CH 56

Chapter 56: We have already broken up.

After Xu Sui sent the contact to Li Yang, she quickly deleted Zhou Jingze.

She could be a fool for love in her youth, but not anymore. Back then, as to how desperate she was to disregard herself, she fell miserably.

It was better to not be entangled again; the best option.

After returning home, Xu Sui received a message from Li Yang.

Li Yang has always been swift in handling affairs, and he sent her a screenshot: 【On-site press conference, after the event, the staff will take you backstage to shake hands and take pictures with the actor you like. What do you think? Isn’t brother reliable in handling things? 】

Xu Sui replied: 【Big brother is reliable. 】

After a while, Li Yang said: 【But the press conference is two months later, you’ll have something to wait for. But when did you become a fan of literature and art, watching this kind of Italian movie? This is the first time I saw you chasing celebrities, must like it very much huh? 】

Xu Sui smiled and didn’t reply.

If there has to be a reason, it was probably because of one person.

As the weekend passed, Xu Sui quickly forgot about this interlude and became a tireless screw again nailed in the operating room. On Tuesday, there was a meeting in the hospital, and a segment of it was on patients’ dependency and the doctor-patient relationship.

The hospital director played a series of short videos, including in-hospital doctors catching fatigue and illnesses from rescuing patients and clips of patients who bravely fought against cancer but unfortunately passed away.

The doctors in the meeting were all moved, and some even had watery eyes.

Director Zhang sat across from Xu Sui, watching her quietly. Xu Sui sat on the side, looking at the ppt on the projector calmly without many expressions. But she was listening carefully, occasionally lowering her head to take notes, and the ponytail she tied was swinging lightly.

After the meeting, Xu Sui put the cap on her pen, tidied up the meeting minutes on the table, and walked out with it in her arms. When she walked halfway, she heard someone calling her.

Xu Sui stopped and looked back. It was her teacher, Director Zhang.

Director Zhang walked up to her with his hands behind his back and asked with a smile, “Xiao Xu, what were the key points of this meeting?”

Xu Sui thought for a while, organizing her thoughts before speaking clearly.

“Not bad,” Director Zhang praised with a nod and then changed the topic, “The question I asked you before, have you found the answer?”

As her teacher, Director Zhang had a private conversation with her a while ago. He said that Xu Sui is diligent and conscientious, her medical skills have been improving, and she is also very responsible and patient towards patients.

Everything is fine except for the lack of compassion as a doctor.

In other words, in this profession, Xu Sui is too rational.

Xu Sui shook her head and said, “I’m sorry, teacher, I—”

Director Zhang sighed and patted her on the shoulder. Before leaving he said, “There will be someone who will tell you the answer.”

When Xu Sui got back home after a busy day, the room was silent, and when she pressed the switch, it was bright like daytime. Xu Sui stood at the entrance to change her shoes and put her bag away while ordering a takeout.

After taking a shower and washing her hair, the takeout also arrived.

Xu Sui took the takeout, turned on a variety show on the TV, and watched it while eating. Halfway through, Xu Sui’s phone beside the table made a “ding dong” sound.

She put down her chopsticks and picked up her phone to look. It was a message from Li Yang: Sweetheart, I’m so tired.

Xu Sui was too familiar with Li Yang’s pattern of starting this sentence, which means that he had a lot of things to complain about. So she replied with an emoji, and Li Yang immediately complained:

【Sui baby, your friend is too cruel. I ask him five sentences, and he replies with one word. Just because he’s good-looking, do I have to endure his indifference?】

Indifferent? Xu Sui thought about it carefully, and he seemed to be actually okay instead.

Xu Sui didn’t know what to reply and just said: 【You have worked hard. 】

Li Yang replied with a series of ellipses.

Two hours later, Xu Sui cleaned up the room and lit a piece of citrus-scented incense, patting the pillow and preparing to sleep. Li Yang sent a message:

【I have decided to give up on this man. 】

Xu Sui happened to have just laid down and turned sideways, with her head resting on her arms, asking: 【Huh? 】

Li Yang replied with a lot of words: 【He is good-looking, but a boring personality is useless. He is not fun at all, saying that he doesn’t have any hobbies. When I clicked on his Moments, there isn’t a single post, and his profile signature is a dash. 】

Very quickly, Li Yang sent another screenshot.

Xu Sui opened it, and her dark eyelashes trembled. His WeChat profile picture never changed. It was always Master Kratos, but now it was Master Kratos and 1017.

Xu Sui’s nose twitched, and a lump formed in her throat from looking at their group photo.

After many years, they have become an old cat and an old dog.

Zhou Jingze’s Moments was empty and clean. His signature was still the dash.

Xu Sui recalled when they were in college, not long after they got together, they played games at his house. The summer was long, and the sun outside the alley was very intense; the cicadas sang one after another.

Xu Sui and Zhou Jingze were watching a soccer game at home. They were sitting on the sofa, and the orange sunlight landed on a corner. Zhou Jingze hugged her while they were lying on the sofa, and he was in good spirits that he opened a can of cold beer.

The tab was pulled apart, and countless bubbles surged up.

Xu Sui was so envious that she wanted to drink, but even though Zhou Jingze refused, in the end, he only let her taste the foam. Zhou Jingze took back the beer, put it aside, and asked casually:

“Yi Yi, who do you bet on?”

Xu Sui looked at him and asked, “Who do you think will win?”

“Neymar.”

“Then I bet on number 16, the one in the red jersey.” Xu Sui said.

Zhou Jingze became interested and raised his eyebrows asking, “Oh? Why, you know him?”

“No, I just want to disagree with you.” Xu Sui smiled.

After she finished speaking, she forked a piece of cold watermelon into her mouth and fled away from Zhou Jingze, sitting on the other side of the sofa, afraid that Zhou Jingze would punish her.

On that hot and stifling afternoon, the two watched a soccer game together. Unexpectedly, Xu Sui’s words came true, and the player in the number 16 red jersey actually kicked the spin goal of the century.

Neymar lost.

Xu Sui smiled brightly: “When there is a will, there is a way.”

Zhou Jingze took a sip of cold beer and smiled: “What do you want?”

They had agreed earlier that the loser could help the other party do one thing.

Xu Sui thought for a while, grabbed his arm, and said with some embarrassment: “You just… post a message about me in your Moments? Or I draw a turtle on your face?”

Zhou Jingze chose the former, and he picked up the phone on the table and directly posted it in his Moments, also changing his signature. The post was quickly seen by Da Liu.

Da Liu: 【What kind of weird stuff is this, do you like dashes?】

Zhou Jingze: 【Yes.】

【? Come on, you suddenly became more like a sissy. 】

Xu Sui took his phone and looked at it, frowning slightly: “Dash?”

Zhou Jingze rubbed her head like petting his dog, deliberately teasing her, his tone was lighthearted: “Well, doesn’t Yi Yi look like a dash?1The Chinese character of Xu Sui’s nickname Yi Yi (一 一) looks like a dash. ”

“They look quite alike too. ”

When Xu Sui reacted, she was flustered and stretched out her hand to hit him. Her voice was soft even when she lost her temper: “You’re like a dash.”

Zhou Jingze’s chest trembled with delight. He was drinking beer when Xu Sui rushed over and accidentally bumped into his elbow, and the beer in his hand swayed onto Xu Sui.

She wore a white dress, and her chest became wet; the air bubbles began to evaporate. Zhou Jingze’s gaze towards her changed, and the room temperature rose.

He leaned forward and kissed her, pressing her down on the sofa.

The black trousers pressed against the white skirt, and the heavy breathing carried a touch of forbidden color. Xu Sui tasted the beer he fed. It was cold, and she swallowed the saliva as if feeling dizzy.

Their legs were intertwined and tense, and the sunlight shining in was very intense. With a “pa”, the beer can fell to the ground, and the remaining half of the beer spilled on the ground making a “sizzling” sound before slowly melting.

The sweet talk back then seemed as if right by her ears. Xu Sui looked at the screenshot and wondered what he meant by not changing his signature even until now.

This was not like Zhou Jingze’s style at all. After all, he wasn’t someone with lasting affection.

Over the years, what Xu Sui has learned from work was to bypass the things she can’t figure out. After thinking about it for a while, she couldn’t find the answer. It was probably because Zhou Jingze was simply too lazy to change it.

In the end, Xu Sui didn’t reply to Li Yang but fell into a deep sleep.

On Friday, Xu Sui got up a little late and took a bag of bread and a carton of milk before hurrying off to work. The hospital was overcrowded as usual.

Xu Sui sat in the office and worked all morning. She was so busy that her back ached. Just after taking a sip of water, the deputy director came in with a stack of documents.

“Director,” Xu Sui hurriedly stood up, wanting to pour him a cup of water.

“Hey, sit down, don’t be too busy,” the director pointed to the seat with the folder, motioning for her to sit back down.

Xu Sui had no choice but to sit back again, and the director handed her a document: “Xiao Xu, so it’s like this. Our hospital has a medical cooperation project with Zhongzheng Airlines. They asked us to send some medical staff to give lectures, teach the pilots about emergency medical care, and cooperate in filming a joint promotional video. It’s a win-win situation.”

When Xu Sui heard the word airlines, she instinctively rejected it, but if she refused, the director would definitely be suspicious. She had no choice but to follow his words and ask:

“Where is it?”

“The western suburbs of Beijing, just at the aviation flight training base of one of their subsidiaries. You and your colleagues in the obstetrics and gynecology department will pack up and head there. There will be a car to pick you all up.”

Xu Sui flipped through the documents and looked hesitant: “Director, I have a lot of work to do here, so…”

“Don’t worry, the organization will give you a vacation. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll ask them to change your shift.” Director You said.

Xu Sui wanted to say more, but the director interrupted her: “Xiao Xu, you are the face of our department, and your medical skills have always been improving this entire time. If we don’t send you, who else would we send? Besides, you have to support this old man’s work.”

After he finished speaking, the director took advantage of the situation to put her in such high regard, so Xu Sui had no choice but to nod: “Okay.”

At 2 p.m., Xu Sui and her colleagues set off for the flight training base. There were four people, two men, and two women. Xu Sui sat in the back row and brought out a laptop. She wanted to read the details, but the road to the western suburbs was so bumpy that after a while, she had no choice but to turn off the laptop and sit quietly in the back.

A colleague complained: “This is too far away.”

After driving for an hour and a half, Xu Sui sat in the back and felt more nausea; her face turning paler and paler. She couldn’t take it anymore and felt sicker in her stomach, so she lowered the car window and lay down on the window.

A colleague handed her a bottle of water and said in a worried tone, “Are you okay? Why is your motion sickness so severe?”

Xu Sui took a sip and felt a little better, replying, “It’s an old problem.”

The car drove further and further away from the city. Xu Sui lay on the car window, the scenery outside flashing by. The sun was burning like fire, and the fragrance of green grass mixed with the humidity of the wind poured in.

In the distance, Xu Sui saw the base not far away. Surrounded by mountains, the turquoise field and gray floor engraved with the direction signs for aircraft take-off and landing were arranged together. The roar of the plane overhead became more and more clear.

The stone tablet on the left was engraved with eight big characters in red: Aviation Industry Corporation of China Flight Training Base.

The car drove to the front and stopped. The guard at the entrance checked the ID before opening the gate and letting the driver drive in. But the driver couldn’t find a parking space, so Xu Sui signaled to get out of the car.

After the car stopped, Xu Sui rushed out. Her head felt dizzy, and she felt like vomiting that in a hurry, she asked a passerby,

“Hello, where is the bathroom?”

The other party pointed: “Turn left.”

Xu Sui jogged all the way there. The sun seemed to be chasing after her shadow, and when she reached the first intersection, a clear and powerful familiar voice sounded:

“What is our slogan, ah?”

A group of loud and forceful voices answered him: “With the utmost effort, soar to the sky!”

Xu Sui raised her eyes and looked over. Zhou Jingze was wearing a pine branch green training uniform, standing in front of a group of blue ocean, appearing more noticeable. Zhou Jingze was leading them to run in the front. The golden embroidery on the shoulders glistened under the sun and biting the silver whistle, sweat streamed down his temples.

Ruffian and unrestrained.

The blue phalanx passed in front of her. Xu Sui squinted her eyes and seemed to have seen his young appearance in a trance, in high spirits training, and at the same time shouting, “Reporting to the instructor, my girlfriend!”

As if it was just yesterday.

After watching for two seconds, Xu Sui covered her mouth frowning, and ran towards the bathroom.

Zhou Jingze led the team to train on the track. When he passed by the east, he seemed to have seen a familiar figure. He stopped and fell behind the team. Panting slightly, the whistle stopped abruptly, staring in a certain direction lost in thought.

Xu Sui rushed into the bathroom and vomited with a pale face. In the end, her entire body leaned on the sink. She turned on the faucet and simply washed her face with cold water.

Xu Sui came out after a while and walked to the right. She raised her eyes inadvertently and found a man lazily leaning against the wall. A tall and slender shadow fell. With his hand in his trouser pocket and a green bristlegrass in his mouth, the arc of his Adam’s apple was smooth, revealing a sense of abstinence.

Xu Sui withdrew her gaze expressionlessly and was about to leave when Zhou Jingze called to her with a low and light voice: “Motion sickness?”

She nodded. Zhou Jingze stood up straight and walked up to her, holding a green mint candy, and looked at her pale face: “Take a candy.”

“No need, thank you.” Xu Sui refused lightly.

After speaking, Xu Sui was about to leave, but her arm was grabbed by someone. The warmth of his palm overwhelmed her. The man’s palm was rough with a thin layer of calluses, rubbing against her white and tender skin. This feeling was familiar and distant, and she only felt that her arm was very hot, scorching like fire, and subconsciously tried to break free.

But no matter how she struggled, Zhou Jingze wouldn’t move.

Xu Sui looked directly at him. She spoke softly and paused at every word: “Do I need to remind you? We have already broken up.”

Zhou Jingze’s face was blank, and when his arms loosened, Xu Sui was able to break free. Coincidentally, someone happened to call her not far away, and Xu Sui responded, “Coming.” She brushed past him and inadvertently bumped Zhou Jingze’s elbow.

The person has gone away, but the faint scent of camellia on her body remained in the air.

Intangible, just like human beings, indifferent, but with a strong sense of presence.

The mint in the palm fell on the concrete floor, and it was immediately contaminated with dust. Zhou Jingze leaned over to pick up the abandoned candy and walked towards the faucet not far away. He turned on the switch, rising it with water.

Zhou Jingze unwrapped the candy wrapper, threw the candy into his mouth, and put his hands in his pockets. He raised his eyes to look at the woman in the distance. Her skin was so white that it was glowing, and she was talking to a male colleague and smiling, her dimples appearing.

He chewed the mints slowly as if there was snow between his lips and teeth; it was extremely cold and icy. Suddenly, there was a “crack” and the powder crumbled into four pieces. He tasted it with the tip of his tongue. It was a bit bitter.