Chapter 346: Chapter 289: Who Is Your Idol?
Qilihe City.
Nightfall carried away the warmth of the day. In September, the northwestern wind had already brought a hint of a chill to Qilihe City.
In the cramped interior of Huimin Pharmacy, tucked away on a street corner, the owner, Zhang Zhulan, and his wife were eating dinner at the counter. A plate of leftover chili-fried fatty pork from lunch, a side of stir-fried bean sprouts, and half a bottle of white liquor was all it took for Zhang Zhulan to have a hearty meal.
But as he ate, Zhang Zhulan’s gaze fell upon a figure outside the pharmacy, by the side of the road.
It was a young girl in a dark black tracksuit, sitting in a wheelchair.
The girl’s hair was in a ponytail. She had a somewhat dazed look and was staring fixedly in his direction, though for what reason, he couldn’t tell.
In fact, Zhang Zhulan had noticed the girl that afternoon, but he’d assumed she was just waiting for someone by the roadside and hadn’t given it much thought.
Thinking about it now, it seemed the girl had been watching his pharmacy the entire time.
And for such a long time, too.
Zhang Zhulan jutted his chin toward the girl, signaling for his wife to look.
"You think she wants to buy some medicine?" Zhang Zhulan asked.
His wife turned to look, then quickly said, "Don’t be ridiculous. Are you wishing for people to get sick just so they’ll buy medicine from you?"
Zhang Zhulan shook his head. "No, I have to go ask."
With that, he walked around the counter and went over.
"Miss, you’ve been watching for a while now. Are you looking to buy some medicine?" Zhang Zhulan asked as he approached. She was a perfectly ordinary-looking girl, but after his question, she shook her head in a panic and started to turn her wheelchair around to leave.
Zhang Zhulan scratched his head. ’Was I wrong?’
Just as he was about to turn back, the girl unexpectedly wheeled herself around and returned.
"Sir, do you sell sleeping pills?" the girl asked timidly, looking up.
Zhang Zhulan thought to himself, ’So she is here for medicine after all.’ He nodded and said, "We do. But you’re so young, why are you having trouble sleeping? Anyway, how many pills do you need?"
The girl hesitated for a moment. "Can I buy a whole bottle? How much would that be?"
She was clutching a 10-yuan bill in her hand.
A jolt went through Zhang Zhulan, and he took another, harder look at the girl.
The girl nervously averted her gaze. "In that case... I won’t buy them."
She started to wheel herself away.
Zhang Zhulan quickly moved to stop her, grabbing the wheelchair. "Miss, who told you to buy these? Let me tell you, you can only buy a few sleeping pills at a time. A whole bottle has a hundred pills in it."
The girl’s face grew even more panicked. She shook her head repeatedly. "Sir, I’m not buying them. I’m going home."
But Zhang Zhulan didn’t let go. He shouted to his wife inside the store, "Honey, call the police! This girl is trying to kill herself!"
His wife jumped in fright.
The girl shuddered, and with a sudden effort, she tried to get out of the wheelchair, only to immediately fall to the ground. She began to crawl forward frantically, using both her hands and feet.
Zhang Zhulan hurried forward and helped the girl up.
「Inside the pharmacy.」
A police officer who had rushed to the scene sized up the girl. "Miss, have I seen you somewhere before?"
The girl frantically covered her face with her hands.
The officer stroked his chin in thought, then slapped his thigh. "Weren’t you on TV? On the Qilihe City News? I think it was for running some kind of ’thon... you won an award, too. What was your name again... Guo something?"
The girl grew even more flustered, still shaking her head, so agitated that tears welled up in her eyes.
Just then, another, younger police officer entered, bringing a middle-aged couple with him.
"My dear Yanping, where did you run off to? Are you trying to scare me to death?" The disheveled-looking woman rushed over and began to beat the girl frantically, but after just a couple of hits, she pulled her into a hug and broke down, wailing.
The man beside her, dressed in a thin shirt with temples already streaked with gray, didn’t step forward. He just silently wiped his tears away.
The girl completely broke down, crying her heart out as she clung to her mother. "Mom, I’m done with treatments! I’m a cripple now, just let me die! If I die, you won’t have to worry about me anymore."
Nearby, Zhang Zhulan rubbed the corner of his eye and couldn’t help but say, "Child, how old are you? What kind of hardship can’t be overcome? Besides, if you die, what will your parents do? You’d be killing them, too."
The girl just clung tightly to her mother, crying.
In front of a low, single-story house near the railway hospital, the middle-aged couple grasped the police officer’s hands, thanking him profusely.
"Ma’am, you have to keep a close eye on her. Don’t let her run off on her own again," the officer instructed. As he was about to leave, he couldn’t resist turning back to ask, "Ma’am, what exactly happened to the kid?"
The middle-aged woman glanced at her daughter behind her and shook her head bitterly, but said nothing.
The officer sighed. "All right, then. We’ve got things to do back at the station, so we’ll be going. If anything like this happens again, call the police first."
"Thank you."
The middle-aged couple bowed in gratitude once more.
Just then, a taxi stopped at the entrance to a nearby alley. A boy and a young man with glasses and a shoulder bag got out and started walking toward them.
"Yanping, look who’s here! He’s a big-shot reporter from the south. I called them, and they came to interview you! They said there’s hope for your case!" The boy was about the same age as the girl, with side-swept bangs and the same youthful face. He was startled to see the police officers and quickly asked what had happened.
When he learned that the girl had tried to commit suicide, the boy’s eyes instantly turned red. He roared, "Wang Dexian! I’m going to kill him!"
He spun around and bolted.
The police officers at the scene and the young man who had just arrived quickly grabbed him.
The girl covered her face with her hands and, losing control of her emotions once again, began to cry.
After some difficulty, they finally managed to calm the boy down. Only then did the young man walk up to the girl and present his press card. "You must be Guo Yanping, the runner-up of the 1998 International Marathon. I’m a reporter from Sports Weekly. My name is Su Jun. I came here today because I want to hear your story."
