Seeing Crime Scenes in My Sleep

Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Tied to the Operating Table

At Zhao Shuo’s words, Jiang Li looked outside as well. There was Zhao Anlan, walking home with his schoolbag on his back, not a single adult with him.

Zhao Shuo got out of the car and walked toward Zhao Anlan. "Hello, Little Zhao. Do you remember me?"

Hearing the voice, Zhao Anlan looked up at Zhao Shuo and nodded, showing he remembered him.

Watching the little boy outside, Jiang Li got out of the car as well.

"Hello, young man. We need to go take a look at your house. Since your father isn’t home, we’ll have to trouble you."

Zhao Anlan looked at Zhao Shuo and the others, then nodded.

The group followed Zhao Anlan home. The moment they stepped inside, they saw the house was neat and tidy.

After coming inside, Jiang Li looked around. Everything was placed in perfect order, especially the small objects.

Zhao Shuo began asking Zhao Anlan about his father, Zhao Qinghe.

Zhao Anlan looked at him and shook his head. "I don’t know. Dad didn’t tell me anything. The school bus drops us off, and once we’re at the neighborhood gate, I walk home by myself."

As he spoke, Zhao Anlan put down his schoolbag, took out a textbook, and started on his practice exercises.

"You’re already studying quadratic equations?" Zhao Shuo stared at the boy’s homework in shock. ’Isn’t that a bit advanced for a seven-year-old?’

"Yes. I want to be as outstanding as my father." Zhao Anlan’s young face showed a maturity and composure beyond his years.

Zhao Shuo gave an awkward twitch of his lips. When he was six or seven, he was still playing in the mud.

Jiang Li turned to look at Zhao Anlan and walked over to him. "Zhao Anlan, what kind of person was your mother?"

Zhao Anlan froze for a moment, clearly disliking the question. "My mother was a very good housewife. She was... very good to me."

When he finished, Zhao Anlan looked up at Jiang Li. "Can you ask my father these questions? I need to do my homework now."

"Oh, of course. I’m sorry."

Zhao Anlan lowered his head to look at the math problems in his textbook, a flicker of annoyance in his eyes.

Meanwhile, Ji Qinghe was outside on the phone with Zhou Tiancheng. They had checked the surveillance footage outside the hospital but found no sign of Zhao Qinghe. The only area in the hospital without cameras was the abandoned underground garage.

They suspected Zhao Qinghe must still be in the underground garage; otherwise, the surrounding cameras would have definitely caught him on video.

"Qinghe, you all stay safe. I’m taking some men to the underground garage now to rendezvous with Lu Xingye."

"Okay, you stay safe too." Ji Qinghe hung up and came back inside, beginning to survey the house.

She noticed a locked door and was just about to ask about it when Zhao Anlan’s voice sounded from behind her.

"That’s my mother’s room. My father locked it."

After speaking, Zhao Anlan lowered his head again and returned to his work.

"Officer Ji, let’s go. We’re not going to find anything here," Jiang Li said to the group. "If there was really an issue, considering how much Mr. and Mrs. Xu loved their daughter, it’s impossible that they would have gone this long without noticing something was wrong."

"Alright, Little Zhao, we’ll be going now. Remember to lock the doors and windows since you’re home alone. If anything happens, call 911."

Zhao Shuo added, looking at the boy who was engrossed in his studies.

"Back to the hospital or the station?" Zhao Shuo asked, looking back at the three people behind him.

"Back to the hospital. Tiancheng said Zhao Qinghe might be near the underground garage."

Zhao Shuo nodded and drove back to the hospital.

As soon as Jiang Li showed up, the nurse assigned to her ward immediately walked over.

"Oh, Miss Jiang, you shouldn’t be wandering off like that! You have a heart condition. What would we do if something happened to you?"

Jiang Li looked up. It was the nurse who had come to her room with Zhao Qinghe that morning.

"I feel fine now."

"Honestly, Miss Jiang, I don’t know what you’re all involved in, but I really must advise you to get a check-up. If it turns out there’s nothing wrong, you’ll have peace of mind, won’t you?"

The nurse smiled at Jiang Li. "I mean, think about it. If something happens again, it could be fatal. This isn’t something you can be careless about."

Jiang Li looked up at the nurse before her. She had an oval face with a fair, clear complexion and a very warm smile. A glance at her name tag read: Fang Xiaoling.

"Alright."

"Great. Follow me, then."

Ji Qinghe stepped forward and patted her on the shoulder. "You go on ahead. Just come find us when you’re finished."

Jiang Li followed the nurse toward the radiology department.

Once inside, Jiang Li frowned. "Is it just you here?"

"My colleague is out for a meal. Miss Jiang, please lie down."

Fang Xiaoling turned and began to make preparations.

Jiang Li’s eyes darted around for a moment, but she eventually lay down on the table.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps. Jiang Li looked up and saw a pair of eyes staring down at her. Her pupils constricted in shock. An instant later, Fang Xiaoling sprayed something from a canister right at her face.

Before Jiang Li could even sit up, she lost consciousness.

Fang Xiaoling tucked the canister away, then wheeled Jiang Li down a secret passage on the other side of the room.

When Jiang Li woke again, she was met with a blinding light. She squinted, looked up at the surgical lamp above her, and her breath hitched in her throat.

"Miss Jiang, I told you you had a heart problem. But don’t you worry. I’m the foremost cardiac expert. After one small surgery, you won’t feel any more pain."

’Heh. Doesn’t that just mean I’ll be dead?’

Jiang Li’s lips twisted into a smirk. She struggled a few times, only to find she was strapped to the operating table.

"I never thought Doctor Zhao would be such a monster in human guise." Jiang Li looked at Zhao Qinghe beside her. ’So Xu Wan really was murdered after all.’

Zhao Qinghe raised an eyebrow and met her gaze. "Wanwan’s death was already so hard on me. I was even planning to turn over a new leaf and live an honest life."

He walked to her side, his expression full of doubt. "I had clearly thrown those people off the trail. Given enough time, Xu Wan’s death would have been ruled a suicide.

But then, you had to appear."

Zhao Qinghe’s voice was soft, but the scalpel in his hand glinted with a cold light.

"Miss Jiang, I’m very curious. How did you know?" Zhao Qinghe frowned, looking at Jiang Li in utter confusion.

’If he hadn’t heard her talking in her sleep while examining her that day, he never would have imagined it. How could she possibly have seen his meticulous, foolproof plan?’

’How did she see it?’

Jiang Li gradually calmed down. She turned her head to look at Zhao Qinghe. "That’s my little secret. If you want to know, Doctor Zhao, you’ll have to satisfy my curiosity first."

Zhao Qinghe looked at Jiang Li. A moment ago she had been scared to death, but now she was remarkably calm. His curiosity was instantly piqued.

"Alright. What do you want to ask?"

"Why did you kill Xu Wan?"

Zhao Qinghe chuckled. "She should have been obedient like her parents. Instead, she just had to argue over every little thing."

Jiang Li’s thoughts turned to Fang Xiaoling. ’To be bold enough to move someone right inside the hospital... that must mean their relationship is anything but simple.’

"Xu Wan discovered your affair with Fang Xiaoling. To protect the public persona you’ve built up over the years, you were afraid she would expose you.

So you killed her. Then, as it happened, Du Mingde and his companion checked into the same room right after you and did something similar, so you decided to just pin everything on him.

The front desk said the woman with him was pregnant. You’re truly ruthless, Zhao Qinghe."

Jiang Li’s bound arms tensed, and her gaze remained fixed on Zhao Qinghe.

Zhao Qinghe sneered. "The child in her belly wasn’t mine. Besides, you could say I was helping her."

Jiang Li’s breathing grew heavy. ’No wonder there was so much blood in the dream.’ "I have one last question. Why did Xu Wan have two different faces?"

’Otherwise, I would have recognized her right away and wouldn’t have had to dance around this for so long.’