Read Novel Full Chapter 146 : The Extra Trip
Chapter 146 : The Extra Trip
The Chengbei District Health Commission was in an old building. The sign was enamel, a chip of paint knocked off the lower right corner, bare metal showing through. The terrazzo stairs were worn into two shiny grooves; heels echoed against them.
Friday morning, January 29th. She asked at a first-floor window, twice. The person inside didn't look up. Medial Administration Division, third floor.
At the end of the third-floor hallway, a door stood open. Two rows of desks inside. On the corner of the desk by the door sat a stack of laminated papers, the top sheet printed with "Physician Practice Registration and Deregistration Guide."
She stepped between the two rows of desks. Half a minute passed before the man behind a computer raised his eyes. Early forties, blue cloth sleeve protectors, a ballpoint pen tucked into one of them.
"What is it?"
She set her Internship Certificate and the firm's letter of introduction on the edge of the desk. "Zhengping Law Firm. I have a procedural question."
"Who are you asking for?"
"A doctor. The hospital reported her to the district."
The man glanced at the letter. "Which hospital?"
"Chengbei Hospital. Lin Qi."
His hand left the mouse, tapped the keyboard twice, flipped a screen. He read for a while, then said, "We've accepted this matter. Next step is an investigation."
"When does the notice go out?"
He tilted his chin toward the wall. The same laminated sheet hung there, corners curling. She walked over and read top to bottom: Acceptance, Case Filing, Investigation, Notification, Statement and Defense, Hearing, Decision, Service of Process.
Beneath the Statement and Defense line, small print:
"The party shall submit statements and defense within three days from the date of receiving the notice; if requesting a hearing, such request shall be made within five days from the date of notification."
She pulled out her notebook and copied it down. Two more people came through the door—first an old man, around sixty, sun-reddened face, a stack of papers in his hand, asking about renewing a rural doctor's practice certificate. The man flipped two pages and said he was missing a physical exam form. The old man said nobody mentioned that last time. The man said last time was last time. The old man stood by the desk, counted the papers again, then asked if they could be accepted now and he'd bring the missing one tomorrow. The man said no; incomplete materials weren't accepted. If he took them, he'd have to write up a rejection slip.
"How does the investigation proceed?" she asked once the old man had stepped back.
"Request materials from the employer. Question her in person." The man said, "If she doesn't show, we go as far as the papers in our hand take us."
"How is the notice served?"
"To the registered address. Her registration form says Chengbei Hospital. Served to the employer, the employer signs—that counts as service."
"Served to the employer, receipt signed—counts as reaching her."
"Receipt is service," he said.
"She wants to change where it's sent."
"She comes in person, brings ID, signs on the spot to change it." He said, "After that, we send to the new address."
She wrote down: in person, ID, sign on the spot.
Someone came through the door—white coat open, sleeves rolled to his forearms, carrying a kraft paper envelope, the side printed with the Chengbei Hospital emblem, the flap secured with three staples.
"Lawyer Shen."
"Director Xu."
He placed the envelope on the desk corner, on top of the laminated guide. The man glanced at him, then at her.
"Supplementary materials," Director Xu said. "Wednesday's delivery—a page got missed."
"Supplementary what?"
"Internal hospital materials."
"In what was sent Wednesday, was there anything with her own signature on it?"
Director Xu's hand pressed against the envelope flap. He paused two seconds.
"Yes."
"What did it say?"
"I don't read these." He nodded to the man. "The inventory's in the envelope." He turned and walked out, leather shoes rapping the terrazzo. At the stairwell he stopped, looked back at her.
"Tell her to come back sooner. Some things carry more weight in her own words than in yours."
She didn't answer. The footsteps continued down.
The man put the envelope in a drawer, locked it, hung the key on a hook at the desk's edge, sat back down.
"I won't discuss the contents with you."
"I understand."
"Bring an authorization, signed by her personally," he said. "With that, you can come and review. I'll pull the file for you by the rules."
"Without it, standing here does me no good."
"Standing's fine too." The man said, "Just no good."
[Thud. Only the one who copies the rules off the wall can count the days.]
On her way out she asked his name. Yu, he said. Medical Administration Division.
* * *
Midday, Zhengping Firm. He Xiufen crouched in front of the case file cabinet, a kraft case file box on her knee, threading cotton through it stitch by stitch, biting the thread off with her teeth.
"The Commission received it." Shen Zhixia recounted the morning, from the wall notice to the address-change rule. "Three days for statement and defense, starting the day the notice is served. The questioning has to be with her personally; if she doesn't show, they go as far as the papers take them."
"Served where?"
"To the registered address. Chengbei Hospital."
"Then those three days are being counted for her by the hospital," He Xiufen said, smoothing out the thread. "Wednesday a page went missing, and this morning they made an extra trip. Weigh that—what are they in such a hurry about?"
"They're in a hurry to make the paper trail coherent."
"Their weak point is in the stack they submitted." She turned the box over and pushed the needle through from the other end. "Get that, and you see how they built it line by line. Without it, you could guess for three years and never know what one page in there says. The only way to get it is with her signed authorization."
"She said to me, it's one matter."
"Then follow that thread." He Xiufen said, "Tell her it's always been one matter. Turn her page, and Xiaoman's page finally has someone to acknowledge it. You clear her name; she speaks for Xiaoman. Same case file, same stack of papers."
"And if she still refuses?"
"First, read her the address-change rule." He Xiufen said, "The date starts from whosever hand the paper lands in. If she doesn't come back, we can't even figure out day one. That hits harder than the authorization."
"Also the money." Shen Zhixia said, "Her last month's wages still haven't been paid in full."
"Lead with that; don't wait for her to ask." He Xiufen tucked the needle into the box. "The firm runs this through Legal Aid—no fees on her end. If you don't say it, she'll be doing the math on her end and end up saying, 'Just leave me alone.'"
"The roster arrived too. The court sent it this morning—two out-of-town institutions added. Random draw tomorrow morning."
"The draw is the draw." He Xiufen lifted the box off her knee. "After the draw, the appraisal. After the appraisal, trial. If on trial day the file still says 'The alterations were the sole act of the attending physician,' you'll be fighting that line on her behalf. Can you win that fight?"
"No."
"Then get her back here. Tell her to arrive during the day. Don't take the overnight bus. Come straight to the firm when she gets off—don't wander around that alley she used to live on; hospital staff will recognize her." He Xiufen said, "After the meeting, send her back. Not a word to her about her mother's side."
[Thud. When she won't speak for herself, the words have to come from the child.]
* * *
At 6:40 p.m., she dialed the Tongling number.
First attempt: the old woman answered, said she'd gone out to the fields, asked if she'd eaten, said there were sweet potatoes steaming on the stove. Second attempt, 7:05. Someone picked up, out of breath.
"What do you need to say? Say it."
"Three things." Shen Zhixia said, "One: the hospital's report to the district—the Health Commission has accepted it. Investigation next, and they'll need to question you personally. Two: a notice will be issued, served to the registered address, which you filled in as Chengbei Hospital. Sent to the department—signature from anyone there counts as service to you. The signing date is day one; three days after that is your only window to speak. You're in Hewan Village. You won't receive it, and you won't know."
"Third."
"The address can be changed." She said, "You go to the District Health Commission in person, bring ID, sign on the spot. After that, the papers go to the new address. No one can do it for you."
The line went quiet; a tractor chugged somewhere in the wind.
"Tomorrow morning is the random draw." Shen Zhixia said, "After that, the appraisal is scheduled, and once the report comes out, the hearing. The file currently contains one line: after internal hospital review, the alterations in both shift records were the sole act of attending physician Lin Qi. In Xiaoman's case, the most valuable sentence is: 'The person who signed that day wasn't her.' Someone has to say that in person—it has to be written into the record. Without you there, that's one person missing."
"My mother has a follow-up at the town clinic Saturday."
"Sunday."
The line was silent again.
"Which institution gets drawn—tell me."
"I'll call you the evening of the 30th." Shen Zhixia said, "Also one more thing. Let me finish: the firm won't charge you. Legal Aid channel."
"I'm saving up," Lin Qi said.
"Once you come back, the hospital will find out. You know how the department talks."
"I know."
"Bring your ID." Shen Zhixia said, "After you sign, if you want to leave, I'll see you to the bus."
"I'll take the seven a.m. bus Sunday." Lin Qi said, "Arrive Chengbei at eleven-thirty."
"Don't take the overnight."
"Don't come meet me."
"Fine."
[Thud. She agreed to a date. The rest depends on whose hands the papers land in.]
At 8:50, she detoured to Youfang Lane. The landlady sat on a small stool at the building entrance, sorting greens, piling leaves onto a shoebox lid.
"She's back Sunday," Shen Zhixia said.
"Then I'll air out her room tomorrow. Windows haven't been opened in half a month." The landlady said, "The things in her drawers—I haven't touched a thing."
"No one touches them."
"I have the key." The landlady said, "The old woman across the hall asked me again the day before yesterday when Doctor Lin was coming back."
"I'll tell her when she's back."
"I'll tell you when she's back." The landlady gathered the greens together.
* * *
Back at the firm close to ten. The roll-up shutter downstairs had long been down. She spread the dark-blue hard-shell folder on the desk, turned page by page, and stopped at one sheet.
"Submitted Materials Attachment Inventory."
Line one: Explanatory Note on Obstetrics Medical Record Matters—one copy.
Line two: Nursing records, organized and transcribed—one copy.
Line three: Legal Opinion Letter—one copy, Jiangzhou Hengzheng Law Firm.
Line four: Decision on Lin Qi's Related Issues—one copy.
Four lines. She read them one by one.
Wednesday's delivery was these four items. The extra trip this morning was not among them.
The question she'd asked at the stairwell—Director Xu's answer had been: yes.
When Lin Qi left, the signature lines of the two-page witness testimony application in her drawer were blank. The words the Medical Affairs Office had asked her to write—she hadn't written those either.
She hadn't written a single character.