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

After breakfast, everyone dispersed from the canteen and returned to their respective posts.

Wang Tao opened the doors and windows of the consultation room to let in some fresh air, then straightened the sheets on the examination bed and neatly stacked the medical records on Chen Ping's desk.

He hummed a song while doing these tasks, the tune drifting far away, completely unaware of it.

Chen Ping walked into the consultation room with a mug in his hand and sat down in a chair.

The water Cui Ying poured for him was at the perfect temperature. He took a sip, opened his medical record book, and circled the names of several patients who were scheduled for follow-up appointments that day.

Liu Wei peeked halfway in from the doorway, holding a notebook, and asked about the dosage of the prescription for the little girl with the dislocated cervical spine from yesterday.

Chen Ping repeated the dosage, Liu Wei wrote it down in his notebook, nodded, and left.

Li Fang was checking the medicines in the pharmacy, recording the boxes of medicine used yesterday in her notebook, muttering to herself, "The cold medicine is almost gone" and "There are two bottles of cough syrup left," her pen scratching away in the notebook.

Wang Jianguo, wearing reading glasses, sat in the clinic with an old newspaper spread out in front of him and a cup of tea in his hand. The tea was leftover from yesterday, with a little hot water added, and he drank it with relish.

Since Chen Ping came along, this old doctor no longer needs to work and can now relax and wait for retirement.

Zhao Guosheng carried the jar around the yard, looked at the few rose bushes in the flower bed that hadn't bloomed yet, then at the crooked locust tree by the door, nodded in satisfaction, and went back to his office.

The job posting has already been sent out, and it's estimated that people will apply today. Zhao Guosheng also needs to prepare for the recruitment process in advance.

Patients arrived one after another.

Wang Tao stood at the door of the clinic calling out numbers. His voice was much clearer than a few days ago, and his throat had recovered.

People with back pain, leg pain, coughs, and stomach discomfort came in one after another.

Wang Tao led the person in, asked for their name and symptoms, wrote them down in his notebook, and then stood next to Chen Ping, waiting to hand over the acupuncture needles and prescription.

Chen Ping examined each patient one by one, taking their pulse, asking questions, prescribing medication, and administering acupuncture. His hands were steady, and he didn't say much, but he asked each patient detailed questions.

If something can be resolved on the spot, resolve it on the spot; if not, explain it clearly and tell the person to go to the county hospital.

When the patients left, they were all very polite. Some said "Thank you, Dr. Chen," and others said "Thank you for your hard work, Dr. Chen." Chen Ping nodded to each of them without saying anything more.

Around nine o'clock, two people entered through the gate of the courtyard.

The girl walking in front was in her early twenties, wearing a light blue thin jacket, with her hair tied in a low ponytail. She had a fair and clean face and was quite pretty.

She kept her head down and walked slowly, as if searching for something on the ground.

A young man followed behind, wearing a dark blue work jacket, with short hair and a tanned face; he looked like someone who did manual labor.

The young man followed behind her, his hands in his pockets, without saying a word. There was a half-step distance between them, as if they knew each other, but not particularly intimate.

Wang Tao went up to them and asked, "Who are you looking for? Are you here to see a doctor or to pick up medicine?"

The girl looked up at him, then looked down again, her voice very soft, "We're looking for Dr. Chen."

Wang Tao didn't ask any further questions and led them into Chen Ping's consultation room.

The young girl went inside, while the young man stood outside the consultation room without going in, and Wang Tao ignored him.

Chen Ping had just finished writing a prescription for an old lady, who left after thanking him profusely.

He looked up, saw the girl coming in, put down his pen, and pointed to the chair opposite him.

"Sit down, are you feeling unwell?"

The girl sat down on the chair, placed her hands on her knees, twisted her fingers together, twisted them a few times and then loosened them, then twisted them together again.

She glanced at Chen Ping, then at Wang Tao standing beside her, her lips moved slightly, but she didn't say anything.

Chen Ping waited a few seconds, and seeing that the girl didn't speak and looked at her nervous appearance, he roughly understood.

Some illnesses are difficult for patients to talk about in front of a third person, especially for young women.

He put down his pen and glanced at Wang Tao.

"Wang Tao, please go out for a moment and close the door behind you."

Wang Tao paused for a moment, looked at the girl, then at Chen Ping, nodded, and turned to leave.

He gently closed the door to the consultation room, his footsteps fading into the distance down the corridor.

The consultation room fell silent.

The girl breathed a sigh of relief, her shoulders slumped, but her hands were still clasped together.

Chen Ping softened his voice, his tone as usual during a medical consultation, "Now you can tell me, where does it hurt?"

The girl took a deep breath, as if she had made a great decision. Her voice was so soft that Chen Ping had to lean forward to hear her.

"I...I haven't had my period for several months."

As soon as she finished speaking, her face turned red, the redness spreading from her cheeks all the way to the base of her neck. She lowered her head even further, her chin almost touching her chest.

Chen Ping didn't show any particular expression and continued to ask, "How many months?"

"Three...more than three months." The girl's voice grew softer and softer.

Were your periods regular before?

"It used to be quite regular, I came every month, maybe two or three days off at most."

"Besides not having your period, are there any other discomforts?"

The girl's face turned even redder, and she clenched her fingers even tighter on her knees.

She opened her mouth several times, her voice sounding like it was being squeezed out of her throat, "My lower body... my lower body is swollen and painful, sometimes it feels heavy, it hurts when I walk fast, it's uncomfortable when I sit, I'm uncomfortable no matter what I do."

Chen Ping nodded and asked a few more questions: how was your appetite? Had your weight changed? Had you been taking any special medication recently?

The girl answered each question: her appetite was not as good as before, her weight had not changed much, and she had not taken any special medication.

After asking these questions, Chen Ping paused for a moment.

He looked at the girl, his tone still flat, devoid of any judgment or emotion.

"Is there a possibility of pregnancy? Have you had sexual intercourse recently?" Chen Ping asked.

The girl's face flushed bright red, as if it were burning.

She shook her head vigorously, her ponytail swinging back and forth behind her head, her voice suddenly rising a few decibels, carrying a sense of grievance that she had been wronged.

"No! I'm not married yet, I... I've never slept with a man."

She seemed a little agitated when she said this, probably because she was afraid Chen Ping would suspect her of being improper.

Chen Ping saw it all but said nothing.

He stood up, took a pen from the pen holder, wrote a few lines on the medical record, and then put the pen down.

"Put your hand out, let me take your pulse."

The girl stretched out her hand; her wrist was slender, her skin was fair, and the veins were faintly visible beneath her skin.

Chen Ping placed three fingers on the paper and closed his eyes.

As soon as he felt the pulse, his brows furrowed slightly.

A deep and hesitant pulse indicates that the disease is internal and that the pulse is hesitant due to qi stagnation and blood stasis.

The radial pulse is particularly weak and thready. When you press it, there is an indescribable feeling of resistance. It is not a normal pulse pattern; it is something else entirely.