Chapter 129: The Collapsing Tower – 10
“I killed her.”
The girl, who was also a model like the deceased, her face flushed, her nails digging into her palms, had clearly made up her mind before she had confessed.
“Why did you do it? Weren’t you and she good friends?” All the mutual friends they had investigated had said so. The two of them were not only university classmates and long-time friends, but they had also entered the same profession because of that.
“Ha, good friends? If she had really seen me as a good friend, she wouldn’t have done that.”
Under a tone of sarcasm and anger, she finally revealed the grudge between her and the model she had poisoned. “She has a princess complex, okay? She loves to order people around, only thinks of her own convenience but doesn’t know how to be grateful, and she loves to show off just because her family has a little money? Is being rich so great? We live together, and how much do I do for her? It’s like I’m her nanny.” And with that came the exclusion and friction at work, and all these factors had caused this friendship to gradually change.
Jinglin frowned as she listened. “So you poisoned her with cyanide?”
She snorted, without any remorse. “She loves to drink almond tea with fried dough sticks. Isn’t this perfect?”
“These words… have you ever said them to her?” Jinglin glared at her. “All these complaints you’ve accumulated.”
“Of course not. What’s the use of talking to her? She’s just that kind of person.”
“How would you know if you haven’t reacted?”
“We’ve been living together since university, and we’re as close as we can be… my troubles, my pain, she should know.”
“There’s nothing she ‘should’ know.” Jinglin slammed the table and stood up, startling her, who had been so arrogant. “You are you, and she is she. Even if you’re together day and night, there must be a lot of things about her that you don’t understand.”
“I know her inside and out.”
“Alright then. You said she’s very generous. How did you handle your university tuition?”
“With a student loan.”
“And then? Did you pay it back?”
The model was taken aback. “Um… I remember I haven’t, but…”
“But you haven’t received any notification, right? The grace period for a student loan is only one year, and after that, you have to pay it back slowly. But we’ve checked your account and found that your loan was paid off a year ago.”
Her face turned pale. “Could it be…”
“She knew your family was not well-off and that you had to work hard to get jobs, but some of the photographers who invited you for private shoots had a bad reputation. She was worried you would be in danger, so she often inquired beforehand and helped you to turn them down.” Jinglin shook her head. “And you actually thought she was deliberately stealing your jobs.”
She covered her mouth, completely surprised. Jinglin sneered. “It seems you don’t know any of this, do you? Whether it’s the loan or this… she probably had the same idea as you, just because you were so close. She never told you about any of this.”
“I… I…” like a deflated balloon, the model’s eyes were filled with tears, “I didn’t know…”
Listening to her cries, Jinglin said slowly, “You’ve done something unforgivable, and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”
When she left the interrogation room, the model was crying, constantly apologizing and calling out her friend’s name. Jinglin looked at her dejected back and couldn’t help but sigh.
“Another tragedy caused by a misunderstanding?” Lu Tingfeng, who had been watching the interrogation, came up behind her.
“Seeing her cry like that, I feel a little sorry for her, but…”
“But?”
“Although poisoning someone to death is absolutely wrong… the deceased also has to bear a part of the responsibility.” She pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips. “If one of them had been honest and had cleared up the misunderstanding, maybe this case could have been avoided.”
“People’s thoughts are so unpredictable. When you’re on good terms, you always think the other person will understand, and there are no problems. Until something happens, and the friendship that was built up is instantly destroyed, and you only regret it after you’ve done something irreversible… people, they just don’t learn their lesson.”
“Senior Big Head…”
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
Jinglin looked at him sideways. “I have a feeling you’re not just saying that.”
“How so? You’re overthinking it.” Lu Tingfeng crossed his arms and coolly walked back to the office.
Jinglin puffed out her cheeks, and on her way back to her seat, she happened to glance at Tang Yingli’s seat. She remembered that she seemed to have been there for a while this morning, but now she was gone.
This case of the model’s poisoning, although Yingli had not actually participated in the investigation, it was through her criminal profiling that the case was further clarified, and the suspect was identified and the case was quickly solved. And after the interrogation just now, if you thought about it carefully… the stalemate between them was very similar to the two models, the culprit and the victim.
“Wednesday… so she has a class at the university?” It was 2:50 now, and she would be here in a bit—if there were no accidents.
“Oh… why am I paying attention to her?” she muttered to herself, returned to her seat, and put the data from the voice recorder into the computer. She put on her headphones and was about to make a record of the interrogation when she found a piece of paper under the keyboard.
“What’s this?” Opening the paper, she was surprised to see the dense content on it.
This… is Tang Yingli’s handwriting.
**
Ever since she had started lecturing at T University, this was the first time Yingli had forbidden students from asking questions after class.
To be quick, she had rushed to the school gate after class and had taken a pre-arranged taxi to the municipal hospital.
Yingli first tried to contact Tang Zhichao. “No answer…” she thought for a moment and then called Ren Liqiong instead.
‘Yingli? Why are you calling at this time?’ Ren Liqiong on the other end of the line was very surprised.
“Sister Liqiong, are you busy?”
‘I guess so… I’m about to go into the catheterization lab.’
“Is it an emergency room surgery?”
‘No, it’s Yan Kaiwei… the son of the chairman of a well-known automobile group. He has a heart surgery scheduled for this afternoon.’
“I know him. That’s great… it hasn’t started yet.”
‘What’s wrong? What’s so great…’
“What’s your position, Sister?”
‘I’ll be the first assistant. The main surgeon will be Director Cui from surgery.’
“Okay, with you there, I can at least be a little more at ease.”
“What’s wrong?” Ren Liqiong, who had changed into her surgical scrubs and was about to wash her hands, held the phone between her neck and shoulder. “Do you know Yan Kaiwei? No way.”
‘We’ve met once, but the key is not him, but that Director Cui.’
Ren Liqiong’s heart skipped a beat. “Yingli, what are you trying to say?” after all, Yingli had been looking for the truth about Li Yuejiao’s surgery accident these past few days.
‘My brother has already told me everything he should have.’
Her eyes widened. “Zhichao?”
‘Yes, I know what’s going on.’ Yingli on the other end took a deep breath and then changed the subject. ‘But I’m not here today to pursue the responsibility for the accident. I’m just worried… that an ‘accident’ will happen again.’
“I still don’t understand what you mean.”
‘It’s fine. I’m almost there…’ the sound of wind came from the receiver, ‘we’ll talk about the rest later.’
“Wait, what do you mean… hello? Yingli.”
Could this kind of accident happen a second time? Ren Liqiong bit her lip and was about to call back when Cui Jinlong also came in, and she had to quickly put her phone away.
“I’m sorry, I was just transferred from the emergency room…” Cui Jinlong smiled and turned on the faucet, “I mean, it’s usually the other way around.”
“It’s fine. It’s a rare opportunity. It’s also a good thing to be able to learn by your side, Director.” She forced a smile.
“By the way, I remember… you did a similar surgery during your residency, right?”
“Yes, a catheter ablation, also to cure arrhythmia… it’s a bit similar to this case.”
“You’ve seen all sorts of situations in the emergency room, so you must have accumulated a lot of experience in emergency response.”
“That’s true, but the situation is still very different from in the operating room…”
“The director will be watching this surgery through the camera the whole time,” he took a deep breath, and his right hand trembled unconsciously, “Dr. Ren, if something really happens… you should be able to finish it on your own, right?”
“Director?”
“It’s nothing.” Cui Jinlong dried his hands and casually threw the paper towel into the recycling bin. “In any case, let’s finish this surgery as soon as possible.”
**
With her access card, Yingli went straight to the observation room as if she owned the place.
When she arrived, the patient had just been given local anesthesia. She was panting as she took off her scarf and stared at the screen, her heart beating faster and faster.
“You really came.”
Turning, she saw Tang Zhichao in a white coat standing at the door. “You said you might not be able to come.”
“Yes, but because you made Director Cui sound like a ticking time bomb, I had to come and see for myself.” Tang Zhichao walked over with his hands in his pockets. “It’s just started.”
“It wasn’t until my brother described the whole surgery process in detail that I thought of it. When you mentioned the hand tremors and spasms, I naturally thought of a brain lesion.”
“Is this a neuroscientist’s intuition?”
“Instead of intuition… it’s more like I was influenced by you.”
“Me?”
“Yes,” Yingli pushed up her glasses, “in the years I was abroad, didn’t you often share cases with me?”
“Because we were discussing split-brain patients at that time.” At the mention of this, the whole memory immediately became clear. “I’ve been imagining since then, if my other half were also as familiar with the brain as I am, I wonder if all our conversations would revolve around the brain.”
Glaring at him, Yingli decided to ignore him.
Meanwhile, just as Cui Jinlong was about to insert the electrode catheter through the femoral vein in the groin, his right hand suddenly trembled.
“What’s going on?” Ren Liqiong exclaimed, but Cui Jinlong, as if he had suddenly lost consciousness, dropped the electrode catheter and, in his lead apron, fell face down on the floor.
“Director Cui… Director Cui.”
Ren Liqiong, following her intuition, knelt down to observe. “Director, can you hear me?”
His eyes were wide, and his right facial nerve was twitching slightly, and his speech was also greatly impaired. “I… can’t…”
Ren Liqiong tried to lift his right arm and leg, but he couldn’t exert any force. “The right side?”
He managed to nod.
“No… we can’t continue the surgery like this.”
‘Send Director Cui for an MRI first.’
Looking up, Ren Liqiong heard Tang Zhichao’s voice.
“Okay… I understand.”
The medical staff in the room immediately pushed over a mobile stretcher, and as Cui Jinlong was lying on it, his right hand was still trembling. “I’m sorry… Dr. Ren.”
“It’s fine. I’ll take over the rest of the surgery.”
Yingli, who was in the observation room, witnessed the whole situation. “The symptoms have subsided a little… it doesn’t look like a cerebral hemorrhage.”
“We’ll have to check to know the detailed condition.” Staring at Cui Jinlong, who was being carried out of the catheterization lab by the medical staff, his expression was grave. “I’m going over.”
“Ah, then I’ll go with you.”
“You’re not staying here to watch Liqiong do the catheter ablation?”
“What’s there to see in a catheter ablation? I’m only interested in the brain.” Her index finger on her glasses, Yingli’s expression was as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
He gave a wry smile. “I really can’t do anything with you.”
**
The rest of the surgery was completed by Ren Liqiong alone. Under X-ray fluoroscopy, she inserted several electrode catheters into Yan Kaiwei’s groin and used them to confirm the location of the abnormal conduction in his heart and then to ablate it. After repeated confirmation until no more abnormalities were found, Yan Kaiwei was sent to the recovery room for pressure hemostasis and then returned to his single room to rest.
“…You can’t get out of bed for now. You can only move a little after we’re sure the wound is no longer bleeding.”
Listening to Ren Liqiong explain the situation, Yan Kaiwei nodded frequently. “Then when can I be discharged?”
“Tomorrow at the earliest. But you have to be careful with your post-operative recovery. Don’t exert yourself on either side of your groin, and don’t lift heavy objects to avoid the wound from opening…” “I’m sorry.” The phone rang, and Ren Liqiong walked a few steps away. She was surprised to see that it was Yingli calling. “Yingli, what’s wrong?”
‘I’m outside the hospital room. Is it convenient to come in?’
She glanced at Yan Kaiwei. “You can.”
“Excuse me.”
She, in a long black dress, stepped into the single room, and Yan Kaiwei recognized her at a glance. “Miss Tang.”
“Mr. Yan.” She looked at the two of them in turn. “Was the surgery a success?”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve done a catheter ablation, and I was suddenly called in… I was very nervous.”
“In any case, you successfully completed the mission, and you also saved the municipal hospital,” she said in a low voice with a laugh, “the director and Director Cui should reward you well.”
“Don’t let this kind of thing happen again… by the way, how is Director Cui?”
“My brother is looking at the films. I guess it’s an infection in the brain, and the source of the infection has infiltrated the motor nerves, which has caused a temporary spasm and has affected his speech.”
Ren Liqiong frowned. “Infiltrated the motor nerves… for a surgeon, this is a nightmare. If it’s not handled well, he might never be able to hold a scalpel again.”
“Ah, in any case, my brother will find a way. He must be happy to accept such a challenge.” She shrugged and turned to Yan Kaiwei, thus not noticing the worry on Ren Liqiong’s face. “Mr. Yan, how do you feel?”
“The wound hurts a little. And because it was only local anesthesia, I was very nervous when I heard Dr. Cui fall. Thankfully, Dr. Ren took over and finished the surgery.”
“This kind of small wound shouldn’t keep you in the hospital for too long. As long as there are no problems with your body, you’ll be able to challenge the title again soon.”
“I hope so.”
After all, he had just had surgery, and what Yan Kaiwei needed most now was rest. Yingli and Ren Liqiong were about to leave the room when they unexpectedly ran into the director and Yan Ruiyang, who had come to visit, at the door.
“Hello, Director, Chairman Yan.”
“Chairman Yan, this is Dr. Ren, who took over the surgery.” The director pointed at her, his eyes filled with admiration.
“Oh… I heard the attending physician was changed at the last minute. I didn’t expect it to be a female doctor.” Yan Ruiyang smiled and held out his hand to Ren Liqiong. “Kaiwei’s surgery was a success, thanks to you.”
“You’re too kind. I was just doing my job.”
Yan Ruiyang glanced at Yingli, who was standing next to her. “Director, this lady is?”
“This one… Dr. Ren, is this your friend?”
“You don’t know her, Director? She’s Zhichao’s sister.” Ren Liqiong was surprised that the director didn’t recognize Yingli.
“It’s only natural that the director doesn’t remember. The last time we met, my dad hadn’t even retired yet.” Yingli had her hands in her long skirt pockets, her expression indifferent. “Long time no see, Director.”
“Oh, oh, Yuzhong’s daughter. I didn’t expect you to have grown so much. I heard you went to study abroad and came back with a PhD.”
“Ah.”
“Haha, not bad, not bad.”
Seeing that the scene was a little awkward, Ren Liqiong quickly took Yingli’s hand and said, “Director, then we’ll be leaving.”
“Okay, okay, go ahead.” Looking at Yingli, who was walking away with Ren Liqiong, the director couldn’t help but mutter, “That poker face is really… a fake can’t be real.”
Yan Ruiyang raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”
“It means an adopted daughter is an adopted daughter after all.” The director pursed his lips. “She’s not my friend’s biological daughter, but she used the name of his original, deceased daughter… it’s complicated. And it’s also their family business, so let’s not talk about it.”
Yan Ruiyang squinted. “Is that so?”
“Let’s go and see how Kaiwei is doing first. Here, this way.”
