By Yu Dan

There Will Never Be Ample Time in Life

By Yu Dan

I t happened in the evening one weekend after I began working as the Dean of Students in a university.I was in the middle of roll call when I accidentally slipped and sprained my ankle.I went to a hospital in my local area called Xuanwu Hospital and was diagnosed with a bone fracture of my right ankle,requiring immediate hospitalization.I didn’t inform my parents of this matter,fearing that they would worry about me.

A director of orthopedics performed the checkup with his staff,afterward advising me that my ankle be treated with either a conservative treatment or a surgicaloperation.Theformerisless painful,but you run the risk that your ankle joint may loosen due to sequela of the joint injury.

I protested,believing a conservative treatment just wouldn’t do.I injured my knee-joint of the left leg,and now I have to rely totally on my right leg.I don't have any children.If I get pregnant in the future,my joints will have to bear more weight.Besides,my body will lose calcium as I grow older,so it would be better to perform the operation just in case.

The director stared at me in a bit of surprise and said,“I seldom meet patients who opt for elective surgery.Most of them would prefer conservative treat-ment.Anyway,if you insist on going through with the operation,you will have to wait until next week.”

I objected,“Today is Friday,and it will be two or three days before next week comes.It would be better to have the operation today.”

The doctor countered,“Who will sign the operation agreement then?We’ll have to wait for your family members.”“No need to wait.I’ll just sign it myself.”I signed the paper right there on the hospital bed.

After signing,the director said to his doctor,“Please switch my shift.I'll perform the surgery for this young lady.”

His family name was Zhang.His hands left me with a deep impression,as they were the nicest male hands ever in my memory—long,slim and straight.I joked with Director Zhang,saying it’s really a pity for your hands not to play the piano.

He laughed,musing that he took to the scalpel instead.

I was injected with a bit more anestheticduringtheoperation.Director Zhang asked me if I was still awake.

“Sure,I am.If you don’t believe me, I will recite a poem by Li Bai to you.”

“Ok,howaboutQuietNight Thought?”

“That’s too simple.I will reciteHard Roads in Shu.All the present medical staff were amused by me.

After my operation,Director Zhang was on duty the entire week.He would visit me and chat with me for a while every day.When he finally changed fresh dressing for my operation cut,I was amazed to find that there was no stitch trace around it.I asked him,“wasit glued?”

He replied,“For a lively girl like you, I won’t allow an ugly scar left on your ankle,so I sewed your wound with catgut.Once healed,your body will absorb the catgut.I set two nails into your ankle to fix the two bones so that they grow well as if not broken.But remember,you need to come back to me again in a year to take the nails out.”

We became friends after I left the hospital.Only then did Director Zhang tell me,“You know?I was not on duty that week.I just changed my shift.It seemed that you were my patient during the week,but actually,you were my doctor when I chatted with you.Your optimistic spirit could help people recover.”

Time flies,and three years had passed imperceptibly,during which I lived a hustlingandbustlinglife.Director Zhang kept reminding me that I should have an operation to take the nails out as soon as possible,or it would be too late. I was too busy during that period and was always on business trips.I even wondered how it could it be too late to take out the nails.After all,they won’t get rusty.So I went to Nanjing on business again.

Four days later,after I came back from Nanjing,I heard the tragedy that Director Zhang had passed away.People all gathered around the gate of Xuanwu Hospital to see him off.

I was overwhelmingly shocked at that moment.A living person who still chatted with me a few days ago—cheerfully and jokingly—disappeared all of a sudden.Four days ago,the last message he left with me was still the same as before:“I will take out your nails as soon as you come back,or it will be too late.”

That day,at the gate of Xuanwu Hospital,I wailed.The running cars and crowds on the streets faded out at dusk. That moment,I understood distinctively a truth:There will never be ample time in life.

NowtheappearanceofDirector Zhang has blurred in my mind.But his hands always come into my mind.Those long and slim fingers,just like the ones of a pianist.It was the pair of hands that had sewn my wound seamless.

Director Zhang was one of the people whom I came across in my life but didn’t get along with deeply.However,it is him from whom I learned to cherish my relationships with others,because I came to realize that once we miss something, there will be no remedy forever.

(FromSimple Pleasure Is the True Sense of Life,Changjiang Literature and Art Press.Translation:Zhang Li.Illustration: Liang Baigeng)