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

"Gu Zheng, don't frighten the child."

Just five words.

The "Living Yama," who had just exuded a murderous aura and seemed ready to dislocate the other's arm at any moment, paused for an extremely subtle moment.

The hostility in Gu Zheng's eyes dissipated like the receding tide. He took out a handkerchief from his pocket, slowly wiped his fingers, casually tossed the handkerchief into the nearby tin trash can, and stepped back half a step behind Ye Zhen.

This stance is not only protection, but also absolute indulgence.

Ye Zhen walked straight to the terrified little girl and squatted down.

Eye level.

"Is squatting more comfortable than standing?" Ye Zhen looked at the little girl, her tone as calm as if she were in a consultation room. "You get out of breath after running a few steps, your lips turn purple, and your fingertips are swollen like drumsticks. Do you often faint?"

The little girl was stunned. She blinked her timid big eyes and nodded subconsciously.

The man lying on the ground was stunned, forgetting even to cry out in pain.

The woman next to her abruptly covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face, her voice trembling: "How...how did you know? The doctor...the doctor at the big hospital said the same thing!"

Tetralogy of Fallot.

Ye Zhen stood up, her gaze sweeping over the man's unshaven, despair-stricken face. Her voice remained calm and professional. "Typical congenital heart disease. When the child is oxygen-deprived, she instinctively tries to squat down because this increases vascular resistance, making it easier for blood to flow back to the heart so she can catch her breath."

She spoke this string of professional terms fluently and without the slightest stutter.

In the information-isolated 1980s, apart from top experts in major hospitals, ordinary people couldn't even come up with these terms.

The man's eyes changed.

The initial hostility and suspicion gradually turned into shock, and finally into an incredulous tremor.

"You...you're really a doctor?" The man's voice was hoarse, as if he'd swallowed a handful of sand. "Not the guy selling SK-II?"

Ye Zhen's gaze turned slightly cold: "I am a surgeon, I only believe in the scalpel."

The man felt as if his last backbone had been ripped out, and he collapsed completely. Looking at the pile of crushed chocolate he had stepped on, he suddenly raised his hand and slapped himself hard across the face!

"Snapped!"

The slap was extremely hard, and half of his face visibly swelled up.

"My lord!" the woman cried as she rushed forward and hugged his hand.

"I'm such a bastard!" The man buried his head in his hands, wailing like a child in front of so many people. "I'm useless! I couldn't save Nannan! We sold our old house, we sold our farmland, and scraped together two thousand yuan... and then... and then we were all swindled by that heartless 'miracle doctor'!"

"He said it could cure it completely...no surgery needed...just a few doses of medicine and it would be fine..."

"It's all fake! The money's gone... all gone!"

Those around them felt uneasy listening to this.

In an era when workers earned only a few dozen yuan a month, two thousand yuan represented the blood and sweat of several generations of a family, and the life of a living person.

Being swindled out of all their life-saving money—this kind of despair is enough to drive an honest, hardworking person insane.

Ye Zhen listened quietly, her expression unchanged, but her hands hanging at her sides clenched slightly.

In both her past and present lives, what she hates most are these scumbags who exploit patients' will to live and push them toward death.

That was a desecration of medicine, a murder.

"Gu Zheng," Ye Zhen suddenly spoke.

Behind her, Gu Zheng, who had been silently playing the background, immediately stepped forward, leaned down and whispered in her ear, his tone carrying a hint of casual teasing, yet also a reassuring certainty: "Wife, give me your orders."

Ye Zhen turned her head and looked at him, a hint of pleading appearing in her usually cool eyes for the first time: "Could you... help them get their money back?"

"If my wife says so, then it's definitely possible." Gu Zheng laughed arrogantly. "They dare to swindle money for life-saving treatment in the capital. I think they've got a death wish."

After speaking, Gu Zheng turned to look at the man who was still kneeling on the ground crying. The gentleness on his face vanished instantly, and he reverted to his cold, businesslike expression.

"Alright, stop howling."

Gu Zheng pulled a notebook out of his coat pocket, scribbled a line, tore it off, and tossed it to the man. "Take this and go to the police station at that traffic light intersection ahead. Find the station chief. Tell him you're here because Gu Zheng sent you. Give him a detailed account of the swindler's appearance, characteristics, and where you met him."

The paper fluttered down in front of the man.

The man picked it up with trembling hands, as if he were holding a life-saving decree. His whole body was shaking, and his lips moved for a long time, but apart from kowtowing, he couldn't utter a complete sentence.

"besides."

Ye Zhen's voice rang out again. She took out the business card that Dean Li had forced on her earlier from her pocket, and handed it over along with the stack of foreign exchange certificates that she hadn't yet spent.

"Take this to the General Hospital of the Beijing Military Region and find the cardiothoracic surgery department. Although I'm not practicing there now, just mention my name and they will admit you."

Ye Zhen paused, her gaze falling on the timid little girl. "This child's illness has been going on for a while, but even if we don't do a radical cure, she can still survive if we do a shunt surgery first."

The man stared dumbfounded at the stack of colorful bills.

This is a foreign exchange certificate! Something even more valuable than the Great Unity Certificate! It can be used to buy imported medicine and scarce goods!

"This...this is too much!" The man waved his hands frantically, at a loss, wanting to take it but not daring to.

"Take it." Ye Zhen's tone left no room for argument as she shoved it into the woman's hand. "It's not for you, it's a loan for the child. You can pay me back when you've earned some money."

After saying that, she didn't give the couple another chance to kneel down and thank her. She took Gu Zheng's hand and said, "Let's go, we're hungry."

Gu Zheng let her pull him along, then casually pushed the old bicycle over and straddled it with his long legs.

The bicycle weaved through the crowd, leaving behind a dashing silhouette.

Behind them, the family of three knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times in the direction they had left, remaining there for a long time.

……

It was a bit windy on the way back.

Gu Zheng rode slowly, deliberately using his broad back to shield Ye Zhen from the wind.

"young married woman."

"Um?"

"This isn't like you at all," Gu Zheng's voice carried on the wind.

He was testing the waters.

Although they hadn't known each other for long, he could tell that Ye Zhen was an extremely rational, even somewhat cold, person. She could stay up for days and nights to treat the wounded, but when it came to human relationships, she was always distant and kept herself tightly wrapped up.

But today, she not only meddled in other people's business, but also got angry.

He even went so far as to use his connections to arrest people.

Ye Zhen, sitting in the back seat, remained silent for a long time.

Why?

Perhaps it was the father's desperate, reckless actions for his daughter that reminded her of her own lonely death on the operating table in a past life. If only someone had been willing to risk their life for her then…

Perhaps it's because she possesses technology that transcends this era, yet she can still feel the insignificance and powerlessness of individuals in this age.

"Gu Zheng".

"I'm here."

"Medical skills are not meant to be used by swindlers as a tool to make money. Those scumbags don't deserve to be associated with the word 'medical skills'."

As Gu Zheng listened to the voices behind him, the smile on his lips deepened.

He slammed on the pedal, and the car shot off like an arrow.

"Yes, sir!"

Gu Zheng laughed loudly, "Since Mrs. Gu has spoken, then I'll play the role of a hidden master. Before tonight, I'll let those bastards know what it means to 'provoke the powerful'!"

The setting sun cast long shadows of the two of them.