Chapter 42: It’s Really Not Me

Chapter 42: Chapter 42: It’s Really Not Me

At 5:40 PM, a group of Yu Zhiming’s classmates and friends gathered in a large private room at the Good Taste Restaurant to celebrate. In total, there were eleven people—eight men and three women, including Zhiming himself.

Xu Shuang’s gaze swept around the room. She asked, "Cao Yu isn’t here. Did we not tell him, or...?"

Zhu Yan, the organizer of the party, replied pointedly, "I notified him. He said he happened to have other plans today."

Xu Shuang pursed her lips and said mockingly, "The way I see it, he’s too embarrassed to come, isn’t he?"

"We’re all classmates. He could’ve used this opportunity to clear the air and apologize to Zhiming. Wouldn’t that have solved everything?"

"Besides, it was his wife’s relative, and not even a close one. Is it really necessary to be so stubborn about it?"

Yu Zhiming and Cao Yu’s estrangement began when Cao Yu’s wife’s great-uncle and his family beat Yu Zhiming to a pulp.

Originally, when that great-uncle was diagnosed with stomach cancer at Huashan Hospital, it seemed like a chance for reconciliation.

But no one expected another complication to arise.

The great-uncle was supposed to have a partial gastrectomy the next day, but he suddenly changed his mind.

He insisted that Qi Yue and Yu Zhiming had an unusual relationship. He claimed they were doctors protecting each other, and that to cover up one mistake, they had manufactured an even bigger one.

He claimed there was nothing wrong with his stomach at all, that the pathology report was fake, and that it was all to cover up Yu Zhiming’s mistake.

Once he had the partial gastrectomy, it would be like destroying the evidence, and he’d never be able to prove Yu Zhiming’s error.

At his strong insistence, Qi Yue had no choice but to process his discharge from the hospital.

Qi Yue told Yu Zhiming over the phone.

That guy had probably heard some rumors, like the one about Yu Zhiming being Qi Yue’s illegitimate son, which led him to make bad assumptions and get fixated on it.

Qi Yue also said that this incident wouldn’t negatively affect Yu Zhiming.

After all, Yu Zhiming had already proven his skills with his performance at Huashan Hospital.

Furthermore, the man’s pathology report couldn’t possibly be faked.

Multiple subsequent targeted examinations had also confirmed that the man’s stomach was indeed cancerous...

Yu Zhiming had only found out a few days ago that the man did, in fact, cherish his life.

After leaving Huashan Hospital, he had gone through various connections to get into a well-known major hospital in the Capital City.

He went through the whole ordeal all over again.

The conclusion from that hospital’s tests left him in despair.

This time, the man resigned himself to his fate and accepted the surgery.

A few days ago, the guy went home to recuperate.

From others, Yu Zhiming learned of the man’s self-destructive antics, as well as his new version of the story.

The guy was actually claiming that his stomach had been perfectly healthy, but Yu Zhiming’s misdiagnosis had caused him to live in fear and anxiety.

What one thinks about by day, one dreams of by night.

He claimed his stomach cancer was entirely caused by the stress from Yu Zhiming’s irresponsible, nonsensical words.

This...

Yu Zhiming was so angry he wanted to curse the man’s entire lineage back eighteen generations.

’How could such a bizarre person exist in this world?’

It also made Yu Zhiming realize that once trust is lost, people will always assume the worst of others.

And that a person could always find a seemingly logical reason for their own incredibly foolish actions, as well as someone else to blame.

But then Yu Zhiming had another thought: the guy’s self-destructive antics were costing him his own money and his own health. With that, he wasn’t so angry anymore.

But the incident had unavoidably affected his relationship with Cao Yu.

Yu Zhiming felt that Cao Yu should have unequivocally sided with him—the one who had acted with good intentions and been gravely wronged—and distanced himself from his awful relatives.

As it turned out, that was just Yu Zhiming’s wishful thinking...

’That six-hundred-yuan wedding gift... I’m never getting it back.’

Yu Zhiming felt an internal pang of regret but then waved his hand as if he didn’t care and said, "Forget it. If he doesn’t want to come, he doesn’t have to."

"Some friends... you just drift apart as you go through life."

Zhu Yan followed up on Yu Zhiming’s comment. "Here’s hoping that all of us here today will never drift apart, but will always be there for each other."

"Come on, let’s all raise our glasses..."

"A toast to Zhiming for getting this great opportunity at Binhai Grand Hospital! May your future be bright and your successes endless...!"

With Zhu Yan skillfully guiding the conversation, the party revolved around Yu Zhiming. Everyone ate, drank, chatted, and laughed, and the atmosphere was lively and cheerful.

During the meal, the owner of Good Taste Restaurant, Chu the Fatty, personally came to the private room to offer a toast and gifted them two large dishes: braised abalone and stir-fried jumbo shrimp.

This was his way of thanking Yu Zhiming for helping him out of a jam and proving the restaurant’s innocence.

Later in the evening, Li Ao, who worked for his family’s business, suddenly spoke up. "Zhiming, a friend of mine asked me to consult you about something..."

Yu Zhiming looked at him and heard him ask, "With current medical tests, is there a way to determine the exact date a woman got pregnant? Like, down to the specific day?"

The moment the question was out, the room erupted in a chorus of "Woooooahs" and teasing calls.

Zhu Yan grinned mischievously. "’A friend of mine...’ Tsk tsk, that sounds very, very familiar."

"Li Ao, this ’friend’ isn’t you, by any chance?"

Li Ao got flustered and said hurriedly, "How could it be me? It’s really a friend of mine."

"We’re not that close. He just knew I was having dinner with Zhiming tonight and specifically asked me to ask."

Qin Fang, who hadn’t said much all evening, couldn’t help but laugh. "The more you explain, the more you confirm you’ve got something to hide."

Xu Shuang hooted, joining in the teasing, "Li Ao, still trying to say it’s not you?"

"Qin Fang works in the prosecutor’s office, you know. He’s an expert at reading people and interrogation."

"Li Ao, we’re all friends here. Why be so secretive? Just tell us, and we’ll help you figure it out."

Zhu Yan chuckled and chimed in, "Exactly, Li Ao, just spit it out. Besides, you’re not even married."

"It could even be a good thing. If there’s an accident, you just marry her, right?"

Li Ao, red in the face, said, "Don’t talk nonsense. It’s really a friend of mine."

He looked at Yu Zhiming imploringly.

"Alright, alright, stop joking around."

Yu Zhiming waved his hand to quiet everyone down and said with a smile, "Current pregnancy testing technology can’t pinpoint it to a specific day. There’s usually a margin of error of about a week."

Xu Shuang said casually, "Zhiming, isn’t that a simple problem?"

"You get the approximate time of conception, then ask the pregnant woman about her menstrual cycle and ovulation period, plus which specific night she... did the deed with the man. Wouldn’t that determine the day?"

Yu Zhiming nodded. "That would indeed allow for a more accurate determination of the date of conception."

"However, a man’s sperm can survive inside a woman’s body for up to seven days."

"So, it’s really difficult to determine the exact day and time they combined."

"Oh, so that’s how it is."

Li Ao looked disappointed but pressed on, unwilling to give up. "Zhiming, what if a woman has relations with two different men, four days apart, and now she’s found to be six weeks pregnant?"

Li Ao noticed everyone at the table staring at him with glittering eyes and defended himself again, "Don’t look at me like that! It’s really not me, it’s my friend."

He turned his gaze back to Yu Zhiming.

"Zhiming, in that situation, who is more likely to be the fetus’s father?"

"The first one, or the second one?"

Yu Zhiming shook his head. "Impossible to tell."

"Even if I could say who is more likely, with something like this, who would be at ease without one hundred percent certainty?"

Everyone at the table nodded in agreement.

Something like this leaves no room for doubt.

Yu Zhiming continued, "The only way to be sure is to do a paternity test to determine who the father is."

"There’s a procedure called amniocentesis for paternity testing. It involves extracting amniotic fluid via amniocentesis, then separating and culturing the exfoliated cells from the fluid."

"The exfoliated cells in the amniotic fluid carry the fetus’s chromosomes and DNA. The DNA is extracted from these cells and compared with the potential father’s DNA."

"The accuracy of an amniocentesis paternity test can be as high as 99.99 percent. The only downsides are that it’s a bit expensive, and there’s some risk of harm to the mother and fetus."

Li Ao let out a sigh of relief. "As long as there’s a way to determine paternity, that’s good."

He quickly explained, "It’s really not me..."

The party ended amidst a ripple of soft laughter.

After settling the bill, they walked out of the restaurant together.

Except for Yu Zhiming, everyone else in the group had had at least a little to drink.

Yu Zhiming called out loudly, "I drove here. If you don’t mind squeezing in, I can take six or seven people home."

Qin Fang replied with a smile, "I came on my electric scooter. I didn’t drink much, so no need to worry about a DUI."

"Then ride carefully on your way back."

Yu Zhiming said with concern, then remembered something and asked, "Qin Fang, that case with the kid with the ruptured kidney, has it been closed yet?"

"It’s still under investigation."

Qin Fang answered vaguely, then said his goodbyes, "Zhiming, Zhu Yan, I’m heading out."

Five others had also come on electric scooters like Qin Fang. They also said their goodbyes and headed for their scooters.

Yu Zhiming waved goodbye to them.

Suddenly, a gloomy, sinister voice drifted into Yu Zhiming’s ears on the night wind.

"Are you sure? That’s the guy!"