Chen Yu’s eyes, filled with hidden anger, met Yamamoto Hisae’s haughty gaze in an intangible clash, with even a faint scent of gunpowder tension filling the air. This caused the young nurse watching their standoff to shrink back behind the service desk at the nurses’ station, only her eyes peeping out stealthily, afraid to even breathe.
"Director Yamamoto, Inomata Naoki is my classmate as well as my patient. By all accounts, shouldn’t someone have informed me about his room being changed?" After a tense face-off, it was Chen Yu who finally broke the silence.
Facing Chen Yu’s challenge, Yamamoto Hisae crossed her arms over her chest, sizing him up before responding, "Doctor Chen, are you trying to tell me how to do my job?"
"How dare I instruct you, Director Yamamoto? I am merely a newcomer and a surgeon at that." Chen Yu said, half-mocking, half-sneering, as he moved closer to Yamamoto Hisae and lowered his voice, speaking to her in a deep tone, "I just want to remind you, Director Yamamoto, that we have a saying in China, ’Do not bully the poor just because they are young.’"
"Do not bully the poor just because they are young?" Yamamoto Hisae understood the meaning, but the look in her eyes was dismissive. She did not see anything about Chen Yu before her to be concerned about, or rather, she believed he had no chance of challenging or even causing her any trouble.
Naturally, Chen Yu could detect the disdain in Yamamoto Hisae’s tone but said nothing more, only giving her a cold smile before turning to leave.
But as Yamamoto Hisae watched Chen Yu’s departing figure with a mocking gaze, his voice suddenly rang in her head, sending chills down her spine.
"Though young people may lack money and power, youth is their greatest asset. No one can predict what achievements a seemingly ordinary youth might attain in the future. Perhaps the very person you look down upon now could become a significant figure you cannot afford to provoke later on."
"Director Yamamoto, you are merely interested in my research and intend to control me through Naoki. But have you considered the consequences of angering me? Perhaps you can make it impossible for me to stay at this hospital or even seize my research, but have you thought about the fact that, once provoked, I will dedicate the rest of my life to exacting revenge on you?"
"Such frightening hypnotism!" Yamamoto Hisae tried to convince herself that Chen Yu wasn’t that scary and that everything might just be a small hypnotic trick he mastered, unwittingly hypnotizing her while looking at her.
This line of thought was obviously self-deceiving, but it made Yamamoto Hisae feel a lot better. Although the possibility of being hypnotized by Chen Yu at any moment still worried her, by thinking this way, she could temporarily forget the terror that he brought.
After all, the terror of the unknown is completely different from the threat of known methods and skills.
Perhaps such thoughts were merely an escape from reality, but when faced with the unknown, it is human instinct to forcefully interpret it with the known, and Yamamoto Hisae was just exploiting this very aspect.
Despite trying to convince herself that Chen Yu wasn’t as terrifying as he seemed, the impression that he was extremely dangerous still lingered in Yamamoto Hisae’s mind. After all, if a person could hypnotize her with just one look, who knew what he was truly capable of? What if he casually hypnotized someone to come and stab her to death?
Yamamoto Hisae didn’t know what Chen Yu was truly capable of, but for her, the mere possibility made it necessary to be cautious. Having risen from an ordinary female doctor to the position of Department Head of Internal Medicine at Eastern University Affiliated Hospital, Yamamoto Hisae cherished her life dearly.
"Is it really ’do not underestimate the young and impoverished’? It looks like I need to adjust my attitude toward him," Yamamoto Hisae had to admit, she had underestimated Chen Yu and needed to readjust her approach.
If strong-arming tactics wouldn’t work, switching to a softer approach was common for someone like Yamamoto Hisae. Although she hadn’t used such tactics in many years as her power grew, it didn’t mean she was unable to be flexible.
When it came to her interests, even if it meant kneeling and apologizing or even paying a greater price, she would only weigh whether it was worth it, rather than consider something as trivial as pride. If it weren’t for her age being too advanced, Yamamoto Hisae was even prepared to consider seduction as an option.