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

Night fell, and the north wind swirled withered leaves through the alley.

Ye Zhen sat at her desk with a sheet of white paper spread out beside her, covered with anatomical diagrams of blood vessels and some strange metallic mesh structure.

The door creaked open.

When Gu Zheng entered the room, he didn't rush to change his shoes. Instead, he took out a paper package from his pocket, strode to the table, and, with a hint of pride, stuffed it into Ye Zhen's hand.

"Here, to warm your hands."

The paper package was scalding hot, almost burning to the touch. Ye Zhen looked down and saw a sweet potato roasted until the skin was charred and the flesh was tender. Sugar and oil sizzled out from the crack, and the sweet aroma instantly filled the room.

"Is everything done?" Ye Zhen tossed the sweet potato around a couple of times; it was too hot to peel directly.

Gu Zheng took off his coat, casually hung it on the coat rack by the door, walked to the table and sat down, his tone as indifferent as if he were talking about what he had for dinner: "It's all taken care of. That bastard is a habitual offender. He used to be a barefoot doctor who killed someone and fled to the capital. The money has been recovered, not a penny less, and the police station delivered it to that family overnight."

He didn't explain the process.

It didn't say how he managed to search through half of Beijing's underground clinics in two hours, nor did it mention the swindler's terrified state when he saw his ID.

In Gu Zheng's opinion, such dirty talk should not be heard by his wife.

"Mm," Ye Zhen responded without asking any further questions. She trusted Gu Zheng; if he said he had taken care of it, then he meant it was done completely, leaving no room for future trouble.

She broke open the sweet potato, its golden flesh steaming hot. Ye Zhen took a bite; it was soft, sweet, and fragrant, the sweetness reaching deep into her heart. She glanced at the man sitting beside her, and the hardest part of her heart seemed to soften from the warmth.

"Gu Zheng".

"Hmm?" The man straightened up, patted the coal dust off his hands, and turned around.

Ye Zhen held half a sweet potato, but her eyes weren't on him. Instead, through the rising steam, she seemed to be looking at a distant and unattainable future.

"I want to do something." Her voice wasn't loud, but she spoke slowly, each word sounding carefully considered. "Something that might seem like a pipe dream in this day and age."

Gu Zheng raised an eyebrow, pulled up a chair and sat down opposite her, his long legs casually stretched out in a languid posture: "Tell me. Do you want to pluck the moon from the sky to use as a shadowless lamp, or do you want to tear down the main hospital building and rebuild it?"

Ye Zhen didn't laugh.

She put down the sweet potato, pulled out a sheet from the pile of drawings, and pushed it in front of Gu Zheng.

"The little girl we met today has Tetralogy of Fallot and needs open-heart surgery to correct it. But in China, besides these complex congenital heart diseases, there are also a large number of children with atrial septal defects, ventricular septal defects, and patent ductus arteriosus. The current treatment for all of them is open-heart surgery."

Ye Zhen made a gesture, which was the motion of a scalpel cutting across the sternum.

"The sternum is sawed open, cardiopulmonary bypass is used, and the heart stops beating. It's high-risk, highly invasive, has a long recovery period, and leaves huge, centipede-like scars. Many children simply can't survive the surgery."

Gu Zheng didn't understand medicine, but he knew how to read people. At this moment, Ye Zhen's eyes burned with a fire. It was the kind of light he had seen on the battlefield, the kind that only the most elite snipers had when they locked onto their targets—absolute focus and an ambition that was determined to succeed.

"So?" Gu Zheng leaned forward slightly.

"There's a way that doesn't require surgery." Ye Zhen pointed to the drawing of a metal mesh on the paper. "All you need to do is puncture a blood vessel in the groin area, insert a thin catheter, and guide it along the blood flow all the way to the heart. Then, insert a small umbrella-shaped occluder, and 'pop' it opens up to seal the defect."

"It's as simple as fixing a tire."

"After the surgery, there was only one needle mark on my body, and I was able to get out of bed the next day."

The room was silent for a few seconds.

Only the occasional crackling sound of the fire could be heard.

Gu Zheng stared at the blueprint, his pupils slightly contracting. Even a layman could understand what it meant.

This means that tens of thousands of children who would otherwise have faced certain death could be saved with just one injection. It also means that the country's medical standards will leapfrog a gap of decades and compete with the world's top levels.

"That sounds pretty far-fetched." Gu Zheng looked up, his gaze fixed on Ye Zhen's face. "If it's so good, why isn't anyone doing it in China?"

"Because we lack equipment, materials, and technology." Ye Zhen's eyes dimmed slightly, carrying a hint of helplessness unique to this era. "We need C-arm X-ray machines for fluoroscopic guidance, and we need special metals for occluders. These are all blank areas in China."

This is the biggest obstacle.

The technological blockade imposed by Western countries, coupled with the weakness of China's domestic industrial base, meant that even a skilled cook cannot make a meal without ingredients. Even if Ye Zhen possessed technology that was forty years ahead of its time, it would be futile without the necessary conduit.

Ye Zhen took a deep breath and looked at Gu Zheng: "If I were to perform this surgery that no one has ever done before, and it might even fail, and I were called a madwoman experimenting on living people... would you support me?"

Before he could finish speaking, Gu Zheng suddenly reached out his hand.

Rough, warm fingertips gently brushed against Ye Zhen's lips, taking away a bit of the sweet potato skin that was stuck there.

The movements were so natural, as if they had done them countless times, carrying an intimate air that made one blush and their heart race.

"When have I ever stopped supporting you?"

Gu Zheng withdrew his hand, casually rubbing off the sweet potato peel, his tone arrogant and matter-of-fact: "You want to have surgery? Then go ahead and do it. You need an operating table? I'll set one up for you. You need patients? I'll find them for you. Even if you have to break through all the barriers..."

He paused, a roguish smile playing on his lips, and leaned forward, his deep eyes reflecting Ye Zhen's image.

"Then I'll hand you a ladder. If it collapses, I'm tall enough to hold it up for you."

Ye Zhen's heart skipped a beat.

It wasn't because of sweet words, but because of that unconditional trust. In this conservative and cautious era, he didn't even ask, "What if someone dies?" before daring to shoulder this enormous responsibility.

This man is incredibly bold, yet he also makes people feel...deadly safe.

"Since Commander Gu has said so," Ye Zhen suppressed the trembling in her heart, her lips slightly curving upwards, regaining her clear and sharp demeanor, "I need the ladder now."

Gu Zheng was taken aback: "So urgent?"

Ye Zhen said, "I am indeed anxious. I feel choked up whenever I think about the child. But there's no use being anxious. We have to take it one step at a time. I want to talk to Director Zhang of the Beijing Military Region General Hospital first."

Gu Zheng said, "That's easy. Tomorrow, we'll go to his office and wait for him."