Chapter 52
Chapter 52
Wen Miao returned to school and handed the video files over to Wen Xin.
Nan Mu returned to the hospital. He intended to investigate Doctor Zhang and Doctor Jia. If the person who had lured Gu Zhishu out had an accomplice in the hospital, then Doctor Zhang and Doctor Jia-who were currently unreachable-were extremely suspicious.
However, tracking down their whereabouts proved to be a difficult task.
Nan Mu found photos, names, and professional backgrounds for Doctor Zhang and Doctor Jia on the official website of the First Affiliated Hospital of A University of Science and Technology Medical School, but he couldn’t find any information beyond that.
*If only I had a friend in the medical field,* he thought. *Maybe they could ask around among their colleagues…*
Just as the thought crossed his mind, he suddenly remembered Yu Jingtong.
With a “nothing to lose” attitude, he sent her a message.
Nan Mu: [Hello, this is Nan Mu. I visited your home earlier today. I wanted to ask if you recognize these two doctors. Image.jpg; Image.jpg]
Just after Nan Mu sent the message, Nurse Xiao Ai came in for her rounds. Only then did he realize he had been running around all day and hadn’t taken his medicine yet. He tried to sneak the pills back into the drawer, but the sharp-eyed Nurse Xiao Ai caught him. She frowned and pointed at the medicine. “Why haven’t you taken these yet?”
“I was just about to.”
“That won’t do. Medicine is useless if you don’t take it consistently,” Nurse Xiao Ai scolded with a stern face.
Nan Mu knew she meant well, so he could only nod in agreement and swallow the day’s dosage right in front of her.
“By the way, I’ve been in the hospital for a week now. When can I be discharged? I’ve been feeling much better these past two days. I think I’m fine now.”
Nurse Xiao Ai remained stern. “A concussion is no small matter. Just because you look fine on the surface doesn’t mean you actually are! Just stay in bed. You’ll be notified when it’s time for you to leave.”
After Nurse Xiao Ai left, Nan Mu lay back on the bed and pulled up the video on his phone, planning to rest for a bit before heading out for dinner.
But perhaps because he had walked so much that day, his eyelids grew heavier and heavier. He couldn’t stay awake and drifted off to sleep…
===
Nan Mu didn’t wake up until the next day, roused by the ringing of his phone.
It seemed exercise really was the key; he slept much more soundly after some physical activity. Ever since Wen Xin had given him the key to 110 Jiangbei Road, he had been constantly worried about Wen Miao’s situation and hadn’t slept this well in a long time.
He groggily reached for his phone. On the other end, Wen Miao’s voice sounded dejected. “Are you up?”
Nan Mu propped himself up. “I am. What’s wrong?”
“Wen Xin and I searched through the footage all night…” Wen Miao’s voice was filled with confusion. “We see him going in, but he never comes out.”
Nan Mu fell silent for a moment. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. We ran facial recognition several times, but it only matched the footage of him entering. Then the two of us manually checked the video over and over, but we really didn’t see him exit through the South Gate… Do you think he might have left through a different exit?”
===
Was his reasoning really wrong?
Leaning against the headboard, Nan Mu noticed several unread messages on his phone. When he opened them, the first thing he saw was a reply from Yu Jingtong, sent late last night.
Yu Jingtong: [My mother should know them. They’re doctors in the neurology department, right? I remember seeing them at a seminar before.]
Nan Mu felt a surge of encouragement. Fortunately, Yu Jingtong had found a lead.
Nan Mu: [That’s great. Could you do me a favor and find out which hospital they’re working at now? Or if there’s any way to contact them.]
This time, it took about ten minutes for Nan Mu to receive a reply.
Yu Jingtong: [You didn’t reply yesterday, but I asked my mother about it. She isn’t too sure about Doctor Zhang, but she contacted Doctor Jia a few days ago. Apparently, he took his family on vacation.]
Nan Mu: [Where did they go?]
Yu Jingtong: [I’m not sure, but I think it was abroad.]
Abroad again! Nan Mu felt increasingly certain that there was more to Gu Zhishu’s illness than met the eye.
Unfortunately, it was currently 2022, and he didn’t even have an ID card. If this were 2032, he would have found a way to get a plane and chase them down immediately.
Nan Mu: [Can you ask your mother for Doctor Jia’s contact information?]
Yu Jingtong: [That might take a little while. My mother might have surgeries scheduled over the next two days, so she might not be reachable right away.]
Nan Mu: [That’s fine, no problem. If you get it, please contact me immediately.]
Yu Jingtong: [Will do.]
===
A few days ago, the doctor had advised Nan Mu not to wash his hair to avoid catching a cold. Now that it had been a week, he couldn’t stand it anymore.
When the nurse came for rounds, he asked for permission and, upon receiving it, headed to a nearby hair salon.
The salon was quite crowded and noisy. While he was getting his hair washed, a young couple next to him was arguing incessantly.
“I told you to come to the entrance…”
“But you didn’t specify which entrance! I thought you meant for me to wait at the shop entrance…”
“No… It’s just inside versus outside the shop, do you think I care about that short walk? If I could have gotten out of the car, why would I have asked you to come out and wait? It’s because there was nowhere to park that I asked you to come to the building’s main entrance!”
“That’s because you didn’t make yourself clear…”
“I wasn’t clear enough?”
…
The technician washing Nan Mu’s hair couldn’t help but chuckle at the argument, whispering gossip to him. “Young people these days are so interesting. The girl can’t even understand a simple sentence, and the guy is just as bad-would it kill him to use a few more words to explain things clearly? He has to act all mysterious, like saying one extra word would be the end of him.”
Nan Mu smiled but didn’t join in. In situations like this, it was hard to say who was right or wrong.
The technician’s service was excellent, and Nan Mu felt a wave of drowsiness gradually wash over him.
As the salon provided a scalp massage during the wash, Nan Mu drifted further into a daze, the couple’s bickering still echoing in his ears.
Nan Mu thought to himself that he seemed to be getting sleepy very easily lately. Then, he heard the young man in the couple repeatedly arguing with the girl, “You have to think about what I meant when I said that!”
*You have to think about what I meant when I said that.*
*You have to think about what I meant.*
Lying on the chair, he suddenly snapped his eyes open!
The afternoon lethargy and the surrounding noise vanished instantly, replaced by a sudden, sharp clarity in his mind.
===
Leaving the hair salon, he called Wen Miao.
Wen Miao seemed to be catching up on sleep, her voice sounding a bit raspy. “Hello? What is it?”
“Did I wake you?”
There was the sound of rustling as Wen Miao got out of bed, followed by a faint, weary reply. “Yeah. Well, I’m awake now anyway. Go ahead.”
Nan Mu said, “I know where Gu Zhishu went.”
There was a brief silence on the other end, followed by Wen Miao’s energized voice. “Are you serious? Where?”
Nan Mu didn’t answer directly. Instead, he asked out of the blue, “Are you still able to walk?”
“What?”
Nan Mu: “If you can walk, come to Guiziyuan Square. See you at 3:00 PM.”