Chapter 6: Miss Workaholic
The sun shone brightly on Li Wenjing's eyelids. She woke up and stared at the clouds outside the window, mesmerized. Red clouds met the yellow-green grass, gradually blending and melting, adding a layer of purple, illuminating the river gray and red. The sky seemed like a pan of splattered paint, transformed into another world. For a moment, she couldn't tell whether she was alive or dead. She raised her hand, and a cross necklace slipped down her arm. The red outside the window stained her fingers. She couldn't help but lift the mosquito net, accidentally shaking the wind chimes.
"Wenjing, are you feeling better?"
Gu Weiyi's words brought her back to the present. She suddenly thought of the disjointed words she had heard at night. Her face suddenly became hot and she clasped her hands against her chest as if protecting them.
"What day is today?"
"Tuesday, you slept for two days."
Li Wenjing wanted to get up, but she had no strength in her hands, so she had to lie down. He handed her the thermometer. When she touched his fingers, she recalled the hand that held her tightly, as if it was him who pulled her back from the brink of death.
"Dr. Gu, thank you."
"Your two colleagues still have work to do, so they've returned to Mombasa. You should recuperate first, and they'll come over later."
After taking his temperature, he said, "I'm fine. The fever's gone. Would you like something to eat?"
"Sigh..." Li Wenjing sighed heavily. "I've been on break for so long, and now I only have the basic salary. This month, I'm probably only making a few thousand yuan. I'm going to have to live on dirt."
"Compared to being alive, none of this matters. My mom used to say that people don't really need much to live. Just a little food, some water, a bed to sleep in, and even better still, someone who loves you."
Li Wenjing was still unhappy, and her face was pale, making her look like a frowning plaster statue.
"My life is very simple. I can survive if I have money, but I feel miserable if I don't. My dream is to make a lot of money."
"What do you need so much money for? If you really left yesterday, you wouldn't have anywhere to spend it."
He seemed a little angry, and Li Wenjing was also irritated. She said to him in a muffled voice, "You are French and studied at Oxford, which is so expensive. How do you know how hard it is to be broke? I also want to study in the UK. I came to Africa not for voluntary labor, but to make money. The deposit is 500,000 yuan, and I have to save hundreds of thousands for living expenses. I am different from you. My family can't support me."
"I feel much happier here than in London and Paris. Many people in the village live in poverty, but everyone is still happy every day. I become a doctor to make everyone happier, including you."
"If I don't have money, I'm not happy. I'm just so vulgar."
“Whether you have money or not, you can be happy. First of all, you need a healthy body.”
"We are not talking about the same thing at all. You have achieved material satisfaction and are pursuing spiritual goals, but I am still at the bottom." Li Wenjing turned her head and looked at the clouds in the sky, not wanting to talk about this topic anymore.
Gu Weiyi stopped talking and asked her, "So—barbecue? In Kenya, when you go to a new place, the first thing you do is have a barbecue. No matter who you are, you have to eat. It's the simplest happiness."
Seeing some hesitation in Li Wenjing's eyes, Gu Weiyi smiled and said, "I'll treat you, no money required."
"I'm not here to take advantage of you. I still need to spend the money I need..." Li Wenjing said, "I wanted to ask my colleagues to come with me. How can I eat alone?"
Before he walked out the door, he suddenly thought of something, stopped at the door, and said to her: "Wenjing, there is something I care about."
He stared into her eyes, and she felt a little nervous, afraid that he would ask something she couldn't answer. She pursed her lips and waited for him to speak.
"Mr. Zhang said that in your hometown, unmarried girls can't be buried in the ancestral tomb. He even cried. It must be a very tragic thing. Why did you tell me that day that you didn't want to go back?"
Li Wenjing complained to him with a breath of relief: "I just don't want to go back. Why are you asking so many questions? What about you? Why don't you go back to France? Why don't you go back to China?"
His tone was gentle. "When I was little, I asked my mother why she didn't return to China. She said she couldn't find happiness in her hometown. Is that the reason?"
Li Wenjing didn't say anything, so he stood there motionless, waiting for her answer. She thought about it and nodded to him.
"I understand. Have a nice day."
He smiled slightly, tenderness in his eyes, which enveloped her like the setting sun. After closing the door, the wind chimes rang softly, lingering in her ears.
The next day, Li Wenjing was able to get out of bed. She opened the door and heard Gu Weiyi's laughter.
"Ah—open your mouth, okay—"
"You'll get an injection soon. Here, have some candy. It won't hurt."
"Look, wow, it's a lion!"
He was treating a few children. Li Wenjing watched him silently from behind. Although she couldn't see his face, she could imagine the bright smile slowly blooming on his gentle cheeks. His eyes were bright and his sincerity was touching.
Li Wenjing started laughing as she thought about it, but then realized something was wrong and stopped laughing. She stared at his hair, which trembled slightly with his shoulders.
He seemed to have no worries. A man so wealthy, he could leave Paris at will, abandon London at will. He was confident, proud, and unconcerned with money. He said he wanted happiness, but the money he cared about was the very thing that gave him the confidence to pursue his dreams. In this foreign land of Africa, no matter what, his homeland always had a way out. Li Wenjing knew that was something she had never had in her life, and she felt a genuine envy.
A tall, burly black man wearing a red beret walked in and said enthusiastically, "Charles, brother!"
"Mutasha! Why are you here? Are you not working in Tsavo anymore?"
"I'm going to Mombasa to see my sister and come see you."
The two shook hands and hugged each other. Mutasha looked at Li Wenjing who was standing at the door and asked in surprise if she was his girlfriend.
"No, Wenjing is my patient. All the beds are full, so I gave her the room."
Gu Weiyi turned around and asked her, "Why are you up? How do you feel?"
"I came out hungry to find something to eat, but you won't let me get up. Are you going to let me starve to death?"
"Yes, the priest is grilling sausages today. Go and try some."
At the same time, he invited Mutasha to have lunch, and at the table, he introduced Li Wenjing to him, "This lady is an engineer from China who came here to build a hospital."
Mutasha looked surprised and asked, "Can women be engineers? I've never seen a female engineer in Kenya."
"Of course, Wen Jing is very impressive. There are very few female engineers not only in Kenya, but also in China."
Kentsha's eyes moved back and forth between the two faces opposite him, "You two are a perfect match. You are both such amazing people, and there are many women who like Charles!"
"Don't listen to what he says. What woman would like me?" Gu Weiyi smiled and lowered his head. Li Wenjing turned her head to look at him. His tall nose faced the light from the door, and the sunlight drew a beautiful arc. Her heart suddenly skipped a beat.
The priest called for lunch, and Gu Weiyi rose to get them lunch. It was almost entirely meat, with vegetable leaves dotting the bottom of the plate. The sausages were grilled to a crisp, a golden coating of oil coating them. Cutting them open, a richer aroma washed over them. Li Wenjing hadn't eaten meat in days. She bit down hard, and the aroma of meat instantly spread across her lips and tongue.
"It's delicious, right? The best thing here is barbecue." Gu Weiyi then brought them potato rice and juice. "These dishes are all made by the villagers themselves."
Mutasha said to her, "Let's go to Tsavo National Park. There are better foods there. Wenjing, I'll take you to see wildebeests, lions, and elephants. Please take a ride in my big convertible. It's stable and fast."
"Hey - you only brought Wenjing and not me?" Gu Weiyi interrupted.
"Wenjing isn't your wife. Drive your own car. Be careful not to drive into the grasslands again. The fare has increased, and you'll be fined $2,000."
Mutasha gave him two fingers.
Gu Weiyi smiled and said, "You make money from this, right? I paid a fine of over a thousand dollars back then. How much did you secretly take?"
"You almost got me bitten by a lion, give me what you deserve."
Li Wenjing asked Mutasha what was going on. He chuckled and told the story of Gu Weiyi's embarrassing incident - he got lost while driving into the primitive grassland and was almost eaten by a lion. If he hadn't risked his life to go in and pay the fine, Gu Weiyi would have been dead long ago.
Gu Weiyi shook his head in self-mockery, "It's time to replace that junky car. It always breaks down at critical moments."
After lunch, Li Wenjing wanted to take a ride with Mutasha back to Mombasa, but was stopped by Gu Weiyi.
"Miss Workaholic, you need to rest today too, until your colleagues come over for barbecue."
"I really have work to do."
"I'm your doctor, and now you have to listen to me."
"Wenjing, just listen to him. He wants to pursue you! If he still doesn't win you over next time we meet, I'll ask you out again."
Li Wenjing's face flushed at Mutasha's words, and she froze in her tracks. Gu Weiyi just laughed, saying he loved to joke. Mutasha whistled at the two of them, and the pickup van disappeared in a cloud of dust.
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