Life is Like a Journey – Chapter 104
by Little PandaVolume 3: Transition
Girlfriend
She really did go to great lengths just to spend time alone with her
The fire truck stopped at the hospital entrance. Gu Yanzhi slammed the car door shut, jumped down, put on her helmet, and ran into the hospital.
When the phone rang, Lu Qingshi opened her eyes and reached for it from the chair with some effort. Seeing the flashing name, she let out a relieved sigh.
“Where are you?”
“In the changing room…”
Just as the words fell, someone knocked lightly twice on the door.
“Come in”
Gu Yanzhi tucked the phone into her pocket, with a somewhat bright smile: “The nurse said you were resting…”
“It’s okay,” Lu Qingshi sat up a little, her lips curving into a smile: “Seeing you makes me feel much more energetic.”
The person before her wore a firefighter’s uniform – though loose-fitting, it looked sharp on her slim shoulders and narrow waist. The hem was tucked into her belt, combat boots held her pant legs, and she still had snow on her, with frost crystallized on her hair tips, all wet.
Gu Yanzhi took off her helmet, saw her sitting on the floor and went over to help her up: “Why didn’t you sleep in the duty room?”
Lu Qingshi struggled a bit but ended up encircled in her arms, sitting on her lap, holding her shoulders, ears turning red.
“This is closer to the operating room… hey, let go… what if someone comes in?”
Gu Yanzhi smiled, tightening her arms slightly but not too much – she was cold and the doctor wore thin clothes, worried about chilling her.
“I locked the door.”
“…”
She really did go to great lengths just to spend time alone with her.
Gu Yanzhi unbuttoned her uniform, unzipped the inner zipper, and took out a small cake box from her pocket. Lu Qingshi’s eyes immediately widened: “You didn’t go back to get it, did you?!”
“Of course not, I bought it on the way back. Although I couldn’t make it back before midnight, I still wanted to be the first to wish you happy birthday.”
As a basic-level fire commander [frontline firefighter], her duties were actually very heavy. She only had half an hour for a brief return to rest and change equipment. Because she came back too early, most cake shops weren’t open yet, so she went along the street checking each shop that might be open, until finally she begged a kind shop owner to make her a small cake right then, which she tucked away and hurried to the hospital.
The cake box was slightly deformed from being squeezed, the transparent plastic case was smeared with cream. When Lu Qingshi opened it, her heart felt completely soft, just like the filling inside – so soft that the slightest squeeze would make it ooze.
She couldn’t say anything else, her eyes just slightly reddened: “Thank you.”
“Wait,” Gu Yanzhi pulled out candles from her pocket, gently inserting them in the center.
*Click*
The lighter’s weak flame lit up, and Gu Yanzhi held the cake for her, with gentle eyes.
“Make a wish, Qingshi.”
It had been many years since she’d done such a childish thing on her birthday. She had always thought making wishes was something only children did – why else would none of the many wishes she’d made ever come true?
But looking at her sincere expression, the ice crystals in her hair tips, her hands red from cold, rushing back from the scene just to bring her a piece of cake.
Lu Qingshi couldn’t speak any words of refusal.
The doctor closed her eyes and silently wished in her heart: May she be safe and happy.
“What did you wish for?”
“If I tell you, it won’t come true.”
In the winter morning, birds shook accumulated snow from the treetops. The doctor and fire instructor ate an entire cake with their heads close together – this was their first bite of food in 24 hours.
It was hard to imagine that the accident site was so tragic, noisy, and chaotic, like hell on earth.
Yet by her side everything was peaceful, quiet, and gentle. Gu Yanzhi indulged in this tenderness, but she had to return to that other world – her time was running short.
“I have to go.”
Their brief meeting lasted only minutes. Lu Qingshi cleaned up the cake box, even keeping the fork.
“Okay.”
Gu Yanzhi set her down, put on her helmet preparing to leave, but because her fingers were stiff from cold, she couldn’t fasten the strap.
Lu Qingshi fixed it for her. Though her height wasn’t short among women, Gu Yanzhi was still half a head taller, with a tight jawline and cheek curves that weren’t soft – the distinctive ruggedness of a soldier.
Lu Qingshi finished everything, also smoothing out the wrinkles at her collar, looking at her girlfriend with a barely noticeable trace of attachment in her eyes.
“Be careful.”
Gu Yanzhi embraced her, patted her back, turned and strode away with large steps.
“You too, wait for me to return.”
Until she stepped out of the hospital entrance, Gu Yanzhi fingered something hard in her pocket as she got into the car.
Her index finger slipped slightly into it, hooking it, as she ordered her teammate to drive.
Never mind, time was tight and soldiers and horses are in chaos [hectic situation], she’d give it to her next time.
But what she didn’t expect was that everything that happened afterward was so sudden, and from then on, she never had the chance to give it to her again.
After working through the night without rest, even someone made of iron [strongest person] couldn’t hold on anymore, especially in this icy and snowy environment. Yu Gui held her frostbitten hands, blood flowing freely. She hastily applied medicine, but when she stood up carrying the first aid kit, everything started spinning.
A pair of hands steadied her firmly. She turned around hurriedly, joy immediately flooding her eyes: “Qin Xuan?! Why are you here?!”
The person before her wore a down jacket with a white coat over it, bearing an unfamiliar hospital logo, but both their uniforms had red crosses – this slight connection still stirred the young person’s heart.
She knew she had never given up the medical profession.
Qin Xuan smiled, still with her usual unrestrained tone: “Got the worst luck and was drafted by the Health Commission, whatever. The follow-up medical rescue teams from major hospitals have arrived, you all can go back now.”
She still walked while looking back at her in disbelief. Qin Xuan finished tending to a patient, removed her stethoscope and came over to flick her forehead.
“Stop looking, sister knows I’m good-looking, but you don’t need to keep staring at me.”
Yu Gui winced in pain, covering her forehead: “You look better when you’re not talking or moving.”
Their hospital’s medical rescue team had already assembled – the fifteen-person team was still missing one person. Yu Gui thought of Xu Qiankun and her eyes reddened slightly. She picked up a snow shovel and left the tent.
Qin Xuan shouted from behind: “Where are you going?!”
Yu Gui plunged into the swirling snow without looking back: “Taking Director Xu home!”
Xiang Nanke took off her windproof hood. Shanghai was also experiencing light snow. She carried an enormous backpack while looking at the weathered sign of the district police station, almost hidden behind the door, paused briefly in thought, then stepped inside.
“Hello, I’m here to report for duty.” The room had no heating and was bitterly cold. Several police officers wearing thick coats sat in small groups warming themselves by the fire.
Just as Xiang Nanke handed over her documents, someone emerged from the end of the hallway – a male officer with tiger back and bear waist [very strong and sturdy].
“Old-timer, a new person is reporting in.”
The man put on the winter coat that was draped over his chair, gave her a glance, looking unsurprised: “Oh, a newcomer. Just leave the documents there. You’ve come at the right time – we were just worried about not having enough people to shovel snow.”
It seems that in any police system, women are used like men, and men are used like beasts of burden. Xiang Nanke was also unsurprised, placing her backpack on the front desk.
“Okay.”
A patch police officer [neighborhood police] deals with trivial community matters – married couples arguing, lost dogs, someone reporting being overcharged fifty cents while shopping, and handling petty thieves. When the weather’s bad, they help traffic police clear roads and direct traffic.
After shoveling snow at the intersection all morning, Xiang Nanke finally got a brief rest. She took a bite of cold bread, unscrewed a mineral water bottle for a sip, sat on the steps watching the bustling crowds and listening to the rising and falling sound of car horns, inevitably thinking of that person.
The person being thought of sneezed. Qin Xuan rubbed her nose and cursed: “This damn weather, I’m freezing to death.”
Despite saying this, when she put on gloves to examine patients, her tone became somewhat gentler.
“What’s your name, where are you feeling unwell?”
When Zhao Hui heard this familiar voice, without thinking, she raised her hand and slapped.
Qin Xuan was stunned, the stethoscope was knocked aside, her mask fell off, and she retreated to one side holding her reddened face – what terrible luck to run into this person [literally: narrow road for enemies].
“Cheap woman! Vixen!!” Another barrage of insults. Qin Xuan rolled her eyes – this person wasn’t even looking at what state she herself was in, yet still had energy to curse.
Zhao Hui was also one of the people pulled out from under a vehicle, one leg bleeding heavily, wearing a dusty wool hat on her head, clothes dirty and blood-stained – nothing like her former neat and elegant appearance.
Qin Xuan took off her gloves and threw them in the trash: “There’s a patient here I can’t treat, can someone else come over?”
Her colleagues started walking over at her call, and Qin Xuan turned to go to the next patient.
Zhao Hui dragged her injured leg, kneeling and following: “Don’t go! Don’t go! It’s all because of you… because of you that Old Bao…”
Qin Xuan couldn’t be bothered with her, but just as she was about to lift the curtain to leave, Zhao Hui suddenly went quiet, followed by chaos.
“Quick! Open an IV line!”
“Blood pressure continuing to drop!”
“Dopamine, 5mg dopamine!”
Qin Xuan’s hand stopped mid-air while lifting the curtain. After a moment, she gritted her teeth and ran back.
“What’s the situation?!”
“Sudden blood pressure drop, consciousness level decreasing!”
Qin Xuan glanced at the monitor’s data and tried to unbutton Zhao Hui’s clothes, but the barely conscious person grabbed her hand: “Get lost… get lost… I’d rather die than let you save me…”
Qin Xuan cursed angrily: “You think I want to save you?! Damn it, if you died I wouldn’t have to pay back the money and everything would be over! But you can’t die here right now – if you want to die, go die somewhere else!”
As soon as she finished speaking, Zhao Hui’s eyes rolled back and she suddenly vomited a large amount of black blood onto her white coat, no longer having the strength to speak, lying on the ground with her chest heaving violently.
Qin Xuan successfully unbuttoned her clothes, pressed the stethoscope down, slightly furrowed her brows, and her gloved fingers moved inch by inch across the chest. When she reached the armpit, a flash of shock passed through her eyes.
“You…”
“Put a red tag on her, this patient needs to be transferred immediately,” Qin Xuan ordered, then noticed the stubble showing under her hat, and paused briefly in thought.
A young doctor colleague quietly asked her: “Sister Qin, what illness is it?”
“Breast cancer.”
The young doctor drew in a sharp breath, unable to help but admire her observation and diagnostic skills. Qin Xuan thought for a moment and still walked over.
“Send her to Renji Medical University’s First Affiliated Hospital, find a doctor named Lu Qingshi, tell her I sent you, and ask her to perform the surgery on this patient.”
Zhao Hui lay on the stretcher wearing an oxygen mask, deathly pale: “Get lost… cheap woman…”
Qin Xuan suddenly raised her voice and shouted: “Shut your damn mouth!”
Everyone in the ambulance was startled, and Zhao Hui was also choked by this sudden outburst. Qin Xuan jumped into the vehicle and whispered something in her ear.
Zhao Hui’s eyes became slightly wet. She looked at this familiar yet strange woman, confused about what she was thinking. She had caused her to lose her job, she should hate her – saying she wanted her to die, yet still saved her and found someone to perform her surgery.
For the first time, she felt that maybe there was a reason why Bao Fengnian had liked her.
“Old Bao went to prison but you didn’t divorce him. If you could wait for him that long, I couldn’t wait, so I stepped back. You need to live, otherwise when he comes out with gray hair, he won’t have anyone to take care of him. Doctor Lu is an excellent doctor, do your best.”
After saying these words, she got off the ambulance. The door locked, leaving her alone on the stretcher to ponder the deep meaning of those words.
The ambulance rushed through the ice and snow, Zhao Hui lay on the stretcher with tears streaming down her face, her consciousness beginning to blur.
In the returning ambulance, Yu Gui took out her phone, only then seeing the messages Fang Zhiyou had sent her from yesterday afternoon, along with two missed calls. She hadn’t answered any of them. The young person bit her lip.
“Senior, please let me off at the intersection ahead, I need to go home to get something.”
Liu Qingyun looked at his watch: “Okay.”
Actually, they could take a day off after completing their mission, but the hospital was probably in chaos right now, and Director Xu also…
He couldn’t help but sigh, but didn’t say much more, telling the driver to hit the brakes.
Yu Gui jumped down with her backpack: “Don’t worry, I’ll be back quickly, I won’t make it difficult for you, Senior.”
“It’s fine, besides, it’s the hospital – better than being out there. Go ahead.”
“Thanks, Senior.” Yu Gui waved and ran into the narrow alley.
Actually, after getting angry with her that day, Yu Gui had felt somewhat regretful, but couldn’t find the right opportunity to apologize, so it was put aside. The mission came suddenly, and she hadn’t had time to explain anything to her, disappearing for a day and night – she must have been worried sick.
Yu Gui ran up the stairs breathlessly and knocked on her door: “Zhiyou, I’m back.”
No movement. She pushed twice more – it was locked from inside. Yu Gui took out her key to open the door, feeling somewhat suspicious.
In broad daylight, what was going on?
Pushing open the door, the curtains were drawn inside. She turned on the light – the room was empty and cold. Used bowls and chopsticks were still piled in the sink, the garbage bin was stuffed full, giving off an unpleasant smell.
Yu Gui put down her bag and picked up the garbage bag: “Zhiyou?”
No one answered. No one was in the bathroom either. Yu Gui lowered her eyes in disappointment. Just as she was about to take out her phone to call her, she saw that her computer screen was still lit up. Something stirred in her heart, and she walked over, moving the mouse.
If time could flow backward, she would rather have never seen those conversations.
Yu Gui closed her eyes, tears sliding down her cheeks, falling onto the keyboard.
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