Coming down from the top floor, Xu Li guided Zhang Yuze toward his motorcycle. Zhang Yuze took off his coat and returned it to Xu Li. However, seeing that the man was still frozen into a popsicle, Xu Li waved his hand and said: “Forget it, you can wear it.”
After asking for Zhang Yuze’s address, Xu Li climbed the motorcycle, stepped on the accelerator, and entered the traffic. As for the frozen Dr. Zhang, he sat behind him and remembered the plot of the original book. It seemed that the author spent a lot of paper and ink describing Xu Li’s handsome appearance when riding a motorcycle. That specific appearance was somewhat similar to the current one. After all, Xu Li’s shoulders were wide and his legs were long. Wearing slim pants that wrapped around his legs, his calves looked long and straight. Straddling the fiery red engine, his appearance was also very eye-catching.
As for his driving skills, there was no surprise there. He had the ability to shuttle freely on the urban overpass, flexible and agile. Poor Little Bottom from the original novel had long been dreaming about that. He once made a wish that one day he would sit in Xu Li’s back seat and hug his waist for a happy drive.
It was such a pity that the wish had not been realized, and the two broke up because of true love. As for the result of the crematorium, Zhang Yuze didn’t know. After all, he didn’t read long enough to see the ending.
Zhang Yuze looked at Xu Li’s back in front of him, realizing that he accidentally helped Little Bottom achieve his wish. It was probably what the elders called “the inadvertent way to make the willow pattern”1The Willow pattern is a distinctive and elaborate chinoiserie pattern used on ceramic tableware. It is inspired by the story of two lovers separated by fate and envied for their love by the Gods. From then on, the lovers could only meet once a year, when the constellations align. The more you want and pursue something, the less likely you are to get it easily.
Arriving downstairs at Zhang Yuze’s place, Xu Li stopped the motor. Zhang Yuze climbed down, took off his helmet, and returned it to him. After thinking for a moment, he said: “Thanks for dinner.”
“You actually said thank you to me…” Xu Li hugged his arms and leaned on the motorcycle relaxedly, smiling happily.
“Then pretend I didn’t say it. Get out of here.” Zhang Yuze withdrew his last sentence and turned around to leave. He was unwilling to give Xu Li any sort of face.
“Dr. Zhang!” Xu Li stopped him from behind.
Zhang Yuze quickly turned around and asked: “Do you want to be scolded again?”
“No.” Xu Li smiled very openly, showing his teeth and raising his eyebrows slightly. The strong winter winds blew up his bangs and clothes, setting off his dashing character as the prodigal son. “I said, can we at least try to be friends?”
Zhang Yuze remembered the picture of the two of them getting along, went silent for a moment, and then asked: “Is this how you treat your friends?”
Xu Li smiled again: “Maybe I find you more interesting after you went ahead and changed your orientation.”2I think he means that Zhang Yuze used to bottom for him while they were dating, but now he claims to be so fed up with love that he went as far as turning into a top
“That’s up to you.” Zhang Yuze turned around and waved: “But I still think you’re also looking for a scolding.”
Arriving home, Zhang Yuze proceeded to take off his coat, only to realize that he was still wearing Xu Li’s moto jacket. He rubbed the back of his frozen red hand and changed his clothes, intending to take a shower first.
While wiping his hair, he also cleaned the washing machine. Then he picked up Xu Li’s jacket and threw it in, intending to wash it and return it to him tomorrow. During the long wait for the clothes to dry, he received a text message from an unknown sender.
The content was: Brother Yuze, Happy New Year.
Zhang Yuze raised his eyebrows. Not many people called him that. Except for his university roommates, there was only Shen Mo. As for his former roommates, they already sent New Year’s greetings in their dormitory group.
So really. The only possibility left was indeed Shen Mo.
Oh well, he never intended to pay any attention to it. Cutting back to the dormitory group, he saw that the youngest, Han Jinhang, already sent an electronic version of his wedding invitation.
Li Chenghong: @Zhang Yuze, Little Fourth’s wedding is in two months. Are you ready?
Han Jinhang: Yes, today’s the New Year. Do you have a good person to accompany you? Who did you spend time with?
Zhang Yuze: With a dog.
Li Chenghong: ???
Han Jinhang: ???
Zhang Yuze: Xu Li. That dog.
After explaining a lot to the two of them, Zhang Yuze yawned and looked at the clock only to see that it was time to go to bed. So he folded Xu Li’s jacket and put it in a clean clothes bag, turned around, and went to his bedroom to rest.
…………
The first day of work after the New Year. Because there was no holiday for medical staff, there were always people who had to work overtime, so everyone’s faces were full of reluctance.
When Zhang Yuze stopped his car and walked through the reception hall to the clinic, he felt that everyone’s eyes were pointing at him.
It was truly… Inexplicable.
In the nurse’s station, Zhao Xiaole leaned on the desk and bluntly said: “It’s because of your wonderful speech at the annual meeting.”
“What’s the matter?” Zhang Yuze never expected that it might be because of that.
However, Zhao Xiaole felt speechless. “What do you mean? Now the whole hospital knows that you, Zhang Yuze, pursued true love only to be disappointed. Now everyone thinks that Assistant Xu hurt you so badly that you completely changed your personality.”
Zhang Yuze’s expression was ugly, looking as if he had swallowed a fly. He couldn’t understand why Little Bottom from the original novel wanted to make his love story with Xu Li known to everyone, even complaining about his unrequited feelings. Didn’t he feel ashamed?!
Entering his office, Xu Li was already there, preparing the medical equipment. Seeing him coming in, the two of them looked at each other, in a sort of you look at me, I look at you kind of way, both with extremely wonderful expressions.
“How come you still look so relaxed? Thanks to your wonderful speech, the whole country talks about us.” Xu Li gritted his teeth.
“I’m special…” Zhang Yuze gave up explaining in the end. “I’m a fool.”
“Indeed you are.” Xu Li nodded in agreement.
The heavy atmosphere of half a day passed just like that, and the second part of the day turned into something truly wonderful. The old dean specially called Zhang Yuze to his office and repeatedly assured him that he would definitely have a new assistant after the Spring Festival, even ending his speech by begging him to face life bravely.
The kind grandmother of the Department of Psychology came to Zhang Yuze as well, telling him how to get out of the pain of unrequited love and asking him to look forward. True love will always be found!
Zhang Yuze nodded, uh-huh, and ah ah oh.
As for Xu Li, he didn’t have a good life either. Everyone who looked at him had a subtle expression, almost to the point of writing “Look at this big scumbag!” on their faces.
After the lunch break, Zhang Yuze went to the inpatient department to check the room, and Xu Li was also there, doing the daily registrations. Seeing him come in, Assistant Xu looked up and said: “There’s a heart bypass surgery at 3:00 p.m. The third operating room is ready.”
“Okay.” Zhang Yuze nodded with satisfaction. What else could he say?! Assistant Xu was really reliable at work!
However, after only half of the room inspection, Xu Li suddenly frowned and asked: “Why is it so messy outside?”
Zhang Yuze happened to stand near the door, so he poked his head out to take a look, only to see a compact… Mass of people in the corridor. The patients were even running around in horror, trying to dodge something. However, many other people liked to watch the fun, so they ran out of their respective wards. Now everyone was crowded into a noisy group, stepping on each other.
“Don’t crowd!” Zhang Yuze shouted for fear of causing an accident. Just then, he heard an angry roar coming from behind the crowd: “Who the fuck is Zhang Yuze?!”
He was stunned for a moment and subconsciously answered: “It’s me…”
As if by magic, the disorganized crowd separated in an instant, creating a road to Heaven. Zhang Yuze looked over blankly and saw a strong man holding a kitchen knife standing in front of him, his face full of red flesh, staring at him with angry eyes.
Zhang Yuze felt he looked sort of… Familiar.
The next second, the man angrily shouted: “It’s you who killed my mother! I’m going to fight you!”
“What?!” Zhang Yuze was stunned.
In just that moment, the man rushed towards him in anger. Zhang Yuze felt his arm being pulled, hearing Xu Li shout: “Why are you being dazed, run! Medical trouble!”
The crowd was in commotion again, and the screams were endless. Zhang Yuze lifted his legs and ran while Xu Li opened the way in front of him. He was pulled to the end of the corridor and the man looked reluctant to chase them for a second.
“Security, security, call the security up!” Xu Li held Zhang Yuze’s arm tightly and called for help. The corridor of the hospital seemed to stretch endlessly, and the entrance was also blocked by stunned people, so Zhang Yuze and Xu Li were caught in a dilemma, with nowhere to go. The man raised his kitchen knife and approached, but the security guard behind him had just run to the stairway, too far away to stop him at all.
Being chased like that, Zhang Yuze’s anger almost reached its peak. It was hard to be a doctor, spending each day trembling in fear and still getting misunderstood. Armed with only the writing board in his hand and looking at the bright kitchen knife that was about to stab him right in the face, he could only raise his hand to block the strike.
But soon enough, he looked up again only to see a figure quickly blocking in front of him. The silver light flashed, and the smell of blood pervaded in an instant.
“Shit!” Xu Li roared in pain.
“Shit, sht, sht, sht, sht…” For a very long moment, Zhang Yuze seemed to have lost his language system, only able to badly repeat that word. At that moment, regardless of anything else, he only knew how to pull Xu Li desperately to dodge.
Finally, the security guard rushed forward and managed to control the man. The aggressor fell to the ground, still cursing, and his eyes looked resentful. He screamed: “Zhang Yuze, I must fucking kill you!”
However, Dr. Zhang could no longer hear him. He watched in horror as the blood gushed out of Xu Li’s arm, painting his white coat red, and flowing all over the ground. Seeing Xu Li injured like that, he was in a hurry, but still had enough presence to pull Xu Li’s collar and roar: “Damn, are you stupid?! Helping me block a knife!”
He had a writing board in his hand just now. If he managed to block the strike, neither of them would end up injured. Xu Li’s behavior of putting his neck under the blade made him very unhappy.
Xu Li gasped in pain, and his forehead was covered with beads of sweat. He said: “Damn your mother, Zhang Yuze, you have an operation in the afternoon! If your fucking hand is injured, what should the patient do?!”
Zhang Yuze helped him stop the bleeding desperately, but not before scolding: “Can’t you look at the board in my hand and use it to block?! You see a knife next to you and go blind?!”
“Zhang Yuze, you idiot! It’s my fault that I helped you block the knife, right? I should have just let you be cut to death!” Xu Li was also quick with his words.
“Fuck your mother Xu Li, who wants to owe you a favor?! Stop moving, okay?”
“I don’t want you to owe me shit! As long as you don’t tell the whole hospital that I’m a scumbag who hurt your heart, god damn it!”
“I was really fucked up, okay! What’s your point?! Are you sick?!”
“Fuck your mother Zhang Yuze, it hurts so much, don’t shout at me!”
There was no way for Zhang Yuze to count how many times he and Xu Li blessed each other’s poor mothers. He only knew that if Xu Li hadn’t been injured trying to protect him just now, the two of them would have fought again. The police arrived soon and were shocked to discover that it was no longer a case of an angry patient attacking a doctor, but two doctors fighting each other passionately. All the way until Xu Li was pulled to treat his wound, he was still cursing.
Zhang Yuze felt even more uncomfortable. Xu Li had no idea what he was talking about. Even though he was only an assistant, an injury also affected his work. However, what made him even more annoyed was why in God’s name did Xu Li help him block the knife?! That kind of unilateral debt always put him at a loss since there was no way to repay someone for saving his life.
Fortunately, the heart bypass surgery in the afternoon was not complicated, and Zhang Yuze managed to handle it quickly. After walking out of the operation room, he asked for the first time in his life: “Where is Xu Li?”
Zhao Xiaole answered: “He went home after having his hand sewn up.”
Zhang Yuze asked again: “How is it?”
“Don’t worry, the injury will not affect future activities.”
Zhang Yuze breathed a sigh of relief.
However, the mischievous Zhao Xiaole poked him and joked: “Look at you, you said that you no longer believe in love and don’t like Assistant Xu. As a result, as soon as the hero saved the beauty, you went straight back to carrying about him.”
Zhang Yuze’s mouth was stiff, but he still tried to smile: “No, I just wanted to know if he was disabled…”
After leaving the hospital, Zhang Yuze first went to the police station to record his confession, explaining that the death of the man’s mother was due to the failure of the operation caused by excessive age and serious blood calcification, which was not the responsibility of the doctor. Because the surgical process was standardized and the family was informed of the chance of success in advance, soon enough it was determined that the man was unilaterally making trouble.
It was already eight o’clock in the evening when he finally left the police station. Zhang Yuze got into his car and planned to go home. However, as soon as he turned his head, he saw the bag on the co-pilot seat, containing Xu Li’s jacket.
He… Forgot to return it.
Zhang Yuze was on fire and cursed secretly: Who cares about him? He deserved it!
The car drove for a few meters before stopping again.
At the same time, Zhao Xiaole, who was eating snacks and watching TV at home, received a WeChat message.
Dr. Zhang: Do you have Xu Li’s address?
