Life Plan

Chapter 11, Pencil Sharpener Friendship

The first phase of the trial kept Liu Chichi extremely busy, but the only good thing was that Hao Jia's health improved after two months of treatment.

Liu Chichi added Hao Jia on WeChat under the pretext of work. With Shen Shuyi as her backer, Hao Jia didn't even ask her name and kept calling her "assistant lady".

Liu Chichi frequently visited the inpatient department, always wearing a mask and hat. She would say she was there to inquire about Hao Jia's health, but in reality, she had learned a massage technique and would massage Hao Jia's legs for two hours straight.

Hao Jia's boyfriend, Lin Hai, had subtly inquired about her sexual orientation after being overly attentive.

Liu Chichi refrained from moving for two days, but sat down again on the third day. The immune system had attacked Hao Jia's joints, causing her lower body to be unable to support her weight while walking. Massage helps with blood circulation, which will be very beneficial for her subsequent rehabilitation.

But Lin Hai was rough and clumsy; she saw Hao Jia secretly gasp several times.

I'm really impressed. Does he even know how to press the buttons correctly?

Liu Chichi brushed Lin Hai aside and sat down in front of Hao Jia's hospital bed. Feeling Hao Jia's muscles gradually relax, she couldn't help but smile. It had to be her.

Lin Hai glared at her resentfully, but today Liu Chichi could look back at him with a straight face: "What are you looking at? You almost broke her leg with all that force. If I hadn't come, she wouldn't be fully recovered and would have had to go to the orthopedics department again, which would have affected our test results so much."

Lin Hai also felt that he was not strong enough, but he didn't want to see Liu Chichi.

Before Hao Jia entered the clinical trial, Lin Hai first participated in a Phase I trial of another project to observe what a clinical trial actually entailed. The Phase I trial required frequent blood sampling after medication, with 50 blood collection points. One girl in the same group had difficulty bleeding, requiring seven or eight additional needle insertions besides one indwelling needle.

Every time he sees people involved in clinical trials, he finds it hard to shake the thought that "Hao Jia is a guinea pig" from his mind. He remembers how Hao Jia lost her appetite and became increasingly thin after taking the medication due to side effects.

"Jiajia, let's hire a caregiver."

Upon hearing this, Liu Chichi almost perked up her ears. If the caregiver came, she wouldn't have a reason to come, but the caregiver could spend more time with Hao Jia. Thinking that this might be the last time she massaged Hao Jia's legs, she prepared to give her a full massage.

"No need, I'm not comfortable with strangers."

Hao Jia refused Lin Hai's suggestion to hire a caregiver for the second time. The initial treatment had cost her most of her savings, and lack of money was one of the reasons she chose clinical trials. She had prepared for the worst, but didn't want to burden Lin Hai.

"Then what is she?" Lin Hai's voice even sounded a little aggrieved.

"She's one of us, she's different."

Upon hearing this, Liu Chichi felt a sharp ringing in her ears. She abruptly lowered her head, closed her eyes, and tried her best to hold back the tears that were about to spill from her eyes.

Her head sank lower and lower until it was almost touching Hao Jia's leg, when a thin, bony hand held her forehead.

The distinct texture of her knuckles betrayed her frailty, but her voice remained warm and full of energy, as vibrant as a Sailor Moon from an anime: "You agree, right, class president?"

That hand unlocked the long-sealed memories in her mind. The summer sun pierced through time, shining on thirteen years ago, the best year of her relationship with Hao Jia, and also the last year.

They met even earlier, fifteen years ago, at the same elementary school, at the same desk.

Liu Chichi is the class monitor with outstanding academic performance, and she is well-behaved and obedient.

Hao Jia is a gourmet with a round belly. Her food is provided by her parents, who run a breakfast shop selling steamed buns near the school gate. She can smell the filling without even opening the steamer.

The activity of changing deskmates had been carried out several times, but only Liu Chichi and Hao Jia, with their significantly taller stature, remained stable deskmates. They usually sat on either side of the wall to avoid blocking other people's view.

They were called the "pencil sharpener duo" because their classmates accidentally discovered that Hao Jia was not only taller but also stronger, and when she stood behind Liu Chichi, she completely blocked Liu Chichi's view.

Hao Jia, being an outgoing person, was not angry at the nickname. Instead, she warmly took Liu Chichi's arm and said, "Don't worry, I won't scold you. I'll protect you."

For three years, Liu Chichi kept repeating this, like a pencil, correcting every mistake Hao Jia made in her exercises, from picture recognition to basic arithmetic.

When Hao Jia was nine years old, she noticed one morning that Liu Chichi was as drowsy in class as she was before going to bed, and that she was drinking water one cup after another.

She didn't know what had happened to Liu Chichi, but for Hao Jia at that time, any trouble could be solved with steamed buns. She brought out her favorite mushroom and pork buns from home, and in that instant, she was sure she saw Liu Chichi's eyes widen like Tom's in Tom and Jerry.

That year, Liu Chichi paid the price of hunger because of her "ignorance." She was as stubborn as a stray cat in the neighborhood, preferring to rummage through the trash can rather than compromise.

But she knew too many people in the neighborhood, and after hesitating several times, she couldn't find a quiet time, and she was too embarrassed to admit it. Her only food was raw rice that she soaked in hot water in the middle of the night. The hot water didn't cook the rice; it only produced a layer of white powder, and the rice was still too hard to swallow.

She only lasted one day before she became so hungry that she saw flowers everywhere.

Her mother was waiting for her to compromise.

But she didn't get to see it, because Hao Jia helped her out.

Breakfast was two large steamed buns. Lunch was spicy noodles with Hao Jia, stir-fried rice noodles with Lao Gan Ma chili sauce, and a series of other dishes prepared by my parents. After school in the evening, it was two large steamed buns again. Worried that my mother would notice my breath when I got home, dinner was changed to two plain steamed buns.

The aroma of the steaming hot meat bun wafted far and wide as soon as it was bitten into. A bold boy grinned and came up to Hao Jia to ask for one, but Hao Jia pushed him away, saying, "Tell your mom to buy it for you."

"Did Liu Chichi buy one too?"

When she asked that question, Liu Chichi instantly lost her appetite. Would Hao Jia actually say it?

Tell her she didn't pay?

She said her mother wouldn't feed her?

How embarrassing.

Liu Chichi instinctively tried to dodge, but Hao Jia grabbed her hand.

"She's different, she's one of us." Hao Jia deliberately moved closer to her, her elbow brushing against Peng's waist, her round eyes blinking rapidly like a puppy's. "You agree, right, class monitor? You'll have to keep an eye on me from now on, okay?"

After three years of being classmates, the boys were already familiar with their pencil sharpener friendship. After letting out a long "tsk—", they laughed and dispersed.

Hao Jia leaned close to her ear and said, "Don't worry, my mom said thank you for tutoring me, and she's willing to treat you to meals every day. Tutors are much more expensive than you."

Looking up again, I saw Hao Jia, who was twenty-three years old. Her face was thin and her eyes were sunken from the illness. The little hair she had left hung on both sides of her face, as thin as moth wings under the light.

How could Hao Jia, who was so wonderful and cheerful, have turned out like this?

Just before tears welled up in her eyes, Liu Chichi rushed out the door.

She rushed into the office and slumped onto her desk. Shen Shuyi, who was taking a lunch break, looked up from the pile of documents, her eyes still blurry with sleep, and asked, "Was there an earthquake? Whose documents are so heavy?"

Turning her head, Shen Shuyi saw Liu Chichi lying face down on the table, completely silent, as if asleep, with only slight movements of her body. Shen Shuyi rubbed her temples and couldn't help but sigh, "Youth is truly wonderful; you can fall asleep as soon as you lie down."

Liu Chichi lay face down, tears falling onto her legs and silently soaking into her black trousers. Crying would be interpreted by her mother as dissatisfaction, so if she wanted to cry, she didn't want anyone to see it.