Chapter 135 - 134: Scream

Chapter 135: Chapter 134: Scream

Saturday was another busy day for Yu Zhiming. One hundred twenty people were waiting for him to perform their physical examinations at Huashan Hospital.

Additionally, the ten narcolepsy patients who had checked in yesterday would begin three days of round-the-clock physical monitoring today, following their initial examinations.

The dynamic changes in their key physiological indicators, including brainwaves, would be recorded in detail before, during, and after their narcoleptic episodes.

It was a data collection task—tedious and cumbersome.

Yu Zhiming didn’t have to do it all himself; it was primarily handled by the center’s interns, residents, and nurses.

However, as one of the project leaders, Yu Zhiming had to participate to some extent, just to show he was involved...

At 6:10 in the evening, an exhausted Yu Zhiming, his body and mind weary from a full day’s work, walked out of the examination room only to be scooped up by the waist and spun in circles.

’Don’t I have an image to maintain with colleagues and nurses watching?’

"Fu Xiaobo, are you asking for a beating?"

Following the sharp rebuke, Yu Zhiming was quickly put down.

He shot a fierce glare at the grinning Fu Xiaobo. Straightening his clothes, he asked with disdain.

"What are you doing here, kid? Aren’t you busy today?"

"Even if I’m busy, I still have to eat!"

"Besides, it’s not every day my little uncle splurges on a huge meal. Of course I’d rush over to show my support."

Fu Xiaobo then tried to sound pitiful, "Little Uncle, look at me! I’ve gotten so thin from overwork lately. I need to replenish my energy!"

Yu Zhiming eyed him skeptically.

"I don’t see where you’ve gotten thinner. If anything, your skin’s gotten paler, which just shows you haven’t been working that hard."

Yu Zhiming’s gaze then shifted to the side. He saw the slightly reserved Zeng Yan standing with his Fourth Sister, Gu Qingning, and Fu Xiaoxue. He nodded and smiled at her, a silent greeting.

Just then, he heard Fu Xiaobo’s voice.

"Hey, beautiful sister, I’m Fu Xiaobo, Dr. Yu’s nephew. We’ve met once before, remember?"

Yu Zhiming looked at the little brat fawning over Zhou Mo and felt the urge to pin him to the ground and beat him senseless.

"Zhou Mo, this kid is shameless. Stick some fur on him and he’s a monkey. Just ignore him."

Zhou Mo covered her mouth, amused.

Fu Xiaobo put on a wounded expression. "Little Uncle, have you ever seen a monkey as tall, strong, and handsome as me?"

Yu Zhiming ignored the clowning Fu Xiaobo and looked back at his Fourth Sister, Xiaoxue, and the others.

"You guys go wait for me downstairs. I just need to grab my things from the office and change."

Yu Zhiming and Zhou Mo returned to the main office together. He then knocked and entered the director’s office next door to ask Teacher Qi if there were any other work arrangements.

Qi Yue waved his hand. "You’ve had a long day, too. Go home and get some rest."

"Oh, right. Did you find a case of stomach cancer today?"

Yu Zhiming corrected him, "Teacher, it’s just a suspected case. I had a bad feeling about it, so I sent him for a confirmatory diagnosis."

Qi Yue smiled, then changed the subject. "Regarding the project for collecting markers for ultra-early cancer screening, all parties have more or less reached an agreement."

"There should be a sizable signing and launch ceremony for the project next week. Your attendance is mandatory."

"Just giving you a heads-up."

Yu Zhiming asked, puzzled, "Teacher, this is a multi-year project with a rather uncertain future."

"Is it really necessary to hold a big ceremony for it?"

Qi Yue said slowly, "This research project involves a hefty investment, is highly significant, has key government support, and enthusiastic participation from all sides. Those points alone are enough to warrant a wave of publicity."

"A vanity project for political brownie points?" Yu Zhiming added.

Qi Yue couldn’t be bothered to argue with the kid. With a dismissive wave, he shooed him out...

Around 7:00 PM, Yu Zhiming, Yu Xiangwan, Gu Qingning, Fu Xiaoxue, and Zeng Yan rode in a van driven by Fu Xiaobo to the Luwei Restaurant, a place the Yu Family Siblings had visited two or three times before.

Now flush with cash and doting on his niece, Yu Zhiming ordered a tableful of dishes without batting an eye.

During the meal, Fu Xiaoxue brought something up.

Her Sino-British Finance class had a four-year-long traditional assignment: to open a securities account and practice trading on the real stock market.

"Oh? How much capital do you need?"

Fu Xiaoxue held up her index finger. "One hundred thousand. The counselor said exactly one hundred thousand—no more, no less. We’re not allowed to add or withdraw funds during the four-year period."

"At the end of each academic year, they compare everyone’s account balances and select the top performers."

Yu Zhiming said magnanimously, "A mere hundred thousand? That’s it? Tell your Fourth Aunt whenever you need it."

"She’ll transfer it to you."

Fu Xiaoxue beamed. "Little Uncle, I’ll trade very carefully. I’ll do my best to turn it into three hundred thousand in four years to pay you back."

"The record in the Sino-British program is turning one hundred thousand into over eight hundred thousand in the stock market."

Yu Zhiming laughed. "Xiaoxue, don’t get ahead of yourself. If you can beat a bank’s wealth management product by four or five percent after four years, I’ll be more than satisfied."

"Only a four or five percent annual return?"

With the brash confidence of youth, Fu Xiaoxue said haughtily, "Little Uncle, are you underestimating me that much?"

"We’re in the best finance program in the country. We could do this with our eyes closed and get a higher return than that."

Yu Zhiming couldn’t help but chuckle. "Come talk to me about returns in six months, or a year, when you have some real-money results to show me!"

"It’s a deal!" Fu Xiaoxue declared, her face full of confidence...

Their dinner lasted from 7:00 PM to nearly 9:00 PM. Although they’d ordered a lot of food, they only had a few cans of beer and some soft drinks. The final bill came to just over six thousand.

Before leaving campus, Fu Xiaoxue and Zeng Yan had both asked their counselors for permission to not return to their dorms tonight.

Full of food and drink, they left the Luwei Restaurant. Yu Xiangwan wanted to take them out for more fun.

To a KTV to sing karaoke.

As for Yu Zhiming, he was heading back to his place alone.

Seeing that Yu Zhiming was going back by himself, Zeng Yan couldn’t bear it and said, "Maybe we shouldn’t go sing?"

"Leaving your uncle all alone..."

Fu Xiaobo explained, "It’s fine. My little uncle really dislikes noisy places. Plus, he likes being alone to do his own thing, like reading or just zoning out."

"He’s used to it, and we’re all used to it too."

At that moment, the group was standing on the sidewalk outside the Luwei Restaurant, hailing a taxi for Yu Zhiming.

It was a street packed with restaurants.

Because the weather was still quite hot, a few restaurants had set up tables in their open-air street-side courtyards, allowing diners to enjoy the evening air while clinking glasses with friends.

Many diners were toasting, laughing, and calling out to each other, making the street sound very lively.

After waiting for several minutes without any luck hailing a taxi, Yu Zhiming said to Yu Xiangwan and Fu Xiaobo, "You don’t have to wait here with me. Just take the van and go to the karaoke place."

"I’ll just wait..."

Yu Zhiming hadn’t even finished his sentence when sudden, panicked screams erupted from the neighboring courtyard.

He turned his head and saw someone rolling around on the ground, surrounded by five or six young men and women who were jumping and shouting in a state of terror.

’Great,’ Yu Zhiming thought glumly. ’My Conan curse strikes again...’

Frustrated as he was, Yu Zhiming knew he couldn’t just pretend he hadn’t seen it.

He tossed his briefcase into Fu Xiaobo’s arms and vaulted into the neighboring courtyard as fast as he could.

The scene before him was truly shocking.

A man with a bowl-cut hairstyle was lying on the ground, curled into a ball and thrashing about, spitting out mouthful after mouthful of blood.

Most of his body was already stained red with blood...

"I’m a doctor!"

Yu Zhiming shouted, rushing forward to restrain the thrashing man on the ground with his legs and feet, holding him still.

He freed his right hand and pressed it against the man’s chest.

In the next moment, Yu Zhiming’s eyes widened to nearly double their size.

’There’s a living creature rampaging inside the man’s stomach.’

"What did he eat?" Yu Zhiming looked up and demanded of the young men and women standing nearby.

A young woman, on the verge of tears, timidly replied, "A loach. A live one."

"We didn’t know this would happen..."

’Holy shit,’ Yu Zhiming cursed internally. ’These bastards will eat anything.’

The stomach lining is extremely delicate and easily damaged.

The man with the bowl cut was continuously vomiting blood, undoubtedly because his gastric mucosa was being torn apart by the desperately struggling loach.

The most urgent task was to stop the loach and keep it from thrashing around any further.

Judging by the amount of blood the man was vomiting, massive gastric hemorrhaging wasn’t far off.

Once massive hemorrhaging began, the man’s life...

Yu Zhiming’s gaze suddenly fell on something by his feet. It was a thin bamboo skewer.

Seeing the skewer, Yu Zhiming’s hands moved faster than his thoughts. He reached for it reflexively...

He even remembered to wipe the skewer on the man’s clothes.

The next moment, Yu Zhiming raised the skewer high and plunged it forcefully into the man’s torso, just below his left ribs...

Seeing this, several of the young women and two of the men nearby covered their eyes in terror and let out piercing screams...

"AHHH..."