Shi Li Tai Squadron were always first in every discipline.

Today’s practice was climbing external walls and rapid descents.

The team members were divided into groups of two and assembled at the bottom of the training wall. One person had to climb up with his bare hands onto the roof, with the help of drainage pipes, air conditioning boxes, and weatherboards. Once they tied the safety rope and threw it down the wall, the other person would grab onto it and quickly ascend the roof as well. The two had to tie a dummy weighing 50kg to their bodies and then quickly descend down to ground level. In this way, going back and forth ten times counted as one set.

After one set, they rested for ten minutes before moving onto the next set.

Song Yan and Yang Chi were partners training together. Yang Chi climbed up the roof first and threw the rope down. Song Yan pulled the rope, stepped against the wall, and ascended up to the roof in less than ten seconds. Just as he climbed over the railing, Yang Chi said: “Yan ge, I heard from Xiao Fei that they were dispatched to the Third Military Hospital this morning.”

I’m afraid everyone in the surrounding squadrons will know about the incident with the weird citizen’s genitals being caught in the steel pipe, let alone our whole team. After all, they are all curious young boys who can’t keep their mouths shut.

“So?” Song Yan quickly picked up the dummy and tied it to his waist.

After the third set of practice, Song Yan was covered in sweat, his t-shirt was soaked and stuck to his body.

Yang Chi also wiped the sweat on his face and carried the dummy: “They also said that they met a cold and beautiful doctor. Everyone said that the next time they get injured, they will go to see her.”

“How about I give you an injury right now?” Song Yan glanced at him, smiling insincerely.

“Don’t.” Yang Chi laughed.

Song Yan got up and returned to the railing, grabbed the rope, and hopped over to the outside of the wall.

Yang Chi followed, stepping on the wall face: “Ge, do you know that doctor? I felt something was off last time when I saw……”

Song Yan pursed his lips and ran his tongue over his teeth, his expression dangerous.

“Is she your ex-girl……”

Song Yan kicked his hand. Yang Chi let out a cry, slipped half a meter down and grabbed the rope again, swinging back and forth along the wall like a cloth sack.

“I was wrong!”

Song Yan kicked him again, and Yang Chi howled: “I was wrong, I was wrong!”

Song Yan sucked his cheeks in tightly, lowered his head, and kicked again.

Yang Chi finally fell down and landed on the mat with a thud.

Song Yan glanced at him, grabbed the rope, pushed off the wall two or three times and rapidly descended.

……

In the blink of an eye it was already a third of the way through August, the hot weather had passed, and summer vacation was almost over. In the hospital, various cases such as people who were drunk, who were so irritated by the heat they got into scuffles with each other, those who ate spicy and drank alcohol to the point of stomach bleeding –– the number of such patients was beginning to decline.

Xu Qin kept to her routine of working, going home, seeing her parents, and seeing her friends.

During that period of time, she went out to drink tea with Fu Wenying. Across the table sat a wife as elegant as Fu Wenying, and a handsome boy of the same age as Xu Qin.

Xu Qin behaved like the ideal perfect daughter in Fu Wenying’s heart, beautiful, fresh, gentle and polite.

In Fu Wenying’s world, the rules were very simple. Love and affection, heart and character could all be overflowing, however marriage was only possible with strong connections and well-matched social status between the families, they must not cross over between different social classes, absolutely not.

Meng Yanchen had to be this way, Xiao Yixiao also had to be this way, everyone they had met since childhood had to be this way.

Xu Qin also calmly accepted her parents’ ideologies. She had enjoyed too much convenience and freedom brought by wealth and privilege since she was a child. She was immersed in this privileged environment and could not be separated from it.

The boy she met that day didn’t express any obvious interest in her on the spot, but sent Xu Qin a text message two days later asking to meet. Just as she sat down to reply, her department called her away to an impromptu meeting. There was little contact after that.

It was likely that the other party’s qualifications were very good, and had a lot of options.

Xu Qin didn’t worry about this at all, and forgot about it in the blink of an eye. On the contrary, it was the fire hydrant in the corridor she saw everyday on her way to the hospital and on her way home from work that would inevitably interrupt her thoughts for a moment.

But she has always been calm and collected, unbothered.

One day, when she was about to get off work, she received a call from Xiao Yixiao asking her to go out. It was the first anniversary of the opening of his bar “Charm”.

Xu Qin arrived before Meng Yanchen, and when she found Xiao Yixiao, he was sitting in a booth talking and laughing with a man. When he saw Xu Qin coming over, he raised his hand to say hello. When the man turned his head, as luck would have it, it was someone Xu Qin had dated –– Jiang Yu.

Jiang Yu was a little surprised when he saw Xu Qin.

The second their eyes met, the two were able to reach a silent agreement to avoid mentioning their previous history.

Xiao Yixiao didn’t know that the two had such a relationship, and he introduced enthusiastically: “This is my sister, Meng Qin; this is my buddy, Jiang Yu.”

Jiang Yu asked politely and knowingly: “What kind of work do you do?”

Xu Qin glanced at him: “Doctor.”

“Doctors must be very busy right? Coming here to play, won’t you be suddenly called away?” These words were a bit meaningful.

Xu Qin glanced at him again. The latter smiled politely.

Xiao Yixiao interjected: “That’s what I said before, being a doctor is too tiring. It would be more relaxing for her to go work at a medical school, but she wouldn’t listen.”

Xu Qin unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and said: “I don’t want to do anything else except hold a scalpel.” As she said that, just as she was about to pour the water into the wine glass, she narrowed her eyes and saw a small water stain at the bottom.

Xu Qin called the waiter over: “Could you please change the glass?”

Jiang Yu didn’t understand why, Xiao Yixiao stopped him and had to ask clearly: “Wait, what’s wrong with this glass?”

Xu Qin pointed it out to him, Xiao Yixiao took a long time to see it clearly, and sighed: “I can’t stand your obsession with cleanliness. Are your eyes a microscope or something? How come everything placed in front of you becomes dirty?”

Xu Qin didn’t pay attention. She checked the replacement glass. Still unsatisfied with the level of cleanliness, she asked the waiter for a straw, took the straw, and wiped it with a tissue before inserting it into the bottle to drink.

Jiang Yu was in disbelief after watching her actions, but after half a second, he lowered his head and smiled.

Xiao Yixiao: “I heard from my mother, your mother arranged a blind date for you?”

Jiang Yu picked up his glass and drank.

Xu Qin: “En.”

Xiao Yixiao asked: “Was he to your liking?”

Jiang Yu slowly fiddled with the wine glass in his hand.

Xu Qin: “I’ve only met him once, I don’t have much of an impression.”

Jiang Yu looked at her, and immediately looked away. Meng Yanchen came over and patted Xu Qin on the shoulder, she automatically moved to the side, creating a spot for him.

Jiang Yu looked at Xu Qin, then looked at Meng Yanchen, and finally smiled and greeted Meng Yanchen.

Turns out they both knew each other. They were already acquaintances, but Xu Qin wasn’t aware of this.

The three men were chatting about business affairs, Xu Qin bit the straw to drink her water, wasn’t in the mood to listen in, and unconsciously her mind drifted away. Until at a certain moment, Xiao Yixiao answered his phone and said something about “surprise firefighter inspection”.

With the word “firefighter”, Xu Qin suddenly returned to her senses, realized that her surroundings were very noisy, and the singing of the resident performer could be heard not far away: “The returning wild geese, with the sea behind their backs, headed out all the way to the north, crossing the clouds——”

Xu Qin looked up: “This song is not bad.”

Xiao Yixiao had already walked away.

She put down the cup and got up: “I’ll go over there and have a look.”

Meng Yanchen and Jiang Yu stayed where they were drinking and did not get in on the action.

Xu Qin saw Xiao Yixiao quickly running out of the lounge area, across the dance floor outside, and disappeared.

She followed closely, the dance floor was full of people, and the crowd swayed along with the music.

The long-haired lead singer on stage held a guitar, his magnetic voice was like a bowstring: “My love, wait for me in the grassland, wait quietly, the sun shines through the darkness.”

For a split second without warning, a silhouette flashed in the gaps between the crowd, Xu Qin saw a firefighter on the other side of the dance floor, wearing a pine green uniform.

A firefighter, two firefighters, walked through the hallway.

Without even thinking, Xu Qin rushed into the dancing crowd and the swirling lights, running in their direction.

The crowd swayed and danced with the song: “The arrow of time, igniting to piercing the sky, circling around with hope, but was unable to catch up.”

Xu Qin pushed aside the heavy crowd, walked to the other side, and ducked into the corridor.

The bar manager was accompanying the firefighters to conduct the surprise inspection. A firefighter rushed from behind Xu Qin and ran towards a tall figure: “Captain!”

Xu Qin couldn’t hear the voice behind her, it was too noisy in the bar, and the singer shouted unbridled: “The place where the heart wants to be, the homeland that you yearn for, the place where your dreams are buried, where flowers bloom into an ocean!!!”

Xu Qin stood in place, her heartbeat was agitated by the ear-splitting singing, she saw that they were about to leave.

She finally strode up and yanked the hem of his clothes.

He stood still for a second and turned back slowly.

……

“Is something wrong?” The other party looked puzzled.

She was mistaken, his face didn’t even resemble Song Yan at all.

Xu Qin let go with her hand and said: “I thought you were someone else.”

Her heart unusually calm, she went back in the direction she came from, passing through the restless crowd and lonely shadows.

On the dance floor, someone jumped and bumped into her. Xu Qin regained her senses once again, and heard the singer shouting in a heart-wrenching voice: “Return to his side!!!–– “

As soon as the roar was over, the music stopped suddenly, and the world suddenly fell into a brief silence.

It was in this second of silence that Xu Qin clearly heard the voice in her heart.

She wanted to go find Song Yan.