Life Plan

Chapter 10, The Chase

By the time the authorized research physician returned from the emergency room, the matter was already over. Liu Chichi was hunched over her computer entering data when the research physician, his face adorned with dark circles under his eyes, suddenly popped out from behind her computer. "Since you're going to be entering data anyway, why don't you enter the medical records as well?"

Liu Chichi forced a smile and waved her hand, saying, "This is against the rules."

"I'm too busy, I don't know when I'll be able to finish recording the medical records."

"I can wait."

"The project is progressing so slowly, isn't the sponsor pushing you?"

They're pressuring me to death, but recording it will only make things worse.

Liu Chichi didn't dare offend the research doctor and tried hard to find a suitable way to phrase it. Suddenly, Shen Shuyi walked up to them, her tone very serious: "Teacher, do you have connections in prison?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you have a lot of connections, could you let us have three dishes and a soup?"

"Is it that serious?"

"Of course, although I can feel the teachers' good intentions in finding us stable jobs," Shen Shuyi exaggeratedly spread her hands and shrugged, "I've heard that there's no whole roasted lamb in prison food, so I'm not interested for now."

Liu Chichi was shielded behind Shen Shuyi, blocking the doctor's view. After a brief standoff, the doctor's tone softened: "Alright, alright, I'll go record now."

For doctors new to clinical trials, their sense of boundaries is often not very strong, and they may treat CRCs as their assistants. However, according to laws and regulations, CRCs are only responsible for coordination and cannot replace the work of doctors.

After the doctor left, Shen Shuyi turned around and stood in front of her with her hands on her hips: "Don't try to do other people's work. You need to learn to say no, understand?"

Liu Chichi nodded sullenly, but saying "no" was really difficult for her.

She didn't get off work until ten o'clock. When she got home, a small light was on in the living room. She remembered it; her mother had just installed it a couple of days ago—a small LED light with a cold, lifeless glow.

Liu Chunhong was curled up on the sofa, the fan blades creaking. Hearing the door open, she turned her head, her face full of desolation, and said softly, "Chichi, is Mom very ugly?"

Liu Chichi put down what she was holding and walked to her mother's side. "No, Mom is very beautiful."

"You're lying, I'm much fatter than her."

When Liu Chunhong went to the restroom after leaving the supermarket, she ran into her ex-husband. He was shopping with his wife, attentively carrying her bag and complimenting each item she tried on. The shopping mall was huge, and she secretly watched from a corner. After they left, she hid the supermarket vest and went back inside to try on the same dress. The sales clerk politely told her it wasn't suitable, but she insisted and still brought out the largest size available.

It was an off-the-shoulder, knee-length dress. Liu Chunhong struggled to put it on, and the moment she saw herself in the mirror in the fitting room, she blushed with shame.

Objectively speaking, Liu Chunhong is just an ordinary middle-aged woman, slightly plump, with a low ponytail, side-swept bangs, and eyebrows that are popular among her peers. She only has one lipstick, which has expired many years ago, but she is still using it.

However, aesthetic evaluation is a subjective system, so honestly, Liu Chichi firmly told her, "Mom is the most beautiful."

For a fleeting moment, she saw Wang Lan's reflection in her mother's face, and she always felt sorry for her mother. So, as before, she faced her mother's enemies with righteous indignation: "Thin people are frail and look unwell."

Liu Chunhong quickly smiled and gently patted Liu Chichi's hand: "Mom isn't important, as long as you're doing better than her son. What did the hospital say? Did you get your internship extension?"

In the stark white light of the late night, Liu Chichi felt a chill run down her spine for no apparent reason. She had originally planned to wait until after she was officially hired before making a decision, as her mentor assessment results were excellent.

But after what happened today, she's not sure if she'll be able to get a permanent position.

Not receiving a definite answer, Liu Chunhong's face quickly turned cold, and she shoved her away. Liu Chichi, who was half-squatting, lost her balance and fell to the ground. She quickly got up and said repeatedly, "I've been transferred to a new position at the Central Hospital."

The Central Hospital is the best hospital in the city, with a higher social status, and Liu Chunhong became happy again: "Where have you been transferred to?"

"Clinical," Liu said evasively.

Liu Chunhong couldn't distinguish between the clinical and pharmacy departments; she had only asked casually, as long as it was the Central Hospital, better than that daughter's son. A look of relief shone in Liu Chunhong's eyes, "That's good, that's good. You absolutely can't let your guard down; you have to keep surpassing her son, understand?"

Sometimes Liu Chichi felt like she was always chasing after the people in front of her, and sometimes she felt like she was being driven by the people behind her, never daring to relax even a little.

She instinctively braced herself with her hands after falling, and her palms were both painful and numb. She deliberately turned her bright red palms upwards, but her mother didn't even glance at them.

"Mom, don't you feel sorry for me?"

While studying and doing practice problems from 6 am to 10 pm, while working night shifts at the hospital, while striving almost desperately to meet my mother's expectations and never daring to relax—

Mom, do you feel sorry for me?

"What are you being so dramatic about?" Liu Chunhong blurted out, frowning. Her eyes glanced down and touched her daughter's red palm. She swallowed hard, then softened her tone again. "I've told you before, don't act all delicate and helpless like that woman, relying on men for everything. I'm doing this for your own good. If you're better than her son, your father will definitely regret abandoning you."

"I understand, Mom."

Liu Chichi stood up from the ground, picked up her phone with the completely shattered screen, and her hand went from burning pain to a numbing sensation as if an electric current was running through it. For a moment, she wanted to rush out of the house, but in the end, she just turned around and went back to her room.

She lay in bed, and as she turned over, tears fell into her pillow.

When she got home the next day, there was a new phone on the dining table. Liu Chunhong pulled her to sit next to her. "I bought you a new phone. Your old one was so badly broken, it even felt a bit rough to the touch. It cost me more than half a month's salary. I didn't mean to break it yesterday, I just saw that woman and got so angry."

"Thank you, Mom, it's alright." Liu Chichi felt a little bittersweet; her mother still loved her.

Liu Chunhong inserted her SIM card into the new phone. "Your old phone is much better than Mom's. All these years, I haven't dared to buy anything to support your education. You have no idea, my phone is so bad that even taking pictures is a mess. Your phone is much better than mine. I'll take it to get repaired and it'll still work."

Liu Chichi wanted to tell her that she was working now and didn't need to be so frugal anymore. But before she could speak, she saw Liu Chunhong begin carefully going through all her apps and call logs. She didn't want to say anything more, and simply waited quietly for Liu Chunhong to finish before speaking, "Don't worry, I didn't go to see that man."

Liu Chunhong's ex-husband, her biological father Li Shiwei, is a name that cannot be mentioned in this family.

When Li Shiwei got married, Liu Chichi secretly called him. She was just starting elementary school then, and someone told her that her father was now someone else's father. All she could think of was, what did that mean?

But Liu Chunhong reacted strongly. She saw Liu Chichi's behavior as a betrayal and angrily locked him out. From then on, Liu Chichi never contacted him again.

Feeling exposed, Liu Chunhong awkwardly put down her old phone. "That's not what I meant."

"It's okay, it doesn't matter whether you see it or not, Mom."