svetikya Chapter 16 Undercurrents
Chapter 16 Undercurrents
The office curtains were drawn, and the glow of the kerosene lamp cast a small halo.
Li Ranmo held the new copper coin in his hand and turned it over to look at the back.
"The fish is in the net." Shen Qiushui read those three words from the note, then burned it. "Does Han Xiuyun mean that the fake news thing is a success?"
"It's done." Li Ranmo put the copper coin into his pocket. "Wang Qingnian's men were lured to Pier No. 3 but found nothing. The situation at the old pier should be relaxed now. This is a good time for us to make our move."
Shen Qiushui nodded, and was about to speak when there was a knock on the door.
The two exchanged a glance.
Shen Qiushui went to open the door, and it was Chen Qitai's secretary.
"Dr. Li, Vice President Chen wants you to come over now."
Li Ranmo stood up and straightened his white coat.
The door to Chen Qitai's office was ajar.
Li Ranmo pushed the door open and went in. Chen Qitai was standing by the window, with his back to him, looking outside.
"Close the door."
Li Ranmo closed the door.
Without turning around, Chen Qitai asked, "Was the play at Laozhakou good?"
Li Ranmo did not respond.
Chen Qitai then turned around, his face expressionless, and sat down behind the table.
"sit."
Li Ran sat down silently.
"Dr. Li, I don't like beating around the bush." Chen Qitai tapped his fingers on the table. "I know you have connections with those people at the docks. I know you mingled with the corpse transport team last time. I also know you came back from Laozhakou last night."
Li Ranmo looked at him.
"But I didn't call you out," Chen Qitai continued. "Why? Because there's a severe shortage of medicine at the front. I've long been fed up with Wang Qingnian's tricks of hoarding medicine and preventing it from reaching the right places. If you can get the medicine, no matter what method you use, as long as it gets to the wounded, I'll pretend I didn't see it."
Li Ranmo felt a sense of relief, but didn't show it on his face.
"However," Chen Qitai changed the subject, "Wang Qingnian isn't stupid. After several failed attempts, he's now not only keeping an eye on the docks, but also on the hospitals. He's focusing on one thing: tracing the flow of drugs. He wants to know exactly where every vial of sulfathiazole and every roll of bandage came from and where it went."
"What does the vice dean mean by telling me all this?"
"What I mean is, next time you smuggle medicine in, you'll have to have a plausible explanation." Chen Qitai looked at him. "You have to make sure the hospital's purchasing list and inventory records are flawless. Otherwise, if Wang Qingnian gets hold of something, I won't be able to protect you."
Li Ran remained silent for a few seconds.
"What if I suggested that the hospital establish a covert drug accounting system?" he said. "On the surface, we would follow the formal procurement process, but secretly, we would keep a separate account for the drugs that are truly in short supply. This account would only be known to you and me, and at most one other reliable person."
Chen Qitai stopped tapping.
The room was so quiet that you could hear the crackling of the kerosene lamp wick burning.
After a long while, Chen Qitai finally spoke.
"Okay," he said, "but this account must be kept absolutely secret. No one else can know about it except you and me. Not even your nurse, Nurse Shen."
"clear."
"Also," Chen Qitai leaned forward, lowering his voice, "Wang Qingnian has been acting strangely lately. He seems to be investigating someone, someone of high rank. You... be careful."
Li Ranmo's heart stirred.
"Vice Dean Xie reminded me."
Chen Qitai waved his hand.
"Go. Get the accounts sorted out as soon as possible."
Li Ranmo got up and left.
Back in the office, Shen Qiushui immediately came to greet him.
"What did Vice Dean Chen say?"
"He acquiesced." Li Ran sat down silently. "But he asked us to keep a secret set of accounts, and he said that Wang Qingnian might be investigating someone of a high rank."
Shen Qiushui's expression changed, and she took out a telegram she had just intercepted from her bosom.
"Look at this."
Li Ranmo took the document, which contained the deciphered text: "After repeatedly failing to reach his target, Wang Qingnian suspects there is a higher-level protector within the hospital and has begun a covert investigation of Chen Qitai. He has shifted his focus of surveillance to the flow of drugs within the hospital."
"He's starting to suspect Vice President Chen," Shen Qiushui said.
"It's not just suspicion, they've already started investigating." Li Ranmo burned the telegram. "We need to speed things up. Before Wang Qingnian finds out anything, we need to finish the first formal handover."
"When?"
"Let's set it for three days from now, at dawn," Li Ranmo said. "The old Zhakou waterway warehouse. You're in charge of forging a complete set of hospital procurement documents, making it look like medical supplies that came in through legitimate channels."
"Okay." Shen Qiushui nodded. "Then how do we notify Han Xiuyun?"
Li Ranmo walked to the metal cabinet, opened the innermost shelf, took out the equipment, and pressed down the bottom plate.
The paper and pen were still inside the interlayer.
He quickly wrote a few lines, folded it, stuffed it back into the interlayer, and pressed the bottom plate in place.
"As usual, her people will come to pick it up," Li Ranmo said. "The first batch of goods will be officially handed over at the waterway warehouse in the early morning of three days later."
The hospital was eerily quiet late at night.
Li Ran didn't sleep; he sat in his office waiting.
Around 2 a.m., very faint footsteps were heard in the corridor, stopping outside the door.
The doorknob turned slightly, but it didn't open—Li Ranmo had locked it from the inside.
Then, a small note was slipped under the door.
Li Ranmo waited until the footsteps faded away before picking up the note.
There were no words on it, only a simple fish drawn.
It means: The letter has been taken; proceed according to plan.
Li Ranmo burned the note.
Over the next two days, Shen Qiushui was busy forging documents, while Li Ranmo began organizing the "hidden accounts." Chen Qitai would occasionally come over for a look, nod, and say nothing.
The atmosphere appeared calm on the surface, but underneath it was like a taut string.
The third day, evening.
Just as Li Ranmo and Shen Qiushui finished checking the forged documents, Old Zhao, the doorman, rushed in in a panic.
"Dr. Li! Nurse Shen! Something terrible has happened! Section Chief Wang has arrived with his men! They're heading straight for the medicine warehouse!"
Both of them felt a sudden tightness in their chests.
"So fast?" Shen Qiushui looked at Li Ranmo.
"Let's go." Li Ranmo grabbed the stack of forged documents, stuffed them into his pocket, and said, "To the warehouse."
As soon as they reached the first floor, they saw Chen Qitai standing at the warehouse entrance, blocking Wang Qingnian and seven or eight members of the inspection team.
"Section Chief Wang, what does this mean?" Chen Qitai's voice was steady.
"Vice President Chen, we received a report that there are discrepancies between the records and physical inventory of your hospital's drug warehouse, suggesting the possibility of smuggled drugs being concealed." Wang Qingnian said with a forced smile, "I've been ordered to investigate. Please cooperate."
"A report? Who reported it?"
"Don't ask me that," Wang Qingnian waved his hand. "Search! Search thoroughly! Every box, every cabinet, leave no stone unturned!"
The inspection team was about to rush in.
"Wait a minute." Chen Qitai blocked the door. "Section Chief Wang, a search is allowed, but only with proper procedures. Where's your warrant?"
Wang Qingnian's face darkened.
"Vice President Chen, are you trying to obstruct official business?"
"I'm just following the rules," Chen Qitai said firmly. "Without a proper search warrant from the Department of Health, no one can touch the hospital's medicine warehouse. These are life-saving medicines for wounded soldiers on the front lines. If anything goes wrong, neither of us can afford the consequences."
The two were locked in a stalemate at the doorway.
Li Ranmo and Shen Qiushui took the opportunity to slip into the small storage room next to the warehouse from the side.
"The documents cannot be kept on your person," Li Ranmo said in a low voice.
"A hidden compartment in the morgue?" Shen Qiushui asked.
"Yes," Li Ranmo said. "You distract those two people at the door, and I'll sneak in."
Shen Qiushui nodded, straightened her clothes, and walked out of the storage room, deliberately raising her voice.
"Vice President Chen! The condition of the seriously injured patient in ward number three has worsened again. You need to go check on him quickly!"
Chen Qitai understood and immediately replied, "I'll be right there. Section Chief Wang, we'll discuss the paperwork once you bring the warrant."
He made a move to leave.
Wang Qingnian panicked: "Chen Qitai! You—"
Taking advantage of the moment, Li Ranmo crouched down and quickly slipped through the shadows on the side of the warehouse, disappearing into the corridor leading to the morgue.
The morgue was cold and damp. Li Ran walked to the innermost row of morgue cabinets, pressed the hidden compartment mechanism, stuffed the forged document inside, and closed it.
The whole process took less than a minute.
He had just left the morgue when he heard Wang Qingnian's furious voice coming from the warehouse.
"Search! Go in and search!"
Chen Qitai did not stop him.
Li Ranmo walked quickly back to the warehouse entrance and stood with Shen Qiushui.
The inspectors ransacked the place, making a racket noise.
Wang Qingnian paced back and forth at the warehouse entrance with his hands behind his back, glancing at Li Ranmo every now and then.
After searching for almost half an hour, an inspector ran out.
"Reporting to the section chief! No...no suspicious items were found. The accounts and the actual items roughly match."
Wang Qingnian's face darkened.
"Has everything been investigated?"
"It's all been checked. The quantities of sulfathiazole, sulfanilamide powder, and bandages all match the records. There's nothing extra."
Wang Qingnian stared at Chen Qitai, then glanced at Li Ranmo, and suddenly smiled.
"Alright, Vice President Chen manages the hospital well, and the accounts are clear," he said. "However, things are tense lately, so just in case, I'll leave two people here to help keep an eye on the warehouse, and to prevent anyone from having any ulterior motives."
Two men in inspection team uniforms stepped forward behind him.
"You two will be in charge of the hospital warehouse from today onwards. Record every instance of medicine coming in or out, and report back immediately."
"yes!"
Wang Qingnian glanced at Li Ranmo again, his eyes like those of a venomous snake.
"Let's go."
He turned and left with the rest of his men.
Chen Qitai looked at the two informants he had left behind, said nothing, and turned to leave.
Li Ranmo and Shen Qiushui also turned back.
Back in the office, I closed the door.
Shen Qiushui breathed a sigh of relief: "That was close. Did you hide the documents well?"
"It's hidden well." Li Ranmo walked to the window and looked down at the warehouse.
The two informants had already moved chairs and sat at the warehouse entrance, like two guardian deities.
"Wang Qingnian is determined to keep a close eye on us," Shen Qiushui said. "There are people at the warehouse entrance; how are we going to hand over the goods tomorrow morning?"
Li Ranmo did not turn around.
"The plan remains unchanged."
"But--"
"No buts." Li Ran turned around, his gaze resolute. "The arrow is on the bowstring, it must be released. The medicine must be smuggled out. Wang Qingnian will lay his net, we'll go our own way."
Shen Qiushui looked at him and finally nodded.
"Okay, I'll go with you."
Outside the window, the sky had completely darkened.
There were less than six hours left until the agreed handover time.