My dad underwent the operation early in the morning the next day. Jiang Chen had recommended a female doctor, her surname was Su, her beauty had an air of intelligence and intellect to it, and standing next to Jiang Chen, together they were a talented man and beautiful woman.* (T/N: a Chinese idiom referring to a very well-suited ideal couple).
Initially, my mom didn't trust Doctor Su very much, she felt that all beautiful women were in general, quite useless. Because of this stubborn notion she had, I used to think that my mom considered me a beautiful woman in her heart for the longest time.
Doctor Su pointed out that she previously had, with bare hands, beaten up a gangster till his shoulder joint dislocated, then once again with bare hands relocated the shoulder joint. We, one after another, professed our utmost confidence in her medical expertise.
Jiang Chen accompanied us at the entrance of the surgical theatre. My mom clutched my hand tightly, while I patted the back of her hand comfortingly.
After sitting for about ten minutes or so, my mom started to forget about her uneasiness. She first looked at Jiang Chen and me, her eyes spinning back and forth between the two of us, then she gave a motherly smile. "You see, back when you and Xiaoxi were dating, we didn't have the time to sit down and chat, instead now……" She paused, then gave a long sigh. "The heavens makes fools of us all."
I was basically in a frozen state, and I wanted to dig a hole and dive right into it.
Jiang Chen smiled, and said, "I wasn't sensible back then, and didn't know how to cherish Xiaoxi."
I couldn't help but take a stealthy glance at Jiang Chen. Such a beautiful pleasantry.
My mom chuckled, "That's not the case, it's our Xiaoxi who doesn't have the good fortune."
Time passed quickly under their sham exchange of pleasantries. Perhaps because it wasn't a complicated surgery by far, or perhaps it was because of Doctor Su's excellent medical skills, in any case, the lights of the operating theatre dimmed and Doctor Su came out wearing a mask.
My mom suddenly grabbed my arm again. Her fingernails dug into me till I really wanted to send greetings to my maternal grandmother. (T/N: basically Xiaoxi is cursing)
Doctor Su unhurriedly took off her mask, revealing her upturned corner of her mouth. "The operation was successful."
My mom let go of my hand and leapt onto her, looking like she wanted to hug and kiss her. Thankfully, all she did was just hold and pull on Doctor Su's hand, patting it repeatedly. "Thank you so much, thank you so much."
I was extremely moved and intoxicated by this display of how the miraculous hands of a healer could move the heavens. Jiang Chen standing by my side used his elbow to gently bump against me, and spoke softly, "If you don't pull your mom away soon, Doctor Su's hand is going to become crippled."
I took a look. Indeed, there was a large patch on the back of Doctor Su's hand that had reddened. My mom had lately been learning paisha* from the old Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor on the Hunan channel and had achieved quite some success. There was one day when she couldn't find a knife to smash garlic, so she used her bare hands to smash the garlic into pieces on the chopping board. ((T/N: a traditional Chinese medicine healing method where you hit the skin to produce light bruising to release toxins in your body etc)
I hurriedly went over to pull my mom away. "Mom, you should hurry and see Dad."
My mom struggled out of my hands and reproached me. "Your dad's anesthesia hasn't worn off yet, what is there to look at? I need to thank Doctor Su properly."
Doctor Su took two steps back and repeatedly waved her hands. "Auntie, don't be so courteous, this is what I ought to do. I still have a surgery later, I'll head off first."
Tch, a white-clothed person who fled when defeated.
My mom with great disappointment turned towards Jiang Chen. "Jiang Chen-ah, thank goodness for you this time 'round…"
Jiang Chen placed his two hands behind his back, leaned over till he was beside my ear and softly said, "Save me."
I couldn't help but shrink my shoulders back. Suppressing a rush of emotion that made me want to bite my tongue and commit suicide, I pushed my mom and said, "Hurry and go take a look at Dad, Jiang Chen has outpatient clinic later on."
Just at that moment, the nurse came out pushing my dad's hospital bed, and so my mom followed them away.
There was just me and Jiang Chen left. I swallowed my saliva, raised my head and smiled as I said, "Thank you this time round."
He nodded, "It's nothing, I'll head off first."
The word escaped out of my mouth. "Huh?"
He smiled. "I have outpatient clinic."
I watched Jiang Chen walk away, rubbing my ear and smiling stupidly.
It was the first year of university back then. Jiang Chen had gotten into X University's medical school, while I, as an arts exam candidate had scraped through and just made it into X University's art school. Jiang Chen's faculty was having a welcome dinner for the freshman, and I had shamelessly begged him to take me along as someone who had had a one-sided love for him for many years with no results. This was mainly because I had heard that at the welcome dinner, the seniors would foot the bill no matter how much you ate, and I was really pleased with this way of doing things. Later on when I became the senior, whenever there were welcome dinners, I would have a stomachache and be unable to attend them.
There were quite a lot of people that day, with eight tables reserved at the small restaurant at the North entrance of the school. By the time Jiang Chen and I reached, there weren't many seats left, and him and I were thus separated to join two tables. I gazed at him from afar, thinking that this was really great, for there was no one who would bother/manage me even if I ate too much.
After sufficient food and alcohol, the seniors brought the juniors over to the field to play games. There was a game which had originated from God-knows-what random place and then became a trend all around the world called "truth or dare."
That beer bottle spun and spun till it stopped in front of a girl. Given that the student before her who had chosen to do a dare had had to pull at a stranger and say, "You see, this is my left liver lobe, this is a gallbladder sac, this is the right lung lobe, this is the kidney, here, there is a straight tube called the ureter……", the girl therefore chose truth.
A male senior who was like a big grey wolf guided the questioning in a skillful and methodical manner, saying, "Junior, do you have a boyfriend? Or someone you like? Who is it?
I thought to myself that this question was too kind, for he should at least ask the color of her underwear or something along those lines. Then when that girl blushed and nodded, her eyes were flickering uncertainly towards Jiang Chen, I suddenly felt that this question was too hard-hitting……
Everyone started to hoot and cheer and wanted Jiang Chen to declare his stand. Jiang Chen who all along had been standing behind my back suddenly leaned down and spoke beside my ear, "Save me."
I was momentarily dazed, feeling his breath from those two words tickling my neck causing it to itch. After scratching my neck, I grew some wits in the midst of anxiety and said, "My…… My…… stomach hurts."
Behind me, Jiang Chen gave a long sigh, put his hands on my shoulders to support me, and said, "Everyone, sorry, my girlfriend's stomach hurts, I'll send her to the school hospital."
I was dragged along by Jiang Chen for a few steps before I came out of my reverie and realised that what he had said just now was "girlfriend", so I asked him while trembling, "I that…. That……just now, I seem to have…… Heard you say 'girlfriend'……"
I seemed to see his face redden strangely, before he spoke boldly and with conviction*, "That's right, what about it?" (T/N: referring to being assured when you think you are on on the side of reason)
My heart rate sped up instantaneously, and I almost vomited. Stammering, I said, "Nothing, about that… Welcome you."
Every time I reminisced about the past, I was able to not feel regretful about wasting my years away, and not feel ashamed for not having much achievements. But I really wanted to die for saying something similar to the welcoming words of those in the female special services industry* at such a crucial moment. (T/N: referring to prostitution)
At night, I stayed in the hospital to take care of my dad, and made my mom go back to my place to rest. That old lady refused to initially, later on after I told her a few of the hospital's ghost horror stories, she said that she suddenly felt utterly exhausted physically and mentally, and that she had better go back to rest, so that she could have sufficient vitality to take care of my dad tomorrow.
Tonight, Doctor Su was on shift duty, after doing her ward rounds twice, she just settled herself down in my dad's ward, and insisted on pulling me to chat.
Taking into consideration her status as a benefactor, I could only strive to prop up my eyelids and accompany her to chat.
She asked, "How did you and Doctor Jiang know each other?"
I answered, "Schoolmates."
She muttered to herself, "I thought you were a couple, but seeing as how he didn't stay behind to accompany you tonight, I guessed that too."
After she had finished talking to herself, she asked again, "What kind of schoolmates?"
I answered, "Kindergarten, primary school, middle school, high school, university."
She thought this merited much astonishment, and also pointed out that this was a fate that was hard to come by, she said, "Yo yo yo, childhood sweethearts, growing up looking at each other's reproductive organs since young, you are really fated."
I was so taken aback that my mouth that was open from yawning only closed itself after a long time. I wiped away the tears squeezed out during my yawn, and was just about to say something, when Doctor Su yet again asked a question. "Does he have a girlfriend or not?"
I replied honestly. "I don't know."
She enigmatically moved close to my ear. "I'll tell you something, you can't tell Doctor Jiang."
I nodded.
She smiled with the air of a gossip monger*, "We all suspect that Doctor Jiang is gay." (T/N: the original term literally means three-eight, often used to describe a woman being improper, frivolous, talking behind someone's back)
I stared at her in astonishment, she then explained, "He never appears bringing a woman, plus he maintains his distance from all female doctors, female nurses and female patients. But it's not surprising for people in our line to have such a problem, once you understand the female body too well, it loses its sense of mystery."
I hesitated for a moment, and then asked still, "It seems like this industry of yours also understands the male body very well, right?"
She thought for a while dazedly, then clapped a hand to her head, suddenly enlightened and said, "That's also true."
Thus, both of us separately pondered for a few minutes. During these few minutes, the whole time I was pondering how exactly could I send her away to leave, I was really sleepy. Regretfully, Doctor Su asked again, "You've known him for so long, have you ever seen him have a girlfriend before?"
My sleepiness dissipated in an instant, I gave two forced laughs. "I have."
"Ya, that's such a pity." She sighed in disappointment.
I gingerly probed. "What's a pity? You like him?"
She laughed bashfully. "No, I have a partner. My partner is doing his PHD at X University, he's studying psychology, the direction of his topic for his graduating thesis is the analysis of the psychology of homosexuals, mainly to research into the psychology of homosexuals belonging to the elite class in society. He was just vexing about being unable to find research subjects……"
After thinking for a bit, I suggested, "Why not you go online and find some novels for him to read? Aren't danmei* novels in trend currently? Those male leads inside are CEOs, doctors, lawyers and military men, there's every single elite industry. Art originates from real life, let your boyfriend see if he can find anything useful." (T/N: boy-love novels)
She waved her hand and said, "I thought of that long ago, and I've researched into it before, I think it's not reliable, those novels are almost all written by females. In the minds of females, men are animals who think with the lower halves of their bodies, and when two animals who think with their lower halves of their bodies gather together, if they are not using their lower halves of their bodies, they are using their lower halves of their bodies frequently and excessively. It’s not helpful for academic research."
I thought for a bit, and felt that that made quite a bit of sense, so I made an "oh" sound to assent.
She then said, "Do you think Doctor Jiang has any tendencies towards homosexuality? I saw that those novels all say that you can make a man who isn't gay become gay, what's the scientific name for it again? Oh, it's called "breaking crooked*", why not I break him crooked, how about that?" (T/N: common phrase online, given that in Chinese, being straight is also called ç›´ which literally means straight so to break someone crooked is to become gay.)
I opened and shut my mouth repeatedly, and stammered as I said, "That's… Not very good…"
She patted my shoulder. "Don't be nervous, I was joking with you, you don't get my humor."
"Oh right, you make a guess as to why I chose to study medicine? And also why I chose orthopedics?" She requested suddenly with great excitement.
I hadn't yet recovered from her previous display of humor, and said feebly, "Your family members are all doctors?"
She shook her head.
I guessed again. "You saw someone who suffered greatly because they had a bone disease when you were younger?"
She was still shaking her head.
I became serious. "You resolved to hang your gourd bottle and save the world?* You and your boyfriend agreed to try for medicine? You accidentally filled in the wrong college application choices during the time of the national college entrance examinations?" (T/N: in olden China, doctors would hang a gourd outside their shops to signify that this was a clinic. This idiom means to practise medicine to rescue the people of the world from their suffering)
"All of them are not," she said triumphantly, "My family sells pork, I would feel very excited every time I saw my dad chopping pork."
The corners of my mouth quirked. "Hehe, influenced by what you see and hear."
She once again hit my shoulder hard. "You believed it again, you really don't get my humor. All of my family members except for my younger brother are doctors."
Translator’s Corner:
Here we finally meet the quirky Dr. Su! (Also my favorite character!) Hope everyone enjoys this update. Also another translator is joining me and Amy, let’s welcome Xri! All links for our SNS accounts are on the header if you want to talk to us or have questions. ^^