DSMIS CH6

Chapter 6: Sharing a Room?

Shen Xing’s car was towed inside the iron gate. Only after stepping through did he realize that this was, in fact, not a shady front. Unlike the desolate, scrap-yard-like exterior, the inside was a genuinely legitimate—and remarkably bustling—auto repair shop. Several cars were hoisted mid-air, and judging by their license plates, most belonged to out-of-towners.

Shen Xing listened to a few nearby drivers gathered together venting their frustrations. Most were complaining about the heavy rain making the roads hazardous and how a section up ahead had suffered a landslide.

The vehicles here looked pretty battered too: some had two blown tires, others had shattered windshields, and one even had a deep dent crushed into its roof. Shen Xing took a breath—it seemed he wasn’t even the most unfortunate one out here.

Soon enough, Shen Xing’s car was hoisted up as well. He quickly shuffled over to take a look, and sure enough, there was a visible tear right by the fuel tank. The mechanic inspecting the vehicle checked it over before turning to Shen Xing, asking in less-than-standard Mandarin:

“Where are you headed?”

“Fulan County. Less than 200 kilometers left. Master, can this fuel tank still be fixed?”

The mechanic launched into a long explanation mixed with local dialect. Shen Xing managed to get the general idea: they could manage to slap a patch on it, but given the poor road conditions, there was no guarantee it would hold all the way to the county seat. Shen Xing gritted his teeth:

“Fix it.”

It could be fixed, but he had to wait in line. The junior mechanic doing the inspection couldn’t handle the job; they had to wait for the senior mechanic inside. Calculating the time, it would take at least three hours before his turn came around. By the time it was fixed, it would likely be past midnight. Shen Xing checked his watch—it was already 7:30 PM, and his stomach was issuing an urgent protest.

“Master, I’ll leave my car here in line and head out to grab a bite to eat. Call me when it’s my turn.”

The mechanic agreed, but reminded him to take all valuable belongings with him, as the shop wouldn’t be held responsible for anything lost.

Shen Xing took only his personal crossbody bag and left his car keys behind. As for other valuables, there wasn’t much left in his car anyway—most of his stuff was already stored in the Land Cruiser bro’s truck.

He turned his head to look over. He had already taken up so much of the guy’s time that he felt quite embarrassed, unsure if the other man was in a hurry:

“Uh, living Bodhisattva, are you pressed for time? I’d like to treat you to dinner. If you need to leave soon, should I grab my stuff back out now?”

The guy pulled out his phone and showed him the screen—it was a navigation map showing the road ahead, painted entirely in a deep, traffic-clogged red:

“I can’t leave either. There’s a landslide up ahead. Looks like we’ll have to stay overnight in this town.”

“That works out perfectly! Let’s find a place to eat and warm up.”

The two walked out through the iron gate, and Shen Xing followed the man into the Land Cruiser. The back seats were piled high with luggage, while his silver-white surgical case rested on the front passenger seat. Jiang Lin glanced at the case, a trace of curiosity in his voice:

“Your case looks pretty high-tech.”

Shen Xing lifted the case, stacked it onto the back seat, and sat down in the front passenger side.

“Right? That’s the tool of my trade.”

Suddenly remembering something, he dug around in his small crossbody bag for a moment before pulling out a credential badge and holding it out in front of the Land Cruiser bro:

“You’ve helped me so much today, and I haven’t even properly introduced myself. I’m Shen Xing, an orthopedic surgeon from Yuetan Hospital in Tianjin. I’m heading to Fulan County for a medical support mission. These are my credentials, and that case back there is my surgical tool kit.”

Since he was introducing himself, he wanted the guy to know that the person he rescued today was a good citizen.

An orthopedic surgeon? Jiang Lin recalled the sound of him hacking away at the bushes with the fire axe earlier, which gradually overlapped with the cold clatter of surgical instruments in his memory from not long ago. An almost imperceptible trace of unease flickered through the depths of his eyes:

“No wonder you handle a fire axe so fluidly. Why travel so far out here for work?”

Thinking about his exile-like transfer, Shen Xing suppressed his urge to complain and said:

“Ah, an official assistance assignment organized by my unit. Just following organizational orders.”

Assistance assignment? Jiang Lin suddenly remembered hearing a rumor when he visited the county hospital during the first half of the month—a specialist doctor from a higher-tier hospital was coming on an assistance mission, tentatively from either orthopedics or cardiothoracic surgery. Could it really be such a coincidence?

“Jiang Lin. That’s my name.”

Since they had only met by chance, Shen Xing exercised good boundaries, refraining from asking about his line of work or his destination. Knowing his name was enough.

This small town was truly tiny, with only a handful of places to eat. Shen Xing spotted a shop named Firewood Pot Chicken with the most grand facade on the street and decided to host his dinner here.

There were quite a few out-of-town cars parked outside—hard to say if they were all unlucky souls stranded halfway by the storm. After parking the car, Jiang Lin unbuckled his seatbelt first:

“I need to take Heibao out for a quick walk to let him relieve himself. You go ahead inside.”

As a fellow dog lover, Shen Xing understood completely. He walked briskly inside the restaurant. The main dining hall was already more than half full, with billowing clouds of white steam floating through the air alongside the mouth-watering aroma of stewed chicken. Shen Xing’s stomach let out a timely rumble.

He walked over to find the chubby owner sitting behind the cashier counter, who was wearing an ethnic minority hat. The owner spoke with a thick local accent:

“Can we bring a dog into a private room?”

“Ah, right, I’m really sorry. It’s raining outside, so it’s hard to tie the dog up out there.”

The owner hesitated for a second:

“It’s not convenient to let dogs into the main hall. We only have one private room left, but it’s meant for five people.”

Shen Xing caught on immediately, pointing to the Fenjiu liquor on the shelf behind the counter:

“How about I add two bottles of liquor, and you let me take that private room, owner?”

The owner nodded at once. Shen Xing walked outside and waved to the man who was about to lead the dog back to the truck, calling out:

“We got a private room! Master Heibao can come inside!”

Before stepping into the building, Jiang Lin wiped Heibao’s paws and peeled off its disposable raincoat, following Shen Xing into the private room. Upon walking in, he spotted two bottles of liquor sitting on the table and raised an eyebrow slightly. Shen Xing scalded his utensils with hot water to sanitize them, poured him some hot tea, and noticed him staring at the liquor, offering a quick explanation:

“We’re not drinking it—I bought them as a gift.”

Though slightly puzzled, Jiang Lin refrained from asking why someone would buy gift liquor at a small town diner like this.

After explaining, Shen Xing pushed the menu toward Jiang Lin:

“Order whatever you like.”

“I’ll defer to the host. I don’t have any dietary restrictions.”

“Then I won’t stand on ceremony!”

Shen Xing took the menu and began rattling off dishes like he was reciting a list:

“One pot of local chicken, add an order of pork ribs, and an order of this wild mushroom platter… these mushrooms aren’t poisonous, right?”

The person taking the order was a young waiter with good Mandarin, who let out a light laugh:

“Not poisonous at all. There are no Jianshouqing [a variety of wild bolete mushroom known to cause hallucinations if undercooked] in here—they’re all common mountain mushrooms.”

“That’s good. Add an order of dried green beans, Chinese cabbage, potato noodles, um… and a plate of smashed cucumbers and cold sliced beef.”

Jiang Lin spoke up at the right moment:

“Isn’t that a bit too much? Looks like a pretty huge pot.”

“Trust me, it’s not too much. I could eat a whole cow right now. Do you drink Cola?”

Jiang Lin shook his head. Shen Xing closed the menu and was just about to ask for a large bottle of Cola when he suddenly remembered his recent bout of diarrhea. The words were forced straight back down his throat.

After stewing for about half an hour, the moment the lid was lifted, Shen Xing felt like his entire soul had returned to his body. Rolling up his sleeves, he put on a stance like he was ready to conquer a battlefield.

Out of occupational habit, Jiang Lin’s eyes quickly scanned the inner bends of the man’s arms—no bruises, no needle marks, and his forearm muscles were smooth and firm. Unaccountably, he let out a subtle sigh of relief, pulled a small can of dog food from his pocket, and prepped dinner for Heibao as well.

The steaming pot of chicken bubbled merrily with white steam, the condensation forming droplets on the rain-washed glass windows and streaming downward in trickles. Within moments, the private room was filled with a cozy, inviting warmth.

Full and satisfied, Shen Xing recalled the twists and turns of his day, feeling a bit dazed. A tire blowout, a car crash, sitting at the same table with a total stranger in an unfamiliar small town eating pot-stewed chicken—this was certainly a rare, fresh experience in his usually boring, two-points-one-line routine life.

However, he noticed that while Jiang Lin looked a bit cold and aloof at first glance, he was actually quite a warm-hearted guy deep down.

“We can’t drink alcohol today, so I’ll toast you with tea instead. Living Bodhisattva, thank you so much for today. Seriously, if you hadn’t scooped me up, I wouldn’t even know what to do out on that road.”

Jiang Lin wiped his mouth and clinked glasses with him:

“Just helping out in a jam—no need to stand on ceremony, Dr. Shen. You’ve thanked me seven or eight times tonight already. Besides, I really can’t grant any wishes here.”

Shen Xing burst out laughing, barely holding back a satisfied burp:

“Alright then, Hero Jiang! Meeting like this is destiny. Oh, right, I noticed your license plate is also from Tianjin. Are you going back in the future? If you ever head back and need anything, feel free to look me up anytime. Our hospital’s reputation in Tianjin is pretty decent.”

The moment he said it, he felt like a doctor saying something like that sounded a bit like a jinx, so he hastily tried to save face:

“Don’t misunderstand! I mean, if your family ever needs anything…”

Crap. Saying it like that sounds even more cursed.

“No, I don’t mean I’m placing a curse on your family! I just meant to say…”

Jiang Lin’s shoulders quivered slightly as a chuckle slipped out. Seeing the man in front of him turning bright red with anxiety, he finally spoke up:

“No need to explain, Director Shen. I get what you mean.”

Shen Xing poked his rice with his chopsticks, staring at him with wide, crystal-clear eyes, as if asking: You really understand, right?

Jiang Lin waved his phone, showing the screen with Shen Xing’s newly saved phone number. The contact name was saved as “Director Shen”—which he had spotted on the credentials earlier:

“Number saved. If I ever come to bother you, just don’t complain that I’m demanding a reward for saving your life.”

Shen Xing let out a laugh, feeling reassured at last.

By the time the two finished their meal, it was just past eight o’clock. Shen Xing called the repair shop, and the person on the other end said there were still two cars ahead of him in line, which would take nearly three hours to reach his turn. If it got too late and he felt comfortable with it, he could leave the car at the shop and pick it up tomorrow morning after it was fixed.

Shen Xing: “I’ll pick up the car tomorrow morning. Let’s find a place to stay first.”

There were no chain hotels or inns in town—only guesthouses run locally by residents. The two found one of the larger-looking establishments and walked inside.

Shen Xing: “No rooms left?”

“Yeah, fully booked today. Try asking at the place across the street.”

After hitting three places in a row that were all fully booked, Shen Xing was speechlessly exasperated:

“Does it really have to be this packed?!”

With his hand resting on the steering wheel, Jiang Lin turned onto another street and gestured out the window with his chin:

“There are plenty of out-of-town plates parked along both sides of the street. I reckon everyone was turned back by the landslide up ahead and had no choice but to stay here.”

Finally, upon reaching the end of the street, they managed to find an open lodge. The owner, sporting a mop of bleach-blonde hair, took a break from his phone game to glance up at the two of them:

“You guys arrived just in time. Only one standard twin room left.”

“One? Standard twin room?” Shen Xing turned his head silently, meeting Jiang Lin’s incoming gaze. Before he could even say anything, a crisp, resounding “DEFEAT!” chimed from the owner’s phone, followed by the sound of the phone being slammed onto the counter.

The owner raised his annoyed eyes, showing zero intention of checking whether these two guys were actually okay with sharing a room, and bluntly demanded:

“IDs.”