CH 97

“Why? What’s wrong with this patient?”

Possibly out of professionalism, Dr Lin restrained his expression, saying awkwardly, “There isn’t really anything, but—uh, it’s not too bad. I shouldn’t be presumptuous and offer an opinion.” 

He flapped his hand. “The police have been keeping an eye over here the past few days. I didn’t expect that the defence counsel would actually be you. I consider you both as friends after those few times we crossed paths. If I may give my opinion, it seems easy to run into trouble with this case. The hospital has been harassed non-stop lately. You should… be careful.”

“We will, thank you.”

The glass elevator descended, sending Lin Yuan and the nurse downstairs.

Yan Suizhi glanced over and walked with Gu Yan through the corridor. 

“It feels like Dr Lin didn’t initially intend to only tell us to be careful,” he said.

“Mn,” Gu Yan agreed. “It’s obvious that he changed his words midway.”

“What did he originally intend to say?” Yan Suizhi mulled.

From the way his lips moved, it seemed like he was going to say the word ‘not’. But in the end, he only told them to ‘be careful’.

But what else could he have wanted to say?

You should not get into it? You should not take the case? You should not be the defence counsel for Mr Lee?

“This isn’t the main point,” Gu Yan said.

The main point was why he would remind them of this. 

In view of this, some of Lin Yuan’s behaviour was rather worth ruminating over. The two of them recalled for a moment.

When examining the burn wound in Wine City, Lin Yuan had conveniently done him a favour.

At that time, Yan Suizhi’s medical history was completely blank, which was actually a bit abnormal. Even a normal person like the bratty kid Joshua was able to notice straight away and be astonished by it. But Lin Yuan wasn’t. If it weren’t for Joshua making a fuss about it, he wouldn’t have noticed this issue at all.

Now that they thought about it, did he really not notice? Or did he notice but keep mum about it on purpose? 

Even after Joshua brought it up, he didn’t probe into why the medical records would be an empty sheet, but had even split the diagnosis from one consultation into three record spaces, helping Yan Suizhi somewhat embellish his records.

Would a Spring Ivy Hospital doctor really be so considerate?

Also, the genetic test.

Lin Yuan said that the doctor supposed to handle this at first wasn’t him, but the curly-haired doctor. It was only because the curly-haired doctor had a cousin who passed away in a medical accident, which kept him busy during that period, so he coincidentally took over. 

Qjr la ageis j mblcmlvfcmf?

Djmx atfc ktfc ifjnlcu, tf’v jirb abiv atfw ab ‘yf mjgfoei’. Ca atja alwf, Tjc Velhtl tjv ecmbcrmlberis jrrewfv atja tf kjr afiilcu atfw ab yf mjgfoei ktfc tjcvilcu atf wfvlmji fdelqwfca. Dea ktja lo atja kjrc’a rb?

Qtja lo tf kjr jmaejiis gfwlcvlcu Tjc Velhtl jcv Xe Tjc ab yf wbgf mjealber?

Yan Suizhi recalled for a moment then shook his head, saying, “Don’t overthink it.” 

“Hm?”

“If you already have a certain angle in mind, the more you look at a problem, the more things will seem to line up. It’s easy to pin suspicion to someone.” Yan Suizhi raised his brows. “If I keep thinking about it, I’m afraid I’ll just be concocting things from my subjective opinions.”

“You even have subjective opinions?” Gu Yan gave him a sidelong glance.

In the eyes of all law school students, Yan Suizhi was always calm and collected no matter what he was doing. He rarely had moments tainted by his emotions or subjective opinions. 

The esteemed Professor Yan said solemnly, “Of course. For example, when I look at you now, I can concoct a lot of subjective opinions. Do you want to hear them?”

Gu Yan intuitively felt foreboding, and incisively said, “I don’t want to.”

Yan Suizhi, “…”

Why are you being like this? 

While the far end of this corridor of special wards had the most people, it was also the quietest.

Six police officers guarded the ward, sitting on the benches flanking its entrance. Two were responsible for monitoring the people inside the ward, two were responsible for monitoring the people moving throughout the corridor, and the last two were conversing with a doctor and a nurse.

When Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan walked over, the two officers responsible for keeping an eye on the corridor activity immediately became vigilant, lifting their chins towards them from afar, asking, “Who are you? If you’re looking for a ward, don’t look here, go back to the front!”

The Elderly Bobblehead case was under heavy public scrutiny throughout the alliance. The toll it took on these police officers was immense; they likely hadn’t been able to get a good rest. Each one of them had eyebags that drooped down half their faces, and naturally, their tone was devoid of warmth. 

“Lawyer,” Gu Yan concisely stated his identity.

“Oh, I see. You’re that defence lawyer?” The six police officers guarding the ward all looked over, and even the hospital staff they were in conversation with turned their gazes over.

Hearsay, the client, Mr Lee, had a mouth tighter than a clam; it was impossible to be pried open. He was determined not to speak a word until his lawyer came. He was a wily old bird through and through, giving the police and the relevant medical staff migraines.

As a result, they had already tossed the blame to the representing lawyer even before the assignment was made, and when they saw Gu Yan now, everyone put on their worst stepmother faces, looking just like they had eaten stale scraps that was left out in the open overnight. 

Of course, this misplaced grudge was vaporous.

After being frozen over by Gu Yan’s face, it immediately dispersed.

The expression on the doctor eased, and he nodded at the two of them. “The patient has just finished his morning check-up. A nurse is helping him set-up the infusion pump now. You can go in.”

“What’s his present condition with the infection?” 

When speaking of this, the doctor’s face turned wooden. “Its onset is much slower in this patient than in others. Although his test came out positive, he isn’t showing any of the corresponding symptoms at the moment.”

Across the board, all infected patients in the quarantine station were in terrible agony, and it just had to be a suspect involved in a major case who didn’t feel the slightest trifle. Yet they still had to give him regular drips thrice daily in the morning, afternoon, and evening, and after being hooked up, he’d spend his days sprawled on the windowsill, teasing birds with bugs.

This morning, he had even made a particularly annoying remark. He said, “It’s only been a few days since I was hospitalised, but I’ve actually gained a kilo and a half.”

This was essentially all because of the infusion pump. 

However, a doctor was a doctor, and they had their professional ethics. Even if the second defendant, Mr Lee, was only infected in theory, he still had to follow the hospital regulations and treat this defendant.

“Other than that, there’s nothing,” he said.

Gu Yan, “Thank you.”

Yan Suizhi spoke up at this time. “What were you discussing just now?” 

In any case, it wouldn’t be this medical condition that could be briefed in a sparse few sentences.

The doctor hesitated, like he was deliberating whether or not to tell Yan Suizhi. Conversely, the police officer next to him openly mocked without skirting around it, “It’s nothing much. I was just trying to understand the probability of faking an infection from a professional standpoint. It’s my first fucking time seeing a patient put on weight when hospitalised. I’m not buying it.”

Yan Suizhi nodded. “If I may ask, what is the result of that discussion?”

“The probability of faking it is close to none,” the doctor said. “The error margin of the testing equipment is basically negligible. Moreover, we’ve run a few rounds of strict tests on him; he is indeed positive.” 

When Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan entered the ward, a young nurse was tugging the last tubing on the infusion pump, saying to the man by the window, “Please cooperate with me for a moment and turn your head sideways. This last needle will have to go in at the base of the ear here.”

The nurse even indicated the spot on her ear before she continued in her attempts to get the patient to lower his head.

The man had a head of short black hair. While he was tall, he didn’t have a well-proportioned figure; his arm muscles appeared unusually bulky. If it weren’t for the hospital gown he was wearing, he carried no visible indications of his status as a ‘patient’ from head to toe.

He shot the nurse a mischievous smile and winked. “Visitors have come. I’ll entertain them first.” 

With that, he turned over and walked up to Gu Yan.

Unable to administer the shot, the young nurse chased after him, helplessness written all over her face.

He had long legs. His few strides forward forced the nurse to break out in a jog to keep up. Further, she also needed the patient to cooperate and bow his head or she wouldn’t be able to inject the right spot.

Gu Yan’s brows creased faintly. 

It took special skills to come off this disagreeable right when they met.

“Oh, it’s actually you. Pleasure to meet you, pleasure to meet you.” He reached a hand towards Gu Yan. “Horace Lee.”

“Gu Yan.”

While the two of them were talking, Yan Suizhi smiled at the young nurse, beckoning with his fingers, saying quietly, “Give it to me.” 

The nurse was unable to come to her senses in time, her head in the clouds, completely fooled by his smile. Mystified, she passed him that last needle and the tubing attached to it.

Then, Horace Lee turned towards Yan Suizhi, asking with his brows raised, “And you are…”

Yan Suizhi, “I’m Lawyer Gu’s intern.”

“Oh, pleasure to meet you,” Horace Lee said, extending a hand. 

Yan Suizhi calmly accepted the gesture; when he grasped the other hand, he tugged it firmly.

Horace Lee staggered slightly, and was jabbed in the base of his ear by Yan Suizhi.

“…”

He wasn’t as careful with his technique as that young nurse was, only caring about accuracy, so the injection was a very unpleasant experience. 

“Hss—” The needle shot a stab of pain through Horace Lee. He abruptly flung off Yan Suizhi’s hand, unconsciously drawing in a sharp breath while covering the base of his ear.

Yan Suizhi turned his head to ask the nurse, “Did I get it in the right spot?”

The nurse nodded, saying softly, “You got it.”

Yan Suizhi said to Horace Lee, who was glaring at him. “You don’t have to thank me.” 

Horace Lee, “…”

Who the fuck wants to thank you???