CH 14

Xu Qin’s body was out of control, she was about to come into contact with the sharp needle. Suddenly, a big hand grabbed her from behind and pulled her back with great force.

Her heart rapidly rose and fell in half a second.

The nurse next to her, Xiao Dong, was left unattended, and was shoved by the patient’s family in the direction of the needle. Xiao Dong’s hand slammed into the edge of the bed, grabbing the exposed needle.

Xiao Dong screamed miserably and quickly pulled back her hand, a drop of blood emerging from her fingertips.

When the family members saw this, they were all taken aback.

The mobile hospital bed had been escorted away by the medical staff on duty, Xu Qin grabbed the nurse on duty and instructed: “Give me a copy of this patient’s blood test results later.”

After she finished speaking, she looked back at Xiao Dong who was still staring at her fingers and foolishly standing in place. Xu Qin quickly pulled her aside: “Hurry and clean up, then go to the Department of Infectious Diseases to report the injury and wait in the observation room.

The family members apologized to Xiao Dong profusely, saying sorry. Xiao Dong’s face twitched twice, she wanted to say it’s okay, but she was scared, wronged and angry, couldn’t say anything, and left with red-tinged eyes.

The emergency incident came to an end. Xu Qin turned back and saw Song Yan’s eyes through the crowd that was moving away. It was he who pulled her out of the way just now.

Song Yan glanced at her indifferently and turned to leave.

Xu Qin chased after him, grabbing his sleeve from behind.

Song Yan stopped and seemed to sigh before turning around. His expression was still impolite, and his words were still sarcastic: “You want to repay me for saving your life again?”

Xu Qin shook her head and pointed to his back: “I’ll take care of that for you, all the other doctors are busy.”

Song Yan: “Does that mean I don’t have a choice?”

Xu Qin: “Last time when you saved me, I also didn’t have a choice.”

……

In the surgery room, Xu Qin sat on a chair, pulled over the rack, put on a mask, and said: “Take off your shirt.”

Looking back, Song Yan was standing in front of her, looking directly at her. He neatly took off his protective suit, a thin army green t-shirt inside, which was damp and stuck to his body. He tore it off easily and tossed it aside.

On the side, Xiao Bei and Xiao Xi stared blankly, their faces turning red. Xu Qin had put on a mask earlier, one couldn’t see the expression on her face, but her long eyelashes fluttered once or twice.

The man exposed a wet upper body, tall build, firm muscles, smooth and sexy lines. A few drops of water fell from his neck, slid across his chest, abdominal muscles, and mermaid line, disappearing into his long pants.

Xu Qin couldn’t help but do a quick glance up and down and looked away.

Song Yan pulled the corner of his lips very lightly, then turned around and lay on the bed, acting like a cooperative patient.

Xiao Bei and Xiao Xi were still blushing and their ears were hot. Xu Qin’s silent and admonishing eyes swept over and stared at them both. The two came back to their senses.

Xiao Bei came over to help Xu Qin clean up Song Yan’s wound, while Xiao Xi recorded it.

Xu Qin measured the wound with a medical ruler: “3cm on the right side of the spine, 13 in length and 2.5 at the widest part.”

Xiao Xi buried her head in her writing.

“Cut wound, in the wound there are paint chips, iron filings, water plants……”

Xiao Xi felt pain when she heard it, she couldn’t help but raise her head and ask: “How did you get it?”

Xu Qin didn’t answer, the memory of Song Yan pushing her away flashed through her mind, the broken car frame made such a horrific wound on his back.

And just now at the entrance of the hospital, he was sharp-sighted and quick to save her from the needle……

Thinking of this, Xu Qin glanced at Song Yan inadvertently, he was lying on the bed with his back facing up, his head buried in his arms, and she couldn’t see his face. Only the scrapes on his arms could be seen, the skin was reddened.

She let herself withdraw her train of thought and picked up surgical tweezers to clean the wound for him. Just as she touched a paint chip in the wound, Song Yan’s body shrank abruptly.

Through the thin latex gloves, the strength of his back muscles contracting in pain spread to Xu Qin through her pinkie, straight to her heart.

It was just for a moment, he quickly relaxed.

Xu Qin stopped for a second and asked: “Are you sure you don’t want anesthesia?”

Song Yan buried his head: “En.”

Xiao Bei and Xiao Xi widened their eyes and looked at each other, no way right? After cleaning up, disinfecting, applying medicine and stitches, it would hurt so much.

Xu Qin did not try to persuade him any further and continued the procedure.

However, for some reason, this procedure had become different from what it used to be.

Every time she reached into the wound with the tweezers, the slight tremors of his back muscles tensed by pain would follow along the tip of her pinkie crashing into her heart, trembling, trembling, there was life.

It was like walking barefoot in the bathroom, every step you took, you got a slight electric shock.

It reminded her clearly: in front of her was a living person who felt pain, not an anesthetized comatose work obligation.

Every step numbed her heart to the extent that she couldn’t help but wonder if he was deliberately trying to create this effect.

Towards the end of the stitching step, the auxiliary work of Xiao Xi and Xiao Bei had been completed, and the cellphone in Xiao Xi’s pocket kept vibrating. She picked it up to take a look, her face changed suddenly, and she poked Xiao Bei. The two exchanged eye contact for a while, then quickly ran out.

Xu Qin didn’t mind them. They had their own discretion, and they wouldn’t run away like this if it wasn’t a matter of urgency. The emergency department had special cases every day, it was not possible to go by the book.

There was only Xu Qin and Song Yan left in the surgery room. The room was quiet, so quiet that you could hear the sound of sutures passing under skin tissue.

Xu Qin didn’t even realize that under the mask, the air she breathed condensed into droplets of water. There was also a thin layer of sweat that emerged on her forehead.

She operated the needle forceps skillfully and slowly, and suddenly said: “You’re awake?”

Song Yan: “En.”

Clearly he was not in the mood to chat with her.

The two were speechless again.

There was only the muscles on his back that followed the needle and thread of her fingertips, pit-a-pat, touched her fingertips.

She glanced at him, his temples were all sweaty and wet with messy hair. He continued to endure the pain.

Xu Qin lowered her eyes and said: “Thank you for today in the lake.”

Song Yan’s voice was slack and came from between his arms, which was not very clear: “Job responsibility.”

Xu Qin asked: “Was it a job responsibility to pull me away in front of the mobile hospital bed just now?”

Song Yan was motionless and did not answer immediately.

In the small space, there was a depressing silence.

Xu Qin calmly cut the thread and said: “Done.” With a gentle kick of her feet, the chair slid away a short distance: “Answer me.”

Song Yan was soaked in sweat and sat up, his tone bore his anger: “Xu Qin, what are you trying to do?”

Xu Qin: “What?”

Song Yan looked her in the eye: “Inexplicably you ran to my house to seek reconciliation, what are you trying to do? Huh? Get back together?” He smiled sarcastically, with contempt, “Did you think everything through before you came to make peace?”

Xu Qin stared at him, her black eyes straight and hard. He suddenly felt annoyed, touched her face with his big hand, and pulled off her mask: “How do you want to reconcile, huh? Play along with you, kick me away once you’ve played enough. What are you trying to do? Is it fun to fool around like this? I’m asking you, is it fun?

His provoking words sharpened the quills all over Xu Qin’s body, “Ha” she sneered, and retorted: “Are you interested? You’ve already forgotten about me, why do you care what I’m trying to do? When the car frame broke, why did you push me––”

“That was work!” Song Yan interrupted her angrily.

Xu Qin retorted back: “Pulling me away in front of the hospital bed was work as well?!”

This sentence choked Song Yan into silence.

Song Yan pursed his lips and stared at Xu Qin without blinking for a moment, his face full of anger.

Xu Qin: “Why aren’t you answering anymore? Say it.”

He gritted his teeth and didn’t answer.

His abrupt and stubborn silence made her angry, laughing instead, she pressed harder step by step, refusing to give in: “Too afraid to say more? Pulling me away in front of the hospital bed, was it also a job responsibility?”

“No.” Song Yan looked at her and finally said it.

“What was it then?” She still refused to let go.

“After all, I once liked you.” Song Yan said.

Xu Qin’s heart was suddenly stabbed with a knife.

The answer was unexpected, like expecting flowers to bloom but suddenly getting snow instead.

Only once, now it had passed. These words were so–– so ruthless.

Xu Qin picked up the scissors with her fingers, despondent for a moment and then quickly regained her senses. She wanted to laugh a little but nothing came out, her lips moved, ultimately there was nothing to say.

After Song Yan finished speaking, he picked up his phone from the bed and walked out tiredly, his figure from behind looked exhausted. From start to finish he didn’t look at Xu Qin even once, not even out of the corner of his eyes.

Xu Qin sat there for a while, before silently taking off her gloves and throwing it into the trash can; the face mask was still hanging on her ears, and she took a second before tearing it off and throwing it away. The condensed water on her face had long since dissipated, it was dry and uncomfortable.

……

After Xu Qin washed her hands, she stuck her hands in her pockets out of habit and went out the door. She ran into the migrant worker in the hallway, who was touching the back of his head while heading towards the entrance.

Xu Qin: “You are the one from the car accident––”

The young migrant worker stared at Xu Qin for a while, then recognized her, pointed at her and laughed: “You are the doctor who saved me.”

Xu Qin frowned: “Where are you going now? Stay here and don’t run around.”

The young migrant worker touched his head: “I had a CT scan and a full body examination. If there’s nothing wrong, I have to go back to work.”

He was run into so hard, yet he was unharmed.

Xu Qin: “Your helmet is broken, remember to buy a new one.”

“Got it.”

“Have you negotiated compensation?” Xu Qin asked.

“Compensation?” The young migrant worker thought about it, understood, and smiled heartily, “They paid for the medical expenses, and they also gave me money to repair the motorcycle, that’s enough. I’m okay, no illnesses, no disasters, so I don’t need to be compensated.”

After saying that, he left happily.

Xu Qin put her hands in her pockets and stood in the same spot, watching his back as he left briskly.

After being at the hospital for so long, what she hadn’t thoroughly figured out, and what could not be explained by science, was their respective fates.

Xu Qin turned around and walked to the observation room, and ran into Xiao Bei hurriedly approaching.

Xiao Bei saw Xu Qin, with a look of horror and sadness on her face: “Dr. Xu!”

Xu Qin: “Where did you run to with Xiao Xi just now?”

Xiao Bei glanced at the surrounding patients and pulled Xu Qin aside: “The patient who was sent to be rescued just now, the one who caused the car accident, the blood test came back, HIV positive, AIDS.”

Xu Qin was taken aback.

Xiao Bei gritted her teeth angrily: “His parents knew but kept it to themselves. Because it was an emergency and he lost too much blood, they didn’t wait for the blood test results before the doctors and nurses from Dr. Li’s team all entered the operating room.”

Xu Qin: “They are still in the middle of performing surgery?”

“Yes. I didn’t dare to inform the people inside, because I was afraid of causing accidents from panic, so I was replacing people one by one. Replacing them with people equipped with more protective measures.”

It sounded like a crisis.

Xu Qin was silent for a while and asked: “Where’s Xiao Dong?”

Xiao Bei’s expression changed from grief, anger and nervousness to sadness: “Crying like crazy. ––Antibody test will take six weeks, it looks like these couple of days will be difficult.

Xu Qin was speechless.

If it wasn’t for Song Yan’s pull, she would have been the one who fell into the blood-returning indwelling needle, and also the one who would have been at risk of HIV infection at this very moment.

Song Yan––

Xu Qin’s heart sank, and a series of images suddenly flashed before her –– he was soaking in the water to support the car frame, holding the perpetrator’s bleeding head, the wound on his back……

There were also several firefighters who jumped into the river to save people but may have been injured in the process……

Xu Qin stood on the spot, and a coldness swept over her body up from the soles of her feet.