Six months to live (ZhanYi)

32

Everyone was seated and the court proceeded. Zhan ge was beginning to have anxiety, his hands were shaking and honestly I would be lying if I said I didn't feel it too. The trauma is still fresh in my memory. 

Xue Yang sat beside Zhu Zanjin and his lawyers. Zhan ge sat in the middle of Cheng and lawyer Yang while I sat behind him. I stretched my hand to tap his back and he immediately held my hand. It was all sweaty and I just want to scream my lungs out for them to fucking hurry up before he passes out. I just want all this drama to be over as soon as possible.

Lawyer Yang was the first to speak. Your honor, can the Yang family please explain why Xue Yang is still alive after my client suffered for six years in maximum prison?

I'd like to know how they resurrected him too. The judge said and looked at the Yang family.

We can start from somewhere, Cheng chimed in. I would like to call the doctor and the nurse who confirmed his death to the witness box, please.

The doctor and a nurse walked into the witness box and I could tell the lady knows something. She looked scared and sleep deprived.

They swear to tell nothing but the truth, and the doctor was the first to be questioned.

Dr. Chang, can you please explain to the court why Mr. Xue Yang is still alive after declaring him dead six years ago? Cheng asked sternly.

I confirmed his death six years ago because he was dead. But two weeks ago lawyer Cheng reached out and explained what happened to me, I didn't believe him at first, until I saw Xue Yang myself. Then I did a little digging and found out that two of our nurses quit their jobs three months after the incident. I got their addresses but unfortunately, one of the nurses died two weeks after she quit her job.

It was hard finding the second nurse but with some help from Mr. Wang I found her in the countryside and I would like her to explain what she told me herself to the court.

Miss Bai, can you please explain what Mr. Chang meant to the court? Lawyer Yang asked her.

Objection your honor. One of Xue Yang's lawyers shouted standing up.

Objection overruled. The judge gave him a dirty look before he asked Miss Bai to go ahead and answer the question.

She adjusted the microphone and was quiet for a few seconds before she spoke.

Six years ago, when Xue Yang was rushed to our hospital, he had a head injury and passed out. My late colleague and I were on duty, we attended to him to the best of our knowledge and he woke up before Mr. Chang resumed his shift. But before then, we found out that he has partial memory loss and could only remember things from when he was 11 years old. His parents panicked but especially his mom. She begged us to help her and we put him in a Quadriplegia state.

What's a quadriplegia state? Cheng asked, looking confused. I'm sure everyone was because I have never heard the word before.

Quadriplegia is a type of paralysis that affects all a person's limbs and body from the neck down, so we gave him Tetrodotoxin. It interferes with the transmission of signals from nerves to muscles and causes an increasing paralysis of the muscles of the body. So when Dr. Chang came in, it had already kicked in and we needed just 5 minutes before we start treating him.

So within three minutes, Dr. Chang confirmed him dead, and his family took him out immediately. My colleague and I met them at the private elevator and helped them. Mind you, There is no known antidote. The mainstay of treatment is respiratory support and supportive care until the tetrodotoxin is excreted in the urine. But we used Activated charcoal and at some point used gastric lavage and he was better within a week.

I stayed at the hospital but my colleague took a week off to take care of him properly since they promised to pay us handsomely.

When he got better after two months, my colleague started demanding more money behind my back. I kept receiving alerts but in the third month, my colleague demanded more money. After we received the alert I got a text message threatening to kill my daughter and my mother if we demanded more money, I confronted my colleague and was very upset with her. I was scared so I quit my job.

Since I have money we moved out of our house but two weeks later I heard that my colleague died. I got really scared and moved to the countryside. While we were in transit, I saw their driver, Mr. Wang and I begged him not to turn on us. He promised not to and since then we have been living fine until eight days ago when he contacted me and said I have to help his son.

That's all for now with the witnesses your honor, but I would like to call someone else to the witness box. Cheng said.

Before you do that I would like to ask the doctor a few questions. One of Xue Yang's lawyers stood up and walked to the witness box.

Go ahead, the judge said and adjusted his glasses.

Dr. Chang, how long have you been practising medicine? He asked

25 years, Dr. Chang replied.

25 years and you confirmed my client was dead within a few minutes after seeing him, why didn't you do a proper check-up and how is it that you didn't know he was given tetrodotoxin. The lawyer asked again.

Oh, boy, he is trying to push the blame on the doctor but he is asking the wrong question. Lawyer Yang whispered.

That's good for us, Cheng whispered back. And I couldn't help but smile.

I've never made a mistake in my whole life of practising and how was I supposed to know his mother and my nurses would do a thing like that? I am a doctor and not a witch, we work with what we see, and when I suggested an autopsy his parents declined. Dr. Chang replied, and I could tell he was beginning to get irritated.

That's all your honor, the lawyer said and went to sit back, but I could see his other colleague giving him a dirty look before he sat down.

Mrs. Yang was called to the witness box as the third witness and I could tell she and her lawyers were shocked by the announcement. But she reluctantly walked into the box and swore to tell nothing but the truth.

Mrs. Yang, what were you scared about that made you to tell the nurses to lie that your son was dead, despite knowing someone was going to go to jail for murder? Lawyer Yang asked her.

She looked at her lawyers and husband, and the look on her face told everyone that she was not prepared for this question.

I have to start from the beginning for you to understand, she replied timidly. Something happened to Wang a few years ago and Mr. Zhan showed us hell for it. A few minutes after the incident, Zhu Zanjin called me to the side and said he wanted to tell me something but he didn't want Xue Yang to know about it. I agreed not to tell him. And luckily our lawyer just walked in and she agreed with me to go with the plan.

Zhu Zanjin told me that Wang was dating his friend and what happened between them was normal, but he lied that he was raped and it wasn't the first time he was doing something like that. So when Zhan got sick and they didn't have enough money for his treatment, Wang started blackmailing them but when he saw that it wasn't working. Wang started chasing Xue Yang and collected 7 million won from him but when he found out that Wang was dating Zhu Zanjin's friend he confronted him and that was when Wang pushed him and told him I pray you die.

Which mother would hear that and not be scared for her son's life? I just did what I thought was best to keep my son alive. She sighed heavily and wiped the tears from her eyes.