We left the hospital on the afternoon of August 27th, driving directly to Wuzhuang that evening, and pinpointed the Miao girl's hometown around 10 PM. Once the precise location was confirmed, we immediately drove south through the night.
Wang Jue was the sole driver the entire way, and I worried constantly about whether he could sustain it. He had only just been discharged from the hospital; though the previous car accident wasn't severe, it had certainly left scrapes and bruises. Having been dragged out like this for days of relentless travel right after a brief rest, my guilt toward him intensified.
“Dr. Wang, let me take over driving.”
“No need. This section of mountain road is treacherous. You don’t have experience on roads like this, and it’s night now. Swapping drivers would be too dangerous.”
“How about we stop for a rest? You’ve been driving for over ten hours straight.”
“Haha, worried about fatigue driving, are you? I just took a Ritalin. It’ll keep me awake for at least another dozen hours. The perk of being a psychiatrist is having access to these medications anytime.”
“Right, I think I heard you mention giving your older sister a pill too—what does that drug actually do?”
“It’s a central nervous system stimulant, requiring a prescription. It eliminates fatigue and sharpens thought processes. Doctors often use it to counteract the drowsiness and sluggishness caused by sleeping pills. When I was studying for my postgraduate exams, I took one Ritalin in the morning and one sleeping pill at night—I was half-man, half-ghost for two months, but I successfully passed the entrance requirements. It won't cure Gu poison, but it can keep an afflicted person lucid for a short period.”
Hearing this, I became intensely interested in this miraculous substance. If it truly sharpens the mind as he claimed, wouldn't that make it a drug for increasing intelligence? For me, the hardest hurdle to overcome is the immediate drowsiness whenever I open a book. I absolutely must persuade him to write me a few bottles when we get back.
Wang Jue continued driving, cutting through the night on the perilous mountain roads. I eventually couldn't hold on any longer and dozed off for a while. I wanted to ask him for a Ritalin, but seeing his intense concentration, I hesitated to create any disturbance.
“Xiaoyu, we’re here.” I’m not sure how long I drifted, but I felt Wang Jue nudging me beside me.
When I opened my eyes, the sky was bright. We had traveled all night under the stars.
Wang Jue pulled the car over to the side of the road. We both jumped out, surveying our surroundings. Rolling, overlapping mountains completely encircled us. The highway we had taken had transformed from asphalt into a rough, gravel track. Looking forward along the path, the gravel surface vanished into a distant mountain ridge. That must be the end of the road.
Wang Jue retrieved his backpack from the car, checked its contents, and tucked the flashlight he found into it. He said, “The car can only take us this far. We have to walk the rest of the way.”
“Where exactly are we?”
“I don’t know. We checked just now; this area is a GPS dead zone. There’s no cell signal either.”
“How will we know which way to go?”
“The old village elder has been here before. Before he left, he sketched me a map. We follow that map.” Wang Jue held up the map, showing it to me. With no satellite positioning and no mobile communication, in a place this remote, the map was our sole guide to finding the Miao girl and returning to Wangcheng. Thankfully, this hand-drawn map was quite clear; it was evident the drawer was intimately familiar with the terrain.