“Though I knew I shouldn’t meddle, I said: ‘Some pain comes on fiercely and leaves quickly… Grit your teeth, you can get through it!'”
“Thanks!” Without further words, she hung up directly.
Perhaps she didn’t understand my meaning or was annoyed by my interference, but she was my first friend in this strange country, and I truly felt sorry for her.
A long, deep sigh escaped me.
…
“Are you friends with Qin Xue?” I was startled, not by the voice’s intrusion, but because the sentence was in Chinese.
I turned around and saw the male doctor from the sterile laboratory. He pulled off his plastic gloves and removed his mask.
A slight side profile, a gentle raise of an eyebrow… almost took my breath away.
“Ye…” I almost called out his full name but caught myself: “Senior brother!”
He nodded slightly, waiting for my answer. I noticed that once he put on the white coat, his demeanor changed, becoming serious.
“Uh… we’re quite close. Xiao Xue took good care of me when I first arrived.”
“Oh, then could you advise her: her headache is neurogenic, and painkillers can only temporarily relieve the pain…”
“I understand,” I said.
He seemed unsure. “Do you really understand?”
“You want me to tell her: neurogenic headaches must stop drug dependency and be regulated through emotions…” I paused. “Short-term pain is better than long-term suffering, right?”
“Yes, and… Don’t say it was from me.”
“I get it!”
He couldn’t promise anything to Qin Xue and didn’t want her to have false hopes, so he took ruthless actions to make her give up on him, preventing her from wasting her emotions.
This was the second day I knew Ye Zhengchen, and I found myself perplexed. If he was compassionate toward the little rat, why did he brutally cut open its skin and then stitch it? If he cherished women, why cause them pain only to try to minimize it? This was the cruelest kindness I had ever seen.
Was Ye Zhengchen a devil in God’s clothes or a god in devil’s clothes? I couldn’t tell! But one thing I was sure of: he was a profoundly deep man.
