Chapter Twenty-One: The Passing

After returning to his dormitory, Li Yancheng turned on the stove, took off his overcoat, and was just about to use the water heating on the stove to freshen up when he heard a clamor of shouting coming from the courtyard. Judging by the commotion, there were quite a few people; it was clear that something had happened.

He placed the kettle back onto the stove, secured the lid he had just opened, and grabbed his overcoat from the back of the chair. He slipped it on while walking out of the dormitory.

The night watchman had already turned on the courtyard floodlights. As Li Yancheng stepped out, he saw several people pulling and pushing a flatbed cart into the courtyard, with a person lying on it. From a distance, the figure curled up on the cart appeared to be a woman.

Ma Quanhu and Zhou Guotao, who had been listening to the radio in the duty room, had already hurried over to meet them. Li Yancheng closed his door behind him and headed toward the cart as well.

There were many people—over a dozen men and women, mostly young. At a glance, they were clearly the group of "educated youth" sent to the countryside, with only two older men among them, likely village officials. It seemed that one of the educated youth from a nearby village had fallen ill or something of the sort.

Hmm?

Before he even reached them, Li Yancheng spotted an acquaintance in the crowd: Duan Fengjuan. She saw "Brother Dacheng" approaching and ran over, her face full of panic.

"Brother Dacheng, please, take a look... Pingping... Pingping has taken poison."

"Poison? What kind of poison did she take?"

As the night deepened, the temperature dropped. Li Yancheng was buttoning his coat as he walked toward the cart. Hearing what Xiao Juan said, he froze for a moment, unable to understand why someone who had taken poison would be brought to a clinic.

"Rat poison. She must have taken a lot. On the way here, she kept vomiting black, foul-smelling blood." Xiao Juan’s voice was laced with sobs. Conflicts aside, their disagreements had never reached the point of life and death. Seeing her friend in such a state, Xiao Juan was naturally distraught.

Rat poison?

Li Yancheng reached the cart in a flash. Ma Quanhu and Zhou Guotao were already there, one checking the pulse and the other examining the girl's pupils. Seeing the girl lying there in an unnaturally still posture, Li Yancheng’s heart sank. How much had she taken, and how long ago?

He took a hurried look and was about to head to the consulting room to prepare some soapy water for induced vomiting and gastric lavage when Zhou Guotao stopped him.

"Yancheng, come take a look. It seems..."

Well, it appeared his judgment was correct; she was likely beyond saving. No sooner had the doctor finished speaking than the middle-aged man who had come with them—presumably a village official—collapsed to the ground, staring blankly at the girl on the cart.

Li Yancheng took a flashlight from one of the young men, stepped forward, and pried open the girl’s eyes. Under the beam of light, her dilated pupils showed no sign of constriction. He checked the carotid artery in her neck, but could detect nothing.

Ma Quanhu, who had been checking her pulse, sighed and withdrew his hand. He turned to Li Yancheng and shook his head helplessly. In a well-equipped hospital, they might have been able to make a desperate attempt at resuscitation, but in this place, lacking so many resources, she was truly beyond help.

After signaling to Li Yancheng, Ma Quanhu turned to the middle-aged man who was still standing there, looking anxious. "Old Sun, go find the police at the town station."

This announcement confirmed that the girl was beyond saving. The young men and women who had brought her, though they had suspected as much on the journey, could not help but burst into sobs. Several of the girls clung to one another, crying uncontrollably. At this moment, regardless of their past relationships, they were mourning the loss of a young life and questioning why she had chosen such a way to end her brief existence.

A flower that had only just begun to bloom had withered, a truly heartbreaking sight.

The police arrived quickly. Whether it was suicide or not, a death—especially of an educated youth—had to be reported. The town’s duty officials arrived shortly after.

The middle-aged man called Old Sun was devastated. He was the village head of Tangzhishan Village, and because one of the educated youth under his jurisdiction had committed suicide, he could not shirk his responsibility, regardless of the cause.

The middle-aged man who had collapsed to the ground earlier was the village accountant. After the police arrived and conducted a brief inquiry, they instructed the temporary workers who had come with the group to take the accountant to the police station.

The reason was simple: Pingping had previously suspected she was pregnant. Although she turned out not to be, it revealed that she had a close, secret relationship with a man—the accountant, surnamed Chang. She had kept the affair so well hidden that even the other girls in her dormitory, including Xiao Juan, had been unaware of his identity. It was only Pingping’s suicide note that had brought the man into the light.

Strictly speaking, if it was indeed suicide and Accountant Chang had not used any despicable means to coerce her, it would be difficult to hold him legally responsible. Although he was old enough to be her father, he was a widower, and Pingping was an adult. Legally speaking, he was free to pursue a romantic relationship, provided he wasn't dating multiple people at once—after all, love is supposed to be free.

After a long ordeal, it was three hours later by the time everyone dispersed. The body was taken back. Early the next morning, the town would send an urgent telegram to Pingping’s parents so they could come and handle the funeral arrangements. Fortunately, it was winter, and the low temperature meant that keeping the body for a few days would not be an issue.

It was certain that within a few days, all traces of this girl would vanish from the world. Apart from the grief of parents burying their child, all that would remain of her would be fodder for gossip in the streets and alleys.

Li Yancheng, Zhou Guotao, and Ma Quanhu stood at the gate of the clinic, watching the silhouettes of the educated youth pulling the cart away into the distance, and sighed in unison.

Dr. Ma took out a pack of cigarettes, offered one to the other two, and lit them with the flame provided by Old Zhou.

"Sigh... what was she thinking? If she really wanted a relationship, she should have found someone her own age. She was a high school graduate, an intellectual; coming to the countryside was only temporary. She would have been assigned a job eventually. Why look for a partner in the village? Now, look at this—she’s thrown her own life away."

Old Ma’s tone was filled with regret. The events of the day had taught both him and Old Zhou a lesson, as they both had daughters of their own. The girl’s fate made them worry involuntarily about their own children, fearing they might one day fall for the wrong person.