Extra Five Ring Finger
“Ding Dong.”
As Zhou Cheng was sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window typing on his laptop, the ringtone of a new message on his phone rang.
He paused what he was doing, picked up his phone and unlocked the screen.
It is a video of walking in the desert. The sand dunes are dyed blood red by the setting sun, and there are several pyramids not far from the camera.
"It's hot and smelly. I really want to go home."
The second message came quickly, a few seconds of voice with an irritable tone and a hint of anger in a coquettish manner.
"Aren't you looking forward to it? Why do you want to come back just after leaving?" Zhou Cheng leaned back on the chair and stretched his slightly sore shoulders and neck.
Just a moment after the voice message was sent, the video request came back.
"I really regret listening to Lu Ze's slander. I should have gone home straight after discussing the project yesterday. Why did I accompany him to see the pyramids?" Su Qingyan pouted as she looked at Zhou Cheng, who had a slight smile on his face on the screen. "What's with that expression? Are you so happy to see me in such a mess?"
"Then come back, I miss you too." Zhou Cheng said softly, his tone so gentle that it could hold a pool of water.
"Mom, it's fine if you don't participate in parent-child activities, but why are you trying to sabotage them?" Lu Ze's face squeezed into the small screen.
"I won't be participating in this kind of parent-child activity anymore. Zhou Cheng, you know what? My happiest moment today was when I came out of the pyramid." Su Qingyan pushed Lu Ze away and returned to the center of the screen. "This damn place is inhospitable. Look, my face is about to break."
Zhou Cheng looked at Su Qingyan's cheeks which suddenly grew bigger on the screen and frowned slightly.
The face, which Su Qingyan usually took great care of and took great care of, had now become much rougher. Although she had done enough sun protection, it was still tanned red by the scorching sun.
"Come back, I'll ask He Zhu to book a ticket for you." Seeing that the little peaches he had carefully watered were now wilting, Zhou Cheng made a quick decision.
"No, this is just the first stop. I have other plans later." Lu Ze's voice came from outside the screen.
"You play by yourself, I'm going home." Su Qingyan's tone was full of joy.
He Zhu was extremely efficient. Su Qingyan boarded the return flight that night, while Lu Ze continued his journey around the world.
Since the Su family's business had received strong support from the Lu family, its momentum had become increasingly prosperous. This time, the project was to aid infrastructure in Africa. Lu Ze, taking advantage of Su Qingyan's trip to Africa, began his own global journey from Egypt. However, he did not expect that Su Qingyan would withdraw from the trip just as it was about to begin.
The plane landed in Mincheng at around 8 o'clock in the evening. Zhou Cheng arrived at the airport early to wait for Su Qingyan to come back.
"Oh? Professor Zhou came to pick me up at the airport in person? I'm so honored." Su Qingyan spotted Zhou Cheng's tall figure in a windbreaker in the crowd at a glance.
He Zhu went to get the luggage, and Su Qingyan came over by herself.
Zhou Cheng stretched out his arms and hugged him, looking at his cheek carefully.
"Lu Ze is such a jerk. He just leaves without even making a proper strategy."
"Him? Let him make a strategy? He might flash to Greenland tomorrow." Su Qingyan smiled and left a few kisses on Zhou Cheng's lips.
"Let's go eat? Are you hungry?" Zhou Cheng put his arm around Su Qingyan's shoulders and took him out of the airport.
"Let's go home first. I'm even more greedy for you." Su Qingyan obviously had more important things to do.
Just as the two were about to drive into Jinghu Lake, Zhou Cheng's phone rang.
When Su Qingyan heard the ringtone, he knew that all his plans were ruined. This was the death knell for work.
Zhou Cheng turned the car and drove to the Affiliated Hospital one street away.
Su Qingyan curled his lips. He had recently bought a new house on the outskirts of the city. It was an aristocratic manor, quiet and elegant. He had urged Zhou Cheng to move in several times, but Zhou Cheng refused with various excuses. In fact, he knew the main reason very well: living in Jinghu would make it easier for Zhou Cheng to work overtime...
Why are some people so keen on working overtime, to the point that overtime has become a part of enjoying life?
"Go eat something first. I shouldn't be long." Zhou Cheng gave this instruction and then got out of the car and walked quickly towards the elevator that led directly to the operating room.
Su Qingyan came to Zhou Cheng's department with ease, took out the key to open his office, and sat behind the desk waiting for dinner.
Zhou Cheng's desk was still as clean and tidy as ever. If it weren't for the photo frame on the desk, it would be so outrageous that there would be no sign of anyone using it.
Su Qingyan looked at the photo of the two of them with the aurora in the background in the frame, feeling mixed emotions.
The unpleasant aurora trip and the accident that followed seemed like a thing of the past life, but Zhou Cheng always kept them in mind and even placed them on his desk to remind himself at all times.
Because the doctor on duty had just been admitted to the hospital not long ago, and these new doctors all have a novice buff. It is not a novice protection buff, but a curse that must give the newcomers a sense of power. Every night shift, there will inevitably be a chaotic scene with difficult and complicated diseases. The doctor on duty cannot handle it by himself and can only ask for help from the chief resident. The chief resident cannot settle the matter either, so he has to contact Zhou Cheng.
Zhou Cheng's response speed is well-known throughout the hospital. When he appeared in the operating room, the circulating nurse personally put on surgical gown for him.
While Zhou Cheng was fighting in the blood under the operating light, Su Qingyan finally had a dinner that suited the appetite of Chinese babies.
"Mr. Su, are you back from your business trip? Director Zhou seemed to have not smiled during the past few days when you were away." The nurse on duty saw that the light was on in Zhou Cheng's office, so she knocked on the door and came in to take a look. Seeing that Su Qingyan had just put down his chopsticks, she diligently went over to clean up the lunch box.
"It's not that exaggerated, is it? But he really does like to have a sullen face."
Su Qingyan asked the nurse to go back to work, saying that he would handle the situation himself. Since Zhou Cheng, their boss, always gave them a hard time, he had to be more approachable.
But after the nurse left, he was too lazy to clean up, thinking, is this what a dignified Mr. Su should do? He simply ignored it, lay down on the sofa, and soon fell asleep.
“…There will be a bloody disaster.”
"Stop lying... Are you treating me like a three-year-old? Who would believe me?"
"I have a way to crack it..."
"Alright, alright, Taoist priest, go do the calculation for someone else." Su Qingyan turned around impatiently and was about to leave, but was unexpectedly patted on the shoulder several times. "Eh? If you have something to say, just talk it over. Why are you using violence?"
"Xiao Su, wake up, it's time to go home." Seeing that Su Qingyan was still asleep after calling him several times, Zhou Cheng reached out and shook his shoulders.
"Hmm?" Su Qingyan slowly opened his eyes and took several seconds to realize where he was.
"Did you sleep silly?" Zhou Cheng was very pleased to see his confused look and pinched his cheek.
"I just dreamed that an old man told me that I would suffer a bloody disaster." Su Qingyan sat up and rubbed his sore neck.
"Dreams are always the opposite." Zhou Cheng stood up and walked to his desk to clean up the leftovers.
"Have you had dinner? Don't tell me you didn't." Su Qingyan asked guiltily.
"Will you have another meal with me?" Zhou Cheng neatly put all the lunch boxes into the bag.
"Oh, you really didn't eat it? You idiot. I'll ask Auntie to make it at home." Su Qingyan quickly took out her phone and said, "Make your favorite lotus root soup."
"Don't bother me so late at night. I'll just go to the restaurant next door and grab a bite."
"How can that be possible? If this gets out, won't I be abusing you?" Su Qingyan stood up and walked behind Zhou Cheng, hugging him. "The wife of the domineering boss is going to eat at a roadside stall?"
Zhou Cheng smiled and ruffled his hair.
Finally, at Su Qingyan's repeated insistence, they took a detour to a Western restaurant and sat down by the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the river.
"It's the middle of the night, you can't afford to bother with it." Although Zhou Cheng said this, there was a smile in his eyes.
"We should live a refined life, but we can't live it so roughly." Su Qingyan tapped the back of Zhou Cheng's hand.
Su Qingyan doesn't come to this restaurant often, but when he saw the famous President Su appear here late at night, everyone in the restaurant almost lined the aisles with flowers to welcome him.
Su Qingyan was not a low-key person, and he really enjoyed this level of flattery. However, it was a pity for Zhou Cheng, as even having a simple meal became a luxury.
Because Su Qingyan had already eaten in the hospital, while Zhou Cheng was eating, he kept talking about the interesting things that happened in his trip over the past few days.
"In short, I won't go to that place again. Old Lu told me that if I came forward, it would benefit our family in the future, but who knew I would have to endure such hardship, ah."
"Uncle Lu is right. If there is still a chance, you should go and come back quickly." Zhou Cheng comforted him.
"Well, just consider it as doing good deeds for Old Su." Su Qingyan stirred the fruit tea in front of him with a stirring stick.
"Just don't play with Lu Ze outside next time. No matter what happens in China, we can handle it. But it's different abroad. There are too many dangerous factors, and Lu Ze is not reliable." Zhou Cheng complained.
"Then you won't play with me." Su Qingyan curled her lips.
"Wait until I take my annual leave to go out with you."
"You, as the deputy director, are even more tired than the director. It seems that Li Yu has already enjoyed his retirement life in advance." Su Qingyan put down the stirring rod and shook Zhou Cheng's hand. "It hurts to see you so tired."
"I'm just working normally. Who doesn't get tired from work?" Zhou Cheng put down his fork and placed his hand on the back of Su Qingyan's hand.
"Sometimes I really want to lock you up at home, you workaholic." Su Qingyan pinched Zhou Cheng's fingers a few times.
After dinner, the two returned home. After opening the door, Su Qingyan went straight to the bathroom, threw his clothes on the floor, and said, "Lie down on the bed and wait for him to sleep with you."
Zhou Cheng followed behind him, picking up clothes helplessly.
The sound of running water soon began to sound. Zhou Cheng rarely used his romantic cells and lit a scented candle with a nice name, waiting for Su Qingyan to finish taking a shower.
"Ouch!"
But before anyone came out, I heard a scream.
He hurried into the bathroom and saw Su Qingyan leaning on the sink with his left hand raised.
"What's wrong?" Zhou Cheng hurried to check if he was injured.
"I slipped and pricked my finger when I was holding the sink, and now I can't straighten it up."
The first joint of Su Qingyan's left ring finger was bent inward at a strange angle.
"The tendon is broken, don't move." Zhou Cheng took a bath towel and draped it over him.
"What? Tendon? Broken?" Su Qingyan looked at his finger in disbelief. "So fragile? No way? I just supported it..."
As he was speaking, he wanted to straighten his fingers with his right hand, but Zhou Cheng quickly stopped him.
"Don't move. You can't put the tendon back together if it's broken."
It took Su Qingyan a while to accept this fact. While he was digesting the news, Zhou Cheng had already wiped him dry and put on clean clothes.
"What should we do now?" Su Qingyan asked bitterly. It seemed that the program of "Reunion After a Short Separation" would be cancelled.
"Go to the hospital and get checked out first."
"Is it that serious?" Su Qingyan was very helpless. "Could this be the bloody disaster I dreamed of? I should have listened to his solution earlier."
"Don't think too much, it's not a big deal." Zhou Cheng urged him to hurry up.
However, Su Qingyan quickly accepted the reality and firmly regarded it as a big deal. He even stopped wearing shoes. He watched Zhou Cheng half-kneeling to put on his shoes and took several photos proudly.
"Do you need me to carry you downstairs?" Zhou Cheng stood up and pulled up Su Qingyan, who had been sitting there acting like a boss.
"It's not impossible... Now that you mention it, I just slipped and my ankle hurts a little now."
"Stop talking nonsense and let's go." Zhou Cheng stopped him from making up stories.
Even though it was late at night, the hospital was still busy. They avoided the crowded emergency department and went directly to the orthopedic ward.
Zhou Cheng found the doctor on duty, who took one look and gave the same conclusion as Zhou Cheng.
"I should have a fixator here. This finger isn't doing much, so surgery isn't necessary. But if delicate surgery is needed, surgery should be performed as soon as possible." The doctor on duty began to search for something in the cabinet. "Where did I put it? It should be here."
"I don't need surgery, right?" Su Qingyan became nervous when he heard that he might need surgery.
"No, but you have to wear a fixator for a while so that it can slowly return to its original position." Zhou Cheng comforted him.
"Tsk, luckily it was me who broke the tendon, otherwise you would be in trouble. Fortunately this incident reminded me that I should buy a separate insurance policy for your hand. One is not enough, I need several." Su Qingyan kept muttering to hide his inner uneasiness.
"Found it!" The orthopedic surgeon finally came over with a small object. "What Mr. Su said makes sense. We really need to insure Director Zhou's hand."
"Are you joking with him too?" Zhou Cheng was a little unhappy.
The orthopedic surgeon chuckled twice and started working.
"It might hurt a little, just a little, but it will be fine once I fix it."
Su Qingyan was most afraid of pain. When he heard him say that, his senses were instantly magnified and he looked at Zhou Cheng helplessly.
"He lied to you. It doesn't hurt at all." Zhou Cheng said while holding Su Qingyan's other hand.
"I think you are lying to me." Su Qingyan muttered.
Hearing him say this, the orthopedic surgeon laughed and continued to study Su Qingyan's fingers.
"Brother Zhou, the ring needs to be taken off. I'll fix your finger later, you go ahead and take it off."
Zhou Cheng nodded.
Su Qingyan was wearing their wedding ring on her ring finger. It was just a simple plain ring with their names inside.
Su Qingyan almost never took off this ring. Now when she heard that she was asked to take it off, although she knew it was useless, she still resisted a few words.
"It has to be removed. Don't you want your finger to be healed?" Zhou Cheng ignored his objection and signaled the orthopedic surgeon to start.
When a finger with a ruptured ligament is forced back to its normal anatomical position by external force, sharp pain spreads from the fingertips throughout the body.
"...You doctors are all liars..." Su Qingyan took a breath and said in a trembling voice.
Zhou Cheng found the right moment to take the wedding ring off Su Qingyan's ring finger.
"It hurts, it hurts!" Su Qingyan stomped her feet in pain and opened her mouth to bite Zhou Cheng's shoulder.
"It will be done soon. Count to five," the orthopedic surgeon said as he put the brace on his finger in a few seconds. "Don't count too fast, though. Keep it at a normal pace."
Su Qingyan was in no mood to count at this moment. He felt like a lamb to be slaughtered, and he felt so wronged that he wanted to cry.
"OK, perfect. Wear it for a month and it will recover." The orthopedic surgeon clapped his hands and admired his masterpiece.
"Does it hurt anymore?" Zhou Cheng asked hurriedly.
"What do you think..." Su Qingyan sniffed, feeling exhausted both physically and mentally and wanted to escape from here immediately.
When the two returned home, it was almost 2 a.m. Su Qingyan had completely turned into a baby, needing Zhou Cheng's help with everything, and even didn't brush her teeth herself.
"Your right hand doesn't seem to be injured, right?" After serving him in all aspects, Zhou Cheng finally lay down on the bed.
"I can't do anything if one hand can't do it. I'm just a poor injured baby." Su Qingyan turned around and moved closer to Zhou Cheng, hugging his arm and rubbing it a few times.
"Baby, can you sleep now? It's getting late." Zhou Cheng also turned around and hugged him in his arms.
"We have wasted such a good time in the hospital. Let's go to sleep." Su Qingyan had no other thoughts now. He was already tired from the journey and fell asleep in a short while.
"...You come to me to ask for a solution?"
The Taoist priest appeared again.
"I'm already injured, there's no need to break it." Su Qingyan looked up at the sky and rolled his eyes.
"But the bloody disaster wasn't you. Didn't you already crack it for him?"
The Taoist swept his whisk across his fingertips.
"Huh? It wasn't me? That was Zhou Cheng? Are you saying that I saved him from disaster?"
The Taoist priest opposite did not continue speaking, but Su Qingyan felt his fingertips becoming more and more painful.
Su Qingyan was pulled out of his dream by the continuous dull pain, and deeply experienced what it meant that the heart was connected to the ten fingers.
Zhou Cheng's sleeping quality was very poor. He woke up as soon as Su Qingyan sat up.
"Does it hurt again?"
"It hurts so much that I can't sleep." Su Qingyan got up from the bed irritably. "Can I not wear this thing? I'll just bend it. This finger is useless."
Zhou Cheng turned on the bedside lamp and patted Su Qingyan's back a few times to comfort him.
"I'll go find some medicine."
Su Qingyan has a great psychological shadow on painkillers. He dare not take painkillers casually now. What if he ends up with gastric bleeding? That would be much more painful than just pain.
"This medicine has no side effects on the stomach, you can take it." Zhou Cheng saw him staring at the capsule in his hand with complicated eyes, and began to explain.
Su Qingyan finally felt relieved, lowered her head to take the medicine, and licked Zhou Cheng's palm.
"Are you feeling better?" Zhou Cheng asked him less than 5 minutes later.
Su Qingyan shook his head and shook his hands in pain, but the pain became even worse.
"I don't want to wear it anymore." He said and was about to remove the retainer.
"You have to wear it." Zhou Cheng stopped his hand.
"You're torturing me. It hurts so much." Su Qingyan sniffed again, looking up at Zhou Cheng with red eyes, "Can't you just let go a little?"
Zhou Cheng really couldn't stand Su Qingyan's expression. Without any hesitation, regardless of what time it was, he directly dialed the number of the orthopedic surgeon. After a few words, he began to tinker with the fixator on Su Qingyan's finger.
Under his manipulation, the fixator loosened a few degrees, and the persistent pain in the finger finally subsided a little.
"Are you feeling better now?"
Su Qingyan nodded and rested her head on his chest.
"Be good, go to sleep now." Zhou Cheng patted his back again and again.
"Are you treating me like a child again?"
"Aren't you a child?"
"Well, it's a child, the kind that hasn't been weaned yet."
As Su Qingyan spoke, she bit his chest a few times. Perhaps because the piercing pain from before was gone, other thoughts gradually took over.
"Stop it! You're not going to work tomorrow?" Zhou Cheng's alarm bells rang when he saw his behavior had changed, and he spoke up to stop him in time.
"You've been marinated by Ben..."
The sleepiness came again.
The next day, when Su Qingyan's alarm clock rang, he immediately reached out to turn it off and sat on the bed for a while, his body waiting for his soul to wake up.
As he waited for the soul to return, he heard footsteps in the living room.
Auntie, are you here so early?
He was a little confused and got out of bed to take a look.
"Are you awake? Wash up and eat." Zhou Cheng was putting the dinner plate on the table.
Su Qingyan looked at the time, then looked at him, and looked at the time again in disbelief.
"You're not working? It's past 8 o'clock?"
"I'll be a little late. I've already said hello."
Zhou Cheng took Su Qingyan's hand and took him to wash his face and brush his teeth, following the standard procedures for taking care of a baby.
"so good?"
Su Qingyan had the illusion that his finger wasn't injured. Wasn't this simply the treatment of being paralyzed in bed? Then he cursed in his heart a few times. How could anyone curse himself like that?
"Open your mouth." Zhou Cheng saw Su Qingyan was in a daze, not wanting to eat the food that was fed to him, so he continued, "Has your mind also become like a baby's?"
"I'll only eat if you hug me." Su Qingyan stretched out her hand towards Zhou Cheng.
"You kid, are you getting too much?" Although Zhou Cheng said this, he also held Su Qingyan on his lap.
"It's really worth it..." Su Qingyan said in a sticky tone.
Although Su Qingyan really wanted to escalate the ambiguous tone, she had to give up when she thought that Zhou Cheng still had to go to work.
The company was not far from Jinghu Lake, and Zhou Cheng parked the car at the door in a short while.
"Carry you in?" Zhou Cheng asked teasingly.
This smirk rarely appeared on his face, and Su Qingyan liked it very much.
"Come on, carry me in." Su Qingyan's hand slid across Zhou Cheng's ironed trousers.
Now it was Zhou Cheng's turn to be embarrassed. How come President Su, who usually maintained a dignified image, didn't even care about his image today?
"You said it." Zhou Cheng comforted himself after a while. After all, this was Su Qingyan's territory. As long as he was not embarrassed, he would be the one who was embarrassed.
When the security personnel saw Mr. Su being carried out of the car by Zhou Cheng, they didn't know whether they should go forward or avoid him.
When they appeared in the lobby on the first floor in this posture, everyone was terrified.
"He Zhu, what's going on with the boss today? We've never seen such a scene before." The front desk clerk urgently contacted He Zhu through the headset.
"What's wrong with the boss? He seemed in a good mood when he came back." He Zhu had become accustomed to Su Qingyan's mood swings, but as long as the boss didn't quarrel with Dr. Zhou, their lives would be pretty good.
"The boss was just carried in by Doctor Zhou like a princess." The receptionist said in a terrified voice.
"Well...it's just a fun thing..." He Zhu didn't think it was a big deal.
Zhou Cheng carried Su Qingyan all the way to his office.
"This treatment is really awesome." Su Qingyan sighed with satisfaction as he sat down in his chair.
"The image of the domineering president has also collapsed." Zhou Cheng said this.
"Don't worry, no one of them dares to think so. They will only think that we are a loving and enviable couple, hehe." Su Qingyan said shamelessly.
"Okay, I'm leaving. Wait for me to pick you up in the evening." Zhou Cheng couldn't stand it anymore and quickly turned around and left.
During the routine meeting, everyone saw Su Qingyan's ring finger with a brace, and thought that President Su must have been injured, which was why he came to the company like that this morning.
But after the meeting, Su Qingyan stood up and left leisurely, and no one seemed to see anything unusual, which made everyone start to wonder again.
As the workday neared its end, Su Qingyan stood by the window like a kindergarten kid waiting to be picked up by his parents, hoping that Zhou Cheng's car would arrive soon.
When he saw the black car appear in his sight from afar, Su Qingyan immediately turned into a child who could not take care of himself, half lying in a chair.
"How are you today? Is it hurting again?" Zhou Cheng knocked on the door twice symbolically and pushed it open.
"It won't hurt if you hug me." Su Qingyan stretched out her hand to him.
Zhou Cheng walked forward and picked him up. Su Qingyan hung on Zhou Cheng like a little koala.
"Just go out like this?" Zhou Cheng felt that this posture was not suitable to appear in public.
"Let's go, just go out like this." Su Qingyan's tone was actually very expectant.
Zhou Cheng couldn't persuade him, so he resigned himself to his fate and walked out.
In the front hall, where the flow of people was the largest, Su Qingyan suddenly leaned over to his ear and asked, "Are you awake?"
"Do you think this posture is safe?" Zhou Cheng replied in a low voice while gnashing his back teeth.
"Look how anxious you are? You can't even wait to go home?" Su Qingyan giggled.
-Oh my God, Mr. Su still smiles like this?
-Limited smile, it's not for us to see.
-Indeed, this is not something that poor oxen and horses should see.
The employees in the hall were stealing glances at each other and communicating with each other through brain waves.
After returning home, the two naturally used the koala pose to explore the ultimate meaning of life.
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