Chapter 5
The medical school is in a separate campus, and the school of design is located in the east and west respectively. Unless you go looking for them specifically, students from the two schools will never meet each other.
Since that day, Zhou Wangchuan would occasionally think of his good-looking but well-behaved junior, but he also knew they would probably never meet again. For some reason, even though his junior had escaped prison by pulling out the needle, he still had the impression that he was well-behaved.
Maybe it’s because my junior didn’t scream when he got the injection in the butt.
But what he didn't expect was that a month later, in the midsummer filled with the smell of beer and gardenia, they met again.
The senior year courses were very relaxed, and when Zhou Wangchuan was not working in the school hospital, he liked to hang out in small clinics on the streets, listen to conversations between doctors and patients, and look for various difficult and complicated diseases.
That night in the small clinic, old men and women were fanning themselves with palm-leaf fans and gossiping. Zhou Wangchuan was standing in the small pharmacy watching the doctor prepare medicine when he suddenly heard a faint scream.
He put down the notebook in his hand and followed the sound to the dark alley next to him. Under the dim street light, he saw a horrifying scene -
A young boy was half-kneeling on the ground, holding a brick in his hand, and hitting the middle-aged man on the ground with all his strength.
The middle-aged man's face was covered in blood, and several knocked-out teeth lay on the ground. Painful howls and obscenities continued to pour out of his mouth. He struggled hard, but the boy pinned him to the ground, unable to move.
Zhou Wangchuan said in a deep voice: "Stop."
The boy had his back to him. It was the man on the ground who saw him first. He struggled to move over as if he had found a lifeline, and said weakly, "Save me... Save me... I'm his father, and he wants to kill me..."
Only then did Zhou Wangchuan see clearly that the middle-aged man's chest was stained with blood, and even some blood was sprayed on the wall. The scene was horrific.
At this time, the boy on the ground turned around, and they were both stunned when they looked at each other.
"It's you?!"
“…It’s you?”
There was still murderous intent and blood in the boy's eyes. Zhou Wangchuan took another look at the blood on the wall. He had to accept a fact - the well-behaved junior in his mind actually had murderous intentions at this moment and was beating someone to death.
The man on the ground crawled weakly towards Zhou Wangchuan: "Little brother, save me... I'm dying... Please call 120 for me..."
Shang Mu stood up with the help of the wall, still holding the half red brick in his hand, blood dripping down his fingertips.
He said, "Don't save him. Let him die."
Zhou Wangchuan frowned and asked, "What happened?"
Shang Mu said coldly: "He won't die, so don't save him. But it's such a pity, I would rather he died."
"Save me... Save me..." The man on the ground kept begging, and his throat made a sound like a broken bellows. Zhou Wangchuan concluded that he had injured his lungs and throat. The man's chest was covered in blood and flesh. If he did not seek medical treatment in time, he would easily suffer from blood loss and shock.
As Zhou Wangchuan lifted his foot, someone grabbed his wrist. On that hot summer night, the hand was as cold as ice.
"Don't save him." Shang Mu stood in front of him and said softly, "Senior."
"Do you know why he only has one hand? Because he lost a bet and couldn't pay the chips, so the casino staff cut off his hand."
"Remember the thugs in the alley at Ximen that day? He hired them to stop me. He wanted to force me to give him money to gamble."
"Would you save such a person?"
Shang Mu spoke calmly, his voice cold, as if he was giving a research report.
His voice was calm, but Zhou Wangchuan could sense a hidden madness. He felt that the man before him was in a state of alarm, as if he would shatter at the slightest touch.
He glanced at the man on the ground again. He was already unconscious from blood loss, still mumbling. Shang Mu followed his gaze to the ground, his face expressionless as if he was looking at a dead dog.
Shang Mu realized belatedly that the man on the ground seemed truly miserable. His face was covered in blood, his teeth were missing, he was breathing more than he was breathing in, looking miserable and pitiful, a worthless, dirty life. But he knew that doctors hated the sight of blood.
What’s more, this is the senior in front of me.
Shang Mu thought of the anonymous reviews in the school hospital app again.
"Senior Zhou is so patient and gentle! He was already off work when I went there, but he still prescribed medicine for me and told me a lot of precautions."
"I have to give it a five-star rating. Senior's medical skills are incredible. The medicine he prescribed worked after just one dose."
"I was worried about not having enough living expenses, but the senior student actually helped me advance the medical expenses, so that this poor college student would not have to go without food. He is really kind."
"The senior was supposed to get off work at six, but many students were sick during the season change, so he worked until ten. He wasn't impatient at all and was very gentle."
…
Shang Mu calmly repeated, "Don't save him."
Zhou Wangchuan looked at him, his brows slightly furrowed.
Shang Mu was familiar with this look. It was a look of weighing things, a look of deep thought.
The other party is hesitating, weighing, and making a choice.
Shang Mu lowered his eyes and slowly loosened his grip on the man's wrist. He knew he was always the one not chosen. This time would be no exception.
They were just doctor and patient who had met once.
The first time was in junior high school. After his mother committed suicide, he mustered the courage to ask his homeroom teacher if he could live on campus. The teacher asked if he had any issues with his family and summoned his father that afternoon. After being taken home, he suffered the most severe beating of all: a broken forehead with a bottle, a fractured leg, and countless bruises all over his body.
The second time was during high school. He earned some money on his own, barely enough for tuition and living expenses. But just before the start of the semester, his drawer was pried open and his tuition money was gone. He called the police, who found his drunken father at the casino, only to be told that his tuition had been lost. The police officer symbolically noted the situation and casually said, "Every family has its own problems, and it's not for us outsiders to interfere."
By the third time, he was old enough to knock down his aging father. The violent brawl, sparked by a drunken gambler, attracted the attention of the property management and neighborhood committee. "How could a son hit his father?" they said. "Besides, a father and son don't hold grudges overnight."
The fourth time, the fifth time...
How many times has this happened? I can't remember, Shang Mu thought indifferently.
He glanced at the person on the ground again. He was old, weak, pitiful, and sad. He didn't really care whether the person lived or died, nor did he care whether anyone saved him.
He just wanted an attitude.
But it's just a foolish dream after all.
He suddenly felt very tired. He raised his leg and was about to leave tiredly and indifferently, but his wrist was grabbed -
"Let go." Zhou Wangchuan said.
Shang Mu lowered his eyes, his right hand still tightly gripping the red brick. He had maintained the position for too long, and his fingers were stiff and unable to move.
Zhou Wangchuan lowered his head and used his warm fingers to massage his stiff and pale finger bones, gently kneading the joints. After a while, Shang Mu loosened his fingers, and the brick fell to the ground with a clang.
"Are you injured anywhere else? Come with me, I'll check you out." Zhou Wangchuan held his wrist and pulled him towards the clinic.
Shang Mu followed him blankly, out of the alleyway, where the streetlights shone brightly. Entering the clinic, he saw elderly men and women gossiping animatedly. He had emerged from a dark, bloody hell into the vulgar world of the human world.
When passing by the doctor in a white coat, Zhou Wangchuan paused slightly, reached out and pressed the other's shoulder: "Uncle Xu, can I borrow the room inside?" As he said that, he pointed in the direction of the alley at an angle that Shang Mu could not see.
Then, he pulled Shang Mu into the small room next door.
Shang Mu was completely dazed and was forced to sit on the chair by his shoulders.
"Let me help you treat your wound first."
Zhou Wangchuan first simply wiped the blood off Shang Mu's hands, then carefully disinfected the wound with a cotton pad dipped in medical alcohol. The sharp red brick had cut into Shang Mu's palms and fingertips, revealing the shattered flesh.
"If it hurts, just tell me." Zhou Wangchuan said, "The room is well soundproofed. There are only two of us here. You don't have to endure it."
Shang Mu looked at him blankly and said unconsciously: "It doesn't hurt."
Zhou Wangchuan smiled and said, "Classmate, you have the right to show weakness and cry out in pain in front of the doctor."
As he spoke, his hands moved more gently, and the only sounds in the room were the sound of tweezers being picked up and put down, and the crackling of the alcohol lamp.
The two of them tacitly agreed not to mention what had just happened.
After a moment of silence, Shang Mu asked, "Senior, why did you choose to be a doctor?"
"Well, that's a long question."
Zhou Wangchuan helped him apply medicine. Feeling his fingers tremble in pain, he held his wrist soothingly.
"A few years ago, my mother fell seriously ill, and all the major hospitals, both domestic and international, said there was no cure. My father didn't give up and continued searching for renowned doctors everywhere," Zhou Wangchuan said gently. "Finally, hard work paid off, and a retired renowned doctor told my father he was 40% sure he could cure my mother through surgery."
Shang Mu asked: "Did it succeed?"
"Success." Zhou Wangchuan looked up and smiled, revealing his neat, white teeth. He looked sunny and handsome. "That year I graduated from high school and applied to study medicine. I've experienced firsthand how much hope medicine can bring to a family. It can be the last straw that saves a family, a candle in the dark night."
"To this day, I still visit that famous doctor frequently. His family has been practicing medicine for generations, and this clinic was opened by his son. I come here from time to time to help out with odd jobs."
After bandaging the wound, Zhou Wangchuan picked up a pair of scissors to cut off the excess gauze, and went outside to get a syringe: "I'll give you a tetanus shot."
He smiled and said, "Don't worry, I won't give you a shot in the butt today, just the upper arm will be fine."
Just as he was wiping his skin with an alcohol swab, Shang Mu suddenly spoke.
"My mother was forced to death by that man just now."
Zhou Wangchuan paused, then gently pressed the place where the injection was about to take place with his fingers to help him relax.
"That man had been addicted to drinking and gambling since I was a child. Whenever he came home drunk, he would beat his wife and children. He locked me in the room and forced my mother to give him money. The whole building could hear his beatings and scolding. My mother couldn't stand it anymore, so one afternoon she jumped from the ninth floor."
Zhou Wangchuan steadily pushed the potion into his muscles. From his angle, he could see Shang Mu's calm profile. His tone was calm, as if he were telling someone else's story. But his sitting posture was clearly fragile, his back stiff.
"Junior brother." Zhou Wangchuan touched the top of his head. "You are still young and have a long way to go. There is no need to sacrifice your life for such a person."
He was vaguely mentioning what happened in the alley, and Shang Mu miraculously didn't feel offended. He just subconsciously dodged back when his hair was touched.
"Doctor, thank you for your help tonight. How much should I pay?"
After a moment of weakness, the little hedgehog raised its spikes again, and the address changed from "senior" to "doctor".
Zhou Wangchuan didn't mind. He threw the syringe into the medical waste bin and smiled, "No, it's not worth much."
Shang Mu emphasized: "I have money, you don't have to think that I can't pay. If I were poor, that person wouldn't send someone to stop me and ask me for money, right?"
Zhou Wangchuan said, "Okay, fifty dollars."
Shang Mu said nothing. He scanned the code and entered a number. Zhou Wangchuan's phone beeped. Looking at the several hundred dollars that went into his account, he asked curiously, "How could I possibly need so much?"
"Plus the money for the IV at the school hospital."
After just two brief encounters, Zhou Wangchuan had already seen through the stubbornness of this junior, so he said, "Okay."
He added, "By the way, your hands must not touch water for the next few days. After the injection, you must keep warm. Don't catch a cold, and don't do strenuous exercise. Come to the school hospital to see me every other day, and I'll change your dressing."
The two left the clinic together and parted ways at a fork in the road two blocks away from the school.
Before parting, under the bright streetlight, Zhou Wangchuan called out to Shang Mu: "Please wait a moment."
He went to the flower shop next door and bought a bright red rose. He handed it to Shang Mu and said with a smile, "There are clear medical studies showing that the fragrance of flowers can make people happy. Forget about those unhappy things tonight and have a good sleep. Of course, the most important thing is to remember to come to me on time to change the medicine."
Perhaps fearing that the other party might not come, Zhou Wangchuan threatened again: "If you miss the dressing change time, you might get a scar, an ugly scar."
Shang Mu took the rose with a strange look on his face. He moved his lips but said nothing.
On the way back, he bought a vase, put the bright red roses in it, and placed it on the table in the dormitory.
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