The Surgeon's Studio

Ding Zhongtai’s face scrunched up when he heard that it was Department Chief Kong from Imperial Capital calling. His ears perked up, trying to listen in on the phone conversation.

Zheng Ren’s phone volume was too low for eavesdroppers, however.

“Little Zheng, how did Department Chief Kong find out?” Ding Zhongtai asked directly.

Communication with doctors on the ground was straightforward, in stark contrast to the guessing games that often happened within hospital bureaucracy. Ding Zhongtai paid close attention to Zheng Ren’s eyes as if they could provide him his answers.

“Chief Kong only asked about the situation. I don’t know how he found out,” Zheng Ren replied. “He wanted to know if there was anything he could do to help. It’s probably just a courtesy call, with him being so far away.”

Ding Zhongtai scrutinized Zheng Ren’s blank expression. Perhaps it was truly a greeting call… but how had he heard the news?

Ideas in his heads bounced about. Finally, a revelation struck him.

Without raising his voice, he said to Zheng Ren, “Little Zheng, while what you did was not wrong, we’re under the scrutiny of the urban district for this high-profile case. You should be more wary next time.”

“Next time…” Zheng Ren mumbled then smiled. “If I ever encounter this again, I’ll just run them over without hesitation.”

Ding Zhongtai cursed the young doctor internally. Zheng Ren was as stubborn as a rock. Did he think he was invincible just because he had a direct line to a department chief from Imperial Capital?

“Rest assured, the hospital will come to your defense. It’s just… it’s quite an expensive car.” Ding Zhongtai was irked by the whole situation but maintained his mask. “Now that everything has settled down, you’ll need to go to the traffic police.”

“Sure.” Zheng Ren stood and asked, “Where’s the station?”

Zheng Ren had a driver’s license but had never owned a car. Hence, he had had little to no interaction with traffic police.

“Oh. You go get changed and I’ll take you there,” Ding Zhongtai said.

“Boss Zheng, what is happening?” The professor had been in on their conversation, but they had been vague and he was not confident in his comprehension. Still, he gathered that Zheng Ren had run into some trouble.

“It’s nothing. And please, Professor Rudolph, don’t call me Boss Zheng,” Zheng Ren said.

“Call me Ru Fugui, or Lil Fugui,” Professor Rudolph said earnestly.

Zheng Ren ignored the man. His mind was elsewhere.

On the way to change his clothes, he rang up Su Yun to ask about the ICU patient.

She was stable, although her blood pressure was on the low end.

Her bleeding was under control now. With another 1000 or 2000ccs of blood transfusion, her blood pressure ought to return to normal.

Zheng Ren did not inquire about kidney and brain function. Such critical care information was beyond his expertise and for Su Yun to monitor.

Before leaving with Office Director Ding, Zheng Ren left a few instructions with Chang Yue.

They got into a car and made their way to the police station. Zheng Ren had no regrets.

If life gave him a second shot, he would do what he did again without hesitation.

It did not matter whether the car was a Porsche or Ferrari.

They were nothing compared to a human life.

Zheng Ren and Ding Zhongtai arrived at the station and made their way upstairs to the incident management center.

Old Chief Physician Pan was sitting with an old, stern-faced police officer. The rank badge on the officer’s shoulder meant nothing to Zheng Ren but he concluded that the man held some authority in the station.

On the other side of the table sat a middle-aged man in a business suit. Behind him stood two young professionals, a man and a woman, taking note of the ongoing conversation in their books.

“The dashboard camera is evidence,” the officer said as he leaned forward, the national emblem on his uniform gleaming.

“We’ll have to authenticate the evidence, and I’ve yet to speak to witnesses. We can’t have only one side of the story, yes?” the man in the suit said with utmost decorum, a polite smile on his face.

“Lawyer Ge, you’re a big name in Imperial Capital. The suspect—”

“I’m sorry, Inspector. Let’s not call my client that unless we’re willing to call the driver of the 120 ambulance a murder suspect as well,” Lawyer Ge interjected, the smile on his face unwavering.

Murder?

The bushy white eyebrows on Old Chief Physician Pan’s face furrowed.

Old Chief Physician Pan and Zheng Ren were men of science, medicine and surgery. They were not well-versed in semantics and the black-and-white of the law.

Even the chief inspector was no match for the lawyer in this department.

After all, it was a lawyer’s bread and butter.

At this moment, moral accusations carried little weight. There had been many cases over the years with blood-soaked evidence.

An example would be the shocking news reported by an established news agency in the south about an assistant maternity doctor who had wrongly sutured a woman’s anus post-delivery.

The story was instantly sensationalized by the media and the truth was quickly drowned out by public outcry.

If that happened today, there would be individuals selling the news online and inseminating false information within social media groups to garner attention. The story would then be twisted by the public and immortalized in an unrecognizable form on the Internet.

Logic played no role in the modern world.

Resources would determine the last one standing.

The owner of the Porsche had managed to get a big-shot lawyer from Imperial Capital to travel all the way to Sea City within the span of a surgery.

It demonstrated the man’s wealth, prestige and power.

All of these went unnoticed by Zheng Ren, whose worldview was as thin as his wallet.

Old Chief Physician Pan wanted nothing more than to slap the infuriating smile off the lawyer’s face.

However, such an action would not help their case. He swallowed his anger.

“That is conjecture,” Old Chief Physician Pan said, “The hospital’s legal representative is on his way. It would be best if you spoke with him instead.”

“The hospital’s what?” Lawyer Ge’s static smile revealed no change in emotion as he spoke. “To be frank, in the legal sector, most winning lawyers would start their own firm. Of those who can’t win in court, only the dumbest go into consultancy.”

The smile had a devious edge now.

“At least, that’s the case in Imperial Capital. Sea City… Heh.” Lawyer Ge did not bother to elaborate.

“I take it that this is the doctor who took over the ambulance?” Lawyer Ge had noticed Zheng Ren’s appearance but had wanted to deliver his speech before acknowledging the young doctor.

“Your actions have been escalated to a criminal court, I will—” Halfway through Lawyer Ge’s words, the female assistant’s phone rang.

…