CH 78

Yan Suizhi gave a start.

Because he was distracted by the case in the past few days, the open question of the genetic modification’s efficacy period had been shelved, long forgotten. He had never expected that Gu Yan would actually keep this in mind, even making arrangements for him long in advance. 

It would be a lie to claim that he wasn’t touched. Except, apart from feeling touched, there was still something else, like the tiny feet of garden ants gently treading on and scurrying across the roof of his heart.

He leaned back into the front passenger seat, looked at Gu Yan for a while, then said with a nod, “Alright.” He had always been particular about courtesy, but he didn’t say thank you at a time like this.

“Mn,” Gu Yan responded.

After hanging up the line, Gu Yan lowered his head, recalibrating the destination, as if oblivious to Yan Suizhi’s gaze. 

The car quickly started up, turning at the intersection ahead to drive towards Spring Ivy Hospital.

Some time into the journey, Yan Suizhi suddenly spoke. “I dreamt of you last night.”

Gu Yan’s fingers, which were replying to work emails, stopped abruptly. He turned his head to look over.

Actually, Yan Suizhi also didn’t expect that he would suddenly bring this up. After the words came out, his mind jolted for a beat, and he broke into laughter.

But since the subject was already brought up, was it possible for him to suddenly leave it hanging?

He glanced at Gu Yan askew. He was acutely aware that if he really did so, the meager results of last night’s coaxing would very likely go down the drain, irrevocably lost.

So, after deliberating for a couple of seconds, Professor Yan casually continued in a conversational tone, “I dreamt that at a wine party one year, a certain student was standing all alone on the balcony like an ice sculpture. I thought he was feeling poignant about graduation so I had planned to go over to appease him, but in the end, the ice sculpture didn’t even listen to my question, wishing me a happy birthday instead.”

He chuckled. “It was quite an amusing memory. Unfortunately, I woke up at this point, maybe because I can’t remember how I answered you after that.” 

After listening to his story, Gu Yan shifted his gaze away, suddenly saying indifferently after a moment’s pause, “I do.”

“Hm?”

“You said, ‘Thank you. I wish you a happy birthday in advance, too.’ At that time, it was still more than eight months before my birthday.” Gu Yan finished in an exceedingly calm and inflectionless tone, then reached out to press a button. “Get off, we’re at the hospital.”

“…” 

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He wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the eye, but Yan Suizhi felt that Gu Yan appeared to be in a slightly better mood.

Last night’s efforts at coaxing didn’t bear much fruit, and yet the words from today did the trick. Obviously, a certain student had a fondness for listening to sleep talk. 

Yan Suizhi shook his head, then picked up the conversation, asking, “Did I really answer you like that?”

Gu Yan’s eyes flickered over, his gaze practically reading, ‘Shouldn’t you be the clearest of whether or not you’d say such a thing?’

The esteemed Professor Yan simply shed all pretence. He took the gentlemen’s road, saying magnanimously, “Okay then, it’s my fault for forgetting. Whatever you say is what it is.”

— 

It was still midwinter in De Carma. In the days that they were away, the several continuous days of snow had blanketed the rows of holly trees and evergreen creeping ivy in a layer of white snow. Many people came in and out through the hospital entrance, all bundled in coats and scarves, the breaths that left their parted mouths turning into mist.

This was the most familiar winterscape, yet wholly different from the one in last night’s dream.

In his teens, it was always difficult for Yan Suizhi to remember that his birthday was in winter, for the front and backyards of his childhood home were temperature-controlled. Initially, that was because his mother’s health was poor and she was unable to withstand the chill, but it later became a place for her to tease Yan Suizhi.

Before Yan Suizhi’s birthday, she would always furtively adjust the temperature and humidity of the garden. It would only take a week before the style of the front and backyards would be transformed beyond recognition. When he was young, Yan Suizhi got so muddled from her antics that he couldn’t differentiate the four seasons. This prevailed until he was ten, thereafter he completely found his composure and was able to handle any surprises or scares with aplomb. 

However, also because of this, every childhood memory that Yan Suizhi had of his birthdays was warm and bright, tinted with the carefreeness and coziness characteristic of the holidays.

Even though several decades had passed, it was still difficult for Yan Suizhi draw the line between the winterscape he saw and his approaching birthday. So, despite holding an internal wine party every winter, he would always be a little taken aback every time he heard people saying ‘happy birthday’ to him; naturally then, his reply would also be more candid.

It was an amusing anecdote to listen to now, but he didn’t know if Gu Yan had found his attitude dismissive at that time.

This hospital was essentially Spring Ivy’s headquarters in De Carma. It covered a vast area, consisting of a multitude of convoluted departments across many rows of buildings. Regardless of when in the year, it would be difficult to get a headcount of the patients and families who came in and out of them everyday. 

“Yes, we’re here.” They were looking at the floor plan on the ground floor of a detached genetics building. Gu Yan was talking to the doctor over his communication device. “We’re next to a water fountain on the ground floor.”

Spring Ivy Hospital was one of the few hospitals in the interstellar alliance that were authorised to perform genetic modification surgery. As such, there would always be several branches on the various planets with a dedicated genetics building. Despite there not being many people who needed to register for genetic modification in the alliance, the not many people flocked to an even more limited number of authorised hospitals, causing it to still be all the more crowded.

The entrance area was full of people who were here for some manner or other of genetic modification. Apart from their more handsome visages, Gu Yan and Yan Suizhi didn’t really stand out from the crowd.

Not long later, a tall and skinny doctor with his hands stuck in his white coat pockets circled around the crowd, coming out from a corridor. 

His eyes were obscured by the protective goggles for use during experimental observation. The deep blue lenses blocked his eyebrows, while the lower half of his face was covered by a mask. This fully decked-out wardrobe would have been very conspicuous in the outpatient or emergency department, but was perfectly normal in the genetics building.

“Are you… Lawyer Gu?” By the water fountain, the doctor immediately found the two waiting people at a glance. “It’s actually you guys?”

The way he said this made it sound as if he had met them before.

Yan Suizhi said, his eyes crinkled into a smile, “Pardon my bluntness, but it’s hard for us to give you a response to that statement when you’re all covered up like this.” 

“Oh.” That doctor pushed the protective goggles up to his forehead and took off his mask, saying, “Though, it’s fairly normal if you don’t recognise me even after I take this off.”

“The doctor from Wine City.” Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan were both able to recognise him at once.

The doctor was named Lin Yuan; he was the one who had prescribed medicine for Yan Suizhi’s burned leg in Wine City.

He looked a few years older than Gu Yan. Of course, this could also be the influence of his unhurried manner of speaking and temperament that gave off a misconception of him being several years older. “When I previously met you two at Wine City, I didn’t expect to actually meet again like this.” He said, then asked Yan Suizhi cordially and with a little concern, “How’s it? Did you get any scars from that wound?” 

Yan Suizhi shook his head. “It recovered nicely.”

“That’s great.” Lin Yuan recalled Yan Suizhi’s wound from before and couldn’t help but sigh. “It’s difficult for you both as lawyers. It seems to be quite a high-risk profession.”

Yan Suizhi, “Likewise.”

Lin Yuan, “…” 

“I also didn’t expect that you’d be friends with Young Master Joe,” Lin Yuan continued to casually make conversation. “What a coincidence, really. I wasn’t the one in charge of handling this at first; Young Master Joe had originally arranged for Jacques White to do it. Oh, you should have seen him too, right? Back in Wine City, when you were leaving, he happened to brush past you two when coming into my consultation room.”

“The curly-haired doctor?”

“Yeah, that guy.” Lin Yuan said, “There was an accident in his family recently, so I directly took it under my wing.”

“Accident?” 

Lin Yuan gave a start. “Have you read the news? There was a medical accident two days ago that resulted in loss of human lives. In recent days, De Carma’s global audit has uncovered a string of illegal medical clinics.”

Yan Suizhi, “I think I skimmed through an article on the car this morning, but I haven’t read the specifics. This is related to that curly-haired doctor?”

“His cousin died in a medical accident. His aunt and uncle aren’t in good health and didn’t receive the news well, so he’s been busy dealing with the aftermath these two days.”

“Since the curly-haired is a Spring Ivy doctor, why would his cousin go to an illegal clinic…” 

“I don’t know.” Lin Yuan flapped a hand. “Forget it, let’s not talk about these. Let’s go, I’ll take you to the test cabins.”

The two men followed behind Dr Lin upstairs, passing the diagnosis and surgical floors and the wards to finally stop at Level 12.

“From here on up to Level 17 are the research areas. Normal people don’t have access,” Lin Yuan said.

Every floor here was behind a specialised, password-protected door that required authorised personnel to be scanned before the door would open. 

“All the rooms in this row are labs containing specialised test cabins for research use. Actually, these are used to track numerical changes in specimen samples. But there happened to be two among them this week that weren’t housing samples. Since they weren’t in use, I booked them out,” Lin Yuan said as he led them into one of the rooms.

There was a complex medical apparatus erected in the room. A dozen transparent tubes hung from it, each connected to an electronic sensor. There was a place in the middle of the machine for a person to sit, a large display screen by its side.

“Is this it?”

Lin Yuan nodded. “Yep. We call it a cabin, but we actually only seal it when putting samples in. Usually, they can be used with the cover open like this. I’ve already set this up for you guys in advance with my authorisation level. It is now in standby mode and will automatically activate when it detects a human body on it. I’ve also cut this display screen off from the hospital’s internal system; therefore, even though the results of your measurements will be shown on the screen, the history will be automatically cleared after it is closed. Aside from the two of you, no one else will see it.” 

He also pointed to a piece of paper pasted on the wall. “Here. The instructions and precautions for use are all written on this; it’s pretty idiot-proof. You can just follow it.”

Hearing this, Yan Suizhi looked to where he pointed towards and glanced at the paper, ending up seeing a ginormous keyword in the very first step—strip.

Yan Suizhi, “???”