The Brain Science Case 124

Chapter 124: The Collapsing Tower – 5

“I like you.”

At this sudden confession, Jinglin was first taken aback, and then she burst into a series of uncontrollable laughter.

“W-What are you laughing at?” He had simulated her reaction to his confession in his mind countless times, but he had never thought she would laugh as if she had heard a joke.

“Pfft, haha, I’m sorry… I don’t know… I just feel like laughing. Hehe.” Jinglin was laughing so hard she was shaking. She held up a hand. “Okay, phew, phew, okay, I’ve stopped, I’ve stopped.” She finally managed to stop laughing, but the corners of her mouth were still lifted.

“Is it funny?” he asked, his face filled with defeat.

“No, I’m not laughing at you, really.”

“Then… what’s your answer?”

“Wait a minute. Before I answer… are you serious?”

“Of course.”

Jinglin said, “Oh,” and “no wonder Xiangrong said that to me.” She had a sudden realization.

Cai Yuwei frowned. “What did he say to you?”

“Nothing much…” just a few intriguing hints. “Hey, Cai Yuwei, I’ve never thought about it.”

“Never thought about what? That a guy would confess to you, or that you think I wouldn’t like you?”

“Both, I guess. I’ve been with you guys for so long, and I practice boxing almost every day. I have the illusion that I’m about to become a guy.” She smiled and rested her chin on her hand. “Besides, compared to me, isn’t the other one more eye-catching to you guys? You visual animals.”

“I really don’t know who would dare to pursue the teacher.” His face was filled with panic.

“Well, that’s true.” Thinking of Yingli’s poker face, she smiled. Actually, Yingli was naturally beautiful, and she was very pretty when she smiled—setting aside her cold smile.

He, who was waiting for her to continue, saw that the topic had been interrupted and had to press her again. “So what is it?” he held his head, feeling that this confession was a complete failure.

“Haha, don’t talk in such a world-weary tone.” Jinglin stood up. “Well… do you really like me?”

“Of course it’s real.”

“Don’t you think my identity is very awkward? You’re basically confessing to the daughter of a fugitive suspect right now.”

Cai Yuwei patted his butt and stood up. “Uh, does that matter? Your mom is your mom, and you are you.”

“I’m just very curious. If I agree, how would you face me and my mom, who are on different sides?”

She jumped down the steps, and Cai Yuwei, seeing this, followed. “Even I have the same doubt. I’ve said that no matter what, I will not be a bystander in this case. As a detective, I should obey my superiors, and no matter what, I should set aside my personal feelings and catch the suspect first. But at the same time, I’m also the suspect’s daughter… ha, what daughter would point a gun at her mother?” Unfortunately, she had actually done that.

“But it’s me who likes you now. Do we have to bring this case into it at this time?”

“Silly Ah Wei, your family background is not bad, and your performance has always been very stable. Don’t you want to climb up?” she turned abruptly and bit her lip, “are you willing to have a girlfriend who could become a stumbling block to your promotion?”

“I… oh.” He ran his hands through his hair in frustration and, as if he were throwing everything aside, he shouted, “Let’s not worry about that for now. Are you willing to be with me?”

He tried to take her hand, but Jinglin held her hands tightly behind her back. “Jinglin…”

“Setting aside the fact that I never thought you would confess to me, to be honest… I don’t dislike you. To be more precise, I quite enjoy working with you.”

Cai Yuwei’s heart was in his throat, but she quickly continued, “But if we were to be a couple, I feel like there’s still something missing.”

“Something missing?”

“Yes, if you want to put it in a more literary way, it’s the lack of…” she made a victory sign with both hands and at the same time bent her knuckles, “the feeling of a ‘fluttering heart,’ I guess.”

He was amused by her gesture. “Pfft, what… the feeling of a ‘fluttering heart’?”

“Well, I do have a good impression of you, but it’s not to the point where I want to be with you, right?”

To Cai Yuwei, this was like a death sentence.

“Ah Wei?” Huh, was she not subtle enough?

“It’s nothing.” He clutched his heart, but then he said with a tearful face, “No, it’s something. So you’re not willing?” My heart is bleeding.

“Um…” not wanting to see him disappointed, she racked her brains to explain, “but, but if we continue to spend time together, maybe… I might have a fluttering heart for you.”

In any case, he had been completely defeated this time. “It’s fine. I was prepared… the lack of a fluttering heart… ” he sighed to the sky.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize. You can’t force feelings.”

On the way back to the parking lot, they were silent. “Jinglin, you…” it wasn’t until they were near the car that Cai Yuwei spoke, “do you have someone you like?”

“No, why do you suddenly…” ask that.

“Because you just said you were missing the feeling of a ‘fluttering heart’,” he made the same gesture, “and your tone was very clear. But I remember you said you’ve never been in a relationship… since you’re sure you don’t have a fluttering heart for me, but you have no love experience, that means you know what a fluttering heart feels like, right?”

She was at a loss. “Wait a minute, can you deduce it like that…”

“To put it bluntly, you have a crush on someone, right?”

Jinglin’s mind went blank for a moment. Cai Yuwei unlocked the car with the remote, and she stood frozen outside the passenger seat. Seeing that she was thinking, he also stopped.

“I…” closing her eyes, she shook her head, “I don’t know.”

“Huh?”

“I thought about it… is this, a crush? It’s true that I care a lot about that person’s reaction, and when I’m with her, it’s mostly happy, but… does that count?”

Jinglin’s confused expression made him even more frustrated. “I don’t know if it is… but I probably know who you’re talking about.”

“Um…”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Let’s go. I’ll take you home.” He lightly tapped the car door. The two of them got into the car together.

**

While listening to the nurse’s account, Ren Liqiong still couldn’t understand her panic.

But after seeing her former colleague, who was covered in blood and strapped to a stretcher, she suddenly understood.

She first touched the patient’s side to check for any fractures, and another emergency room doctor shone a penlight into his eyes. “The pupils are unequal…”

Everyone worked together to move him from the stretcher to the hospital bed. “Head trauma, and a fracture in the pelvis.” Jumping from a building… was it a suicide? Did he do it because he was unhappy with his new work environment, or as a protest against the unreasonable treatment he had received?

“Blood pressure 70, heart rate 125.”

The nurse reported the values on the monitor, which made Ren Liqiong quickly snap back to reality. She pushed aside all distractions and focused on the patient before her.

“The head trauma is very dangerous… should we notify neurosurgery?”

“Ask Dr. Tang if he can come and help.”

“Understood.”

The emergency room was on high alert because of the sudden patient, and Tang Yingli, as an outsider, naturally had no place to stay.

Through the isolation door, her gaze was locked on Ren Liqiong and the patient who had been rushed in. A sudden transfer? Although Ren Liqiong hadn’t finished her sentence, Yingli could still deduce the general situation from the fragmented conversation and the existing materials.

“For what reason was he suddenly transferred…?”

Her index finger on her glasses, Yingli was lost in thought, so when someone rushed up behind her, her reaction was a few beats behind.

“I’m sorry, excuse me.”

The person who had rushed up behind her was Tang Zhichao in a dark green surgical gown.

“Brother?”

“Ying… you’re still here?” he asked, pulling down his mask in surprise.

“Yes, I was just talking to Sister Liqiong…”

“This is not the time to talk about this. Let me through.”

Tang Zhichao quickly entered the restricted area, and a moment later, the medical staff pushed the patient inside, probably to the operating room.

He probably wouldn’t be out for a while. Yingli turned gracefully, and besides praying for the patient’s successful rescue, she also hoped that this would be a breakthrough point in her investigation.

After all, not only Li Yuejiao, but even Tang Zhichao, questions were popping up one after another like bamboo shoots after a rain.

She had been studying abroad for so many years, and her views, thoughts, and concepts had all changed—except for her appearance.

And of course, so had the others.

**

“He’s temporarily out of danger… but the next few days are a critical recovery period. Whether he can wake up or not depends on these few days.”

“Thank you… thank you, Dr. Tang.” Yao Wenyu’s wife was in tears, and she almost lost her balance when she bowed to thank him.

“Daddy…” her six-year-old son held back his tears, his eyes wide as he looked at him on the hospital bed.

Seeing this scene, Tang Zhichao first felt sad, and then a wave of anger washed over him. He was silent, and after a quick goodbye to Yao Wenyu’s wife, he left the emergency room.

‘I’m in the lobby’—as soon as he opened his phone, he immediately saw Yingli’s message, which had been sent twenty minutes ago.

It’s almost nine. She had been at the hospital all day.

He came out with his coat and briefcase. The lights in the lobby had already been dimmed, but Yingli, who was sitting in the lounge, didn’t seem to mind, and was even reading a book with a flashlight.

“I thought you would have gone back to the station.”

“Ah, I took the afternoon off.” Her slender legs were wrapped in black stockings, and she looked up. “Was the surgery successful?”

“We managed to reduce the pressure on his brain… it was a close call.”

“He hasn’t regained consciousness yet?”

“It’s not that fast. Honestly… he doesn’t even think about his wife and children, and he actually did such a foolish thing…” he cursed a few times, which was rare for him.

“Are you and he close?”

“We’re okay. He was in neurosurgery for a while before, and I went out to eat with him a few times, and we usually chat a lot.” Seeing Yingli stand up, they looked at each other.

“Let’s go. What are you looking at me for?”

“I thought you were waiting for Officer Zhou to take you home.”

“No, I was sitting here waiting for you, and I even bought a book to pass the time.” She waved the English novel in her hand.

Although Tang Zhichao was suspicious, at his sister’s urging, they took the elevator to the parking lot together.

“Are you sure it was a suicide?”

“It’s very likely. He was face down, and he hit the rain canopy first…” Tang Zhichao recounted what he had heard of the incident, and Yingli listened, also paying attention to his emotional changes. “How could he do such a thing? It’s so reckless.”

“Was it because of the transfer that he suddenly thought of it?”

“That’s what I guess. The real reason, besides asking his wife, probably only he himself knows.”

Pulling on her seatbelt, Yingli asked nonchalantly, “What was the reason for the transfer, senior?”

“Further training. Another hospital gave him a better offer. Ha.” He snorted in disdain, and after a heavy pat on the steering wheel, he started the engine.

“Isn’t that a good thing? Then why would it be the reason he jumped?”

He glared at her, his anger unconcealed. “You don’t understand. This whole thing is completely…” fortunately, his reason returned at the last moment, and he stopped.

“Why did you stop?”

“It’s nothing.” The car smoothly pulled out into the driveway. “Do you want to eat?”

“No, you should be full of anger by now.” She pushed up her glasses. “Just take me home. Compared to me, Antisocial Personality is probably so hungry she’s about to tear down her cage.”

“Antisocial Personality?”

“Ah, my pet.” The corners of her lips lifted. “So instead of being angry that he didn’t cherish himself, you’re more angry about the real reason for his transfer, senior?”

“Yes, probably. What kind of strange name did you give your pet?”

“Her full name is the ‘Trans Fat Socialist Human Development and Style Research Center.’ Antisocial Personality is just an abbreviation.”

He laughed exaggeratedly. “So the full name is even stranger.”

Tang Zhichao clearly wanted to avoid the topic just now. Yingli saw through this and did not forcefully bring up Yao Wenyu again. “And then, I asked Sister Liqiong… about the reason you two broke up.”

“Um… I can’t believe she would tell you.” He raised an eyebrow. “What did Liqiong say?”

“Never mind what she said. The point is, your explanations for the same thing are very different. Why didn’t you respond to her request?”

“What request?”

“Marriage. With her ‘pure bloodline,’ plus her seniority and your long-standing relationship, you could have just let go for another unknown woman. I still can’t believe it.”

He chuckled. “Are you saying you’re that unknown woman…”

“Ah, that’s the second suspicious point. I have a feeling you just came up with that on the spot. The fact that I’m an adopted daughter is such a big deal. If this marriage had gone through, I’m sure the doubts and insults would have far outweighed the blessings.”

Tang Zhichao’s expression was blank.

“Never mind Mom. With Dad’s pride, he would never have agreed to such a thing.” She crossed her arms, with only her left ring finger sticking out. “Also, how did you know my ring size?”

The hand holding the steering wheel trembled unconsciously, and he glanced at her.

“That wedding ring of yours, you still have it, right?” she rested her chin on her hand and looked out the window. The car window, along with the night sky, clearly reflected Tang Zhichao’s face.

“Can I borrow it? As long as I try it on once, I’ll know who that ring was prepared for… and I can be sure that person is definitely not me.”

“Don’t say borrow. It was originally for you.”

Yingli’s lips were pressed into a thin line, and they did not talk for the rest of the journey.