Throwing up on gleaming marble floors was an act that would bring shame to a person.
Pipi could only run to the bathroom, where she threw up almost to the point of blacking out. After she'd finished, her legs were weak and she could barely stand. She caught her breath for a moment, then leant on the wall to support herself and left the room. Helan was waiting at the door for her.
He grabbed Pipi, who was on the point of collapsing to the ground.
"Can you walk? I'll take you to hospital."
"I... Am I bleeding?" Her head was down and she was in a lot of pain. Blood was coming from her nose drip by drip, falling to the floor.
He picked her up and, after passing through a corridor filled with old Chinese chimes, they left through an emergency exit.
Pipi raised her head to the sky and saw that there was an information board at the top of the stairs. A glimmering light shone on the glass board.
On it was written:
"C City museum's most advanced researcher..."
And then she saw Helan Jing's name.
Pipi's mind immediately jumped with thoughts of the theme for Xinhua's article: Willing to help people, always working overtime, conscientious and diligent, a popular expert...
Looking at his plain clothes, she wanted to say "diligent and thrifty". Helan carried her in the direction of the parking lot, where he opened the back door of his expensive car and stuffed her inside. She deleted the words "diligent and thrifty" from her mind.
The car travelled through the night silently. After lying in the backseat for a moment, she felt quite a bit better and sat up. She looked outside the car and suddenly asked, "You're not going to the hospital?"
They were heading out of the city.
"No," Helan replied indifferently.
"Then where are you going?"
"My house."
"Your house? Why are you going to your house?"
"Don't you need to interview me?"
"I... I..." Pipi stuttered. "When did I say I wanted to interview you?"
"Telling lies is a skill, and you need to practice."
She knew that going to the house of an unfamiliar man was definitely not acceptable, but in light of the fact that she'd been thinking of how to write something that would get her into a reporter positions for over three years, she felt that there must be a difference between a strange man and a strange man who was a pre-eminent researcher.
A moment passed, then Pipi suddenly asked, "Since you can't see, how are you driving?"
"When did I say I couldn't see?"