Chapter 29: 29. “Can you sleep with me tonight?” Part 1

On New Year’s Eve, even the hospital was a bit livelier than usual.

Red couplets were put up outside the department. The LED screen at the hospital entrance displayed the words “Happy Spring Festival” in red. After the shift handover, the medical staff on duty received red envelopes from the hospital printed with “Grateful for You.”

Ji Qingyou wasn’t on night duty. She also got a red envelope before leaving work.

After her shift, Ji Xiruan quickly packed up, ready to bolt. But just as she stepped out of the office, she zipped back in, looking curiously at Ji Qingyou, who was still lingering. She walked back and tapped her desk.

“What are you doing? It’s New Year’s Eve! You’re not going home for the reunion dinner? You really want to stay at the hospital and eat the boxed New Year’s Eve dinner from the cafeteria?”

“Going soon.” Ji Qingyou carefully put away her red envelope. Then she looked at Ji Xiruan. “Why aren’t you gone yet?”

Ji Xiruan pouted. “I’m just worried about you. I heard from Dr. Qin that you weren’t planning to go home tonight. You’re going to be with your Miss Alps?”

Ji Qingyou paused.

Ji Xiruan looked at her again, suspiciously. “Then why haven’t you left yet?”

“…” Ji Qingyou gave her a silent look. “I haven’t been in contact with her much these past few days. I didn’t ask about her plans…”

I just got used to preparing for the worst-case scenario.

Afraid that she might need me on this day, while I would be having dinner with Yu Muzhou.

—Just like the unexpected situations that happened before.

“Haven’t asked about her plans?” Ji Xiruan found it strange. “Then ask her.”

Ji Qingyou’s hand hanging by her side clenched. “Mm. I should.”

Ji Xiruan stared at her for a long time before letting out a soft sigh. She knew that Yu Qinjiu was only staying temporarily for two months. She patted Ji Qingyou’s shoulder earnestly. After a long pause, she slowly uttered a few words. “Seize the moment.”

Ji Xiruan didn’t stay long. Under the lingering influence of her parting words, “Seize the moment,” Ji Qingyou opened WeChat and tapped on the chat with Miss Alps. After thinking it over, she finally sent a message.

【Where are you now?】

【I’ll come find you after work.】

The two sentences were brief, but they didn’t get a quick reply.

But after sending them, she felt like a heavy stone had been lifted from her heart, making her feel a thousand times lighter. This lightness allowed her to completely ignore the names of Yu Cheng and Yu Muzhou that appeared in the family group chat. It felt like this was the right decision she should have made.

Maybe it should have been made ten years ago.

As soon as this thought appeared, it was extinguished. She didn’t dare to continue that line of thinking. Instead, she called Qin Bailan. Qin Bailan answered quickly. There was a bit of noise in the background, like she was in the kitchen.

“Little You, off work?”

Ji Qingyou, sitting in her office chair, leaned back and looked up at the white ceiling. “About to leave. I won’t be home for dinner tonight. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

“Alright. Your sister told me. You’re going to be with Little Jiu, right?” Qin Bailan agreed readily. “That’s fine. We eat together all the time anyway. It’s good of you to keep Little Jiu company today. I know she’s had a rough time with her brother these past few years.”

“Ah, forget it. Let’s not talk about that during the New Year. What’s done is done. Your sister has known that Yu kid for nearly thirty years. They’ve been together so long. They’re getting married. It’s a new era. I can’t be a dictator like an old patriarch. And honestly, though Yu kid might be a bit weak-willed, he’s treated your sister well.”

Ji Qingyou listened to Qin Bailan’s rambling on the phone. She didn’t object or respond. When Qin Bailan finished, her gaze was still fixed on the chandelier on the ceiling. She felt a brief moment of dizziness.

“Anyway, you just have a good time with Little Jiu today. Don’t worry about us. If Little Jiu is unhappy, don’t even bother calling me. That Yu kid is right next to me. If she hears him, it’ll just upset her.”

The understanding voice came through the receiver.

Ji Qingyou pulled her thoughts together and hummed softly. Things seemed to have become exceptionally simple. It seemed she could do this, could choose Yu Qinjiu at such an important moment.

But was that really the case?

It could be this one New Year’s Eve dinner. What about the second? The third?

Ten years?

This was a meaningless question.

Unless she completely cut ties with the Qin family. Unless she severed her relationship with Qin Bailan, who adopted her in a fire and raised her to be a doctor. Unless she stopped contacting Qin Shuangchi, who had put out a word before she started at the hospital to make sure no one bullied her. And even then, she had no reason to abandon everything in Nanwu and go to London with Yu Qinjiu. She had no reason or right to ask Yu Qinjiu to abandon everything in London and stay in Nanwu, the source of all her pain.

They could only be friends, looking at each other from afar.

Ten years ago, after countless deductions, she had arrived at only one possibility.

Now, it seemed she could only make the same choice.

But there was still less than a month left. That was the brief, remaining lifespan of the tornado made up of beautiful, intertwined butterflies.

An incredibly precious, remaining lifespan.

~ ~ ~

Before leaving work, Ji Qingyou handled a few minor issues. She checked on all her inpatients, including Yu Zhijiu and Li Nanli, who were about to be discharged. Both were surrounded by their parents, looking happy. Their vitals were normal.

She had to have a brief chat with each patient, so she didn’t leave work on time.

When she changed and walked out of the office, heavy snow was already falling outside the glass window, swirling under the streetlights. Ji Qingyou habitually glanced at the snow-covered hospital grounds. No snowman was there.

Her phone in her pocket hadn’t buzzed again. Qin Shuangchi was probably with Yu Muzhou and didn’t dare contact her. Ji Xiruan was likely home, clinging to her mother, too busy to chat. Tao Xingzi and the other resident doctors had sent her a “Happy New Year” and then stopped contacting her.

Only Yu Qinjiu was left.

Yu Qinjiu, who she didn’t know what she was doing today, still hadn’t replied to her WeChat message on this special date.

Ji Qingyou was a little worried. She was about to call her when she stopped for no reason as she passed a ward. Her gaze fell upon two intertwined figures inside.

It was Ding Panpan and Ruan Zaining.

—The childhood friends who gave each other cat and dog plushies when they were angry.

There weren’t many patients in this ward. Outside, the night was dark, contrasting with the warm light inside the room. It shone softly on Ruan Zaining and Ding Panpan, like a safe, stable cocoon of light.

Ruan Zaining was lying by the bedside, seemingly asleep. Ding Panpan was awake, listlessly watching the falling snow outside the window. Occasionally, she would look at Ruan Zaining, pinch her twin tails, laugh to herself, then laboriously reach for her coat draped over the bed to put it on Ruan Zaining. But she couldn’t quite manage it.

Ji Qingyou had seen the whole thing. She walked in at the right moment, took Ding Panpan’s coat, and draped it over Ruan Zaining. She met Ding Panpan’s grateful, smiling eyes.

“Dr. Ji, you’re still not off work?” Ding Panpan said in a breathy voice, afraid to disturb Ruan Zaining’s sleep. She pointed to Ruan Zaining by the bed. “She just flew back from Beijing. She heard I had surgery last night. She barely slept, worrying about me. Her dad didn’t want her to come back. She made a huge fuss before she could come.”

So Ruan Zaining’s “grandma’s house” was in Beijing.

1054.6 kilometers from Nanwu.

Ji Qingyou nodded in understanding, her voice also soft. “Your parents are both on night shifts. They’ll come to see you when they have time.”

“I know.” Ding Panpan nodded with a smile. “Actually, this New Year isn’t so bad. At least the heating in the hospital is good.”

Ji Qingyou glanced at Ruan Zaining, covered by the coat. The meaning was clear.

Ding Panpan muttered again. “Ah, she needs to sleep, and she’ll be cold anyway… Besides, she’s just a little sickly kid. Always getting sick. Colds and fevers are a dime a dozen. I can’t let her get sick tonight. Otherwise, the whole next year will be unlucky.”

—Little sickly kid.

This nickname meant something different depending on who said it.

Ji Qingyou understood her meaning and nodded slightly. Her hand in her pocket touched a hard edge. She unconsciously pulled it out. It was a strawberry-flavored Alps lollipop.

Ding Panpan saw her magically pull two candies from her pocket and teased her for being like a kid. “I heard Dr. Ji really likes Alps lollipops. Then someone said Dr. Ji never used to eat sweets or candy. I thought it was some random rumor. But it’s true?”

“Mm.” Ji Qingyou didn’t deny it. She handed her two candies. “I’ve always liked them.”

“For me?” Ding Panpan was a little surprised as she took them.

Ji Qingyou glanced at the snow outside the window, steadying herself. “Happy New Year. But you can’t eat them now. You can have your little sickly kid eat them for you.”

She deliberately softened the phrase “your little sickly kid.” She rarely spoke like this. Not to her family, not to her colleagues, not to her patients…

She rarely used such playful language.

Perhaps because Ding Panpan and Ruan Zaining reflected some unrealistic fantasy of hers, she couldn’t help herself. She wanted Ding Panpan and Ruan Zaining to achieve what she couldn’t.

It was a kind of compensation mechanism.

So that beautiful tornado wouldn’t have to dissipate. So it could continue to exist somewhere in this world.

As long as she knew that such beauty still existed somewhere in the world,

She could feel better.

~ ~ ~

When she stepped out of the hospital, the entire city of Nanwu seemed to be enveloped in a freely flowing curtain of snow. White flakes swirled like a stream in a fish tank.

A cold wind swept over her. She realized she wasn’t wearing a scarf. The cold seemed to seep into her bones. As she waited for the traffic light, she picked up her phone to call Yu Qinjiu. Snowflakes flew wildly, bringing a strong gust of wind that lifted her wrapped coat and the soft hair resting on her shoulders.

As the phone beeped, a dark green Volkswagen Beetle slowly pulled up in front of her. The roof was piled high with snow, like a beautifully shaped drip cake.

The beeping continued.

Ji Qingyou stood still, watching the window roll down. Yu Qinjiu’s face appeared. She was in the driver’s seat, wearing a cream-colored coat and a misty blue scarf. Her crescent-shaped eyes curved into a smile.

In the snowy world, under the dim car light,

She had a unique, vivid brightness.