“Where do you work?”
“At a design institute under a state-owned enterprise in Beijing.”
“Oh.”
Yang Lin seemed quite interested in me and continued asking: “What specific area?”
“Building anti-flotation.”
“Anti-flotation?”
This topic seemed outside his expertise, but he still appeared interested.
“Is that for buildings on water?”
I glanced at the IV drip level and lowered my head to explain seriously, “No, buildings on land also experience buoyancy. Many ground-level buildings are actually below the groundwater level. According to Archimedes’ principle, these buildings will experience buoyancy like a boat. The buoyancy force equals the weight of groundwater displaced by the building. Last year in Chengdu, over 800 buildings had flotation issues.” (This data comes from a friend who works in building buoyancy)
“That serious?”
I smiled, “It’s not that serious. Building flotation issues are very common – most flotation problems won’t cause major issues if proper anti-flotation engineering is done.”
Yang Lin smiled, “Different fields are like different mountains.”
I asked Yang Lin, “What do you do?”
“Oh, I work in IT.”
I smiled and responded: “Then your income must be quite high.”
Yang Lin waved his hand, “Hey, doesn’t matter, I’m married. Now I need to compensate you, have to ask my sister, don’t even know if that little girl has that much money.”
I asked, “Is she still studying? Earlier in the car I heard her say she was in the university library.”
Yang Lin pursed his lips, “Her? She’s doing her PhD, teaches some classes on the side, just enough to support herself.”
I hesitated for a moment, then tentatively asked: “Is she married?”
“Married?”
Yang Lin nearly stood up, his eyebrows furrowed together with an exaggerated expression, “Marriage is impossible, do you know what she researches?”
“What?”
“Some Ming Dynasty eunuch with the surname Deng. Deng something…”
Yang Lin couldn’t remember, so he gave up and continued complaining to me: “I don’t understand these academic types. Just heard she’s doing pretty well recently, published some papers, and gotten a bit full of herself. When the family tries to introduce her to someone, she can’t even be bothered to meet them now. Mom wants me to manage her, but I can’t control her either, just let her be.”
As he was speaking, a nurse came to change my IV drip, looking at my wristband to confirm my name.
“Bed thirteen, what’s your name?”
I looked up and answered: “Deng Ying.”
Yang Lin jumped up, “What did you say your name was?”
The nurse glanced at him and said loudly: “Sir, please sit down.”
Yang Lin ignored the nurse and said directly to me: “It was just on the tip of my tongue but I couldn’t say it, as soon as you said it I remembered – that’s exactly who she researches, Deng Ying. This is amazing, you have to meet her.”
He immediately called Yang Wan, “Hey, where are you?”
The person on the phone seemed a bit anxious, “I’m already at the hospital, been looking for you in the surgery ward for ages but can’t find you, and your phone’s been busy. Where exactly are you?”
Yang Lin hurriedly said: “Sorry, was making work calls. No beds in surgery, we’re sitting in the corridor of the fifth-floor orthopedics ward. Come up.”
“Alright, I’m coming up now.”
Just as she finished speaking, the elevator doors opened and a girl in a white hoodie walked out carrying a large bag.
She was still so beautiful, without full makeup – just drawn eyebrows and light lipstick, wearing a cute bun hairstyle.
I had imagined meeting this girl many times.
I had hoped to be properly and cleanly dressed, not disheveled like before, but man proposes, and God disposes.
At least she didn’t look at me, walking straight to Yang Lin and dropping the bag beside him.
“Here, change of clothes, and food.”
Then she moved her bag to her chest, took out her wallet, and pulled out a card, “Here, this card isn’t bound to anything, it has all my savings. Take it for now, make sure you compensate them properly.”
Yang Lin stared at the bag: “I just sprained my hand, probably can leave tomorrow after observation, don’t need so many clothes. This brother here is the unlucky one.”
He jerked his chin toward me, “Just got X-rayed, seems like there might be a fracture.”
“Fracture? You fractured someone during New Year?”
Yang Lin was cowed by her scolding, “I didn’t mean to, who knew the bicycle would land on his leg too…”
His voice got smaller and smaller.
Yang Wan asked him: “Have you arranged a caretaker?”
“Not yet, wasn’t I waiting for you?”
“How did you negotiate it?”
“Just getting a caretaker, right? He’s from out of town, and lives in Beijing. This is all we can do for now unless you want to ask him again.”
Yang Wan turned around, finally seeing me lying behind her.
I don’t know what came over me, but my first reaction was to want to hide under the blanket.
She showed a slight look of puzzlement, “You seem… familiar.”
Yang Lin said from behind her: “Ask him his name yourself.”
Yang Wan turned back: “You hit him and you’re still being so impolite to him.”
“I’m not being impolite, I…”
Yang Wan glared at him, then turned to ask me: “I’m sorry, what’s your name?”
I squeezed my fingers, trying to stay calm: “Deng Ying.”
She stood before me, stunned for a moment, then broke into a smile.
“Mr. Deng, I’m so sorry. My brother is unreliable, but don’t worry, I’m on break, I’ll take care of everything.”