Chapter 634 - Unmasking Guan Gao Huan's identity (III)
A foreign doctor asked an oriental doctor in foreign language.
The oriental doctor answered him in the same language. "Of course. I always keep my word. By the way, I told you before that I have a friend who has the same experience as you, remember?"
"Oh?" The foreign doctor's tone changed. "Hey, I told you not to speak about that in public..."
The foreign doctor's voice stopped when he saw that there was a man in the corner most area of the coffee shop. The place was empty and silent, the waiter and the cashier who both might have been inside the staff room, so he thought that there were only the two of them currently in the lounge.
He shut his mouth.
"Oh, that's my friend who I was talking about. I asked him to meet us here. Let's go." The oriental doctor led the way.
The foreign doctor hesitated. "Hey! I... I am not ready to speak any of that yet. I-I'll just leave."
The foreign doctor was about to leave when the other doctor took his arm and kept him in place, as if confused.
"Hey, what are you so afraid about? You are not going to tell him anything you don't want to say. That man just needs your advice."
"Advice?"
"Yes, I told you, dummy, he is in the same situation like you did before. So I thought of you and maybe we can give him some advice on what to do."
The foreign doctor hesitated. Worried that he might seem too suspicious, finally, he followed the other doctor.
As they approached, the oriental doctor smiled at Linfeng.
This doctor was Linfeng's spy.
His profession was a doctor, but he was also working as Linfeng's spy from the get go, one of the men he especially nurtured when he was still on the planning stage of wanting to break the covenant between the Xiong and the Zhou families.
Since four years ago, when Guan Gao Huan got interested in his Young Miss, Linfeng began to arrange spies in different places in the Guan family. He had them start from the bottom ring or through the most normal operations to avoid suspicion.
At that time, he just wanted to know what kind of person Guan Gao Huan, his young miss's prospective partner, was. He was too mysterious as a man who just appeared from abroad, so his focus was only to know the man more.
When his relationship with Guan Gao Huan turned bitter, he simply let his spies stay and move accordingly as their surface roles dictated while gathering more information, waiting until he could find another need for their arrangements.
Linfeng stood up and politely smiled at the two doctors. "It's been a while, Doctor Lee."
The doctor who was Linfeng's spy, Doctor Lee, smiled back as he pulled out a chair. "Yes, it really has been so long. Oh, by the way, this is the person whom I asked you to meet. He experienced something similar to what you did. I hope he can help you clear your mind."
Linfeng shook hands with the foreign doctor, introduced himself, and exchanged some pleasantries.
A waiter appeared, took their orders, and soon came back with cups of steaming hot coffee and breakfast.
The three men talked first of random things about hospitals and economic issues over breakfast, before going down to business.
The foreign doctor who introduced himself as Doctor James wiped his mouth and hesitantly asked Linfeng. "You mentioned something about wanting advice earlier. Just what is it that you want to ask advice for?"
He had noticed at first sight that the man looked a bit pale and down, as if he was trying to look well despite having a huge problem. They talked for a while but the other never opened up the topic, so Doctor James could only ask.
Linfeng smiled helplessly and sighed as if world-weary. He looked a bit worried.
"That... I hope that whatever we talk about today will not be known to another person. I'm just really confused about what to do so I had no choice but to ask for advice..."
"Feel free to speak. Rest assured, no other person will know. You have my word."
Linfeng appeared to be hesitant, but finally spoke. "...My father is a personal doctor of an extremely powerful and wealthy family. Against his wishes, he was forced to do something... immoral. He had no choice because he was being threatened with my life back then. I come to know about this some time later and asked my father. But my father was told to bury this secret. Soon, there were several accidents happening around him. I am afraid that those people are targeting him. I don't know what to do... So I told my best friend, Doctor Lee, about it."
Doctor Lee nodded somberly. "It is indeed very suspicious." Then he looked at Doctor James. "James, I also remember that when we drank together a year ago, you mentioned to me about how your father died unjustly because of immoral acts. You don't want to tell me the whole story no matter how much I asked so I won't force you to, but I hope that you can help my friend with just a few advices. He's really on edge already."
Doctor James looked perplexed.
'You ask for advice, but what can I give?'
Doctor Lee patted his shoulder encouragingly.
He had been sticking to this foreign doctor ever since he got transferred here. Because the doctors who were assigned to Guan Gao Guan back then had already died, they, Linfeng's undercover agents, had no choice but to target their bereaved family to gather information.
However, most of them were tight-lipped, or have no idea of what actually happened.
The prospects were bleak, until one year ago when Doctor Lee became Doctor James' trusted friend. In one of their drinking sessions, he managed to slip out that his father was murdered.
That was when they got a potential lead.
This was why Linfeng came up with this show. Perhaps they could still get something out of Doctor James with this play.
Doctor James hesitated for a long time. He stared at the bleak and worried face of the man before him.
He sighed.
"I can't really tell you my story, and I won't ask yours. But at least your father is still alive. If you really want me to give you advice, then.... move away. Far away where those people can't reach you. Maybe the police can also help you."
"...." Linfeng sighed as he murmured in a low voice. "...That family has a strong influence over the police. I... I can't ask them for help."
Doctor James sighed as well. "Then, that would be really difficult."
The oriental man in front of him fell silent, before he slowly began to talk about his father. How his father took care of him, how they celebrated every little thing, and how his father encouraged him constantly.
Then he continued to bitterly 'weep' about how wronged his father was, that he was getting older faster, and how the old man's health seemed to be having problems due to the danger around him.
The air of desperation and hopelessness grew thicker around him.
This image overlapped with another memory in Doctor James' eyes. He could see his former self in Linfeng.
He could not help but empathize.
He also expressed his grievances about the past as he comforted Linfeng. As time passed, his guard was lowered with Linfeng's skillful manipulation.
At some point, unknowingly, he began to tell his story after his father died. "When my father died, I can't gather much evidence because the murderer was too careful... Even when I told the police that it might be deliberate murder, they didn't take me seriously at all. Because all evidences pointed to it being an accident!"
Linfeng's dark eyes flashed. He lowered his lashes to hide his eyes.
"The murder is staged as an accident?" He whispered. "Then, I am afraid my father...!"
Doctor James appeased the man bitterly. "You must not let that happen. Your father will not have the same ending as my father..."
The man he was comforting covered his face exhaustedly.
However, his dark orbs were fixed at Doctor James' face through the gap of his fingers. "But if it's an accident in everyone's eyes, how did you know it is murder?"
Doctor James's guard was down. He was facing a weak, helpless man whom he was sympathizing with, and his friend was beside him, so he did not suspect anything.
"My father warned me the night before. He even wanted us to move to other places. He gave me his final words, those that I cannot understand at that time. He was probably being hunted back then, since his colleagues died one by one. Honestly, I think they have people in the police as well. A group of doctors died through various accidents in succession, yet they dismissed them all as mere coincidences. Even though there were no evidences of foul work, isn't it still weird?"
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(A/n: If you remembered in the first volume, Linfeng who had not yet truly understood his feeling with Xiong Zhi investigated Guan Gao Huan with the excuse that he needed to learn more things about him. He sent spies overseas back then.
One of the spies was also the doctor who assisted Guan Xixin's injury and he came to learn about Guan Xixin's suspicions.
The reason why he only came to know Guan Xixin's suspicion recently was because he started his own investigation right after Guan Xixin's investigation was stopped. At this time, he was reinvestigating Guan Gao Huan from the top to bottom again with the lead or prospect that Guan Gao Huan is a fake.)
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