A Fishy Sanatorium
Chapter 4/8
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From the other end of the line, Tang Wan sounded rather lazy and tired. “Why? Must I require an important reason to call? Can I not call just because I want to?”
“That’s not what I meant, you know that,” Yang Chen said helplessly, while having no idea why women always assumed the worst.
An Xin left the office as she did not want to intrude on their conversation.
“I get the feeling that you are not taking me seriously. Maple Group, my company, has been more than generous by providing Yu Lei with numerous venues to hold their auditions. Am I not considered one of the major sponsors for Star of Yu Lei? How dare you not invite me to the banquet yesterday!” Tang Wan complained.
Yang Chen laughed awkwardly. “There’s nothing to it, trust me. Those kinds of parties are not your scene anyway.”
Yang Chen was embarrassed to tell her that Lin Ruoxi was the sole planner for that event while he had basically no say in it. Lin Ruoxi had been against Tang Wan’s status after all.
Tang Wan remained silent for a moment before sighing deeply. She said, “Let’s get back to the matter at hand, there’s something that I feel is beyond my capabilities and I need your help for it. You seem to be the only person I can trust and I’m hoping that you could come over and share your thoughts on your opinion.”
Yang Chen wondered what could have happened to her after hearing the weight of her voice. Ever since he met her, except for the crisis in the bank, she had never shown weakness or fear. After all, how many things could truly pose as a threat or potential fear to her, a woman of great wealth and reputable name.
Without any further thoughts, Yang Chen asked, “What’s the matter? Where are you?”
“It’s very complicated; I will let you know more about it once you come over to Ivy Sanatorium at Dongsheng Road. It’s alright if you don’t know where it is, I can send my men over to pick you up,” Tang Wan replied.
Yang Chen didn’t know where the place was, but it wouldn’t be hard to find it using the GPS he had in this car.
Walking out from the office, Yang Chen briefly explained to An Xin and hurried over to the destination Tang Wan informed him on.
Yang Chen did not hesitate although the relationship between them had always been a little vague. Actually, the outcome of certain things appeared to be set already.
Following the GPS and driving for roughly about half an hour, Yang Chen pulled up into a quiet asphalt road.
There was a dense grove on both sides of the road, which helped give off the feeling that spring was here. There weren’t many vehicles on the road with the occasional cars here and there. From time to time, there were intersections along the road which mainly consisted of small museums and nursing homes.
After driving for several kilometres, Yang Chen drove into a relatively wide intersection road and at the end of the forest stood Ivy Sanatorium.
It was a small, clean and bright sanatorium but the environment there was extremely unique and elegant. Yang Chen felt that Ivy Sanatorium differed from the other ordinary nursing homes.
Yang Chen doubted that Tang Wan was recuperating in that sanatorium as it was a place for the elderly to stay in.
As Yang Chen got closer to the sanatorium, he was puzzled by what he saw outside the gate of the sanatorium. Besides having some luxury cars, there were another three police cars parked in there, completed with a few guards safeguarding the place.
Yang Chen went straight to the door upon arrival and he sensed something fishy going on.
Two stern-looking guards stepped forward to stop Yang Chen from entering. One of the them said, “I’m sorry, Sir. No one is allowed to enter the sanatorium at the moment.”
“I am here upon request, a friend of Boss Tang.” Yang Chen noticed that they were actually the police and it could very well be a criminal case that they were investigating.
The two officers shared a look before one of them took out his walkie-talkie and asked the higher ups for instructions.
After getting confirmation, Yang Chen was allowed to enter the sanatorium under the surveillance of a police officer.
Walking past the two corridors ahead, just when Yang Chen was starting to worry about Tang Wan’s whereabouts, he saw a familiar figure coming out from a white building.
Tang Wan was dressed in a simple manner, with a lavender long sleeved shirt and white cropped trousers. The plain outfit that she wore made her look less formidable like the past whereas it emphasized on her charm and maturity, looking more like a real beauty.
Her pretty face seemed to be pale and worn out. She forced a smiled when she saw Yang Chen enter. Without that forceful smiled, she would have looked so gloomy and depressed.
“Thank you for coming over, I thought I would have to wait for quite some time before you came.” Tang Wan smiled.
“What happened?” Yang Chen asked with a frown.
Tang Wan smiled palely, looking very weak. “Come with me.”
As Tang Wan turned and led the way, Yang Chen followed and went into the white building.
Entering the corridor, Yang Chen could see the policemen in the room walking back and forth as if they were investigating something. Tang Wan slowly explained the history of Ivy Sanatorium to Yang Chen. Ivy Sanatorium was a small brand owned by Maple Group which was built to accommodate people in the southern area of the cities. Not many people were admitted as this nursing home was one which only had customers with high status and were famous such as old celebrities and politicians. The Zhonghai branch had around ten old men staying there. The sanatorium was complete with state-of-the-art facilities, and even some of the standard hospital equipment, including a surgery room and an emergency room should they ever require one.
While explaining, Tang Wan led Yang Chen to the second floor. Not far from them was a room cordoned off by the police, blocking its main entrance.
“Last week, my Grandpa was also brought here for recuperation,” Tang Wan said.
Yang Chen who was looking at the room surrounded by the police asked, “Your Grandpa? You mean the head of your Tang clan?”
Yang Chen remembered Tang Wan once said that the Tang clan was one of the four largest clans in Beijing. The master of the clan was her Grandpa, Tang Zhechen. However, Yang Chen found it strange that the master of the Tang clan was admitted into a nursing home.
“Yeah.” Tang Wan nodded. “Do you still remember that I was away for quite some time in the past two months? In fact, it was because of Chinese New Year, and the other reason was because of my Grandpa. He had some mental illness and was a little unstable. I was anxious so I came back to Beijing to assess the latest situation.”
“Is Master Tang having Alzheimer’s disease?” Yang Chen asked as he couldn’t hold back.
“If that was all, I wouldn’t have had to worry as much as I have.” Tang Wan slowed down her pace as she told Yang Chen about the origin of the story. Years ago, Master Tang started to space out and lose memories occasionally. In the beginning, everyone thought that Alzheimer's disease was the cause. But later on, the same phenomena occurred much more frequently than a regular Alzheimer's disease. This started to draw the attention of the people at home. That was the reason why Tang Wan started getting worried and returned to Beijing for more than two months, leaving her work aside.
Even after the medical check-up, the doctor failed to diagnose any illnesses besides Alzheimer’s disease. It was as if he fell insane out of nowhere.
The old man did not remember that he was ill, but he began to be grumpy, feel depressed and as a result, unwilling to speak.
A while back, the old man’s state of mind was in utter chaos which required someone to constantly watch him . There were times when he tried to jump off the building and bang his head against the wall. It was a miracle that he was still safe and sound. That could probably be credited to the people watching him
Due to the medical standard in the country, Tang Wan decided to hire a very well-known psychiatrist Professor Andre who graduated from John Hopkins University to treat her Grandpa.
Being one of the most reputable psychiatrist in the world, Tang Wan had to offer him a great amount of remuneration in order to persuade him for coming over for just one patient.
“As the Chinese saying goes, one does not wash their dirty linen in public.” Tang Wan smiled awkwardly as she added on, “I never mentioned this problem to anyone. I hope you can forgive me for not telling you.”
Yang Chen shook his head. “Of course I will. This is very normal for you to do so. Anyway, what did Professor Andre say about the medical checkup? And why is it that there are so many policemen roaming the place? What is happening?”
Tang Wan revealed pain and anger in her eyes as she twisted her eyebrows. “Professor Andre is a very splendid doctor. He figured out something was wrong right away and talked to me in private. He told me that he was planning to discuss about my Grandpa’s condition with his foreign colleagues. However, a medical staff found Professor Andre dead in his room this morning.”
While chatting, both of them had already reached Professor Andre’s room. The yellow lining on the outside of the room barred them from entering. Several police were using some sort of apparatus to collect evidence as there was another big guy in a casual outfit observing the crime scene.
Yang Chen, in deep thought, asked, “Why did you invite me over then? Are you afraid at the idea of a possible threat to the Tang clan and you don’t know who it is? So you thought of me as you dare not ask help from someone else. Well, it is fortunate for you that I am quite well versed with mysteries like this one.”
“I have been developing the Tang clan’s businesses in Zhonghai for quite a number of years and I do know a lot of people. Although I have a very broad social network, you are the only one that is good at solving cases like this,” Tang Wan expressed.
“Even if someone else is good, I’m pretty sure they are still not on par with my ability,” Yang Chen said. Tang Wan nodded silently before saying, “The police have been here all morning but are no better off than when they first arrived. The only thing they’d managed to gather was that Professor Andre was poisoned. What and how are still mysteries to the police.”
“Also, our sanatorium is very strict in controlling the patients’ diet. If Professor Andre ate something poisonous, the police would have been the first people to know. Why is it that the professor got killed right after he found out what was wrong with my Grandpa but not right after he came to the sanatorium? It’s obvious that someone knew that the professor had found out something about the patient’s condition and killed him. But how? The professor told me in private when he was still alive.”
Tang Wan’s eyes were full of resentment and frustration as she felt helpless at the situation.
Yang Chen thought for a bit before asking, “Where’s the corpse?”
“It has been taken away by the police. Oh ya, if John Hopkins University knows about the death of Professor Andre in our sanatorium, there’s no way for them to let this matter slide. No matter what, a lawsuit is inevitable. It is clear that the murderer isn’t giving us anytime to rest,” Tang Wan said angrily.
“Where did the professor tell you about the result of his findings on your Grandpa’s illness?” Yang Chen questioned.
Tang Wan pointed directly at the room. “We were talking in the professor’s room when he told me personally that there was probably still hope that my Grandpa could recover.”
Yang Chen pouted his mouth as he looked across the room. The condition of the sanatorium was exceptional. Professor Andre’s room was about 60 square meters with all kinds of equipment neatly arranged.
“Let me have a look inside, perhaps there could be some clues that only I would be able to find.” While he spoke, Yang Chen bent down and got into the cordon before walking towards the room.
Just when Yang Chen was about to get inside the room, the big man wearing a casual outfit and a stern face stood in front of him with his thick eyebrows furrowing at the sight of his unwanted guest “Who are you? This is a crime scene, miscellaneous personnel are not allowed in here. Get out!”