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

Zhou Mingyuan fell completely silent.

The old lady stopped fiddling with her prayer beads and let out a long sigh.

"Old Zhou said it himself last night, he believes Xiao Ye."

Gu Zheng glanced at Ye Zhen from the side, the curve of his lips was very shallow, but there was an undisguised smugness hidden in his eyes.

Ye Zhen ignored him and turned to ask Zhang Guohua.

"How is the old commander's mental state now?"

Zhang Guohua nodded repeatedly, his voice noticeably more relaxed than before.

"He's much more energetic now. He was just saying he wanted a bowl of hot millet porridge, which made the head nurse laugh."

Ye Zhen put her hands into the pockets of her white coat.

"Come on, I'll go check on the patient in the ward."

Professor Zhao put his reading glasses back on, stood up from his chair, and replied stiffly.

"I'll go too."

The group of people left the consultation room one after another, and the smell of disinfectant wafted through the corridor.

Gu Zheng strode to catch up with Ye Zhen, and the two walked side by side ahead. He turned his head and glanced at Professor Zhao behind him.

"Professor Zhao, are you worried about the patient's safety, or are you worried about my wife's medical skills?"

Professor Zhao paused, glanced at Gu Zheng, and furrowed his brows.

"I'm worried that a rare disease that hasn't even been officially named by the domestic medical community will be treated as a definitive conclusion when no one is certain about it."

Ye Zhen walked ahead, her clothes fluttering gently with each step, without turning her head.

"Professor Zhao, you are right."

"Any new medical diagnosis cannot rely on reputation to intimidate people; it must rely on an impeccable chain of evidence to convince people."

The corridor was silent for two seconds.

Professor Zhao's footsteps caught up again, but the pace was half a beat slower than before.

"Dr. Ye, if your judgment is ultimately proven correct, I, Old Zhao, will bow to you in public and apologize."

Zhang Guohua quickly tried to smooth things over by patting the file bag in his hand.

"If this difficult case can truly be reversed, it must be reported to the Ministry of Health and made into a case study for the entire hospital and even the whole country."

Professor Zhao snorted and didn't reply, but his pace noticeably quickened.

At the ward entrance, the nurse on duty was writing something in her notebook.

Ye Zhen walked over and glanced at the record sheet.

"How's the color of your urine?"

The nurse quickly stood up straight to report.

"The color is much lighter than yesterday. The old commander himself said that his eyes don't look as yellow anymore."

Ye Zhen nodded and pushed open the door to go inside.

Chief Zhou was leaning against the headboard, with a newspaper from that day folded beside his pillow, and steam rising from the enamel mug on the bedside table.

His complexion was still sallow, but his eyes were brighter than yesterday.

When he saw Ye Zhen come in, he smiled happily.

"Dr. Ye, I heard you went to teach a class to top students at Peking University Health Science Center early this morning?"

Ye Zhen walked to the bedside, and the usual coldness on her face dissipated somewhat.

"I rushed over right after class."

Chief Zhou turned his gaze and it landed on the tall figure at the door.

"You went along to join the fun too?"

Gu Zheng strode in, stood ramrod straight, and spoke with unbridled arrogance.

"I'm here specifically to carry her bags."

Chief Zhou laughed so hard his shoulders shook, and he pointed at Gu Zheng.

"If that old man from the Gu family knew his eldest grandson was behaving like this today, he should have given me that half-carrot back in the Taihang Mountains!"

Gu Zheng grinned and didn't refute.

Ye Zhen had already turned to ask the attending nurse.

"Did the patient pass gas today?"

The nurse opened the logbook.

"I successfully completed the queuing process this morning."

Ye Zhen bent down, her gaze level with that of the old chief.

"Sir, if we rate stomach pain out of ten, what score would you give it now?"

After thinking carefully, Chief Zhou held up four fingers.

"I'd get seven points the day before yesterday, but today I'll get at most four. I can hold back."

Is your skin still itchy?

"Much lighter, I finally got a good night's sleep last night."

"Is your mouth dry?"

"It's still dry, but it's not as hot as it used to be."

Ye Zhen nodded, rubbed her hands together to warm them, lifted the corner of the blanket, and pressed her fingertips along the old chief's abdomen inch by inch.

Zhou Mingyuan stood nervously at the foot of the bed, barely daring to breathe.

The old lady gripped the Buddhist prayer beads tightly in her hand, her gaze fixed on Ye Zhen's hand.

After the physical examination, Ye Zhen carefully tucked the blanket back in.

"The body is responding very well, so continue with the original medication regimen."

Chief Zhou stared at her for several seconds before tentatively asking.

"Really no surgery?"

Ye Zhen spoke with certainty.

"Not open."

Chief Zhou turned to look at Professor Zhao, who had been standing silently by the window.

"Old Zhao, what do you say?"

The entire ward fell silent for a moment.

Professor Zhao took off his reading glasses, wiped the lenses with the corner of his clothes, put them back on, and then spoke.

"Sir, I agree to continue with a cautious observation period."

He paused for a moment, his voice much softer than it had been in the consultation room.

"All indicators are indeed moving in a positive direction. Observing for another 24 hours will be safer for your health."

Upon hearing this, the old lady who had been standing at the door felt her prayer beads slip from her fingers, and her eyes instantly welled up with tears.

"That's good, that's good..."

Ye Zhen didn't relax; instead, her tone tightened.

"It's not time to celebrate yet. We need to keep a close eye on blood sugar and bilirubin levels tonight. The side effects of high-dose hormones should not be underestimated; something could go wrong at any time."

Commander Zhou smiled helplessly.

"You little rascal, other doctors choose to say nice things to comfort people, but you always choose to say scary things."

Ye Zhen took the pen from the nurse, opened the medical record book, and the pen tip quickly glided across the paper.

"Let me be upfront about this so that you and your family know what to expect and how to cooperate with the doctor."

Chief Zhou nodded repeatedly.

"Alright, I'll follow your orders, even if it's just an old bone."

Gu Zheng stood at the foot of the bed with his arms crossed, watching Ye Zhen write down medical orders with effortless grace, a slight smile playing on his lips.

The nurse took the doctor's order and repeated it to everyone.

"Continue with dexamethasone, check blood sugar every two hours, strictly record urine output, check bilirubin once at night, and have a follow-up ultrasound tomorrow morning on an empty stomach."

Ye Zhen looked up and added a sentence.

"If you experience worsening abdominal pain, fever, or a drop in blood pressure at night, please notify me and Professor Zhao immediately."

Professor Zhao paused for a moment and glanced at her.

Ye Zhen said it as a matter of course.

"The surgical preparations haven't been withdrawn yet. You are still the primary person in charge of this surgery. If it really comes to the point where surgery is absolutely necessary, you will still be the lead surgeon."

The tension that had been on Professor Zhao's face for two days finally dissipated completely.

"Dr. Ye, you are more thorough in your work than I imagined."

Gu Zheng added casually from the side.

"She's just too lazy to argue."

Ye Zhen deftly capped the pen and turned her head to the side.

"Gu Zheng".

Just two words, with the final sound lowered.

Gu Zheng immediately shut up, his back straighter than the guards at the door.

When Chief Zhou looked at the young couple, he couldn't help but laugh out loud, but he choked and coughed several times.

The old lady quickly rushed forward to pat his back and help him catch his breath.

Ye Zhen glanced at the monitor on the bedside table.

"Laughing is fine, but be careful not to laugh too hard, or you might tear your internal organs."

After finally stopping his cough, Chief Zhou leaned back on his pillow and looked intently at Ye Zhen.

"Dr. Ye, give me a heads-up: if my test results continue to drop tomorrow, does that mean I'm completely out of the running?"

Ye Zhen met the old man's gaze.

"If biochemical indicators continue to decline and the tumor on imaging shrinks simultaneously, the diagnosis will be very close to autoimmune pancreatitis."

Chief Zhou pressed for details.

"How close would it have to be for those experts outside to remove the operating table?"

Ye Zhen held up three fingers.

"Seventy-two hours later, as long as the bilirubin level drops by more than half, the pancreatic swelling continues to subside, the abdominal pain is significantly relieved, and the possibility of cancer progression is ruled out, I will apply to formally withdraw the surgical plan."

Chief Zhou reached his hand out from under the covers and slapped the edge of the bed heavily.

"Okay! Then I'll wait these seventy-two hours!"