Chapter 48: Doctor Wang
Chapter 48: Doctor Wang
On McKee Road, at Doug Private Clinic.
Wang Kangnian was performing surgery on a patient.
On the small operating table lay a dog. It wore a ferocious expression and emitted low growls, but in reality it was trembling with fear, all four legs shaking.
There was something about this man that terrified it.
Wang Kangnian’s public identity was that of owner and doctor of Doug Private Clinic.
Across from the operating table, three subordinates were respectfully delivering their intelligence reports.
“The little girl,” Wang Kangnian said.
“Team Leader, the little girl’s identity has been confirmed. Her name is Xiaobao. She’s an orphan currently being raised at the Saint Peter Church orphanage.”
“The grave mound.”
“We located records through the French Concession Catholic Charity Association. The grave belongs to a husband and wife who died from illness.”
“Anything suspicious?” Wang Kangnian asked.
He frowned and looked down at the shivering dog. Experience told him that the dog was about to wet itself from fear.
Picking up a syringe from the tray, he thrust it into the dog’s body with a Pfft, slowly injecting the medicine.
“According to the information we gathered, the couple did indeed have a daughter. The records of the Saint Peter Church orphanage show that the girl was taken in around the same time the couple died. She is indeed their daughter.”
“Have you determined Cheng Qianfan’s movements?” Wang Kangnian picked up a set of clippers and shaved the anesthetized dog’s private area.
“On the day Old Liao was arrested, Cheng Qianfan appeared on Avenue Joffre. He was apparently there specifically to buy pig trotters from the Wan family shop. Their pig trotters are famous far and wide.”
“What else?”
“According to a rickshaw puller, Cheng Qianfan also purchased some drinking snacks that day, then took a rickshaw to the residence of Inspector Su Zhikang of Mylan Police Station at Number Three Anfu Lane to drink. There were no stops along the way.”
“Hmm.”
“According to another rickshaw puller, he carried Cheng Qianfan from Number Three Anfu Lane back to Cheng Qianfan’s residence in Yande Lane that afternoon. Other than asking the puller to buy liquor, there were no other stops.”
“So, he appeared on Avenue Joffre specifically to buy food and drink before going to drink with Su Zhikang?” Wang Kangnian asked in a deep voice.
“Y, yes.”
The subordinate answering could not keep his voice from trembling.
“Did you investigate whether Cheng Qianfan normally likes to eat the Wan family’s pig trotters?”
Wang Kangnian casually set down the scalpel and lowered his head to inspect the incision. He was very satisfied with it.
“No.”
“Hm?”
Wang Kangnian suddenly raised his head, his icy gaze settling on the three subordinates.
“Team Leader, we haven’t had time to investigate whether Cheng Qianfan likes their pig trotters yet,” one subordinate hurriedly explained. “However, we learned that Inspector Su Zhikang of Mylan Police Station is particularly fond of them.”
The coldness in Wang Kangnian’s eyes receded.
He nodded.
“Well done.”
As he spoke, he pinched the incision with two fingers and squeezed gently.
Two round objects popped out and fell into the tray.
“What’s the relationship between Cheng Qianfan and that little girl?”
“According to our investigation, after Cheng Qianfan’s parents died in the fifteenth year of the Republic, he became an orphan and spent some time being raised at the Saint Peter Church orphanage. Perhaps because of that, he has maintained ties with the orphanage ever since and has accepted the little girl as his sworn younger sister.”
“Died?” Wang Kangnian revealed a surprised expression.
Without waiting for a reply from his subordinate, he waved his hand.
“Leave the intelligence report and get out.”
Wang Kangnian skillfully stitched the incision, removed his gloves, turned on the tap and washed his hands, then dried them with a clean towel.
The entire process was meticulous.
Only after finishing everything did he pick up the report and begin reading.
The report showed that Cheng Qianfan regularly donated money and supplies to the Saint Peter Church orphanage.
So he was a sentimental and grateful person.
What Wang Kangnian had not expected was Cheng Qianfan’s background.
The man was actually the son of martyrs.
Wang Kangnian snorted.
This did not lessen his suspicions toward Cheng Qianfan in the slightest.
Not to mention the children of ordinary Nationalist Party martyrs, even the children of high-ranking National Government officials were often bewitched by the Communists’ crooked doctrines.
Leaving everything else aside, wasn’t the shocking L Case in Shanghai back then a perfect example?
Continuing through the report, he could not help frowning.
A native of Zhejiang.
The son of martyrs.
Most importantly, when the Jiangshan County Party Headquarters held a memorial service for Cheng Wenzao and Su Zhifu, even the Chairman had sent a memorial couplet.
That inevitably gave Wang Kangnian a certain degree of hesitation.
Of course, if the man truly was a Communist, such a background would not save Cheng Qianfan’s life.
According to the intelligence, Cheng Qianfan’s appearance at the potter’s field with the little girl to pay respects was not suspicious.
Furthermore, on the day in question he had appeared on Avenue Joffre specifically to buy pig trotters from Wanzhenxing Delicatessen, purchased wine and drinking snacks, taken a rickshaw to Su Zhikang’s residence in Anfu Lane to drink, and afterward returned home drunk.
The entire timeline was exceptionally clear.
Viewed this way, Cheng Qianfan’s appearance at the scene of Old Liao’s arrest on Avenue Joffre was merely incidental and not suspicious.
No.
No.
Pacing beside the operating table, Wang Kangnian felt that something was wrong.
Suddenly, his gaze landed on a sheet of paper.
It contained information his men had gathered from the rickshaw pullers.
“Officer Cheng? Yes, yes, I remember now.”
“He was in a very good mood that day. I took him to buy pig trotters from Wanzhenxing Delicatessen.”
“He also bought some drinking snacks.”
“In the end he went to Anfu Lane. He even tipped me an extra fifty cents.”
“Officer Cheng? I don’t remember.”
“Oh, oh, now I remember.”
“I carried Officer Cheng from Anfu Lane back to Yande Lane. He was drunk.”
“On the way I even helped him buy a bottle of liquor.”
“The fare? No, no, no, the fare was paid. Paid. It was included with the liquor money. He gave extra.”
That was it.
That was it.
Wang Kangnian took out a cigarette without lighting it and sniffed it, excitement appearing on his face.
At last he had found the source of that nagging feeling:
The problem lay in these statements!
On the surface, there was nothing wrong with them.
Yet upon closer examination, they felt strangely unnatural.
The testimony was too detailed.
So much time had passed, yet the rickshaw pullers remembered everything so clearly. That went against common sense.
Wang Kangnian stopped pacing and frowned.
Yet according to the pullers’ accounts:
Good mood.
Generous person.
Extra tips.
Hadn’t had enough to drink and asked for more liquor on the way home.
Rickshaw pullers were poor laborers. They had carried a generous policeman who had seemed to be in good spirits. The pullers had not been scolded, and the passenger had even given extra money.
Naturally they remembered him clearly.
Everything seemed perfectly reasonable.
Wang Kangnian felt irritated.
This sensation of seemingly grasping a tiny clue while actually holding nothing at all was something he detested.
He struck a match and prepared to light the cigarette he had been holding all this time.
There seemed to be too much powder on the match head. The flame flared up violently, nearly singeing his eyebrows.
Wang Kangnian frowned, quickly shook out the match, and threw it away.
He took a light puff on the cigarette.
Then another.
Only then did Wang Kangnian exhale a large cloud of smoke that drifted before his eyes.
The smoke blurred his lenses somewhat.
It was much like his assessment of Cheng Qianfan, obscured by fog, impossible to see through.
However, there was one person who might be able to help clear up his confusion.
A thought occurred to Wang Kangnian.
Just then, a female nurse knocked on the clinic door.
“Doctor Wang, are you in there?”
Wang Kangnian disliked being called proprietor.
He preferred being called doctor.
He liked the profession of doctor.
Just like the great cause to which he had devoted himself, removing tumors and rotten flesh from the body of the Party-State, it was the greatest medical profession of all.
“Come in.”
Wang Kangnian extinguished his cigarette.
“Doctor Wang, Mrs. Ruth has come to pick up her dog.”
As the nurse spoke, she noticed the dog lying on the operating table.
The dog lay belly-up and seemed to be regaining consciousness, though its eyes carried an inexplicable sadness.
Most noticeable of all were the neat stitches around its private area.
“Doctor Wang, you... you neutered it?” the nurse exclaimed, blushing.
“What’s wrong?”
“Mrs. Ruth said the dog had a bad temper and sent it here for you to train, but you...”
Wang Kangnian was a surgeon. He not only treated people, but was also skilled in treating pets and had a talent for training dogs.
“That’s right. It had a bad temper because it still had its manhood.”
Wang Kangnian pushed up his glasses and spoke calmly.
“Now that it’s gone, it’ll be obedient.”