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

Ye Zhen turned around by the window, pulled out a chair, and sat down at the consultation table.

There was a pile of medical records half a foot high on the table, along with three medical reference books with frayed edges.

"Editor-in-Chief Li, the contract is signed, so there's no need to withdraw it, and there's no need to bother finding a lawyer to fight a lawsuit."

"Parker and his team thought that by paying to block the English translation rights, they could completely lock down my technology. That idea itself is ridiculous."

"I have a question for you." Ye Zhen tapped her fingers lightly on the table.

"For a European child who needs heart surgery, their Gore-Tex artificial patch would cost a full two thousand pounds, while with my autologous approach, the cost is less than half a pound."

"If the parents of those sick children who have been seeking medical treatment everywhere knew the truth, what do you think they would choose?"

The receiver emitted the distinctive buzzing sound of a cranked telephone, mixed with Li Changqing's heavy, rapid breathing. He gripped the receiver tightly, his palms already damp with cold sweat.

"Technological leaders never need to beg others to translate their papers."

Ye Zhen spoke at a measured pace, her clear, cool voice ringing with conviction: "Their elaborate schemes to block the release of the English version will only lead to one result—"

"Within the next three years, any cardiothoracic surgeon in the world who doesn't want to be left behind by the times will have to pay for their own plane tickets to fly to China."

"They have to sit on our cold bench, holding a Chinese dictionary, and read your copy of the Chinese Journal of Surgery word by word."

"Parker thought he spent $60,000 on a lock that could put a lock around our necks."

Ye Zhen sneered: "Actually, he bought a GG card."

"The most expensive reverse GG in the world."

"This is tantamount to clearly telling everyone that China possesses an extremely core technology, so important that multinational capital is willing to spend tens of thousands of US dollars in foreign exchange to cover it up!"

"Editor-in-Chief Li, tell me honestly, who won—the sucker who bought the lock, or the guy who got 60,000 US dollars for nothing?"

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

So long that Ye Zhen thought the old wiring had broken.

"Editor-in-Chief Li?"

"I'm...I'm here..."

Li Changqing's voice became completely hoarse, and he took a deep breath.

He lowered his head, staring intently at the copy of the contract, entirely in English, on the table, and at the signature section on the last page, stamped with a glaring red seal. From the alley outside the window, the distant sounds of bicycle bells and the shouts of scissors sharpeners vying for knives drifted in, carrying with them the ordinary, everyday sounds of life.

"Dr. Ye..." Li Changqing's hand gripping the receiver trembled violently. "I'm an old man, over fifty years old. I've been in academic publishing for twenty years, and I think I've seen my share of the world."

He took another deep breath, his eyes red-rimmed.

"Only after hearing your words today do I truly understand what a great power's vision means!"

"No need for flattery." Ye Zhen opened a medical record in front of her and quickly made two strokes on it with a pen.

"However, there's one more thing to do." Ye Zhen paused, "In the next issue of the magazine, write down the ins and outs of this contract incident in the editor's note at the beginning of the issue."

"Write...write what?"

"Just write that a major international medical device company is willing to spend a staggering $60,000 just to buy out your overseas copyright." Ye Zhen's eyes were sharp as knives. "Name their company, specify the contract amount, and print that 'lock-in publication time' clause verbatim!"

Li Changqing's breath hitched: "Dr. Ye, do you mean... to disclose everything directly?"

"right."

Ye Zhen closed the medical record and leaned back in her chair with a "thud".

"I want every Chinese surgeon who reads this magazine to know that what they hold in their hands is the culmination of international capital's efforts to suppress the industry at any cost!"

"I want everyone who reads this paper to stand tall and understand that what they've learned is not just an ordinary surgical procedure, but a Chinese miracle that others couldn't stop even with hundreds of millions of dollars!"

"Isn't Parker trying to shut me up with a contract?"

"Then I'll use his power against him, and use the contract he personally signed to create a sensational press release for this technology that will resonate worldwide!"

On the other end of the phone, Li Changqing's eyes behind his reading glasses were already red and swollen, with tears welling up in them.

He blinked hard twice and nodded heavily into the air: "Dr. Ye, I understand everything."

"No need to wait until tomorrow, I'll write it myself tonight!"

"Go ahead and get busy," Ye Zhen said, preparing to hang up the phone.

"Dr. Ye."

"Um?"

Li Changqing's throat tightened: "You...you really don't blame me at all for not guarding the house?"

There was a slight pause on the other end of the phone.

Ye Zhen turned her head away, her gaze once again falling on the small playground outside the window.

Not far away, by a sand pit, Anderson was squatting on the ground in an unseemly manner, his backside sticking out, struggling to trace Chinese characters on the ground with a dry twig. Old Sir Williams was jumping up and down anxiously beside him, occasionally bending down to wipe away the wrong strokes with his finger and rewrite them.

"Editor-in-Chief Li, I don't need you to feel guilty. I just need you to make this magazine a benchmark of integrity and uprightness."

Ye Zhen's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an overwhelming force: "Take that money. For the next special issue, use the best paper the publishing house can get, and print the anatomical diagrams clearly. But the price must be kept to a minimum, so that even the barefoot doctors in the local commune clinics can afford it!"

"As long as you handle this matter properly, you won't owe me anything, let alone the country."

"Beep—beep—"

The phone hangs up.

Li Changqing put down the burning hot receiver. His back, which had been hunched over with extreme regret, straightened inch by inch, making him look like a steel spear that had been tempered.

President Wang sat behind his large desk, his hands still tightly clutching the $60,000 check. Seeing Li Changqing's unusual expression, he probed, his tone sharp but his voice weak, "Comrade Changqing, what did Dr. Ye say? I genuinely generated foreign exchange for the country, earning tens of thousands of dollars for nothing. She can't find fault with me, can she?"

Outside the door, Old Zhao and Old Chen, hearing the silence from the phone call inside, peeked in, their faces full of frustration: "Editor-in-chief, have we really been trapped by those foreign devils? Are all our hard work just going to go to waste?"

Li Changqing turned around, not even giving President Wang a proper look. His gaze swept over Old Zhao and Old Chen, then he suddenly let out a long breath, his eyes gleaming, and his booming voice echoed throughout the office.

"Old Zhao, Old Chen, go and inform the whole company!" Li Changqing waved his hand. "We'll take this $60,000!"

Upon hearing this, President Wang immediately beamed with pride: "See? I knew it..."

"But this money has to be put to good use!" Li Changqing slammed his hand on the table, making the enamel mug vibrate loudly, and directly swallowed President Wang's words.

He stared at Director Wang and announced, word by word, "Dr. Ye has spoken! This money was offered to us by the foreigners, so we might as well take it! The first thing to do is to take some money and go to the meat processing plant to bring back two big, fat pigs to improve everyone's meals! The rest will be distributed as bonuses per person!"

Old Zhao and Old Chen gasped, their eyes widening like saucers.

Two pigs? Foreign exchange bonus? These days, magazine publishing houses are notoriously stingy; you'd be lucky to get two pounds of sugar and two bars of soap at the end of the year!

"Nonsense!" President Wang jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, stuffing the checks into his pocket like a possessive animal. "This is public foreign exchange! How can you distribute it like this? If the higher-ups find out and convict you of a serious crime, can you handle the consequences?!"

"If they investigate, I, Li Changqing, will take the blame!" Li Changqing stood his ground, pointing at the all-English contract on the table and angrily shouting, "President Wang, before you signed this contract, why didn't you think about whether the higher-ups would investigate you? They spent $60,000 to buy out the copyright in order to shelve Dr. Ye's hard work and protect their multi-million dollar market for supplementary films!"

The color drained from President Wang's face instantly, and his lips trembled as he stammered, "Snow...shelved?"

"If it weren't for Dr. Ye's magnanimous vision, which turned bad things into a weapon for retaliation, our entire society would be nailed to the pillar of historical shame! You would be a sinner for all time!" Li Changqing's eyes widened as he pressed closer.

He grabbed the whiteboard from the table: "Second thing! Use the remaining money to hire a printing factory to supply the production line, get the best imported ink, buy the finest coated paper, and replace all the equipment with the most precise lead type!"

"As for the contract you signed..." Li Changqing sneered, a hint of satisfaction in his voice, "Dr. Ye said I'll personally write the editorial for the next issue! I'll name this foreign company and publish all the details of this $60,000 unfair contract terms in the newspaper! I want them to see what it means to try to steal a chicken and lose the rice instead!"

President Wang slumped back into his chair, the check fluttering from his hand and falling back onto the table. He opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single word in rebuttal.

He knew better than anyone that if the score were calculated carefully, he would be nothing more than a fool being made a fool of by the capitalists. At this moment, he dared not utter a single objection, and could only swallow his anger, wiping away cold sweat without daring to utter a sound.

Old Zhao and Old Chen listened with great excitement, feeling their hair stand on end with exhilaration, and the pent-up frustration in their hearts instantly vanished.

"My goodness, Dr. Ye's magnanimity and skills... he is truly a peerless national hero!" Old Chen rubbed his hands together excitedly, his eyes welling up with tears.

"What are you all standing there for!" Li Changqing tugged at the hem of his faded Zhongshan suit, his chest puffed out high. "Get to work! Stand up straight as Chinese publishers and show the world how Chinese doctors stand tall and earn their pride!"