CH 8

Xu Qin’s car went all the way south on the West Third Ring Road, without traffic jam or red lights. She soon arrived outside the Shi Li Tai Fire Squadron camp. 

It was late at night. 

The street lights illuminated the yellow leaves, and the streets were empty. 

Xu Qin looked inside through the fence, and the moonlight filled the huge field and dormitory building.  She looked up at the fence that was two or three meters high, and was about to step on it when a police dog barked from the other side of the field. 

“Woof!” 

A big black dog rushed from the field: “Woof! Woof!” 

Xu Qin was quite frightened, turned her head and ran away. The dog refused to give up, sprinted for 100 meters, locked on Xu Qin, and barked at her through the fence: “Woof! Woof!” 

The screams were fierce and resounded throughout the street. 

Xu Qin ran to the gate in one breath, the sentry standing on guard was upright, and his eyes turned to look at her vigilantly. 

A man in the distance exhorted: “Xiao Meng!” 

The barking stopped abruptly. 

Xu Qin straightened her hair and clothes, and glanced in that direction, a huge german shepherd was standing not far away, with two pointed ears standing straight. Its bright eyes stared at Xu Qin, and after a while, it turned and ran to the man in the distance. 

Xu Qin asked the sentinel, “Hello, I’m looking for Song Yan.” 

The sentinel glanced at the warning sign at the door, Xu Qin followed his gaze and saw that “no visitors” was written on it. 

The man who called the dog walked towards her. The figure was tall and vague. 

Xu Qin stared at him, and soon felt relieved. He walked from the shade of the tree to the moonlight, and she saw clearly that it was Instructor Suo Jun. 

Seeing that there was something going on here, Suo Jun came to ask, and finally recognized Xu Qin: “Did you…” 

Xu Qin: “Hello, I’m looking for Song Yan.” 

Suo Jun: “He has been sent to training.” 

Xu Qin: “…Oh.” 

Suo Jun: “What’s your business with him?” 

Xu Qin: “Nothing, just passed by. Thank you, goodbye.” 

“Eh—” Suo Jun had wanted to say something, Xu Qin had turned around in a hurry, walked across the street at a very fast pace, and drove away. 

The dry wind poured in from the car window, and the road ahead was dark and hard. The whole city was gray, and the tall buildings looked like withered plants, tired and listless. 

It would be good if there was a rainstorm, Xu Qin lit a cigarette and thought, the next rainstorm that drowned the city would be good. 

She was about to suffocate, almost suffocating. 

…… 

The next day, the sun was shining brightly and the temperature soared. 

Dozens of fire fighters underwent physical fitness assessments on the training field under the scorching sun. 

The team lined up, Song Yan whistled, and the one at the front rushed out of the starting line, ran, hurdles, crawls, hurdles, push-ups, and sit-ups. 

Song Yan wore a camouflage uniform, standing tall with long legs, standing aside with a stopwatch and a scoreboard, glanced at the advancing members, glanced at the stopwatch, and recorded the time consumed for each task.

The team members at the back looked around from time to time, comparing inwardly. 

One person finished, Song Yan whistled, and the next person set off.  An hour later, all the team members had completed the assessment and re-queued. 

Song Yan glanced at the score sheet: “Stand at attention!” 

The officers stood up straight. 

“Take a break.” 

Take a short rest. 

“Reporting the results, Jiang Yi, sprint 11 seconds 3, hurdles 17 seconds 8,…” Song Yan looked up at his teammates, but saw Suo Jun walking across the training field, “… The total score is 2 minutes 24 seconds, which is better than last week by 15 seconds. — Applause.” 

The soldiers neatly clapped their hands three times.

Suo Jun stood under a tree next to him, the military dog ​​Xiao Meng squatted beside him, one person and one dog waited for Song Yan. 

Song Yan finished the notification one by one, put away the scoreboard behind him, and said briefly: “Everyone’s performance has improved, continue to maintain. Rest for ten minutes,” glanced at his watch, “We will gather at 10:30, physical training. Stand at attention!” 

“Yes.” The team members stood at attention and saluted. 

“Dismissed.” 

Song Yan turned to leave, walked towards Suo Jun, and snapped his fingers at Xiao Meng: “Dismissed!” 

A moment ago, Xiao Meng, who had a serious expression and squatted upright, immediately opened his mouth, stuck out his tongue, and rushed towards Song Yan, his front paws on his chest, and he kept wagging his tail. 

Song Yan rubbed its head and laughed: “Shit, I haven’t seen you for a few days, missed me this much.” 

Suo Jun: “You have spoiled this dog. It can’t eat without you, and has a bad temper. It will bark when it sees people. You two have a deep relationship.” 

Song Yan: “Nonsense, I raised it.” 

Suo Jun said: “Yes, this dog is very emotional, follows the master.” 

Song Yan is scratching the dog’s neck, raising his eyebrows to look at him: “Why do I have a feeling you have something to say?” 

Suo Jun snorted: “I said you are very emotional. Oh yes, there was a woman who came looking for you two nights ago, it seems that she was the doctor.” 

Song Yan bent down and rubbed the dog’s head, looking unconcerned. 

“I was going to have her leave her contact information, but she ran away.” 

Song Yan raised his head: “It’s not an important person.” 

………. 

It rained for three days in a row, getting better and better. 

Xu Qin liked all the bad weather, and looked at the peaceful things being torn apart with ugly scars. But her colleagues at the hospital apparently didn’t think so. 

Every time bad weather is encountered, the number of emergency patients will increase exponentially.  Halls, consultation rooms, injection rooms, and observation rooms were full of people. 

Xu Qin and her group received seven traffic accident victims of different ages in the past three days. One of them, a boy in his early twenties, stopped breathing on the way, and was dead on arrival at the hospital. 

The parents of the deceased dragged the doctor to cry, screaming and begging the doctor to save their son. 

Although doctors and nurses see a lot of life and death, they are not used to it. 

When Xiao Nan washed her hands in the cleaning room, she couldn’t help but wipe her tears. 

Xu Qin asked, “What’s wrong?” 

Xiao Nan: “The boy who died just now was so young. His parents are so pitiful.” 

“Well.” Xu Qin finished washing her hands, dried them with a tissue, and said, “I’m off work. See you tomorrow.” 

Xiao Nan stared blankly as Xu Qin put her hands in her pocket and left, just as Xiao Bei walked in: “What are you looking at?” 

Xiao Nan: “I find that Dr. Xu never seems to have any mood swings.” 

Xiao Bei put hand soap on her hand: “You just found out today, everyone in the hospital knows that. I have never seen her laugh or cry. When she encounters poor patients, she doesn’t seem to be sympathetic; she encounters miserable family members, she is not sympathetic; she is not angry even when she encounters harassment. So I think people like her are the most suitable for being a doctor. ” 

Xiao Nan wondered: “Why do you say that?” 

Xiao Bei shrugged: “Keep a distance from the patient, and treat medicine rationally as a profession and academia without emotion.” 

Xiao Nan: “But I heard from Dr. Zhu Xian from the burn unit that Professor Xu has opinions on Dr. Xu and does not agree with Dr. Xu’s promotion to be the attending physician.” 

“Eh? Why? Although Dr. Xu is not enthusiastic, she is reliable and easy to work with. Other doctors have to deal with interpersonal relationships, which is so troublesome.” 

“They seem to think that Dr. Xu has no benevolence. I heard from Dr. Yang Sijia that she and Dr. Xu were interviewed in the same batch. There were several directors of surgery. Director Xu Ken asked, if a critically ill patient applies for transfer to your hospital for surgery, what will you do? Judging that the success rate is not high, will you take the patient to your hospital for treatment? Yang Sijia said that she will, saying that our hospital has superb medical skills and has rescued many patients that other hospitals cannot. She hopes to become such a rejuvenating doctor one day. ” 

Xiao Bei: “What about Dr. Xu, how did she answer?” 

Xiao Nan: “Dr. Xu said she would not save him.” 

Xiao Bei: “Didn’t say why?” 

Xiao Nan: “She said, I don’t want to ruin my career.” 

Xiao Bei: “Fuck, so direct?” 

Xiao Nan: “No. Director Xu put a cross on the form at the time, but I didn’t expect her to come in anyway, and she was assigned to the most skilled burn unit in the surgical department of our hospital, which happens to be the department that Director Xu manages.” 

Xiao Bei was worried: “Then can Dr. Xu be promoted this time?” 

……….. 

When Xu Qin returned home at noon, she found that the window was not closed, and the rainwater had come in, making the solid wood floor dirty. 

She looked around, but she didn’t have a mop or a rag at home. There was no way to make a cleaning service appointment now. 

She couldn’t stand the mess, so she looked around, pulled out a new sweater from the closet, and wiped the water off the floor. 

It has been raining these days and the temperature has plummeted. After Xu Qin was done with the housework, her nose felt a little stuffy, so she found a knitted coat to put on. 

She sat on the sofa, lit a cigarette, looked at the big empty room, and unknowingly started daydreaming.  The smoke burned to the end without noticing it.  After going to Shi Li Tai that night, it has often been like this. But she was used to being calm, so even if she was depressed, she wouldn’t notice it. 

Sitting for a long time, her stomach grumbled. She remembered that she only ate the cake that Xiao Nan gave her in the morning. She hadn’t eaten yet. She just took out her mobile phone and was about to order takeout. Meng Yanchen’s call came in: “Qin Qin?” 

“Here.” 

“Are you home?” Xu Qin’s work schedule was extremely complicated, but Meng Yanchen had a clear grasp of it, never disturbing her during work hours, and always caring about her when she was resting. 

“I am.” 

“It’s okay, just wanted to remind you that there is a red warning for heavy rain tonight, don’t go out.” Meng Yanchen’s speech has always been flat, and there was not much concern in his tone. 

“I see.” Xu Qin said. 

“Have you eaten?” 

“Not yet. Ready to order takeout.” 

Meng Yanchen paused for a second and said, “I haven’t eaten yet, let’s go together.” 

Xu Qin: “Where to go?” 

Meng Yanchen: “Where do you want to eat?” 

Xu Qin: “Jiang Zhi Chu.”

Meng Yanchen smiled very lightly at the other end: “You never get tired of eating it.” 

Xu Qin: “I’ll head out now.” 

Meng Yanchen: “No, it’s raining too much and the road is not safe. I’ll bring the food to you.” 

Xu Qin: “They do take out food?” 

“No.” Meng Yanchen said, “Wait for me.” 

While waiting, Xu Qin put away all the ashtrays and cigarette boxes at home, took a shower and washed her hair, changed into clean clothes, and rested on the sofa wrapped in a blanket. 

Not long after, Meng Yanchen came, carrying a delicate bamboo woven food basket, and brought out white jade porcelain plates layer by layer: stir-fried lotus root strips, stir-fried garlic cloves, fried lotus seeds, steamed sea bass, lotus root pork ribs soup. 

Xu Qin’s appetite was about the same as usual, a small bowl of rice was followed by a small bowl of soup, no more or less.  However, Meng Yanchen had a good appetite, and the dishes were swept away. 

After eating, he took the dishes to the kitchen to wash, Meng Yanchen asked, “You lived here for so long, haven’t you used the kitchen?” 

“No.” Xu Qin glanced back, Meng Yanchen was standing behind the open counter washing dishes, his dark shirt sleeves rolled up on his arms. 

Meng Yanchen said, “Can I find you a cooking auntie?” 

“No. The hospital has a canteen. It’s also convenient to order takeout.” 

Meng Yanchen didn’t say any more. After washing the dishes, he saw the kettle on the table. The plug was British. Looking around, there was no newly bought kettle. 

He stared at the plug for a long time, his voice suddenly dropped, and said, “Qin Qin, you can’t take care of yourself like this, what will you do in the future?” 

The room was quiet, except for the sound of raindrops outside the window. 

Xu Qin hugged herself and curled up in the chair, looking at the glass blurred by the rain, and said, “The words that you have said, have you forgotten about it?” 

…………… 

Meng Yanchen went to work, Xu Qin slept at home until 3:30, and was woken up by a phone call from Dong Yuanyi’s attending physician, saying that the burn unit had receive a patient with 90% or more third degree burns. Several professors such as Wang Guodong, Xu Ken, and Gao Liang performed the operation themselves. The opportunity was rare, so she asked her to go and observe it quickly. 

Xu Qin immediately set off for the hospital. When the car came out of the underground garage of the apartment complex, it was pouring with rain. 

She rushed to the hospital and entered the observation room next to the operating room. All the surgeons who were not on duty came. Xu Qin found a corner seat and sat down.  At that time, Director Wang was performing a tracheotomy on the patient. 

Xu Qin sat by the glass for more than six hours, not knowing the passage of time. 

Until the final operation was successful, colleagues returned to their posts one after another. 

Her next shift was at 8:00 tomorrow morning. She originally wanted to discuss the details of the operation with the professors, the selection, measurement and time period of each infusion and medication, but considering that they had been operating for seven to eight hours in a row, they were exhausted, so she decided to wait until tomorrow and drove back home. 

The underground parking lot of the hospital was covered in a layer of water, and who knows where it came from. Xu Qin pondered the operation in her mind, and didn’t notice. 

The car was on the highway, she was still distracted, and she hadn’t noticed that the rain was so heavy that it was scary. 

During the more than six hours she stayed in the hospital, the outside world was turned upside down, and the city was full of stagnant water. 

Pedestrians were running on the overpass, dipping in the water that was as deep as their legs, only to hold up their umbrellas, but the wind blew away only the ribs, and the raincoats were also torn by the wind. Vehicles drove slowly in the water, and some stopped motionless in the water. 

When Xu Qin found that the water level was not right, most of the water was running up to the wheels. She immediately slowed down and prepared to reverse, but as soon as she changed the reverse gear, the car suddenly stopped. After a few hits, the car didn’t ignite, and a car behind her accelerated and slammed into her car’s rear before it could brake. 

The car slid forward two or three meters, and Xu Qin clearly felt that the car was leaning forward, as if it was on a downward slope. Torrential rain. Through the windshield wiper, Xu Qin barely saw the familiar signs on the road ahead, and suddenly realized that this was a sinking passage under the bridge! 

She immediately pulled the handbrake, but the rain continued to wash down the bottom of the bridge, pushing the car down the slope. 

Xu Qin unfastened her seat belt and pressed the window. The button-type window completely failed, and the door could not be opened. 

She calmly took out her phone from her bag and dialed 110. 

“Hello, 110—” 

“Hello, I am trapped inside my car that will fall into the water. The sunken passage under the Songmen Bridge, a white BMW.” 

“Don’t panic, please call fire 119 for rescue.” 

When Xu Qin heard the three numbers 119, she stopped responding for a while, and the phone was also cut off at the same time.