I put all the odds and ends into my storage space, packed up my clothes, and remembered I'd need the bedding for tonight. I don't need to move the cabinets; I can just take them out and put them in a corner of the room tomorrow.
I'll wash up and go to bed. Tomorrow at noon, I'll just find a cart and haul my stuff to the dorm. I can't possibly store everything in my spatial storage and then go there empty-handed, only to find my dorm suddenly overflowing with stuff—that would be a problem.
The next day, I made a point of arriving at the hospital early and first went to check out the dormitory area at the back. It was a single-story building, and the rooms were similar to the double rooms in the guesthouse. It wasn't too dirty. These rooms were usually used by people who came for further training.
Back in the office, Ding Qiunan had already cleaned up.
Another workday began. When there were patients, Li Chu would see them. When there were no patients, he would climb onto the table to write down acupuncture methods for stopping bleeding, or give Ding Qiunan some pointers on the problems she encountered. During this time, he also went to the internal medicine department to participate in a consultation for a stroke patient.
After quickly finishing my lunch in the cafeteria, I borrowed a handcart from the logistics department and headed back.
When they arrived at the door, Boss Fu and his gang were already there. The five men were squatting in a row by the wall, smoking, attracting the attention of passersby.
When the eldest son of the wealthy family saw Li Chu coming over, he went up to greet him. Li Chu looked at him and said, "You guys are here early. Have you all eaten yet?"
"We've already eaten; we just arrived."
"Let's go inside."
Once inside, Li Chu first packed his belongings and asked them to help him put them on the cart. Then he told them to put the furniture in a corner outside the house and cover it with tarpaulin.
Seeing that they had started working, Li Chu came out and took out some prepared peanuts and melon seeds to distribute to the families in the front yard.
When you're doing chores at home, it's bound to bother others. We're all neighbors, so if you go over and say hello, offer some sunflower seeds or peanuts, everyone can put up with it.
I visited every household in the front yard, but there was no need to visit the middle and back yards.
However, I went to an old man's house. He was at work and wouldn't come back for lunch. So, an old woman cooked lunch and ate with the old lady in the backyard.
Li Chu told the older woman that he was cleaning the house and wouldn't be home for a while, and that she should finish her five days' worth of medicine and then come to the hospital with the older man to find him.
Then he went back, said hello to Boss Fu, and left.
On my way back, I made a special detour to the neighborhood office to inquire about the cement.
“I told your brother-in-law when I got home yesterday, and he said you just need to name a number.”
Li Chu then told Li Qin the amount of cement needed. The siblings chatted for a while, and as Li Qin was leaving, she suddenly slapped her forehead and said, "I almost forgot about your brother-in-law. Come over this weekend; he needs to see you."
"My brother-in-law didn't say what it was about?"
"What else could they be looking for? It must be to ask you to treat someone."
"Okay, I got it. I'll go over this weekend. I'm off now, sis."
After getting off work in the afternoon, Ding Qiunan also came over to help Li Chu clean the dormitory. The two of them quickly finished cleaning up.
To thank her, Li Chu specially invited her to eat hot pot.
Little Ding had never gone out alone with a man other than her family before. After hesitating for a long time, she finally couldn't resist the temptation of hot pot.
Ding Qiunan's face was flushed the whole way.
When they arrived at Donglaishun, Li Chu asked Ding Qiunan to order. Ding Qiunan, however, was too embarrassed and quickly shook her head, saying, "Dr. Li, you order, I'm fine with anything."
Li Chu didn't hesitate and quickly ordered a bunch of dishes, including four servings of mutton alone.
"Dr. Li, that's enough. We've ordered too much; we can't finish it all."
"I have a big appetite, I won't leave any leftovers, and this might not even be enough." After thinking about it, Li Chu didn't order any more. He'd deal with it later if he didn't have enough.
It cost a little over three yuan. These days, you have to pay in advance when you eat at a restaurant.
Watching Li Chu hand over the money and receipts to the staff, Ding Qiunan felt a pang of heartache. She only earned 20 yuan a month, and this meal had cost her several days' worth of food. Even though she hadn't paid for it, it still pained her to no end, and her face twitched with distress.
The dishes were served quickly. These days, everyone is short of oil and fat, and it's normal to go months without eating meat. Little Ding hadn't eaten meat in a long time, and her eyes were shining as she stared at the mutton on the table.
At first, she was a little embarrassed to eat mutton and only ate vegetables in the broth. When Li Chu saw this, he added two more pieces of meat to her plate. This opened the floodgates, and she stopped being polite and started eating heartily with Li Chu.
In no time at all, the two of them finished the whole table of food.
Ding Qiunan leaned back in her chair, rubbing her round belly from eating, and let out a burp. When she saw Li Chu looking over, she quickly covered her mouth, her face turning red.
Li Chu hadn't expected this girl to be such a big eater; she ate just as much as he did. She kept saying no, but her stomach betrayed her.
It was getting dark, and the two of them sat for a while before leaving the restaurant. They walked slowly towards the hospital, keeping a meter's distance between them and chatting casually.
Through their conversation, Li Chu learned that Ding Qiunan's father also worked at the machine repair factory, while her mother stayed at home. She also had a younger brother in elementary school. Hearing this, Li Chu scratched his head. This didn't make sense. He remembered watching the edited video back then, where Ding Qiunan's parents were both at home and not working, and she didn't seem to have a younger brother. Cui Dake and Nan Yi had given her parents a lot of gifts in their pursuit of her.
"Hey, why think so much? The fact that you're already here is the biggest variable. Besides, the TV series isn't set in Beijing. Now that we're all here, it's not surprising that things might change."
Upon arriving at the hospital, the lights in the first two rows of outpatient offices were already off; there were no night shifts at the outpatient department. The two three-story inpatient buildings at the back were brightly lit. Patients arriving at night needed to go directly to the inpatient department for their appointments; all departments with wards had doctors on duty.
These days, hospitals don't have emergency departments.
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