“Keeping your distance from us at the hospital is one thing, but being distant at home too…” Qin Shuangchi’s gaze fell on her thin, weak shoulders, then swept over to the dark circles under her eyes. She sighed. “Forget it, I won’t lecture you. Just take care of yourself, okay? Remember, stay away from allergens, don’t push yourself too hard. Rest properly to make scientific progress.”
Ji Qingyou hummed in agreement and kneaded the fascia ball again. “I know.”
Ever since she had eaten a cream cake in front of Qin Shuangchi a long time ago, Qin Shuangchi had always worried that she had some kind of rebellious streak, knowing she was allergic but still eating it. Later, “stay away from allergens” became a mandatory reminder every time they met.
It was dinner time, and only the two of them were in the on-call room.
Qin Shuangchi leaned back on the sofa, closed her eyes, and relaxed for a while. She started chatting casually. “Every time I come to your department, I feel like you have the best atmosphere. Mostly because you have more young people, so everyone is more open. Unlike in our department, where the average age is…”
Her chattering voice entered Ji Qingyou’s ears, then drifted away, becoming background noise that didn’t register.
Ji Qingyou stared at the white ceiling, rubbing the rough texture of the fascia ball with her thumb. Her mind was still stuck on what Li Nanli’s parents had just told her, trying to piece together the clues.
Obviously, in the past few days, she hadn’t noticed the issue of Li Nanli’s surgery fees. She hadn’t even heard about the crowdfunding application. If Yu Qinjiu had paid for the surgery out of her own pocket… but she should have told her. At least then Yu Qinjiu wouldn’t have had to bear the burden alone…
Thinking this far, Ji Qingyou’s lips pressed into a thin line.
“Hey, are you even listening to me?”
The vague voice in her ear suddenly became clear. Ji Qingyou pulled her thoughts back to the present and saw Qin Shuangchi, who had come right up to her face, waving her hand in front of her. “What are you thinking about so intently?”
Ji Qingyou snapped out of it. “What did you say?”
“I knew you weren’t listening…” Qin Shuangchi complained, but still repeated her question. “I asked, why did you choose general surgery?”
Ji Qingyou was slightly stunned. “Why the sudden question?”
Qin Shuangchi leaned back again, looking up and rubbing her neck. “Just asking, that’s all.”
She paused for a few seconds, then sighed, glancing at Ji Qingyou. “I’m just worried that you chose it because Director Qin didn’t choose neurosurgery, and I didn’t choose obstetrics and gynecology…”
“No.” Ji Qingyou denied it quickly.
Qin Shuangchi looked skeptical. “Really?”
Ji Qingyou didn’t look at her again. “What about you?”
“Why did you choose ob-gyn?”
“Me?” Qin Shuangchi squinted. “That’s been a while. I have to think carefully… When I first started my internship and rotation here, I was terrified of embarrassing Director Qin. I always felt like if I got scolded in the department and word got back to her, she’d lose face. I wished I could split each of the twenty-four hours in half, making it forty-eight, just for work. It was like that in other departments, but when I got to neurosurgery, with five or six of us interns, the professors only ever questioned me. I felt like a sieve…”
Ji Qingyou understood. She had experienced the same thing.
Qin Bailan was a lifelong single woman. At thirty, she had adopted Qin Shuangchi. At thirty-five, she had adopted Ji Qingyou, the daughter of a close university friend, and had again refused the arranged marriages set up by her family.
Rumor had it that Qin Bailan and this university friend were very close and often visited the house. Qin Bailan’s parents knew her, but for some reason later didn’t think much of her.
Later, some rift developed. Qin Bailan never contacted Ji Qingyou’s biological mother again. And because of this, Ji Qingyou wasn’t very well-liked by the rest of the Qin family.
Except for Qin Bailan, who still treated her as her own child.
Although both were adopted, Qin Shuangchi was different.
Qin Shuangchi was clean, with no complicated family background. She had been raised from childhood as the heir of the Qin family. Although she also bore immense pressure, she always performed excellently, becoming the youngest associate chief in this hospital’s ob-gyn department.
The problem was.
She didn’t follow the Qin family tradition and choose neurosurgery; she chose ob-gyn.
Even though Ji Qingyou hadn’t chosen neurosurgery either.
But compared to Ji Qingyou’s situation, Qin Shuangchi’s choice of ob-gyn was clearly more displeasing to Grandfather and Grandmother. Because Qin Bailan was childless, they seemed to worry that Qin Shuangchi, spending too much time in ob-gyn and seeing the joys and sorrows of family life, would also not want to have children.
After ten minutes of reminiscing, Qin Shuangchi finally pulled the drifting topic back. “Okay, I chose ob-gyn because… I think welcoming new life is a magical thing. I know that for that newborn baby, they won’t remember the first face they see when they enter this world. But I thought, at least I could tell every life I welcome one very important thing…”
Ji Qingyou tossed the fascia ball in her hand, asking somewhat absentmindedly, “What?”
Qin Shuangchi squinted, continuing. “All lives, the very second they are born, are equal.”
Ji Qingyou tilted her head to look at her.
Qin Shuangchi was shocking. “Equally ugly.”
Ji Qingyou silently looked away.
Then Qin Shuangchi sank deeper into the sofa and chuckled softly. “There aren’t that many touching stories. I was just brainwashed back then. During my rotation, the professor in the department let me hold a newborn baby. I looked at it for a long time, thinking it really looked like a little monkey…” Her voice was light and airy. After a long pause, she quietly added,
“But it was kind of cute.”
“Okay, I’ve given you my two versions. Now you have to tell me why you chose general surgery.” She asked curiously.
Ji Qingyou didn’t give her the expected answer. “No particular reason.”
Qin Shuangchi squinted at her for a moment. “Really?”
Ji Qingyou hummed in agreement. Seeing Qin Shuangchi’s unconvinced expression, she changed the subject. “Do those online crowdfunding programs apply to Li Nanli’s situation?”
“Didn’t she already have her surgery? The fees must be paid. Why are you asking?” Qin Shuangchi said, but she still thought for a few seconds before answering. “I don’t know if they apply or not. I just know that a lot of these online crowdfunding medical fundraisers are a scam. The platforms even send reps to hospital wards to hand out flyers and knock on doors, tricking patients into applying. But in the end, they hardly raise any money. Most of it comes from the patient’s own friends and family on their social media…”
Ji Qingyou nodded. “I see.”
After a few seconds, she asked hesitantly, “Is Yu Qinjiu very wealthy?”
“You’re asking me about Little Jiu’s matters?” Qin Shuangchi looked at her. “Shouldn’t you know better than me? Everything I hear is just what you’ve also heard. She’s an architect abroad, right? Works for a pretty big company with a domestic branch. Although Little Jiu has fallen out with her family in recent years, she shouldn’t be short of money. Whether she’s wealthy enough to be considered ‘very rich,’ I wouldn’t know.”
Would Yu Qinjiu be wealthy enough to pay a hefty surgery fee without blinking?
Ji Qingyou wanted to ask, but seeing the strange look on Qin Shuangchi’s face, she knew she wouldn’t get any answers here.
She subconsciously tightened her grip on the fascia ball, then placed it steadily on the table. Supporting herself on her lower back, she stood up. Before opening the door and leaving, she thought of another question and turned back to look at Qin Shuangchi. “Did you know in advance that Yu Qinjiu was coming back?”
Qin Shuangchi leaned against the soft sofa, silently meeting her gaze for a few seconds. She gently lifted the corner of her mouth, just as she always did. “How would I know that?”
After getting Qin Shuangchi’s answer, Ji Qingyou didn’t stay any longer. She went to check on Li Nanli again. For the rest of the night, she didn’t return to the on-call room. She just sat in Li Nanli’s ward.
Not until the next morning, when Li Nanli’s condition improved.
She then went to assist with another surgery.
When she walked out of the hospital gate again, it was already dusk the next day. The city’s sunset and neon lights were blending again, like the colorful, hazy tones of an old movie.
Every silhouette on the street was embedded in this old film. Their paths and trajectories intersected and overlapped, then separated again, like programmed chess pieces.
Walking home with weary steps, Ji Qingyou’s fingers, pressing the door code, were so weak she accidentally pressed 21 instead of 12. The beep for a wrong password sounded.
She frowned slightly and was about to re-enter the password when she heard a soft click of a door opening behind her. The fragrance of home-cooked food drifted over, and Yu Qinjiu’s gentle voice appeared in this monotonous world.
“Dr. Ji, you’re back.”
Ji Qingyou instinctively turned around. She saw Yu Qinjiu, wearing an apron, her hair tied back. She stood at the doorway, and upon seeing Ji Qingyou’s exhausted expression, she wrinkled her nose.
“Want to come over for dinner?”
Ji Qingyou was stunned for a moment.
Yu Qinjiu came out of that door, wearing slippers, and gently pulled her inside. Her movements were a bit large. “Since you’re not saying no, I’ll take it as a yes.”
The second the strand of hair tucked behind her ear fell loose, Ji Qingyou’s curled fingers twitched. She couldn’t help herself. She reached out and gently tucked the strand of hair behind her ear again.
Her fingers touched the pale tip of her ear.
After a few seconds, her fingers retracted. The tip of the ear had turned red. Yu Qinjiu’s ear twitched almost imperceptibly. She bit her lip and raised her hand to pinch her own stray hair tighter, repeating the action Ji Qingyou had just done.
“A strand of hair just fell.” Ji Qingyou pursed her lips.
“I know.” Yu Qinjiu said softly. She didn’t argue about it. She just went into the kitchen and closed the door, leaving all the warmth of the cooking behind the transparent glass.
Ji Qingyou changed into slippers, paused for a moment, and drank the glass of water Yu Qinjiu had handed her. Even after doing all that, when she sat down,
Her fingers resting on her leg still clenched. It was as if, bypassing the brain’s monitoring, they uncontrollably began to relive the sensation of the touch just now.
And the one controlling it all should be Yu Qinjiu, standing in the kitchen with a spatula. She was pouring something from various bottles and jars into the pan. It seemed like a bit of an overreaction, or maybe that was just Ji Qingyou’s prejudice.
Ji Qingyou stood up, intending to help. She had only taken a few steps when Yu Qinjiu, coughing from the smoke, came out of the kitchen. Seeing her standing there, she looked up in surprise.
“What are you standing there for?”
Ji Qingyou took the two bowls she was carrying.
“Afraid you might be overwhelmed.”
“Okay.” Yu Qinjiu pursed her lips. “You’d better not be worried that my egg fried rice is inedible.”
So the “come over for dinner” she mentioned was just two bowls of egg fried rice.
Ji Qingyou placed the bowls on the table. “I didn’t think that.”
“Alright, alright.” Yu Qinjiu admitted defeat, took off her apron, and sat down opposite her. “Don’t get your hopes up, though. Ten years abroad hasn’t improved my cooking skills. After all, I brought my mom abroad with me.”
Ji Qingyou always felt more relaxed around Yu Qinjiu’s unique way of speaking. It was as if when Yu Qinjiu appeared, the thick glass on her back became lighter. “I won’t, then.”
“You can hope a little bit. My mom hasn’t cooked for me in years anyway.” Yu Qinjiu winked. “Give it a try.”
She paused for a moment, her tone light and filled with a smile. “Oh, and if it tastes bad, you have to tell me it’s delicious. That’s what they do in TV shows.”
Ji Qingyou scooped up a spoonful.
Yu Qinjiu leaned in to look at her, squinting. “You just smiled, didn’t you?”
“Did I?”
Ji Qingyou took a bite of the egg fried rice. The half-raw texture was a bit difficult to handle and tough to chew.
“You definitely did!” Yu Qinjiu also took a bite. After chewing, her eyes widened slightly, like a goldfish suddenly stopping mid-swim.
The curve of Ji Qingyou’s mouth widened. Realizing this, she didn’t wipe the smile off her face or put down her spoon. Instead, she calmly took another bite of the undercooked, slightly salty egg fried rice.
After struggling to chew and swallow, she said softly,
“Maybe it’s because… after ten years… I’m once again eating the most delicious egg fried rice in the world.”
