Waiting for You in a City

Xu Qin was the last to get out of the elevator, and Xiao Yixiao slowed down. 

Xu Qin asked: “What are you looking at?” 

Xiao Yixiao: “Thinking about Song Yan?” 

Xu Qin was indifferent: “What is there to think of him?” 

Xiao Yixiao was speechless for a while, he smiled and rubbed Xu Qin’s head abrasively. 

……….

The lanterns flowed, the lights were ambiguous, and an old song was playing at a very low volume on the screen. The two hostesses knelt by the coffee table and poured water and wine. 

Xu Qin went to the bathroom, Meng Yanchen was drinking water on the sofa.  Xiao Yixiao sat beside him and pushed him.

The water in Meng Yanchen’s cup shook very lightly: “What?” 

Xiao Yixiao: “Are there any women around you recently?” 

Meng Yanchen shook his head. 

Xiao Yixiao glanced at his crotch: “Do you have something to hide, kid?” 

Meng Yanchen glanced at him lightly: “Would you like to try it?” 

Xiao Yixiao looked disgusted: “Fuck you! I’m not interested in men.” 

One of the hostesses snickered, Xiao Yixiao pretended to be annoyed: “What are you laughing at? Huh?” 

The hostess knew that he was not angry and smiled even more. 

Xiao Yixiao turned Meng Yanchen’s face over: “Let me ask you two, is he handsome?” 

Meng Yanchen moved Xiao Yixiao’s hand: “Go away.” 

The waitress pursed her lips and smiled, a blush on her face. 

Xiao Yixiao: “Is he handsome? Huh? Him.” 

The two young hostesses nodded. 

Xiao Yixiao continued to tease the girl: “He’s handsome, or I’m handsome?”

Meng Yanchen couldn’t bear it any longer: “Are you bored?” 

The young hostess dared to raise her chin at Meng Yanchen: “Him.” 

Xiao Yixiao lost his smile, stared at the young woman faintly, and after a second, the corner of his lips twitched: “You don’t have a tip tonight.” 

The young woman, who wasn’t getting any tip, just stayed silent.

Xiao Yixiao stopped making trouble, ate a slice of orange, and suddenly said, “That day, Xiao Qin said something to me.” 

Meng Yanchen looked over. 

Xiao Yixiao: “She said, your mother told her that this so-called life is all about not getting what you want most. It is precisely when you can’t get what you want. If you get it, you will quickly leave it behind.” 

Meng Yanchen stared at him. 

Xiao Yixiao: “One’s life is really long, it is a great blessing to be able to enjoy what you have at hand. It is not worth giving up what you have and chasing after what you want.”

As he was talking, Xu Qin came out of the bathroom, Meng Yanchen withdrew his gaze and took a sip of red wine. 

The young hostess who poured the wine asked: “Yi ge1, do you still have a want but can’t get it?” 

Xiao Yixiao lost his seriousness again and laughed: “I want you, but I can’t get it.” 

The young hostess couldn’t stand the teasing, she smiled shyly, blushing like wine in a glass. 

Xiao Yixiao’s phone vibrated and vibrated on the table. 

Meng Yanchen took a look: “Just go down. Before you said you had things to do?” 

Xiao Yixiao knew that he couldn’t hide it from him: “Several business partners are having dinner next door. I just found out and I wanted to invite them to the club for a drink, but…” 

Meng Yanchen: “No room?” 

Xiao Yixiao: “What a fucking coincidence.” 

Meng Yanchen: “Call them here. It doesn’t matter.” 

Xu Qin sat down and said, “I’m fine too.” 

Xiao Yixiao smiled: “Got it.”

Five or six guests in neat suits had just taken their seats. The head hostess, A3 Lu, brought twenty wine-accompanying hostesses in, all standing in a row.  The girls’ figures are tall, with white shoulders and long legs, blonde Caucasian, Latin beauty with big eyes and curly hair, everything. 

Those guests who came to KTV4 for the first time could not relax and politely declined.

Xiao Yixiao asked, “See anything you like?” 

He waved his hand, and a group of beauties filed out, and another filed in. After several rounds of reciprocation, the Wan Liu girls were picked over and over again. Xiao Yixiao acted simply and directly. The guests did not choose any to accompany them, so the girls were left standing.

Either way, he couldn’t be embarrassed either. 

Xu Qin took a fork and put the fruit in her mouth, watching from the sidelines. 

Several men had nowhere to go, so one of them called one girl to accompany them. 

A Lu waved the rest to go out, and tapped Xiao Yixiao’s shoulder: “Yi ge, don’t you want someone to accompany you to chat?” 

Xiao Yixiao pointed at Xu Qin: “How could I dare, my girlfriend is sitting here.” 

Xu Qin, who was being dragged into this matter as a ‘shield’, pretended like she didn’t hear him.

A Lu was only a wine hostess many years ago, but now she is the leader of them. She knew them well and knew that Xiao Yixiao was joking, so she still wrapped her hands around Xiao Yixiao’s neck: “Qin jie2 is still so beautiful, many times more beautiful than our hostesses here.” 

Xiao Yixiao’s face changed slightly: “What are you saying?” 

Xu Qin ignored her, didn’t save the scene, and didn’t even look at her. A Lu realized that something was wrong, and quickly changed her words: “How can we be compared, the temperament is different, you can’t compare—” 

Xiao Yixiao: “Get out.”

A Lu got up and left. After a while, she probably wanted to make up for her mistakes. She brought two beauties in and explained that they were new. They were not working, on vacation today, so they were specially called for him. 

Indeed, they looked more delicate and prettier than the others, and their makeup wasn’t too heavy. 

Xiao Yixiao looked back at Meng Yanchen, and said generously, “You choose first, and the remaining is mine.” 

Meng Yanchen: “I’m not interested.” 

As soon as the voice fell, the girl in the white short skirt thought it was all right, so she turned around and walked out. 

Xiao Yixiao blinked and shouted, “Where’s your manners? Stand back!” 

The girl turned around, her eyes just met Xu Qin, and Xu Qin’s expression was indifferent. 

Xiao Yixiao said: “Where do you get your bad temper?” 

A Lu smiled apologetically: “Yes, you are being impolite.”

The girl didn’t explain, didn’t say a word, didn’t apologize, and was expressionless.  At first glance, her cold appearance looked a bit like Xu Qin. 

Meng Yanchen pointed at her: “Just her.” 

She came and sat between Meng Yanchen and Xu Qin. The previous guests who didn’t want the hostesses were chatting hotly now, but it was Meng Yanchen and Xiao Yixiao, both of them regarded the girl as air. Xiao Yixiao occasionally asked questions, but Meng Yanchen didn’t say a word. 

The girl in white sat next to Meng Yanchen, drinking red wine by herself, but ended up feeling at ease. 

Meng Yanchen suddenly asked, “Would you go?” 

The girl in white said, “I don’t leave with clients.”

Meng Yanchen turned his head, his eyes flashed with restrained surprise. He glanced at Xu Qin, who was eating grapes and didn’t listen to him. 

The girl in white seemed to understand something, she sipped her red wine and said nothing. After a while, she added more red wine to Meng Yanchen’s glass. 

Meng Yanchen asked, “What’s your name?” 

 “Ye Zi.” 

“Where is your hometown?” 

Ye Zi answered. 

Meng Yanchen: “Good place.” 

Ye Zi: “Have you been there?” 

Meng Yanchen: “On a business trip.” 

Xu Qin took out a tissue, wiped her hands, and got up. 

Xiao Yixiao: “Where are you going?” 

Xu Qin: “I’m on the night shift, I’ll go first.” 

Meng Yanchen: “Let me take you.” 

Xu Qin: “No need, it’s quicker to take the subway.”

Meng Yanchen didn’t speak, picked up his keys, got up and went out. Xu Qin glanced at him and followed him out. 

Xiao Yixiao looked back at the two of them. He didn’t know if it was his delusion, but Meng Yanchen’s words became less and less in recent years. 

 … 

Because it was a weekend, there were still vehicles on the streets late at night. 

Meng Yanchen’s car stopped in front of the red light, he turned his head to look at Xu Qin, Xu Qin looked at the street lights outside the window, her expression was clean and cold. 

“What are you looking at?” she asked, while looking out the window. 

Meng Yanchen tapped the steering wheel with his fingers: “Today, mother told me something.” 

Xu Qin: “What’s the matter?” 

Meng Yanchen: “It’s not a big deal, just to ask you something.” 

Xu Qin waited for a while, and when she saw that he hadn’t continued, she turned to look at him: “Ask what?” 

Meng Yanchen: “Do you want to get married?”

Xu Qin looked at him and seemed to be indifferent: “I haven’t thought about it. I also don’t think I don’t want to.”

Meng Yanchen pondered for a while and asked, “What kind of man do you want to date?” 

Xu Qin: “Listen to my mother’s arrangement.” 

Meng Yanchen: “Just like when you were a child, you had no interest in anything.” 

Xu Qin looked at the night view outside the window without saying a word.

When they were about to arrive at the hospital, Meng Yanchen suddenly asked, “Have you spoken to Song Yan?” 

Xu Qin: “No.”

Meng Yanchen turned to look at her. 

Xu Qin: “I said something to him, but he just ignored me. — It’s okay. Between me and him, there’s nothing to talk about.” 

Meng Yanchen looked at Xu Qin’s face very carefully, but didn’t see any superfluous expression on her face. 

“Qin Qin?” 

“Hm?”

“What did mother talk to you about before you went abroad that year?”

“Asked me if I want Song Yan or money.” Xu Qin turned to Meng Yanchen and said, “Of course I want money.”

Meng Yanchen stared at her with complicated eyes for a moment. 

Xu Qin pointed to the front: “The light is green. Let’s go.” 

…….. 

Xu Qin assisted Director Gao Liang to complete a cardiopulmonary surgery. The patient was a middle-aged man who suffered a heart attack at night.

It was quite difficult to rescue him. When the surgery was over, they noticed two women fighting with each other. It turned out that the one who sent the man in with the heart attack was his lover. Now she bumped into the wife. Looking at this, a lot of nurses came over to mediate the quarrel. 

Xu Qin calmly bypassed the quarreling crowd and left the corridor. 

Back at the office, it was rare to spend half an hour without chaos. 

But often when the shift was about to change, it was the time when there were the most emergencies. Xu Qin had suffered surgical first aid many times when she was about to get off work. In this case, there was no way to prolong the overtime hours indefinitely. 

It was ten minutes before the shift change. The only person who came to see a doctor was a white-collar worker who was scratched by a stray cat. Xu Qin was taking care of her when there were hurried footsteps and crying outside, followed by a questioning voice: “Arm is hurt. Where should I go to see the doctor?”

Footsteps approach. 

Soon, a couple dragged a ten-year-old boy who was howling and rushed into the diagnosis room, shouting, “Doctor, my baby is scalded!” 

Xu Qin raised her eyes and glanced at the minor injury on the child’s arm, and withdrew her gaze: “Go to the outpatient clinic to register.” 

The mother said anxiously, “The child is in so much pain. How long will the outpatient line be? There is no one outside. You are a doctor, so just give my baby a look.” 

The little boy was crying, and there were no other emergency patients outside. Xu Qin said, “Go to the queue outside.”

The mother was still dissatisfied: “But…” 

Xu Qin raised his head: “There is still a patient here.” 

The parents pulled the child to the side and waited, staring at Xu Qin, as if this would put pressure on her and tell her to quickly dismiss the patient at hand. 

Xu Qin: “Please go out to protect the privacy of this patient. By the way, go register first.” 

The two were reluctant to pull the child back to the door, but they did not leave the diagnosis room. 

Xu Qin didn’t take them seriously. She wrote a prescription and handed it to the white-collar worker: “After getting the medicine at the pharmacy, go to the injection department for an injection. Also, if you are bitten by a dog in the future, go to the Center for Disease Control, not a general hospital.” 

“Thank you doctor.” The white-collar worker left with the prescription. 

The parents immediately pulled the boy to sit on the chair: “Doctor, look, the child was scalded by boiling water, and his hands were blistered—” 

Before he finished speaking, two men covered in black and gray rushed in: “Doctor!” 

The sleeves of a man’s wrist were scorched, and the fabric and flesh were sticking together, black and red, which was horrible to see.

The parents and child thought they were dirty and hid. 

Xu Qin felt that the two were familiar, but she couldn’t remember where from. When she turned to look for scissors and tweezers, she suddenly remembered that she had seen these two faces in the fire on Wu Fang Street. 

She glanced at the scalded child at the table, and quickly typed out a prescription for his parents: “Go to the pharmacy to get the medicine and apply it for three days.” 

After finishing speaking, she turned to the nurse, “Where’s Xiao Nan, call her and prepare for surgery.” 

When the father saw this, he couldn’t believe it: “Doctor, you haven’t seen my child yet!” 

Xu Qin turned her head: “Just follow this prescription to get the medicine,” she said as she got up to leave.

The man got angry and pulled Xu Qin violently.

Xu Qin stumbled and almost fell.

“Have you checked my boy?! Ah! You didn’t even look at him for ten seconds? How could you just prescribe the medicine randomly? How could you not explain it to us?!” 

Xu Qin: “If you want to chat with the doctor, you should go to the outpatient service.” Then she turned her head: “Xiao Bei. Take these people away and prepare the surgery.” 

Xu Qin went outside. That man was holding Xu Qin’s white robe and pulled her back. “Today if you don’t clearly check my son’s condition, I will not let you go!” 

Xu Qin: “Let me go.”

“So what if I don’t let you go?” That man opened up his phone. He positioned his phone towards Xu Qin’s face. “This is the best hospital in the city, yet it has this kind of doctor. I’ll record it and put it on the internet for people to see.” 

When Xu Qin raised her hand, the man’s phone fell to the ground. 

“Fuck you!” The man hit Xu Qin with the palm of his hand. 

The nurse screamed: “What are you doing?!”

Xu Qin struggled hard, but she didn’t have enough strength to free herself. She could only helplessly watch as that man’s palm came towards her cheek.

Yet the slap never came. 

An unfamiliar yet familiar tall figure stood in front of Xu Qin.

Translator’s notes:

1 gē 哥 – older brother
2 jiě 姐 – older sister
When the above are used with a name, it is also a way of addressing the said person (who is not blood related) with a form of respect. In Chinese culture, seniors are considered more important so if you’re close, using ge or jie is like an extra level of closeness. So Yi ge is referring to Xiao Yixiao and Qin jie is referring to Xu Qin.

3 ā 啊 in this context is pronounced as “Ah”
It is a Chinese prefix used with a shortened form of peoples’ given names to express familiarity – Wiktionary. But unlike Wiktionary, we disagree that is the equivalent of Miss or Mister as we generally do not use that casually in the English language. A Lu is just a casual way of calling a subordinate.

4 KTV (karaoke television) – an establishment for musical entertainment where you can get a private karaoke room equipped with screens, speakers, lighting, comfortable seating, as well as food and drink service