Sent to the countryside, I turned the health center into a top-tier hospital.

"Is that all?" Cui Ying asked, still wanting more.

"That's it, what else do you want to hear? Conspiracy theories, perhaps?" Chen Ping laughed.

"Boring!" Cui Ying said, snatched the mug from Chen Ping's hand, and went back to the accounting office.

Chen Ping stood at the door of the consultation room, watched the people disperse, smiled slightly, and then returned to his consultation room to greet the patients who were about to arrive.

Patients arrived one after another.

Back pain, leg pain, cough, diarrhea—one after another.

Wang Tao was shouting commands at the door, his voice still hoarse from last night, coughing every few shouts.

Liu Wei was writing down the prescription in a notebook. His handwriting was messier than usual, and his eyelids kept drooping. He had to rub his eyes every few words he wrote.

Li Fang was getting medicine at the pharmacy when she picked up the wrong one. She went back to get it again, muttering, "So sleepy, so sleepy."

Wang Jianguo was sitting in the consultation room, taking an elderly woman's blood pressure. His hand trembled slightly as the mercury column rose, but he steadied himself and read out the number.

Several more patients were receiving IV drips in the ward, including yesterday's children and new patients who arrived today.

A row of IV bottles hung up, dripping slowly, as if counting down the time.

Wang Tao made several trips and changed the IV drips multiple times. His legs were sore from running around that he sat on the steps outside the clinic, panting, his eyes half-open and half-closed, his head nodding.

At noon, Aunt Li brought the food to the table.

Braised pork belly, scrambled eggs, stir-fried bok choy, and seaweed and egg drop soup—it was simpler than usual.

"We haven't finished the leftovers from yesterday, let's make do with this for now," Aunt Li said, joining the others.

No one was picking or choosing; everyone held their bowls, moving their chopsticks and chewing more slowly than usual.

Wang Tao stopped eating, his chopsticks still in his mouth, forgetting to chew, his eyes fixed on the dishes on the table, but not actually looking at them.

Liu Wei ate a couple of mouthfuls of rice, put down his bowl, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes.

Li Fang ate half of the rice in her bowl, but couldn't eat any more. She pushed the bowl away and lay down on the table.

Zhao Guosheng ate a few bites and then put down his chopsticks.

He looked around and saw that everyone at the table was listless. Wang Tao's eyelids were drooping, and Liu Wei was snoring loudly.

He looked at Chen Ping, about to speak, when Wang Tao spoke first.

"Director, our health center needs to hire nurses."

Wang Tao's voice was weak and listless. "There weren't many patients before. As an intern, I could do all sorts of odd jobs."

"Look at us now, patients are coming one after another, and there are so many people getting IV drips. I can't keep up with them even if I run my legs off."

"This morning alone, I changed the IV bag more than ten times, and I also had to dispense the medication, call out the numbers, and hand the needle to Dr. Chen. I'm not complaining about being tired, it's just that we really don't have enough people."

Liu Wei opened his eyes and nodded. "Wang Tao is right, we need to hire nurses. More than thirty children were brought in last night, and all of us worked together, even Cui Ying came to help."

"If another emergency like this happens, we simply can't function without manpower. We need to hire two nurses, even if they're just recent graduates from nursing school, as long as they can give injections, change IV bags, and take temperatures and blood pressure."

Li Fang raised her head, resting her chin on her arm, "That's right, look at me, I'm the only one in the pharmacy. Now that there are more patients, the amount of medicine we take in and the amount we take out have increased several times over. I can't handle it all by myself."

"Hire a nurse, even a part-time one, to help dispense medicine and organize the medicine shelves, so I can free up my hands to do other things."

Wang Jianguo took off his reading glasses and said slowly, "Before, the health center couldn't even pay salaries, so no one wanted to come. Now that conditions are better and there are more patients, we need to hire more people. Nurses are a necessity, and we can't always rely on Wang Tao, an intern, to fill the gap."

After listening to everyone, Zhao Guosheng didn't immediately respond.

He glanced at Chen Ping, who was drinking soup from a bowl. After finishing, Chen Ping put the bowl down and wiped his mouth.

"Dean Zhao, they're right, we need to hire nurses. We don't need many, just two. Preferably local, graduates of nursing schools, with nursing licenses. Their salaries will be covered by the health center's revenue. Now that we have more patients, our income is also higher, so supporting two nurses shouldn't be a problem," Chen Ping said.

Zhao Guosheng nodded. "Okay, let's hire. I'll draft the recruitment requirements this afternoon, post a notice in the township, and also ask the health school if they have any recommendations."

He paused, glanced at the people at the table whose eyelids were drooping, and said, "Everyone should take a break at noon today. Nobody's made of iron after staying up all night."

Wang Tao was the first to stand up and say, "Then I'm going back to sleep."

Liu Wei stood up, yawned, tears welling up in his eyes, and took the bowl to the kitchen.

Li Fang scrambled up from the table, her eyes barely open, and followed Liu Wei to the kitchen, still clutching her chopsticks.

Chen Ping stood up. "Dean Zhao, I won't take a nap at noon. There are still patients receiving IV drips in the ward, and I'll keep an eye on them. You and the others should go and rest."

Zhao Guosheng glanced at him, opened his mouth as if to say something, but then swallowed his words back.

He patted Chen Ping on the shoulder, said nothing, and turned to leave.

Chen Ping carried the bowls and chopsticks into the kitchen, and Aunt Li took them from him, telling him to get back to work.

He washed his hands, went to the ward, and looked at each patient one by one.

Some of the patients receiving IV drips were asleep, some were staring at the ceiling with their eyes open, and some were looking at their phones.

He adjusted the drip rate, checked several indwelling needles, and asked if anyone felt uncomfortable. After confirming that everything was fine, he left and sat down on a bench in the corridor.

"Go get some sleep. I'll keep an eye on things for you, change the dressing, remove the needle. I know how to do it."

Cui Ying came from the backyard and saw Chen Ping sitting on the bench. She said with great heartache.

"Why aren't you asleep? Where's Xiaohe?"

Chen Ping asked.

"Xiao He is already asleep, you should go to sleep too." Cui Ying sat down next to Chen Ping.

"I'm not going to sleep. There are so many patients. It's impossible for no one to keep an eye on them. If something goes wrong, no one can take responsibility."

Chen Ping shook his head.

Seeing this, Cui Ying stopped talking. She knew Chen Ping's personality and that she couldn't persuade him.

The two sat there, Chen Ping's body slowly leaning towards Cui Ying.

Soon, Chen Ping's head rested directly on Cui Ying's shoulder, his eyes were slightly closed, and he began to snore.

He was so tired that although he kept saying he couldn't sleep, his body betrayed him.

Seeing Chen Ping fall asleep with his head on her shoulder, Cui Ying smiled.

Slowly reaching out, Cui Ying put her arm around Chen Ping's shoulder to help him sleep more peacefully.

A gust of autumn wind blew by, and Chen Ping's body shivered involuntarily. In this semi-enclosed corridor, the autumn wind was still quite cool.

At this moment, the older woman who was hospitalized came out of the ward and saw Chen Ping asleep on the bench. She quickly took a blanket and gently handed it to Cui Ying.

Cui Ying smiled at the older woman, then covered Chen Ping with the blanket and sat there quietly.