Just like that, another busy day passed in a blur.
I returned to my small rental apartment, turned on the warm yellow lights, cooked a bowl of noodles for myself, and lay down on the couch to watch a fun variety show. This was the most relaxing time of the day for me, a single working guy.
Just as I had taken two bites of noodles and watched two minutes of the show, the leader of my university dormitory called, asking me to pick him up at a hotel.
“Ah Ze, are you free? Come pick me up.” On the other end of the line, all I could hear was “drink,” “drink drink,” and “drink drink drink.” The sound was so obnoxious that it triggered my professional instincts. The way they were drinking, it was like their kidneys were about to give out.
Back in university, our dormitory was a rare mixed faculty setup. The leader, who we called “Boss,” majored in marketing; the second-in-command in law; I was in urology; and the fourth was in computer science.
I was the only medical student among them, so they all started working earlier than me. Now, they’ve all achieved moderate success. While I was doing my postgrad studies, they took good care of me. Especially Boss, who stayed in the area after graduation and landed a job in a big company. He would frequently visit me at school and bring me stuff.
Since he got promoted last year to head of marketing, he hadn’t asked me to pick him up like this. I wondered what was going on.
I took a couple more bites of noodles, then headed downstairs, got into my car, and drove to XX Hotel to pick him up.
When I was close to the hotel, I saw Boss clinging to a pillar at the entrance from a distance. Several people around him were trying to pull him away, but he stubbornly shrugged them off, mumbling something under his breath.
As I got out of the car and walked closer, I finally heard what he was saying: “I’m waiting for Xiao San to pick me up. I’m waiting for Xiao San.”
The onlookers’ gazes were odd, and one of them suggested, “How about we call his wife instead?”
“No! If I go home, she’ll scold me. I’ll go stay with Xiao San,” he replied.
Embarrassed to be humiliated in front of so many people, I immediately wanted to turn around and leave. Last year, Boss not only got promoted but also married his childhood sweetheart. The two had grown up together, and Boss was totally whipped. He was probably drunk out of his mind and too scared to go home.
Before I could leave, Boss spotted me and yelled, “Xiao San!” The crowd around him turned to look at me, and I shouted back in a voice no less loud than his, “It’s dorm room rank number three!”
After that, Boss threw himself at me, and I instinctively took two steps back. He ended up sliding down two steps on the stairs. I calmly explained, “The night is dark; it was definitely not on purpose.”
Boss was too drunk to care about the details, and his tongue was already tied.
As I was helping him up and preparing to leave, he suddenly remembered something and waved behind him. “President Qin, I’m heading out first.”
I turned to look at this “President Qin” he was addressing. The man was leaning against another pillar in the shadows. It was too dark to see clearly, but for a moment, I thought he looked like my old deskmate.
Before I could think any further, Boss’s flailing movements forced me to deal with the drunken mess in front of me. I dragged him into the car and drove off.
The night in Jing City was still bustling, with cars streaming by endlessly. As I drove, a thought suddenly struck me—my old deskmate’s surname was also Qin.
At that moment, I seriously suspected I had run into my old deskmate.
This suspicion was confirmed the next day.
In the afternoon, as I returned from the restroom, I saw a tall man standing in the hallway outside my office. He had an unlit cigarette in his mouth, holding it as if he were deep in thought.
While wiping my hands with a tissue, I was relieved to see he hadn’t lit it. Otherwise, no matter if he was my old deskmate or how much more handsome he’d become, I would’ve thrown him out on principle—doctor’s ethics, after all.
As always, I stayed fair and impartial, evidence-based.
He held the cigarette between his lips and lifted his head. When he saw me, he froze for a moment.
I nodded at him and walked closer. Standing in front of him, I glanced up at the sign above the office door: Urology Surgery.
Good.
“Come in.” I straightened my expression, took a decisive step forward, opened the office door, inhaled deeply without realizing it, and pointed at the chair in front of me. “Mr. Qin, take a seat!”
