Chapter 44
Chapter 44
The examination was finished, and it was confirmed that there were no problems with the child’s right hand, but Shen Fangyu still looked incredulous. “You really agreed?” He took out his mobile phone to record, saying, “Wait, I still have to record it, what if you change your mind?”
Jiang Xu’s face was expressionless. “No need, I just don’t want my child to keep hearing that kind of prenatal material anymore.”
He even had a nightmare two days ago, dreaming that other people’s children were born crying like normal babies, but only his child was born singing the theme song of The Legend of the White Snake, and the four angry “ah~~~” scared Jiang Xu so much that he didn’t sleep well that night.
He said to Shen Fangyu: “As long as you don’t turn on your broken stereo again, I promise to participate in the show.”
Shen Fangyu got his assurance and immediately called Director Cui, who was probably looking at her mobile phone while watching her grandson. She replied happily, and he could hear the child’s cry in the background.
“What if our daughter cries so much in the future?” Shen Fangyu was worried.
“It’s okay to cry,” Jiang Xu looked at him coldly, “as long as she’s not singing. ”
“Then let’s split the lyrics,” Shen Fangyu flipped through the lyrics and said, “I listened to the original song; part of it was sung by Xiao Qing, and the other part was sung by Huo Hongyuan; whose parts do you want to sing?”
“The one with fewer words.”
“Then Xiao Qing,” Shen Fangyu handed him the phone. “There are a total of four lines, and according to your memorization speed, I know you can memorize them in ten seconds.”
Jiang Xu nodded, read through the ten lines, and returned the mobile phone to Shen Fangyu. “When do we have to perform?”
“Tomorrow.”
Jiang Xu: “? ”
“Weren’t you afraid that I wouldn’t agree by then?” He looked at Shen Fangyu, who had a calm and happy attitude, and the latter replied to him leisurely: “No way, I have an agreement with Director Cui, and a strong girl is afraid of pestering her husband, I knew you would agree.”
*A strong girl is afraid of a pestering husband means that no matter how strong a woman is, she can also get worn down by a man’s pestering, and will eventually be conquered.
Jiang Xu choked on the metaphor, and it took him a while to notice the phrase “agreement”: “Are you so eager for the opportunity to go to the conference abroad?” He asked Shen Fangyu.
He actually didn’t quite understand why Shen Fangyu worked so hard on this matter, the opportunity to go abroad was indeed precious, but even if they refused Director Cui’s arrangement, she would still take them because it was for the development of the department.
It was not that Jiang Xu thought very highly of himself, but he and Shen Fangyu were considered elites in the department, and he also knew that Director Cui wasn’t a vengeful person who would make things difficult for her subordinates.
What’s more, Director Cui announced this in front of the whole department that day. Otherwise, according to her character, she would not have added them to the quota if it depended on their performance.
Shen Fangyu has always been very sensitive in interpersonal communication, so everything he understood, Shen Fangyu naturally did as well.
“No,” Shen Fangyu said, “I asked Director Cui for something else. ”
Jiang Xu raised his eyes to look at him.
“Director Cui promised that as long as I can persuade you to perform with me, she will give the team three days off when we go abroad,” he said. “I want to visit Dr. Kenn and get more information on the operation.”
Jiang Xu was stunned.
Ever since he decided to have the baby and decided to wait for Dr. Kenn’s article to be published, Jiang Xu has not cared much about this matter. First, it was still early, so there was no need to worry about it in advance. Secondly, Dr. Kenns’s attitude was really not friendly, and Jiang Xu did not want to deal with him again before the article was published.
Unexpectedly, Shen Fangyu has been worrying about such a long-term matter.
“I’m responsible for you too.” Shen Fangyu’s tone was airy, as if it were no big deal. Jiang Xu looked at him and couldn’t help but feel moved.
He knew that choosing to do this operation had put Shen Fangyu under pressure. The risk was too high. Success in the operation would naturally be a joyful occasion, but once it failed, Shen Fangyu would lose the reputation he had built over the years.
Moreover, if he and the child died, Shen Fangyu might get so heartbroken; after all, they were also classmates for many years, and as the main surgeon of his operation, Shen Fangyu might get a little emotional when he remembered him in his dreams.
Thinking of this, Jiang Xu suddenly suggested: “Let’s take a picture.”
“Take a picture?”
Jiang Xu let out an “mm,” took out an SLR camera and bracket from the utility cabinet, and skillfully adjusted the lens.
“You know how to use this?” Shen Fangyu was a little surprised.
Jiang Xu said while adjusting the camera parameters: “I know a lot.”
By the time he went to university, he was already proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting. He even won awards in photography competitions, so the year he took the college entrance exam, his parents bought him an SLR camera.
They thought their son would be able to relax and develop hobbies when he went to university. Unexpectedly, Jiang Xu’s university life was more difficult than all his high school years, and he never got to use this camera.
The camera was adjusted, and Jiang Xu carried the triangular bracket around the study. There was a bay window next to his study, the marble slab was padded with gray-white cushions, the white window screen covered the scenery outside the window, and the curtains were drawn. The area was like an elegant ink painting.
“Go sit there.” He said to Shen Fangyu: “Take the pillow next to you.”
Seeing Shen Fangyu sitting down, he instructed him to adjust his posture and position. He then switched on different lights in the study and chose the one he liked best.
“So professional?” Shen Fangyu saw that he was fiddling vigorously, and joked with a smile: “Our family is going to have a great photographer.”
“Who is in the same family as you?” Jiang Xu regained some of his former feelings as he made the adjustments. He loved photography in middle school, and even if he didn’t have good equipment, he liked to shoot everything. He learned composition by himself, but when he finally had the equipment, he put it on hold for so many years.
He brushed aside the emotions in his heart, fixed the camera on the triangular bracket, and adjusted the height again. He then pressed the delay button, picked another pillow, and sat next to Shen Fangyu with his arm casually slung over the other man’s shoulder, leaning his head over.
The hair on the top of his head accidentally touched the side of Shen Fangyu’s face, who was stunned. His breathing was sluggish, and only after a moment did he look down at him quietly.
Probably because he has photographed so many characters, Jiang Xu was not so indifferent in front of the camera. For a better sense of the camera and the beauty of the composition, he would even take the initiative to make such an interactive pose.
With the sound of the shutter, Shen Fangyu came out of his trance, but it was already too late to look at the camera again.
Jiang Xu withdrew his hand from his shoulders to see the picture. He held the camera in his hands and flipped to the photo he had just taken.
Under the soft light, he was slightly leaning against Shen Fangyu with a relaxed expression, the two were wearing simple T-shirts and home clothes, each holding the same style but different colored pillows. They looked like good brothers, and if one didn’t know their age, they’d think they were two high-spirited college students.
The figures in the middle cooperated with the black-and-white landscape behind them to form a pleasing composition. Jiang Xu nodded with satisfaction but suddenly found that Shen Fangyu in the photo was not looking at the camera.
He enlarged the photo a little and saw that Shen Fangyu’s gaze was on top of his head, and perhaps it was his illusion, but Jiang Xu felt like there was a subtle affection in his eyes.
“What’s taking so long?” A voice suddenly came from his side. Shen Fangyu was standing behind him, the warm breath falling on his neck when he spoke. For some reason, Jiang Xu suddenly felt guilty. He suddenly put down the camera and subconsciously prevaricated: “Nothing, it’s good.”
Shen Fangyu was feeling guiltier than him at this time, for fear that Jiang Xu would sneer at his distraction when taking the photo, so he said “oh” and hurriedly left the scene of the crime.
Jiang Xu saw that he had gone away, so he reopened the photo and looked at it for a long time.
When he looked at it again this time, it was probably because he subconsciously tried to deny the thought that had just flashed through his mind, and Shen Fangyu’s eyes didn’t seem to be so affectionate anymore.
He breathed a sigh of relief, imported the photo into his mobile phone, fine-tuned some parameters with the software, and sent a copy to Shen Fangyu.
The latter went to the kitchen and brought a cup of honey milk at just the right temperature. He handed it to Jiang Xu, and seeing Jiang Xu take the milk, he looked at the mobile phone that was beeping and said, “You sent me a message?” He opened it with confusion and found that it was the photo they had just taken.
“Jiang Xu is so amazing,” Shen Fangyu sighed while looking at it, “Your photo has too strong a sense of atmosphere.”
At first, when Jiang Xu suddenly proposed to take pictures, Shen Fangyu thought that it was just perfunctory, but he didn’t expect Jiang Xu to take it seriously and to even know a little about photography.
He actually didn’t expect much at that time; after all, he hadn’t seen Jiang Xu take any photos for so many years, but when he saw the photo, he was instantly amazed.
Although he didn’t know photography, everyone can appreciate beauty.
The two men in the photo sat side by side on the bay window, the soft light set off their features, revealing a natural comfort and ease that was neither deliberate nor awkward, but just the right laziness. Like a pair of friends next door to each other who have just played together and accidentally recorded a moment of intimacy during the break.
Even Shen Fangyu’s gaze, which should have been at the camera but was on Jiang Xu, seemed particularly harmonious, and even added a bit of story to this photo.
Shen Fangyu looked at the photo for a long time, then set it as the background of his chat with Jiang Xu. He finally looked up and found that Jiang Xu had been looking at him.
“What’s wrong?” Shen Fangyu said, “Why are you looking at me like that? ”
“The photo is for you,” Jiang Xu paused, “if I… die…and you think of me, use it as a memorial; if you don’t, then forget it. ”
Old people are a little superstitious, so they talk about life and death easily, but most young people wouldn’t shy away from it, especially young people who study medicine, it was not difficult to talk about death.
However, Jiang Xu found it difficult to say these words today.
Was he afraid of death?
A little bit.
Except for Dr. Kenn’s patient, all previous patients with the same situation did not have a good outcome, and the skills of those surgeons were not necessarily inferior to Dr Kenn’s. People have different bodies, and the same doctor might give different results to different people. If two people undergo the same surgery, one may live and the other might die.
Doctors can only do their best, and the rest is left to fate.
Things have already developed to this point, and Jiang Xu has no choice but to face them.
Jiang Xu didn’t want the atmosphere to become too heavy because of him, so he took a deep breath and wanted to make himself look relaxed, saying, “Don’t worry, the risk of this surgery is so high, if something happens to me, I won’t blame ——”
“Jiang Xu!” Shen Fangyu suddenly hugged him. Jiang Xu was so shocked that he couldn’t finish speaking.
“What are you doing?” Jiang Xu’s life growing up was very straightforward. His family may have had affection for each other, but they rarely hugged at every turn, so he disliked Shen Fangyu’s stickiness.
He struggled, but Shen Fangyu seemed determined to hug him, and he didn’t let go.
Jiang Xu simply gave up struggling and let him hold him. But he didn’t expect that after a while, Shen Fangyu would whisper in his ear: “If you die, I’ll quit doing surgeries.”
“Are you really Shen Fangyu?” Jiang Xu said, “How can you be so psychologically fragile? ”
Almost everyone in the doctor’s profession has lost patients, especially in departments such as surgery, and obstetrics and gynecology, which have witnessed countless deaths on the operating table alone.
Shen Fangyu did not answer him, and he was silent for a while before letting go.
Jiang Xu originally thought that Shen Fangyu didn’t want to continue talking about this topic, but he did not expect that before Shen Fangyu walked out of the study with the empty glass of milk, he suddenly turned around and said, as if he were playing a trick, “Yes, I am that fragile.”
Jiang Xu couldn’t help but say, “Are you three years old?” ”
Shen Fangyu didn’t answer that, but said, “Don’t think about this, memorize the lyrics well, and don’t drop the chain tomorrow.” After that, he walked out of the study without looking back.
Jiang Xu glanced at his back, put away the tripod and camera with a little helplessness, then opened the utility cabinet to put them away.
Before closing the cabinet, his hand paused, and after thinking for a while, he took out the camera again and placed it on the small table next to the sofa.
It was better to take more photos when he had time in the future.