"I... how am I making trouble?" The old lady’s eyes darted around, but she refused to admit any wrongdoing.
"Now that the police are here, you claid I diagnosed the wrong illness and prescribed the wrong dicine, so you can talk to the police about it now." Ye Qiu’s smile was gentle, but his eyes were devoid of warmth.
"What’s going on?" Officer Zhou eyed the old lady sternly, his face full of authority.
"It’s this clinic that misdiagnosed my boss; he’s still lying in the hospital right now. I won’t settle for anything less than compensation—fifty thousand, no, one hundred thousand, or I won’t let this go," the old lady insisted, neck stiff with defiance.
"Old lady, you’d better think this through. If I haven’t treated your spouse, what you’re doing now could be considered extortion, and I can take you to court," Ye Qiu said leisurely.
"Sue ? Stop trying to scare . I’m of such an old age already, what can you possibly do by suing ?" the old lady said fearlessly.
"Heh, this old lady is quite sothing, huh? Since when does being old an you’re above the law? I’m not much younger than you; does that an I can beat you up and no one will care?" Old Man Zhou said mockingly.
"Indeed, to think there are still those ignorant of the law nowadays, coming here to swindle without understanding the law, you must have taken advantage of others’ small kindnesses a lot in the past!" the neighbors chid in, all speaking at once.
"Fine, you said Qiuchan Clinic misdiagnosed the illness, so which hospital is your spouse in now? Where’s the remaining dication? And the prescription receipts? We need to take them back for examination?" Officer Zhou’s family lived in the area, and the dical issues of the two elderly in his family were all treated at Qiuchan Clinic. How could Doctor Ye, such a good person, do sothing so unscrupulous? Officer Zhou was the first to disbelieve.
However, given that he held a public office, he had to handle everything impartially; there can be no question of favoritism. Since the old lady claid Ye Qiu had misdiagnosed the illness, evidence had to be presented first. He would, of course, investigate carefully, but the old lady’s account further convinced him that this was just a scam.
"The dicine? I threw it away when it wasn’t of use, and as for the receipts, who would keep sothing that old? You’re not implying that you, the police officer, are deliberately showing favoritism, are you? Poor , an old lady, being bullied everywhere I go," the old lady adamantly denied, wailing and insisting that Ye Qiu was to bla.
"Officer Zhou, may I ask a couple of questions?" Ye Qiu asked with a smile.
"Doctor Ye, please go ahead," Officer Zhou responded in a very friendly manner.
"Old lady, since you are certain I misdiagnosed the illness, may I ask what sickness your spouse has and in which hospital he currently is?"
"Hemiplegia, at the Central Hospital, what about it?" the old lady retorted with a glare.
"Oh, then may I inquire how long has your boss had hemiplegia and when did he co to my clinic?"
"He’s been paralyzed for half a year, ca to your clinic right after the onset, what’s your point?"
The crowd laughed before Ye Qiu could ask any more questions.
"Old lady, if you’re here to scam, you should at least do your howork. This clinic has been opened for less than three months."
"Exactly, Officer Zhou, she could be arrested for this, right? For trying to swindle one hundred thousand yuan—how many years could she be sentenced for?"
Hearing the jeers of the crowd, the old lady started to panic and hastily said, "I’m old, I can’t rember things clearly, it was three months ago, it’s his fault for prescribing the wrong dicine that my spouse has been unwell all this ti."
"Ah! Now I rember, why did this old lady look so familiar?" the young doctor Ji Yuan, who had been quiet, said suddenly.
"What, Ji, you know her?" The neighbors were familiar with Ji Yuan, as he often ca to study with Ye Qiu, hence they all knew this earnest and hardworking young man.
"I do. Her spouse is indeed at our hospital and does have hemiplegia. Because I am not in charge of that departnt and because this old lady seldom takes care of her spouse, I didn’t recall imdiately."
"Ji, what exactly happened, can you tell in more detail?"
"I heard from a colleague. They said that half a year ago, the ambulance brought in an old man who had a stroke; he ended up with hemiplegia after being resuscitated. Since no one paid and no one cared for him, he’s still in the hospital. Officer Zhou, you can check if this is true."
"Oh, there’s such a story!"
"That’s just inhumane!"
"Ah, Officer Zhou, the old lady is trying to escape."
Seeing that her ruse was exposed, the old lady initially tried to flee, but her attempt was noticed and foiled, and Officer Zhou took her back to the police station.
"Thank you everyone for today, for standing up for ," Ye Qiu expressed his gratitude to the neighbors with a fist-clasp.
"It’s nothing; we’re all old neighbors here."
"Brother Ye, everyone knows of your dical skills, how can there still be people intentionally causing trouble? There’s sothing fishy about this situation," soone remarked.
"Yes, such a transparent case upon investigation. That old lady must be too foolish to co here making a scene," another agreed.
"Do you think soone is jealous of Brother Ye’s successful business, and deliberately hired her to create a scene?" soone speculated.
"Now that you ntion it, it’s not impossible. Such a good person like Brother Ye wouldn’t have enemies, it must be jealousy over his thriving business," another joined in.
The neighbors were abuzz with discussion, with so even drawing upon dramatic plots from TV shows, imagining things as deep as national and family enmity.
Ye Qiu found their conjectures both amusing and touching, but indeed, today’s event was not simple, and it left him with so suspicions in his heart.
"Dad, are you alright?" Ye Chan found out about the incident when she ca ho in the evening. Hearing that the police had taken soone away and that Ye Qiu’s reputation was intact, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"I’m fine, no one believed that old lady, but I feel there’s sothing odd about the suddenness of today’s event. Chan, have the Li family been troubling you lately?" Ye Qiu asked.
Ye Chan quickly understood, "Dad, do you suspect that old lady was hired by the Li family? They wouldn’t be so petty, would they?"
"Who knows, if after the divorce you were not doing well, they would not care about you out of disdain, but now that you are doing well, the Li family must feel uncomfortable with that. They’re used to looking down on others and might not be able to accept this change suddenly. But we’ll have to wait for Officer Zhou and the others to finish their investigation. I’m just asking if you’ve had any conflicts with the Li family recently."
"No, I haven’t seen Li Chengyu or his parents since the divorce. Only Li Xinyi has co to see a couple of tis," Ye Chan replied.
"And how did those tis end?"
"We obviously parted on bad terms, she tried to persuade to go back and reconcile with her brother—how could that be possible?"
"Has Li Xinyi’s relationship encountered any problems?" Ye Qiu asked, narrowing his eyes.
"I heard from Mingi that her cousin has recently been either at the company or in the hospital and indeed hasn’t been in much contact with Li Xinyi," Ye Chan recalled.
"Now I understand," Ye Qiu narrowed his eyes and chuckled to himself, realizing the couple had so relationship troubles. But what did that have to do with the Ye family?
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