SFTD -Chapter 209 Mystery in the Blood (Part 6)

Chu Menghan changed seats, turning her back to the picture on the wall. Vice President Ye glanced at her.

“People who haven’t studied medicine usually find such bloody images hard to accept, right? Still, for a young woman like you to become a criminal investigator—and even a leader at that—isn’t easy.”

Chu Menghan’s eyelids twitched slightly, but her expression quickly relaxed into a faint smile.

“I’ve discovered that doctors are incredibly observant. You can even tell what I’m thinking just from changing seats. Were you once a psychologist?”

Vice President Ye shook her head.

“You only need to look at the picture behind you to know. I used to work in general surgery, later specializing in hepatobiliary surgery. Even though I’m mainly in administration now, I still occasionally perform operations. A doctor who stops treating patients is wasting resources.”

As she spoke, hurried footsteps sounded from outside the door—the slap-slap of someone wearing slippers rushing closer. Sure enough, a nurse in surgical scrubs entered carrying a stack of files.

Vice President Ye tilted his chin toward Chu Menghan.

“These are the personnel files for the hepatobiliary department and the operating room staff. I only have one request: don’t interfere with their work.”

Chu Menghan nodded and thanked him before leaving with Wang Man. Judging by the stack, there were more than twenty files. Comparing them all against the victim would be an enormous task.

“You take the team and handle the comparisons. Investigate in detail the staff members who participated in the surgery, especially their social connections—see whether any of them intersect with the victim. I’m heading to the victim’s home now.”

…

An hour later, Chu Menghan knocked on the door of the victim Yang Ye’s home.

After a short wait, Yang Ye’s wife opened the door and invited her inside. Chu Menghan had expected the house to be full of visiting relatives and friends, but upon entering she discovered only Zheng Hongmei holding a baby boy less than a year old.

The child was adorable, sucking on a pacifier while staring wide-eyed at Chu Menghan. He even reached out without fear, trying to grab her collar.

Zheng Hongmei quickly placed him into a baby walker, and the child immediately laughed while rolling back and forth around the room.

“I thought your house would be crowded with people. I actually hesitated before coming in.”

Zheng Hongmei forced a faint smile.

“We’re both orphans. We don’t have any family. We were raised in the same orphanage by the same caretaker, so naturally we ended up together when we grew up.”

Chu Menghan nodded in understanding. No wonder the house was so quiet. But Zheng Hongmei also seemed strangely calm considering her husband had just died.

“May I look around?”

Zheng Hongmei gestured casually.

“Go ahead.”

Chu Menghan surveyed the apartment. It was a cramped and shabby two-bedroom unit, definitely no more than sixty square meters in total. The smallest bedroom could barely fit a single bed and a crib.

Other than beds and cabinets, there wasn’t a decent piece of furniture anywhere. The home was so bare it felt almost pitiful.

“Did Yang Ye support the family by himself?”

Zheng Hongmei shook her head.

“Besides his regular job, he also did accounting work for several companies. We studied the same major—he found the clients, and we worked together. If only one person supported the family, the three of us would starve. Just saving enough for the down payment on this old apartment already stretched us to the limit. Otherwise we wouldn’t have waited this long to have a child.”

From the furnishings alone, Chu Menghan could tell they truly weren’t well off.

“Why did Yang Ye choose Luda Hospital for minimally invasive gallbladder surgery?”

Zheng Hongmei tucked her hair behind her ear as if recalling the memory.

“When I gave birth to our baby, I was at Luda Hospital. I met a doctor there with the same surname as mine, Zheng Min. We got along very well. After learning about my situation, she helped me a lot, and afterward we kept in touch frequently.

This time, Yang Ye suddenly developed upper abdominal pain, and Zheng Min happened to be visiting our house. She said it looked like a gallbladder problem and recommended the hepatobiliary department at Luda Hospital. After all, it was the first hospital in Dongnan City to carry out minimally invasive surgery.

So Yang Ye went there. But these past couple of days our baby had a rash, and I couldn’t take care of both of them at once, so he had to go for surgery alone. Zheng Min said it was only a minor procedure and he’d be back in a day, so I didn’t think much of it.

Who could’ve imagined…”

At that moment, the child apparently bumped his head and burst into tears. Zheng Hongmei hurried over, picked him up, and spent quite a while soothing him before carrying him back into the room.

Chu Menghan walked into the living room. The entire space was only around a dozen square meters. There was no sofa, no television, no coffee table—only a pair of old wooden office desks with a computer and several file boxes on them.

As Chu Menghan approached the desk to throw away the tissue in her hand, a corner of a document pouch caught her attention. The color and pattern looked oddly familiar. She pulled it out.

It was a life insurance policy.

The insured person was Yang Ye, and the coverage amount was two million yuan.

For a family living so close to the edge financially, why would they buy such a high-value insurance policy?

Chu Menghan quickly photographed the policy and flipped through it. Behind it was another policy for the child. Only Zheng Hongmei’s was missing.

Just as Chu Menghan put the documents down, Zheng Hongmei emerged from the room. Seeing what she was doing, she smiled faintly.

“You don’t understand why we bought such a large insurance policy, right?”

Chu Menghan nodded openly.

“That’s right. It doesn’t match your income.”

“Mhm. Most people would think that. But we’re orphans. We understand death and family differently from ordinary people. At the very least, we wanted to leave our child some protection. If we’re gone, he’ll still be able to grow up without worries instead of living like we did—never knowing security.”

“But there isn’t one for you?”

Zheng Hongmei smiled and pulled another policy from the cabinet, handing it to Chu Menghan.

“We bought ours from different insurance companies. Yang Ye said keeping everything together wasn’t safe.”

“…”

After saying goodbye to Zheng Hongmei, Chu Menghan hurried back to the hospital.

Wang Man and the others were still investigating. When she arrived at the temporary room they were using near the security office, Zheng Min was already seated inside.

Chu Menghan removed her coat, walked to the table, and leaned forward, staring directly at Zheng Min.

“Tell me—why did you recommend that Yang Ye come to Luda Hospital for gallbladder surgery?

“Didn’t you say you had little confidence in Doctor Dong Chengwen’s skills?”

Zheng Min clearly hadn’t expected such a direct question. She froze briefly.

“On the night of April 4th, I went to visit Hongmei. Yang Ye mentioned upper abdominal pain and described his symptoms. It was obviously acute cholecystitis, so I told him to go to Luda Hospital that same night. But the couple was busy working on some accounting matter and said they’d wait until the next day.

Then on the morning of the 5th, Yang Ye came to the hospital by himself. He called me and said the examination results were out and surgery was necessary. He asked whether I could help move him up the schedule because the outpatient doctor had arranged his operation for the 16th, and he didn’t have that much time.

So I contacted someone in the operating room and adjusted his schedule, placing him in Doctor Dong’s 10 a.m. surgery slot. You can ask the operating room staff—they’ll confirm everything I said.”

Chu Menghan stared into Zheng Min’s eyes.

Her explanation was calm. She wasn’t overly emotional, nor did she react with anger.

“We’ll verify it. Also, are these kinds of last-minute surgery changes common?”