Chapter 128 (1/2)
Chapter 128: Rain Man III
”Right, how long will you be here for?” the president asked, wheeling himself back to the table and flipping through some files .
”I'll be here for a month,” I answered .
He smiled . ”What are you studying in school? Are you going to be a doctor?”
”No, no . I'm studying marketing and I don't have any experience in dealing with patients . Will it be difficult?”
”Whenever an intern comes along, we will train him for three months and put him through a test . He can only start officially if he pa.s.ses the test . Since you'll only be here for a month, the training program isn't going to work,” he said, pulling out a form from a file .
It was my application form .
”Is it going to be that difficult? Can't I just help out in other ways like sweeping and cleaning? I'll a.s.sist with the basics . I'm not afraid of hard work and I won't slack off . ”
”The process here is . . . unique . You do understand that we're taking care of special patients and there will be times when they require emergency care, don't you? What if a patient under your care gets injured and there are no other employees around? It's going to be difficult for us to accept you if you don't know basic first aid,” he explained before throwing the form into the rubbish bin .
I nodded . ”So there's no chance for me?”
”Not exactly . You learned some math, didn't you?”
I nodded again . ”Yes, when I was young . But you threw my form away, doesn't that mean that I'm out?”
”I have another job for you . You'll take care of and play with that girl Xiaoyu for a month . It should be simple, right?” he said before pulling out a new form, filling a few blanks and handing it to me .
”Yes, that shouldn't be a problem,” I agreed and received the form .
It was a contract .
3,000 dollars for a month .
I was overjoyed, but I was also a bit uneasy .
”I'm here to volunteer, sir . I shouldn't take this money . ”
”Yes, you're a volunteer to those outside, but in here, it is our obligation to pay you . You'll still be paid even if you're a doctor volunteering with us, so don't worry about it . You're not receiving any special treatment,” he rea.s.sured me .
I nodded and filled up the form . ”But to take money for taking care of a child…”
”I'm not asking you to just play with her . You'll need to educate her as well,” he clarified .
”What can I teach her? She seems to know more than I do,” I protested .
”Do you know the head of the millennium problems?” he asked .
”The seven unsolved problems? Solve any and get 1,000,000? Post the solution on the magazine and succeed if there are no challengers within two years? One has already been solved, right?”
”Yes, Henri Poincaré's conjecture has been solved . There are six more and I hope to train Xiaoyu for her to be able to solve them someday . I was convinced that no one would ever be able to before I met her . She has a special kind of magic . What she understands as math isn't just math . It's purer and more instinctive . ”
”Speaking of which, President, is it true? The bus driver mentioned that she can predict lottery numbers . ”
”That is true . It's her power . ”
”He even said that Xiaoyu's never been to school . She's 12, right? Why won't you send her to school?”
Since the moment we met, this was the only time that he looked at me properly .
He sighed . ”We brought her to school when she was eight, but because she's an orphan and in an unusual situation, she got bullied by the other kids . I had no choice but to withdraw her application . She's not exactly in a normal mental state as well . ”
”Not in a normal mental state?” I repeated .
”It's better if I explain it to you now, although you'll only be taking care of her for a month . She was born here from a pair of mentally ill parents . ”
I nodded . ”They're both mentally unstable?”
He shook his head . ”Not really . It's my fault . ”
A tear rolled down his cheek and his voice started to tremble .