A Chan – CH 125

Chapter 125: My Ah Chan (2)

The safe house was conveniently located, and they quickly arrived at the People’s Hospital. One bodyguard went to register, while the other accompanied Li Weiyi as they waited for their appointment. Li Xiaoyi and the others hadn’t arrived yet.

The People’s Hospital was the best tertiary hospital in the city, and even at midnight, the emergency room was still crowded.

Li Weiyi stopped crying, clutching her stomach, and slumped weakly in a chair, her eyes darting around blankly. To her right was a row of examination rooms, the corridor packed with people, and at the end of the corridor was a fire escape. The lights were as bright as day, the crowd was bustling, and the noise was deafening.

Li Weiyi just watched quietly, waiting.

For a moment, her vision blurred.

She wondered if she was seeing things. She actually saw Zhang Jingchan standing in the crowd, smiling at her. He was wearing a sports jacket and trousers, the same style he wore during the day. But when she looked again, there was no one there.

She stared blankly in that direction for a moment, then suddenly stood up, squeezed into the crowd, and hurried towards the fire escape. There was no trace of abdominal pain left.

The bodyguard beside her, who was looking at his phone, snapped back to reality, saw the empty chair next to him, and broke out in a cold sweat. Just then, the bodyguard who had been registering returned, and the two stared at each other wide-eyed: “Where is she?”

The two quickly split up, one running outwards, the other towards the examination room.

Li Weiyi couldn’t explain what impulse drove her. Was it a hallucination? But she was healthy and never hallucinated; or was it… a remnant of another timeline? Since this morning, that uneasy feeling had swept over her again. She opened the fire escape door. The stairs were dimly lit and led upwards. Because of Zhang Jingchan’s past vegetative state, she knew the hospital’s layout intimately. She ran up the stairs.

She ran up three flights of stairs, panting heavily, but didn’t see a single person.

Li Weiyi gripped the stair railing, thinking perhaps she was being overly sensitive; there was clearly nothing there. But a sense of disappointment still lingered. Just as she was about to turn back, the fire door next to her suddenly opened, and a man walked in.

Li Weiyi’s entire body tensed like an ostrich, watching him approach step by step. He was still wearing the same black shirt and black trousers as during the day, a mask, and a baseball cap. He wasn’t wearing glasses under the brim, clearly revealing a pair of eyes, familiar yet strange.

Their eyes met, and Li Weiyi felt as if she were staring into a dark, silent starry sky.

Her legs felt like lead; she stood rooted to the spot, her throat constricted, unable to utter a sound.

He gave her a deep look, then suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her rapidly upstairs.

Footsteps echoed down the stairs below, followed by bodyguards calling, “Miss Li? Li Weiyi?”

Li Weiyi’s mind went blank. She ran and ran with him, his hands large and warm, their fingers intertwined tightly. He glanced back at her every now and then, but Li Weiyi just stared blankly at him.

When they reached the top floor, they stopped in front of the fire door. The bodyguards’ footsteps below grew closer, and through the window, she could see figures in police uniforms flashing by in the corridor. Another bodyguard was also running in their direction.

Suddenly, he bent down, gently pulling Li Weiyi’s waist close, burying his head in the crook of her shoulder, his cheek pressed against hers, a fleeting touch before he pulled away.

A tingling sensation descended upon Li Weiyi, coursing through her body. Even more intense than the sensation was her heart pounding wildly. She watched helplessly as he opened the door and left, the sound of hurried footsteps and faint shouts echoing down the corridor.

—

Li Weiyi followed the two bodyguards back to the emergency room without a word, only then realizing something was wrong. Outside the emergency room, many nurses were running, and seven or eight police officers had arrived. Sirens wailed outside. She thought of the man who had just run away, and her heart leaped.

Li Weiyi saw a familiar figure standing outside the emergency room. She walked over and asked, “Old Ding, what happened? Why are you here?”

Ding Chenmo turned his head, his eyes as deep as the sea: “Zhang Moyun and Wu Xinhui are in trouble. They’ve been poisoned with cyanide and are being treated.”

Li Weiyi couldn’t believe her ears: “How is that possible? Aren’t there police and bodyguards guarding them?”

Ding Chenmo glanced around, put his arm around her shoulder, and whispered, “I checked the surveillance footage. An hour ago, someone entered the villa through the back door. He’s very familiar with the villa and has a key. He bypassed the bodyguards and police, sneaked into Zhang Moyun and Wu Xinhui’s room, and we found his footprints on the windowsill and in the room. He stayed for about 10 minutes before leaving, alerting the guards. We only found Zhang Moyun and his wife unconscious when the police arrived.”

Li Weiyi’s face turned deathly pale. She opened her mouth, then closed it again, asking in a trembling voice, “Who…who is that person? Did the surveillance cameras capture it?”

Ding Chenmo looked at her thoughtfully and said, “Wearing black clothes and black pants, a mask, and a cap, we can’t see his face. But we’re already doing body shape and footprint analysis. We can’t hastily determine who the real culprit is just by looking at their clothing and appearance.”

Li Weiyi was distraught and almost collapsed to the ground. Ding Chenmo supported her and gestured with his chin in another direction: “They’re over there.”

Li Weiyi looked up and saw Zhang Jingchan sitting in a chair in the waiting area, his face buried in his hands, his back seemingly slumped over overnight.

Li Weiyi’s feet seemed to touch the ground, and she walked past in a daze. He noticed her and looked up, revealing bloodshot eyes and a handsome face filled with despair.

“Weiyi, I…” He couldn’t speak, a tear sliding down his cheek.

Li Weiyi felt a chill run down her spine.

Because just now in the hallway, the man in black had whispered two things in her ear.

“Weiyi, I am Zhang Jingchan. Xu Yi and I have switched places.”

“No matter what happens, don’t be afraid. Don’t let him find out. Wait for me to come back.”