Volume One, Chapter 104: Please Show Mercy, Young Master Lou!

The phone buzzed incessantly beneath the pillow.
Out in the living room, the landline rang shrilly as well.
Mrs. Ke opened her eyes just as the bedroom door swung open.
Her husband stood there, holding her phone, his expression helpless. “It’s for you…”
What?
Why was someone calling for her, but reaching him instead?
As she stood there bewildered, the phone under her pillow vibrated again.
“Director Ke, something’s happened… Please come to the hospital right away!”
Even through the receiver, she could hear the chaos on the other end—urgent patients, unruly troublemakers, all at once.
She glanced at the clock. It wasn’t even eight.
She scrambled out of bed, skipped breakfast, and hurried out the door.
Driving toward the hospital, Mrs. Ke’s mind raced with unease.
The Fifth People’s Hospital was one of the oldest public hospitals in the capital, and she, though retired, had been rehired.
There were plenty of young, capable doctors there; even if a rare case appeared, the hospital had several directors and deputy directors overseeing everything.
Why had the trouble landed on her?
Or had she made a mistake on that patient’s file a few days ago?
Her thoughts were a jumble as she arrived at the hospital, only to be confronted by a throng of people at the steps.
Old and young, robust and frail—a crowd had gathered.
Two tall, burly men held a banner aloft:
“Retired Chief of Neurosurgery He Yihui Bullies the Weak!”
Behind the banner, someone held up a large screen.
On it played a looped video: Mrs. Ke, domineering, pushing forward a bank card, her eyes brimming with disdain.
“One million. Leave the capital! … One million. Leave the capital! … One million…”
The chant drilled into her ears, repeating endlessly.
Mrs. Ke stepped forward, took one look, and everything went dark.
They were here to make trouble—just not the kind she expected.
“You… Who sent you here? You’re slandering me!”
Her anger sent her blood pressure soaring, but her protests were drowned out by the crowd’s chatter and the relentless chant of “one million.” No one could hear her.
“She’s a doctor, isn’t she? I thought doctors’ salaries were low—how can she so calmly offer one million?”
“Heh, those low salaries are for ordinary doctors who treat us… She’s got a title, a position, and has lasted till retirement. Who knows how much she’s siphoned off from the hospital, how many patients’ red envelopes she’s pocketed! Otherwise, who would bother coming back to work after retiring?”
“One million, and she expects someone to just leave the capital? Ridiculous! Does she think this city belongs to her?”
“My wife was seen by her just two days ago! I wondered why the consultation lasted barely ten minutes—turns out we didn’t give her a red envelope. Damned black sheep! I seriously suspect she was rehired just to make money—she’s a heartless, unethical doctor! I demand the hospital investigate and give us patients and our families an explanation!”
Mrs. Ke’s head buzzed. She wanted to ask the security guards, but suddenly, all the blood in her body seemed to rush to her head.
Her legs buckled, and she collapsed.

…

Sang Wan walked from her apartment to her office, her heart pounding as she approached the building, still dozens of meters away.
But there was nothing.
No trace of Mrs. Ke inside or out.
She spent the day anxious, so much so that every time the desk phone rang, she thought disaster had struck, and the receptionist called her down to handle it.
Just before clocking out, her phone chimed.
“Wan…”
Ke Yifan’s voice was tinged with guilt. “I already know about my mother. I’m calling to apologize. Are you free to meet?”
Sang Wan breathed a sigh of relief.
When she went downstairs, she found Ke Yifan looking utterly defeated—none of the vigor he’d shown in previous encounters.
“Wan, I didn’t know my mother had approached you. I never expected she… she would…”
They worked at different hospitals, so Ke Yifan hadn’t learned what happened at the Fifth People’s Hospital until his mother fainted and was admitted.
He was furious, but seeing Mrs. Ke’s pale face in her hospital bed, he felt his anger had nowhere to go.
For a moment, Ke Yifan regretted everything.
If he’d only come to help Sang Wan when her trouble began—rather than impulsively transferring back to the capital—would any of this have happened?
“Wan, I’m sorry!”
He apologized formally. “I’ve already applied to the hospital—once I finish the surgeries I’m handling, I’ll transfer back to Shanghai and never return! From now on… I won’t cause you any more trouble, I promise!”
Sang Wan wanted to say, “You were never the cause of my trouble.”
Ke Yifan seemed to sense it, sighing. “Wan, I know. My mother brought this on herself. But after decades as a doctor, her reputation and honor mean more to her than life itself. Could you… withdraw the complaints and reports?”
What?
“What did you say?”
Sang Wan was stunned.
Ke Yifan froze, then quickly realized—it wasn’t Sang Wan who reported her.
That left only one possibility…
A cold, imposing figure flashed through his mind.
Ke Yifan gave a bitter smile, shaking his head. “Never mind.”
He turned to leave, but Sang Wan stopped him.
He paused, looking back. “Wan, for the sake of our acquaintance, could you ask Mr. Lou to show mercy?”

…

Ke Yifan’s words were obscure, and Sang Wan was lost in confusion.
Only the last sentence was clear—it had something to do with Lou Ye.
She remembered Lou Ye’s cryptic remark before dinner the previous evening.
Sang Wan seemed to guess what had happened.
She opened her phone and tapped into the video feed. The top local news story was, unmistakably, the farce that had unfolded that morning at the Fifth People’s Hospital.
After a brief period of chaos, hospital security and police quickly took control.
The director received a letter of complaint, complete with surveillance footage and other solid evidence against Mrs. Ke.
Reporters arrived on the scene immediately.
The director hadn’t even had a chance to draft a statement. After reading the complaint on the spot, he grimly promised a thorough investigation and a public explanation.
The latest news revealed that the hospital had issued an announcement:
Given that Mrs. Ke had committed no violations during her employment, the hospital was ending her rehire contract.
Sang Wan was stunned.
Last night, she’d been unsettled by a nightmare. Lou Ye had initially tried to comfort her patiently.
But she didn’t want him to know Mrs. Ke had come to see her, nor did she want him to know about her murky past—she never breathed a word.
Later, Lou Ye seemed to get angry—like a furious leopard.
His kiss was fierce, almost punitive.
He ravaged her with a wild, unyielding passion, quickly shattering her remaining doubts and reason.
Only now did Sang Wan realize just how much Lou Ye had done, silently and without fanfare.
And why he’d been so angry.
She ran.
She hadn’t even decided what she wanted to say to him.
All she knew was that, in this moment, she desperately wanted to see Lou Ye.
It was rush hour; the lobby was bustling with people coming and going.
The elevator doors opened, and the crowd poured out.
She spotted a nearly empty elevator and darted inside.
One heading in, one heading out.
Sang Wan rushed straight into Lou Ye’s arms.