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

Luo Yushan looked at her, his hand resting on the lid of the medicine box, not moving it for a long time.

"Do you know they're looking for you outside?"

"Know."

"Do you know that the road to Luoying Village is even more difficult to travel? After passing Qingshan Town, there is a stretch of yellow mud slope south of it. When it gets cloudy, you can't even pull your shoes out. Two years ago, a peddler pushed his wheelbarrow into the ditch and broke his leg, but no one heard him shout."

Ye Zhen fastened her handbag, and the clasp clicked shut.

"So let's go now."

Luo Yushan stared into her eyes. The young woman's face showed neither the passion of grand pronouncements nor the panic of being surrounded. She was simply stating a fact, like saying it was time for rounds and to go to the operating table.

He suddenly turned around and picked up a worn-out medicine box from behind the door. The leather strap of the medicine box was broken off and held together with hemp rope. The corner of the box was worn so badly that the iron inside was exposed.

"I'll lead the way. At worst, I'll just not wear this white coat anymore."

Gao Haiping patted his shoulder, not with much force, but his palm pressed firmly.

"Old Luo, I knew you hadn't changed your stubbornness when you reported the pandemic prevention funding back then."

Luo Yushan glared at him.

"Don't flatter me. I can't stand seeing children die under the weight of reports."

He slung the medicine box strap over his shoulder, turned to Ye Zhen and said, "There's a ditch outside the backyard. Follow the ditch westward, and after crossing the barren slope, you'll find the old road to Luoying Village."

Before he could finish speaking, a series of hurried footsteps came from outside the door. At least three or four people were coming from the front yard, their leather shoes crunching on the broken bricks.

Someone shouted in a gruff voice, "Luo Yushan, open the door!"

Liu Xiaolan clutched her notebook, the color draining from her face instantly.

"Dr. Ye, they've arrived."

Luo Yushan immediately lowered his voice and pointed towards the back window.

"They climbed out the back window, but the coal shed blocked their view, so they couldn't see them from the front yard."

Gao Haiping glanced at the small window, its frame covered with old newspapers, barely wide enough for a person to squeeze through sideways.

"If I try to squeeze through a window, I'm afraid I'll get stuck halfway down."

Luo Yushan grabbed him in an annoyed manner.

"I'll drag you out even if you're stuck. Enough talk, hurry up."

The person outside started banging on the door, the wooden door shook twice, and the latch clanged.

"Luo Yushan, are you inside? Open the door, the town needs to see you!"

Ye Zhen first pushed Liu Xiaolan to the window, her voice low and steady.

"Xiao Lan, let the comrades behind take the box. You go out first, and keep the notebook close to your body. You can lose anything, but you can't lose the notebook."

Liu Xiaolan nodded vigorously and stuffed the notebook into her close-fitting cotton-padded jacket, fastening it tightly.

The short plainclothes officer had silently climbed into the backyard from outside, steadily catching Liu Xiaolan's arms with both hands, and then lifted the wooden box from the windowsill with clean and efficient movements.

After Li Hong crawled out, she turned around and reached out her hand.

"Professor Gao, please step out first, I'll catch you from below, don't rush."

Gao Haiping had one leg over the windowsill, with the other leg still stuck inside, hanging from the window frame and swaying from side to side.

He muttered in a low voice, "I've climbed operating tables and ravines in my life, and today, I have to climb the back window of the clinic."

Luo Yushan was pushing his buttocks from inside.

"Hurry up, the door's about to be smashed open."

Gao Haiping finally managed to tumble and scramble out, and after regaining his footing, he didn't forget to turn back and throw out a sarcastic remark.

"Old Luo, you're definitely going to owe me this drink."

Luo Yushan shoved his medicine box out the window, and Li Hong caught it from outside.

"Let's wait until we don't get expelled."

Ye Zhen was the last to climb out of the window. The moment her toes touched the ground, a muffled thud came from the front door as the bolt was flung open, followed by the sound of leather shoes stepping into the room.

A man yelled, "Where are they? Someone just said they saw out-of-towners enter this row of houses!"

Another voice chimed in: "The water on the table is still hot; they just left."

Luo Yushan urged him in a low voice, his footsteps shuffling along the base of the coal shed wall.

"Hurry up, don't step on the broken tiles, it'll make a lot of noise."

The group of people crouched down and walked along the ditch for about a hundred meters, then around a barren slope covered with withered grass. The path under their feet changed from broken bricks to yellow mud, and then from yellow mud to a mountain path with alternating stone slabs and weeds.

When they reached the halfway point of the slope, Li Hong suddenly tugged at Ye Zhen's sleeve and gestured down the slope with her chin.

"Teacher Ye, there are two people over there who are sneaking along the side road towards Luoying Village. They look like they are from the town government."

Luo Yushan looked back, his face contorted with wrinkles.

"Damn it, that shortcut is half an hour faster than ours. If they get to Luoying Village first and spread the word, Old Tian will be even tighter on his lips."

Gao Haiping was panting heavily.

"Should we pursue them?"

Ye Zhen didn't stop walking, only looking at the crooked dirt road stretching into the mountains ahead.

"Let's go our own way."

Before Gao Haiping could say anything more, the two figures on the slope had already disappeared into a thicket of bushes.

Almost simultaneously, the tall man and the short man silently followed from the other side, disappearing into the bushes in a flash.

A moment later, two muffled thuds came from the bushes, as if someone had fallen into the soft soil.

Liu Xiaolan shrank her neck and asked in a low voice.

"I hope nothing bad happens to them."

Luo Yushan stared wide-eyed and clicked his tongue.

"Those two kind people were quite efficient."

Gao Haiping coughed lightly, his tone leisurely.

"Gu is a kind-hearted family member; they always handle things very well."

Ye Zhen didn't turn around or reply.

"Keep going."

When the group arrived at Luoying Village, their backs were soaked with sweat, and the clothes clung to their bodies, feeling both cool and sticky.

A few skinny dogs darted out from the village entrance, baring their teeth and barking twice. Luo Yushan took out half a pancake from his pocket and threw it over. The dogs snatched the food and stopped barking.

Luo Yushan pointed to a crooked mud house in front of him, with several roof tiles missing and the Spring Festival couplets pasted on the door frame faded to white paper.

"That's the village clinic. Old Tian usually stays there."

Ye Zhen walked to the door and pushed open the half-closed wooden door.

Inside, a middle-aged man wearing a dirty vest was sitting on a bench with his legs crossed, smoking a pipe. Two empty medicine bottles were lying at his feet.

He saw Luo Yushan lead a group of unfamiliar faces in. The pipe slipped from his hand and rolled to his feet, scattering ashes all over the ground.

Luo Yushan stood in front of the table, staring intently at him, and asked the question immediately.

"Tian Youfu, where are Tian Xiaobao's medical records?"

The color drained from Lao Tian's face inch by inch. He bent down to pick up the tobacco pouch, his hand groping on the ground twice before finding it. When he stood up, his knee hit the leg of the stool.

"Dr. Luo, what are you doing here? What Tian Xiaobao? I don't have any medical records here."

Ye Zhen took a step forward, opened the old diary of Luo Yushan in her bag, spread it on the table, and pointed to a line of text with her finger.

"On March 23, Tian Xiaobao, male, four years old, had purple lips and shortness of breath after activity. He was treated for pneumonia at the town health center and returned to the village after two days of penicillin injections without effect."

She moved her finger away from the line of text and looked up at Lao Tian.

Old Tian's lips moved, his hand gripping the pipe, his knuckles tightening.

"Who exactly are you?"

Luo Yushan placed the medicine box on the table. The weight of the weight caused the empty medicine bottles on the table to bounce.

"The person who saved the child."