After being separated from my family, I became a darling of the military region thanks to my medical

County Health Bureau, Director's Office.

The air was filled with the scent of cheap jasmine tea, but that couldn't mask the tense atmosphere.

Zhao Haifeng sat on the edge of the sofa, only a third of his buttocks touching the sofa, sweat dripping down his temples. Opposite him sat Yan Hua, the head of the Qingyun County Health Bureau, a notorious "Iron Lady."

"Zhao Haifeng, have you lost your mind?"

Yan Hua slammed the handwritten report on the table, the force not heavy, but enough to make the teacup lid rattle. "You dared to submit a report like this? 'Schistosomes are making a comeback'? If you stick that up, your job as dean will be ruined, and I, the bureau chief, will get disciplined!"

Zhao Haifeng shuddered. "This report was written by Dr. Ye, the one who did the drilling surgery that day. You were there too."

Yan Hua's hand, which was tapping the table, froze in mid-air.

The office quieted down, with only a few sparrows chirping in the old locust tree outside the window.

"That young woman?" Yan Hua squinted, his gaze falling on the report with its neat yet powerful handwriting.

"It was her." Zhao Haifeng nodded. "She spent the whole night checking the cause-of-death records."

Yan Hua was silent for a few seconds, then grabbed the bicycle keychain from the table and stuffed it into his pocket: "Let's go. Let's see if she's really capable or just trying to attract attention."

The two arrived at the county hospital's archives.

Ye Zhen was looking at the slightly yellowed "Qingyun County Administrative Division Map" on the table.

She stood with her back to the door in front of the map. In her hand was a red and blue pencil, the kind nurses used to draw temperature charts. She stared at the yellowed map for a long time, as if examining a war table.

Zhao Haifeng pushed open the door and called out, "Xiao Ye, Director Yan is here."

Ye Zhen turned around. She wasn't wearing a white lab coat; underneath was a slightly worn beige sweater with the cuffs rolled up, revealing slender yet strong wrists. Seeing Yan Hua, she didn't have the obsequious bowing and scraping typical of ordinary employees; she simply greeted him calmly, "Director Yan."

Yan Hua scrutinized her, his gaze sharp: "Dean Zhao said, 'You dare to assert a relapse of schistosomiasis based on just a few medical records?'"

Ye Zhen didn't explain. She turned around and walked to the huge map, then uncapped the pencil.

The red pen tip hovers in the lower left corner of the map, where there is a dense blue water pattern.

"This is the Dahe Commune."

Ye Zhen's hand was steady; the pen tip touched the paper with a soft, scratching sound. She drew a heavy red circle around the lowest point on the map.

"This is Muddy Bay."

Yan Hua crossed his arms and remained silent, waiting for her to continue.

Ye Zhen's finger slid upwards along the blue river line on the map, followed closely by red ink, drawing a shocking bloodline on the map: "The water source for the Dahe Commune is the Panlongling Reservoir upstream, and the Qingyun River downstream. The terrain in between is like a funnel, where the water flow slows down, forming three stagnant bays."

She marked three red dots heavily at the three bends on the map.

"In the first bend of the river, Lijiacun, there have been 3 cases of unexplained ascites deaths in the past five years."

"Second bend, Zhao Jiapu, 5 people."

"The third bend, Muddy Bay." Ye Zhen paused slightly, pressing her fingertip firmly on the depression. "This area is the lowest point, with almost stagnant water, making it the easiest place for snails to accumulate and reproduce, and also the area with the highest density of schistosome cercariae. 36 deaths."

36 people.

She spoke of this number as extremely lightly, but when it landed, it was extremely heavy.

Ye Zhen turned around, leaning against the map she had marked with glaring red lines. She looked at Yan Hua, her eyes showing no provocation, only the calmness of stating facts.

"Director Yan, you are a local, so you should know better than me what 'cirrhosis' means in rural areas."

Yan Hua frowned deeply, but remained silent.

"Cirrhosis obstructs portal vein reflux, leading to the establishment of collateral circulation and esophageal and gastric varices." Ye Zhen spoke slowly, but her words were sharp and cutting. "Once they rupture, blood gushes out like a fountain. Ordinary people call this 'hematemesis,' while doctors call it 'upper gastrointestinal bleeding.'"

She took the stack of medical records from Zhao Haifeng and casually flipped through one of them.

"Zhang Ergou vomited two basins of blood before he died, and his waist circumference was 1.2 meters."

"Li Xiulan tried all sorts of folk remedies before she died, and her belly still hasn't gone down after she died."

Ye Zhen closed the medical record book and looked directly at Yan Hua: "Director Yan, in an endemic area, unexplained hepatosplenomegaly, ascites, and dwarfism should first rule out late-stage schistosomiasis."

The office was deathly silent.

Only the clock on the wall made a "click, click" sound.

Yan Hua stared at the glaring red line on the map—the territory under her jurisdiction, the homeland of her people. Her hands gripped the edge of the table so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

After a long while, she stood up and grabbed the coat hanging on the hanger.

"Prepare the car."

Yan Hua's voice was somewhat hoarse, but it carried an undeniable ruthlessness: "Go to Muddy Bay."

Zhao Haifeng was dumbfounded: "Chief...Chief, it just snowed today, the roads are difficult to travel on..."

"So you won't see a doctor just because the road is difficult to travel?" Yan Hua glared at him, then turned to Ye Zhen, "Do you dare to go?"

Ye Zhen's lips curled into a slight smile as she put the red pen back in her pocket: "I couldn't be happier."

……

The road to Lanni Bay is definitely not a path for humans.

It was a dirt road. It had snowed heavily a couple of days ago, and the sun had melted it into a sticky, muddy mess.

The jeep chugged up the hill, its wheels kicking up yellow mud that blurred the windows.

"Buzz—Buzz—"

The car jolted violently and came to a stop. The rear wheels were stuck in a deep pit filled with mud, and no matter how much the driver floored the accelerator, it only emitted black smoke and spun aimlessly, without moving an inch.

Yan Hua pushed open the car door and jumped out without saying a word.

Her worn black leather shoes were instantly swallowed by the mud. Yan Hua didn't even frown.

"Zhao Haifeng, get out and push the cart!"

Zhao Haifeng got out of the car with a bitter face; his once-shiny leather shoes were now ruined.

Yan Hua glanced at Ye Zhen sitting in the back row. The girl was wearing a white lab coat over a clean sweater, looking completely out of place in this muddy environment.

"Xiao Ye, you stay in the car and hold the steering wheel while the driver gets out and pushes..."

Before he could finish speaking, the other car door opened.

Ye Zhen jumped down.

She didn't say anything, but walked straight to the back of the car, found a foothold, and braced her hands against the muddy rear cover of the car.

Yan Hua was taken aback: "You..."

"More people means more effort." Ye Zhen turned her head, her pretty face expressionless. "Director Yan, let's push."

"One, two, three! Push!"

"boom!"

Mud splashed.

Yellow mud splattered on Yan Hua's face and Ye Zhen's white coat, like bursting earth flowers.

The two stood shoulder to shoulder, and when their feet slipped, they used their knees to push against each other.

Finally, with a roar, the jeep burst out of the mud pit.

The two stood panting by the roadside, exchanging a smile.

At that moment, there were no bureau chiefs or doctors, no seniors or juniors.

There were only two comrades covered in mud, who were on their way to rescue people.

"Alright, girl." Yan Hua took out a handkerchief from his pocket, didn't wipe himself, and handed it to Ye Zhen first. "I thought experts from the city were all office workers drinking tea, afraid of getting dirty."

Ye Zhen took the handkerchief, but instead of wiping her face, she wiped the dirt off her hands first. Her tone was calm: "Doctors don't care about their place of origin, and patients don't discriminate. On the operating table, the contents of the intestines are much dirtier than this."

Yan Hua paused for a moment, then burst into hearty laughter: "Well said! Just for that, we'll brave this muddy bay to the very end today!"