Flip the table and divide the family property! Take his wife and daughter into the mountains and eat

Outside in the corridor, it was completely light.

The pale fluorescent lights were turned off one by one by the nurses on duty.

The doctors on the early shift began to hand over duties, and family members came and went carrying basins and lunchboxes, gradually filling the entire emergency room floor with a cacophony of voices.

Dazhuang sat on the peeling wooden bench, the aluminum lunchbox in his hand completely cold.

The lunchbox lid was half open, and the heat had long since dissipated. The remaining sauerkraut and pork dumplings had formed a layer of white, condensed oil in the cold air.

Liang Tiejun sat next to him. The old man was holding an enamel mug. The tea inside had gone cold and the tea leaves had turned bitter.

A nurse pushing a dressing cart walked past them, the "rolling" sound of the cart wheels rolling over the terrazzo floor whizzing past their ears.

The smells of iodine, blood, and cheap cigarettes brought by family members wafted into my nostrils.

The two remained silent.

In the suffocating silence, a timid voice suddenly rang out from the other end of the corridor.

"Who...who is Dazhuang?"

Da Zhuang was startled and turned his head sharply.

The nurse at the triage desk last night was standing not far away, holding an enamel tray, her face a little pale.

She had clearly just finished her shift, and the dark circles under her eyes from staying up all night made her shrink back in fright when Da Zhuang stared at her with his bloodshot, fierce eyes.

Seeing this, Liang Tiejun quickly put down the enamel mug he was holding, stood up, and asked in a gentle tone, "Young comrade, what's the matter?"

The nurse swallowed hard and whispered, "I...I'm looking for someone named Dazhuang."

Da Zhuang strode over and said in a deep voice, "That's me. What do you want?"

The nurse took a half step back, pulled a neatly folded piece of paper from her white coat pocket, and carefully handed it over: "Last night... a male colleague told me before he left that if he didn't come back in the morning, I should give this to you."

"Gay men?"

Da Zhuang's eyelids twitched suddenly, and he subconsciously turned his head to exchange a glance with Liang Tiejun next to him.

They both understood instantly.

Da Zhuang rushed over and snatched the note from him.

He quickly unfolded the note, on which was clearly written Zhao Shanhe's sharp, messy handwriting:

……

Dazhuang:

By the time you see this note, it should already be daylight.

I need to take care of something urgent. If I'm not back by the time you hand over your shift in the morning, do as I say.

There's a number on the back of the note. Go to the public phone in the outpatient lobby on the first floor and call it, asking for Ivanov.

I already had him investigate last night. Now you can ask him directly for the answer: Does Director Li of the Emergency Department at the Municipal Hospital have a nephew named Li Qiang?

Late last night, the man who called himself Li Qiang brought in a seriously injured patient.

The man's hands were badly injured; his fingers were broken, and the skin on the back of his hands looked as if someone had bitten them raw.

If Ivanov's answer is that Li Qiang is a fake, then the seriously injured person with the severed finger is very likely Old Scar himself.

Once you've determined the answer, you should secretly search all the wards on those floors of the emergency room by yourself and find the person.

Remember, whatever you do, don't bring Lao Hei and his gang along. Too many people around will easily alert them.

Once you find this seriously injured person, don't alert anyone. Keep a close watch on him from the shadows.

We'll talk about everything when I get back.

……

After reading the note, Da Zhuang felt as if he had been doused with a bucket of ice water, and he froze on the spot.

He refused to believe it and looked at it again.

This time, his eyes were bloodshot, his breathing became visibly heavy, and his chest heaved violently.

Liang Tiejun stood to the side without grabbing the paper, but quietly watched Dazhuang's hand, which was gripping the paper tighter and tighter until the knuckles turned white, and asked in a deep voice, "What did you write?"

Da Zhuang swallowed hard and handed over the note without saying a word.

Liang Tiejun took the note and only scanned two lines before his face instantly darkened.

When his gaze fell on the last sentence, his eyes, which had been closed all night, were no longer sleepy, but filled with an unfathomable solemnity.

"Li Qiang. Severely injured with a severed finger."

As Liang Tiejun uttered those two words in a low voice, his heart sank.

Da Zhuang suddenly raised his head, his eyes red with anxiety: "Director Liang, I need to find Brother Shanhe! He must have gone to find Old Scar alone, and if he hasn't come back, something must have happened to him!"

As he spoke, he grabbed his cotton-padded coat from the bench and was about to rush out.

"stop!"

Liang Tiejun suddenly grabbed his arm and hissed, "Where are you going to look? This city is so big, what are you doing running around like a headless fly!"

Dazhuang was pulled to a sudden stop, his chest heaving violently, like a bear burning with rage but being strangled.

Liang Tiejun slapped the note back onto Dazhuang's chest, stared into his eyes, and said in a calm but heavy tone, "Have you forgotten what he said? His first sentence was not to look for him. The fact that Comrade Shanhe left this note for you means that the hospital also has something urgent that needs your help."

"Keep an eye on the phone. Investigate Li Qiang. Keep an eye on the patient with the severed finger."

Liang Tiejun's eyes were sharp as he said, word by word, "First, do what he asked you to do."

Dazhuang gripped the note tightly, a tug-of-war between his very bones. After a long while, he finally gritted his teeth and nodded heavily: "Okay."

Seeing that Dazhuang had regained his composure, Liang Tiejun turned to the young nurse beside him who was too frightened to move, and said in a slightly gentler tone, "Young comrade, thank you."

The young nurse was already quite frightened by Da Zhuang's murderous aura. Hearing Liang Tiejun's thanks, she waved her hands repeatedly and awkwardly backed away with the enamel tray in her arms, saying, "No...you're welcome. Just take the note. I should go back after my shift ends."

"Young comrade, wait a moment."

Liang Tiejun stepped forward and called out to her, reaching into the inner pocket of his old cotton-padded coat and pulling out two crumpled ten-yuan bills, which he stuffed into the nurse's white coat pocket without a word.

The nurse was startled. Looking down, she saw a full twenty yuan, equivalent to more than half a month's salary. She quickly reached for it, exclaiming, "Sir, what are you doing!"

Liang Tiejun lowered his voice, his tone gentle yet firm: "Young comrade, don't be afraid. I'm Liang Tiejun, the factory director of Hongxing Machinery Factory. I'm not a bad person. I just want to trouble you with a small favor. Could you go back to the reception desk and look through the records to see which ward the seriously injured patient with the broken finger, who was brought in late last night, is currently in.

Upon hearing this, the nurse's face turned even paler, and she frantically tried to push the money away: "No, no, the hospital has strict regulations, and we absolutely cannot disclose patients' information casually. Besides, I've already finished my shift handover. If I go and rummage through the records again, I'll be punished if the head nurse catches me."

Liang Tiejun didn't argue with her.

He didn't say anything, but reached into his inner pocket again and pulled out five brand-new ten-yuan bills. He quickly placed them, along with the two from before, under the enamel tray that the nurse was carrying.

It cost a full seventy yuan.

In this day and age, this is a huge sum of money that ordinary people wouldn't even dare to dream of.

The nurse's breath hitched, her hand that had been pushing him away froze in mid-air, her eyes fixed on the banknotes under the tray, and she swallowed hard.

"Young comrade, rules are rules, but people are flexible."

Liang Tiejun stared intently at her, his voice extremely low, "Please help us, we'll just ask for the room number, we absolutely won't go in and cause any trouble. This is a matter of life and death, take a look, and the money is yours, I promise I won't implicate you."

The young nurse bit her lip, her eyes darting back and forth between Liang Tiejun's dignified and composed face and the banknotes under the tray.

Hongxing Machinery Factory is one of the top factories in the city, and the factory director's position carries a lot of credibility. Moreover, this is a full seventy yuan.

People were coming and going in the corridor, and at the nurses' station not far away, doctors were already shouting for shift changes.

The nurse's struggle lasted only a few seconds. She gritted her teeth, clutching the money and tray tightly to her chest, her voice barely audible: "Director Liang, it's not that I don't want to tell you directly. That seriously injured patient was already in critical condition when he arrived last night and was immediately rushed to the emergency room. Patients with this level of serious injury are usually transferred to the inpatient ward late at night. I'll have to check the shift handover records to find out which floor and which room he's in."

Liang Tiejun nodded, his expression unchanged, and instructed, "Okay, then go and investigate now. Once you've found out, don't make a fuss, just quietly come over and give me a heads-up."

"Okay, wait for me a moment."

The young nurse glanced around, like a startled rabbit, and without looking back, she darted into the crowd and hurried toward the information desk.

Liang Tiejun withdrew his gaze, turned to look at Dazhuang, and said sharply, "Did you hear that? The seriously injured patient has been transferred to the inpatient department."

Da Zhuang nodded heavily, a fierce glint in his eyes.

"While she's checking the records, go to the outpatient lobby on the first floor and make a call to Ivanov to get to the bottom of Li Qiang's situation." Liang Tiejun patted Dazhuang's sturdy shoulder and said in a deep voice, "Come back to me after you get confirmation."

Dazhuang clenched the note in his hand, pulled up the collar of his tattered cotton-padded coat to cover most of his tense face, and turned to walk towards the stairwell.

"Dazhuang," Liang Tiejun called out to him in a low voice from behind.

Dazhuang stopped and turned around.

Liang Tiejun held the jar of cold tea in his hand, looking at him with an extremely deep gaze: "Remember what Shanhe instructed. After you get the confirmation, no matter which ward the nurse finds out, as long as you haven't seen Shanhe in person, you are only allowed to keep an eye on him, absolutely not to move!"

"I see."

Da Zhuang responded in a muffled voice, his broad back like a fully drawn bow, and without looking back, he squeezed down the stairs with the flow of people.

Liang Tiejun took a deep breath and turned around.

On the paving stones not far away, Lao Hei and Monkey had fully woken up and were rubbing their frozen arms as they cautiously peered towards the ward door.

The old man discreetly hid the empty lunchbox under the bench, put on a calm and tired old face, and walked over to the group of energetic young men who had just woken up.