CH 105

Municipal Hospital, corridor on the first floor.

The usual emergency department building always had an indescribably gloomy atmosphere, but today it was particularly lively.

After Li Jingtian was taken to the hospital, some of his girl fans also followed. The girls cried, bleeding out their makeup, and their eyes were full of helplessness.

Among the group of petal-like girls, one of them looked alert. She hid in the corner and looked around. Although her face wasn’t much different from the girls around her, she was actually a police officer from the Hongjing Police Criminal Division. Her name was Zhang Xiaolong.

When Zhang Xiaolong received the call from Xing Conglian, a girl at the scene had cried until she was completely exhausted and was immediately hooked up to an IV bag by a nurse. She looked at the anxious faces around her and pressed the answer button. “Captain Xing. I’m here.”

“How is Li Jingtian?” Xing Conglian’s voice came through from the speaker.

Zhang Xiaolong stepped around the corner and lowered her voice. “Li… Mr. Li was pushed into urgent care and hasn’t come out yet!”

In fact, as a police officer, it was quite humiliating to check on the situation so cautiously, but when someone was in such a precarious state, saving their life was naturally the most important thing!

“That is to say, there’s no news yet?” Captain Xing paused, then asked, “What’s the situation at the scene?”

“Uh…” She stood on her tiptoes and looked around, then reluctantly said, “It’s crowded.”

The use of crowded was quite euphemistic. After all, about half the women in the hospital were around her, while the remaining half weren’t present because they were unable to squeeze in.

The entrance to the ward was no different than that of a farmer’s market.

The hospital security guards were constantly persuading fans to leave, but in a place like a hospital, they couldn’t make a ruckus driving them away. Besides, everyone knew that Li Jingtian was injured. If his fans were expelled, who knew what the crazier ones would do?

Therefore, the situation at the door to the emergency room where Li Jingtian was located seemed to have turned into a fan meeting. The security guards surrounded some of the fans at the entrance, hoping that they wouldn’t make too much noise, and at the same time, they prevented more people in the periphery from entering the encirclement.

To be honest, Zhang Xiaolong knew that Li Jingtian was coming to Hongjing a while ago. She had thought about asking for leave to go to his fan meeting, but in the end, she chose her lust for Captain Xing over Li Jingtian. After all, the former had the best-looking face!

However, not long after she went into work, something seemed to have happened at the shopping mall where Li Jingitan was holding his fan meeting. Captain Xing quickly rushed to the scene. While anxiously waiting for news, she suddenly received a call from Captain Xing, who sent her to the hospital to wait for Li Jingtian’s results. He further instructed her to wear normal clothing and told her to keep her mouth shut if she encountered the media.

What the hell?!

Why was Li Jingtian’s throat slit? Oh my god, the sky in the entertainment industry was about to crack!

Zhang Xiaolong shouted silently in her heart.

Although she wasn’t considered knowledgeable about the entertainment industry, she at least knew more than Xing Conglian.

Who was Li Jigntian? Ten years ago, he debuted with the Illi group. A powerful lead singer, he won three Golden Melody Awards. Although Li Jingtian wasn’t as popular as before because of his age, part of the reason was because he was humble and low-key and didn’t like hype. Moreover, Li Jingtian was really enthusiastic about public welfare. It was reported that his total donations surpassed ten million. Even if someone wasn’t his fan, they wouldn’t have any ill feelings towards him. Even if he had bit of a scandal recently, WHO TM CARES*? How could Li Jingitan do that kind of thing? His status in the music scene was still the same—as stable as Mount Tai!

*Lingo basically meaning, “Who the fuck cares”.

Zhang Xiaolong rushed to the hospital with a heart full of gossip to witness the history of the entertainment industry. Because she arrived earlier, she was able to grab a better spot to watch, and gradually, more people started filling in around her. Most of them were Li Jingtian’s “fans”, while the rest were hospital patients who heard the news. Then there were also the media reporters who came to join the fun.

Looking at those cameras occasionally flashing their lights, Zhang Xiaolong felt that Xing Conglian was quite farsighted. In fact, she could of course just walk through the crowd, handsomely flashing her police badge, and ask the doctor to report on the situation, but the result would be that she would never be able to return as she would be blocked by fans and reporters in the hospital.

“Did you say… urgent care?”

Captain Xing on the other end of the phone paused and asked again.

“That’s right.”

“Don’t you mean the emergency room*?”

*Clarity: The word Zhang Xiaolong said is “急救室” which is referring to a place for emergency treatment and diagnosis, while Xing Conglian is saying “急诊室” which is an emergency room for operations. Technically, they are both “emergency room” as urgent care as how the US understands it may not be the most accurate translation, but there needs to be a distinction because this is important to the story. Generally, if you get your throat slit, you would just go to the ER (no distinction), but Li Jingtian is sent to “urgent care” instead of “emergency surgery”.

Zhang Xiaolong was a little puzzled. She didn’t know why Xing Conglian had specifically asked this question, but she could only try her best to explain. “Yes, perhaps the situation is too critical to be sent to the operating room? Or maybe because there are too many people outside, so the doctor can’t push Li Jingtian to have an operation…” she said quietly. She looked around and found that the girls were only immersed in their sadness and didn’t notice her. She relaxed a bit and lowered her voice. Acting like a secret agent, she asked, “Do you want me to ask the doctor about the situation? My college classmate’s husband seems to be a doctor here.”

“Got it. I don’t need it for the time being. Just keep me posted.”

When Xing Conglian finished talking, he was about to hang up.

Zhang Xiaolong felt sad. She felt that she seemed quite useless. It was rare to take on a task, and the captain also wanted to protect her and didn’t let her pry for more information.

At this moment, there seemed to be some movement at the outermost end of the crowd. The girls in the entire corridor suddenly separated from each other. They stood on tiptoe again and found someone passing through from the far end of the corridor.

It was a lady in a plain dress with shoulder-length black hair wearing a thin layer of makeup. The lady wore sunglasses and met the media and fans in the corridor. She took off her sunglasses very politely and hung them on her neckline. She walked to the door of the emergency room, turned around, and faced all the fans. She then bowed deeply but didn’t speak.

When the girls saw the lady, they all choked up after being stunned, then shouted in a low voice, “Liu Jie…”

Only then did Zhang Xiaolong remember that this lady seemed to be Li Jingtian’s manager, Liu Ying.

Most likely how an artist really was, their manager would be the same. Li Jingtian’s manager also seemed to be humble and polite. As the manager of a big star, while facing fans and the media, she didn’t have the slightest arrogance.

“What’s going on?”

Captain Xing seemed to hear some commotion on the other side and called out to her a few times.

“Captain Xing… It’s Li Jingtian’s manager. She just arrived,” Zhang Xiaolong answered in a low voice.

The situation at the door to the ward was chaotic again.

At first, those reporters were just interviewing fans or harassing doctors on the periphery, but now they were pushing the onlookers in front of them, trying to squeeze to the forefront to interview Li Jingtian’s manager, as if she held big news.

“Oh, did she say anything?”

There were so many clicks and shouts that they drowned out Captain Xing’s voice in Zhang Xiaolong’s ear.

“She hasn’t started talking yet. She just bowed.” Zhang Xiaolong diligently reported. She then had a flash of inspiration and said, “Captain Xing, I’ll raise my phone higher. Don’t talk. Just listen quietly.”

There was an “Nn” on the other end of the phone. Zhang Xiaolong pretended she was taking a picture and cut off the call screen, then she held her phone forward.

At the same time, the lady at the door to the ward finally spoke. “I am Li Jingtian’s manager, Liu Ying. We all know that Mr. Li Jingtian suffered a terrible assault today, and currently his condition remains uncertain, but if he knew, during his struggle with life and death, how many people care for and love him this much, he would be relieved. So I must thank everyone for their concern for Jingtian. Thank you very much.”

Liu Ying’s face was dignified. Her speech was slow and had a vaguely mournful tone, which made it extremely touching.

Hearing this, the girls at the door of the ward burst into tears, as if they were aggrieved children whose parents were willing to stand up for them.

“What should I do…”

“Liu Jie, what should I do…”

“Jingtian will definitely persist, right?”

The helpless inquiries of the girls came one after another. In fact, they didn’t want an exact answer. What they wanted was hope.

And what a manager could say to the fans and media was, at most, nothing more than words of gratitude and conviction. Zhang Xiaolong sighed, intending to listen more, but suddenly, Ms. Liu bowed again. When she looked up, she had already cleaned up her sad face and made a solemn expression.

“You ask me what you can do?” She looked around at all the faces gathered at the door of the ward. Zhang Xiaolong glanced at her and hurriedly avoided her gaze. She clenched her phone and lowered her head.

Ms. Liu’s voice was stern as she quickly changed her tone and spoke seriously. “Although I don’t know what to do, I share your concern, fear, and sadness. I know you want to save him. The doctors are doing their best, just like the police, who are trying to catch the killer. Right now, Jingtian has been injured, and his condition remains uncertain. You being here is affecting the work of the doctors and disrupting the hospital. If you love Jingtian, then at this moment you should believe that the doctors are doing their best. More importantly, even if you’re worried, scared, and sad, you should not let others think that we ‘Tian fans’ are an unorganized and undisciplined group. Please, for Jingtian, don’t affect the normal order of the hospital. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.”

Zhang Xiaolong was shocked.

Looking at the stern-faced woman at the door to the ward, she instantly felt the queenly aura of Ms. Liu. However, she couldn’t scream out loud, so she could only do it silently in her heart. Seeing that this manager was reasonable and was trying to control the fans in this kind of tragedy was just too incredible!

She stood on her tiptoes again and tried to catch the queen’s face more clearly through the gap between people.

Zhang Xiaolong saw the queen’s face frown. Her chin was slightly raised, and her gaze fell on the media reporters behind the crowd as she continued, “Similarly, thank you very much for your presence, media friends. It would be a lie if I were to say I didn’t want the media present. I hope that you will be here and that you can spread the news about this matter. I even hope you can hype it up because we have been swallowing our anger for too long. What about the artists? They are humans too. Why should artists suffer infamy for no reason and be powerless to fight back? Now Jingtian is like this. No matter what the result is, we hope to use this example to tell everyone in society that although we’re part of the entertainment industry and are under the eyes of the public, we are also human and need our privacy. We need a safer environment. I don’t want the tragedy of what happened to Jingtian today to happen to another artist. So please, hype it hard!”

The queen’s words were loud. She bowed again. Although she was only wearing a plain dress, her words were so humble and polite that they mesmerized everyone present.

Zhang Xiaolong only felt the blood in her body getting hot. Indeed, Jingtian had received so many accusations for no reason. He was wronged, scolded badly, and now his throat was slit. This was too much. She even had an inexplicable feeling of anger. At this moment, she heard someone on the phone coughing lightly, summoning her back from her anger. She hurriedly took back the phone and heard Consultant Lin’s light voice coming from the other end of the line.

“How amazing.”

Consultant Lin only said this.

“I think it was pretty good.” Zhang Xiaolong felt her nose sour. She felt that Consultant Lin’s statement sounded wrong, so she couldn’t help but retort in a low voice.

“Indeed.”

Consultant Lin didn’t say anything else. The scene was quiet, with only the clicking of flashing lights being heard. Hearing that there was no sound coming on the other end, she sent her phone forward again.

This kind of thing felt like a slap in the face.

As if to prove her innocence and cuteness, the queen looked at the flashing white light from the cameras in front of her and began to summarize her statement. “Many people say that the media and artists always use each other, but in any case, I hope that we no longer oppose each other in this matter. I hope that our media friends can stand with us ‘Tian fans’ to help us through our difficulties, and finally, let us firmly believe the police can give Jingtian justice!”

Applause rang out. Zhang Xiaolong followed the surrounding fans and nodded vigorously, but after nodding, she suddenly felt that the queen’s words just now seemed weird. At this moment, the queen’s voice suppressed all the applause and sounded again. She said, “So, may I ask… Is there a relevant police officer in charge here?”

Kinky Thoughts:

I smell a set up.

Just to clarify on the emergency room thing, basically, Li Jingtian is sent to the ER but not to emergency operations. He’s getting treated, but not surgery-wise (like under the table), which is something you would expect him to be in if he got his throat slit. This is most likely relevant to the plot, which is why two terms are being used here.