Chapter 1000: Chapter 1000: Evil Begets Evil

(Thanks to Sky for the monthly ticket encouragement)

The next morning, Liu Banxia got up an hour earlier.

The dinner last night was great. His mom coming over didn’t just make him happy, his wife was happy too, and that’s what counts as a success. Since everyone was happy, he had to make Tang Dou happy too.

You could say he kind of owed Tang Dou. For such a long time, he hadn’t been able to let it run around happily like before. Sometimes it didn’t even bump into Tiggie when going out for walks, so he had to make it up to it.

Tang Dou had a blast running around, and when it came back for breakfast it ate an extra piece of meat compared to usual. It even dragged its food bowl over to Liu Banxia’s feet and just stayed by him while eating.

No wonder Qiaoqiao is always saying it’s a little ungrateful. Now it treats Liu Banxia like its best bro, completely ignoring Qiaoqiao.

At most it only comes over when it wants to listen to the little babies in her belly, the rest of the time it just lies off to the side.

"I’m full, I’m off to work. We’re having stewed pancakes tonight, and I’m off tomorrow, hahahaha, I’m so happy." After eating, Liu Banxia shouted cheerfully.

"Look at you, all smug. We can consider going out for a little walk tomorrow too. Every time we come here we never really have a good play, can’t you put in a bit of effort?" Qiaoqiao said.

"That’s a sure thing. You two plan, I’ll be the driver. I’ll borrow that big van from the Qiu Family, that one is comfortable to sit in." Liu Banxia said.

"Deal, it’s settled then, go on to work." Qiaoqiao waved her small hand.

Peng Xiuqin had meant to say something to stop them, but seeing her son and daughter-in-law having fun, she let them be. She should also take Qiaoqiao out for a walk; she couldn’t stay cooped up at home all the time.

Driving the car out, for Liu Banxia this was all familiar territory.

Habit is a very powerful trait.

When he had just moved here, every time he drove to work he felt it was far. Now that he’d been doing this route for so long, this little distance was nothing.

Since he’d gone out fairly early today, there weren’t many cars on the road.

You really have to say, it’s not easy for people fighting for their livelihood nowadays. He already felt like he’d gone out early enough, but when he got off the expressway, there were already lots of delivery guys rushing around on the city streets.

He drove on a bit further and saw a group of people gathered by the roadside. Watching a commotion is human nature; as his car passed, he eased on the brake a little.

A delivery guy was lying on the ground, his scooter fallen to the side.

There was also a car parked behind, with a few people huddled together talking about something. Not far ahead there was a sprinkler truck; although it wasn’t spraying water, it was still stubbornly playing "Orchid Grass."

Professional instinct, probably. Liu Banxia pulled over, parked the car properly, and got out to walk over.

"What happened? Is he badly hurt?" Once he reached the delivery guy, Liu Banxia asked.

"My body hurts, my head’s fuzzy." the delivery guy said.

"The guy who got out of this car opened the door right into the e-bike, and the lad shot out sideways, slammed into the sprinkler truck, then bounced back and fell."

"Well, it was also the sprinkler truck that kept spraying water. The delivery guy tried to avoid the water and swerved outwards a bit, and this young lady happened to open her door then."

"The calls have all been made, it’s just that traffic police haven’t arrived yet."

...

The onlookers started chiming in.

It left Liu Banxia a bit speechless; he hadn’t expected it to be such a twisted, absurd chain of events.

"Here, look at my finger, follow it with your eyes, track my finger." Liu Banxia said, holding up a finger.

As his finger moved, Liu Banxia frowned. The delivery guy’s pupillary reaction wasn’t great; he might have hit his head when he fell.

Wearing a helmet doesn’t mean you’re completely safe. Helmet quality varies, and the impact force you take when you hit something is different in every crash.

"Do you feel nauseous?" Liu Banxia asked again.

The delivery guy grunted twice.

"Everyone, step back a bit, stop crowding around to watch. There are too many cars on the road, move over to the side." Just then a traffic cop’s voice came from outside.

"Hello, I’m a doctor. This young man needs to go to the hospital, he hit his head." Liu Banxia said.

"I thought you were one of the parties involved. How are you? Need to go to the hospital?" the traffic cop asked the delivery guy.

The delivery guy nodded, and the traffic cop immediately started making calls.

"Then I’ll get going, I still have to get to work." Liu Banxia said.

"Alright, thanks for your help." the traffic cop said.

As long as he wasn’t the one who caused the accident, it was fine. The cop was busy too, needed to quickly get a handle on the situation here and clear the lane.

This was just a little episode. Liu Banxia got back in his car and continued driving toward Second Hospital.

As for how this accident would be handled, that wasn’t his concern. It was only because he’d gone out early that he even saw this crash; otherwise he might have missed it entirely.

"Teacher Liu, Teacher Liu, come here quick." As soon as he stepped through the emergency center doors, Liu Yiqing, who had been looking around the lobby, called out.

"What’s up with you, all flustered like that?" Liu Banxia said.

"Teacher Liu, we just received two traffic accident patients, and one of them is a bit special," Xu Yino said.

"She’s a female patient, sitting in the front passenger seat, and she was wearing a seat belt. But when we did the physical exam we noticed a few things: there are multiple bruises on her arms, and ecchymosis around her left orbit."

"Her husband hit his head in the crash and was unconscious when he arrived. After he woke up from the initial exam he didn’t want any more tests. Teacher Qi is still coaxing him into continuing."

Liu Banxia frowned. "What do you mean by ’female patient’? Does she need our help?"

"That’s exactly what makes it hard. She won’t answer when we talk to her. Xu Yino is still in the resuscitation room asking questions; she also refuses when we try to arrange more tests," Liu Yiqing said.

Liu Banxia sighed inwardly. Combining what Liu Yiqing said with his own impression, he leaned toward their judgment as well. This female patient was most likely a victim of domestic violence.

Bruises on both forearms were probably defensive wounds. She’s not someone who does boxing—what would she be defending against? Together with the reactions of the female and male patients, that pretty much confirmed it.

After a car accident, normal patients all want a thorough exam; who would resist tests and rush to leave?

But this was a hard thing to intervene in, because they were doctors, not law enforcement. Even for law enforcement, someone has to report the situation before they have the authority to step in.

"Teacher Liu, what do we do? That male patient probably can’t drag this out much longer either," Liu Yiqing asked.

"I’ll go take a look first. Bring me my white coat," Liu Banxia said.

"Okay, I’ll go get it right now." Taking Liu Banxia’s bag, Liu Yiqing tossed this over her shoulder and ran inside.

After asking a nurse, Liu Banxia went to Resuscitation Room No. 2.

The female patient was lying on the examination bed, staring at the ceiling. Xu Yino stood by her side; seeing him come in, she visibly showed a look of relief.

"I heard from Liu Yiqing that the injuries are pretty serious? There might be a skull fracture?" Liu Banxia asked.

Xu Yino froze for a moment, then quickly nodded. "Director Liu, that’s our preliminary judgment—she did experience a violent impact."

"Let me take a look first." As he spoke, Liu Banxia began examining the patient’s head.

He was actually also watching the patient herself. Her expression was indifferent; even when he examined her, she only glanced at him once.

"Did your right arm brace against the car door during the crash? It looks a bit swollen to me. Let me have a look," Liu Banxia said.

"It’s really nothing," the patient said, her tone equally cold.

Liu Banxia rolled up her sleeve and palpated along the radius, examining carefully. After finishing with the right arm, he expressionlessly grabbed her other arm and continued the exam.

"At least three fractures, and none of them have healed very well," he said calmly when he finished.

"I’m done with my exam. Cuiru, are you done?"

"You can’t go in, sir. Our doctors are examining the patient; even family members can’t enter right now."

"What, now we need your permission to decide on exams? Who do you people think you are? You just want us to spend money in your hospital, is that it?"

"You came in by ambulance, and once we’ve received you, we are obligated by protocol to complete the necessary workup."

"Cuiru, come out. We’re going home. We still need to get the car fixed."

Hearing that, the patient on the bed tried to sit up, but Liu Banxia put out a hand and pressed down on her shoulder. "You’re in a hospital now; you need to listen to the doctors. Lie back down, we’re not done with your exam."

The patient froze for a second. Whether it was because of the strength in his hand or because she herself wasn’t feeling well, she actually lay back down.

"There may be a skull fracture and a concussion. Schedule a CT," Liu Banxia said to Xu Yino, giving her a quick wink while he was at it.

Xu Yino nodded happily; she’d picked up on Liu Banxia’s signal.

Ordering a CT was just a pretext; the real purpose was to get the patient away for a while. Maybe without her husband hovering, she’d say a few more words.

Liu Banxia didn’t waste any time and walked straight out of the resuscitation room.

It was noisy outside. The man with blood on his head was surrounded by Qi Wentai and the others, and the guy was trying to force his way into the resuscitation room.

"What’s going on here? Why all the yelling?" Liu Banxia asked.

"Your hospital’s just trying to scam people, right? Sure, we had a car accident, but we’re fine now. We’ve paid what we’re supposed to pay, so why won’t you let us go?" the male patient shouted.

"They won’t let you leave? I’ll be criticizing them later. You’re the driver? Were you wearing your seat belt while driving?" Liu Banxia asked.

The man paused, not quite understanding what Liu Banxia was getting at, but he still nodded.

"Did you do an abdominal ultrasound?" Liu Banxia asked Qi Wentai.

"We haven’t had time yet," Qi Wentai said quickly.

"Then have him sign the waiver. There’s a high incidence of mesenteric hematoma from seat belt injuries, which can then rupture. If that isn’t treated, you won’t even get a chance at resuscitation," Liu Banxia said.

"And your wife’s condition is also complicated. There’s a skull fracture. She may have intracranial hemorrhage or cerebral edema; during the exam just now, there was pupil dilation."

"It probably isn’t very severe—it could be concussion sequelae. But you need to write this waiver properly. If you don’t, we really can’t let you go. Because even if something ruptures, at first it’s just some pain, and by the time you really feel it, it’s too late to stop the bleeding."

"Come with me. I’ll get the refusal-of-examination and liability waiver ready, and then you can be discharged," Qi Wentai added.

Liu Yiqing gave a small swing of her fist. Let the big bad wolf deal with the big bad wolf—Liu the Great Demon King had this guy exactly where he wanted him.