Appointment
“315!”
A woman came out of the room in a white cotton nightgown printed with cartoons. Her long hair hung in a fluffy, messy tangle, with a little tuft sticking up at the back of her head. She was still not fully awake, but she was shouting.
“How many times have I told you! Don’t touch my things without permission! That’s not your toy!”
When Situ Yuwan reached the living room, her gaze swept over everything like a gust of wind. She stopped in front of the apartment’s fabric sofa, lowered her head, and pointed her index finger sharply at his eyes like a sword.
“Did you hide my pen, huh?”
315 stayed silent.
Situ Yuwan poked him.
“Speak!”
315 folded his paws, blinking with extreme innocence as he looked back at her, still saying nothing. After a long moment, he yawned.
Situ Yuwan: “Stop playing dumb, I know it was you.”
She waited, and then 315 meowed.
A calico cat, ordinary-looking, not especially fine in quality, with black, orange, and white fur. His round eyes were a clear pale orange-gold, his pink nose connected to an inverted V-shaped mouth. Very cute, but he hadn’t filled out his cheeks, and his fur quality was pretty average. Most of it was dry and matted, and it took months of care before it was smoothed out a little.
Situ Yuwan crouched so she was eye level with 315, not needing any reply, and muttered on her own.
“That white one cost a thousand yuan.”
“But it’s not really about the money. I have a deadline coming up, you know?”
“If I can’t finish the artwork, then you won’t get to eat, and when that happens, in the end, wouldn’t the one starving be you?”
“Why are you looking at me?”
“You know you were wrong now?”
“I was just scaring you. I’ll go buy another one tomorrow.”
“But you have to get a shot today, so you’re really done for.”
“This time I’m not scaring you.”
“Hey, don’t run.”
Situ Yuwan had done her homework thoroughly and specially bought a new cat carrier online. This was the first time 315 would go out since coming home, but he was extremely resistant to the carrier, shy around strangers, and very easily stressed. Situ Yuwan tried to scoop him up by the armpits, but as soon as 315 saw the carrier when he looked back, he started throwing a tantrum, kicking, and several times he wriggled free and ran off in a flash.
Half an hour had passed. By the seventh time, 315 had fled under the sofa. Situ Yuwan bent down and reached in to grab him, but she couldn’t reach. She was a little tired, her hair slipped down from the back of her head and hung across her face, and she used a hand to brush it aside. The little bit of exercise from chasing the cat around the whole apartment made her breathe hard for a moment. In the end, she sat cross-legged on the wooden floor, her nightgown wrinkled and hanging on her body. Her eyelids drooping, she stared blankly for a while, then suddenly let out a sigh.
Maybe it was a mother-son bond, because as soon as Situ Yuwan was too exhausted to keep chasing him, 315 actually came obediently out from under the sofa. That cat lifted his long, scraggly tail, let out a soft whine, and rubbed his chin against Situ Yuwan’s knee to please her.
Situ Yuwan stared at his shimmering eyes, reached out to rub his head for a while, and started talking to herself again.
“Don’t be afraid.”
“A shot does hurt a little, but it’s for your own good.”
“I’m not trying to hurt you.”
315 didn’t run this time.
Situ Yuwan spent some time getting herself ready, brushing her hair and changing into casual clothes, jeans, and a hoodie. She went downstairs, into the underground parking garage, and drove out. The cat carrier was in the passenger seat, and next to it was the tote bag she always carried, with her laptop inside. The car passed the gate to ground level, turned a corner, went by several row-style pet hospitals, and after another fifteen minutes of driving, reached the destination.
It was 3:30 on Friday afternoon. The woman and the cat stood at the entrance for a while. Situ Yuwan looked up, her gaze fixed on the storefront with great seriousness and concentration, for some reason carrying a trace of reverence.
“Rongshi Pet Hospital,” simple black lettering, with the logo centered above it. The storefront background was a frosted off-white. The interior decor leaned toward solid wood and microcement, paired with blue-green accents. Warm yet elegant, very tasteful.
Situ Yuwan often stood here looking like this, but this was the first time she went inside. As soon as someone approached, the semi-automatic glass doors slid open, and the two women at the front desk in navy V-neck uniforms looked over.
Situ Yuwan carried the cat carrier over to the front desk. On the desk sat a transparent acrylic card holder, and inside were business cards with an off-white background and green lettering, printed with contact information and the hospital logo. She took one first, glanced at it a few times, and put it in her pocket.
Lin Qiang at the front desk stood up. “Hello, do you have an appointment?”
Situ Yuwan: “Yes. I booked through the mini program. The cat’s name I entered was 315.”
The other front desk staff member, Li Qing, heard the name and smiled. “What a special name.”
Lin Qiang typed on the computer for a moment. “Ms. Situ.”
Situ Yuwan nodded. “Mm-hmm.”
Lin Qiang: “First shot for the cat combo vaccine, and the appointment was with Dr. Liang, right?”
Situ Yuwan: “Yes.”
Lin Qiang: “We just had an emergency. A kitten fell from a height and was brought in. Dr. Liang had to go into surgery on the spot, and now Dr. Lei is free. Can we switch you to Dr. Lei’s consultation?”
Situ Yuwan stood at the front desk, pressed her lips together, and thought very intently for a long time. She lowered her head, then after a moment looked up.
Lin Qiang waited for her decision, and then Situ Yuwan asked, “Um, then why isn’t Dr. Lei handling the emergency?”
Li Qing, sitting in back, laughed again and explained, “It’s like this. Our hospital’s doctors are all generalists. Dr. Liang is better at trauma surgery, and Dr. Lei’s specialty leans more toward internal medicine. But none of that affects giving a shot.” Li Qing paused, then looked at Situ Yuwan and asked, “Or do you absolutely need Dr. Liang?”
Situ Yuwan squeezed the handle strap of the cat carrier and answered, “Ah, no. Then, um, Dr. Lei is fine.”
Lin Qiang led her toward the exam room. The door was a pale natural wood, with a round glass window set in the upper middle.
Knock, then open. A man in her thirties sat in a swivel chair and introduced himself toward the doorway. “Hello, I’m Dr. Lei.”
Situ Yuwan thought that introduction was pretty funny. She repeated it softly, “You’re Dr. Lei. Nurse Lei?” …what a terrible joke.
She followed Lin Qiang into the exam room. The cat carrier was placed on the table, and Lin Qiang went out and closed the door.
Dr. Lei opened the carrier, but 315 did not buy it at all. He just shrank into the corner, curling his whole body as small as possible, fur pressed tightly against the carrier fabric, refusing to come out no matter what.
Dr. Lei slowly reached his hand closer. 315 was badly stressed and immediately puffed up, starting to hiss fiercely again.
Seeing this, Dr. Lei withdrew his hand. Her temper wasn’t bad, and she even used treats and toys, calling the cat’s name, but 315 remained unmoved and only grew more frightened.
After a long round of back-and-forth, Situ Yuwan waited for a while. She wanted to comfort 315, but when she lowered her head and saw his expression, she softened as soon as she saw his eyes.
“Sorry, Dr. Lei, let’s not do it today.” Situ Yuwan turned the cat carrier toward herself. It took a long while before she reached in to stroke 315’s head. “315 is very good. He usually isn’t like this. The area he used to live in often had a group of men who abused cats, and when he was little he was bullied a lot. It’s not that he has a problem with you, he just might be scared when he sees your face.”
Dr. Lei understood. She withdrew and sat back to indicate the shot was canceled.
Situ Yuwan: “Do you think you could switch him to a female doctor?”
Dr. Lei: “You originally booked Dr. Liang, right? She’s indeed very popular with cats. Why don’t you ask at the front desk again about her appointments?”
Well then, after going around in a circle, it still had to be Dr. Liang.
Situ Yuwan went back to the front desk and explained the situation to Lin Qiang.
Lin Qiang: “Unfortunately, that surgery will take quite a while. Dr. Liang is fully booked this week. And she spends more time in surgery, so if it’s not urgent, you can wait until next week and see whether you can get a slot online.”
Hearing that, Situ Yuwan nodded, and casually picked up a flyer beside her with the hospital logo printed in the upper left corner. She looked at it for a while, then asked, “You have boarding service here, right?”
Lin Qiang: “Yes. Whenever you need it, just bring them over directly. For example, if you’re going out of town, and if family members are especially worried, we can also take videos for you and do video calls and things like that.”
Situ Yuwan: “That’s so thoughtful. You’re really thorough.”
Lin Qiang: “It’s what we should do.”
She said goodbye to Lin Qiang and casually tucked the flyer into her pocket.
The next day was Saturday. Situ Yuwan went to the flagship store to buy a pen, then drove to a boutique coffee shop.
She pushed open the glass door, and the golden bell tied to the handle rang softly.
The coffee shop was called “shock.” It wasn’t big, and there weren’t many people. It was very quiet. Situ Yuwan ordered a latte and sat by the window. She took her tablet and laptop out of the tote bag and placed them on the table, but she didn’t start working. First she checked her balance. She had just bought a big item and paid a thousand yuan. Her change showed 731 yuan and 20 cents, and for a moment it stung, but after that she steeled herself and started doing the design.
After a while, she set down her pen and looked up, gazing across the street.
Twenty meters away, behind the flow of traffic, was Rongshi Pet Hospital, with sunlight shining perfectly on it.
There was a ding in front of her.
The voice of the cafe staff from the side said, “Morning, Dr. Liang. Still coconut water cold brew?”
Situ Yuwan did not move. She lowered her eyes for a moment. After more than ten seconds, she heard a clear mm from the counter during that time.
Occasionally, shadows of people passed through the aisle beside her. They were all others.
Her gaze returned to the computer screen. In the gray interface was the draft she had made. Situ Yuwan stared carefully for a long time at the font design she had created, clicked the mouse twice, and moved the title slightly left so it was no longer centered. Time stretched long.
“Coconut water cold brew is ready.” The staff member’s voice came with the sound of a plastic coffee cup lid being snapped on.
At that moment, Situ Yuwan looked up, and in her eyes was the back view of a tall woman standing before the counter.
She wasn’t wearing a white coat, but a soft, gray, close-fitting knit sweater, wide-leg trousers, and her long hair was draped loosely around her. Strands of hair covered the skin of her neck, and the cuffs of her sweater were pushed up a little to reveal her pale, delicate wrist, the joints and fingertips tinted pink. She took hold of the coconut water cold brew, opened her hand and gripped it, revealing the veins on the back of her hand.
“Thank you.” Dr. Liang turned around. Her hair shifted slightly, and a little bit of skin showed through the black. Her nose was especially striking. As she turned back, the tip of her nose came into view.
At this moment, Situ Yuwan’s face and gaze suddenly lifted upward, ah, the latte was twenty-six yuan, the Americano twenty yuan… the coconut water cold brew was thirty yuan.
Staff member: “Have a nice day.”
Following the sound, Dr. Liang’s reply came from by the glass door.
The bell was about to ring.
At this point, Situ Yuwan gave up looking at the menu and saw the back view again.
Ding, the door opened and closed.
Her gaze caught a strand of beautiful hair.
A few minutes later, she opened her phone to the online appointment page for Rongshi Pet Hospital.
But she had already looked before. Next week was completely booked too. She would have to wait, and 315 might never get a shot in his entire life.
There were five general practitioners in the profile section. Situ Yuwan stared at Dr. Liang’s official photo for quite a while. She was wearing a mask, posed formally with her arms folded, her brows and eyes outstanding, her gaze gentle and kind.
Looking at the schedule, her last appointment had been one she got by staking out the slot.
Coincidentally enough, opportunity favored the lucky. The next second, Dr. Liang’s schedule suddenly updated, and Friday afternoon next week abruptly opened up. Situ Yuwan reacted at lightning speed and clicked in. After a series of operations, she successfully booked again.
She checked her appointment time in the upcoming consultation section once more, looked it over twice, and only then slowly let out a breath and put her phone down.
“It’s so hard to book you, Dr. Liang.” Situ Yuwan said.
That was what she said, but the corners of her mouth lifted.
She looked up, then frowned a little, somehow not understanding her own self from five minutes ago. After that, she moved the mouse and centered the title again.