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

Ye Zhen looked at him, her eyes showing no hesitation, only strong confidence.

"The essence of medicine is to heal the sick and save lives, not to be a noble game for show." Ye Zhen's eyes were sharp and her tone was firm. "It is a fact that China's current infrastructure is weak. But it is precisely because of our limited resources and the large number of sick children from poor families that we urgently need to find a path that is less invasive, less expensive, and more effective than any other country."

She paused, her voice growing increasingly resolute: "Chinese doctors may not have the money to compete on exorbitantly priced medical supplies, but we have hands honed to the highest level of stability under extreme conditions! Standards are never set by nationality; whoever can save a patient's life in real-world practice should set the rules!"

As soon as the words were spoken, Gao Haiping and Zhou Hai's eyes welled up with tears, and they nodded frantically. A gleam suddenly appeared in the eyes of many of their Chinese counterparts present, as if the pent-up frustration that had been weighing on their chests for over a decade due to foreigners had finally been released.

"Dr. Ye!" A reporter from the domestic Health News, sweating profusely, leaned forward and shouted, "Since even Siemens has recognized your standards, can't our 'Heart of China' exclusively enjoy this new technology?"

"The technology from Huaxia Heart isn't for land grabbing," Ye Zhen said frankly, looking at the cameras of domestic reporters. "We've released all the data today, and tomorrow this 'Chinese standard' will be unconditionally available to medical systems across the country!"

She stretched out her slender finger, pointing to the red plaque with gold lettering that gleamed in the midday sun: "Today, we've completely smashed open the door to cardiovascular interventional surgery in China! We not only want to do it ourselves, but I also want to train hundreds, even thousands of doctors who can perform this procedure! So that our people's children will no longer have to go home and wait to die because of this disease!"

Thunderous applause erupted once again, and this time even many foreign experts couldn't help but join in the applause.

"One last question."

A foreign journalist in the crowd called out, "Dr. Ye, with this ten million marks in foreign exchange, do you really intend to stay in China to conduct scientific research? Do you have any plans to go abroad?"

In the early 1980s, ten million marks was an astronomical figure.

Ye Zhen smiled faintly.

She looked up, surveying the still rudimentary facilities of that era, and gazed at her fellow Chinese comrades, their hearts pounding with passion and their eyes shining.

"My roots are planted in the yellow earth." Ye Zhen turned to look at Gu Zheng beside her, her voice clear and bright, "Foreign exchange, not a penny less, was used to build laboratories for our country; as for the people, they will always be here."

After saying that, she turned around neatly and cleanly.

Gu Zheng's previously tense lips couldn't help but curl into a proud smile. He half-embraced his radiant wife, his military boots slamming heavily on the terrazzo floor, and led her away through the special supply passage with steady and domineering steps.

It left behind a corridor of Chinese and foreign media frantically recording history, and the "Chinese Miracle" that has thoroughly etched its name into the history of cardiovascular medicine worldwide.

The jeep was parked under the sycamore tree at the back gate of the Beicheng Military Region General Hospital.

The car door slammed shut, completely shutting out the noise outside.

Ye Zhen leaned back in her leather seat, closed her eyes, and finally relaxed her shoulders, which had been tense for hours. The lead apron was too heavy, making her back ache.

A military green aluminum water bottle was handed to me. There was a chipped piece of paint on the outside of the bottle, showing its age.

"Have a drink." Gu Zheng's voice sounded particularly low in the enclosed carriage.

Ye Zhen opened her eyes, took the kettle; it was a little hot to the touch. She unscrewed the lid, and a rich aroma of brown sugar and ginger wafted out.

"Did you make this?" Ye Zhen took a sip. The sugar water was at the perfect temperature, flowing down her esophagus into her stomach and dispelling the chill from the air conditioning in the catheterization lab.

Gu Zheng sat beside him, his long legs spread wide. He wasn't wearing a coat, just a white shirt with the top two buttons undone, giving him a casual, roguish air.

"That's called having good logistical support." Gu Zheng turned his head to look at her. "My wife, Gu Zheng's wife, can't just come off the operating table without even a bowl of hot soup."

He raised his hand, his rough fingertips brushing against Ye Zhen's lips, wiping away a drop of spilled sugar water. The movement was casual, yet the force was extremely light.

Ye Zhen didn't dodge; she tightened the kettle lid. "There's a debriefing meeting at 2 PM. The parameters for that batch of Siemens equipment must be finalized today, otherwise the training course won't be able to proceed."

"Understood, Dr. Ye." Gu Zheng leaned back in his chair, a smile playing on his lips. "I'll be your driver. But now, close your eyes and take a twenty-minute nap."

Ye Zhen was indeed tired and didn't argue anymore. She turned her head to lean against the car window and closed her eyes to rest. Gu Zheng reached out and pulled her over, pressing her against his shoulder.

"The car window is hard, so lean here."

One o'clock in the afternoon. The old clothing factory in Heping Lane.

The sun beat down mercilessly on the concrete, yet the courtyard was unusually quiet.

Liu Xiaohe, Chen Feng, Gao Yuan and the others had just returned from the main hospital. The moment they pushed open the dormitory door, all the students who were reading inside stood up.

Pairs of eyes were fixed on them.

"How is it?" Sun Jianjun, who was impatient, strode over and asked repeatedly, "Is it repaired? Is it really minimally invasive?"

Chen Feng looked dazed. He walked to the bedside and sat down heavily, unable to speak for a long time.

Gao Yuan unbuttoned his white coat. "No open-chest surgery. The occluder will be inserted in 35 minutes."

A suppressed gasp erupted from inside the room.

Liu Xiaohe walked to the pool, washed her face, water droplets dripping down her chin. She didn't wipe her face, turned around, and spoke softly but clearly.

"Professor Ye performed a blind puncture of the femoral artery and hit the target on the first try."

"When we were checking the interatrial septum, she temporarily switched to an 8mm occluder and confronted the Siemens president and technical director right there on the operating table. 'The instructions were written based on natural defects, and Alice's hole was artificially cut. If we used a 12mm one, the edge tissue would tear on the spot.' Liu Xiaohe clenched her fist, her nails digging into her palm. 'As a result, the 8mm one went in perfectly, without a single drop of contrast agent leaking out.'"

The people in the room gasped. Chen Feng stared at the ground, shaking his head repeatedly: "Thirty-five minutes... unbelievable. All those textbooks we studied are now just scraps of paper."

In the next room, Lin Yi, Li Hong, and other interns also heard these words.

Lin Yi paused slightly in his hand holding the needle holder, then turned to look at the anatomical diagram of the heart on the wall. There was no envy in his eyes, only extreme fanaticism and awe.

"A heart surgery that takes thirty-five minutes without opening the chest," Lin Yi said in a low voice, his jaw clenched.

Li Hong turned around and walked to the table, grabbed the surgical scissors, and continued practicing, aiming them at the suture pad. "Practice! Make the basics even more solid. Professor Ye said that if something goes wrong with interventional surgery, open-chest surgery is the only way to save the day. If we don't master open-chest surgery, we won't even be qualified to assist her in the future!"

Several interns exchanged glances, remained silent, and focused intently on the instruments in their hands. A pure and unwavering medical faith was ignited within the old factory building.