Conan: Ran turns into an elementary school student and calls me dad.

Chapter 47 The Couple at the Clinic

"Silly girl!"

Lin Xiuyi couldn't help but laugh, reaching out to pinch his daughter's scrunched-up little face.

"Is everything alright that I'm standing here now?"

Xiaolan's cheeks flushed bright red instantly. She realized she'd asked a silly question, but still stomped her foot in frustration.

"I mean back then! What happened back then?"

"Back then..."

Lin Xiuyi leaned back on the sofa, slowly reminiscing, a smile playing on her lips.

"When your mother saw me shot and fall to the ground, she immediately went berserk. She charged forward and threw the robber over her shoulder, knocking him unconscious."

"Then she hugged me, crying and frantically looking around for a phone booth to call an ambulance."

"And then what happened?"

Xiao Lan's eyes widened, and she gripped Lin Xiuyi's hand even tighter, her voice full of concern.

"That wound was right next to your heart; it must have been very dangerous at the time, right?"

"It's very dangerous."

Lin Xiu nodded, her smile fading slightly, tinged with a hint of melancholy.

"The doctor who treated my wound said that if the bullet had been just one centimeter to the right, it would have hit my heart directly, and even a miracle wouldn't have saved me."

"Fortunately, although we couldn't find a phone booth, we did find a small clinic on the street corner."

Lin Xiuyi turned to look at Fei Yingli, her tone somewhat uncertain: "I remember the doctors at that clinic, weren't they a husband and wife?"

"Yes." Eri nodded, then recalled, "You were covered in blood and your face was deathly pale. You scared the four-year-old girl in that clinic to tears."

"And then? What happened next?" Xiaolan pressed anxiously, stamping her feet. "Stop talking nonsense! Tell me what happened next!"

"Nothing special happened after that," Lin Xiuyi shrugged, speaking casually. "The doctor at that clinic was very skilled; he quickly stopped the bleeding and did some initial stitching and treatment on the wound. Afterward, they called an ambulance for us."

"After I was transferred to a large hospital, I stayed there for more than a week before being discharged."

"More than a week?"

Xiaolan was so shocked her eyes almost popped out; she stared at him in disbelief.

"Such severe injuries, and he only stayed in the hospital for a week? How is that possible?"

"Yes, my body is a little special." Lin Xiuyi didn't intend to hide it from her daughter. "My recovery ability is slightly faster than that of ordinary people."

"You were a little too fast!" Eri Kisaki couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. "The doctor estimated that you would need to stay in the hospital for at least six months to fully recover."

"But no one expected..."

The female lawyer shook her head, her tone tinged with disbelief.

"In just over a week, your wound was almost completely healed, which even the doctor called a miracle."

"For this reason, the doctor from that hospital even came to you specifically to ask you to stay at the hospital and assist them in their medical research."

"Even the local newspapers used 'Miracle Boy' as their headline to report on my story," Lin Xiuyi added proudly. "During that time, many people came to the hospital out of curiosity to see me, crowding my ward to the point that it was impossible to move."

"But back then, you were terrified of being used as a guinea pig in hospital research."

Eri Kisaki glanced at Hideaki Lin and couldn't help but laugh.

"After I recovered a little, I secretly slipped out of the hospital."

"Fortunately, the internet wasn't as developed back then, so the incident only caused a brief stir in the local area before being gradually forgotten."

"So that's how it is..."

Xiao Lan finally realized what was going on, and looking at the scar on Lin Xiuyi's chest, her eyes were full of heartache.

She finally understood why her mother had refused to get married all these years, and was willing to wait for Lin Xiuyi to come back.

"Speaking of which, the people we should thank the most are the couple at that clinic."

Eri Kisaki sighed and said sincerely,

"If they hadn't stopped the bleeding and treated the wound immediately, even with Shuichi's strong recovery ability, he probably wouldn't have made it through."

"Did you go back to that clinic to thank them afterwards?" Xiaolan asked curiously.

"Right after we escaped from the hospital, we went straight back to Tokyo. How could we dare go back?"

Lin Xiuyi smiled helplessly, her tone tinged with lingering fear.

"If the hospital staff recognizes us and takes us back to be used as guinea pigs for research, that would be a real problem."

"So we waited until two years later, when the matter had lost its popularity locally, before we went back together again."

"But by then, that clinic had already closed down."

Lin Xiuyi's tone carried a hint of regret.

"I heard from the neighbors that the couple who ran the clinic apparently joined some big company and then moved away with their daughter."

"We didn't even have a chance to say thank you to them."

"You just didn't have a chance to say it," Eri Kisaki said with a smile. "I already thanked them a long time ago."

"You?" Lin Xiuyi was stunned, looking at her with a puzzled expression. "When did this happen? I remember when I was hospitalized, weren't you staying at the hospital with me every day?"

"It was at the hospital." Eri tilted her head and thought for a moment. "I remember the day after you were sent to the big hospital, the couple from that clinic came to see you."

"You were still unconscious at the time, and I was afraid they would disturb you if they went in, so I chatted with them in the hospital lobby for a while."

"Speaking of which, there's something else that's quite strange."

Eri's brows furrowed slightly, as if she had remembered something amiss, and her tone became somewhat hesitant.

"I remember we were having a nice chat when the female doctor suddenly said she had an urgent matter to attend to and left in a hurry."

"But later, when I returned to the ward, I was surprised to see her coming out of your ward."

Eri's eyes held a hint of confusion.

"When she saw me, she looked a little panicked and uneasy, as if... as if she was hiding some secret."

"Is that so?"

Lin Xiuyi was also stunned. The smile on his face gradually faded, and his brows furrowed tightly.

"How come I have absolutely no recollection of this?"

"You were so weak back then, you spent most of the day in a coma, how could you possibly remember?" Eri glared at him, her tone slightly reproachful.

"Then why didn't you tell me later?" Lin Xiuyi pressed.

"At the time, I thought she was just worried about you and went in to check on your recovery," Eri explained. "Plus, I was so happy when you woke up that I completely forgot about it. If Ran hadn't asked me about it today, I probably would never have remembered it."

At this point, the female lawyer waved her hand and said in a relaxed tone,

"It's really not a big deal, is it? I guess the female doctor probably found it unbelievable that your wound healed so quickly, which is why she looked a little strange."

"I hope so."

Lin Xiuyi agreed verbally, but she felt that something was not right.

He frowned, carefully recalling that past event.

But nearly twenty years had passed, and his memory was long gone. He couldn't recall exactly what had gone wrong...