Hearing this, Jiang Youyou was going to leave, and just then she heard Zhao Huixin saying to herself, “How could I be so absent-minded that I put in a resume of a senior high school student?”
Sometimes an opportunity only needs you waiting for one more minute.
“I hope you offer me an opportunity for interview.” Jiang Youyou handed her resume to Zhao Huixin politely, and took a glance at Zhao in passing. Her shirt looked a little smaller. Her belly swelled slightly and her face was a little puffy.
Zhao Huixin gave a vague utterance of “uh huh” without raising her head but picked up Jiang Youyou’s resume casually and took a quick glance at it. Then she looked up at her, “You have a fairly good handwriting. Wait for the phone call when it’s time for the interview.”
“Thank you.” Jiang Youyou gave a small bow. “I suggest you eat less job’s-tears porridge from now on.”
At this moment Zhao Huixin began to look straight at the applicant who dared to speak so boldly. It seemed that all her clothes and shoes and handbag were newly bought. She suddenly recalled her former self.
“Why shouldn’t I have this porridge?” Zhao Huixin was a little curious.
“Job’s tears is a kind of food which can also be used as medicine. It is considered in Traditional Chinese medicine that it has a slippery property and the pharmacological experiment has proved that job’s tears can work on uterine smooth muscle by stimulating and impelling the contraction of uterine smooth muscle, thus possibly induces spontaneous abortion.” When she was a guineapig on the clinical trial in the hospital, Jiang Youyou had asked the nurse to find her many medical books to kill time because she was not allowed to watch TV. It was always good to read more.
“Wow! How do you know about it?” Zhao Huixin took a look at the bowl of the job’s-tears porridge which tasted quite good. She broke out in a cold sweat. All her hope rested on the baby in her belly, and she even resigned from her job for its birth.
Jiang Youyou said, “I was working in a hospital for a short while.”
“So why didn’t you continue?” Zhao Huixin asked casually.
“Because I had something urgent at home to deal with, but I was not allowed to be on leave from the hospital. So I resigned.” Jiang Youyou scratched her nose, for she felt it a bit itchy.
When leaving the employment market, Jiang Youyou had a boxed meal at the gate, rice with pork and pickled mustard. The soup just tasted like dishwater with a flavor of rust.
The air conditioner in the bus worked too well, so well that Jiang Youyou who was in dress began sneezing. The woman with a child beside was somewhat nervous to cover the mouth and nose of the child who was still too small to walk. The child was a boy, whose little cock was exposed outside his open-crotch pants, looking at Jiang Youyou up and down with his bright dark eyes curiously.
The sunshine outside was too bright and dazzling. The bus passed through the slums of Shenzhen city, which seemed to have two different faces in the day and at night. She wondered if the watermelon stand was still there. Jiang Youyou could never forget the feeling to face death when sliding down the seventh floor. Neither could she forget the feeling of being imprisoned in that dark room and losing freedom.
When the bus stopped at that station Jiang Youyou clenched her fists, as if she were fearing something or she were to rebel against something. OK, she would leave it at that. Anyway, wasn’t she alive now? The child beside got off the bus and his little fleshy hand waved softly in the air, saying goodbye to her, perhaps. By and by the bus drove at a more and more even speed. The bus driver must be a very good one. Only a good bus driver could make her napping on a bus. Anyway she would get off at the terminal, so she didn’t want to think about anything but a good sleep.
In her dream, Bai Zhehan appeared, with a pillow in his hand, followed by Zeng Yuan. She herself lay in bed, watching them approaching. Bai Zhehan’s fingers were as soft as usual, and Zeng Yuan held the scalpel, slowly cutting her belly open with a sound of “fizz”, which was so clear right beside her ear. She was laughing and said to her, “now I’m helping you by taking out the baby from your belly to relieve you.”
“No! Don’t do that!”Jiang Youyou shouted aloud.
The man beside was startled. This woman slept so soundly that she snored. How could she wake up so soon? He quickly hid the blade in his hand, together with the bulging purse. Later he would get off the bus at the station of Huaqiang North Road and buy that outfit for his wife, who had been long longing for it.
Jiang Youyou looked at the white goatskin Miu Miu handbag she newly bought, which had been slit at the side and her purse disappeared.
The man with the Leisure suit and moustache pretended to be nonchalant, peering through the corner of his eye.
“You stole my purse!” Jiang Youyou stood up. The other passengers turned a blind eye to the theft but watched them as if watching a TV play.
The man thought little of her due to her emaciated figure, “Which of your eyes saw me stealing your purse?”
“Give my purse back and I’ll let it go.” Jiang Youyou’s voice was trembling, for in her purse there were not only money but also her credit card and ID card.
The driver stopped the busr and looked round impatiently said, “get off if you want to quarrel.”
As soon as the bus door was opened, the man hastily got off. Jiang Youyou gave the bus driver a resentful look and ran after the man in a hurry, almost getting caught in the heel by the bus door.
She tugged at the man’s collar, “Give my purse back!”