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

In the director's office of the county hospital, Zhao Haifeng was holding a white porcelain teacup with the words "Awarded to Advanced Workers" printed on it, leaning back in his worn office chair, humming the Peking Opera "The Empty City Stratagem" with a contented tone.

From yesterday until now, the county health bureau and the directors of several surrounding oil fields and coal mines have personally called to inquire indirectly whether the miracle doctor from Beicheng General Hospital, who was featured in the People's Daily, is really working in their small town.

He, the county hospital director who usually had to stand aside at meetings at the bureau, finally got to hold his head high for once. He was already making plans in his mind, and had even prepared a draft in his head, ready to strike while the iron was hot and apply to the county party committee for special funds to renovate and refurbish the county hospital's shabby facade.

"Ring ring ring!"

The black bakelite telephone on his desk rang urgently, interrupting his interest.

Zhao Haifeng put down his teacup, slowly picked up the receiver, and asked in a measured tone, "Qingyun County People's Hospital, who is this?"

"Zhao Haifeng, this is Lin Weiguo!"

The voice on the other end of the phone was filled with barely suppressed anxiety, and the usual composed and bureaucratic manner was completely gone.

Zhao Haifeng was taken aback: "Vice Dean Lin? What instructions do you have?"

"Arrange for an ambulance from your hospital immediately, or borrow a small jeep from the county government! Ye Zhen must be in the car and back to the main hospital within half an hour!" Lin Weiguo spoke very quickly, as if his eyebrows were on fire.

Zhao Haifeng's hand tightened suddenly on the receiver. They'd barely welcomed the real talent, hadn't even warmed up their reputation, and the main hospital was already trying to snatch him away and transfer him back?

But then he thought about it again, and the anger he had been holding back suddenly burst forth.

You, Lin Weiguo! If it weren't for you, you old codger, sowing discord on the phone and portraying Expert Ye as a vain and heartless young lady, would I have been so blind as to give her the cold shoulder and throw this resurrected Buddha into the dusty archives?

I almost offended them to death over this! Now that I've finally managed to treat them well, you want to get rid of them with a mere word? Do you think the county hospital is your private guesthouse?

Although he felt good cursing in his heart, Zhao Haifeng still didn't dare to directly confront the vice president of the military hospital.

"Vice Dean Lin, isn't this... a bit too sudden?" Zhao Haifeng probed tentatively. "And according to your personal instructions, she was supposed to stay at our grassroots level for a full week, and she's only been here for two days..."

"Stop talking nonsense!" Lin Weiguo completely lost his temper on the other end of the phone, his roar so loud that Zhao Haifeng quickly moved the receiver half a foot away. "There's an extremely urgent situation in the hospital right now, she has to come back immediately! Don't you understand orders?"

"Yes, yes, I'll pass it on right away..." Zhao Haifeng quickly agreed and hung up the phone.

He paced back and forth in the office like a cat on a hot tin roof, extremely unwilling, but since the local officials were more powerful than the county officials, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and walk out the door towards the archives room behind the outpatient building.

Inside the archives, a faint warmth emanated from the coal stove. The final data for the ventilation system's structural diagram had been finalized. Ma Zhigang carefully folded the heavily annotated drawing and handed it back to Ye Zhen.

"Sister-in-law, I used to admire Gu Zheng because I could trust him with my life on the front lines in Laoshan." Old Ma gave a thumbs up, his eyes full of admiration. "Today, I admire you because of your brain! It's truly amazing! The design concept of these blueprints is even more brilliant than the old professors at our provincial design institute!"

Just then, Zhao Haifeng pushed the door open and came in, forcing an awkward smile onto his old face.

"Expert Ye, there's something I need to tell you." Zhao Haifeng rubbed his hands together, walked to the table, his eyes darting around, not daring to look at Gu Zheng's cold and stern face. "Just now, Vice President Lin from the main hospital sent an urgent telegram, saying there's an extremely urgent situation at the hospital, and he wants you to take a car back immediately."

Ye Zhen was organizing the medical records on the table with her head down when she heard this, and she didn't stop what she was doing for a moment.

She spoke calmly, as if she were talking about someone else: "I've only been here for two days. My time for rural training hasn't come yet, and the organizational procedures haven't been completed, so I'm not going back."

Zhao Haifeng complained incessantly: "Oh my goodness, Vice Dean Lin's voice on the phone was so loud it could blow the roof off. If you don't go, he'll definitely take his anger out on me, a mere dean, and make things difficult for me."

Gu Zheng, who had been sitting on the bench peeling an apple, stopped what he was doing.

He deftly twirled the military knife in his hand, peeled off the last bit of long peel, tossed it into the wastebasket, and handed the cleanly peeled apple to Ye Zhen.

Gu Zheng stood up, grabbed a white towel from the side to wipe his hands, strode over to Zhao Haifeng, and patted him on the shoulder.

The force was so great that Zhao Haifeng's shoulder suddenly felt heavy.

"Dean Zhao, come on, take me to your office."

"Commander Gu, what's going on...?" Zhao Haifeng was completely bewildered, his calves even cramping a little.

"Go return the call." Gu Zheng casually tugged at the hem of his military jacket, strode out of the room, his cold profile exuding the domineering aura of a soldier. "I'm a very reasonable person. Since Vice Dean Lin set the rules for demotion so rigidly back then, today we have to have a good discussion with him about those rules."

Back in the dean's office, Gu Zheng unceremoniously pulled out a chair, sat down, picked up the phone, and directly instructed the operator to connect the signal to the vice dean's office at the North City General Hospital.

The phone rang only once before it was answered with a "click".

"Is anyone on the bus?!" Lin Weiguo's urgent shout came through the receiver.

Gu Zheng leaned back in his worn chair and spoke calmly, "Vice Dean Lin, what an air of authority! Don't get so angry. It's me, Gu Zheng."

The voice on the other end of the phone stopped abruptly, as if someone had suddenly grabbed its neck.

After a full five or six seconds, Lin Weiguo's tone softened, sounding noticeably dry and guilty: "Young Master Gu... Ye Zhen is next to you, right? You should quickly persuade her to come back. The situation in the compound is very complicated right now. Family members and people from other units are blocking the entrance. Only she can keep things under control."

Gu Zheng scoffed lightly, adopting his usual stern and businesslike demeanor: "Vice Dean Lin, what you've said puts me in a difficult position. A couple of days ago, when you issued the official document, you emphasized unequivocally that although Comrade Ye Zhen has some technical knowledge, she is still young and inexperienced, and has not yet experienced the hardships of working at the grassroots level, which could easily breed arrogance and complacency."

Gu Zheng deliberately mimicked Lin Weiguo's usual bureaucratic tone during meetings, returning every word he said to him, like cutting flesh with a soft knife.

"You said this is a strict regulation in our hospital for training young cadres. What? You just suddenly decided to send her back? That's not in accordance with organizational procedures!"

Lin Weiguo broke out in a cold sweat on the other end of the phone, feeling a chill run down his spine, and was filled with deep regret.

That clever excuse he originally used to suppress Ye Zhen has now become an iron clamp tightly wedging himself in the throat.

"Young Master Gu, let's be frank. Commander Wang Changming of the field hospital, as well as major hospitals from various provinces, all want to send people here for further training. Patients' families are blocking the outpatient hall and threatening to smash the windows! Regulations are rules, but people are flexible. We need to make special arrangements for the greater good!" Lin Weiguo completely lowered his stance, almost pleading.

Gu Zheng bent his slender fingers and tapped twice on Zhao Haifeng's desk. His voice suddenly deepened, carrying an imposing aura honed on the battlefield.

"What do you mean by 'special handling'? Lin Weiguo, you've been the vice president of the General Hospital for so many years, don't you know that changing orders frequently is a major taboo in the military? You send someone down with a single word today, and if they run into trouble tomorrow, you call them back with another word. What do you take the country's grassroots medical institutions for? Your backyard? Do you treat the military region's rules and regulations as a joke!"

He paused, his tone sharp as a knife, effectively cutting off all of Lin Weiguo's escape routes.

"Rules are rules. Even if she's my wife, Gu Zheng's wife, being sent down to be an expert doesn't mean she can get special treatment! Since you ordered her to train, she must stay there obediently for the full amount of time. Not a single day, not a single hour less! Until then, no amount of pleading will help. You created that mess in Beicheng yourself, so you have to clean it up!"

After saying that, Gu Zheng didn't give Lin Weiguo any chance to defend himself and slammed the phone down with a "thud".

Zhao Haifeng watched this smooth and effortless operation, so frightened that he didn't dare to breathe, but he felt incredibly exhilarated.

Only the young master of the Gu family in the entire military region has the audacity to lecture the vice president of the General Hospital like a grandson and to use profound principles to silence him completely!

Gu Zheng stood up, slowly patted the wrinkles on his military uniform, turned to look at Zhao Haifeng, and his eyes regained their calm.

"Dean Zhao, go about your business. As long as there's no transfer order with the official seal of the military region, my wife can stay here with you without worry. I'll take care of everything, even if the sky falls."