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

"What, Teacher Ye?"

Zhou Guoan sneered, "What kind of skills can a young female doctor have? Have you been bewitched?"

Zhou Ming stood up: "Dad, you haven't seen her have surgery."

"I don't need to see him!"

Zhou Guoan raised his voice by a whole tone, attracting several more onlookers to the alley entrance.

"Countless reputable top-tier hospitals across the country are lining up to hire you, but you don't go there. Instead, you end up working for a military hospital with a young female doctor, and you can't even get a proper internship certificate."

He bent down to pick up the apples that had rolled off the ground, stuffing them back into his net bag one by one, his movements filled with barely suppressed anger.

"You're coming back with me now. Go to the Academic Affairs Office of Peking University Medical School to apologize and get a new letter of introduction."

"While we haven't wasted more than a few days, we might still be able to get back to Xuanwu."

He shoved the net into Zhou Ming's hand.

"There is no room for negotiation on this matter."

Zhou Ming stared at the apple in his hand for a long time.

Then he placed the net on the pile of bricks next to him, stepped back, and stood up straight.

"Dad, I'm not going back."

Zhou Guoan's hand froze in mid-air.

"Some of the children here, those with congenital heart disease, will die before they can even live for six months."

Zhou Ming's voice was a little hoarse, and his eyes were red, but he didn't stutter a single word. "Professor Ye can't perform so many surgeries by herself. She needs people, she needs an assistant."

"I'll stay here, and two years later I can go on stage and save lives."

"I went back to Xuanwu, and three years later I was still handing pliers to the director."

He paused.

"This isn't some kind of hypnosis; I've thought this through."

The courtyard was so quiet that you could hear the tap dripping from the base of the west wall.

Zhou Guoan stared at his son, his chest heaving violently.

He turned around, slung his bag over his shoulder, and strode towards the gate.

He stopped at the door without turning around.

"Old woman, let's go."

Li Shufen staggered to her feet, one hand supporting herself against the wall, the other wiping away her tears, and followed after him.

Zhou Ming stood still.

Zhou Guoan's voice drifted in from outside the courtyard gate, cold and hard, carrying an uncontrollable gritted teeth.

"If I don't go and demand an explanation from that female doctor, I'm not a Zhou today."

Li Shufen jogged after her, muttering, "Yes, let's settle the score with her. She's corrupted a perfectly good child."

The couple left Heping Lane and turned onto the main road.

A gust of cold wind made Li Shufen shiver, her anger subsided somewhat, but her stomach started to rumble.

It was lunchtime, and the aroma of fried noodles with soybean paste wafted from the window of a state-run restaurant by the roadside, making everyone's stomachs rumble. Zhou Guoan, his face dark, bought two bowls of vegetarian noodles from the window, and he and his wife squatted on the steps in front of the restaurant, slurping them down until they were completely empty.

Zhou Guoan put down the bowl of noodles, wiped his mouth, slung the strap of his bag back over his shoulder, and his eyes blazed with renewed fury.

"Let's go. To the main hospital."

When it was time for work in the afternoon, the two of them rushed into the Beicheng Military Region General Hospital.

The corridor on the third floor of the outpatient building was filled with the pungent smell of disinfectant, and people came and went, with white coats and blue striped patient gowns crisscrossing each other.

Zhou Guoan grabbed Li Shufen's arm and rushed upstairs. The two almost bumped into a nurse carrying an enamel basin at the top of the stairs. The water in the basin spilled out and splashed onto the nurse's shoes.

"Hey, what are you doing here? Who are you looking for?" The nurse frowned and looked them up and down.

"Looking for Ye Zhen! Which department?"

Upon hearing the name, the nurse's expression changed, and she pointed to the end of the corridor: "Dr. Ye is making rounds in the cardiac surgery department this afternoon, it's on the left after turning the corner."

Zhou Guoan rolled up his sleeves and sprinted forward, his feet barely touching the ground.

Before he even turned the corner, his footing suddenly froze.

An elderly man in a blue and white striped hospital gown walked towards us. His white hair was neatly combed, and he strolled slowly with his hands behind his back.

Behind the old man was a young man carrying a thermos, who was bending down to refill the old man's cup with hot water.

Zhou Guoan seemed rooted to the spot, unable to move an inch.

Li Shufen leaned over to see why her husband had stopped.

The moment her gaze fell on the old man's face, she froze on the spot as if she had been struck by a pressure point.

She knew that face all too well.

The head of the Municipal Light Industry Bureau.

He was in charge of the job transfers, promotions, housing allocations, and year-end performance evaluations of more than 700 people across the entire organization—in short, he had the power of life and death.

During holidays and large meetings held by the bureau, this is the person sitting in the very center of the stage.

He was nicknamed "Iron-Faced Judge".

Director Sun Dechang.

Li Shufen's five fingers gripped Zhou Guoan's arm like iron clamps, pinching him so hard his face twisted, but he didn't dare to utter a sound.

"Old man—" She brought her mouth close to Zhou Guoan's ear, her voice so soft it was like a mosquito's hum, "That's Director Sun."

Zhou Guoan recognized him too.

Although he didn't work at the Light Industry Bureau, he would go with his wife to carry rice when the bureau distributed welfare benefits and rice every year. In the leadership publicity board hanging at the entrance of the canteen, Sun Dechang's two-inch photo was the first one, with the words "Director" printed in gold below the photo.

The couple instinctively shrank back around the corner of the corridor, only peeking out with half their heads sticking out.

I didn't dare to breathe.

Sun Dechang was wearing a hospital gown and cotton slippers, and he walked very slowly. He would stop every four or five steps, his chest rising and falling slightly, catching his breath before continuing.

The young secretary followed beside him, her back hunched, one hand lightly supporting his arm, her face full of nervousness.

"Director Sun, please walk slowly. The doctor said you shouldn't overexert yourself these next few days."

"Why rush me? I know what I'm doing."

Sun Dechang waved his hand impatiently. He leaned against the window in the corridor for a while, took out a small brown medicine bottle from the breast pocket of his hospital gown, twirled it in his palm twice, and then put it back.

That movement was very practiced.

It feels like repeating the same thing many times a day.

The two walked slowly away and turned into a private room at the end of the corridor. The door closed gently behind them.

Li Shufen swallowed hard, patted her chest for a long time to calm herself down, her heart pounding like a drum inside her ribs.

"Old man, why is Director Sun in the hospital here? Last week the bureau sent out a notice saying he went to the provincial capital for a meeting, so why is he walking around here in a hospital gown?"

Zhou Guoan frowned and pondered for a long time, then suddenly slapped his thigh.

The slap made a dull thud, startling an intern nurse at the corner of the corridor.

"Who cares why they came!"

He lowered his voice, but the light in his eyes was frightening.

"This is a benefactor sent to us by God."

"Think about it—you've worked at the Light Industry Bureau for thirteen years. Thirteen years! You can't even see the director during holidays. Forget about greeting him, you'd tremble if he twitched his eyebrows."

"They're right under our noses!"

He gripped Li Shufen's wrist tightly, his eyes darting around rapidly.

"Why don't you hurry up and say hello, try to get on their good side? When are you going to do that? Are you going to wait until you get back to the station, then wait in line through three doors and four departments to hand over a note?"

"Yes, yes, yes—" Li Shufen's mind also started to work, and the more she thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed. She unconsciously began to rub her hands together.

"While you're at it, mention to the director that Mingming is a top student from Peking University Health Science Center, so the leader knows that our child is also successful."

"When it comes to evaluating outstanding employees and allocating housing later, won't you have someone to speak up for you?"

Li Shufen's eyes darted around twice, and then she clapped her hands.

"OK!"

She quickly squatted down, straightened her trouser legs, moistened her fingers with saliva, and smoothed the stray hairs falling across her forehead. She then checked each button on her navy blue polyester jacket from top to bottom.

Zhou Guoan wasn't idle either. He turned his satchel upside down, took out the can of malted milk powder, wiped the dust off his sleeve, and then rummaged through his mesh bag, picking out four of the biggest, reddest, and least bruised apples.

"It's not appropriate to leave these apples loose; they need to be put in a bag."

Li Shufen pulled a neatly folded white plastic bag from deep inside her pocket. The bag had been washed, dried, and folded again; she kept it specifically for storing presentable items. She placed four apples inside, weighed them, and finding them too light, then stuffed the can of malted milk powder inside as well.

The bag is bulging, that's what makes it look proper.

"Alright, alright, stop dawdling," Zhou Guoan urged.

The couple looked each other up and down, examining each other's clothing.

Zhou Guoan helped Li Shufen straighten her collar, and Li Shufen helped Zhou Guoan straighten the strap of his handbag.

Both of them took a deep breath at the same time, as if they were getting ready for the last time before going into battle.

Then, I walked straight to the ward at the end of the corridor.