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

The next morning, at the construction site of the intervention center building.

Gao Changzheng was squatting next to the newly laid foundation, eating a sesame seed cake.

"Professor Gao, someone's looking for you!" The old man at the gatehouse called out to him.

Gao Changzheng ran into the guard room and answered the receiver.

"Feed? Who?"

"Old Gao, it's me, Old Zheng," said Old Zheng, the project manager from the provincial construction company, on the other end of the phone.

"Old Zheng, what's up?" Gao Changzheng shouted into the receiver.

Old Zheng sighed on the other end of the phone: "Old Gao, something's gone wrong. The main hospital just issued an official document requiring us to cooperate in auditing the accounts of Zhenxing Quarry. Boss Ye's settlement account has been temporarily frozen."

Gao Changzheng threw his half-eaten sesame seed cake on the table: "Freeze the settlement? On what grounds? I inspected each stone myself. Don't you know how high the hardness requirements are for the stones used in earthquake-resistant pile driving? I only found one supplier in the entire Qingyun County that met the standards!"

"I know Shi Tou is fine. The main hospital said they're investigating some kind of conflict of interest. Anyway, the official documents have already been sent to the company, and they want us to cooperate." Old Zheng's voice was full of helplessness.

"What about Boss Ye's money? The workers are working themselves to the bone every day, swinging sledgehammers and smashing rocks. It's almost the end of the month, and it's time to settle last month's wages!" Gao Changzheng shouted.

"The company said to hold the payment for now. We'll talk about it again after the three-month audit period."

"Three months? Are you kidding me! You expect dozens of people at the quarry to starve for three months?"

"Old Gao, getting angry at me won't help. This is the client's decision. The company's idea is for you to talk to Boss Ye and ask him to consider the bigger picture, deliver the stones as usual, and settle the payment later," Old Zheng said.

"Considering the big picture? What kind of big picture is this? Who's going to work for you if you don't have money!" Gao Changzheng cursed.

"If all else fails, we'll switch to another supplier."

"Go find me another place that can produce stones that meet the standards! This job is impossible to do!" Gao Changzheng slammed down the phone and paced around the work shed.

In the afternoon, at the Zhenxing Quarry in Heishan Village.

Ye Cheng squatted shirtless beside the pile of materials, measuring the dimensions of the newly chiseled stone slabs with a measuring tape, counting them aloud, and casually jotting down notes in a palm-sized notebook with a pencil stub.

Ma Zhigang walked over from the other side of the bridge, his straw hat pushed up to the back of his head, carrying a roll of blueprints in one hand and wiping the sweat from his neck with the other.

"Brother Ye, I've inspected the third batch of stone blocks for the bridge piers, and the dimensions are all up to standard. We'll send another truckload over this afternoon, and then the foundation for the south abutment can be joined together."

Ye Cheng nodded: "Okay, I'll have Zhao Shanhe take it over this afternoon."

No sooner had he finished speaking than he heard the sputtering sound of a diesel engine coming from the mountain road.

The two looked up at the same time.

A dark green Jiefang truck bumped and jolted down the dirt road, its front end splattered with yellow mud. When it braked, the wheels skidded sideways, kicking up a cloud of dust half a person's height.

The driver's cab door was kicked open.

Gao Changzheng jumped out of the car, clutching a folded piece of official paper in his hand, his face as black as the bottom of a pot.

"Senior Engineer?" Ma Zhigang squinted as he recognized the man. "What brings you all the way from Beicheng? Aren't you busy at the construction site?"

Gao Changzheng ignored him, strode over to Ye Cheng, and slammed the paper in his hand in front of Ye Cheng.

"Boss Ye, see for yourself."

Ye Cheng took it and unfolded it.

The paper was stamped with the red seal of the Finance Department of the Beicheng Military Region General Hospital. The wording was polite and the gist of it was: In order to ensure the financial compliance of key national projects, the hospital's administrative meeting decided to conduct a three-month special audit of the settlement accounts of Zhenxing Quarry. During the audit period, the payment of settlement funds for the stones that have been signed for will be temporarily suspended.

Ye Cheng read it twice, then looked up and asked, "Engineer Gao, what does this mean?"

"What do you mean? It means you're not getting your money!"

Gao Changzheng plopped down on a stone block next to the pile of materials and punched his thigh with his fist.

"This morning, Lao Zheng from the provincial construction company sent me this official document. I came here by car from the construction site. It's over a hundred miles, and the truck almost fell apart on the way."

Ma Zhigang took the official document from Ye Cheng and read it through; his expression changed.

"Freeze the settlement? This stone has been inspected and approved. It meets all the standards!"

"Whether it meets the standards or not is not the point." Gao Changzheng wiped the dust off his face with his sleeve. "They're playing the procedure card. They're saying that you, Ye Cheng, and Dr. Ye Zhen are siblings and have a conflict of interest, so they're investigating whether there's any nepotism involved."

Ye Cheng frowned: "What do you mean by nepotism?"

Gao Changzheng smiled wryly: "So you're saying that the building your sister spearheaded was bought from her own brother's business. Isn't there something fishy going on here?"

Ye Cheng's face flushed red instantly.

He looked down at his hands, calloused and covered in stone dust, and then at the rubble slope behind him that he had chiseled out one hammer blow at a time.

"My stones were forged by these very hands. Each one passed your testing standards—hardness, size, moisture content—which one failed?"

"I know there's nothing wrong with your stones!" Gao Changzheng stood up and paced back and forth in front of the pile of materials. "But people aren't talking about stones anymore, they're talking about your surname being Ye, and your sister's surname being Ye too!"

Ma Zhigang interjected, "Engineer Gao, what did the provincial construction company say?"

"Old Zheng said the company's intention was to ask Boss Ye to 'consider the bigger picture.' The stones will still be delivered, but the money will be held until after the three-month audit period."

"Three months?" Ma Zhigang ripped off his straw hat. "Are you kidding me! You expect dozens of people at the quarry to starve for three months?"

"That's why I drove over here in a hurry!" Gao Changzheng pointed to the mud-covered Jiefang truck. "It's hard to explain over the phone. I need to talk to Boss Ye in person to clarify this matter."

Ye Cheng remained silent.

He turned around and looked at the dozens of people working in the quarry.

People from Heishan Village and Dahe Village mingled together; some swung sledgehammers, some pushed wheelbarrows, and some squatted on the ground chiseling stone slabs. The sun made everyone's backs gleam with oil.

These people are all counting on their wages at the end of the month to buy rice to cook.

"Senior Engineer," Ye Cheng said, his voice not loud, but steady.

"you say."

"I'll deliver the stone as usual."

Gao Changzheng and Ma Zhigang both looked at him at the same time.

Ma Zhigang panicked: "Brother Ye, what's wrong with you? They're not paying you, and you're still spending your own money on labor and transportation to send the goods to Beicheng? How are you going to pay the workers' wages?"

"This building was spearheaded by Zhenzhen," Ye Cheng said, wiping the stone dust off his hands with a towel. "It contains life-saving machinery. The stone supply cannot be interrupted; if it is, the construction will be delayed, and the patients cannot wait."

Gao Changzheng's lips moved, but he didn't reply.

Ye Cheng looked at him and said, "Engineer Gao, please take this message back. The stones will be delivered on time first thing tomorrow morning, and it won't delay the construction site by a single minute."

"Boss Ye..." Gao Changzheng's Adam's apple bobbed.

"I'll figure out the money myself." Ye Cheng draped a towel over his shoulder. "I'll go to the credit union in town tomorrow and see if I can borrow some working capital using the supply contracts I have, to pay the workers' wages first."

Ma Zhigang's eyes reddened: "Brother Ye, what are you trying to achieve...?"

"Just for peace of mind."