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

Ten days later.

In a small conference room in the backyard of the Beicheng Military Region General Hospital, more than thirty of the country's top surgical experts crowded around a long table. After working non-stop for more than ten days, these usually dignified and meticulous old men all had sunken eyes, unshaven beards, and their white coats were soaked with a sour smell of sweat.

In the very center of the table, there was a thick stack of manuscript paper.

Fifty-three thousand words. All handwritten. Every page of data was painstakingly painstakingly transcribed stroke by stroke by this group of veteran experts using wooden abacuses and the first generation of domestically produced calculators.

Outside the door, Li Changqing, editor-in-chief of the *Chinese Journal of Surgery*, paced anxiously in the corridor like a cat on a hot tin roof. He had been waiting there for over two hours. The editor who had come with him advised him to go to his office for a drink of hot water, but he glared at him and turned away.

"Drink water? This is a treasure that sets the standard for cardiac surgery in China and can save lives! I'm not taking a single step!" Li Changqing clutched a brown paper bag tightly in his arms, which contained typesetting sample sheets printed overnight.

Just then, Ye Zhen strode over, with Gu Zheng following behind.

"Dr. Ye!" Li Changqing rushed towards her as if he'd been sprung from a tether. "Is the first draft finalized? I've cleared out the entire page! We're just waiting for this to be done!"

"Editor-in-Chief Li, let's go in and take a look!" Ye Zhen nodded gently to him and pushed open the door to enter the conference room.

The previously noisy room fell silent instantly. More than thirty pairs of bloodshot eyes stared at Ye Zhen. Gao Haiping stood up, leaning on the edge of the table, his voice hoarse as if sandpaper had been scraped: "Dr. Ye, fourth draft. We, a group of forty-one people, have gone through it four times. Please take a look."

Ye Zhen walked to the table and sat down: "Thank you all for your hard work."

The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Ye Zhen picked up the heavy stack of manuscript paper.

She read the 53,000 words very quickly yet carefully. When she turned to the sixth page, she gently tapped a line of data with her finger.

"Professor Liu, regarding the heparin neutralization ratio in Part Four, the extracorporeal circulation method," Ye Zhen raised her eyes, her tone calm yet revealing professional rigor, "is this 1:1 ratio based on the values ​​used in routine adult surgery?"

Liu Jianmin's heart skipped a beat. He quickly opened the draft notebook in front of him and honestly replied, "I calculated it. The usual operation is indeed a 1:1 antagonism."

"Adults can certainly do it," Ye Zhen softened her voice and patiently explained, "but for infants with Tetralogy of Fallot, prolonged blocking will deplete clotting factors significantly. Using a 1:1 antagonist ratio will greatly increase the risk of postoperative bleeding. I suggest changing it to 1:0.8, and be sure to note 'dynamically adjusted according to ACT'."

Liu Jianmin suddenly realized what was happening, broke out in a cold sweat, and nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes! Dr. Ye, you were so thoughtful; we almost made a big mistake."

Gao Haiping tightened his grip on the Hongyan fountain pen and quickly added this entry to his notebook.

Ye Zhen continued flipping through the pages, reaching page twelve.

"Vice President Gao, look at the postoperative pressure difference comparison in chart C," Ye Zhen pointed to the edge of the table. "Is the unit label on the horizontal axis missing? We need to make it clear whether it's mmHg or kPa. This guideline is being distributed to the grassroots level, and the doctors there need to learn from it. If they make a mistake in the conversion by even one order of magnitude, it could be a matter of life and death."

"I'll fix it right away! I must have missed it because of my poor eyesight, I really shouldn't have!" Gao Haiping blushed and took the pen to fill in the unit in shame.

The manuscript was turned to page thirtieth.

Seeing a certain spot, Ye Zhen sighed softly: "Seniors, regarding the tanning time for glutaraldehyde, it says here 'soak for fifteen minutes at room temperature,' but we need to reconsider this statement."

Everyone turned to look at her, just like students listening to a lecture.

"In the dead of winter in Northeast China, it's minus twenty degrees Celsius, while in the sweltering summer in the south, it's over thirty degrees Celsius. The temperature difference is tens of degrees, and the chemical reaction rates are completely different." Ye Zhen patiently pushed the manuscript paper to the middle. "If we really followed the procedure in the health center in the Greater Khingan Mountains, the patch would be unusable. Let's add a temperature curve function table, clearly indicating that the water bath temperature should be controlled between 20 and 25 degrees Celsius. If the rules are set strictly, the doctors below won't make mistakes if they follow them."

More than thirty top experts, each wielding considerable influence across the country, listened with nods of approval, their eyes filled with admiration. This young doctor in his early twenties possessed not only exceptional surgical skills but also a profound sense of medical ethics and a commitment to serving the world.

Two full hours.

With astonishing meticulousness, Ye Zhen picked out seven minor flaws in this initial draft, which gathered the nation's highest wisdom. Each one pointed directly to the dividing line between life and death.

After reading the last line, Ye Zhen picked up the pen and revised and improved the points she had just pointed out. Then she closed the manuscript and unscrewed the Hongyan brand fountain pen.

On the first page, in the positions of "corresponding author" and "first author", two bold characters were signed: Ye Zhen.

"No problem, we can finalize and print it now." She breathed a sigh of relief, and a gentle smile finally appeared on her face.

Upon hearing this, a collective sigh of relief filled the conference room. Gao Haiping's body went limp, and he slumped into his chair, raising his hand to cover his eyes, tears welling up between his aged fingers. Ten days and ten nights of risking his life—it wasn't for nothing.

Just as Ye Zhen pushed the manuscript to the side of the table, Li Changqing rushed over.

"Dr. Ye! Please take a look at this!" Li Changqing's hands trembled as he tore open the brown paper bag he had brought in.

A brand new sample copy slid onto the table.

The cover has no fancy decorations. It's a pure white background with a line of large, bold text in the center: "Standardization and Clinical Validation of Surgical Procedures for Congenital Heart Disease".

At the bottom, five eye-catching red characters are printed: Nationwide Grassroots Popularization Edition.

"Sixty pages! Full-color printing! Fifteen detailed anatomical illustrations, all printed using newly imported high-definition film presses from Germany!" Li Changqing's eyes were red-rimmed, and his voice trembled uncontrollably. "We calculated the costs overnight. To ensure the clarity of the color illustrations, the printing costs couldn't be reduced. So, the price is a bit higher, set at eight cents per book!"

Fearing Ye Zhen might misunderstand, he quickly raised his voice to declare, "But don't worry! This 80 cents is right at our cost price! The clinic guarantees no loss, but we absolutely won't make a single penny more profit off the doctors! We have only one goal: to make it affordable for every doctor in China, from the provincial capital to the remote mountain village!"

Eighty cents. In the early 1980s, that was probably the price of a pound of pork. Yet it could buy the pinnacle of cardiac surgery technology, a decade ahead of the rest of the world.

"Print it." Ye Zhen stood up and looked at Li Changqing solemnly. "Keep it up in terms of quality and quantity, and the sooner the better. Thank you for your hard work."

Li Changqing suddenly brought his feet together, gave Ye Zhen a somewhat imperfect but extremely sincere military salute, and then turned and ran out with the manuscript in his arms.

"Alright, that's enough." Gu Zheng stood up with a long stride, stuffed the half-full jar of perfectly warm brown sugar ginger water into Ye Zhen's hands, and said with an undeniable concern in his voice, "The seniors have their own things to do. Your task now is to come home with me and rest immediately. If you keep going like this, your body will fall apart first."

Upon seeing this, the veteran experts, including Gao Haiping, smiled and turned their heads, pretending to look at the ceiling, their eyes full of satisfaction.

Ye Zhen lowered her head and took a sip of ginger water. The sweetness of brown sugar slid down her throat into her stomach, effectively dispelling the chill from her bones.

"Okay, let's go home."