Reborn as his Shadow - Chapter 6

In the staffroom, the doctor held Xiao Ying in her arms as she sat on a blue fabric sofa and guided him to tell her his story, “Xiao Ying! Come on, tell Aunt Bai how you lived at home and at school. Auntie is really curious, how did everyone treat Xiao Ying? And how did you end up coming here?” Doctor Bai was not in a hurry, patting the child’s back as she waited patiently for him to speak.

Xiao Ying did not answer immediately, waiting for Mo Jingxuan to shake his hand and tell him it was alright. But he began to narrate his life and the incident from earlier…his immature voice spoke softly, describing such a depressing account that everyone listening in could not help but hold their reddened eyes. Doctor Bai started crying quietly, unable to hold back any longer, and the warm liquid dripped onto the shoulder of the small boy.

The hands that were comforting Xiao Ying gradually tightened, and small choked-back sobs could be heard as Doctor Bai murmured, “Our Xiao Ying is really a strong man; he’s so capable! Auntie admires him very much!”

Xiao Ying felt something off from her tone and looked up from his lap, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable?”

Denying his words, “Auntie is happy, happy that Xiao Ying is so brave, um– Auntie has a small request though. I hope that Xiao Ying can agree!”

Watching Xiao Ying node for her to continue, Doctor Bai went on to say, “Although Xiao Ying is a strong man, Auntie hopes that he can promise Auntie one thing. This time, Xiao Ying will be protected by Auntie, okay? Can Xiao Ying treat Auntie as a temporary mother? Wait for this to finish and Auntie will have something else to discuss with Xiao Ying then.”

“Temporary? Mom….?” Xiao Ying shook his head vehemently, “Xiao Ying has a mother already.”

Doctor Bai’s eyes began to well with tears again, “Good boy, good boy,” she no longer asked anything else, just repeating those two words again and again.

“Open the door! Let me in immediately!” The warmth and tranquility in the lounge was broken by a sharp female voice and a rough pounding on the door, “If you don’t open the door soon, I’m going to force my way in.” Doctor Bai frowned at the demanding tone and put Xiao Ying down onto the sofa himself as she went to open the door.

The sudden lack of resistance led the woman kicking the door to nearly fall down, not at all calming her temper, “I don’t care who you are, let me tell you, if you don’t listen to what I say then all of you will lose your jobs today!”

Mo Jingxuan cast a glance at the obese woman standing outside the room; her figure was supporting a pure white dress allowing the fat around her waist to be exposed to the air. She donned a pink foreign hat paired with exaggeratedly large earrings and tacky gloves… Mo Jingxuan’s lips curled in distaste as he looked past her to the two teachers, who seemed much more confident after bringing in their backing. He stretched his shadowy form before Xiao Ying, protecting him to the best of his abilities.

Doctor Bai refused to stand down with the woman’s threats, sternly responding as if admonishing a child, “Please pay attention to your upbringing. This is a hospital, not your backyard for you to play in. If you still want to throw a fit, please go home where you can do so without bothering those around.”

The woman continued to act without regard to propriety as she said, “Ha, go home? I just heard from these teachers that you wanted to be responsible for Xiao Ying? Well, I am Wang Bin’s mother and I intend to be compensated heavily for what he has done to my son!”

Sneering, Doctor Bai almost laughed before gracing her with a response, “Oh, Wang Bin’s mother hmm? Well, before you come in here asking for money, please try and understand the situation first.” She turned to Xiao Ying to pick him up again, “Since you brought up the issue of compensation so quickly, it would be a shame to just let it go. Have you read even the first line of the medical reports given?”

The woman shook her head obtusely, “I don’t need to. All I need to know is that my son was in a coma and had to go to the hospital because of it. And according to him and the teachers that brought him, that bastard Xiao Ying was the one who beat him.” The teachers were nodding along with the mother’s words, not noticing that Wang Bin was shrinking guiltily behind her.

Ignoring the nonsense being spouted in front of her, Doctor Bai continued to interrogate Wang Bin’s mother, “Well, since you didn’t read the test results we’ll have to use something else. What about, oh I don’t know, the wide strips of gauze wrapped around Xiao Ying’s head? Surely you can see that, right? Or is it conveniently too much trouble?”

“…” The woman squirmed as she avoided Doctor Bai’s eyes.

“That’s good. At least we won’t have to take your head in for inspection too. Now, what about the fact that your son hit Xiao Ying first? Or just how much more major an injury Xiao Ying has here than your dear son over there?” As the woman tried to interrupt, Doctor Bai stopped her with a few more words, “Don’t even try to argue with me. There are so many kids in Xiao Ying’s class and cameras set up. I have no reason to lie about this.”

Wang Bin’s mother really didn’t have anything to say. She had only asked about who hit her child from the teachers before rushing over to see who had done it. Searching for words, she began to argue again, “I’m not arguing with you. Anyway, my son was hospitalized; you need to pay compensation and apologize no matter what….Do you know who my husband is? He knows a lot of bug people, let me tell you, if you want to get away free of charge then you’re dreaming! I won’t let you renege on your debts with me!”

The doctor waved her hand, dismissing the next threat that was sure to come spewing out of the woman’s mouth, “Calm down. Before we even begin to talk about your husband, let’s talk about the test results. Seeing as how you didn’t read them, I’ll sum up what happened in a way even you should be able to understand. First, Wang Bin. I shouldn’t need to tell you this, but there is nothing wrong with his body besides his weight somewhat exceeding the standard. And that is by no means a fault that can be attributed to Xiao Ying. As for Xiao Ying, he was injured on the head badly enough that the wound did not stop bleeding until after he was sent to the hospital. The teachers who brought him here should be clear about this as well, but from this we have reason to judge that his anemia has been caused by excessive blood loss, and the culprit of all of this is your son who beat him first! You will most definitely have to compensate Xiao Ying for both medical and nutritional expenses, though I will be kind and not ask for mental damage compensation. Oh, but he will be delayed in his studies because of this accident, so you will need to compensate for that too.”

Mo Jingxuan looked at Doctor Bai appreciatively as he gave her a thumbs up.

“You–you–you dare to ask me for compensation, okay—you wait, I’ll call my husband right away!”

“Oh, are you sure you want to make a big deal out of this?”

The woman thought that Doctor Bai was scared and snorted triumphantly, “Why, do you want to apologize and pay compensation now?”

Doctor Bai smiled back at her annoyingly present scowl, saying, “No, no, no, you misunderstood. I’ll leave you alone, go call your husband.” She looked over at the teachers who had been blending into the wallpaper until here, “I didn’t intend to make this into such a scene, but if the teachers don’t cooperate with me then there’s nothing I can do. I hope that both of you will hold each other to be accountable.”

Teacher Wang and Liu saw that Doctor Bai was still calm and were flustered, unable to figure out what she was thinking. “You don’t think that the doctor has a stronger background, do you?” Teacher Wang asked Teacher Liu under her breath.

Wang Bin’s mother was so angry that her hand trembled, pointing at Doctor Bai and scolding her, “I don’t know how long you’ll be able to stay calm like that, just watch and see how this turns out.” Not caring anymore, she directly took her phone and bag, walking haughtily outside the room to call her husband.

The two teachers glanced at each other and chased after her; after all, her husband was a county deputy who had just taken office. Between favouring a poor orphan and the government official, it was obvious which one they chose.

The staffroom was once more free of any annoyances, and Doctor Bai began to make some calls of her own, dialing the number of one of her many friends, “Xiao Rui, I need your help with something. Can you come to the hospital? Oh, and bring some of your guys from that one dinner; there will be a scene to see here soon. Okay, sounds good. I’ll be waiting.” She hung up and smiled at Xiao Ying, who was sitting in a daze, “Auntie will definitely help Xiao Ying get justice, don’t worry!”

Mo Jingxuan held Xiao Ying’s little hand and told him softly, “Baby, please say thank you to Auntie!”

The corner of Xiao Ying’s mouth slowly grew a smile, and as his expression enlarged, he said, “Thank you, Auntie!” But while he said that aloud, he couldn’t help adding on some more in his mind. He was thankful for the protection and the justice that was being found for him, but what meant even more to him was…the gentle touch on the back of his hand, the kind emotions that were given to him for the first time in what felt like far too long, and the invisible man who stood on his side no matter what. Had he been with him all this time, that man who appeared like an angel and fixed all his problems? It didn’t matter who or what he was, human or ghost, or perhaps something completely unknown, as long as he always, always stayed with him. Just stay by his side all the time. He was even willing to exchange the toys made by grandma for him to never leave!

Doctor Bai smiles, “You’re welcome, Auntie is just willing to do this for Xiao Ying!”

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“What is Doctor Bai trying to say? According to my wife and both of the children’s teachers, although my son did not suffer any trauma, he was still in a coma for quite a long time. We even have your testimony that he is in good health from earlier, so how much external damage did he have to suffer to be in a coma for so long even with his health?”

Doctor Bai slowly started to organize her words, “Mr Wang, please don’t twist my words. All that this proves is that his body was the same before and after the coma, that he is still in good health and suffered no negative effects. There is a different point that I notice you are not putting nearly as much emphasis on, our Xiao Ying was the passive party in this affair. Wang Bin was the one who started everything, and now that Wang Bin is still in good health, our Xiao Ying has a severe head injury and is even anemic due to it. We have no idea whether there will be any adverse reactions later on either! In my opinion, who is at fault here is obvious. As an official, even if you are only the smallest deputy of our county, you should still be able to tell right from wrong…right?”

The sarcasm dripping from Doctor Bai’s words could not be more clear, and Mrs. Wang could not be more angry. She rolled up her sleeves, seemingly unable to even try and voice her opinion anymore but was quickly admonished by her husband.

“Yaqin, stop it! Do you think we have not been embarrassed enough?” Mrs. Wang flushed red as she stood obediently to the side, still not forgetting to glare at Doctor Bai, however.

Mr. Wang continued, “Doctor Bai, although I may be just a small county official, I think I, a little deputy, still have the ability to let you leave this hospital if I so desire it. So long as you have Xiao Ying apologize, I won’t even ask for compensation. After all, I am a generous man.”

Listening to the rubbish the man in front of her was spewing, Doctor Bai’s eyes could not contain her ridicule, “Apologize? You–” But before she could finish making her opinion of him blatantly clear, she was interrupted by a knock on the door.