Chapter 12

Not only was the title short, but the layout was also very simple.

Although simple, one could tell that it was done very conscientiously. Every part of the text was neat and well-organised, with proper paragraphing and punctuation. At a glance, it was obvious that the other party wrote this very seriously.

Date: 16th August.

【Cage No. 2】

The fractures in three areas around the body of the orange tabby cat that was sent in have been fixed and its recovering well from the surgery. It might have been in pain after the anaesthesia had worn off as the little fella kept whimpering from time to time for the entirety of the night before yesterday. As I was worried it might experience discomfort from inflammation, I did a full body examination when I was on the night shift and thankfully, there was no inflammation.

It had quietened down yesterday but it would sometimes claw at the bandages.

Fractures require a longer recovery period. Thus, it’s recommended to keep it for longer observation before deciding whether it can be given up for adoption.

【Cage No. 5】

The white Persian cat whose left eye was punctured with metal, suffered skull injury, and showed signs of slight infection after removal of the foreign body. It has been quarantined and the nurses have been instructed to take extra care to administer post-op antibiotic supplementation.

The madam responsible for cleaning its cage observed that it was a little too quiet, so I went to check on it several times yesterday. The little fella sleeping soundly, all nicely wrapped up in a little blanket to keep it warm. It has been eating cat food just fine and is capable of using the cat litter by itself, so its physiological functions should be alright. Perhaps, it’s only the recovery that isn’t going very well. It is still relatively weak and will need to remain hospitalised for further observation, so it can’t be put up for adoption in the short term.

【Cage No. 14】

The black and white local special with partial burns has relatively light injuries compared to the same batch of cats that were sent in. In order to reduce the chance of bacterial infection, the assisting nurse shaved the hair around the wound and the gauze was being changed three times a day. Anti-inflammatory medication is being fed to the cat.

Not only does this little fella have a good appetite, it is also very mischievous. It likes to nibble at the bandages and pounce at the cage next to it, waking its neighbour up. The day after tomorrow, it can be moved to a regular ward to be adopted.

…

This email documented the health of a total of sixteen kittens.

Each description ended with a photo of the cat. The cats in the photos were very cute and lovely and would arouse the pity in anyone who saw it.

“Eh? Isn’t this very well-written?” Qi Jing subconsciously muttered under his breath while reading the email intently.

Although he had forgotten where he heard this, apparently, seemingly withdrawn people tended to write with great delicacy and emotion. And it seemed to be true.

However…

What was up with this fatherly feeling overflowing from the words.

“Keke.” A chuckle slipped out of Qi Jing’s lips and gave himself a stun. He turned his eyes to the mirror on the closet in the room and finally realised that he’s had this understanding smile on his face since the start. When he met eyes with the person in the mirror, the smile on his face stiffened a little.

The so-called healing feeling was probably referring to this effect——

He had originally planned on getting the other party to write a brief sentence or two and then he would expand on it based on the photos.

However, as it stood, he felt like it was perfectly fine to just use the original text as is and it might be even more vivid. He only needed to add a preface and an afterword, as well as give an introduction of the relevant adoption procedures.

In addition, Qi Jing also wanted to get more publicity for the other party.

His group was scheduled to go down to the hospital to get some footage, and using this opportunity accompanied by the descriptions, they would be able to appeal to the audience more.

When he thought about this, Qi Jing got up from his seat and started pacing around the room for a while, mulling over this notion. It was already 10.30 PM, yet he still couldn’t stop himself from calling the director of the News Channel.

“Hello, Director? It’s Qi Jing here. Am I disturbing your rest?”

That last question was a typical polite remark.

For those of them, who were in the news industry, the ones that didn’t work into the wee hours of the morning before resting were few and far between. They often worked overtime and the ones with their day and night completely swapped were in the majority.

“It’s only 10.30 PM. It’s still early,” the Director said like it was nothing, “What’s the matter? Did you get a big scoop?”

“No, it’s regarding the follow-up report on the cat abuse incident that I mentioned to you yesterday. The one where we’ll be going down to get some footage tomorrow.”

“Oh, yes, I remember. Why?”

Qi Jing deliberated over the length of the email before seeking for the director’s permission, “Originally, you had given me a minute to report on the matter, but I’d like to ask if it can be extended to two minutes? I just received an email from the hospital and there’s been a change in the original idea. I don’t want to go down the route of simply doing a summary, but instead, I want to zoom in on the details to deepen the audience’s impression of this news.”

The director of the channel hesitated for a moment before saying, “If you want to double the time, you’ll have to contact the program’s production manager directly. You plan on broadcasting this news on the 6 PM news tomorrow, don’t you? It might be a little rushed if you want to extend the time now.”

“If you give me your consent, I will contact them immediately. I’m quite well-acquainted with the people over at the news broadcast, so they should be fine with it.”

Qi Jing often ate with his colleagues over at the news broadcast production team and mixed in pretty well with them so this adjustment in duration shouldn’t pose a big problem for him.

Seeing his subordinate being this proactive, as the leader, the director naturally went along with it.

After obtaining the director’s approval, Qi Jing communicated with the news broadcast team and the staff in charge of editing told him that there happened to be some sensitive footage from other news reports that couldn’t be used. After cutting those out, they managed to thirty seconds and after removing some redundant images from elsewhere, they, fortunately, managed to get one full minute for Qi Jing.

After several consecutive phone calls, it was already past midnight when the interview plan for tomorrow was finalised.

Qi Jing took a quick shower before returning back to the computer to pen down an earnest reply to the email.

He wrote down his thoughts for each description of the cats, numbered the photos, and saved them in a special folder. After writing a long reply, he carefully checked through it and felt he should add a sentence at the end.

“You’ve worked hard, Dr. Shen. Please take care to get proper rest and don’t overwork yourself.”

Once he was done, feeling like it was still lacking something, Qi Jing added his signature emoticon “^_^” at the end of the sentence. He did one last check and sent it out.

The next morning, Qi Jing, along with a cameraman, a camera assistant, and a lightning assistant drove to the entrance of the hospital.

Perhaps it was because they were from the provincial TV station, the president of the hospital and his wife personally came out to greet them.

After the few of them exchanged pleasantries, Qi Jing got the team to set up the equipment to shoot the exterior of the hospital first while he gave a brief introduction about the background of the incident.

The head nurse, Ms. Pang, heard that he was here and waited at the side with a smile on her face while watching Qi Jing explain the incident in front of the camera.

Her impression of Qi Jing seemed to have greatly improved since the first time she met him and the reason was that he had a good voice. It was likely that if she was thirty years younger, she might also dabble in audio dramas.

“Good morning everyone, I am your reporter, Qi Jing. Right now, I am standing in front of the hospital that is providing assistance to the cats in this cat abuse incident.”

When he was recording for the news, Qi Jing’s voice was raised a little more than usual to sound brighter and appear more energetic.

It was expected for TV News Reporters to be eloquent in order to articulate all the information in the shortest time possible.

Qi Jing was already very skilled in this area and not to mention that his voice was particularly outstanding.

“Reporter Comrade, your voice sounded really good when you speak in front of a camera, “ Ms. Pang, who was in charge of leading the group to the wards, praised Qi Jing when they were done taking footage in front of the hospital.

“Haha, thank you for the compliment.” Qi Jing’s mouth was speaking to Ms. Pang, but his eyes were wondering about as he asked, “Is Dr. Shen not in today?”

“Ah, you’re asking for Dr. Shen? This morning, a dog that accidentally swallowed bone fragments and got them stuck inside its stomach was brought in. The owner was also a careless one, they only realised that something was wrong with the dog after three or four days. That’s why it’s undergoing surgery now with Dr. Shen as the Chief Surgeon so I’m afraid he’s tied up,” Ms. Pang explained.

“Is he usually so busy?”

“It depends, but these two days have been especially busy.”

So… he took the time to make such detailed observations while working under such high intensities.

Qi Jing couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of guilt welling up in his heart.

When they arrived at the wards, they were greeted with the sight of the sixteen kitties mentioned in the email.

“Aiya, these cats look so pitiful.”

“I can’t even bear to take the footages.”

Witnessing the various injuries on the cats in person, even the cameraman and the lighting assistant felt a pang in their hearts and they all started berating the criminal.

“Let’s hurry up. After the news airs tonight, we can definitely help to find homes for them as soon as possible.”

While it was good to express the sympathy they felt, what was more important was taking actual action. Qi Jing checked his watch and walked to a place with suitable lighting while adjusting his microphone.

“I’ll start off with an opening speech before moving on to talk about some of the more representative cats. After that, I’ll be relying on you guys for the footage of the cats. Our time is a little tight and we’ve already spent half a minute outside. If I take more than twenty seconds on each cat, please gesture to remind me.”

“OK.” Both the cameraman and the lighting assistant took their place.

Qi Jing briefly introduced the ward they were in and found the corresponding cages according to the numbers mentioned in the email.

He had printed out the contents of the email beforehand, slightly modified that person’s words, and started recording in a narrating tone like a big brother telling a story.

“The cat in cage number 2 is an orange tabby cat. It was sent in with fractures in three areas around the body and it has been fixed. Dr. Shen, who headed the surgery, told us that the little guy was recovering well after surgery, but felt pain after the anesthesia wore off, and kept whimpering from time to time at the beginning…”

In contrast to his bright new reporting voice, his voice now was a little lower, a little slower, and infused with a warm feeling.

Even his colleagues, who were doing the recording, gave him a thumbs-up, commending him for the way he controlled the tone of his voice.

“It sounded very fatherly,” the lighting assistant pointed out jokingly afterward.

Qi Jing froze for a moment before his lips curved into a smile.

The way he did the report just now was because he was being affected by that person’s words, that’s why it gave a similar feeling. It’s like when two people are playing against each other, his performance would be affected by the good acting of the CV he was playing against.

Qi Jing was stunned by the thought that flashed across his mind and subconsciously uttered an, “Eh?”

Why did he suddenly think of someone who was completely unrelated? How strange.

He shook his head in self-mockery before confirming the recorded content with his colleagues once more. However, just as he was about to leave the ward, he suddenly looked up and met eyes with someone he knew amongst the onlookers beyond the glass.

——It’s him.

It looked like the operation had only just ended not too long ago as the other party hasn’t changed out of the surgical gown. The gloves had been removed but the mask was still on.

It couldn’t be… that he rushed over to send them off?

Qi Jing hurriedly went up to him and said with a smile, “Dr. Shen, really, thank you for that email. I apologise for borrowing your descriptions in the report without permission, but I really think it’s appropriate and effective.”

That man looked into his eyes and nodded lightly.

“Un, I heard it. The way you conveyed it was filled with emotion.”

So he heard it just now.

Even though his colleagues also complimented him, he didn’t really feel anything much at that time. However, he couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed hearing it from the person who wrote those words down.

“It’s because the diary in itself was written with emotion.”

Qi Jing had a habit. Whenever he felt embarrassed, he would lower his eyes, avoiding the other person’s line of sight as naturally as he could. Then, at the same time, he turned his head slightly to the left and reached out his left hand to push his hair behind his ear, taking the chance to feel if his ear was hot.

Fortunately, the temperature was normal.

Fortunately.

“I meant your voice.” Just then, that man suddenly continued, “Your voice was very emotive.”

Qi Jing’s hand suddenly froze in place.

With his finger against the back of his ear, he could clearly feel the change in temperature.

Don’t look up.

At a time like this, he absolutely could not look up——

Qi Jing instinctively realised that he was in a very awkward situation and couldn’t even say thank you, but only managed a dry laugh.

He reckoned everyone could probably hear how forced the laugh sounded.

Luckily, a colleague from the TV station had come out from the ward and called out to him, “Let’s go, Qi Jing!”

“Ah… right, we’re done recording the news and we’ll need to rush back to the station now to hand it to the post-production team. It should be in time for the 6 PM News, so if you have the time, Dr. Shen, do remember to watch it——bye.” Qi Jing fixed his professional smile on his face again and left hastily after politely bidding the other party goodbye.

Qi Jing didn’t even manage to catch the other party’s reaction.

However, he did hear the word that was murmured coming from behind him. “Goodbye.”

Qi Jing took big strides forward.

Exiting from the hospital, he made his way to the station’s minivan and quietly helped his co-workers move the filming equipment. When that was all done, he finally closed the door and leaned into the back of the seat as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

The fact was, he wasn’t bashful when it came to being praised. When his friends or colleagues complimented him, he could also tease them back with a smile.

The main thing was that it was just too unexpected this time and his heart wasn’t prepared for it.

That doctor did give the impression of being indifferent initially, despite Ms. Pang letting Qi Jing know in advance that he was just a man of few words. Qi Jing wouldn’t have expected for someone like that to praise him so straightforwardly.

Most importantly, was that it was obvious this person was the kind that could not lie.

Therefore, those words weren’t lies, he genuinely meant them.

It was different from the praise given by a superior to encourage one to ensure smooth-running, the flattery between colleagues, or the playful teasing between friends.

“That gave me such a shock,” Qi Jing couldn’t help but mutter to himself.

Rather than saying he felt discomfited at that time, it would be more accurate to say that he was shocked. Not knowing what to do, he could only cut short the conversation between them.

Somehow, he felt that something very wrong would happen if that conversation continued.

Something very very wrong.

“What did you say shocked you?” The cameraman, who was driving the car, was confused by the words Qi Jing blurted out of nowhere.

“The cats’.” Daddy.

Qi Jing took it upon himself to give that man this title. It was pretty appropriate anyway.

“Oh, I get you.” The cameraman thought Qi Jing was referring to the cats’ injuries. It was nice to have a colleague who was easy to fool.

Qi Jing stopped talking and gently raised his left hand to smooth the hair at the side of his head.

Good. It had completely cooled down.