Despite being so busy he wished he had six arms, Hu Jiafan remained patient as he sat in his office with Lu Linjiang, listening to him recite a list of names. They had been working at such a relentless pace lately, and with the hospital filled to the brim, Hu Jiafan occasionally had to open his computer to check medical records when Lu Linjiang read out a name. They cross-referenced for nearly an hour, interrupted several times, until Lu Linjiang finally finished every name in his notebook.
Hu Jiafan rubbed his throbbing temples. "Officer Lu, what exactly are you trying to do?"
"Oh, I’m making a diagram." Lu Linjiang scribbled the last word. "Knowing the severity of their conditions is extremely useful to me. Thank you, Doctor Hu."
Hu Jiafan waved his hand, signaling that they should skip the handshake during these extraordinary times. He watched Lu Linjiang organize a thick stack of printed photos. "You went through the entire inpatient department looking for people based on these photos? How did you manage that?" Realizing the scale of the task, Hu Jiafan found it somewhat incredible; searching for people in the chaotic inpatient department using over a hundred photos was no small feat.
Lu Linjiang gave a slight smile. "It’s an occupational hazard. I never forget a face I’ve seen."
Hu Jiafan huffed inwardly. *If that’s the case, why bother me? He could have just grabbed a stool, sat in the inpatient or outpatient hall for two or three days, and been done with it.* But then he reconsidered; with Lu Linjiang’s build, he’d be like a guardian deity wherever he sat—a three-lane hallway would turn into a single lane just by him being there.
Lu Linjiang finished packing his things. "I’ll be heading out then. Don’t forget about this—please keep an eye out for me!"
Seeing Lu Linjiang push that impressively blurry photo toward him again, Hu Jiafan could only nod. "Fine, I’ll do my best."
When Lu Linjiang stepped out of the city hospital, he realized the sky had already turned dark. He called the station, told the team to head home for the night and that everything would wait until tomorrow, and then made his way home.
The moment he stepped inside and started changing his shoes, Jiang Cheng walked out of the study. "You're back. I'll go heat up the food."
Lu Linjiang gave an affirmative grunt. "Wait a second. I need to shower first. I just came from the city hospital; I don't want to bring any viruses back."
Jiang Cheng stopped at the kitchen door. Seeing that Lu Linjiang wasn't moving, he asked curiously, "Didn't you say you were going to shower?"
Lu Linjiang looked troubled. "If I have viruses on me from the walk back, wouldn't they just disperse into the air right now?"
Jiang Cheng couldn't help but laugh. "What are you thinking? I'm right here. Go shower, quickly!"
Lu Linjiang was quite in the mood to tease him further, but the sight of the overcrowded city hospital had been truly jarring. Engaging in long-distance verbal flirting felt pointless, so he nimbly slipped along the wall and into the bathroom, calling out one last instruction: "Open the windows! Get some fresh air in here!"
Amused by his behavior, Jiang Cheng complied and opened the windows. The television news was broadcasting reports on the raging flu outbreak. Jiang Cheng had been spending his days in the study searching for leads on the Hughes Institute and discussing his thesis with Professor Stanley; he only knew there was another wave of flu outside. Taking a moment while the food heated, he listened to the report and realized the epidemic had already become very serious.
By the time Lu Linjiang finished his shower, Jiang Cheng was bringing the bowls of rice to the table. Seeing two bowls, Lu Linjiang didn't say a word before pulling the man into his arms. "Why haven't you eaten yet?"
Jiang Cheng let himself be held. "I wasn't hungry, so I wasn't in a rush."
Lu Linjiang felt rather helpless. He didn't know if Jiang Cheng was hungry or not, but no matter how dense he might be, he understood that Jiang Cheng was waiting for him. "You have to consider my feelings too. You wait for me because you care about me, but you have to remember, it hurts me to know you're going hungry."
Jiang Cheng let out a small laugh. "I know. But I really wasn't hungry. I lost track of time while discussing my paper with Professor Stanley. Look, the auntie made the food; I didn't even lift a finger."
Lu Linjiang could tell at a glance whose hand had prepared the dishes, but he still wouldn't let Jiang Cheng off the hook. "See? Calling your concern for me 'performative' isn't an exaggeration at all! If you really cared, wouldn't you take good care of yourself while I'm away? Tell me, if you can't even look after the person I hold dearest to my heart, isn't that being half-hearted?"
Left with no choice, Jiang Cheng could only nod and agree. Lu Linjiang took the opportunity to steal a bit more affection before finally sitting down to eat, satisfied. Just as he picked up his chopsticks, a new epidemic report scrolled across the bottom of the TV screen. The city hospital was finally overwhelmed and was requesting that citizens with symptoms go to community hospitals for initial treatment. Large quantities of relevant medicine had been distributed to community hospitals so patients could purchase them directly there.
"Is the outbreak that bad?" Jiang Cheng asked.
"It's quite serious. I went to the city hospital today; you have to walk sideways just to get through the inpatient corridors."
Jiang Cheng paused, his professional instincts kicking in. "What are the symptoms?"
"Sneezing, fever, some have a cough. Severe cases lead to pneumonia. Of the people who entered the hospital on the first day, two have already passed away."
"Sneezing, fever, cough?" Jiang Cheng murmured, repeating Lu Linjiang's words. Lu Linjiang lightly tapped his bowl. "Eat. Your face is barely bigger than a cat's now. What did you just promise me?"
Jiang Cheng quickly took a few more bites. Lu Linjiang kept piling food into his bowl. "Those are roughly the three symptoms. Antiviral agents don't seem to be very effective; they can control it, but the virus rebounds as soon as the medication stops. Director Hu mentioned it briefly; he thinks the virus has immense drug resistance."
Jiang Cheng’s hand froze in mid-air. He looked at Lu Linjiang. "Immense drug resistance?"
"Yes, I believe that's what he said."
"What does the CDC say?"
Lu Linjiang heard the hesitation in his voice and asked, "What's wrong?"
Jiang Cheng set down his chopsticks. "If it's drug resistance, I might be able to help. I dug something up over the last two days." He ran into the study and returned with his laptop. "This is something I wrote three years ago. It's about viral drug resistance."
The screen was filled with rows of technical English terms. Lu Linjiang took one look and gave up trying to decipher it. Jiang Cheng clearly didn't expect him to read the paper. "After I finished writing this, I created a sample at the Hughes Institute. I got the inspiration while studying the flu virus outbreak in Seattle back then. I created it to better study the structure, hoping it might reveal the weaknesses of super-viruses. But then the Gaimore outbreak happened, and on top of my own research, I had to oversee experiments for others, so I never followed up on it."
"But this thing... how should I put it? Although they are ever-changing, there are always commonalities. If the CDC can provide a sample, I might be able to find a targeted treatment."
Lu Linjiang didn't waste any more words; he pulled out his phone and called Shen Lei immediately.
This was nothing short of a godsend. When the message was relayed through Shen Lei, the CDC expressed overwhelming enthusiasm for their "old friend." If Lu Linjiang hadn't stopped them, they probably would have come that very night to whisk Jiang Cheng away to help.
Once Lu Linjiang had arranged everything, he gave Shen Lei one last instruction before hanging up: "Remember to mention this to your director later. You can't just drag my Jiang Cheng in to help for nothing. You've got to allocate some funding for outside assistance. He’s putting his graduation thesis on hold; don't even think about using him as free labor!"
***
