Mr. Zhao hurried to open the door, and Xia Momo rushed in with a worried face, her hair all disheveled. Seeing Zhou Ning still seated, surrounded by Xu Dayuan and Mr. Qu, she didn’t need any further explanation. She let out a sigh of relief and placed the fruits and other things on the table.
"I don’t mind you wanting to stay busy, but Zhou Ning, you should rest more since you’ve just woken up."
Zhou Ning coughed once, knowing that Xia Momo was worried about him, so she must think that Xu Dayuan and the others were forcing him to work.
"Don’t worry, Momo. I just rembered so faces and wanted to draw them before I forget. Don’t rush with the juice making. Co and help Mr. Qu. I feel sothing’s off, but I can’t pinpoint what it is."
Xia Momo raised an eyebrow, saw that Zhou Ning was asking for her opinion without avoiding the topic, and the tension she felt before eased. She quickly wiped her hands, and Mr. Qu hurriedly stood up to give her space.
"Mr. Xia, please take a look. I’ve been struggling for almost two hours and still can’t et the boss’s requirents. Boss, please save ."
Mr. Zhao slightly bowed his head, controlling his expression, but winced as a sudden pain shot through his thigh. When he quickly turned to look, he saw Xu Dayuan glaring at him. Imdiately, he forced his smile away.
But Mr. Qu’s will to survive really was sothing to speak of.
And having been around Mr. Zhao for a long ti, his verbal skills had improved. Just now, his quick reaction cheered Xia Momo up instantly.
Zhou Ning waved his hand, and Xia Momo quickly went over, glanced at the two completed portraits, asked Zhou Ning for details, and made several alterations. After nurous attempts, finally, Zhou Ning gestured for her to stop. Xia Momo placed the two notebooks on the dining table, pushing them towards the foot of the bed.
"Take a look and see if these match the two people you rember."
Zhou Ning nodded, not only the features but also the clothes, as per Zhou Ning’s request, were now complete. It seed as if the two people were standing right before him. Zhou Ning stared at the portraits and took a deep breath.
"It takes my wife to step in. Let’s try searching."
Xia Momo rolled her eyes at him, sowhat awkwardly lowering her head. Xu Dayuan and the others didn’t say much; after all, they’d kept quite a few things from Xia Momo.
Then, Mr. Qu and Xia Momo each started searching on a computer. The search was slow, making Zhou Ning anxious. Xia Momo patted his hand, her silent comfort and support made Zhou Ning look up and smile.
With two dings, both notebooks completed their search.
Everyone looked at the search results on the notebooks. The man with yellow hair had two matches found.
One was from Dayao City, Ludong Province, a man nad Xu Liang, 35 years old, a born-and-bred Dayao City resident, whose place of employnt was listed as a PE teacher at Dayao City’s Fifth Middle School.
The second match was a man from Pingjin City, Luxi Province, nad Zhu Xingmin, 43 years old. The entry and exit records showed that this man had traveled in and out of Tianshan Province multiple tis, owning an import and export trade company with a main business listed as dried fruits.
What was particularly eye-catching about this person was the information of his wife listed in the household registry—Zhang Wenli, 23 years old, with an eldest daughter, a second daughter, a third daughter, and a son, a total of four children, with the eldest being 22 and the youngest 1 year old. The spread in their ages was quite significant.
The other, the short and fat man, also had two matches.
One was nad Zhang Huiping, 58 years old, from Pulan Town, Hesheng City, Huining Province. The household registry showed he had parents, a wife, children, grandsons, and granddaughters, totaling 17 people in his household. He himself had obtained a temporary residence permit in Qindao City.
Another match was nad Sun Haitao, from Qindao, 45 years old, an employee of the Hua Country Petrochemical Company. His household registry showed his parents had passed away early. Only he was listed, and further relationship inquiries revealed no marriage information. What was more astonishing was that this person was recorded as deceased on the 27th of January, 2013.
Having reviewed the information of these four n, Zhou Ning’s brows furrowed. His worst fears had materialized.
Even after knowing the appearances from nineteen years ago, this search yielded nothing.
Among the four matches, from an age perspective, Sun Haitao seed the most credible. The other three either were too young, too old, or had too many children, which clearly indicated several marriages.
Looking at the ID photos, they indeed resembled the portraits they made, especially Zhang Huiping and Sun Haitao, whose moles on their lips were the sa size and located in the sa spot, which was sowhat surprising.
Xu Dayuan rubbed his chin, clearly dissatisfied with the outco, yet there were no better alternatives at the mont.
"This Sun Haitao really looks like him, and the age is credible. I’ll contact soone to inquire in their community about him. Since his parents are gone and he allegedly died at the beginning of the year, who handled the cancellation of his residency?
Moreover, the registry shows he lived in the Beizhai Community Changning District, and although the houses are old, the property prices aren’t low. If he had no children, relatives would think of inheriting such property. I think it might be easy to find out so details."
Zhou Ning thought for a mont and then nodded.
"Let’s start the investigation then. The other two seem unlikely. We’ll adjust these two portraits again. I have a feeling that I’ve seen this yellow-haired man sowhere before, but I just can’t rember where."
...
October 18, 2013
Waking up early in the morning, Zhou Ning no longer felt the sa weakness as the day before.
However, Xia Momo still wouldn’t allow him to get out of bed. Zhou Ning hadn’t had the chance to tell Xia Momo the reason for making the portraits, but he made sure to say plenty of good things.
Xia Momo left him with a sentence, "I have no objections to you getting out of bed as long as the doctor says so, otherwise forget about it."
Hearing this, Zhou Ning perked up, eagerly awaiting the doctor’s rounds. After all, Mr. He had co all the way from Qindao specifically to take care of him and wasn’t responsible for the local patients. But as ti passed, and he waited from left to right, He Shancun didn’t show up.
Xia Momo found it unexpected too, given that He Shancun had virtually been a constant presence in the hospital room before Zhou Ning woke up. After so thought, Xia Momo cleaned her hands and went out.
He Shancun was chatting with a few people at the end of the corridor, his face stern.
This stern expression made Xia Momo’s light footsteps gradually slow down.
The scene was sowhat familiar; she hadn’t seen her grandparents like this, but before her grandfather passed away in the hospital, the doctors had the sa expression when they were discussing things, and a wave of unease made Xia Momo’s legs go weak.
Sensing Xia Momo’s gaze, He Shancun looked over and quickly flashed his signature smile.
"I’m helping with the consultation, why did you co out? Are you anxious?"
Xia Momo tried to find problems on He Shancun’s face, but her unease did not dissipate, and she shook her head.
"Usually, you head straight to the wards, but when Zhou Ning wakes up, you don’t go in. I wanted to co and see; I was a bit worried. Moreover, Zhou Ning has been clamoring to be discharged, saying there is nothing wrong with him physically. What do you think?"
"Could it be that there is sothing wrong with his body?"
Seeing Xia Momo so worried, He Shancun smiled.
"Stop worrying for nothing. During these four days that Zhou Ning was unconscious, we checked him with every possible device and instrunt. We only found a case of mild double gallbladder stones, very minor, and very few and small stones at that. He will just need lithotripsy treatnt afterwards.
There are so people who asked us to consult together, but the CT here has a slight issue, the images are not very clear, so we’re discussing it and got a bit delayed. Why is Zhou Ning making a fuss with you?"
Xia Momo breathed a sigh of relief and shook her head slightly.
"He didn’t make a fuss, he just kept looking at the door, probably getting anxious waiting for you. As long as he is okay, that’s all I care about. You go ahead with your work; I’ll go soothe him a bit. Besides, he was looking for you for sothing, seed like he wanted you to help him inquire about sothing."
He Shancun nodded, and without much small talk, went back to examining the images with the other doctors, seemingly to discuss so surgical plan. These matters were too professional for Xia Momo to understand, and not wanting to interrupt, she quickly returned to the room.
Catching a glimpse of Xia Momo leaving, He Shancun heaved a sigh and pushed his glasses, the old n beside him doing the sa.
"It looks too similar. Based on the CT and ultrasound, we are about 90% certain. This needs urgent follow-up checks back in Qindao, after all the equipnt here is too outdated."
He Shancun frowned deeply.
"I know, I’m just hesitant about how to break it to him, also because he previously showed no symptoms at all, not even upper abdominal pain. Their case is very urgent right now, give a mont to think."
The old n didn’t say much and left together.
He Shancun adjusted his composure and hurried to Zhou Ning’s ward, pushing the door open and glaring at Zhou Ning.
"Is the case so urgent that you can’t rest properly for a couple of days? Besides, did you participate in the physical examination organized by your unit last year? Plus, with double gallbladder and stones, how co they were never detected in your past radiological examinations?"
Zhou Ning was taken aback.
"I didn’t know, I’ve never had upper abdominal pain and I usually eat on ti."
He Shancun frowned.
"Usually? So, most of the ti, you don’t eat on schedule?"
Xia Momo interjected:
"He only eats breakfast on ti. When there’s a case, the other two als are unpredictable, often combined into one, and he eats after things aren’t busy, always eating whenever he finishes his work."
Zhou Ning wanted to protest but seeing Xia Momo’s glare, he shut up and said indifferently:
"Double ducts and stones are no big deal, we can talk about it when we get back to Qindao. You’re not going to make do it here, are you?"
He Shancun sighed helplessly, knowing that further talk was useless.
After all, Zhou Ning was soone who put his work first. Although He Shancun didn’t know what case they were busy with, the fact that they brought him here and had several experts involved ant they couldn’t just let it go.
"Return to Qindao as soon as possible, get surgery as soon as possible. I’ll give you fifteen days. Even a minor issue needs to be addressed promptly, I don’t need to tell you that, right?"
Zhou Ning nodded quickly.
"Got it, you’re taking too long to explain. Can I leave now?"
Xia Momo stared at He Shancun, unblinking, as if trying to find answers on his face.
"You shut up, is it serious for He Shancun?"
"He won’t die, just have a light diet these days, and don’t eat any ssy stuff."
"Then before, why did he suddenly fall unconscious, and for several days at that? You’ve run so many tests but still no answers?"
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