Chapter 40 — You Believe Whatever He Says?

The lead surgeon was briefly taken aback, then nodded. Since Wei Zhao insisted, he had no choice but to comply. There was no risk to life in a procedure like this, so he would not press the matter.

"Young man, then you'll have to hold it in." With that, the surgeon instructed the nurse to prepare for the operation.

That Wei Zhao did not fear pain did not mean he felt none; it was simply that pain of this degree fell within what he could endure. He thought back—falling from the summit of West Star Mountain had hurt far worse than this. That had been the pain of his organs knocked out of place...

"Young man, how did you get hurt?" The lead surgeon, Sun Weimin, was an experienced surgeon. His skill with the scalpel was excellent, but his skill at reading people was just as good. Though Wei Zhao had taken a gunshot wound, he did not look like one of those criminal suspects the police brought in, so Sun Weimin took the initiative to chat with him a little, to distract him and ease his pain.

"In a bank. Shot by a robber." Wei Zhao understood Sun Weimin's intent perfectly well. In truth, how could Wei Zhao's attention be so easily diverted? The training he had received since childhood was that under no circumstances could he let down his guard or let his attention wander.

"I see." Hearing this, Sun Weimin found it just as he had guessed—the young man was not a suspect but a victim—so he spoke more freely: "The situation must have been tense."

"Not too bad," Wei Zhao said with a smile. "Actually, I could have dodged it. But there was a girl behind me. If I'd dodged, she'd have taken the bullet. So I had no choice but to stand there and take it. Pretty foolish, wouldn't you say?"

Wei Zhao had seen similar news reports back in the mountains—people who did good deeds were called fools, while the cold and the selfish were praised as clever. So as he said this, there was a note of self-mockery in his voice.

"Ah?" Hearing that Wei Zhao had been wounded in such a way, Sun Weimin was instantly filled with admiration for the young man. "Young man, you're a great man! That's not foolish—that's a hero saving a beauty! So tell me, did the girl fall in love with you at first sight?"

"After that the robbers took me hostage. Who knows what she thought?" Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. "At the time, she probably didn't even realize I'd taken the bullet for her. After all, the thug was shooting at me."

"That's still very admirable, young man—knowing how to sacrifice yourself for others." Sun Weimin regarded Wei Zhao with real appreciation. "What's your name?"

"Wei Zhao. It's on the chart," Wei Zhao said with a smile.

"Heh, my apologies. I see far too many patients every day; I rarely pay attention to these things," Sun Weimin said, a little embarrassed.

The operation went smoothly. Wei Zhao neither shouted nor thrashed his leg, which allowed Sun Weimin to finish this minor surgery very quickly. Wei Zhao's reaction astonished him: with no anesthetic at all, Wei Zhao had cooperated and held on throughout. This young man's fortitude was truly extraordinary.

After the surgery, Qiu Lingshan came to the ward to take Wei Zhao's statement, and ran into the lead surgeon, Sun Weimin—who naturally heaped praise on Wei Zhao: "Officer Song, this young man is truly a rare find. Sacrificing himself for others—he ought to be a model the whole society looks up to! You people should give him a Good Samaritan award, an Outstanding Citizen award!"

"What do you mean?" Though Qiu Lingshan rather admired Wei Zhao's calm in the face of the robber, she could hardly call it sacrificing himself for others. When Gu Mengyao had given her statement, she had not described the details of Wei Zhao taking the bullet in the bank in any great detail—only that Wei Zhao had been shot by the robber. So Qiu Lingshan knew nothing of what lay beneath.

"Oh? You don't know? That young man Wei Zhao—he could clearly have dodged the robber's bullet, but he saw there was a girl behind him, and if he'd dodged, that girl would have been the one to suffer. So he stood his ground and took the shot." Sun Weimin praised him lavishly. "A young man with such a sense of justice and compassion—I've never met one before."

Qiu Lingshan frowned. Really? Was this a storybook? And besides, could a bullet be dodged just because Wei Zhao willed it? She herself had been a special forces instructor—even she would not dare guarantee that she could dodge a bullet. Was Wei Zhao better than she was? Qiu Lingshan simply could not believe it. "Dr. Sun, who did you hear this from?"

"From Wei Zhao himself," Sun Weimin said.

"He told you himself?" Qiu Lingshan was taken aback. You believe him just because he says so? He's pulling your leg. I could say I can kill an elephant with one punch—would anyone believe that?

Sun Weimin could see Qiu Lingshan's skepticism too, and he smiled. "That young man had his bullet removed without any anesthetic, and he never uttered a single sound of pain. On the strength of that kind of fortitude alone, I believe what he says."

Sun Weimin had plenty of other things to attend to, after all, so he could not chat with Qiu Lingshan indefinitely. After a few more words he walked off, and Qiu Lingshan pushed open the door and entered Wei Zhao's ward.

Wei Zhao had originally meant to swing his legs off the bed and leave at once, but that would have been too shocking to the world—after all, the wound was on his leg, not his arm—so he put on a show and lay back down on the hospital bed.

"Wei Zhao, can we do the statement now?" For some reason, seeing Wei Zhao lying there with one leg crossed, Qiu Lingshan felt he looked especially deserving of a beating.

"Go ahead." Lying on the bed, Wei Zhao looked up at Qiu Lingshan from below, and only then discovered that from this angle, with that figure... she could give that ** actress he'd watched this morning a run for her money. And on closer inspection, Qiu Lingshan was actually quite pretty. Mm... uniform fetish...

Perhaps sensing that something was off in Wei Zhao's gaze, Qiu Lingshan instinctively followed his eyes down to her own body—and her face flushed red at once.

Years of high-intensity training had made Qiu Lingshan's breasts develop exceptionally well—so well they were almost a burden. Without a bra, they bounced with every step, which she found extremely inconvenient. She had even considered liposuction, but on reflection it was too humiliating, so she let it go.

In the special forces it had been fine—under iron discipline, no one paid attention to Qiu Lingshan's chest, so she hadn't much minded. But after she entered the workforce, she often had to carry out missions in plainclothes, and frequently went in and out of places where all sorts mingled. That made her uncomfortable; there were always men sizing her up with lecherous eyes, and she wanted to kick them to death.

But what Qiu Lingshan had not expected was that she was in uniform, and Wei Zhao still dared to stare at her like that. Utterly unforgivable. Qiu Lingshan gave a cold snort, sat down in the chair beside Wei Zhao's bed, and began to ponder how to give this brat a little punishment...

Then she suddenly thought of the wound on his leg, and a plan came to mind...

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