First-Class Lawyer

Chapter 105 - The Landlord (i)

"Oh, the curly-head doctor?" Both Yan Suizhi and Gu Yan nodded, having recalled him.

"Yeah. He's his foster father."

Now, this was weird. Yan Suizhi didn't know that curly-head doctor at all, and the only memory he had of the other was a casual glance over when they brushed past each other. Also, who was his foster father? Wasn't this association a tad too remote?

"You probably don't know him," Lin Yuan said. "When he asked me for this favour, he said that you didn't know him."

Yan Suizhi was even more puzzled now. "I don't know him? But why would he save me if I don't know him? Had I taken on a case he was involved in in the past?"

"It's unlikely," Lin Yuan shook his head, saying, "He said it was to repay a debt, but frankly, I'm not clear of the specifics either."

"Repay a debt?" Yan Suizhi was finding that Lin Yuan didn't really know much more than them, and at once both vexed and amused. "Why didn't you clarify it back then before getting involved in this? What if he was swindling you?"

"There's no way," Lin Yuan smiled, saying, "Uncle Braids... oh, he's somewhat of a jokester; he doesn't like being tied down, but when it boils down to it, he's very reliable. I have known him since I was young. There was once I got into an accident when playing about and got hospitalised for two months, and I happened to share a ward with Jack—the curly-haired guy. When he came over to visit Curly Hair, he'd often poke fun at me as well, and we eventually got rather familiar with each other. If he really was the bad sort, I would've been abducted and sold off all the way back then."

"He taught me many things. Before I entered university, I learned all those basic first-aid and dressing wounds from him. And after entering university, I'd also ask him if I had any technical questions; I can count him as half a mentor."

It was apparent that Lin Yuan held this senior in high esteem.

A senior who could guide him in technical matters...

"Is he a doctor as well?" Gu Yan asked.

Lin Yuan said, "Yeah, he used to be."

"Why do you say that he used to be?"

"He retired from the industry because of a medical incident," Lin Yuan said, then supplemented, "It's the one topic he never liked to talk about, so I don't know much about it. It seemed that his patient had died from a high-risk surgery? I later guessed that it was probably a surgerical procedure in the field of genetics; after all, its success rate was very low during those days. But I don't think he actually had much part to play in this; he wasn't the doctor in charge of the surgery. He was always holed up in the research lab, so it wasn't as though he would get held responsible for any kind of medical mishap..."

He mumbled his way through the words, but when he lifted his gaze, he found that Yan Suizhi's gaze was staring someplace into the void, as though he was distracted from thinking about something. His mood seemed to have shifted—or, at least, not as relaxed and warm as before, for his brows were creased.

"What's wrong?" Lin Yuan waved a hand before his eyes.

"Hm?" Yan Suizhi pulled back to his senses, but the crease between his brows didn't disappear. "When did he retire?"

Lin Yuan gave it a thought. "It was very long ago; I can't put my finger on how many years exactly. Maybe twenty-five or so thereabout?"

Yan Suizhi quieted down for a while.

It was very difficult to discern what was on his mind from his expression, and inexplicably, this made people feel the stirrings of trepidation.

Lin Yuan was deliberating on whether to ask when he glimpsed Gu Yan hold the hand that Yan Suizhi rested on the table.