The following day, early morning.
A series of urgent phone rings woke Zhou Ning up.
Rubbing his eyes, he grabbed his cellphone for a quick look and saw an incoming call from a number marked with Yun Province, which puzzled Zhou Ning for a mont. Nonetheless, he answered the call.
"Hello."
"Hello, is this Zhou Ning?"
Zhou Ning sat up straight and blurted out the na. The caller clearly knew him, but he didn’t have any acquaintances in Yun Province. Could it be a classmate?
"This is he. Who is this?"
"Stop guessing, you don’t know . Zhou Xiaojun is your brother, right? I’m his classmate from Peng Cheng. We were out having fun when he just got stabbed by so guys. He’s in the hospital now, preparing for surgery.
We really can’t co up with the money. I wanted to use his phone to call his parents, but Zhou Xiaojun refused, saying he was afraid of being scolded. His sister-in-law is pregnant, which makes it even more inconvenient. He told to find you instead."
Zhou Ning was stunned, glancing at his phone again and trying to calm himself down. It was indeed sothing Zhou Xiaojun would do, not informing their aunt and calling him.
But why not use Zhou Xiaojun’s phone to call?
Moreover, Zhou Xiaojun was studying for a master’s degree at Jing City Aerospace University, and getting into fights didn’t seem like sothing he would do. Even if such a situation did arise, shouldn’t a teacher be involved at least?
Zhou Ning forced himself to stay calm. The more he thought about it, the more he felt sothing was off, but he couldn’t just ignore it. He quickly switched to speakerphone and shook Zhou Xiaojun’s QQ, but got no response.
"Where is he, which hospital, and where is he hurt? I’ll have soone go over and handle it. Let him take the phone."
The person on the other end seed to hesitate before answering nonchalantly.
"Wait a bit, let see if I can get into the ICU. Better yet, I’ll just call you back using Zhou Xiaojun’s phone."
The call abruptly ended after that. Such decisiveness made Zhou Ning even more worried. Could it be that he was overthinking and this wasn’t a scam? Zhou Ning quickly took a screenshot of the number and sent it to Mr. Qu, asking him to check the owner’s information.
No sooner had he sent it than Mr. Qu called him.
"Director Zhou, the owner of the cellphone is called Peng Cheng, a first-year graduate student in the Physics Departnt at Jing City Aerospace University from Yun Province. His parents are farrs, and he has five older sisters at ho. There’s not much more information available. What exactly is this person up to?"
Zhou Ning briefly explained the situation, and Mr. Qu was just as confused.
"Ah, what do we do now? The person is in Jing City, and we can’t confirm whether or not it’s a scam. What are we supposed to do now? Should I look up the university’s information, contact their instructor, or find the local police station? Do you know which hospital it is?"
Zhou Ning also felt annoyed for forgetting to ask that question.
"I didn’t ask, but the noise in the background was loud, I couldn’t tell what was going on. It doesn’t seem quite right to call the police without any evidence, does it?"
"Don’t panic, Director Zhou. How about I check the hospitals? If he’s in the ICU, then the ergency departnt would have him registered. I’ll check on behalf of Qindao City Bureau."
Naturally, Zhou Ning had no objections to that.
"Okay, my brother’s na is Zhou Xiaojun, he’s 25 years old, and his identity number is..."
He had just hung up and was about to look through his call history when the phone rang again. This ti it was Zhou Xiaojun’s number. Seeing this, Zhou Ning believed it a bit more; at least everything seed reasonable.
"Hello?"
The voice on the other end spoke in a hushed tone:
"Hello, Zhou Ning? It’s Peng Cheng. I’m in the ICU. Zhou Xiaojun is having so difficulty talking. You speak with him."
Zhou Ning’s heart raced. He couldn’t articulate his feelings; he hoped it was a scam and didn’t want Zhou Xiaojun to be truly in trouble, but he had no choice but to confirm what had happened.
Just then, a feeble voice with a thick Qindao accent beca audible.
"Hello, cousin, it’s ... Xiaojun, don’t tell my... parents about my... accident, it’s nothing serious."
At the ntion of ’cousin’, Zhou Ning narrowed his eyes.
Zhou Xiaojun never called him that; it was always ’bro’ or, in a rush, by his na, sa as Zhou Xiaoyu. Because sotis their grandfather would hear and inevitably, there’d be a beating. But Zhou Ning continued pretending to be worried and asked:
"Which hospital are you at?"
"Jishuitan Hospital..."
The voice suddenly cut off, and another, with a distinct Jing accent full of reproach, broke in.
"How did you get in here? Weren’t you supposed to be paying the fees? The patient now urgently needs to have his spleen removed. What are you waiting for? Hurry up and contact his family. If there’s no one soon, don’t think about surgery; we’ll send him directly to the morgue. What’s the matter, don’t you value life? Just say it straight out, don’t take up our hospital bed!"
Zhou Ning’s brows furrowed at the scornful tone, which was very uncomfortable to hear. On the other side, Peng Cheng seed to be explaining sothing to the doctor, even covering the phone with his hand.
He quickly turned to WeChat and sent the words ’Jishuitan Hospital’ to Mr. Qu.
Back on the call screen, Zhou Ning could only catch bits and pieces of the conversation.
"Don’t, please don’t get mad, I’m just getting in touch with his cousin, and I’ll go pay the hospitalization fee right away, how much is needed, is there any way to pay less?"
"Do you think this is a vegetable market where you can haggle? The patient is severely bleeding, with a ruptured spleen and duodenum, needing a splenectomy and intestinal suturing. However, these need to be assessed during surgery, and we also need to stock blood. Initially deposit thirty or forty thousand at least, and later another ten or twenty thousand. Prepare accordingly."
As the footsteps faded away, Peng Cheng hurriedly said:
"Hey Zhou Ning, are you still listening?"
"I am."
"The doctor said ergency surgery is needed, at least thirty or forty thousand to start with, plus blood reserves and the like. I don’t really understand, how soon can you guys get here? Do you want to notify the instructor? Or should I call Zhou Xiaojun’s parents, I can’t handle this on my own!"
By the end of it, Peng Cheng’s voice had developed a crying tone, the feeble sound echoing from afar.
"No, don’t... tell my parents, my sister is pregnant... if they rush over and sothing happens to her."
Zhou Ning pursed his lips tightly.
"How do I transfer the money to you?"
"You have Zhou Xiaojun’s card number, right? Deposit it into his account, Zhou Ning, give a call after you transfer the money, so I can pay right away, we can’t wait here. Call anyti when you’re on the way; his phone’s battery is almost dead."
"Okay."
Zhou Ning didn’t say much more, imdiately ended the call, and glanced at WeChat. As expected, after hearing a couple of beeps, he saw the screenshot from Mr. Qu with the nas of about two dozen ergency patients. But after checking, he couldn’t find Zhou Xiaojun’s na.
Knowing this, Zhou Ning was certain it was a scam, but he didn’t panic. He sent Zhou Xiaojun’s account number to Mr. Qu and then called him.
"Zhou Xiaojun’s na isn’t there. Could you get soone from tech support to help? I’ve just sent you the bank account number. Can you freeze it, so that only deposits can be seen, but no withdrawals can be made, is that possible?"
"No need for tech support; I can handle it directly. Give one minute. But should we call the police?"
"Please ntion it to Director Xu for , make a record on your side, and I’ll call the police directly. However, make sure to keep the other party in the dark. Can my phone be monitored? They’ve dared to target , using Xiaojun’s na; we must catch these scamrs."
"Heh, don’t worry, I’ve already begun monitoring your calls. If soone calls, it will automatically record, and we can trace the call. But this gadget I made is new; it may not work perfectly. Are you sure you don’t want to contact the economic investigation unit?"
"Let Director Xu decide, I’m going to call the police."
After hanging up, Zhou Ning dialed 110 and swiftly connected. After explaining the situation, the respondent took the report seriously, saying they would imdiately confirm with the school, instructing Zhou Ning not to hang up as they transferred him to soone from the economic cris unit.
After being transferred, Zhou Ning repeated the story. The authorities sprang into action, especially when they heard he was one of their own. They were filled with righteous indignation and provided Zhou Ning with a phone number for Zhou Xiaojun’s school, asking him to keep his line open.
Having done all that, Zhou Ning took a deep breath and called the school’s responsible person. Only then did he rember it was Saturday. Despite the ergency, he dialed directly anyway.
The person on the other end picked up quickly, listened to Zhou Ning’s situation, and asked Zhou Ning not to hang up as they got Zhou Xiaojun’s instructor on the line. Through the speakerphone, Zhou Ning listened carefully. It seed the instructor hurried out, and soon Zhou Xiaojun’s voice ca through, sounding anything but weak.
"What’s up, instructor? What’s the rush in finding ?"
"Quick, take this call. Soone’s impersonating you, using your phone to contact your brother, Zhou Ning, claiming you’re injured and in the hospital and urgently require surgery. They’re trying to scam him into sending money, and it looks like they initially used Peng Cheng’s phone number to make contact."
Zhou Xiaojun seed startled, letting out a surprised noise.
"Ah, Peng Cheng? We’re playing basketball together. How careless of this scamr to target my brother. It’s like hitting the lottery without even trying!"
Furious, Zhou Ning took the instructor’s phone number from the school leader after expressing his gratitude, then hung up and called the instructor.
Before long, Zhou Xiaojun picked up.
"Bro, don’t get worked up, you didn’t transfer the money, right?"
At that, Zhou Ning got even more irritated.
"Zhou Xiaojun, what’s this all about? Check your phone right now, what the heck is going on? How were your details and Peng Cheng’s leaked?"
"Don’t worry, bro. I just checked; my phone seems to have crashed. It was fine this morning, no idea what happened. Peng Cheng and I, except for classes, we just play ball. Oh, right, we went to buy computers yesterday, and there was a draw that required filling in details. Maybe that’s when the leak happened, but you weren’t on the form, were you?"
"Cut the chit-chat. You and Peng Cheng, shut off your phones now, go nowhere, just stay with the instructor. Don’t play basketball today. I’ve already reported it to the authorities on both ends, and the police will probably contact you soon.
As for the scamr, I’m having soone take care of it. I think they’ll try to contact using your number shortly, but don’t ss with the plans here. Lastly, please thank your instructor; they ran a long way to find you."
"Got it, bro. I’ll just stick with the instructor. Don’t forget to call later once you sort this out."
"Yeah, the police will arrive there shortly."
Zhou Ning hung up, feeling relieved, when the doorbell rang. Opening the door, he saw Mr. Qu and two unfamiliar faces, which surprised him, so he quickly made way at the door.
"What brings you here?"
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