Wandering in the vast darkness

040 An Unforgettable Feud

When Wang Zhanyang graduated from university, it was already difficult for college graduates to make a living in society, especially since he was a graduate from an ordinary university.

Unlike Yu Wenhao and Er Mao, who stayed in Hangzhou to find jobs or take the civil service exam, he returned to Yongcheng.

By this time, Yongcheng had been upgraded from a county to a city, and the former deputy county head, Wang, had become the current vice chairman of the municipal political consultative conference.

Wang Zhanyang was assigned to the city's cultural center.

The Municipal Cultural Center is, after all, a professional institution. When Wang Zhanyang went there, he felt somewhat overwhelmed and confused, as if he were a useless person.

He doesn't even know how to read sheet music, let alone staff notation. There are countless Chinese and Western musical instruments, but he can't play a single one. He's definitely not cut out to tutor music. He has the physique of someone who could dance Latin, but in reality, he can't even distinguish between Latin dance and jazz, and he has no interest in either.

As for painting, he can't even distinguish between oil painting and gouache or watercolor. If you pick up a brush and ask him to draw a cat, he can draw it as Li Kui; if you ask him to draw Li Kui, he can draw it as a ghost.

The writers at the Municipal Cultural Center mainly guide people in various townships to write stories. Every year, they participate in the "Sanjiang Cup" story competition organized by the Hangzhou Mass Art Center. Wang Zhanyang has read a few books of "Story Club" magazine, but when it comes to writing stories, he is completely clueless. As for guiding writing, it's a joke.

After all that, the only thing in the cultural center that didn't require any prior training or foundation, and could be learned on the spot—even Wang Zhanyang could tinker with it a bit—was photography. Whether it's taking pictures with a mobile phone or pressing the shutter button on a camera, anyone can do it.

Therefore, Wang Zhanyang was assigned to the photography group. While learning how to develop negatives in the darkroom, he also buried himself in learning exposure, focus, and composition from the two volumes of the "New York Institute of Photography Textbook," the introductory bible of photography.

Wang Zhanyang wore a photography vest, sometimes with a Canon digital camera with a large white lens hanging around his neck, and sometimes with a Bronica mechanical camera, a family heirloom from the cultural center, which he had specially approved for purchase when he was the deputy county magistrate. He also wore a sun hat askew on his head and appeared in the streets and alleys of Yongcheng as a photographer.

They also appeared at various meetings, large and small, in Yongcheng. Yongcheng is a county-level unit. A few years ago, it had a newspaper called "Yongcheng Daily," but it was later shut down, and the staff scattered. Taking photos of leaders and various meetings has always been one of the tasks of their cultural center. After the photos were taken and developed, they would appear in the publicity window at the entrance of the cultural center with pictures and text.

Wang Zhanyang later participated in several national, Asia-Pacific, and international photography competitions that only required paying an entry fee. He won several awards, which became his capital. He first served as the deputy director, and after the original director was transferred to Hangzhou, he became the director.

Yongcheng is a tourist city, attracting many photographers to Yongcheng and Qiandao Lake every year, and organizing numerous photography events there. After becoming the curator, Wang Zhanyang welcomed and saw off many industry leaders, and his work finally gained recognition, appearing in several official photography magazines in China and participating in a formal national photography exhibition sponsored by the China Photographers Association, finally achieving his goal.

So much time has passed, and Wang Zhanyang and Yu Wenhao have long since buried the hatchet. When Yu Wenhao goes back to Yongcheng, sometimes Wang Zhanyang hosts the party, and sometimes I host the party, and we all get together.

But for some reason, he and San San never got along. In the class group chat, whenever San San said something, Wang Zhanyang would either laugh or sarcastically remark. Conversely, whenever Wang Zhanyang said something, no matter how lively the comments were or how many people joined in the fun, San San would always be absent and wouldn't say a word.

In reality, it's rare for the two of them to appear in the same place.

A few years ago, when class reunions were popular, I loved organizing them in Yongcheng. I would always invite San San Er Mao and Yu Wen Hao from Hangzhou. Even on such occasions, the two of them would never sit at the same table during the meal.

When taking the group photo, since Wang Zhanyang was the photographer, it was definitely his job to take the picture. When he pressed the shutter and ran back to the group, he saw that San San was on that side, while Wang Zhanyang must have run to the other side. The shutter clicked, and they couldn't see each other.

San San described his relationship with Wang Zhanyang in just two words: "natural enemies."

"Everyone in this world will always have a few natural enemies. Me and that bastard Wang Zhanyang are examples, haha." San San said with a laugh.

Er Mao suspected that Wang Zhanyang might have borrowed money from San San or asked him for sponsorship. San San assured him, "Absolutely not. If he had, I wouldn't lend money to anyone else. He can enjoy the same treatment as you."

Yu Wenhao is the only person San San openly proclaims he can borrow money from, meaning that if Wang Zhanyang were to ask, he would lend him money.

Yu Wenhao overheard this and suddenly realized that if Wang Zhanyang borrowed money from him, he would forever be on the moral high ground. That's just his little trick.

"How about it? Don't be so sure, think about it," San San said to Yu Wenhao.

Yu Wenhao shook her head and smiled, "Really, it's not necessary, San San. Thank you, but I haven't reached that point yet. If I really can't bear it anymore, I will ask you for help. Please don't leave me to die then."

San San cursed, "I think you're just not good enough, damn it, tell me, don't I look like a jerk?"

Both I and Er Mao nodded. Er Mao, holding the TV remote, pressed buttons rapidly, turning the TV in the private room into a flickering mode. He said:

"You're not just despicable, you're extremely despicable!"

"Wait a minute," Yu called out, then stood up, walked over to Er Mao, snatched the TV remote from his hand, and went back to his seat.

He rewound the TV channels one by one until he got to CCTV's news channel, only to find that the news he wanted to watch had already passed.

Yu Wenhao quickly picked up his phone and searched for the news. He found it; the headline was "After the Latest Round of 'Soulful Bargaining,' These Drugs Are Now Covered by Medical Insurance!" Yu Wenhao quickly clicked on it and indeed saw that the drug Professor Zheng had mentioned for treating chronic myeloid leukemia patients, nelicoxetine (Orabatinib), had been included in the medical insurance catalog.

Yu Wenhao felt a surge of joy, but as he continued reading, his excitement quickly faded. He saw in the news that olaribatibin had become a reimbursable drug for adult leukemia patients, and immediately understood that its clinical trials in adolescents were not yet complete. Just as Professor Zheng had said, doctors still couldn't provide medication recommendations based on the relevant data.

Even if he went to see Professor Zheng again, Professor Zheng would definitely still advise him to wait.

Yu Wenhao sighed, turned off his phone, and placed it on the table.

While he was watching the news, San San, who was sitting to his left, glanced at it and roughly knew that it was still related to Qian Qian.

After Yu Wenhao placed the phone on the table, San San asked, "Qianqian still hasn't found a perfect match?"

Yu Wenhao shook his head.

"It's alright. The pandemic is over now, and people are starting to come and go normally. Our company will be opening branches in Malaysia and Indonesia next month. I'll have my staff contact the bone marrow registry in those two places. There are many Chinese people in those two places, so maybe we can find a slight match," San San said to Yu Wenhao.

Yu nodded and said, "Thank you, thank you, San San."

"Come on, let's drink! No problem!" Er Mao raised his glass. "Since you're not driving today, let's drink to our hearts' content!"