The entertainment company had security guards. Seeing Sophia with her box, one guard came over and asked, “Young lady, what are you doing here? Fortune-telling?”
Sophia shook out the cloth in her hand. The guard looked closely and saw it read: “Guaranteed Cure for Vitiligo! Money Back if It Doesn’t Work!”
The guard looked at Sophia, then quietly pulled out ten dollars from his pocket and handed it to her.
“Miss, you’re young—no matter how hard things are, you shouldn’t go around scamming people. Fortune-telling might pass, but treating diseases? Vitiligo can’t be cured worldwide; you think you can cure it? That talk only fools people who don’t know better. People like us who keep up with the news won’t fall for it! Here, take this money, buy yourself something to eat, and please leave!”
Sophia looked at the ten-dollar bill and at the guard’s sincere face, then smiled.
“Thank you, sir, but I actually have a unique family recipe that can treat vitiligo effectively!”
“Listen, miss, if you don’t leave, my supervisor will come out soon and chase you off. That’ll be embarrassing!”
“You don’t have to worry. I’ll wait for a while, and if no one’s interested, I’ll leave.”
The guard noticed she was young, pretty, and polite, so he didn’t have the heart to force her away, letting her stay by the roadside.
After a while, a few middle-aged men passed by on their way to work, accompanied by several bodyguards—clearly people of high status. Sophia focused on the man at the front and suddenly called out:
“Cure for vitiligo! Instant results, money-back guarantee!”
Hearing her call, people nearby turned to look. The guard hurried over, saying, “Miss, please leave! That’s our big boss. If he gets annoyed, I could lose my job!”
Sophia frowned and replied, “Sir, I’m not at your company’s entrance; I’m just by the side of the road. I really can treat vitiligo; this medicine is a family secret, a royal remedy that’s cured hundreds.”
“You…”
The guard was about to approach her, but the lead man glanced their way, paused briefly, then turned and walked into the building.
Seeing his boss leave, the guard didn’t stop Sophia, allowing her to stay by the roadside, treating passersby. By noon, she had seen three patients and made two to three hundred dollars, but the person she was waiting for hadn’t yet appeared.
In the evening, the group of men came out again. This time, Sophia called out once more:
“Vitiligo treatment, family secret recipe, instant results, money-back guarantee!”
The man in the lead, about forty years old with a crew cut, had an unremarkable appearance but an air of severity in his brows, making him look formidable. He was about to get into his car but turned back and walked over to Sophia, scrutinizing her for a moment.
Sophia looked up and met his gaze calmly.
“Were you waiting for me?” the man asked in a low voice.
Sophia raised an eyebrow. “You noticed?”
Wilson Mark laughed. “Every time I walk by, you call out about curing vitiligo. Clearly, this is directed at me.”
Sophia smiled and didn’t deny it. Indeed, she had long known this man was Wilson Mark. The previous night, she had looked up a lot of information and photos online, noticing that Wilson’s face, despite being covered with makeup, looked visibly uneven in patches—a symptom of vitiligo. Vitiligo isn’t cancer, but it’s even harder to treat than cancer. It’s considered an incurable condition, and what’s more, it can be hereditary. While statistics show a low genetic transmission rate, in real cases, families with a history of vitiligo often pass it down at a rate far higher than that.
While modern medicine can treat vitiligo, it’s clearly not easy to cure; otherwise, many patients wouldn’t be suffering as they do. Although Wilson Mark had made a lot of money from running an entertainment company, he was unfortunately afflicted with this disease and had thus avoided public appearances in recent years.
Wilson Mark silently studied Sophia. She was clearly using the pretense of curing vitiligo to approach him, likely with some other motive. What could that motive be? Did she want to break into the entertainment industry? That seemed most likely. After all, the girl was quite beautiful, even more so than the actresses in his company, and she had a completely natural face that didn’t need any cosmetic work.
“You want to be an actress?”
Sophia smiled and shook her head. “Sorry, I’m not interested in acting.”
“Not interested?” Wilson was surprised. It’s rare for someone to resist the allure of money. Becoming an actress could earn millions or even billions each year. Many people are willing to abandon their principles for such an opportunity. Yet here was someone who wasn’t interested. With an intrigued smile, he said, “Oh? Then tell me, why are you here?”
Sophia didn’t answer but instead asked, “Mr. Mark, don’t you want to know if my remedy really works for vitiligo?”
Wilson’s expression darkened slightly with a hint of displeasure. As a CEO with a noticeable skin condition that was extremely difficult to treat, he had sought out the world’s top specialists, but they could only control the condition, not cure it. The white patches had not faded, and the worst part was that these patches were concentrated on his face and arms—the most visible areas when he wore regular clothes. As the head of a company, he was well aware that people talked about it behind his back, yet he was helpless. His vitiligo remained untreated, and although he was a man, his condition was something he wished others would never mention, especially in such a casual way.
Seeing the faint anger on Wilson’s face, Sophia remained calm, meeting his gaze steadily.
“Are you testing my patience? I don’t care what your motives are, but setting up a stall at my company’s entrance isn’t permitted!”
Sophia smiled instead of becoming angry. “Mr. Mark, I believe that besides me, no one else in this world can cure your vitiligo. Given that, why not give it a try? I’m sure you’ve been disappointed countless times, so one more won’t make a difference.”
Wilson frowned upon hearing this. “You want me to give you a chance?”
