At 12:10 PM, Yu Zhiming met his brother-in-law, Qi Bin, and his haggard-looking friend, Wang Zheng, at the Qi Family Handmade Noodle Shop near the hospital.
Yu Zhiming ordered a small bowl of handmade noodles with a diced carrot and lamb topping, plus an extra serving of pork intestine topping.
He didn’t actually have a taste for heavy foods.
But today, Yu Zhiming felt he needed a strong flavor to stimulate his somewhat sluggish taste buds and appetite.
While waiting for the noodles, Yu Zhiming quickly looked through Wang Zheng’s father’s medical records and various physical exam results.
The prognosis was grim.
Wang Zheng’s father had undergone a liver shunt stent procedure nearly two years ago for severe biliary cirrhosis.
To make matters worse, during a check-up last month, he was also diagnosed with colon cancer.
Yu Zhiming put down the documents and looked at Wang Zheng. "From what I can see, there’s nothing wrong with your father’s diagnosis or treatment plan."
"The doctors at the major city hospitals are still trustworthy."
"So, Brother Wang, what is it you wanted to ask about?"
Wang Zheng, a man nearing forty, shifted uncomfortably in his seat before speaking softly.
"Dr. Yu, it’s like this..."
"After we found out my father also had colon cancer, our family and friends have been actively searching for better treatments."
"A few days ago, my aunt contacted a medical expert online..."
"He mentioned some kind of novel dual experimental therapy, one that’s supposedly designed for patients like my father with more than one serious illness. He claimed it could tackle both problems at once and achieve astonishing results."
Wang Zheng sighed. "These past few days, my family has been fighting constantly about whether or not to send my father to this expert for treatment."
He looked at Yu Zhiming with a bitter expression.
"Dr. Yu, I know you’re an incredible doctor."
"I wanted to hear the honest truth from you. With my father’s condition, can he still be cured?"
’Well...’
’The truth is really hard to say.’
Yu Zhiming couldn’t help but shoot his brother-in-law a resentful look for dragging him into this mess.
Qi Bin took a sip of his noodle soup and said quietly, "Fifth Brother, Wang Zheng and I were classmates in elementary and middle school."
"I know him. He’s a down-to-earth guy. He would never turn around and blame you for anything later."
"Fifth Brother, just speak your mind as a friend. Don’t hold anything back."
"Besides..."
Qi Bin added, "In the end, Wang Zheng and his family are the ones who will make the decision. You’re just providing information."
Yu Zhiming scoffed inwardly at his brother-in-law’s words.
Still, with a matter like this, he decided he had to be honest.
He met Wang Zheng’s gaze, pondered for a moment, and said, "For a liver shunt stent procedure, the five-year survival rate is 82%."
"But your father’s liver indicators and the results from his other physical exams... they aren’t very encouraging, in my opinion."
Wang Zheng asked for confirmation, "Dr. Yu, are you saying my father won’t make it five years? That he has, at most, three years left?"
Yu Zhiming answered indirectly, "Colon cancer is a relatively slow-progressing cancer."
"Your father is currently in the early stages. With simple conservative treatment, there’s a very high probability he can live for another three to five years before it progresses to the middle and late stages."
Wang Zheng understood. "So, in other words, we can basically ignore the colon cancer? The main threat to my father’s life is still his liver condition?"
Yu Zhiming picked up his soup and took a sip.
The soup was a bit too hot, almost scalding.
"That medical expert and his dual experimental therapy... I don’t know anything about them, so I can’t comment."
"Brother Wang, I’ll tell you two things."
"One, reputable hospitals and doctors don’t need to advertise. Word-of-mouth ensures they never have a shortage of patients."
"Take me, for instance. I’m just a little-known doctor..."
Yu Zhiming said with a slight boast, "Even for my weekly clinic session, I now have patients coming all the way from other counties and cities just to see me."
Wang Zheng said flatteringly, "Dr. Yu, your reputation as ’the Human CT Scan’ and ’the Little Diagnosis Expert’ has already spread far and wide."
Yu Zhiming chuckled and continued, "The ones who advertise online are mostly private hospitals, or doctors with limited skills trying to build a reputation for themselves."
"Two..."
Yu Zhiming paused for effect. "Anything labeled as an ’experimental therapy’ is provided free of charge. They don’t bill patients."
"Free? Dr. Yu, are you serious?"
Wang Zheng’s reaction was strong, his tone urgent.
"But that expert said his dual experimental therapy requires advanced medical equipment and that the drug components are rare and expensive. He said we needed to prepare at least 200,000 for the initial costs."
Yu Zhiming let out a soft scoff. "Experimental therapies are a form of medical research. They’re supported by research funds from the government or corporations, so there’s no need to charge patients."
Qi Bin also spoke up, "Wang Zheng, it’s pretty obvious then. That so-called medical expert is just a quack doctor trying to make a quick buck."
Just then, the shop owner brought over their noodles and toppings.
Yu Zhiming had said all he needed to. Without another word, he lowered his head and began slurping his noodles.
After lunch, Yu Zhiming returned to the hospital and rested in his office with his eyes closed for nearly an hour.
With most of his energy restored, he got busy again.
Throughout the afternoon, Yu Zhiming completed two laparoscopic hernia repair surgeries.
It was such a routine surgery that he was beyond familiar with it; you could say he could perform it with his eyes closed.
After 6:30 PM, Yu Zhiming got off work and returned to his home in Yushui Bay. He took a quick shower, skipped dinner, and went straight to his room, collapsing on the bed like a dead dog.
He told his sister to wake him up in two hours.
Only an hour later, however, Yu Xiangwan woke him up.
Before Yu Zhiming’s groggy temper could kick in, Yu Xiangwan quickly explained that there was a good reason for waking him early: a classmate who worked at the county prosecutor’s office was there to see him.
Yu Zhiming got up and went into the living room. He actually recognized the person—it was a classmate from his year in high school.
His name was Qin Fang, and he now worked at the county prosecutor’s office.
Yu Zhiming and Qin Fang weren’t close. They had only seen each other at a few get-togethers and mutual friends’ weddings, but they never socialized privately.
"Yu Zhiming, sorry to disturb you while you’re resting."
Qin Fang said apologetically, "I’m here about a case. It’s regarding the little boy you diagnosed with a ruptured left kidney six days ago."
Yu Zhiming sat on the living room sofa, took the glass of warm water his older sister handed him, and drank half of it.
"Didn’t that boy’s surgery go well? He was saved, wasn’t he?"
"Did some new complication arise?"
Qin Fang let out a breath. "The boy is recovering just fine, no changes there."
"It’s the case itself that has changed dramatically..."
Qin Fang slowly explained, "The boy’s father changed his story. He’s now confessing that he was the one who kicked the boy."
Yu Zhiming was stunned.
"How is that possible?"
Qin Fang gave a wry smile. "This was supposed to be a clear-cut case, but now everyone’s story has changed."
"The boy and his father have both changed their stories. They both claim it was the father who kicked him."
"The pregnant woman’s husband has also changed his tune, saying that in a fit of anger, he only pushed the boy to the ground and then put his foot on the boy’s stomach to stop him from running away, but that he didn’t kick him forcefully."
"Oh," Yu Zhiming said, then asked, "Qin Fang, did something happen in the meantime?"
Qin Fang nodded. "The husband’s family is saying that the boy hitting the pregnant woman with the ball was just him being mischievous, that it was an honest mistake."
"Given that the woman delivered her baby safely and the infant is fine, while the boy ended up suffering greatly with a ruptured kidney supposedly from his own father..."
"...they couldn’t bear it. So they’ve decided not to press charges against the boy. They’re also offering to cover all his medical expenses and give his family 600,000 in ’humanitarian aid’."
Realization dawned on Yu Zhiming. He sighed, "The magic of money..."
Qin Fang said pointedly, "Assault causing a ruptured kidney and massive hemorrhage is a serious injury."
"It carries a sentence of three to ten years in prison."
"But if it’s a father hitting his son, the court has a lot more leeway and factors to consider in its sentencing."
"It could very well end in a suspended sentence."
Qin Fang said in a grave tone, "The county prosecutor’s office will not allow the dignity of the law to be trampled on like this."
"Yu Zhiming, you were the first to discover the boy’s injuries. I need you to carefully recall the situation at the time."
"Especially the father’s reaction..."