The driver slammed on the gas, veering off his route toward the hospital.
Zhang Youzhi lay twisted in a pool of blood, vomiting mouthful after mouthful of fresh blood.
Everyone scrambled to help Zhang Youzhi up while the driver blared the horn and shouted, asking whether anyone aboard was a doctor or nurse.
A woman pulled out a wad of tissues and wiped Zhang Youzhi's mouth and nose. Two adults barely managed to haul him against the side of the bus, while another woman held his head steady to keep it from knocking against the seats. Naturally, they ended up covered in blood too.
A young couple frantically tried to call 120. The boy was shaking so badly he could barely hold his phone, until his girlfriend snatched it from him and called emergency services.
With trembling hands, the old man pulled a bundled handkerchief from his pocket. Inside were a few worn, small-denomination bills. Without even checking the amount, he tried to press all of them into the semiconscious Zhang Youzhi's hands.
The old man had been poor all his life. Those few crumpled bills were everything he could spare.
Zhang Youzhi barely regained his senses. Shakily, he took a pill from his pocket and put it in his mouth. Without chewing, he swallowed it along with the blood, then closed his eyes and leaned silently against the seat.
After a long while, once he was certain the collapse of his body had been forcibly halted, Zhang Youzhi opened his eyes and tried to pull himself upright using a seat.
A sticky handprint was left on the edge of the seat.
Cupping the small bills wrapped in a plastic bag in both hands, Zhang Youzhi pushed them back into the old man's hands.
"I'm all right, sir. It's my own medical problem. It has nothing to do with you."
With that, Zhang Youzhi bowed deeply to everyone on the bus.
By then, they had reached the hospital. The driver stopped the bus, turned around, and loudly asked how he was doing.
"Thank you, thank you. I'll go to the hospital now. Sorry for all the trouble."
"Driver, I'm sorry I got your bus dirty. Could you open the door for me?" Zhang Youzhi called toward the front, then made his way to the door, leaving bloody footprints with every step.
The standing passengers spontaneously cleared a path for Zhang Youzhi.
Someone tried to support him, but Zhang Youzhi waved them away. One student, however, was especially persistent, reaching out to steady him again each time he was pushed away.
"Let me go to the hospital with you, man. My summer break just started, so I've got nothing to do." The student supported Zhang Youzhi and took his backpack, which was still dripping blood.
"Thank you, thank you."
Zhang Youzhi continued trying to decline his kindness. He wiped his hands against his trousers a few times, then slowly made his way to the door with the student's support.
The driver promptly opened the door and left his seat to come to the rear exit, looking ready to carry Zhang Youzhi off the bus himself.
"Thank you, thank you." Standing outside the bus, Zhang Youzhi thanked everyone inside once more, then headed toward the hospital entrance with the student supporting him.
The bus remained where it was as those aboard watched him for a while. Only several minutes later did the driver start it up again and leave.
"So, what year of high school are you in?" After getting off the bus, Zhang Youzhi did not head straight into the hospital. Instead, he took a roundabout route, his steps growing steadier and steadier.
He looked nothing like the man who had seemed ready to die at any moment on the bus.
The student beside him gave him a doubtful look.
"My final year, at Crane No. 1 High School. Come on, man, let's hurry inside." The student scratched his buzz-cut head and tried to support Zhang Youzhi again, only for him to dodge away.
Zhang Youzhi really did not want to get any more blood on him.
"Oh... thank you, really." Zhang Youzhi thanked him sincerely, then stopped outside the hospital.
Looking up at the sign for Crane City First People's Hospital, he was filled with countless emotions.
Crane City-a little city that was hardly famous.
As for the hospital, there was no need for him to go in anymore.
"No need. I'm not going to the hospital."
The buzz-cut student froze.
"W-why? You're in this state, and you're still not going in?"
"Terminal cancer. I've only got ten-odd days left. Oh, right, what's your name? I'll send your school a thank-you letter." Zhang Youzhi walked over to the landscaped strip, slowly sat down on the edge of a flower bed, and asked with a cheerful smile.
The student was stunned by his high spirits. The man before him looked, at most, five or six years older than himself. He had terminal cancer and did not even care?
"My name's Hao Shanzhi. How about we go into the hospital and get you checked out? Your condition is way too dangerous." Hao Shanzhi looked very serious and moved to pull him up.
"Don't. Just let me die in peace." Zhang Youzhi waved him off, then asked:
"Are there any spaces under bridges around here? Where's the nearest park?"
Seeing how determined he was, Hao Shanzhi had no choice but to tell him where the nearby overpasses and parks were.
"All right. Thank you, Hao." Zhang Youzhi stood, turned away without looking at him again, and prepared to leave.
He had just noticed several nurses on duty in the distance spotting his blood-covered body. If he did not run now, they would probably drag him into the ICU.
"Hey, wait! I can't just let you go like this." How could Hao Shanzhi watch him leave? He got up and chased after him.
"Stop following me. I'm just going for a walk. Go home and have some fun. You don't get many breaks in your final year of high school."
Zhang Youzhi walked faster and faster, until he finally broke into an all-out sprint.
The pills from the funeral services company really worked. No longer caring how much of his lifespan he was burning through, Zhang Youzhi ran for all he was worth.
Hao Shanzhi discovered, to his disbelief, that he could not outrun him!
He was on the school athletics team!
Was that vomiting blood on the bus just an act? What kind of terminal patient could run like that?
Just as Fan Wei stood there bewildered and at a loss, he suddenly felt a gust of white sweep past him.
It was those three vigorous, energetic doctors.
"Hey, you! The patient up ahead! Stop right there! What are you running for?"
The doctors had gone after Zhang Youzhi.
Four hours after escaping the doctors' pursuit.
Late at night.
Crane City.
Old Crane River Bridge.
Inside an inconspicuous hollow beneath the bridge, Zhang Youzhi laid down a soft mat, then spread the little patterned blanket Li Douyu had given him over it. Using his backpack as a pillow, he lay down inside, perfectly content.
The hollow was U-shaped. Lying inside it, Zhang Youzhi was like a fish in a bowl, forced to curl his body. No matter how he positioned himself, it was a little uncomfortable.
Still, it was not bad. It reminded him of living in a cave dwelling while teaching in the countryside. At least it sheltered him from the wind and rain.
It was already past eleven. The middle of the river was pitch-black, while colored lights hung along both banks, forming long ribbons of light that stretched into the distance.
After being chased by doctors and stopped for questioning by concerned strangers, Zhang Youzhi abandoned his plan to settle in the city for ten days. He also ruled out internet cafés and cheap hotels.
He could drop dead halfway through anything far too easily. He had only one pill left. Hopefully, the elementary school children and the old man on the bus that afternoon had not been too frightened.
The Crane River marked the boundary between the city and its outskirts. It was usually secluded, though not completely deserted. The old bridge stood in the old town, a long way from the city center.
In his cozy little hollow, Zhang Youzhi contentedly patted the egg-yolk pies, little snack buns, calcium milk biscuits, a pack of bottled mineral water, two bottles of Niulanshan liquor, and several packs of Liqun cigarettes lying beside him. These were all supplies he had bought from a self-service store.
Beneath this bridge, Zhang Youzhi even had neighbors.
A pair of old greylag geese had built a nest there, with no eggs inside.
The low-water and flood seasons had been behaving unusually lately. The Crane River had dwindled to a shallow layer of water, exposing large stretches of reed beds and muddy grassland.
He had climbed into the hollow without any trouble using a ladder made of steel rebar. Judging by the traces Zhang Youzhi found, someone had probably lived there before.
In that case, once he died, he would probably have to make room for whoever came next.
At that thought, Zhang Youzhi decided to leave a few words for the next occupant. But poetic inspiration soon seized him. Finding a broken piece of red brick to use as chalk, he improvised a lyric poem on the hollow's inner wall.
[Immortal by the river · Reclining beneath a bridge on the Crane River]
[At dawn, the withered blossoms all had fallen; not a speck of dust showed at heaven's edge. Curled beneath a thousand miles of chilling current, I lay. The starry expanse rippled through the emptiness; the river flowed slowly away without a trace.
Where would this old road lead me now? Lost in the vastness, I knew neither autumn nor spring. The old boatman longed for perch and water shield. Loneliness was not my wish-only an ordinary man amid the bustling streets.]
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