Chapter 2 — Farewell Nam Thanh

On January 16, I asked for leave to go to Nam Thanh to visit relatives, but he said the guide group suddenly had a meeting, telling me not to work hard. The report is very thin, but holding it in your hand feels frighteningly heavy. Chu Nhien saw my face and reached out to take the report away.

“Don't watch anymore.”

I let go, the paper slid to the edge of the machine. The nurse rushed over.

"Is this Dr. Lam's report? She just forgot to get it."

I took a step back.

“Probably.”

The nurse didn't pay attention to my expression and complained.

"Doctor Tham is really, usually so careful, why did he forget to report today?"

She took the report and walked away. I stood still, the pain in my stomach slowly subsided, but my chest felt uncomfortably tight. In four years of long-distance relationship, I have never asked Tham Viet Trinh to be with me on a single birthday. I always think doctors are busy, saving people is more important. But clearly he had time to go to prenatal checkups with other people. There was also a time, on my birthday, when I signed for someone else. When I left the hospital, it was already dark. Chu Nhien asked me if I wanted to go straight to the hotel to rest. I said I wanted to go to the back door of Nam Thanh Hospital No. 1 to take a look. She didn't ask why, just walked with me around to that narrow alley. That's where Tham Viet Trinh and I had our first date in Nam Thanh. Four years ago, he had just entered Nam Thanh Hospital No. 1 to train as a resident doctor. I took a night bus from Bac Thanh to visit him. He took me to eat a bowl of porridge at the back door. At that time, he sat on a plastic chair, bowed his head, and removed each piece of ginger from the porridge for me.

“Wait until I'm settled, I'll pick you up to Nam Thanh.”

I nodded. Later, that wait lasted for four years. The porridge shop at the beginning of the alley is still there. The owner saw me and asked me how many people there were. I was just about to answer when a familiar voice came from behind.

“A portion of shrimp porridge, no ginger.”

I turned around. Lam Nhuoc Giao stood not far away, wearing a gray shawl. That shawl, I recognized. Last winter, the wind at the Bac Thanh deep-sea test site was very strong. Every night when I return to the dormitory, I sit under the small table lamp knitting little by little. Fingers were red with wool, and the next day you still had to wear gloves in the lab. After Tham Viet Trinh received it, he only replied one sentence. 【The color is too light.】 I thought you didn't like it. Later, when making video calls, he never wore them. Now that scarf is wrapped around Lam Nhuoc Giao's neck, the end hanging down in front of her stomach. I stared at that towel, the bitterness and self-pity that had been suppressed in my heart for a long time finally exploded. Tears silently slipped from the corners of my eyes. Lam Nhuoc Giao finished taking the porridge and when he turned around, he finally saw me. She paused for a moment, her eyes fell on the patient patch on my body, then quickly looked up at my face.

“You are…”

I said nothing. On the contrary, she remembered it herself first.

“You are senior brother's girlfriend from Bac Thanh, right?”

Girlfriend in Bac Thanh. Ha. In her mouth, I became a distant note in Tham Viet Trinh's life. Lam Nhuoc Giao pursed her lips, her eyes were a little panicked, but she still tried to smile.

“Don't misunderstand, senior brother just takes care of me.”

I looked at the car scarf around her neck.

“What he uses to take care of others is also what others give him.”

Lam Nhuoc Giao's face stiffened. Chu Nhien took a step forward.

“You meddle in other people's feelings, and you're even pregnant, so stop pretending to be innocent here.”

Lam Nhuoc Giao tightened his grip on the porridge bag, his voice lowered.

“The thing between me and my senior brother is very complicated, don't think so dirtyly.”

Hearing this sentence, I wanted to laugh a bit.