Cured by Destiny

Chapter 15 — Breaking the Case

Morning. The snow had stopped.

On the hospital roof, a clean path had been swept through the gray-white concrete. Fluffy snow piled on each side, catching a pale blue glow in the weak light. A gust of wind lifted tiny snow grains and brushed Su Wan’s face like soft pinpricks. She stood by the window, both hands tight around the latest report. The paper’s edge curled from the pressure; her knuckles had gone white.

Lin Xi stood beside her. The faint scent of disinfectant clung to her white coat. She glanced at Su Wan’s tight profile and asked quietly, “Today’s hearing will have legal and company reps. Are you ready?”

Su Wan’s lashes trembled once. She lifted her head calmly — like a still, deep pool hiding a current. Her voice was colder and firmer than last night. Each word sounded steady, almost carved from ice. “I’m ready.”

“I want them to hear the truth,” she added, soft but firm.

The meeting room lights were bright enough to expose every shadow. Long tables held rows of people. Company lawyers sat stiff in dark suits, watching; hospital reps looked nervous or composed in turns. The head of pharmacology kept his eyes down and rubbed the table as if afraid to look up.

At the head seat Ning Yu sat upright. His black suit made him look like a statue. He flipped through a stack of photocopies with practiced calm, the pages whispering under his long fingers.

Shen Yu pushed the door and walked in with steady steps that felt like measured beats in the quiet room. He laid a hard drive on the table with a soft thud.

“I request to play a recovered system backup,” he said, low and sure.

The legal rep blinked. “Where did you get it?”

“From the group cloud,” Ning Yu replied without surprise. “Proceed.”

Shen Yu opened the video. The screen showed the pharmacology lab at 2:12 a.m. Lin Wanqing wore gloves and worked carefully with the labels. The light cut across her cheek. Her long lashes cast shadows. She seemed focused, lips pressed, performing a precise task.

She looked up, and for a split second the camera caught a tiny movement at the corner of her mouth — a faint smile, almost sly.

The room froze. Eyes fixed on the screen.

“This is a misunderstanding,” Lin Wanqing’s voice broke the silence. She sounded strained. “I — that night was just routine checks.”

“Routine checks that change labels and destroy bottles? And require turning off the cameras at 2 a.m.?” Shen Yu’s voice was cold as steel. He looked at her like a blade.

“I didn’t turn off the cameras!” she snapped, sharp and panicked. Her face flushed. She curled her fingers into the cuff of her sleeve.

The legal rep read from the log. The page flip sounded loud. “Engine account ‘TEMP-04’ — request signed: Lin Wanqing.”

All eyes moved to her at once. Her smile froze. Her hands trembled. She looked like she might crumble.

Su Wan watched the footage, fingers pressing into her palm until she didn’t feel it. Her lips moved, but she swallowed the words. Her gaze flicked between the screen and Lin Wanqing, full of complicated things she did not say.

Ning Yu closed the file with a smooth motion. “Ms. Lin, you may explain. But the video, the logs, the signature — they all point to the same thing: you changed the medicine.”

“I was ordered,” she finally said, voice shaky. Tears gathered. “I was following an instruction.”

“Who ordered you?” Shen Yu asked, cold, not giving an inch.

Lin Wanqing looked down and stayed silent. Tears fell, landing on the table in small drops.

“It’s too late to blame others now,” Shen Yu said sharply.

Ning Yu’s face stayed calm. He tapped the table. “You’re suspended from duty. Cooperate with the police.”

She tried to protest, to beg. He stopped her with a quiet, final line: “This is an order.” No one spoke after that. The room was heavy with silence.

When the meeting ended, people filed out. The corridors grew quiet again. Su Wan stood near the door with the meeting light on her face. She looked pale and a little hollow, but relief touched her beneath the exhaustion — like a light washing away fog.

Shen Yu walked up beside her, his steps echoing down the empty hall. “There’s a result,” he said.

Su Wan nodded. “Not everything yet,” she answered, calm but sharp. “She’s not the mastermind.”

“What makes you say that?” Shen Yu asked, alert.

Su Wan looked to the darker end of the corridor. “She said ‘my superior ordered it’. This goes deeper than we thought.” Her voice was quiet, but sure.

Shen Yu felt the same shiver. Lin Wanqing’s actions were too clean, too practiced. This felt planned, not a sudden choice. He frowned and a bad feeling rose in his chest.

Evening settled and the company building glowed in the last light. Ning Yu’s car waited by the curb. An assistant rushed over with a report: the audit shows the operation was carried out by one person; the police will take over.

Ning Yu did not take the paper. He looked out the window at the sinking sun and said softly, “Do not announce yet. Keep looking for who is above her.”

The assistant hesitated as the paper trembled in his hand. “You suspect others?” he asked.

Ning Yu’s eyes watched the hospital lights, cold and shifting. “No one acts this clean alone,” he said. His voice was quiet but firm. “Find who gave the order.”

Night fell. City noises died down. Su Wan worked late in her office among stacks of files. Paper and ink filled the air with a quiet smell. Her fingers tapped the desk in a slow rhythm as she thought.

The silver needle lay beside her, catching the lamp light like a small witness. She looked at it, breathed in the cold hospital scent, and said softly, “The truth won’t reveal itself.”

She opened her phone and typed quickly: Shen Yu — check Lin Wanqing’s accounts. Any money in?

A second later: Shen Yu — Got it.

She set the phone down and looked at the little needle again. Her eyes were clearer than they had been in days. She did not only want to clear her name. She wanted to find the hand hiding in the dark and drag it into the light.

Outside, the snow began again, falling in soft white. Street lights stretched long lines through the curtain of flakes. The wind whispered secrets down the empty road.

A quiet counterattack began to take shape. Su Wan sat calmly, waiting and ready. Her eyes were steady. She was prepared for whatever would come next.