Chapter 23 Lidocaine
"I have an appointment with Zou Yan on Sunday," He Dongli tried to explain, wanting to discuss changing the time with him.
Unexpectedly, Zong Chi insisted on his own way and refused to negotiate, "He also helped you?"
He Dongli was speechless. The person on the other side continued, "Didn't he invite you? You still have to cooperate with him?"
The mute man's battery life continued to decline, and he could only nod and agree. As for Zou Yan, He Dongli secretly thought that the two men across from her were a bit awkward, and she really didn't want to have to attend another social event. Since she had agreed, she would just have to coordinate with Zou Yan.
Zong Chi watched her expression of compromise, finally feeling somewhat at ease for the night. When one gets too proud, he asked her, "So that pack of cigarettes isn't his, right?"
He Dongli regained consciousness in an instant. She had been so distracted by his nonsense that she finally remembered that with his stubborn temper, he was the one who could come over and talk so much, and even put on a good face to Zou Yan. "Have you checked Zou Yan?"
Zong Chi had originally put one hand in his pocket, a defensive instinct, but he suddenly pulled it out and folded his arms. He Dongli knew him too well; this was clearly a sign of guilt or perhaps a literal quibble. He Dongli's expression grimaced, and he couldn't help but warn Zong Chi, "Zou Yan doesn't smoke. Are you satisfied? Don't make things difficult for him. He and I have known each other since the beginning, and the apartment we rent now is only available because of his guarantee. He's a good man, and it's rare for me to have a colleague or friend. Zong Chi, please, please let him go. I have no habit of developing romantic relationships with colleagues, secretaries, or superiors. On the contrary, it's a nightmare. Besides, in this world, men's only choice is women. They can also fall in love with their own kind, and the same goes for women. To put it bluntly, he might not even have the same feelings for me as for the laparoscopic scissors in my hand..."
"Wait, slow down," Zong Chi said, making a pause gesture with his hands before she finished. Then, frowning, he asked, "What do you mean by a relationship between a colleague, secretary, or superior? Whose secretary is it? And what do you mean by a man's mandatory choice isn't a woman? The same applies to women."
He Dongli stood there with a calm expression, as if to say, "I've said this, whether you understand it or not is your business."
Zong Chi muttered to herself, what did she mean by cueing the secretary for no apparent reason? Could it be that her unlucky bestie was just imagining something? What kind of nonsense was this about women saying the same thing? "He Dongli, isn't your clinical life enough for you to produce? What? You're publishing an SCI paper on your sexual aptitude?"
He Dongli didn't understand Zong Chi's misinterpretation at all. Her topic was still on Zou Yan. For a moment, it seemed as if she had caught Zong Chi's loophole and immediately questioned him, "You still say you didn't investigate Zou Yan?"
Zong Chi was furious and would not admit his secret plot or drag someone else into the blame. "Why would I want to backbite him? What a joke! He's not even worthy of me carrying his sedan chair. Sorry, it was Liang Jianxing who told me all this. He told me everything, including the Zou family affairs."
Zong Chi bent slightly towards her as he spoke, then straightened up and looked at He Dongli. She didn't look convinced. Zong Chi's inner thoughts: Stay calm. Don't you know her? She loves the tricks of deception.
-
He Dongli absolutely did not believe that Zong Chi would be so shameless as to ask Liang Jianxing about Zou Yan, but on the other hand, if someone surrendered to him for profit, he would definitely not refuse.
That day at the Liang family, they bullied Zou Yan in the same way.
In short, He Dongli didn't want to be implicated because of her harming innocent people. "Zong Chi, I think I understand you quite well, or if you are still the same Zong Chi, you should be most disgusted by others using your family affairs to make a fuss. Then you should know not to do to others what you don't want others to do to you. Regarding Zou Yan's sexual orientation, please..."
"How well do you know me?" Zong Chi suddenly asked her back.
Both of them seemed to be stung by each other. When their eyes met, Zong Chi was glad that he made the right choice, but at the same time he couldn't help but want to refute her, "You don't understand me at all."
The next second, he asked her again, "You think you're so smart, but you're actually hopelessly stupid. Let me ask you first, what's your indicator for judging someone's sexual orientation? Did you see them kissing or..."
"Okay!" A pedestrian walked by and He Dongli subconsciously stopped Zong Chi from speaking.
Before the pedestrians had gone far, Zong Chi made a general statement and, based on the information from his background check, told her objectively and truthfully, "His sexual orientation is female. It's set in stone."
He Dongli took nearly a minute to process her blunder. She looked up at Zong Chi, who stared at her with a sneer of the highest degree, as if to say, "If you make such a low-level mistake, even the chickens raised in your eight generations of ancestors' village will follow you and throw them away." He Dongli's lips moved before she tried to assert herself and provide evidence. "Every time he mentioned his friends, he was so vague. When he occasionally chatted about friends on WeChat, he always mentioned him in the third person. Obviously, it would be more effective to smooth things over at home, but he would rather ask for help from his insignificant colleagues. There are also seniors in the hospital who are behind his back. And just now at the convenience store, he said that he couldn't easily show up at the dine-in place..."
Zong Chi listened to her list and couldn't help but feel an inexplicable sense of relief. He actually wanted to correct her. However, he had to pretend to be ignorant and logically followed her words without understanding them. "What friends? What's wrong with not being able to dine in? I don't go to dine-in places either."
"You are you, who can compare with you." He Dongli suddenly spoke as if it was a matter of course. After all, she didn't mention the word "friend".
After saying that, she reached out again to take back her bag, but Zong Chi didn't budge. He Dongli couldn't easily resist him, and suddenly thought of something, "What do you mean by a done deal?"
"What do you think?"
He Dongli's greatest strength is her quick grasp of things, a sign of a strong learning ability. Zong Chi had just mentioned that the hard indicators for determining someone's sexual orientation were either kissing or... He Dongli didn't want to ask any more questions, so the topic ended there. Because Zou Yan was Zou Yan, whether he liked men or women, to He Dongli, they were all her colleagues, Zou Yan.
As for Zong Chi, he regretted saying too much. Because He Dongli had an amazing memory. During the tutoring period, even if Zong Chi didn't make a summary of his mistakes, she could still remember them accurately for him, which questions and steps he missed, and on which paper. You can take a look for yourself.
Besides, the fact that he was certain of what he saw meant something. "It's a kissing photo. As for why he and his friend were photographed, I won't explain. Anyway, you'll understand when you meet them..."
Before Zong Chi could finish his words, he was caught off guard and He Dongli came over, grabbed his arm, and quickly took the bag off his shoulder.
-
She walked all the way to the non-motor vehicle shed, took out her keys and got her electric bike.
The parking space for motor vehicles was just opposite. Zong Chi followed her all the way, and they knew each other very well. She already understood that he was the one who had investigated Zou Yan.
When her little donkey came out, Zong Chi pressed its handle and said, "I drove here. I'll take you home."
"No, I have to drive it back so I can come to the hospital first if it's urgent."
"I promise there was only one kissing photo, and it's already been destroyed. I'm not interested in seeing other people's bed photos."
He Dongli said nothing, but the car seemed to be moving forward.
Zong Chi reached out and locked her car. "Leave your car at the hospital first. I have to pay for parking if I drive in. I have to drive out and take you back."
"Zongchi, your car is yours, but mine is also a necessary means of commuting. If there's an emergency call at night, I have to rush there as soon as possible. Do you understand?"
"I understand. When did I ever say you didn't need a car? I know surgeons working with you who even have a designated driver's car tucked behind their big trucks, just in case they run into traffic and don't have time, they'll have to switch to another car to get back to the hospital."
He Dongli looked at him in silence again. For the third time, Zong Chi gave up on asking her to give up her job or her means of commuting. He took off his suit jacket and casually put it on her, as if he had nowhere else to put it. He wanted to ride the bike for her. He Dongli almost subconsciously retorted, "Don't be crazy!"
Zong Chi, a rebellious man, repeated He Dongli's words, "If I go crazy, do you think I'll crash into a tree? But you, when you were learning to drive, you were scolded by your instructor and became withdrawn, giving up on yourself and saying that it wouldn't matter if you never learned to drive!"
It was He Dongli. She was a year younger than him and had learned her driver's license a year later. Back then, when she was video chatting with Zong Chi, she'd been quietly aggrieved, wondering what would happen if she didn't have a license. Zong Chi flew back the next day and arranged to get her a new instructor. She also wanted to see what kind of middle-aged man could have dealt her such a blow. Coincidentally, Yu Xiaohan and Zong Chi had the same idea. "My daughter never complains easily, and she's not one to shy away from hardship," she said. "I paid for her to learn a skill, so even scolding her should have a limit." Yu Xiaohan said she'd go to the driving school and try getting Xixi a new instructor.
The two were not to be trifled with, one old and one young. When He Dongli thought about how she would explain it to them if they bumped into each other at the driving school, her affectation instantly vanished, and she said she could hold on a little longer.
He Dongli eventually earned her driver's license, despite having little experience behind the wheel during her school days. One summer, during a typhoon, she drove the car Zong Chi had left her to a designated location. Shortly after leaving the mansion, they encountered a flooded section of road. A car ahead of them, having lowered its car to the road, nearly stalled. He Dongli called Zong Chi. She was anxious, and with many cars following behind her, she didn't dare venture into the water. If the water rushed into her exhaust pipe, her car would practically be submerged. Zong Chi nonchalantly told her, "Never mind. Just keep going. Turn off the car. I'll send someone to pick you up." Sure enough, the car broke down halfway through the flood. The cars behind her were stuck in traffic because of He Dongli, but also because of her dangerous situation. They wisely tried to cut their losses, turning around and stopping, while those unable to do so simply stopped and waited for the flooded section to clear.
When Zong Chi's men arrived, He Dongli sat in the car, blaming herself to the point of tears. She said she shouldn't have listened to him, and at the same time regretted not sticking to her own judgment.
Zong Chi smiled as he lifted her out of the driver's seat, leaving the rest of the process to his assistant. He carried her to a nearby car. He Dongli asked if he had insurance for the car. Zong Chi told her to stop worrying. He said, "I'm paying for a lesson. Next time, you'll have the experience to judge whether you can cross the river." If you don't understand such a simple principle, you've learned nothing from the story of Little Pony Crossing the River.
He Dongli was almost mad with anger. She regretted again and again and said that she deserved to die. How could she listen to him? How could she even think of listening to him?
Zong Chi laughed and cursed, he wanted her to take a good look at him, I came to pick you up, look at what I have become, I didn't want you to get even a speck of mud on you, I went to save you barefoot, and you still didn't listen to me, if you don't listen to me who should I listen to!
After that incident, He Dongli never touched his car again. She hadn't driven alone in a long time. She only got back on the road the year she graduated with her doctorate, upon hearing about her mother's illness. In a moment of panic, she borrowed a senior's car and drove back overnight. Her true driving proficiency was honed over the past few years, accompanying her professor to various friendly hospitals and township hospitals.
*
Zong Chi tossed the car keys to her and said, "Be careful when you open it. If you scratch it, you'll have to pay Chen Xiangyang for it."
He Dongli wouldn't listen to him, and certainly wouldn't let him go crazy and ride the electric scooter. She stuffed the electric scooter back in her pocket.
Zong Chi watched her movements until she was about to return the clothes she was wearing to him. The words on the tip of Zong Chi's lips were: He Dongli, do you not believe in yourself or do you not believe in me...
But she spoke first, "Okay, drive your car. I don't want to have to pay Chen Xiangyang for it, and I don't want you to break my new donkey."
Zong Chi knew she wasn't telling the truth. She was... terrified by the kidnapping that year. She had said, "Zong Chi, if anything happened to you, how could your parents bear it?"
Even though he still hadn't asked the answer to "What about you?", Zong Chi had a hunch that he could still use this incident, which had nothing to do with her, to coerce her for twenty years, or even longer.
She had been in tears almost the entire time she was in his room that day. Zong Chi, provoked by her tears, could no longer contain himself. He carried her to the cloakroom, where he placed his arms on either side of her on the central display counter, inching closer to her. He Dongli reached out and slapped his face, intending to say something to him. She asked him, "Zong Chi, are you even listening?"
Zong Chi shook his head and blamed her, saying, "Your voice is too soft, I can't hear you."
He was too familiar with the rhythm of her chest rising and falling when she was angry. Almost in an instant, he blocked her mouth accurately. He bit her again and asked her to speak louder later, otherwise he would not be able to hear.
He Dongli's hand, which was holding him, slid down from his cheek, and he frightenedly inserted his fingers into his short hair. Finally, the hot hand slipped to the side.
The instigator whispered some vulgar and obscene words in her ear. She trembled all over and then became limp again. She slapped him in the face with a sense of resentment and said bitterly, "I shouldn't have injected you with lidocaine just now, and sewed you up, letting you die in pain."
Zong Chi was still inside. Hearing what she said, he tightened his arms around her waist and thrust forward fiercely. Someone immediately collapsed, with a red face and sweat on his forehead, and bit his shoulder in despair.
Zong Chi told her, I won’t die from the pain, you are my lidocaine.
Their chests leaned against each other, their cheeks kissed, and he picked her up again, asking her to look back. Only then did He Dongli notice distractedly that there was a floor-to-ceiling mirror not far from the sofa, reflecting a live sex scene of a lovelorn couple. After He Dongli's epiphany, she scolded him for being perverted. When she found that he was still staring at the mirror, she quickly covered his eyes and wanted to get off him. Zong Chi refused and threatened her that it was too late for her to get off now, because I have uploaded my photos to the cloud. He grabbed her hand and pointed at his temples. When he finally turned over and was on top, Zong Chi told He Dongli that he would remember the girl in the mirror for the rest of his life. She was like this, with such a voice, only he could see and hear it, so I will never accept a breakup. Baby, let's get married when you graduate.
He Dongli was so tormented by him that he could hardly say a word. In the end, after he surrendered and both of them were exhausted, he just lazily replied to him, "Let's talk about it after graduation."
*
Zong Chi didn't wait until her graduation day. He had promised to attend her graduation ceremony as a family member and to record her tassel-cutting ceremony.
The recording of him tricking Lao Zong was still in the recorder. Even if he had to argue with Lao Zong, he still had to make it clear that how could he live the same life with everyone?
At the very least, he would never be so humble to another woman in his life. Without exception.
*
Zong Chi was walking in front. He looked back at the people following behind him after every few steps. He Dongli was carrying her bag and holding his coat in her arms, which was also neatly hung on her arm.
When they arrived at the parking lot, Zong Chi opened the passenger door, motioned for her to get in, and personally watched her get in.
He Dongli walked closer and returned the clothes to him, but Zong Chi did not take it, saying that he would hold it for him for a while.
After she got in the car, Zong Chi slammed the door and walked around from the front of the car to the driver's seat. When she got in the car, He Dongli's cell phone rang. While he was sitting there, he was still thinking, this can't be so weird, I haven't even left the hospital gate yet, and I have to go back to work overtime?
Hearing something was wrong in the tone, He Dongli responded in a very casual manner, saying that she would go there on Saturday. When asked what she was doing, she said she was eating. She also complained to the other party that the calcium tablets this time were too big and were blocking her throat.
Zong Chi listened and laughed quietly. He knew who was on the other end, Ms. Yu.
Smiling, he pulled his phone from the coat on her lap. Just now, in order to talk to her, Zong Chi had switched his phone to airplane mode. He had a conference call that evening and was worried that Secretary Huang would miss him again if she couldn't reach him.
Zong Chicai took the phone in his hand. He Dongli, who was on the phone, thought he was going to make or answer a call. In a hurry, he snatched the phone from his hand, held it in his hand, and replied to his mother, "Well, I'm off work and already home. You should go to bed early."
Then he hung up the phone and returned the mobile phone that had been temporarily confiscated to its owner.
Zong Chi was silent for a long time. He didn't ask her what she was doing just now, but suddenly changed his mind. "Your date with Zou Yan on Sunday should go as usual. I'll go with you if you'd like. I know you're most afraid of social events, especially those with strangers. In the past, you always complained that I took you to those drinking parties as my appendage. He Dongli, consider it my way of repaying you. This time, I'll be your appendage."
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