Evening Stars Chapter 11
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 11
Xu Nanheng pushed through the glass doors of the emergency room and had barely taken a few steps outside before he spotted Fang Shiyou, standing next to his car.
There was no parking contact number placard inside the vehicle. Fang Shiyou recognized it from the license plate. Then again, a luxury vehicle worth more than three million was a rare sight in a small county like this.
“Dr. Fang.” Xu Nanheng walked over. “Sorry about that.”
Fang Shiyou met him halfway, a faint smile on his face. When he first saw Xu Nanheng's car parked outside the ER, he'd tensed up, thinking something had happened to him. Then he thought again. If Xu Nanheng could drive himself here, he was probably fine, so he called him instead.
“It's fine. It's just that this area is for ambulances.”
“Oh!” Xu Nanheng quickened his pace, pulled open the car door, and said, “You could've moved it yourself. The keys are in the car.”
He climbed in, moved the car to an open spot in the hospital lot, then turned off the engine, got out, and locked it. Fang Shiyou stood a short distance away, hands in the pockets of his white coat, watching him reverse the car in front of the parking area.
When he came closer, Fang Shiyou finally asked, “What brought you to the ER? You're not feeling unwell, are you?”
Xu Nanheng looked perfectly fine. He was wearing a sleek all-black hoodie and jeans, with a baseball cap pulled low, which naturally drew one's gaze to the lower half of his face.
His jawline was clean, his lips were perfectly shaped, and his Adam's apple cast a sharp, inverted triangular shadow down the graceful column of his neck.
“No, not me.” Xu Nanheng also had his hands in his pockets. The temperature had dropped quite a bit after sunset, and it was getting cold. “It's Teacher Dawa's father. He fell on the road outside his house this afternoon. I happened to be walking around the village, so I brought him here right away.”
Fang Shiyou thought for a moment. “Ah, the old man fractured a bone while herding not long ago. Did they take him in already?”
“Yeah, they've wheeled him in,” Xu Nanheng said.
Fang Shiyou was in the cardiac surgery department, while Dawa Gyatso's father was a patient for the orthopedics department. He glanced toward the emergency entrance and said, “Alright. What about you? It's dark already. Do you have somewhere to go?”
“I'm heading back,” Xu Nanheng said. “I haven't finished grading the homework yet.”
Just then, a gust of wind picked up, pressing his loose hoodie against his skin and outlining the lean lines of his waist. Fang Shiyou caught a glimpse, quickly looked away, and cleared his throat.
“What about you, are you done for the day?” Xu Nanheng asked. “Wanna grab something to eat? I haven't eaten a thing since I woke up.”
Fang Shiyou paused for a moment, then said, “You've been on an empty stomach all day?”
“Yeah.” Xu Nanheng nodded. “I didn't dare drive too fast on the way, worried I'd jostle the old man. I'm starving.”
Fang Shiyou smiled. “Alright, let me go change. You…… come with me, then.”
Xu Nanheng didn't refuse and followed him inside.
The two entered through the night entrance. A few patients were dozing in the chairs of the waiting hall, and the door to the ultrasound room was half-open. When someone peeked through the gap, a nurse shut it firmly with a thud.
Fang Shiyou walked ahead, turned down the corridor, and went up to the second floor. Xu Nanheng thought they were heading to a consultation room, but the door opened into an on-call room. The room was quite small, containing a set of bunk beds, a chair, and a simple desk without drawers.
A few of Fang Shiyou's jackets were hanging from the railing at the foot of the top bunk. Xu Nanheng glanced up. Since the upper bunk was piled with clutter, this room was probably for Fang Shiyou's use alone.
Fang Shiyou grabbed a disposable paper cup, lifted the electric kettle from the floor, and poured him some hot water. “Sit for a bit and have some water. I'll make a quick round in the IV room, then we can go.”
“Okay.” Xu Nanheng took the cup and sat down.
The lounge was quite cluttered. A large waterproof backpack sat on the floor, and a closed laptop rested on the desk. Xu Nanheng sat in the chair, and Fang Shiyou's bed was right beside him.
On the bed, he spotted something…… familiar. It was the Doraemon blanket. For a moment, Xu Nanheng found the doctor quite cute. So, this blanket was a personal item, and he carried it with him.
After sitting for a while, he suddenly realized he was still wearing his cap. He took it off and used the front camera on his phone to check his hair.
“Hiss.”
Teacher Xu sucked in a sharp breath. His bangs, flattened under the cap too long, had twisted into an unflattering mess. He quickly put the cap back on.
Not long after, the door opened from the outside. Fang Shiyou had knocked twice before pushing it open.
“I'm not holding you up, am I?” Xu Nanheng set down his cup and stood up.
While taking off his white coat, Fang Shiyou said, “No, it's fine. I'm on a long night shift in the ER tonight. As long as I'm back before eight, it's okay.”
“That's tough.”
“It's part of the job.” Fang Shiyou picked up a dark navy jacket. “Come on, I'll take you for some barbecue.”
Xu Nanheng's eyes lit up. “Sounds great!”
Even in a small county, hospitals were always crowded. As they walked from the night entrance toward the main gates, an ambulance with flashing lights sped toward the ER. Xu Nanheng walked beside Fang Shiyou, shrinking his neck against the cold wind.
Fang Shiyou glanced at him. “It gets a little cold at night.”
“Yeah.” Xu Nanheng nodded. “The temperature difference is pretty big. Hey, we're not driving?”
Fang Shiyou shook his head. “No need. It's just two blocks away.”
“That's nice,” Xu Nanheng said with a sigh. “Beijing is too vast. Coming from the village to the county here is like going from Daxing to Haidian in Beijing.”
The county town felt very warm at night. The sound of the weather forecast drifted from a small supermarket's television. Further ahead, a grain shop's curtain was closed, and inside, a family was reciting scriptures.
Xu Nanheng looked up. The sky was full of stars. The brim of his cap blocked part of his view, so he lifted it slightly.
“Why don't you take off your cap?” Fang Shiyou asked.
“No way. My hair's a mess. It's an eyesore.”
Fang Shiyou let out a quiet laugh. After they crossed a traffic light, the street grew noticeably livelier. Amid the clanging of woks and the lively calls from charcoal grills, Fang Shiyou led him into a barbecue restaurant.
The moment they stepped inside, Xu Nanheng instinctively swallowed. “Wow, that smells amazing.”
Unlike the barbecue restaurants he was used to, the air here wasn't thick with spices. It was purely the rich aroma of meat searing over fire.
The waiter led them to an empty table. As they walked, Xu Nanheng's eyes were drawn to the other tables, where skewered lamb roasted over glowing coals. A glistening drop of oil fell into the flames with a sharp hiss, releasing the deep, smoky scent of sizzling fat. Under that intense heat, the lamb's skin was instantly seared to a crispy crackle. Just as he was lost staring at it, Fang Shiyou noticed he'd fallen behind, reached back, grabbed his arm, and tugged him along. Only then did Xu Nanheng snap out of it. He suddenly realized he had been rudely staring at a stranger's meal.
“That hungry?” Fang Shiyou asked once they sat down.
“It just smells too good,” Xu Nanheng said. “I'm half-dizzy from it. Is it a different breed of lamb? It's excessively fragrant.”
Fang Shiyou smiled, poured him some water, and the waiter came to take their order. Just as Fang Shiyou was about to slide the menu over, Xu Nanheng raised a hand to stop him. “You order. I'm not picky and I don't have any dietary restrictions.”
“Alright.” Fang Shiyou ordered one and three-quarter kilograms of lamb leg, some vegetables, a pot of sweet tea, and two servings of pilaf. At this point, Xu Nanheng just wanted to eat quickly. He was truly starving. It hadn't been too bad earlier when his attention was diverted, but now, inside the barbecue restaurant, the rich, savory aroma filled the entire space.
“How long are you going to teach here?” Fang Shiyou asked first.
“A year,” Xu Nanheng said. “I'm teaching the final year of junior high. This time, it's a large-scale, school-to-school targeted teaching assistance organized by multiple high schools in Beijing, aimed at impoverished areas.”
Fang Shiyou nodded as he listened. “Most of the teachers who came to Tibet before were university students.”
“Ah, that's right,” Xu Nanheng said. “Actually, in-service teachers join these programs every year. Maybe you just haven't run into them before.”
The waiter brought over their sweet tea in a silver kettle. Xu Nanheng reached to pour for himself, but Fang Shiyou was a step quicker, taking his cup first.
“Thanks, Dr. Fang.” Xu Nanheng smiled, took the cup, and sipped. The sweet tea was a bit like a plain milk tea from a boba shop, but the texture was silkier, and the milk flavor was much richer. Xu Nanheng quite liked it.
After talking about himself, Xu Nanheng grew curious about the other man. “What about you? How long are you here for the medical aid?”
Fang Shiyou set down his cup. “Two years total. The first year's almost over.”
“What a coincidence. So, one year for you too.”
“Yeah, but it's different from your volunteer teaching program. Your students graduate when the year's done. My patients don't recover just because time's up. I'll have to see the specific circumstances then.”
Xu Nanheng nodded. “Makes sense.”
He suddenly remembered something. “Hey, how do doctors get into the medical aid program? Is it voluntary, or are you assigned?”
“You could say…… voluntary, more or less.” Fang Shiyou pressed his lips together. “Each hospital has its own regulations. We're the medical team aiding Tibet, and my mentor's the team leader. Besides our department, there's also general surgery, emergency, anesthesiology, and a nursing team. The hospital issued an aid plan, circulated a signup sheet, and those interested applied. After that came medical exams, general training, and a final assessment.”
“So basically the same as us,” Xu Nanheng said, taking another sip. “You're in cardiothoracic surgery, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then can you also treat that fracture of Teacher Dawa's father?”
Fang Shiyou chuckled. “Out here, we don't stick to strict specializations. We all treat whatever comes in. Once, we went to a village for free medical service, I even had to handle pediatrics. Did it while video-calling one of our pediatricians back in Beijing.”
Xu Nanheng laughed. “Then that pediatrician was basically aiding the Tibet's medical aid team.”
Fang Shiyou laughed too. “Something like that.”
Then he added, “But we have no choice. In the villages of the Southern Tibet, most of the young and able-bodied people work elsewhere. The ones left are mostly the elderly and children, and they don't know much about healthcare. They do have Tibetan doctors in their villages, but those doctors are a bit…… uh……”
Fang Shiyou struggled to find the right word.
Xu Nanheng said, “You mean they are unlicensed practitioners?”
“Exactly.” Fang Shiyou nodded. “Can't dismiss them completely, though. Some herbal treatments can indeed achieve therapeutic results, but most clinical conditions still need to be evaluated by a physician.”
“Mm.” Xu Nanheng nodded, then suddenly thought of something. Propping his elbow on the table, he grinned. “Hey, will this trip help you get a promotion when you go back?”
The question reminded Fang Shiyou of the director's hint when he returned to the hospital at the start of the year. The program did help with promotion, but Fang Shiyou could be a little stubborn sometimes. He just wanted to be a regular doctor, doing surgeries and seeing patients. A hospital was still a workplace, and workplaces required networking and social maneuvering, which he disliked.
Whether he held the title of attending physician or associate chief physician mattered little to him. Of course, a promotion would be nice, but Fang Shiyou felt that he had already fulfilled the original, simplest purpose that made him study medicine in the first place, and that was enough.
He was the kind of person who preferred to focus on his own inner world. For Fang Shiyou, life was about committing to a task and then seeing it through to the fullest.
“It's one of the items in the promotion evaluation,” Fang Shiyou said. “What about you, Teacher Xu?”
“Careful, it's hot!” the waiter warned as he brought over the roast lamb leg. “Lean back a little, watch out!”
The lamb in Tibet truly tasted different. Xu Nanheng's attention was instantly captured, his eyes fixed on the roasted lamb leg. The waiter then brought out the plate of mixed vegetables they had ordered, and finally placed two small dishes of dry seasoning for the meat in front of them.
“Teacher Xu doesn't need a promotion. Teacher Xu is satisfied with this meal alone,” Xu Nanheng said, picking up his chopsticks. “Dr. Fang, don't mind me, I'm starving.”
Seeing him like that, Fang Shiyou dropped the topic and picked up his chopsticks too. “Go on, eat. Don't hold back, and don't waste it.”
“Not a chance,” Xu Nanheng replied.
Even though he was so hungry, Xu Nanheng still had good table manners. He clearly had a decent upbringing. After a few big bites of the lamb leg, he couldn't stop praising it, saying, “This is way too good” and “I've never had roast this delicious in my entire life,” making the passing waiter smile.
Xu Nanheng had planned to pay for the meal, but he didn't stand a chance against Fang Shiyou. While he was still looking around for the payment code, Fang Shiyou had already scanned it. The issue was that the cashier station was manned only by a child busy with his homework, and the QR code was pasted on a richly patterned, ethnic-style tapestry. It was so intricate that Xu Nanheng completely missed it.
“Next meal's on me,” Xu Nanheng said as they stepped out.
“Okay,” Fang Shiyou said without hesitation.
The sky was already pitch dark. Xu Nanheng took out a pack of cigarettes, tapped one loose, and handed it to him. Fang Shiyou took it and passed him his lighter in return.
Seeing the lighter, Xu Nanheng smiled. It was a cigarette and a lighter that had brought them together in the first place. And though he had a lighter of his own, he still accepted Fang Shiyou's.
He cupped his hand around the flame to light his cigarette, then handed the lighter back to Fang Shiyou.
“Why don't you stay at my place tonight?” Fang Shiyou took a drag from his cigarette, held it between his fingers, and looked at him. “It's dark now. The mountain road is dangerous.”
Xu Nanheng, in a hoodie and a baseball cap, with the cigarette hanging from his lips, looked like a delinquent college student. Because of the cap brim's shadow, Fang Shiyou couldn't see his eyes.
“Actually, I'm a decent driver,” Xu Nanheng said, his expression hidden beneath the brim, his smile careless and unbothered.
Fang Shiyou blurted out, “Actually, it's because I'd be worried.”