“I didn’t feed him anything. It was always Feng Xiaonan who fed him.” When mentioning her daughter-in-law, Sun Guixiang’s anger flared up instantly. She cursed, “My grandson was killed by Feng Xiaonan, that jinx.”
“Why do you say she caused his death?”
“Feng Xiaonan’s horoscope clashes with my grandson’s. She’s the one who’s cursed him. Oh, I’ve been telling my son to remarry, but he wouldn’t listen. Now look, the child is gone…”
Fang Rui interrupted her: “Did you secretly feed the child some ritual water that night?”
Sun Guixiang’s eyes darted around. She denied it, “No! What talisman water? I don’t know anything about it. I didn’t feed him anything!”
“Your son said it was you who fed him.” Fang Rui decided to bluff her.
“Did he say that? He’s grown bold, daring to accuse his own mother,” Sun Guixiang exploded in rage. “Where is Li Ruiqing being held? I’m going to drag him out and beat him to death for being such an ungrateful son!”
“So you admit you fed him talisman water?”
“Officer, this wasn’t just any talisman water. It was specially made by a master. The talisman was burned into ash and mixed with the master’s sacred water. It’s said to cure any illness. I spent thousands of yuan on it. The master told me that as long as the child drank it, no matter what illness he had, it would be cured immediately. That evening, while my daughter-in-law was in the bathroom, I secretly fed the child a big bowl of talisman water.
Soon after, the child showed some reaction—his eyelids were twitching. But a little while later, Feng Xiaonan said the child had stopped breathing. It wasn’t me who killed my grandson. It was the hospital’s fault, or maybe it was Feng Xiaonan’s curse.”
Zhang was furious. “The talisman was drawn with cinnabar. Haven’t you watched TV? They always say in dramas that cinnabar is poisonous!”
“I asked the nurse. The nurse said it was okay to feed him. I asked her, and she said it was fine.”
“Which nurse said that? We’ll take you to the hospital right now, and you can point her out.”
“All the nurses in the hospital wear the same uniforms and look similar. I can’t remember which one it was now.”
Zhang cut her off. “Stop trying to shift the blame to others. If you hadn’t fed the child random things, causing the food to go into his airway, he wouldn’t have died so suddenly.”
“Yangyang wasn’t going to live much longer anyway. Whether he died early or late, it was going to happen. He was lying in bed all day, what’s the difference between that and being dead?” Sun Guixiang muttered.
She knew it was wrong to feed the child random things, but she thought, what if the sacred water worked? Even if it didn’t work and the child died, it wouldn’t be a loss. After all, the child was a vegetable; living or dead, it was all the same. Dying would actually make things easier. Her son could have another child, and she wouldn’t have to worry about not having a grandson.
Zhang was both angered and amused by her brazenness. Sun Guixiang had killed her own grandson and showed no remorse. Such a person was truly terrifying.
When Li Ruiqing learned that the police had discovered Sun Guixiang’s act of feeding talisman water, he admitted his motive for hiding the body: “That’s my mother. I couldn’t just stand by and watch her go to jail. I had to hide the body.”
“You didn’t inform the doctors about this during the emergency treatment?” Fang Rui asked.
Li Ruiqing stammered, “My mom was scared out of her wits. She… she didn’t dare tell the doctors.”
“If you had told them, the child might have been saved!” Zhang exclaimed angrily.
“Even if he was saved, he’d still be a vegetable.” Li Ruiqing muttered softly.
“…” The malicious thoughts between mother and son were eerily aligned. Zhang couldn’t help but wonder if they had intentionally used the talisman water to kill Yangyang.
“It’s all Feng Xiaonan’s fault. If she hadn’t made a fuss, none of this would have happened.”
Fang Rui retorted, “So you could just shift the blame to others and feel justified blaming the hospital or Feng Xiaonan for not taking good care of him?”
“I…”
“Yangyang’s car accident happened in your courtyard, which was surrounded by walls. If that car hadn’t lost control and crashed through the wall, Yangyang wouldn’t have been involved. The driver of the car is the one responsible for the accident. Feng Xiaonan had no responsibility at all. Yet you’re blaming her for Yangyang’s accident. Don’t you think that’s too cruel for a mother who loves her child?”
Li Ruiqing had nothing to say. In fact, he and his family knew Feng Xiaonan was innocent, but they were afraid she would abandon them and refuse to take care of Yangyang. So, they kept piling on the guilt, hoping to make her feel responsible and force her to stay and care for Yangyang.
When Feng Xiaonan learned the truth about her child’s death, she broke down in tears. She had thought of many reasons, even suspecting that her mother-in-law and husband had secretly killed Yangyang. But she never expected it was because her mother-in-law had fed him talisman water.
Right after Yangyang’s accident, her mother-in-law suggested feeding him talisman water to speed up his recovery. Despite her strong objections, she thought her mother-in-law had given up on the idea. She never imagined that Yangyang would still die because of this superstitious practice.
Feng Xiaonan filed for divorce from Li Ruiqing. She couldn’t continue living with such a man. After Yangyang’s accident, he had used work as an excuse to avoid coming to the hospital to care for their child. She had tolerated it for the sake of their child.
Now that Yangyang was gone, there was no point in continuing this marriage.
After work, Fang Rui and Mu Mian headed home together. As they got into the car, Fang Rui noticed Mu Mian’s mood was off.
“Mu Mian, what’s wrong?”
“Yangyang’s death might not have been caused by that bowl of talisman water.”
“What else could it be?”
“When a patient stops breathing or has cardiac arrest, adrenaline is usually injected for emergency treatment. But excessive adrenaline can cause high blood pressure. Patients with cerebral hemorrhage should not be given adrenaline for resuscitation.
But we found that Yangyang’s adrenaline levels were three times higher than normal. Elevated adrenaline can raise blood pressure, which could cause or worsen cerebral hemorrhage.”
Fang Rui asked, “Are you saying this might be a medical malpractice case?”
“I’m not sure. The doctor gave me the treatment records, and it shows that adrenaline wasn’t used during the resuscitation. I don’t know why his adrenaline levels were abnormal. There could be many reasons. It’s very difficult to determine the cause of death in cases like his, with severe traumatic brain injury.”
The next day, Mu Mian shared this information with Yangyang’s attending doctor, who denied it: “During the resuscitation, Yangyang had already stopped breathing. We didn’t use any medication on him.”
“Then why were his adrenaline levels abnormal?”
“Patients with severe traumatic brain injury often have complications that can cause abnormal hormone secretion. It’s difficult to determine the cause of death in such cases. Yangyang’s death could have been caused by multiple factors, making it hard to pinpoint the exact cause.”
Mu Mian insisted, “Can you provide the infusion list?”
“Are you suspecting Yangyang’s death was due to medical malpractice? But I’m certain that none of the medications I prescribed contained adrenaline.”
Mu Mian asked, “But don’t you think Yangyang’s death was rather sudden?”
“Patients with such severe conditions aren’t like ordinary people. They are at risk of death at any moment.” Yangyang’s attending doctor thought for a moment and said, “Our hospital has already formed an investigation team to look into this matter. If there was indeed a medical malpractice, we will provide an explanation to Yangyang’s family.”
Two days later, the hospital’s investigation results came out. The treatment process for Yangyang had followed the medical procedures, and there was no medical malpractice.
