Chapter 2540: with translation of chapter title

Zheng Ren felt the voice sounded somewhat familiar, he turned his head to look.

Su Yun, however, stood up at the First Time, stretched out her hand and said with a smile, "Beautiful lady, I thought you all didn't eat mortal food, how come you also came to this night market to eat. Director Lin, this is Sun Zeli, a reporter from the TV station; during Earthquake Relief she was in our team."

After saying that, Su Yun then introduced Lin Ge to Sun Zeli.

Zheng Ren also stood up and greeted Sun Zeli. They had met during Earthquake Relief, had vaguely seen each other once two days ago; the mosaic on Sun Zeli's face was originally not very thick, but now it had almost completely disappeared.

Originally Su Yun was preparing to pay the bill, but seeing Sun Zeli come, it was not appropriate to just leave; she pulled up a stool and they started chatting idly.

"Zheng Lao Ban, you always say you want to be interviewed, but your side is really busy. When will you have time, give me a chance?" Sun Zeli said with a smile.

"I can't speak into a microphone." Zheng Ren said with a bitter smile.

"A colleague at the station has a friend in Sweden who said the judging panel will start in these two days; do you have any related news on your side?" Sun Zeli asked.

"I heard Fugui'er mention it a couple of days ago, and she also said it's coming soon." Zheng Ren said.

"Just these two days?" Lin Ge's ears perked up instantly. He knew the judging was before October 15, the date was uncertain. So many reporters had no good option; with information blocked, they could only stake out early at the homes of possible winners.

For example, Haruki Murakami—every year at this time there are many reporters at his doorstep, but he always ends up just running alongside, which is also quite frustrating.

"These few days I wouldn't really say I'm disturbing you." Sun Zeli covered her mouth and laughed.

"Do you want to go together with the Medical Team?" Su Yun asked directly.

Sun Zeli was stunned; before she never opened her mouth at all, now how did she directly open it to the maximum?

Her heart suddenly jumped to 180 beats.

"Don't speak." Su Yun said to Zheng Ren: "Let me tell you, there are too many reporters; you still need an authoritative column's spokesperson by your side. This is the official statement; everything else is false news. Otherwise, once there's a stir, smearing you would be unavoidable."

"Not that bad." Zheng Ren smiled: "Little Sun, where do you live?"

"It's right here, close to 912; if anything comes up I'll arrive at the First Time." Sun Zeli laughed: "Then we've agreed—after the National Day holiday we can start working together."

"We're still working normally, the surgeries haven't stopped." Su Yun said: "You can follow along tomorrow. But if the day really arrives, I guess it won't work. By then it'll be all people; if you're by my side, others won't easily chase you away. I'm afraid the Director Yan's phone will call within half an hour."

Lin Ge was also curious in his heart; he checks the official website several times, even ten or more times a day, while Zheng Lao Ban looks on without much concern, as steady as Mount Tai. Though young, his psychological quality is just that good.

"Zheng Lao Ban, we've done a small special feature."

"You guys?"

"With Tangxiu from Hai Cheng; she has some materials about you two in Hai Cheng, while I've gathered more materials in Di Du, so we teamed up to do the feature." Sun Zeli smiled: "After returning from Earthquake Relief, I wanted us comrades-in-arms to gather; every time I contacted Yun Ge'er, he said your Nobel Prize project here is busy."

Zheng Ren glanced at Su Yun.

"When things are done, whichever day you have time, we really should get together." Sun Zeli warmly invited.

"Sure." Zheng Ren currently has no particular resistance to going out for meals or gatherings; even if he resists, sometimes he still has to grit his teeth and agree.

After all, we are social beings; especially today Lin Ge attended a vivid lesson, Zheng Ren felt a lot.

After finally catching Zheng Lao Ban, Sun Zeli had many questions she had pondered for a long time, which she asked all at once. They chatted for a good while before the few of them dispersed.

……

……

The night was deep, Sun Yue Nan walked aimlessly on the streets of Di Du, her mood gloomy, gloomy to the extreme.

Under 20 years old, she was diagnosed with infective endocarditis complicated by aortic valve vegetation, underwent a sternotomy for heart surgery, and had an aortic valve replaced.

The surgery was major; she underwent it at the best tertiary hospital in her hometown. After surgery, the ICU issued multiple critical condition notices; she lay there for a full 27 days before escaping death.

But after she recovered, Sun Yue Nan faced a problem—her family had nearly exhausted their assets to pay for her treatment.

Her studies were already poor, and she hadn't thought about going to college; Sun Yue Nan simply dropped out and went out to work. As long as she's willing to work, she shouldn't fear being unable to support herself.

Moreover, staying at home is meaningless. After undergoing major surgery, everyone in the village knows her condition; no family wants to take in such a burden. Even if she wanted to marry, it's not simple; everyone thinks she'd be a good match for the village idiot next door.

She didn't want to marry the village idiot, so she brought her meager savings and came to Di Du to work.

However, her luck was decent; she soon found a job in Di Du. Moreover, in the workplace she met several sisters, and several peers also took good care of Sun Yue Nan.

Although earnings here aren't much, Sun Yue Nan has little monthly expenditure; aside from regularly sending money home to subsidize the household, she has gradually saved some spare cash.

Today she and a few sisters agreed to go to a newly opened sauna shop, whose ticket price of 9.9 was spread via forwarded messages, to take a bath and sauna.

She felt a bit inferior, but couldn't resist the other sisters' persuasion, so she ended up going.

But when she took off her clothes, a huge 20-centimeter red scar on her chest was revealed; she could see the sisters' gazes were somewhat odd. Normally she could conceal it as much as possible, but in the bath there's no way to hide it.

Perhaps it's some inferiority, perhaps it's resentment at their strange looks.

So she remained depressed, feeling unhappy all day long. At night, when everyone else ate together she didn't join; she walked alone silently through the night of Di Du.

She utterly hated that scar on her chest.

Strolling the streets, Sun Yue Nan had no purpose, just walking aimlessly. She both liked hearing people's voices and yet felt somewhat fearful.

This world is too unfair to her; whenever she recalls the sisters' gazes at her chest surgery scar, she feels an urge not to go on living.

Girls all love beauty, but this huge scar makes her feel so ugly as to be despised. Perhaps only the village idiot next door wouldn't despise her? Sun Yue Nan occasionally has such a thought pop into her mind.

Half a year ago, she went to a beauty salon in her hometown to get a tattoo because of a small scar on her foot.

Even a small scar was intolerable for her, let alone a chest scar at least 20 centimeters long, like a centipede… Each time she sees in the mirror what looks like a twisted centipede crawling on her chest, Sun Yue Nan feels she despises herself.

Such a long scar cannot be covered even by tattooing; Sun Yue Nan sometimes really wishes the legend of changing skins were true.

No matter what she says, she wants to replace her skin with a perfect, flawless one, regardless of the cost.

Di Du's nights are noisy, but Sun Yue Nan likes this noise; this is life, yet unfortunately she now feels apprehensive about contacting others.

Autumn has arrived; Sun Yue Nan feels autumn is far kinder to her than summer. In summer she dares not wear clothes too cool, lest her big centipede-like scar be seen.

Not knowing how long she had walked, she stopped, her eyes dazed as she looked at a tattoo shop, her heart feeling somewhat lost.

She wanted to try, but could they remove a 20-centimeter-long centipede? The previous shop said such technology might exist, but one had to go to a big city. The bigger the city, the better the technology. Hospitals are like that, and tattoo shops are too.

Should she try? Sun Yue Nan hesitated for a long time; she ended up standing in front of the tattoo shop for several hours, not even knowing it herself.

Only when the shop was about to close did Sun Yue Nan summon the courage to approach and ask the middle-aged woman who looked like the proprietress.

Sun Yue Nan was brought into the shop; the proprietress looked at her large centipede-like scar on the chest, showed no surprise, but chuckled and told her there were many options to choose from.

Various pattern choices are available; the specifics still depend on Sun Yue Nan's own preference.

After looking at many photos of tattoos done at this small tattoo shop before, Sun Yue Nan felt hope ignite in her heart.

Super cool!

Those tattoos are super cool!

She just asked about the price and sighed. She wanted a tattoo, but was short on cash and couldn't come up with that sum temporarily. That amount might be just a meal for the rich, but for Sun Yue Nan it would take at least half a year of scrimping and saving to save up.

The boss's wife didn't say much, smiling as she saw her out. She saw that this little girl had no money, and that she was merely a potential customer, so there was no need to hassle her into getting a tattoo.

Hope is like a prairie fire; once it ignites on the dry grass in the heart, it can never be extinguished.

Returning to her rented apartment, Sun Yue Nan began borrowing money.

Fortunately, she was usually kind and hardworking; her female friends had little money, but she still managed to borrow a huge sum of 5000 from the boss to get the tattoo.

Among the many designs, Sun Yue Nan chose a plum blossom. The tattoo artist said her skin was fair, so a plum blossom would look better. Red plum blossoms on her white skin had a unique beauty.

The process was a bit painful, but for the sake of beauty she could endure anything.

The tattoo took a full five hours; the tattoo artist was meticulous and earnest, at least appearing very professional in Sun Yue Nan's eyes.

When she saw the ferocious, terrifying centipede on her chest transform into blossoming plum flowers, Sun Yue Nan's heart overflowed with happiness.

This was exactly the result she wanted.

She continually thanked the tattoo artist and the boss's wife; on her way back, in the crowded subway, she felt as if countless covetous glances were secretly watching her.

This feeling was great; Sun Yue Nan thought it was too cool.

The next day her work was full of vigor; she wanted to work hard, earn money, and repay the boss's 5000 loan as soon as possible.

Life now had a new direction, full of motivation.