There were not as many patients coming to see the doctor this morning as there were the previous day. It was probably the first day the clinic had just opened, so the clinic was full of people.
In order to see more people, Su Mei speeded up the consultation.
Unexpectedly, it was only half past eleven and there were already no people queuing outside.
There was still half an hour before dinner time. Su Mei got up and moved around the room for a while before entering the lounge.
She glanced at the basket that Huo Jianguo brought over. It contained some sawdust and half a basket of black briquettes.
It was warm in the lounge. Su Mei took the tongs to open the lid of the stove and found that the coals inside were burning red.
In order to keep the fire burning, Su Mei picked out a few more pieces of coal and added them to it.
After lighting the fire, she lay down on the sofa to rest.
Twenty minutes passed by in a blink of an eye. Su Mei dragged her tired body up from the sofa and prepared to go to the cafeteria to eat.
After leaving the lounge and entering the clinic, as soon as she opened the door of the clinic to go out, she saw Huo Jianguo appearing at the door with a breath of heat in his mouth.
Are you here to have dinner with her?
Just as Su Mei was thinking this, she heard Huo Jianguo say: "Let's go eat."
Although she didn't know why Huo Jianguo came over and asked her to eat with him, Su Mei followed him obediently.
The two arrived early and got their meals quickly.
There are no longer as many glances in the cafeteria as there were yesterday. It is obvious that no matter how strange the scene is, everyone will find it strange as long as they see it a few times.
It's just that there will inevitably be some voices of discussion among the crowd.
"Is that Master Huo's wife? I heard that she has a very bad reputation in the military compound and often does sneaky things."
"No, she is a doctor. The clinic has been open these two days, or she is treating patients. How could the doctor's character be so bad?"
"The rumors are so unbelievable. I looked at Mrs. Su very well. Yesterday I went to see the corns. She didn't mind my smelly feet at all and helped me pick them out little by little."
"Fuck you, uncle. It's time to eat. Are you disgusting?"
.........
Su Mei looked like an ostrich as she listened to these voices of discussion that did not shy away from her. She lowered her head to eat, her neck retracted into her clothes.
It's really uncomfortable to feel like the center of a conversation.
Just when she was speeding up her meal, wanting to finish her meal quickly and leave, two dinner plates fell next to Su Mei and Huo Jianguo.
It was Shao Gang and Du Lei who actually sat down again.
"Sir." Shao Gang and Du Lei greeted Huo Jianguo at the same time.
Then only Shao Gang shouted to Su Mei: "Sister-in-law!"
After Shao Gang finished shouting, Du Lei glared at Shao Gang fiercely, as if blaming him for not calling Su Mei that way.
The whole thing was almost the same process as the day before. The only difference was that Huo Jianguo hadn't finished the rice on his plate today.
He deliberately ate slowly, always observing Su Mei's movements.
Suddenly, I found that she started to eat more slowly, completely different from the ravenous look she used to have.
She chewed every mouthful of rice carefully. Although she seemed to be trying her best to eat quickly, she still had to chew each mouthful of rice many times before swallowing it.
It was so strange that even if she planned to change herself, she would not change all the living habits that had been with her for many years.
Ever since Huo Jianguo started paying attention to Su Mei, sometimes he would really have the illusion that the person staying next to him was a completely different person.
It's just that this kind of thought is usually fleeting. More often, Huo Jianguo still feels that this woman is using all her strength to stay by his side.
He had been observing Su Mei, so naturally he didn't notice that Du Lei beside him had been releasing malice and disgust towards Su Mei.
While Du Lei was eating, he looked at Su Mei with disgust.
Originally, Su Mei felt uncomfortable being disliked by the people around her, but now there was someone sitting diagonally across from her who didn't like her, and kept looking at her with cross eyebrows and raised eyebrows.
This completely ruined Su Mei's mood for eating. She looked at the remaining rice on the plate, stood up in a hurry, turned around, went to the table at the back, and sat down alone.
Huo Jianguo opposite was observing with confusion, but the person in front of him suddenly stood up and changed his seat, making Huo Jianguo completely baffled.
"What's wrong with her?" Huo Jianguo glanced at Shao Gang diagonally across from him in confusion.
Shao Gang didn't dare to speak and could only look up at Du Lei.
Although Huo Jianguo didn't know that Du Lei and Su Mei had a quarrel, he still read the information about Su Mei getting up and Du Lei from Shao Gang's eyes.
But when he turned his head to look at Du Lei, he realized that Du Lei was just eating honestly.
With doubts, Huo Jianguo also stood up with the dinner plate. He walked to sit opposite Su Mei with the dinner plate and asked her:
"Why did you suddenly change places?"
"That table is disgusting." Su Mei responded without raising her head while feeding rice into her mouth.
The two tables were not far apart, so Du Lei at the table in front could hear Su Mei's words clearly.
After hearing what Su Mei said, he slammed his chopsticks on the table, stood up, and asked loudly at Su Mei's back:
"Who are you calling disgusting?"
The roaring sound attracted the attention of everyone in the canteen.
Huo Jianguo glanced at Du Lei and dropped his chopsticks, and shouted coldly:
"What are you yelling about? Sit down."
"I won't sit down, sir, let Su Mei explain, who did she just say was disgusting?
My face didn't look like this before I came to the border. I went to the border to protect the border, and my face was damaged by the environment, so it became like this. "Du Lei was so angry that his whole body was shaking:
"I shed my blood and sweat for the country and ended up like this. She said I was disgusting. What did she mean!"
