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

Lobby on the first floor of the surgical building at the Beicheng Military Region General Hospital.

This is no longer a hospital! It's even more chaotic than a train station during the Spring Festival travel rush. A strong smell of sweat, tobacco, and the distinctive smell of hospital disinfectant hits you right in the head.

"Who the hell stepped on my soles?!"

"Don't push! You'll crush this aluminum lunchbox!"

"Make way! Is that Dr. Ye's number up ahead? I'll pay five yuan! Whoever lets me have their number, I'll give them a five-yuan note in change!"

The crowd was like boiling water that had exploded.

Five yuan? In these days, that's half a month's work points for a strong laborer toiling in the fields! Just for registering for an appointment, they can charge such an exorbitant price. Apart from Ye Zhen, who was just praised by the People's Daily and featured in the internal reference, there's no one else in the entire northern city who would do that.

Gu Zheng carried a double-layered insulated bucket, his crisp four-pocket military uniform creased from the effort. With a dark expression, relying on his towering height of 1.88 meters and the menacing aura he exuded from being rolled in piles of corpses, he managed to carve a path through the impenetrable wall of people.

Having finally made it to the clinic door, Gu Zheng peeked through the crack in the door—

Ye Zhen was holding an X-ray film in her hand, her voice already hoarse, still explaining the medical orders to the patient. The enamel mug on the table, its paint chipped, was so dry that even a single tea leaf was stuck to the bottom.

Gu Zheng raised his wrist and glanced at the Shanghai brand watch.

1:30 PM.

He specially asked Old Wang from the cookhouse to make braised pork with vermicelli, and by now even the lard has probably solidified.

"These bastards, are they treating my wife like a donkey for the production team?"

Gu Zheng ground his back teeth, a glint of fire flashing in his eyes. Instead of going to the water room to heat up his food, he turned and headed straight for the top floor of the administration building, carrying his lunchbox with a menacing air.

"Bang!"

The thick wooden door to the dean's office was kicked open without any politeness by a military boot.

As Zhou Hai was holding a purple clay teapot and admiring the tea leaves floating and sinking, his hand trembled, and the scalding tea spilled directly onto his woolen trousers.

"Oh dear! My Da Hong Pao tea!" Zhou Hai gasped in pain, glancing up at the dark-faced figure at the door. He swallowed the curses that were on the tip of his tongue and put on a bitter face. "Young Master Gu, knock before entering. Even the kids at the daycare know this rule..."

"I think you want me to rip your roof off."

Gu Zheng strode over and slammed the thermos onto the mahogany desk, causing the documents and Hero fountain pen on the desk to jump.

He swaggered down into the chair opposite Zhou Hai, his long legs propped up on the edge of the table, the mud from his boots almost smearing onto Zhou Hai's refined face.

"Dean Zhou, if your main hospital is short-handed, I'll transfer a platoon from the Special Forces Brigade to do the grinding. My Zhenzhen is made of flesh and blood, not iron! Go downstairs and take a look; the registration desk is practically a vegetable market! She can't even get a hot meal. Is this how you treat your meritorious staff? Do you want to work her to death so you can inherit her scalpel?"

Zhou Hai wiped his pants with a handkerchief and sighed helplessly, "Gu Zheng, you have to understand the organization's difficulties. All the difficult and complicated diseases in the country are pouring into our area right now. Ye Zhen's reputation is too great. I want to stop her, but I can't! If I give her leave now, my spine as the hospital director will be broken by the patients' families."

"That's your problem." Gu Zheng sneered, his knuckles tapping loudly on the table. "All I know is that my wife just came back from the front lines, fighting tooth and nail, and hasn't even had a chance to catch up on her sleep before you conscripted her. If you don't give me an explanation today, I'll take the guard company and shut down the registration office. Let's see who dares to object!"

Zhou Hai had a splitting headache. He knew Gu Zheng's reckless nature all too well; this guy was the kind of person who dared to disobey orders in the war zone, so closing a registration office was nothing to him.

"Then what do you suggest we do? If we close the clinic now, what about all those people who've been queuing outside for a whole day and night...?"

Just as the two were at an impasse, the office door was pushed open again.

The person who came in this time did knock on the door, but the knocking sounded with a fake sense of politeness.

Vice President Lin Weiguo walked in, carrying a black briefcase and wearing his ever-present "I'm so worried about the public good" expression.

He first glanced at Gu Zheng, gave him a forced smile and a greeting, then turned to Zhou Hai, his tone as serious as if he were in a Party committee meeting:

"Old Zhou, I just received a document from the Health Bureau. Our hospital is still far from meeting the targets for 'sending medical services to rural areas' and 'supporting grassroots development' this year. Especially in Qingyun County, Comrade Ye Zhen went there for a week last time. We can't let this work fizzle out. We need to see things through to the end to reflect the style of our main hospital."

Zhou Hai was taken aback, his brows furrowing instantly: "Old Lin, what do you mean? Ye Zhen is the star of our hospital now, a national treasure-level expert. Countless leaders specifically request her to treat their patients, and you're sending her to the countryside at a time like this?"

"Precisely because she is a role model, she should set an example and avoid bourgeois practices that alienate the masses."

Lin Weiguo sat down slowly, adopting an air of superiority, a calculating glint in his eyes. "There are some rumors circulating outside, saying that Comrade Ye Zhen has become arrogant after gaining fame, only treating high-ranking officials and disregarding the lives of ordinary people. This is not good for her political future. Besides, the document clearly states a six-month deadline, and there are still several months to go. We leaders must adhere to principles."

Lin Weiguo's mind was racing with calculations.

Ye Zhen is too popular at the main hospital. Even the senior experts now follow her lead. If this continues, what prestige will he, as the vice president, have left?

Send her back to that poor mountain village. First, it will dampen her arrogance. Second, that's Qingyun County, far from the emperor's reach, lacking medical care and medicine. Let's see how she displays her extraordinary abilities!

Zhou Hai was about to slam his fist on the table in protest—this was an absolute waste! Using an atomic bomb to kill mosquitoes!

"that……"

Gu Zheng, who had been observing coldly, suddenly spoke up.

Zhou Hai and Lin Weiguo both looked at him at the same time.

Gu Zheng, who had just looked like he was about to kill someone, had now suppressed his murderous aura, his brows furrowed, and his hands gripping the hem of his clothes tightly, as if he were having a fierce internal struggle.

After several seconds, Gu Zheng managed to squeeze out a sentence through gritted teeth with extreme difficulty and reluctance: "What Vice President Lin said... makes sense. Military families are known for their high level of awareness. Since it's an arrangement by the organization for the benefit of ordinary people at the grassroots level, we... really can't be treated specially."

That look of "having suffered a great injustice but having no choice but to obey the overall situation" is so heartbreaking that it brings tears to the eyes of anyone who hears or sees it.

Lin Weiguo almost burst out laughing. He hadn't expected that this usually most troublesome troublemaker would make a fool of himself at this moment, getting overwhelmed by several serious accusations.

"It's rare to see Commander Gu with such awareness! He truly deserves to be a descendant of the Gu family!" Lin Weiguo quickly sealed the deal, afraid that Gu Zheng might change his mind.

Gu Zheng sighed deeply, stood up with a sorrowful expression, and picked up the thermos: "Alright. Since we have to go, we'll obey orders. When do we leave?"

"The sooner the better! I think tomorrow will be fine!"

Lin Weiguo seemed to have won a great victory. He carried his briefcase and walked away with light steps, even his back view exuding a sense of pride.

The door closed.

Zhou Hai was about to scold Gu Zheng for being foolish when he saw the "sorrow" on Gu Zheng's face vanish instantly, replaced by a triumphant smirk, a smile that also carried a hint of roguishness.

"You..." Zhou Hai pointed at him, his fingers trembling.

"Uncle Zhou, thanks a lot." Gu Zheng toyed with the thermos in his hand, his smile beaming. "I was just wondering why I couldn't give Zhenzhen a long vacation. Now, the perfect excuse has come to me."

Zhou Hai then suddenly realized what was happening.

Is going to Qingyun County a hardship? That's Ye Zhen's hometown!

There are no surgeries that can't be completed, and there aren't that many patients. It's like the sky's the limit, and you can even go back to see your parents on the way. It's like a government-funded family visit!

"You little brat... you even dared to trick that old fox Lin!" Zhou Hai laughed and cursed angrily, but he also breathed a sigh of relief.

"He's just stupid, trying to make a big deal out of nothing." Gu Zheng straightened his collar, regaining his handsome and dignified appearance. "Besides, my wife didn't come home for the New Year because of the children. This time, she can go back and wish the old couple a belated Happy New Year."

Early the next morning.

Ye Zhen didn't wear the white coat that symbolized her status. Instead, she wore a beige cashmere coat and a red scarf, which made her look much softer and less aloof than she did on the operating table, and more charming.

She looked at the military green jeep in front of her, and her eyelids twitched involuntarily.

The passenger seat was piled high with White Rabbit milk candy, cans of malted milk powder, boxes of Daoxiangcun pastries, and even two bottles of Moutai, a special-supply brand that money can't buy.

"Is this going to the countryside? Anyone who didn't know better would think you were going to deliver betrothal gifts." Ye Zhen raised an eyebrow, watching Gu Zheng stuff a thick military overcoat into the trunk.

"That has to be it." Gu Zheng stuffed the last box of Guoguang apples into the car, dusted off his hands, went around to the passenger side to open the door for her, and chuckled in a low voice, "Wife, get in, let's elope... no, let's go on a special mission."

Ye Zhen couldn't help but smile slightly as she got into the car.

I'm so exhausted from working at the main hospital that I haven't even had time to go back to Heishan Village. My older brother Ye Cheng's quarry business is just starting out; I wonder how it's going...

"Dean Zhou didn't vomit blood?" Ye Zhen tore open a White Rabbit candy and stuffed it into Gu Zheng's mouth.

Gu Zheng bit down on the slender, white fingertip, his tongue flicking out a muffled laugh: "Him? He's busy explaining to everyone that we're going to 'support the grassroots.' Let's ignore him. This time we're going back to steal a moment of leisure, combining vacation with visiting relatives, and have a good rest."

With a roar, the jeep kicked up fallen leaves and sped off towards the outskirts of the city like a beast unleashed from its cage.

Outside the car window, the bustling city of the north gradually receded into the distance.

Ye Zhen leaned back in her chair, looking at Gu Zheng's sharp profile, chewing on her milk candy, and felt a long-lost sense of pleasure from skipping school.

It's time for me to return to Qingyun County.