Chapter 356: The Scapegoat
Switzerland is not hot in the summer, but it is very cold in the winter, the average temperature being zero. That is to say, the temperature will be below zero in the evening, and it will be under ten degrees Celsius in the day.
When there was a heavy snow, everywhere was covered with snow, especially the banks of the Geneva River, where Helheim lived. It was originally a beautiful place, and as it was now covered with heavy snow, it seemed that it was a holiday resort.
Dai Li pushed the wheelchair to the lawn in front of the villa, which was fully covered with snow. In addition, the medieval style villa behind him made him felt that he was in a fairytale world.
In his wheelchair, Helheim took a deep breath, expectantly looked around, and then said, "It’s so great to come out and breath the fresh air! I would be a zombie if I stayed in my room all day."
"But you can’t stay out too long, it’s so cold outside. I promised the nurse that I would only be out for 20 minutes," said Dai Li with a smile.
"Twenty minutes is OK, I can see the beautiful snow, I can talk with you." Helheim paused and asked, "Could you help me up?"
Dai Li nodded, helped Helheim out of the wheelchair, then took two steps forward. "Be careful not to slip." said Dai Li.
"It doesn’t matter, you won’t get hurt if you fall down, I had a lot of experience in it," said Helheim confidently, then added, "I wish I could recover soon, so that I can go skiing again."
"You still want to go skiing again?" Dai Li looked at Helheim, dumbfounded.
It was because of skiing that he had an accident last time and almost lost his life. If it had been anyone else, it would have a deep psychological impact on them, making them even scared when they heard the word "skiing". Yet not Helheim, who still wanted to go skiing after recovery.
Harman understood what Dai Li meant, and then he said, "Take it easy, after this accident, I will slow down my speed when I go skiing."
After these words, Helheim turned to Dai Li and asked, "Coach Li, I should be able to recover soon, shouldn’t I?"
"Look, you can walk in the snow with the help of others. Next, I will arrange some rehabilitation training for you. I guess, if everything goes well, you can walk by yourself," said Dai Li confidently.
After the upgrading, the effect of the rehabilitation massage was greatly improved, which went even beyond Dai Li’s expectations. Helheim recovered rapidly under the help of rehabilitation massage, especially in his nervous system. The rehabilitation massage was tailored to Helheim, so he could walk with the help of others in ten days.
"Coach Li, you know, you’ve cost me a lot of money," said Helheim suddenly.
"What do you mean?" asked Dai Li, confused.
"Before you came here, I’d sold my private plane, the villa in Hawaii, the racecourse in England, and the wine estate in France. I thought I would spend the rest of my life in bed, and that I’d lost my self-care ability, so I didn’t think I’d need them anymore."
Helheim continued to say, "But you cured me! I suddenly found that I shouldn’t have sold them, and that I still need them. What’s more, I sold them at a rock-bottom price, and now I find that I suffer losses."
At that point, Helheim was completely free from the German’s stereotypical seriousness, so instead, he played a joke on Dai Li. Far away in the medieval villa, an eleven or twelve-year-old boy sat by his computer in a daze. His name was Mick Helheim, the younger son of Helheim, and he was on winter holiday.
Europeans love to take holidays. For many Europeans, at least one holiday a year is a must. In previous years, Mick would ski in the Alps with his family, or enjoy sunny beaches in Hawaii during the winter holiday.
This year, Mick had to stay at home and couldn’t go anywhere, because of Helheim’s injury. Time permitting, he could play football outside, but now that everywhere was covered with snow, he had to stay in the room playing computer games, watching television, and on the mobile phone.
Lucas was on vacation, so wer Andrew and Jenny. Mick looked at the pictures shared by his classmates on Facebook and sighed with admiration. Behind the pictures, there were the messages of his classmates, who would ask each other things and show off for each other. All of these made him think that he had nothing in common with his classmates, and so that he had lost the attention of his classmates.
Mick had blond hair, inherited from his mother, Corinna. He had always been the most popular in school, because he was a charming Germanic boy with blond hair. In addition, he was the son of Helheim, who was hailed as "The King". Hence, for Mick, the feeling of being forgotten by his classmates was terrible.
Everyone went on vacation, but I had to stay at home and make a snowman. No one left messages for me. If it was in the past, I would be in France or skiing in Austria, or enjoying the sun in Hawaii by this time. I would show my pictures, and my classmates and I would exchange many messages! Mick suddenly felt depressed, as if he were a stray wild goose, lonely and helpless.
But father will recover soon, as now, he is able to walk, so I think we can go on holiday this time next year. Thinking of this, Mick looked out the window, and it was then that he saw Dai Li and Helheim in the snow.
"It’s dad and coach Li, who helped dad in physical rehabilitation." Mick suddenly had an idea, he picked up his phone, pointed at Helheim, and then pressed the button. Mick filmed a short video in less than 10 seconds, then shared it on his Facebook with a caption: "Dad will recover soon."
"Then someone will leave me messages!" Mick mumbled to himself.
But Mick didn’t know that, in addition to his classmates, some strangers were also watching his Facebook. They were the journalists for motor sport magazine. Winter, especially after heavy snow, was often the most depressing time for motor sport magazines in Europe, because they couldn’t find stories to cover.
Motor racing is an outdoor sport, so considering the weather in winter, there would be no decent races, and it is not worth covering small-scale indoor go-kart races. At this moment, all teams would be in the stages of research and development. They occasionally tested their motors, but they did it secretly in order to prevent information from being stolen by competitors, and hence, it was more difficult for journalists to get information. So, no matter how talented the editors and journalists of the motor sport magazines were, they had no opportunities to show their abilities to share the scoops!
Many motor sport magazines would cover gossip of some drivers, for example, like a driver had an engagement with a young model, or a driver had engagements with two young models at the same time, or with many young models. Usually, some blurry photos, taken in secret, and some high-definition amorous photos, were very attractive to buyers. Of course, motor sport magazines are not Playboy, so they can’t cover such gossips and amorous photos in each issue.
Hence, Helheim’s illness was obviously more gripping than the drivers’ gossips with those young models, as Helheim had been a racing driver for more than a decade, which almost made two generations of fans of him. Mick didn’t know that there was a journalist who had been focusing on his Facebook for a long time. When the journalist saw the video that had been uploaded by Mick, he was very excited.
A few days later, the headlines of the sports section in Europe was filled with the news that Helheim would recover soon. While in Helheim’s hometown in Germany and Italy’s Ferrari, Helheim became the headline of some mainstream media. The phone suddenly rang, as Nelson looked at it and showed a serious expression.
It’s professor Mueller! Nelson was a bit surprised.
Muller was a veteran rehabilitation expert in Europe. When Nelson was young, he had spent some time in Muller’s laboratory, so he was the student and a friend of Muller. Nowadays, although Muller was now more than 70 years old, he was still working, currently, in fact, at the Karolinska institute of Stockholm Medical University in Sweden.
The Medical School of Lausanne University in Switzerland, where Nelson worked, is quite famous in Europe, but can’t compare with the medical school where Muller worked. The Karolinska institute of Stockholm Medical University is very famous for its science and technology, as it was responsible for the first selection of the famous Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. Now, the selection committee of the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine was appointed by it. In addition, it was also responsible for the preparation of the selection. Therefore, Karolinska Medical School is the most unique in the eyes of the world’s top scientists.
Nelson had always respected Muller, so he picked up the phone without hesitation and said, "Hello, professor Muller!"
"Congratulations! Nelson, you did it again!" said Muller.
What Muller said bewildered Nelson. "Congratulations? Why?" Nelson was confused, not knowing how to answer.
Muller continued, "I went to France to give him a consultation when he was injured, but his injury was quite terrible! But it is so amazing that you could help him to recover to such a degree in such a short time. It seems that your team has already led the world in rehabilitation medicine. I think you can take advantage of this opportunity and publish a top paper. Helheim is a celebrity and has a great influence, so considering his influence, even New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, or British Medical Journal would not reject your paper."
Muller’s words made Nelson more confused, he didn’t know why Muller advised him to publish papers in medical magazines, New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, and British Medical Journal are all the world’s top medical journals. Professor Muller was still gushing, and he didn’t give Nelson the chance to speak, as he continued to chatter, "When it comes to papers, I can’t help but read your papers, so please make sure that when you finish it, I’m the first reader!"
After the call with professor Muller, Nelson had many doubts. The telephone rang again, and Nelson pressed the hands-free button, a sweet voice of his female assistant rang out from the telephone.
"Professor, you’ve a call from the editor of global medical network and he hoped to give you an interview."
"An interview? Of which aspects?" Nelson asked subconsciously.
"He wanted you to talk about the rehabilitation of Helheim."
"Helheim again!" It seemed that Nelson had realized that something was wrong with Helheim.
Being a doctor, Nelson had to do some research in his working time, and give lectures at colleges. Therefore, he had no spare time to watch sports news, and even if he watched sports news, it would be football news. So, he didn’t know that Helheim was already the focus of the sports section in European media.
After the call, Nelson quickly opened the website and searched for the latest news about Helheim. The video, which showed Helheim walking in the snow, was also seen by Nelson. "Next to Helheim is coach Li." Nelson shook his hand with a bitter smile.
It’s all coach Li’s contribution, it’s his massage, damn it! How can I write a paper?! I can’t make it up! I didn’t know his massage would make Helheim recover so quickly! Am I going to write a paper on massage, and then publish it in Lancet? Nelson mumbled to himself, suddenly becoming very discouraged.
As a doctor, and one of the world’s top rehabilitation medicine experts, he was outdone by a sports coach, which really hurt his self-esteem.
My team is now in charge of the rehabilitation of Helheim, and now everyone thinks that it’s my contribution. A lot of people may wonder what new research projects I’ve developed! But who should I talk to? Am I going to tell the world that something I can’t handle is done by a sports coach?
Nelson felt as if he had become a "scapegoat" all over again.