Chapter 40: Crime and Evil (2/2)
Not long after Lu Chenzhou left, her colleague came back and said that she couldn’t find Chen Jiaman’s ‘aunt,’ who had presumably left during the disturbance. Even the phone number that she had left was fake. When Cheng Xi went to go review the security footage, she realized that this so-called aunt looked quite familiar. Her memory was quite good, and after thinking for a moment, she quickly realized that this mystery person was actually the restaurant owner’s wife that worked near Chen Jiaman’s school.
“Call the police,” Cheng Xi said.
“Ah?” Her colleague jumped up in fright. “Th-there’s no need to, is there?”
Cheng Xi didn’t say anything else, and instead immediately sought out the head of the department directly. After hearing about the situation, he stared at her and finally squeezed out some words. “Dr. Cheng, do you think that our reputation is too good?”
Cheng Xi understood what the head was saying. If word of this incident got out, their hospital would have to take responsibility for negligent personnel. If they really called the police, then it wouldn’t reflect well on them either.
Cheng Xi comforted the head by saying, “Self-reflection is also a form of improvement.”
The head only gave her one word in response: “Scram!”
And Cheng Xi did so, heartily. Of course, she still ended up calling the police, and the police responded quickly. “That restaurant owner’s wife has a daughter a year older than Chen Jiaman. After our investigation, we’ve proven that her daughter was the instigator behind the bullying from two years ago, and have currently taken preventative measures against her child. Because we’re still in the process of investigation, we didn’t tell you about this. Presumably, this is why she went to seek out Chen Jiaman.”
And finally, the police even told her some additional news. “There’s something you should be aware of, Dr. Cheng. Regarding Chen Jiaman, even if we fully investigate the children who bullied her, they won’t receive too severe of a punishment. At the time of the incident, most of them were younger than fourteen years of age. Given that it’s already been two years since then, that the Chens have already received financial reparation, that they’ve decided not to pursue the matter further, and that we’ve even received a joint petition from the children’s classmates and neighbors pleading for leniency and saying that they’re all intelligent, kind children…”
“So they’re all intelligent and kind, whereas Chen Jiaman is terrifying and evil. Thus, she deserved to be driven mad?”
But no one answered this question of hers. Cheng Xi was sitting in her office, and despite the heater running strongly, she felt an unexpectedly chill.
“Dr. Cheng, a family member for the patient in bed 24 is here.”
Cheng Xi broke out of her daze, frowning. “Who is it?”
The nurse didn’t answer, but she didn’t need an answer anymore. Cheng Xi could already see the man who had come, Chen Jiaman’s father.
He was still dressed very neatly, in a black down shirt and long black pants. Perhaps it was his clothes, but he looked even older than last time; his spine was even starting to look crooked.
“Is Jiaman alright?”
Cheng Xi looked at him. The anxiety on his face seemed like he was truly worried about his daughter. “Dr. Cheng, the police said that someone intentionally came over here to provoke her. Is… is she alright?”
“I don’t know.” Cheng Xi tried very hard to calm herself down, but couldn’t help herself from shooting out some prickly words. “I thought that you wouldn’t care about her anymore after leaving some money. But it seems like… you actually still worry about her?”
Her father mumbled, “Sorry.”
“What use is saying sorry to me?” She shut her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I’m not feeling very well. If you’re truly concerned about her illness, then I’ll find a doctor to speak with you.”
She stood up and prepared to leave. At this time, she was unable to face this man—in Chen Jiaman’s miserable life, he too had been an instigator of her suffering.
“Dr. Cheng……”
Cheng Xi did not stop walking.
Chen Jiaman’s father pleaded from behind, “I know why she came. She managed to get a petition, a petition to absolve her daughter of her crimes. She believes that only if Chen Jiaman truly becomes crazy will she be able to offset the grievance that her daughter has faced in the meantime… Dr. Cheng, I hope she can get better, please!”
With a loud ‘Peng,’ Cheng Xi turned around and found that Chen Jiaman’s father was actually kowtowing on the floor.
She almost jumped with fright and dodged instinctively. “You don’t have to act like this.” She scrunched up her forehead in stress. “If you truly feel this way, then you should treat your daughter better. You should know that giving birth to her and not raising her is a sin.”
After saying this, she stopped paying attention to him, not caring whether he left afterwards. She went to get some medicine for herself and gave herself a tetanus shot. When she returned, she found out that Chen Jiaman had woken up.
She seemed to have reverted to the original condition that she had come in as. She was scared of light and of people, her mouth was constantly mumbling something no one could make out, and she stayed curled up in a corner with her torn up sketchbook. She had scattered the pieces all over her body, almost as if by doing so she could bury herself once more.
Cheng Xi stood by the door, quietly watching her. When night came and Chen Jiaman started frantically looking for her head, Cheng Xi recalled all those people in the little town who had helped the bullies go unpunished and Chen Jiaman’s father whose repentance had come far too late. This entire situation reminded her of a poem:
Demons hide in the masses.
Hiding from notice,
They share our beds,
They share our food.
At the same time, another common aphorism came to mind: This is the way that evil follows us through our lives, as nondescript as crimes are eye-catching.
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