The Favored Heiress
Chapter 468: Can you afford to compensate?

Chapter 468: Chapter 468: Can you afford to compensate?

Li Ru looked at Li Qiao with a sense of horror, feeling that her sinking brows and eyes made her look particularly terrifying.

It took quite a while for Li Ru to find her voice again, "Have you lost your mind? This equipment is nearly a million, can you even afford to pay for it?"

She didn’t particularly hate Li Qiao, but she certainly didn’t like her either.

As an experienced intermediate researcher, she couldn’t stand the way Qiao always interacted with people in such an indifferent and relaxed manner.

In a research institute like theirs that valued seniority, newcomers like Li Qiao and Lian Zhen were bound to be suppressed and looked down upon.

Because every junior researcher had gone through the same thing.

It was like an unwritten rule, one had to endure a special kind of ’tempering’ to be acknowledged by their colleagues.

At that moment, Li Qiao glanced at Li Ru indifferently. The dense ink-like color in her eyes faded slightly, and she curled her lips upwards, wilful and rebellious.

An instrument worth just under a million, what couldn’t she afford to pay for?

Even if it were a hundred billion, what of it?

Li Qiao let out a soft, cold laugh, which made Li Ru feel an even greater sense of scornful disdain.

How much did a junior researcher earn, anyway? Even if she came from a wealthy family, could she really afford to squander a million so casually?

Li Ru clenched her teeth and tried to stabilize her emotions to scold her.

But she suddenly saw Li Qiao walking towards her, with blood dripping from the back of her hand that hung by her side. This visual shock forced Li Ru to retreat subconsciously, "What are you going to do?"

Step by step, Li Qiao approached in the midst of Li Ru’s panicked expression, opened the door of the testing room behind her, and walked out unhurriedly.

Li Ru’s breath hitched in her throat and it took her a long time to recover.

...

Li Qiao returned to the research bench, casually wiped the blood off the back of her hand with a tissue, picked up the brocade box, and turned to leave.

"Xiao Li?" Lian Zhen had just finished his meal and was coming back when he saw the crimson blood on the back of her hand, "What happened? What’s wrong with your hand?"

Lian Zhen initially wanted to grab her hand to take a closer look, but considering the propriety between men and women, he refrained.

Li Qiao looked up with a calm expression, "It’s nothing, I’m leaving now."

"Should I take you to the hospital?"

Li Qiao didn’t answer and waved her hand behind her back before disappearing from his sight.

Lian Zhen frowned and stood there with a worried look, his gaze inadvertently caught sight of Li Ru staggering out of the neighbouring testing room. He narrowed his eyes and walked over to her.

After leaving the research institute, Li Qiao got into her car and leaned her head against the seat to gather herself for a moment, then drove to South Sea Medical University Affiliated Hospital.

Fu Lvting was preparing to finish work when he received her call.

Upon hearing that Li Qiao was on her way, he put his white coat back on and went downstairs to wait for her.

The day was growing dark, and the outpatient hall was almost empty, with only the emergency room next door bustling with activity.

From a distance, he saw Li Qiao, with one hand in her pocket, walking from the direction of the parking lot. Fu Lvting walked down the steps to meet her, joking with a smile, "You got here quite quickly."

Li Qiao took a breath and looked towards the inpatient department behind her, "Hmm."

Seeing that her complexion was not good, Fu Lvting didn’t say much and took her to the psychiatry inpatient department.

This was Li Qiao’s first visit to the ward for patients with mania.

Even though the sky outside the window had darkened, the surrounding wards were still noisy and chaotic.

Patients in the ward occasionally let out bursts of abnormally excited speech, and even without any response, they could continue to talk excitedly to themselves.

Not to mention certain manic patients with aggressive tendencies who were strapped to hospital beds, struggling and roaring in anger.

At this time, the psychiatrist on duty following Fu Lvting stood in the corridor and explained, "These are all patients suffering from mild to moderate manic episodes.

If it’s a severe case, we would recommend sending them to a specialized psychiatric hospital for treatment.

Some patients might not show any reaction now, but when they experience an episode, it is often accompanied by aggression, hyperactive thinking, an inability to stop talking, and poor judgment.

Some of the patients may also display significantly increased sexual drive or reduced sleep without feeling tired."

Li Qiao’s hand, hidden in her pocket, had clenched into a fist.

She stared unblinkingly at the manic patients in the ward, lips pressed tightly together and not uttering a word.

Seeing the temperature in her eyes drop continuously, Fu Lvting looked at her with concern and asked softly, "Are you okay?"

He certainly didn’t think Li Qiao was scared, but her current behavior was very different from usual.

Li Qiao slowly lowered her eyelids, shook her head, and her voice was a bit hoarse, "I’m fine."

The accompanying psychiatrist glanced at them, his interest piqued as he bumped Fu Lvting’s shoulder, "Why are you suddenly so interested in manic patients? Don’t tell me you’re planning to venture into the field of mental illness. Can the department of hepatobiliary surgery really let you go so easily?"

Fu Lvting glanced at him, "No, I’m just here to understand more about the patients’ characteristics."

The psychiatrist laughed, stood with his hands behind his back in the corridor, and looked at the group of patients in the ward with an unusual calm in his gaze.

"By the way, do you have any patients with paranoia here?"

Upon hearing him, the psychiatrist with an experienced expression corrected him, "The term paranoia has been discarded. This disorder falls under paranoid personality disorder.

Speaking of which, the aggressiveness is not as severe as that of manic patients, but the symptoms are quite extreme.

There are, I believe, two patients with personality disorders upstairs. I can take you to see them."

The group of three then visited the upstairs ward, and the doctor provided more insights into the symptoms, "Paranoid personality disorder itself is very complex, and its definition in the field of psychiatry is relatively vague."

As they approached the ward, the doctor continued, "If the symptoms are mild at the beginning and do not manifest outwardly, they rarely draw attention and even less often result in hospital visits.

These patients are stubborn in their own beliefs, with no real aggressiveness, but issues with overthinking and mistrust worsen over time.

Look at this person in the ward. He has been married for twenty years and suspected his wife of cheating more than a decade ago. More than ten years have passed, and he’s still incessantly searching for evidence of her infidelity, adamantly clinging to the idea, regardless of what anyone says."

...

About fifteen minutes later, Li Qiao and Fu Lvting walked out of the inpatient department.

She still wore an indifferent expression, one hand in her pocket, her silent demeanor maintaining a sense of distance.

Fu Lvting said goodbye to his colleague and turned to walk out of the building with her. As the street lights came on, he faintly noticed a dark red bloodstain at the right pocket of Li Qiao’s jeans.

"Xiao Li?" He stopped and pointed to the hand Li Qiao had in her pocket, "What’s this...?"

Li Qiao looked down and when she took her hand out, Fu Lvting saw a raw, bloody wound on the back of her hand, "Are you hurt?"

"It’s nothing serious." Li Qiao flexed her fingers. It stung a bit, but she didn’t feel much.

Fu Lvting sighed suddenly, pouting towards the front, "Don’t play hero, go to the emergency room to get it bandaged. Aren’t you afraid of getting a scar with such a deep wound?"

The words "getting a scar" made Li Qiao’s gaze flicker, but she didn’t refuse, "Hmm, let’s go."

It seems that she won’t be able to meet with Shang Yu for a while.