Chapter 13: The Schizophrenic Executioner – 2
Shi Yuxin blinked hard, feeling like the words on the screen were about to split in two. She had already finished her energy drink.
Four people on duty at the nurses’ station, responsible for a large number of patients. Even for a seasoned veteran, the pressure was immense, let alone for her, who had to deal with patients at work and a grandmother who had suffered a stroke at home… Rubbing her eyes, she let out a big yawn.
“Mr. Wei in Ward 11, Bed C, went to physical therapy at five. Remember to remind him to take his medication when he gets back,” said Dai Yicheng, who was busy with her records. “Also, a new patient is coming from the ICU to Ward 9, Bed A. A little girl who’s had head surgery.”
Only she was always so full of energy. “The old man who had a fall? Got it…” She set an alarm and opened the patient database. “What’s the name of the little girl coming from the ICU?”
“Ge Ruxuan!”
Found her. “Was it Dr. Tang’s surgery?”
“Yeah. I heard she was a victim of that serial murder case that was just solved a few days ago.”
At the mention of a “murder case,” she couldn’t help but shiver. “How terrifying! How could someone do that to a little girl… What’s wrong with this world?”
“The world has always been a dangerous place… Filth doesn’t just exist in hospitals.” Dai Yicheng’s voice suddenly turned cold. “It’s just that the police deal with murderers, while we fight against diseases and bacteria. Don’t you agree?”
Comparing a murderer to bacteria, huh? She laughed and nodded in agreement.
Another nurse returned. “Senior! I’ve changed the dressings and taken the blood pressure for the patients in wards one through six.”
“Mm. Roger that.”
“Little Xin, you’re drinking that again?” A colleague picked up the can. “You’ve seemed really tired lately. What’s going on?”
She gave a weary smile. “Ah… a lot going on at home, and I was on rotating shifts before, so I haven’t been sleeping well.”
“Oh? Are you taking sleeping pills? It’s not like you just started rotating shifts…”
“That’s the thing, I can’t take them… It’s fine, I can manage.”
After finally dealing with her colleague’s enthusiastic concern, her phone alarm went off. “I’ll go check if the old man is back.” She left her seat, pushing the medicine cart with her.
“Xiao Le! A patient is coming from the ICU soon, remember to prepare. Yuxin, I’ll go with you.” Her heart leaped with joy; she had finally found a chance to be alone with her senior.
In Shi Yuxin’s heart, the experienced Dai Yicheng had always been a guiding light for the other nurses. Not only was she skilled at her job and incredibly patient with patients, but she had also had someone at home who needed her care—just like the situation she was facing now.
She wanted to know how Dai Yicheng did it, and how she managed to maintain such a good work-life balance.
“Senior, there’s something I want to ask…”
Dai Yicheng cut in. “The patient in Ward 12, Bed A, has the doctor prescribed her medication yet?”
The old lady with heart failure. “Yes, he has.”
“It’s dinner time, and she probably hasn’t eaten yet. I’ll go check on her… What did you want to ask?”
“Oh, it’s my grandma. She recently had a stroke, and it’s basically just me and my dad taking care of her… I remember you also took care of your husband for almost five years, right, senior?”
“That’s right. He was paralyzed in a car accident. Until last year.” Dai Yicheng slowed her pace. “You want to hear about my experience?”
“Yes! Because you said you were the only one taking care of him, suctioning phlegm, patting his back, all by yourself… I just wanted to know how you got through it.”
“I didn’t really think about it that much. After all, it was my husband. If it were a grandparent, it might be even harder.” Dai Yicheng said with empathy, “How old is your grandma?”
“Sixty-five.”
“That’s about the same age as my husband.” There was a twenty-year age gap between them. “It’s good that you have help. For me, a social worker would come during the day. But even when I got home from the day shift, I couldn’t really rest. Even my days off felt like work.”
“But my dad always says he doesn’t know how! And all my other relatives think that since I’m in nursing, I should be the one to take on the responsibility… It’s so frustrating!”
“Just tell them she’s not your own grandmother,” she said, her face stern. “Are you and she close?”
“We’re okay. She comes to stay with us for a while every two or three months.”
“It must be difficult for an elderly person who’s had a stroke to get around. You’ve been working hard.” She gently placed a hand on Shi Yuxin’s shoulder and said softly, “Although I can’t help you in a practical sense, if you ever want to talk, I’m always here.”
“Mm, thank you, senior.”
Although they hadn’t talked much, Dai Yicheng’s encouragement had lifted her spirits a little. She walked into the ward and saw that the curtain for Bed C was drawn.
“Uncle! How was physical thera—” She pulled back the curtain, and the bed was unexpectedly empty. “Where’s Uncle Wei?”
“Didn’t he come back?” the patient in the next bed asked.
She pulled the curtain all the way back. “He’s not here.” He wasn’t in the bathroom either.
It was already past the time he should have been back. He couldn’t still be in physical therapy, could he? For some reason, Shi Yuxin felt an unexpected sense of anxiety.
“Where did he go…”
**
“Thank you so much, thank you for your concern.”
Upon learning that Ge Ruxuan had been transferred to a regular ward today, Zhou Jinglin rushed over to visit after work. “You’re welcome.” The little girl’s breathing tube had been removed. “Can Ruxuan talk now?”
“She can! She’s been talking nonstop since she left the ICU.” Mr. Ge nodded vigorously. “She’s even looking forward to school starting, says she can get candy from her classmates and teachers.”
Jinglin smiled too. “You don’t have to wait to eat candy. Big Sister will buy you some.”
Tang Zhichao arrived soon after, saying that her recovery was going well and that she could be discharged once her wound healed.
Perhaps because there was a stranger present, Ge Ruxuan was very quiet during her visit, just staring at her with her big eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
The girl reached out her hand, and Jinglin gently took it. “Big Sister.” The corners of her small mouth lifted, and she smiled.
“Hm?”
“Thank you.” The words were so soft, so light.
“You’re welcome.” Her eyes welled up. She blinked hard and said with a smile, “You rest well, okay? Get better soon so you can go back to school and play with your friends.”
After a brief chat, she left with Tang Zhichao.
“Coming all the way here for her after a long day at work, that must have been tough.”
“Not at all! Seeing her wake up safely makes me happier than anything…” She gently flexed her bandaged right hand. “So police officers can save people too.”
“Of course! And Officer Zhou saved more than just one person.” Seeing her confused look, he said, “At least now, the little girls in Taipei don’t have to be afraid when they go out, right?”
“I didn’t catch him on my own. It was Teacher Tang’s accurate analysis…” She clapped her hands. “Speaking of which, why don’t I see her? She said she would come.”
“Teacher? Ah, you mean Yingli. She’s busy preparing her lecture materials. The semester is about to start, after all.”
“Lectures?” How many jobs did she have?
“She didn’t tell you? The main reason she came back this time was because she was invited to teach a course at my alma mater, twice a week. I thought she would have told you, since you were the one who drove her over on the day of the surgery.”
“That’s because she asked me to run an errand for her… I have a feeling she’s getting back at me for cuffing her and taking her back to the station.” The mention of “getting back at her” drew a laugh from Tang Zhichao.
“So she’s lecturing now… a professor? Even though I’ve only just met her… the closer I get, the more I feel like she’s an enigma.”
“Just a guest lecturer,” he corrected. “But Yingli is indeed very mysterious. Even as family, it’s sometimes hard to keep up with her train of thought.”
“If even Dr. Tang says so, then it’s not so embarrassing for me to say she’s hard to understand… Sorry, I have to take this.” She picked up her phone, and her face stiffened when she saw the caller ID.
“It’s fine, you go ahead. I still have to do my rounds, so I’ll be going.”
It wasn’t until Tang Zhichao was far down the hall that Jinglin stared at her phone screen again. The name “Li Yuejiao” was displayed.
Ring— she could almost hear the sound of a wind chime.
Whenever the wind chime by the door rang, it meant Li Yuejiao was home.
Her impression of her mother had always been this: dressed in flashy clothes, wearing heavy makeup, smelling of smoke, and drunk nine times out of ten when she came home.
She only had her mother. Other than deducing that her father’s surname was Zhou from her own, she knew nothing about him. When she was little, her mother was often not home, and even when she was, it was just as she had described.
Her classmates used to envy her for having a young, beautiful mother. But to her, she didn’t want her mother to dress so beautifully or earn so much money. She just wanted her mother to be waiting for her when she got home, to care about her life, and to cook a simple dinner…
Just to be a normal mother.
But that wish went unfulfilled for a long, long time, until—
She pressed reject. In the less than ten seconds it took her to walk to the elevators, the phone rang again.
“Again?” She took out her phone again, but the caller had changed.
Her heart skipped a beat. She swiped to answer. “Hello?”
