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

It was 12:30 p.m. In the surgical consultation room temporarily converted from the main hospital, Ye Zhen placed the last medical record on the metal filing cabinet on the left.

The noisy crowd in the outpatient lobby had been organized by the expert team. Those needing hospitalization and surgery were transferred to wards, while those requiring conservative treatment took detailed medical orders to the pharmacy to pick up their medications. Ye Zhen rubbed her sore neck and stood up from her chair. The intense mental work had made her face look somewhat pale.

"Knock knock." The doorframe was being knocked on.

Gu Zheng stood at the door carrying a military green aluminum insulated lunchbox. Today, he was wearing civilian clothes without military rank, a black turtleneck sweater underneath a leather jacket, making him look tall and sharp. Seeing Ye Zhen's tired face, his eyes darkened, and he strode into the house, locking the door behind him.

"Come and eat." Gu Zheng placed the lunchbox on his desk and deftly unscrewed the lid. A rich aroma of old hen soup mingled with the meaty fragrance of braised pork ribs wafted out. He handed chopsticks to Ye Zhen, then pulled up a chair and sat down opposite her.

Ye Zhen didn't stand on ceremony and sat down to eat. The ribs were stewed until very tender, and she ate them quickly.

Gu Zheng took a clean handkerchief from his pocket and placed it beside her. "Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you. Is that old fox Zhou Hai treating you like a mule for the production team?"

"It wasn't Dean Zhou, it was I who sped up the process." Ye Zhen swallowed a mouthful of chicken soup, feeling a warmth spread through her stomach. "I wanted to finish dealing with these backlogged critically ill patients as soon as possible, but the problem now is that the older staff working under me are almost at their breaking point."

Gu Zheng raised an eyebrow: "Those senior doctors from major hospitals? It's normal for them to suffer a bit when they come to learn a trade."

Ye Zhen placed a piece of pork rib on her rice, her tone tinged with a rare helplessness. "It's okay to endure hardship, but don't ruin your health. This morning, Vice President Gao from Fuwai Hospital caught a cold and had a fever. They were drawing anatomical diagrams in the corridor of the training dormitory tonight. The dilapidated dormitory that President Zhou arranged for them doesn't even have a single intact pane of glass in the window; it's drafty from all sides. These senior experts are all over fifty years old on average. If even one of them gets sick from the cold, it will be an irreparable loss to our country's medical community."

She looked up at Gu Zheng. "They're not just learning; they're desperately trying to bring this technology back to their respective provinces to save lives. If all of them collapse from colds and fevers, who will cover my outpatient clinics? Who will perform high-difficulty first-assist surgeries in the operating room?"

Gu Zheng tapped his fingers lightly twice on the table. Looking at Ye Zhen's serious eyes, he didn't say anything more, but simply pushed the lunchbox filled with chicken soup towards her.

"Hurry up and drink your soup, it'll taste fishy when it's cold. No one's ever frozen to death on my turf." Gu Zheng stood up from his chair. "Focus on your surgery this afternoon, don't worry about the backyard."

Ye Zhen watched his swift departure, a faint smile flickering in her eyes. She picked up the bowl and drank the rest of the hot soup in one gulp.

It was six o'clock in the afternoon. The sky was completely dark.

After standing for three and a half hours, the dozen or so visiting experts who emerged from operating room number one looked as if they had been pulled out of water. They removed their sterile gowns and scrubs, changed back into their white coats, and each of them walked with unsteady steps. But their eyes were unusually bright, and they huddled together in twos and threes, whispering about the ingenious free-flowing technique they had just witnessed on the operating table.

"Let's go back to the 'Ice Cellar' to review the situation." Liu Jianmin wrapped his military overcoat tightly, put his hands in his sleeves, and walked towards the backyard with his neck hunched.

Director Ma sighed, "Old Gao has taken his medicine and is lying in his room. I don't even know if his fever has gone down. In this lousy place, you can't even find a place to boil water when you're sick."

The group dragged their weary steps through the tree-lined path of the compound. When they rounded the red brick wall behind the canteen and arrived at the open space in front of the training experts' building, they all froze in place.

The backyard, which was originally pitch black, was now brightly lit as day by four high-powered searchlights. The air was filled with the smells of sawing wood and boiling glue.

A group of soldiers in training uniforms were busy working up and down in the dilapidated dormitory. All the broken windows were not only replaced with brand new glass, but also covered with a thick layer of windproof tarpaulin paper nailed to the outside with wide wooden strips. The dormitory's several rickety wooden doors were all removed and replaced with sturdy solid wood doors, with the hinges coated with lubricating machine oil.

Liu Jianmin rushed into his dormitory to take a look. On the uncomfortable wooden bed, not only were two thick military-grade cotton mattresses laid out, but a thick, army-green cotton quilt was also neatly folded like a tofu block. The drafty hole in the corner of the room had been completely sealed with cement. The vice-dean, lying on the opposite bunk, was covered with a thick quilt, sweating profusely, his complexion having returned to its normal slightly yellowish hue.

"What... what's going on here?" Director Ma followed in, staring in disbelief as he touched the soft military blanket.

"Stop looking inside! Come out and look outside!" A deputy director from some provincial court shouted from outside, his voice distorted.

Liu Jianmin and Director Ma ran out into the corridor. In the open space in front of the dormitory building, more than thirty soldiers were chanting slogans, carrying out the final finishing touches.

That was a large, insulated combat tent at the platoon or squad level, big enough to accommodate fifty people in cold regions!

The tent's main body is constructed of double-layered windproof canvas with an insulating layer sandwiched in between. The tent flap was lifted, revealing three bright gasification lamps inside. Most strikingly, five rows of large military cast-iron coal stoves were securely positioned in the center and four corners of the tent's interior. The stoves burned high-quality smokeless coal, making the furnace pipes glow red-hot.

Waves of warmth, like those of spring, surged out of the tent, instantly dispelling the cold night wind around them.

Inside the tent, instead of beds, dozens of folding stools and several long tables were neatly arranged. Two huge blackboards were supported by iron frames at the front, with boxes of chalk and erasers beside them. On the long tables sat three extra-large thermos containers bearing red stars, next to a stack of brand-new white porcelain tea mugs, and the air was filled with the rich aroma of jasmine tea.

"My God..." Director Liu Jianmin stood at the tent entrance, feeling the wave of heat hitting him, his voice trembling, "This is like building us a battlefield academic conference room!"

A platoon leader with the rank of second lieutenant jogged over and gave a crisp military salute to the group of stunned veteran experts. "Sirs, as instructed by higher command, all the cold-weather gear has been set up. The stoves inside the tents will be fueled by shifts of officers, and hot water is available in unlimited quantities. Please rest assured!"

The experts were stunned by the military region's decisive and efficient style of work and were speechless for a long time.

Liu Jianmin slapped his thigh excitedly: "What a generous gesture! I knew Zhou Hai, that skinflint, had a change of heart today! Such a grand display, even the cold-weather tents for combat use were approved! He's really going all out to keep us working at the main hospital! Come on, everyone, follow me to the front office building to thank Dean Zhou in person!"

The group of old men instantly revived, not even bothering to eat, and marched in a grand procession toward the administrative office building in front of the main hospital.

In the dean's office, Zhou Hai, wearing reading glasses, was typing away at the abacus beads, working on the month's budget report. Hearing hurried footsteps in the corridor, he looked up and saw more than a dozen provincial-level directors, their faces flushed, pushing open the door and entering.

"Dean Zhou, you've made us feel so ashamed!" Liu Jianmin stepped forward, grabbed Zhou Hai's hand tightly, and shook it vigorously. "The dormitory is as solid as an iron barrel, complete with military blankets! The warm tent, the coal stove, the blackboard—the conditions are more comfortable than when we hold seminars in our own hospital! Don't worry, we old bones will take care of all the work at the main hospital's triage desk and as first-aid assistants!"

Zhou Hai was shaken senseless and his mind was a complete mess. "Wait a minute... what tent? What military blanket and coal stove?"

Director Ma chuckled and replied, "Director Zhou, don't be modest. There's a huge military combat tent set up in the backyard, with a company of engineers working there. How could that be fake?"

Upon hearing "a company of engineers," Zhou Hai felt a chill run down his spine. He quickly pushed through the crowd, strode to the window, and craned his neck to look towards the backyard.

Although he couldn't see the tents from several buildings away, he spotted several camouflage-painted military trucks driving out of the back gate. Those were genuine field army equipment.

Zhou Hai turned around and looked at the grateful old experts, his expression even stranger than if he had swallowed a fly.

"Director Liu, you've thanked the wrong person." Zhou Hai pointed to his nose and gave a bitter smile. "I'm just a deputy field hospital officer who was transferred to the general hospital as its director. Look at these two bars on my shoulders. Where am I supposed to mobilize an entire engineering company of field troops with strategic materials to work in this compound? The headquarters would skin me alive."

Liu Jianmin was stunned. "Not you? Then who is it?"

Zhou Hai walked to his desk, poured himself a glass of cold water and gulped it down to calm his nerves, his tone filled with immense envy and emotion.

"Looking across the entire North City, there's only one troublemaker who can mobilize an entire company without reporting, haul military-grade winter gear into the General Hospital to build tents, and not even fear punishment." Zhou Hai slammed his teacup down on the table. "This isn't a benefit from the General Hospital. It's Dr. Ye's husband, that living devil, who feels sorry for his wife's soldiers and personally arranged for people to build these warm tents for you!"