The next morning Jiang Youyou queued to get a ticket only to be told that the tickets were sold out, as if G.o.d insisted on her staying in this city.
Jiang Youyou sat on the steps, watching the pa.s.sers-by coming and going. To her surprise, there would be no one to pick up the fifty-jiao coin lying on the ground. People in various uniforms, Hongkongers wearing check s.h.i.+rt and black-rimmed gla.s.ses and indifferent expressions who held wooden handled umbrella in right or left hand, the slouchy poor in clothes as shabby as herself, and peddlers hawking obscene DVDs, fake Rolex and fake LV bags, none of them would turn to her.
Someone distributing leaflets walked towards her and left one at her foot. She could just pick it up and use it as a mat. Jiang Youyou felt very happy as if the distribution were a sign that people thought highly of her.
A second leaflet. This time she could read it carefully. It said on that thin paper:
"Urgent recruitment for 100 medical a.s.sistants. Those who have time please contact me quickly. We only recruit students on campus who are in good health and time-guaranteed. Short working period and high pay. If you are interested in the job please contact me as soon as possible. Mr. Bai. Contact Number: 13714561877"
"Short, working, period, and, high, pay…" Jiang Youyou read the sentence word by word.
She made a phone call in the public phone boot beside, and it actually cost her 5 yuan. It seemed that the railway station all over the country did the same thing—they charged one extremely high for everything.
Mr. Bai"s voice was very pleasant on the phone. He told Jiang Youyou with patience about the bus route, the actual location of the hospital, and so on and so forth.
When she got to the fourteenth floor of Xinxing hospital, she saw a lot of people crowded around the door of an office, and a pretty girl in pink nurse uniform who had a stack of forms and a handful of ballpoint pens spoke in harsh voice, "Line up in one row of male and another female. Fill in the form and hand in. Then I"ll call your number for the interview."
Soon Jiang Youyou was called. A doctor-like young man was sitting opposite her. "Good morning and sit down please. May I ask which college are you in?"
Jiang Youyou looked down on her foot. The front end of her shoes had been worn out due to hours of wild running last night. And her clothes were also wrinkled. She tied her hair in a common ponytail, but those shattered hairs dropped a few strands from the sides of her ear. She answered in a low voice, "I"m not a student on campus. I came here only to look for my friend, but I got separated from her."
The man looked her up and down and said, "Sorry, we only hire students on campus. Please go back home."
Jiang Youyou raised her head. "Why should you treat me in this way? What I"m going to do is only to earn some money. I like this city and I must stay her. I can"t go back home like this!"
"The job we are offering is very hard to do. Can you stand it?"
"I don"t think it matters a lot. Since others can bear, why shouldn"t I do the same?!" Jiang Youyou bit her low lip so hard as if she was going to make it bleeding. "Give me an opportunity."
"In fact we"re recruiting someone to be guinea pigs for our clinical trial. You don"t have any health problems, do you?" The man went on asking questions. His fingers pressed down on Jiang Youyou"s form, which were long and bony.
"No problem, I"m in good health." Jiang Youyou nodded vigorously.
The nurse poked her head round the door. She seemed unsatisfied with the doctor"s speed and shot the doctor an impatient pout. The doctor nodded and said to Jiang Youyou, "Ok, you go out first and wait at the door. After I"ve interviewed all other candidates, I"ll give you a physical examination, for free."
Jiang Youyou stood up, and caught a glimpse of three words written on the doctor"s work card—Bai Zhehan.
Jiang Youyou thought she was very lucky to earn as much as seven hundred yuan the first time to be a guinea pig. She was a little excited, for she did nothing else but to lie in bed on a drip. When she was about to fall asleep, Bai Zhehan came in. He didn"t call a nurse to withdraw the syringe needle for Jiang Youyou but gently did it himself, and told her how to press her fingers against the spot.
"So you first go back for some preparation, because the trial will last continuously for two weeks. The hospital will provide you with a ward for you to live in, so that we can keep observation more conveniently, if this doesn"t cause you inconvenience." Looking at the girl, Bai Zhehan suddenly had a feeling of unexplained tenderness.