Chapter 104

I knew I shouldn’t have listened to Jennifer. Why did I let her talk me into this?

“What happened? Jennifer took her home,” I replied, trying to sound calm.

“Dr. Lawler, is my dad doing okay?” My voice trembled a little, and I couldn’t hide my

worry.

Lawler looked serious, not meeting my eyes. “His condition is stable for now. We need to admit him and keep him under observation p>

“Thank you, Doctor.” I let out a shaky breath, finally able to relax a bit. At least things hadn’t gotten worse.

“But there’s something else,” Lawler continued. “I need to talk to the person who did the acupuncture. Is there a way I can reach her p>

He clearly didn’t want to admit that Claire had actually helped, but he couldn’t just ignore what happened.

“Um I hesitated, thinking fast. “Let me call Jennifer and ask p>

I dialed Jennifer’s number and she picked up almost instantly.

“Chrystal?” She sounded cold. If it weren’t for Dad, I doubt she’d even be talking to me right now. I knew I’d messed up earlier.

“Is something wrong with Dad?” she asked, her voice tight.

I swallowed my pride. “Jennifer, is Claire with you? Dr. Lawler said Dad’s stable, but he wants to talk to Claire about some details p>

Jennifer didn’t answer right away. I could hear her repeating what I said to Claire in the background.

“Claire, do you want to take the call?” Jennifer finally asked.

Claire took the phone, her voice clear and direct. “Dr. Lawler, what do you want to know p>

Lawler didn’t waste any time. “I want to understand what happened when the episode started, and how the patient responded after your acupuncture p>

Claire must have realized he was just looking for holes in her story. She sounded a little tired of the back and forth. “You saw the results. Wasn’t the acupuncture effective p>

Lawler didn’t answer. The silence dragged out. He clearly didn’t want to admit it worked.

“If you think traditional medicine is useless, you don’t need to call me,” Claire said, then hung up.

Lawler handed my phone back, his face unreadable. Then he pulled out his own phone and sent a message to his mentor, Professor Barry,

Claire’s needles, He explained everything in detail ending with think the acupuncture was just a coincidence. It didn’t really do anything p>

attaching the photos he’, not

Professor Barry happened to be on a break and called right back.

“Lawler, is the doctor who did the acupuncture still there?” Barry asked, going straight to the point.

Lawler looked surprised that his mentor cared about Claire.

“No, she’s already left,” he replied.

“Are you worried she messed things up with her needling?” Barry pressed, sounding skeptical.

Lawler hesitated, then muttered, “I just don’t think acupuncture did anything p>

Barry sighed, clearly frustrated.

“Lawler, you’re being stubborn. You’re so biased against traditional medicine. Look at the reports again and think about how the patient was before and after the acupuncture. It clearly helped.” sŵnovels

Barry paused for a moment, then added, “A wise person once said, it doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white as long as it catches mice. You can’t just ignore something that works, even if it’s not what you’re used to p>

Lawler stayed quiet, but I could tell he was thinking hard about what Barry had said.