Sheng Xia, Cheng Liang

Silence.

Sheng Xia rarely swears, so she didn’t quite understand why Cheng Liang would add profanity before the word “blunt”.

She looked at Cheng Liang with bright eyes, feeling that he didn’t seem angry, so she thought there should be other words hidden behind his intense tone.

She couldn’t guess what the other words were, so she could only stare at Cheng Liang with burning eyes.

Cheng Liang realized that he was being a bit childish.

He could see the question mark in Sheng Xia’s eyes, but he didn’t intend to answer her.

So, he acted like a schoolboy teasing a female classmate, staring at Sheng Xia without blinking, watching the question mark in her eyes grow bigger and bigger, but he remained resolutely silent.

Sheng Xia didn’t move.

Cheng Liang didn’t move either.

It is said that prolonged eye contact between a man and a woman can lead to strange feelings. Cheng Liang didn’t feel anything at all, and he thought Sheng Xia probably didn’t feel anything either.

She really didn’t blink at all.

Her eyes were quite healthy.

Defeated, Cheng Liang closed his eyes in frustration, blinked his sore eyes, and turned to the bookshelf to pick out two books.

“I often read these two books,” he reluctantly answered Sheng Xia’s previous question about what books the surgeons usually read in their spare time.

Sheng Xia looked at the titles.

The one on top had an orange cover with a man depicted fighting a wolf with a badminton racket. The title was 《100 Deadly Skills: The SEAL Operative’s Guide》Note: Special Agent Training Manual.

Sheng Xia: “……”

The one below was relatively normal. It was a science fiction novel titled 《Flowers for Algernon》, which Sheng Xia had also read. It was a deeply moving and shocking book. The core idea of the entire book was “If I hadn’t seen the sun, I could have borne the darkness.”

Both books had been flipped through many times. There were creases and scribbled notes in them. Cheng Liang didn’t carelessly cater to her. These two books were indeed things he often flipped through in his spare time.

“This one is for interest,” Cheng Liang pointed to the special agent book.

Sheng Xia flipped through it and was surprised to find that it wasn’t a book that used the title as a gimmick. Inside were one hundred practical skills for special agents illustrated with pictures and text: how to avoid being tracked, how to untie bound hands, how to not leave fingerprints, how to make bombs, how to pick locks……

Such a book, and it was even in English. Sheng Xia curiously looked at the publisher listed on the book cover.

“I bought it abroad. The domestic published version has been censored,” Cheng Liang explained.

Sheng Xia: “……If the patient’s family who made trouble that day and took out a knife hadn’t been subdued, would you have used the skills in this book to deal with him?”

Cheng Liang shook his head: “There were police and security guards on the scene, so it wasn’t my turn to do these things.”

“And the stuff on this isn’t practical anyway.” He turned a couple of pages, commenting, “The pictures are just well-drawn.”

He read it like a comic book.

After all, it was written by a real special agent, so it seemed more realistic than those superhero comics.

“…What about this one?” Sheng Xia decided to skip this hard-to-describe and somewhat juvenile interest book.

“I picked it up casually from the bestseller shelf in the bookstore. I thought it was good after reading it, so I read it a few more times.”

After Cheng Liang finished answering, he picked up the special agent book and flipped through two pages.

It was indeed out of interest. He relaxed after reading two pages, and when he lowered his head, the tear mole on his face became even more obvious.

The atmosphere also became relaxed.

“Do you go to bookstores often?” It was rare to have such an opportunity. Sheng Xia, who had been fretting over the documentary topic all month, had many questions in her mind.

“Occasionally.” Cheng Liang was also cooperative, “I got a membership card for the bookstore. When the points are about to expire, I go there to browse, and then after I buy books, I’ll get even more points.”

The endless loop of membership cards.

This answer is very interesting.

Sheng Xia raised her eyebrows.

“Besides reading, what else do you like to do in your spare time?” Sheng Xia had already pulled up the memo on her phone, intending to ask more questions while she had the chance.

“Washing clothes,” Cheng Liang replied.

Sheng Xia: “…Ah?”

So, all the clothes she saw drying every day in the sunroom on the first floor were washed by Cheng Liang?

That’s a lot of clothes!

You could even see winter sweaters in the summer…

Cheng Liang cast a sidelong glance at Sheng Xia. “Are you planning to use me as material for your documentary?”

“No.” Sheng Xia shook her head, “I haven’t decided on a topic yet. I just want to gather some information for now.”

Cheng Liang paused, then lowered his head to flip through the special agent manual again.

He didn’t want to admit that for a moment, his face changed because Sheng Xia shook her head.

He just likes to watch documentaries, but he doesn’t want to be the material of one.

Really not!

“What other topics are there?” Cheng Liang asked seemingly casually.

“There are also topics related to humanities, showing the various breakfast stores in the early mornings of Lucheng in different seasons and climates.” Sheng Xia was still honest. “Or emotional topics, such as urban blind dates between men and women.”

There are many topics, and there are many topics that Sheng Xia thinks can be filmed well, However, Sheng Xia herself doesn’t know why, but she really wants to try filming the off-duty moments of doctors.

What would a profession that can experience the kindness and evil of human nature up close during working hours, touch lives, and witness the birth and death of their own kind do after work?

How do they maintain a balance between work and life? How do they choose to save lives in the face of the worst of humanity? How do they cope with the powerlessness of watching patients die rapidly?

These were emotions that Sheng Xia couldn’t understand, and she wanted to see and hear them through the lens of a documentary.

“But what I want to film the most is about doctors.” Sheng Xia emphasized.

It was just that this topic was too heavy, and she lacked experience. Just finding an entry point had been a source of frustration for over a month.

She wasn’t in a rush, though. The process of finding an entry point was interesting to her in itself. Even if she couldn’t film such a heavy topic in the end because of her lack of ability, it would still be a kind of accumulation for her.

Cheng Liang was silent.

When Sheng Xia said these words, the eagerness in her eyes reminded him of Director Lin and his top student deskmate, whom he hadn’t contacted in years.

This kind of love, focus, and persistence, like glaring light, burns the eyes of people like him, leaving black spots, and hiding nothing.

“Need help?” He heard himself ask.

Cheng Liang was helpless against such people.

He had no ill feelings towards Sheng Xia. On the contrary, he liked her live streaming sessions. The first time he saw her in the outpatient clinic, he felt that this kind of anchor who didn’t use any filters was rare.

The playlist in the live broadcast room was completely in line with his taste, which was even rarer.

Not to mention when Sheng Xia was hospitalized, she could have won a model patient award. The nurses who took care of her were deeply impressed by her. Even a week after Sheng Xia was discharged, he could still hear nurses talking about her, saying that it would be great if all patients were like Sheng Xia.

Moreover, she was also his tenant.

Although he had never cared about the word “tenant” since the building was built – the apartment was in the center of the old city, and he never had to worry about finding tenants.

But he still kindly offered to help, which was the first time for him.

But he contributed his precious first time, and Sheng Xia was not excited as he had imagined.

Her eyes were indeed brighter.

But she just stared at him like that for almost a minute, then slightly embarrassedly, she tentatively said, “Then……”

Cheng Liang waited for her to speak.

She probably felt that what she was about to say next might trouble him a bit, and her face turned slightly flushed.

“Can I trouble you to introduce me to three doctors?” she said.

“One like Dr. Zhou, a young resident.”

“One around thirty years old, like the resident doctors I met when I was hospitalized before.”

“And lastly, a middle-aged doctor with relatively seniority and expertise.”

After Sheng Xia finished, she hurriedly added: “I promise it won’t affect their daily lives.”

“The documentary needs to be kept within forty minutes, so the duration for each person will be controlled around ten minutes.”

“I will have an interview with each person for about an hour before recording, and then I will record a short segment of their daily work at the hospital.”

Sheng Xia paused.

“If it’s not convenient to film at the hospital, it’s also okay not to. If the hospital needs a shooting permit, I can also provide a certificate from the school.”

“The main thing is to shoot the after-work content. I will give each person a camera, and they can put the camera in their favorite place and shoot some content of eating, chatting, and leisure.”

She said she hadn’t decided on a topic yet, but when she said these things, she was so fluent that she rarely paused.

But……

Cheng Liang smiled and lowered his head.

“Those things you just asked me, was that for practice?” he asked.

What kind of books do you like to read? What do you like to do in your spare time?

She wanted to find three doctors but didn’t mention she needed to find him. She said that she was looking for Xiao Zhou but didn’t say she wanted to find him.

Turns out he’s just a middleman.

Just like the last time she asked him for his WeChat but never added him.

Does this kid only like digging pits and not filling them up?

“En,” Sheng Xia didn’t notice anything wrong with the atmosphere, she nodded honestly, “I want to experience the contrast between doctors’ work and off-duty life.”

“Is the contrast big?” Cheng Liang asked.

Sheng Xia inexplicably felt that Cheng Liang’s tone was somewhat eerie. She looked at him with confusion and shook her head: “Actually, it’s quite consistent.”

Both the Cheng Liang at work and off duty were peculiarly contradictory and concealed their anger.

But she didn’t say this out loud. She felt that it wasn’t right to make assumptions about someone based on her feelings. Strictly speaking, they were still strangers.

“A doctor around thirty years old, I can do it. No need to find a resident doctor,” Cheng Liang noticed that if he didn’t speak plainly, Sheng Xia probably wouldn’t understand even if he talked until dawn.

Who knew that Sheng Xia immediately shook her head not hesitating for a second: “You won’t do.”

“Huh?” The question turned into a dangerous monosyllable.

If Sheng Xia didn’t give him a reasonable explanation, he would throw these two tenants out of the room right now.

“You…… you’re not mainstream,” Sheng Xia tilted her head.

The expression on Cheng Liang’s narrowed eyes turned even darker.

Sheng Xia: “……”

He’s unhappy again…

“I want to find someone more typical.” She felt that maybe her previous statement of him not being mainstream had offended him, so she changed her wording, “Someone more ordinary, someone who fits most people’s impression of a doctor.”

Not someone like him, who owns a building in the city center of a quasi-first-tier city, tall and handsome, walks with a breeze, giving a sidelong smile with a touch of charm.

She was making a documentary, not a movie.

If she used Cheng Liang as the material for her documentary, it would be too unrealistic.

Cheng Liang retorted: “Am I not ordinary?”

Is he not ordinary?

Even if he were hit by a bed board, he’d still break a bone. He still couldn’t perform major surgeries on his own, he hadn’t been selected as an outstanding young doctor this quarter, and all his research projects had fallen through.

Isn’t that ordinary enough?

Sheng Xia was at a loss for words, but she still bravely shook her head: “Your building has two units, one elevator for two households, eight floors in total, including this one you’ve combined, making thirty-one rooms in total.”

Sheng Xia looked at him sincerely: “That’s already very unusual.”

Considering the rent in Lucheng, his annual income must be over a million.

His hospital salary was probably just his pocket money every month.

Cheng Liang’s face was dark, and his heart was wooden. He asked a question that would make him smack his mouth for decades to come every time he recalled it: “Is it not okay to have money?”

Sheng Xia: “……”

“If you have money, it means you’re not an ordinary person? Can’t I be a typical doctor? Can’t I even be in a documentary?”

Sheng Xia: “……………”

Cheng Liang: “Do you discriminate against rich people?”

Sheng Xia: “……………………”