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

The bell rang stubbornly, one ring after another, the piercing mechanical clanging echoing back and forth in the spacious and bright vice president's office, making one's eardrums ache.

Lin Weiguo leaned back in his large leather chair, his eyes fixed on the phone, his chest heaving noticeably. He had just been verbally abused over the phone by Zhao Guangping from the Provincial People's Hospital, and the anger still lingered in his chest. He pinched the bridge of his nose, deliberately letting the phone ring a few more times, trying to regain some control as the vice president of the main hospital.

When it rang for the seventh or eighth time, he finally reached out and grabbed the receiver. He unbuttoned the top button of his collar that was tightly fastening his neck, cleared his dry throat, and adopted the calm and composed tone he usually used in meetings.

"Who is it?" The tone was curt, revealing displeasure.

"I'm looking for Zhou Hai! Let him answer the phone!"

A powerful roar came from the receiver. The sound was extremely loud, with harsh noise and undisguised sparks, directly piercing the plastic casing of the receiver, causing Lin Weiguo to instinctively pull his hand away half a foot.

Lin Weiguo frowned, brought the receiver closer to his ear, and patiently adopted a haughty demeanor: "Dean Zhou is not in his office. I am Lin Weiguo, the vice president of the Beicheng Military Region General Hospital. No matter which unit you are from, if you have anything to say, just tell me directly."

"Lin Weiguo? I don't know him!"

The person on the other end of the phone not only didn't take the title of vice dean seriously, but became even angrier.

"I'm Wang Changming from the North China Field Hospital! What on earth is your North City General Hospital up to? Two days ago, I sent a report through my communications officer requesting that three of our best military doctors be transferred from our field hospital to your hospital to specifically learn microsurgical vascular suturing techniques from Comrade Ye Zhen. Two whole days have passed, the telegram was sent, several phone calls were made, and there hasn't been a single reply! What, does your General Hospital now act more like it's above the entire military region headquarters? You're not even going to engage in normal technical exchanges with other units?"

Upon hearing the names "Field Hospital" and "Wang Changming," Lin Weiguo unconsciously straightened his back. The North China Field Hospital was a core unit directly responsible for frontline exercises and combat medical support in a neighboring province. Wang Changming was a notorious tough guy in the military medical system, known for his fiery temper and numerous combat merits.

His arrogance subsided slightly, but he really couldn't understand why everyone from the major hospitals and field hospitals had taken the wrong medicine and were all heading straight for that blond-haired girl, Ye Zhen.

Lin Weiguo picked up the now-cold tea on the table, took a sip to moisten his throat, and slowly said, "Dean Wang, please don't get so angry. We all work in the medical system, and we have to follow the rules and regulations. The matter of sending people for further training needs to go through the procedures at the main hospital, and the hospital's party committee also needs to hold a meeting to discuss it. All of this takes time."

He paused, his tone carrying a hint of condescension and instruction: "Furthermore, there's something you might not know. Comrade Ye Zhen isn't currently at the main hospital. She's a young woman who hasn't been working for very long. Although she's performed two decent surgeries, her foundation is still too weak; she lacks experience working at the grassroots level."

Lin Weiguo spoke more and more fluently, completely immersed in his own elaborate and high-sounding rhetoric: "In response to the call from higher authorities to support the development of grassroots medical care, our hospital has made overall arrangements to send her to Qingyun County People's Hospital for rural support. As for that microsurgical technique you mentioned, that's just a low-probability surgery encountered in clinical practice, something that happens only a few times a year in all of China. There's no need to make such a fuss. Learning advanced techniques is a good thing, but there's no rush. We can arrange an exchange after she's been training in the countryside for a year or two and has returned."

There was a deathly silence on the other end of the phone.

Lin Weiguo held the receiver, listening to the static on the other end, and a slight twitch appeared on his lips. He assumed Wang Changming had understood his impeccable official jargon and was preparing to smooth things over and drag the matter out completely.

Suddenly, a roar that seemed to tear the roof off erupted from the receiver.

"Bullshit!"

Wang Changming cursed loudly over the phone, his voice deafening, and one could almost picture the veins bulging on his forehead.

Lin Weiguo's expression changed drastically. He had lived to this age and sat in the position of vice dean for so many years. Everyone treated him with respect and called him Dean Lin. This was the first time someone had thrown profanities at him directly.

He suddenly stood up, the leather seat behind him was slid back half a meter by the impact, the wheels making a screeching sound on the floor.

"Wang Changming! Watch your mouth!" Lin Weiguo braced one hand on the mahogany table and the other gripped the receiver tightly, his voice rising, "We're all people with 'Chang' in our names! This is the North City Military Region General Hospital, not your field hospital's parade ground! What kind of attitude is this?!"

"I'm cursing you, you blind, rotten-hearted bureaucrat!"

Wang Changming's anger was not suppressed; instead, it burned even more fiercely.

"Lack of grassroots experience? Low-probability surgery? You're sitting in a spacious office, drinking tea and reading the newspaper, of course you think it's a low-probability event!"

Wang Changming slammed his hand on the table on the other end of the phone, making a dull thud.

"Do you know about the live-fire exercise a few days ago? There was a 19-year-old soldier from the countryside whose leg was smashed by a rock, shattering all the blood vessels and nerves! Our veteran medic here was even preparing to amputate his leg with a saw! Do you know what amputation means for a soldier? It means he'll have to go back to his village and beg for food for the rest of his life!"

Wang Changming was panting heavily, and every word he uttered felt like a nail striking Lin Weiguo's heart.

"It's that Comrade Ye Zhen you mentioned, the one with a weak constitution who needed to be sent down for training! She rushed to our field tent overnight, wearing a magnifying glass, and spent more than two hours painstakingly stitching back together the soldier's shattered blood vessels and nerves, one by one! She saved a soldier's leg, and saved the life of a family!"

Lin Weiguo's breathing stopped. He opened his mouth, his throat was dry, but he couldn't utter a single word.

When did Ye Zhen go to the field hospital? It's a half-day drive from here to the North China Field Hospital, how did she end up at the front line of the exercise?

Wang Changming gave him no time to think, and his roar continued to pound down the telephone line.

"That's not all! A soldier was hit in the abdomen by a dumdum bullet, and all the experts in our hospital took one look and shook their heads, saying there was nothing they could do. Then it was Ye Zhen again! She snatched that life back from the jaws of death! That life was personally acknowledged as her savior by Commander Li!"

"This kind of living saint, who can pull soldiers back from the brink of death and preserve the fighting capacity of the troops to the greatest extent, you're telling me she needs to go to the county town to practice?" Wang Changming's spittle seemed to splatter out of the telephone receiver. "Shake your straw-stuffed head and listen for any water sounds! Sending her to the county town to treat old ladies' headaches and fevers is a waste of talent, a crime against the lives of soldiers on the front lines!"

A layer of cold sweat beaded on Lin Weiguo's forehead. The beads of sweat gathered together, slid down his cheeks, and dripped onto the neatly pressed collar of his military uniform. His hand holding the receiver began to tremble uncontrollably.

"Lin Weiguo, I'm making this clear to you today!" Wang Changming issued his final ultimatum over the phone, his voice as hard as iron. "Our soldiers could suffer vascular compression injuries at any time during training. Ye Zhen's skills are their life-saving weapon, an essential skill that our field hospital must master! What kind of bullshit planning and arrangements, what kind of regulations for delegating to the grassroots level, are you trying to use to stop me?"

"Dean Wang, this...this is..." Lin Weiguo's voice trembled, his previously composed official tone crumbling, "There must be some misunderstanding. The hospital's decision was made with long-term considerations in mind..."

"There's no misunderstanding!" Wang Changming interrupted him rudely. "You office-bound old men at the main hospital can't tolerate this goddess, but our field hospital does! We have plenty of room for her!"

Wang Changming paused for a moment, his tone turning icy.

"I'm calling the military region headquarters right now. I'm going directly to Commander Wang! I'll have the commander personally ask you, Lin Weiguo, and the Party Committee of your North City General Hospital, whether your few tattered pieces of paper that bear more weight, or the lives of the soldiers on the front lines!"

"Beep—beep—beep—"

The phone was abruptly disconnected. The monotonous and jarring dial tone echoed in Lin Weiguo's ears.

He felt as if all the bones in his body had been drained away; his legs went weak, and he slumped back into the large leather chair. The receiver slipped from his sweaty hands, hanging in mid-air along the telephone cord, swaying back and forth.

Cold sweat trickled down his temples and into his neck, the back of his shirt clinging to his skin, icy cold and completely soaked.

Wang Changming wasn't bluffing. That field hospital director, who had actually fought in combat, was absolutely capable of reporting directly to headquarters. If Commander Wang found out that Ye Zhen had been forcibly expelled from the main hospital by Lin Weiguo under the pretext of "tempering her character," that would be terrible. She might even be punished for undermining military strength and stripped of her uniform.

A series of hurried, chaotic footsteps broke the deathly silence inside the office.

The office door was pushed open.

The head nurse of the outpatient department rushed in, sweating profusely, holding a stack of forms: "Vice President Lin! Something terrible has happened! Several patients' families in the lobby have blocked the cashier, saying that if they don't see Dr. Ye today, they'll stage a sit-in outside the military compound gate!"

Lin Weiguo stared at the form in the head nurse's hand, his vision blurring.

"Get out." Lin Weiguo's voice was hoarse.

The head nurse was stunned: "Vice President Lin, this matter..."

"I told you to get out!" Lin Weiguo grabbed a teacup from the table and smashed it on the floor. Shards of porcelain shattered, and tea spilled onto the concrete. The head nurse turned and ran out in fright. Lin Weiguo braced himself against the table, staring at the mess. He had to get Ye Zhen back immediately, no matter the cost.