Chapter 767: Doctor Shang and the Abandoned Child
According to the old director, Shang Shuming had shown extraordinary talent from a young age. He had a high IQ and a particular fondness for medical books. After the psychologist treating him discovered this aptitude, each visit brought related introductory books as both a way to guide his interests and a form of therapy.
Once, a child at the welfare home injured his leg on a piece of glass and didn’t dare tell the adults. The director and teachers were in a meeting at the time, so the child hid in the bathroom, letting the blood flow into the toilet. Shang Shuming found him, immediately stopped the bleeding, and then went to find the old director. That child was lucky—if they had delayed any longer, his life might have been in danger.
After this incident, the psychologist and the welfare home teachers felt they couldn’t waste the child’s talent. While treating him, they actively sought opportunities to nurture him early. It was said they found a very skilled psychologist, but for some reason, that doctor never came.
So, the one who treated Shang Shuming from start to finish was the person in the group photo.
Xu Huo confirmed several times that there was no other psychologist and wasn’t disappointed. Just like with the Seventeenth Hospital, the director, doctors, and nurses didn’t remember the seventh doctor. If the doctor who appeared at the Seventeenth Hospital had also been at the welfare home, it was normal for the old director and others not to recall him.
The old director talked about Shang Shuming’s support for the welfare home after returning to the country and mentioned that Shang Shuming really liked Peng Ya.
Peng Ya herself didn’t remember this clearly. She was young at the time and only had vague memories.
“Xiao Ming really liked you. He often gave you gifts. Sometimes when he came to the welfare home, he would play with you for a long time,” the old director said, taking a small box from the cabinet. She opened it and pushed it toward Peng Ya. “These are things you played with as a child. Xiao Ming brought them, and after you discarded them, I kept them all.”
Peng Ya looked at the items in the box with nostalgia. Inside were a small Rubik’s cube, a toy car assembly set, a folding chessboard, and a red crystal dice.
Xu Huo picked up the dice.
“How did this get here?” Peng Ya asked, puzzled. It didn’t seem like a child’s toy.
The center of the dice had a solid piece of metal, but the outer shell appeared seamless, not like something embedded. However, when Xu Huo twisted the dice from both sides, it split open in the middle, revealing the solid metal core engraved with the character “Shang.”
Peng Ya suddenly reached out to take it, but Xu Huo raised his hand, looking at her seriously. “Can I have this dice?”
A flicker of resistance crossed Peng Ya’s face, but she quickly returned to normal. She nodded and turned to close the toy box.
Xu Huo’s gaze lingered on her for a second before shifting back to the old director. “Can you tell me more about Mr. Shang? What charitable work did he do after returning to the country?”
“Oh, there’s plenty…” The old director sank back into her memories.
The window hadn’t been closed. The curtains, which had been swaying gently in the breeze, had stopped moving at some point. The room was warm with sunlight. The old director sat in her chair, rambling on. She didn’t look at anyone in the room, her eyes vacant as if lost in recollection, unconcerned whether her audience responded.
Faint voices echoed in the air. Peng Ya suddenly stepped away from the old director, turned, and walked a few steps. She made a motion of opening a door in the room, stepped forward, and then smiled at the empty air, performing a series of actions. She spoke to the void, “Doctor Shang, I’ve memorized all these books, but I don’t know what they mean…”
…
“You’re leaving? Can I go with you? I’m unhappy here. They always bully me…”
As if in conversation with someone, Peng Ya repeated the same actions after speaking—flipping through books, taking notes, even lying down to rest—then started over again.
Xu Huo watched her repeat this four or five times before Peng Ya suddenly began to cry. “Doctor Shang, I want to go with you… I’ve worked hard. I’ll definitely meet your requirements. Don’t just take them away…”
After pleading, she sat on the floor for a while, then wiped her tears and stood up. She turned and picked up the box from the table, holding it with affection. “Mr. Shang is so kind. He even buys me toys. When will he come to see us again?”
What followed were childish words—writing thank-you letters to Mr. Shang, inviting him to the welfare home to eat cookies she and the director made together, or wanting to call Mr. Shang… It was a stark contrast to her earlier pleas for Doctor Shang to take her away.
Xu Huo withdrew his spiritual interference and props, pouring a glass of water for the old director.
The old director snapped back to reality, her mouth dry. “Look at me, I’ve been talking and lost track of time.”
Xu Huo then learned from her about the other children at the welfare home during Peng Ya’s time. After Shang Shuming stopped visiting, five children were taken away—four boys and one girl.
“They were adopted. I checked—their families were well-off. Some moved abroad with their whole families. They must be living well now,” the old director said.
“Do you remember them?” Xu Huo asked Peng Ya.
Peng Ya found old photos and pointed out the adopted children one by one. “We take photos every year at the welfare home. That year, many children were adopted.”
“I hated him the most,” she said, pointing to a slightly chubby boy. “I remember he used to bully me all the time, but I heard he got into a prestigious university after being adopted. Sometimes he sends gifts back.”
“Even now?” Xu Huo asked. “What about the others?”
“Two of them—I contacted them when I first started my career a couple of years ago. They’re doing fine,” Peng Ya said. “Only two moved abroad and haven’t contacted the director.”
Xu Huo memorized the faces and names of the boy and girl, quickly searched online for the immigration office’s address, and then said to Peng Ya, “Let’s go. I’ll take you out.”
After dropping her off at a suitable place as she requested, he went straight to the immigration office.
Nowadays, some government offices were completely empty. Xu Huo easily entered and, using the adoption records with the specific addresses and names of the foster families, found the countries and approximate locations where these two families had immigrated.
In her hallucination, Peng Ya had called him “Doctor Shang,” and it was clear she had spent time with this “Doctor Shang.” Based on the old director’s words, “Doctor Shang” was likely Shang Shuming. Peng Ya’s memory lapse might be because she was left behind, so she only remembered “Mr. Shang” and needed special stimulation to recall “Doctor Shang”—a situation similar to his own.
So Peng Ya might have also been a target chosen by “Doctor Shang” at one point, only to be abandoned in the end.
(Chapter End)