Chapter 22: The Schizophrenic Executioner – 11
Ge Ruxuan spent the entire afternoon watching shows with Gao Shengmei.
“Ah, it’s almost dinner time.” Ge Ruxuan put away her tablet. “I have to go back.”
“That’s strange. Didn’t a pretty young lady come to see you before? She didn’t come today.”
“No, I didn’t see her today.”
“Your mom and dad will be here soon, right?” Ge Ruxuan nodded. “That’s so nice. You have people who come to see you. Not like me. When I was injured before, the newspapers wrote about it, and a few fans would come… now there’s not even a single mosquito.”
“Don’t say that, Grandma. There are only five episodes left, right? I’ll come back after I eat, and we can finish it tonight.”
“No rush. Didn’t you just have surgery? Don’t keep running around. You little rascal, you’re just a troublemaker for the adults.” Though she said that, there was a constant smile on her face.
Ge Ruxuan was also grinning. “I’m just troubling you, Grandma Gao. I’m going now.”
The patient in the next bed had been discharged that morning. Once Ge Ruxuan left, she was the only one in the double room.
“Troublesome little rascals are especially lovable, aren’t they?” she muttered to herself, scrolling through her phone.
**
Even at dinner time, the nurses were still busy with their work, with little time to eat.
“Dr. Jiang and Dr. Tang will be doing their rounds later. I’ll go with them.” Shi Yuxin hung up her stethoscope. Of the other two colleagues, one was organizing the medicine cart, and the other was entering patient data.
Turning around, she saw that the most experienced nurse, Dai Yicheng, was portioning out a salad from a container.
It was a vegetable salad. The colorful fruits and vegetables with sesame dressing looked delicious. “Is that your dinner for today, senior?”
“Yes, it is.” She finished portioning it out. “You go on rounds with the doctors. I’ll start taking blood pressure and administering medication from the front.”
“I’ll leave it to you then, senior.”
Shi Yuxin saw her carefully tape the portioned salad. That pretty, transparent salad container… she felt like she had seen it somewhere before.
Although she found it strange, the attending physician arrived soon after. She rubbed her eyes, let out a small, careful yawn, and followed him.
Wearing gloves throughout the entire process, the hygiene-conscious Dai Yicheng placed the salad container on the medicine cart and pushed it directly to Ward 3.
“You’re finally here. I’ve been waiting for so long,” Gao Shengmei said, waving at her.
“I’m sorry, it’s a bit busy at the nurses’ station.” She smiled. “Come on, let’s take your blood pressure first. I’ll leave the salad here, and I’ll come back for you to take your medicine later.”
“When can I be discharged?”
“We need to observe the pancreatitis for about a week to make sure it doesn’t recur before you can be discharged.”
“So that’s the day after tomorrow.” Her heart leaped with joy, then a hint of disappointment. “So I only have two more days to spend with that little rascal?”
“Which little rascal?”
“It’s nothing.” Gao Shengmei comfortably let Dai Yicheng set up her meal table and place the daily vegetable salad on it. “Huh… it’s not vinaigrette today?”
“No, it’s sesame dressing. It’s good too, right? Their sesame dressing is also very delicious.”
“It’s delicious, but it’s a bit high in calories…” Gao Shengmei picked up her fork. “Oh well, I’ll indulge myself once in a while.”
“Take your time. I’ll be back later.” Before leaving, she drew the curtain, a request from the image-conscious Gao Shengmei during meals.
“And just like that, she’s free…”
Believing she had done a good deed, Dai Yicheng cheerfully pushed the medicine cart toward Ward 1.
**
Ge Ruxuan, who had returned to her room for dinner, shrieked in surprise when she learned that her parents would not be staying the night.
“Why?”
The two of them looked embarrassed. “Dad has to go on a business trip, and Mom is at home helping him pack. And I have to take him to the station… Come on, just for one night. Mommy will ask the nurses to take care of you, okay?”
“It’s not the same! The nurses and Mommy… I’d rather go sleep with Grandma Gao.”
“Grandma Gao?” Mr. Ge was confused.
“Yes! I’m going to find Grandma Gao, hmph!” She grabbed her tablet and charging cable and ran out of the room.
“Ruxuan!” Mrs. Ge couldn’t stop her. “Sigh, she’s getting harder and harder to handle.”
“Should we ask that police officer to help take care of Ruxuan?”
Mrs. Ge shot him a look. “How could you? She’s so busy…” She trailed off.
“By the way… where is Officer Zhou?”
Ge Ruxuan, who had run into Ward 3, shouted at Gao Shengmei, “Grandma! My parents abandoned me. Let’s sleep together tonight!” Her mouth was pouted high as she walked in and found the curtain drawn.
“Grandma?” She peeked through a gap in the curtain. “You’re not done eating yet?”
The person on the bed didn’t answer. “Grandma?” She slipped inside and was immediately shocked by Gao Shengmei’s appearance.
Gao Shengmei’s skin was red and swollen, and she was clutching her neck, gasping for air.
“Grandma Gao! What’s wrong with you, Grandma?”
“Press the button… quickly press…”
“What?” Ge Ruxuan was in a panic, and Gao Shengmei’s struggles grew weaker. She fell back heavily onto the bed, her hands flailing, muttering incomprehensible words, and then she gradually fell silent.
“Grandma? Grandma!” Ge Ruxuan started to cry, looking around. The salad bowl was still on the meal table, and there were less than three bites of vegetables left.
The curtain was suddenly pulled open, and Ge Ruxuan jumped. She looked up at the person who had come in—it was Dai Yicheng, pushing the medicine cart.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came to find Grandma Gao… sob, Auntie, please save her! She’s in a lot of pain…”
Dai Yicheng first pulled the sobbing Ge Ruxuan off the bed. After confirming that Gao Shengmei was dead, she pressed the emergency call button, at the same time confirming that the redness and swelling on her skin were subsiding.
“Auntie! Is Grandma okay?” she asked, clutching Dai Yicheng’s sleeve.
She smiled gently. “The doctor will be here soon. Why don’t you go wait outside?”
“O-Okay…”
Seeing Ge Ruxuan stumble away, she drew the curtain and quickly cleared away the salad bowl.
**
“By the way, Mom, I was saying… you don’t have to tell the chief everything.”
It was a rare meal together for mother and daughter. Thinking that it was Fang Zijun who had called to inform her, Jinglin couldn’t help but complain.
Li Yuejiao was taken aback. “What do you mean?”
“About you being in the hospital! Did you tell the chief first? And then all my other colleagues heard about it.” Otherwise, why would Tang Yingli have suddenly given her that strange lecture?
“Your chief? I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t?” Jinglin muttered to herself. “Then how did the chief… no, wait. The teacher knows too.”
“The teacher?”
“Just… a… scholar, I guess, who often comes to our office.”
“Ah, actually, I went for a walk outside the station yesterday.” Li Yuejiao confessed sheepishly. “I met a young woman with big glasses. She said she was some kind of… neuroscientist, and then she started talking to me about you. I thought she was your colleague, and since she was talking about you, I didn’t hide anything. And then I came here… Are you and she very close?”
A neuroscientist… no doubt, she must have met Tang Yingli.
“We’re okay… what else did she say about me?”
“Nothing much. Just that you’re a very dedicated worker, and that you’re especially concerned about the victims and their families, often going to the hospital to visit them.” Oh my god, she told her everything.
“By the way, don’t you usually go to see a little girl? From that case before.”
“Um… yeah, she’s on the fifth floor.”
“Then aren’t you going to see her?”
Jinglin rolled her eyes. “You were calling me desperately before, and now you’re trying to get rid of me?”
“That’s not it! Of course I’m happy to have my daughter with me. But the little girl has been seeing you every day. If you suddenly don’t show up, she’ll be worried, right?”
Jinglin paused, thinking of Ge Ruxuan’s innocent words.
“I’m fine here. It won’t matter if you leave for a little while.” She squeezed her daughter’s hand. “Compared to me, her mother, maybe someone needs the police big sister’s care right now.”
“What police big sister…” Jinglin smiled. “Alright. I’ll go down for a bit.”
She walked briskly to the fifth floor. As she stepped out of the elevator, she saw a group of medical staff rushing past.
“What’s going on now?”
She hadn’t intended to pay any mind, but she unexpectedly saw a small figure in a hospital gown among the white coats.
It’s Ruxuan. She was standing at the door, crying her heart out.
“Ruxuan! What’s wrong?” She looked up and her heart skipped a beat when she saw it was Ward 3.
And in the next second, Ge Ruxuan confirmed her premonition. “Sob… Grandma Gao… she… she’s dead!”
“D-Dead?” Jinglin was stunned, struggling to process the shocking news. “How… what on earth happened?”
“Sob… Grandma Gao…” Ge Ruxuan said through her tears, “Her face was all red, and she was clutching her neck… and then she fell on the bed and died.”
