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

The phone rang three times.

The chairman reached out and answered the phone.

"Hello, this is the conference room."

He listened for a few seconds.

He then covered the microphone.

"Academician Andre requested to speak directly with the entire committee."

The Chairman pressed the speakerphone button.

Andrei's voice came through the loudspeaker, with a heavy Russian accent.

"Mr. Chairman, I am the Director of the Andrei Leonovich Bakulov Cardiovascular Surgery Center."

"I just finished my last post-operative rounds this morning."

"Regarding the nomination and evaluation of Dr. Ye Zhen, I have three things to say to you."

"First, I guarantee with my entire academic reputation and forty-three years of surgical career that the surgical video you are watching is 100% authentic."

"I stood in front of the glass window of the observation room the whole time and witnessed every step of the surgery."

Lefebvre rested his elbows on the table, his fingers interlaced and pressed against his chin.

"Secondly, the autologous pericardial valve conduit technique used in this surgery, along with the complete transapical approach, is the greatest surgical innovation I have ever seen in my 43-year career. That is my final assessment."

Yamada's fists loosened and clenched again on his knees.

"Third, I have submitted a formal evaluation report to the Soviet Ministry of Health."

"All 47 doctors from the cardiac surgery team at the Bakulov Center will attend the North City Summit."

"We want to go to the site to learn Dr. Ye's core techniques."

"If the committee has any doubts about Dr. Ye Zhen's qualifications, I suggest that everyone buy a plane ticket to Beicheng and stand behind the observation window of that operating room to watch a truly difficult surgery."

"It's not too late for everyone to come back and vote after seeing it for themselves."

My statement ends here.

The call was disconnected.

Crawford picked up the bottled water on the table and took a big gulp.

"I also have some additional materials to share with everyone."

He pulled a fax sheet from his briefcase; it had been folded twice.

"This is an express mail from London that I received at 7:00 this morning."

He laid the fax paper flat in the middle of the table.

"The Royal College of Surgeons has officially declared that Sir William, in his capacity as a Fellow of the College, confirms that Ye Zhen's surgical technique is fully reproducible in Cavendish children."

"Moreover, the effectiveness of this treatment far exceeds existing international standards."

He tapped the last line of English letters on the fax paper heavily with his index finger.

"Sir Williams just informed me personally that the Royal College of Surgeons has chartered a British Airways business class plane."

"The hospital's twelve most senior cardiovascular specialists will depart from Heathrow Airport tomorrow afternoon, heading straight for the North City."

Henry's fingers clenched tightly under the table.

The Chairman looked at the mountain of evidence materials piled on the table, including videotapes, British faxes, and detailed data reports from the Chinese side.

He picked up the agenda booklet in front of him.

"Regarding the motion proposed by Mr. Henry earlier at the general assembly."

He looked up and surveyed all the committee members in the conference room.

"Given that China has submitted entirely new evidence on the spot, the Soviet Union has provided independent cross-border verification, and the UK has also clearly stated its support."

"I believe that continuing to discuss the motion to permanently disqualify him has lost its factual basis."

Henry's cheek muscles were taut.

"Chairman, procedural rules cannot be easily violated. My motion has entered the discussion stage."

"Now it is time to terminate this motion. I am exercising the final discretion granted to me by the Chairman to completely abolish this motion."

The chairman stood up and straightened his suit.

"This afternoon I will formally write to Dr. Mahler on behalf of the committee, recommending that he immediately resume the nomination evaluation process for Dr. Ye Zhen."

He turned his gaze to Henry on his right.

"Mr. Henry, you have the right to raise your objections in writing at the next regular meeting, but today's adjournment is hereby adjourned."

Henry remained seated in his chair, maintaining his original posture without moving.

The other committee members successively packed their briefcases and stood up.

As Yamada passed Henry, he deliberately slowed his pace, and in the end, he simply shook his head, sighed, and walked out the door.

Lefebvre stopped at the door and looked back at the monitor whose screen was still lit up.

The scene has switched to the post-operative intensive care unit of the Beicheng Military Region General Hospital, where the chest of an infant, no bigger than an adult's palm, is slowly rising and falling in an incubator.

"Crawford."

Crawford also stopped.

"Tell me honestly, who exactly is this young Chinese doctor?"

Crawford switched the heavy briefcase to his left hand.

"A young woman in her early twenties, in a poorly equipped operating room, using a pair of scissors that cost only 1.2 yuan to manufacture and two fingers, accomplished a miracle that no top cardiac surgeon in the world could do."

He took off his reading glasses and carefully wiped the lenses.

"As for who she really is, I strongly suggest you buy a plane ticket and go to Beicheng to see for yourself."

Henry was eventually left alone in the meeting room.

The monitor screen remained on a distant view of the monitoring room, where the green wavy line pulsed rhythmically with a consistent beeping sound.

He stared at the screen for five minutes before finally reaching out and pressing the power button.

The screen went completely black.

He picked up the international long-distance phone on the table and skillfully dialed a New York number.

"Graham, this is Henry."

"Is the progress in Geneva in line with expectations?"

Henry covered his forehead tightly with his palm.

"The situation is completely out of control. The Chinese representative brought in an unedited surgical video."

What exactly happened in the video?

"That was the entire surgical procedure for that Soviet newborn, who had complete transposition of the great arteries combined with coronary artery anomalous origin."

Henry switched hands to hold the microphone, pressing his fingers hard against his throbbing temples.

"She performed a high-risk coronary artery blindness separation using only a pair of ordinary ophthalmic scissors, without the aid of any medical microscope throughout the entire process."

"After her heart stopped beating for a full six minutes, she successfully restored the cardioversion by tapping the His bundle with just two fingers, without using a defibrillator."

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

"Graham, are you still listening?"

Harrison's voice finally came through the transoceanic cable, his once calm tone now completely changed.

"Can you find a way to get a copy of the inside of that videotape?"

"I will use all available resources to fight for it."

Henry put the microphone back on the landline and sat quietly in the empty conference room.

The sound of hurried footsteps came from the corridor outside the door; Dr. Mahler's administrative secretary was jogging towards the Director-General's office.

Soon, a lively conversation came from the other side, and Henry could clearly hear Machler's words filled with joy and praise.

He picked up the briefcase that was placed at his feet and walked out through the side door of the conference room.