Chapter 156: Hateful, yet pathetic

"My name is Zhang Dexing, a native of Minquan County, and one of the victims of the illegal blood collection at the factory."

This was a self-recorded video.

He looked extremely constrained. The fingernails of the hand holding his ID card had been worn down flat.

"Because of those beasts, I contracted AIDS. At first, I didn't know I had the disease. Due to improper precautions during my illness, I transmitted it to my daughter. This January, my daughter had a sudden medical emergency. Neither the county hospital nor the city hospital was willing to take her in, so my wife and I took the child to the best hospital in the Imperial City.

Fearing that the hospital would discriminate against AIDS patients just like the city hospital did, we concealed my daughter's condition from the attending physician and the hospital. A medical exposure occurred during the surgical process, which resulted in the attending physician, Qi Mingwan, also contracting AIDS..."

The grown man's voice choked up somewhat. "Afterward, we were afraid that Dr. Qi's family and the hospital would make things difficult for us. Moreover, my wife could not bear the inner guilt of having caused Dr. Qi's death, so she chose to jump from a building and commit suicide. Because of my wife's death, I had stubbornly refused to apologize to the victim's family, pinning the blame for my wife's death on them..."

He stared directly into the camera, his eye sockets already red.

"But that young girl was right. What harmed our family was the black-hearted factory, not the hospital, nor Dr. Qi. I shouldn't have inflicted my own misfortune onto others."

In the video, his trembling voice was filled with boundless self-reproach and remorse.

"Dr. Qi is a wonderful person. If we hadn't deliberately concealed her condition, she wouldn't have died..."

With that, he bowed deeply. "My wife and I offer our apologies to Dr. Qi and her family. I am willing to bear all the consequences of this. A prison sentence, anything at all—I am willing to bear the legal responsibility. I only ask that my daughter can continue to receive treatment, and that she can live like a normal child in the future, without continuing to suffer sideways glances and discrimination."

As soon as the video was released, the entire internet was in an uproar.

Some people fiercely cursed him for deliberately concealing the condition, causing an innocent doctor to be implicated.

Some people sympathized with him and his daughter for both being infected with AIDS, his wife committing suicide by jumping from a building, and having nowhere to turn for help.

It seemed as though all the misfortunes in the world had befallen him.

He was guilty, yet equally hateful, pitiful, and tragic.

[You are too selfish! Since you are a victim, do you have to inflict your misfortune on others!]

[Your daughter is a daughter, but a doctor's life doesn't matter? Absolutely detestable!]

[Do you have any idea how difficult it is to cultivate an outstanding attending physician, especially an authoritative doctor in cardiothoracic surgery? You easily wiped all that away with a simple apology!]

[I was still in school when I already knew about Dr. Qi from the cardiothoracic surgery department of Qingbei Hospital. That surgery she performed in '21 is still a textbook case at our school to this day.]

[As a fellow medical student, I am literally about to be pissed to death by this kind of patient!]

[I just looked up Dr. Qi's resume. Even as the head of the department, Dr. Qi performed thirty surgeries every month, saw over four hundred outpatients, and the number of patients she saved is countless... I literally don't even know what to say. Do you have any idea what kind of presence the person you killed is in the medical field? Ignorant!]

[You might as well have just died of AIDS back then instead of failing to accumulate virtue for your family.]

[How does your daughter's life compare in value to a highly talented cardiothoracic surgeon?]

[Having a father like you is a disgrace to your daughter. If I were you, I wouldn't have the face to go on living.]

[Wait a minute, those of you who are launching verbal attacks, hurling abuses, even digging up photos of his daughter and cursing people to death, how are your actions any different from those of the black-hearted factory?]

Netizens' heated discussions gradually went off track.

From the initial sympathy and accusation upon learning he was a victim, to discovering that he concealed his HIV status and implicated an innocent doctor, it gradually escalated into questioning and verbal abuse!

Right at this moment, the official Weibo account of Qingbei Medical College spoke out:

["The contradictory nature of human beings lies in the fact that there is affectation in sincerity, shamelessness in nobility, or perhaps, a component of virtue can be found even within malice." None of us are perfect people, and victims are even less deserving of being labeled as "perfect." We ask internet users to stop their attacks and verbal abuse against the victim, and let the deceased rest in peace.]

Dr. Qi's students and patients she had once treated also stood up and spoke out when netizens were attacking and cyberbullying Zhang Dexing:

[The sentence President Qi said to me the most was: Just do good deeds, and never mind what lies ahead.]

[Even while enduring the torment of illness, Dr. Qi insisted on finishing the surgery. The people whose lives she saved with her own life are not here for you to attack and cyberbully.]

[That Teacher Qi's deeds can be brought to light, and that Zhang Dexing can come forward to apologize, is already a great blessing. We are very grateful that the police were able to investigate the ins and outs of the matter from beginning to end, and we believe Teacher Qi's spirit in heaven will finally be able to rest in peace.]

[I am one of Dr. Qi's patients. My life was pulled back from the jaws of death by Dr. Qi. Dr. Qi was a person of boundless love, selflessness, and lofty medical ethics. If she were still alive, she would never want to see this scene.]

[We appreciate everyone feeling a sense of pity for Teacher Qi, but Teacher Qi has already passed away, and Zhang Dexing's affairs will be judged by the law in due course.]

This matter also attracted the attention of many official media outlets.

They reposted and commented on Qingbei Medical College's Weibo post one after another, calling for an end to cyberbullying.

Meanwhile, Zhang Dexing also took the initiative to surrender himself to the police, and the police officially took him into custody for violating criminal law.

When Qi Mingzhou saw the news, his eye sockets grew hot and stung, and a moment later, a bitter smile slowly tugged at the corner of his lips.

For the longest time, Zhang Dexing had been a chronic heartache for both him and Bian Cheng.

Clearly, it was he who had done wrong, yet he stubbornly clung to his wife's suicide and refused to apologize to his elder sister.

Although his sister had forgiven this family before she passed away, he knew that she, too, had been disappointed.

Disappointed in human nature.

Yet Zhang Dexing's past had actually been like this—something Qi Mingzhou had never expected.

Zhang Dexing was hateful, yet also pitiful.

"Sister, you can finally rest in peace."

Qi Mingzhou stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, removed his glasses, and said softly.

Meanwhile, in the back seat of a car, Bian Cheng's phone rang while he was handling documents.

The phone was kept by his assistant. The assistant in the front passenger seat turned back and asked the president for instructions, "President Bian, it's sent from Mr. Qi."

"Read it." Without raising his head, he frowned and lowered his gaze to flip through the documents in his hands.

The assistant said, "It's a news headline forwarded by Mr. Qi."

Bian Cheng let out a light sneer. "Isn't he busy with the Qinghe project? He still has time to look at this kind of nonsense."

The assistant read out the headline: "Zhang Dexing, victim of AIDS infection at a black-hearted factory."

His tone suddenly paused, and he instinctively glanced at President Bian.

The fountain pen in Bian Cheng's hand had already drawn a long, black line across the document.

The assistant continued softly, "Zhang Dexing, holding his ID card, has made a confession and apology for concealing his condition, which led to Ms. Qi Mingwan, Vice President of Qingbei Hospital, contracting AIDS. Currently, Zhang Dexing has gone to the police station to surrender... The case has been officially accepted by the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court and will be heard in court soon."

The fountain pen slipped from Bian Cheng's hand and dropped to the floor. Raising his reddened eyes, he reached out his hand. "Give me the phone."

The assistant hurriedly handed the phone over.

Bian Cheng read the news word by word. Seeing that he could barely hold the phone steady, the assistant quickly instructed the driver to pull over to the side of the road.

"President Bian, are you alright?"

Bian Cheng's eyes were bloodshot, and he remained silent.

Wanwan, did you see this? This scoundrel is confessing to you.

Although this confession and apology have arrived so very late.

Yet if she heard it, given her personality, she would probably wave her hand off-handedly and say once again, "It's all in the past, it's fine."