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

The next morning, Chen Ping was awakened by a violent tremor.

The whole dormitory was shaking; the windowpanes were rattling, and the water in the mug on the table was spilling out.

The fluorescent light tube on the ceiling swayed back and forth like a pendulum.

earthquake!

The moment the thought popped into his head, Chen Ping had already rolled out of bed, not even bothering to put on his clothes, and ran out the door.

As soon as I rushed out of the dormitory, I saw that several doors next to me had been smashed open almost simultaneously.

Cui Ying stumbled out, pulling Zhou Xiaohe along. Cui Ying was wearing a light pink cotton nightgown, her hair was messy from sleeping, and the wound on her back made her running posture a little stiff. But she held Zhou Xiaohe's wrist tightly with one hand and protected Zhou Xiaohe's head with the other.

Zhou Xiaohe was barefoot, her little face filled with bewilderment from extreme fright.

Sun Xiaoyan also rushed out of the dormitory. She was wearing a thin, almost transparent white slip dress, and she hadn't had time to put on any underwear. The fabric clung to her slender body, covering nothing.

Chen Ping glanced over, his mind went blank for a moment, then he turned his head sharply, his ears burning red.

Zhou Jie then ran out as well. Her pajamas were a bit thicker than Sun Xiaoyan's, but they were just ordinary cotton nightgowns. She had bare legs, with one slipper hanging on her foot and the other one nowhere to be seen.

Three girls and a teenager stood in the corridor, their hair disheveled, their clothes wrinkled, and their faces full of sleepy panic.

Cui Ying was the first to react. She glanced at Chen Ping, who was wearing only a pair of boxer briefs and was standing bare-chested and barefoot in the corridor.

Her face flushed instantly, and she quickly looked away.

Sun Xiaoyan raised her hand to cover her chest expressionlessly, her movements calm, but the tips of her ears were bright red.

Zhou Jie simply turned around and covered her face with her hands.

"It's a tamping machine!"

Chen Ping glanced at the open space. Old Sun was driving a ramming machine, pounding the soil up and down on the construction site. The huge iron lumps slammed into the dusty soil, each slam producing a muffled, thunderous vibration.

Several workers nearby were squatting on the ground eating breakfast. When they saw a group of people running out of the dormitory, they almost spat out the steamed buns in their mouths.

"It's not an earthquake, everyone go back inside."

After saying that, Chen Ping turned around and scurried back into his dormitory, closing the door as quickly as if he were a thief.

The girls went back to their rooms, and the corridor suddenly became quiet, with only the ramming machine still slowly vibrating in the distance.

Chen Ping leaned against the door for a few seconds and wiped his face with his hand.

The image in my mind wouldn't leave me: Sun Xiaoyan standing in the corridor, wearing a thin white nightgown with nothing underneath.

He shook his head vigorously to banish the image from his mind, then rummaged through the closet for clean clothes and put them on.

The atmosphere in the cafeteria was somewhat awkward during breakfast.

Chen Ping lowered his head and drank his porridge, not even lifting his eyelids.

Sun Xiaoyan still had that indifferent look, but she sat far away from Chen Ping. Usually, she would sit in the third seat to Chen Ping's right, but today she sat at the very end of the table.

Zhou Jie held her bowl and drank soy milk, her eyes darting between Chen Ping and Sun Xiaoyan, a barely perceptible smile playing on her lips.

The others didn't know what was going on and continued eating their meals, except for Wang Tao, who peeled a tea egg and handed it to Zhou Jie.

After finishing his meal, Chen Ping first went to take a walk around the ward.

The man with liver cancer looked quite well today. He was leaning against the headboard, drinking millet porridge. He finished the whole bowl, and his wife was beaming with joy beside him.

Chen Ping took his pulse and found it had improved compared to a few days ago. He then gave him some advice on dietary precautions.

I went to check on the new mother again. She was already able to get out of bed and walk around. She was slowly strolling down the corridor with her baby in her arms, and the man was following behind her, holding a baby bottle and diapers.

Chen Ping took the new mother's pulse, asked about the bleeding and lochia, and confirmed that everything was normal. He told her to stay for another day for observation, and if there were no problems, she could be discharged the next day.

Back in the consultation room, Wang Tao had already stacked the medical records, Zhou Jie was taking the blood pressure of the waiting patients in the corridor, and Sun Xiaoyan was hanging an IV drip in the infusion room.

As usual, Wang Tao hovered around Zhou Jie. When Zhou Jie was about to register information for an old lady, Wang Tao snatched the notebook and said she would write it down.

Zhou Jie was about to take a child's temperature when Wang Tao handed her the thermometer.

Zhou Jie was going to the pharmacy to pick up her medicine, but Wang Tao had already brought it back for her.

Zhou Jie was so dizzy from being spun around by him that she finally couldn't help but say, "Wang Tao, can you please stop for a while?" But she said this with a smile on her face, revealing two dimples.

Sun Xiaoyan was busy in the infusion room by herself, changing bottles for an old man and removing needles for a young woman. Her movements were swift and efficient, without uttering a single unnecessary word.

Wang Tao passed by the infusion room, glanced inside, paused for a moment as if he wanted to go in and help, but was glared at by Sun Xiaoyan and walked away sheepishly.

Around noon, a white sedan drove into the health center gate.

The car wasn't a black Passat like those used for official business; it was just an ordinary private car with some mud splattered on it, indicating it had traveled quite a distance on mountain roads.

Zhao Guosheng was standing by the flower bed with a jar in his hand when he saw the car. He squinted at it for a moment, then his expression changed. He almost dropped the jar and rushed over to meet it.

The car door opened, and Su Meng got out of the driver's seat.

She was wearing a beige trench coat over a white shirt, and her hair was loose, hanging down her shoulders, looking much more casual than when she last came.

She came alone, without any attendants.

"Director Su!"

Zhao Guosheng's voice rose a half octave, "Why are you here? You didn't even call ahead so we could prepare..."

Su Meng smiled and waved her hand. "Dean Zhao, I'm not here to inspect, I just came to take a look around."

She paused, her gaze sweeping over Zhao Guosheng's shoulder and across the doors of the consultation rooms in the corridor, as if searching for something. "I've come to see Chen Ping."

Zhao Guosheng's expression shifted from tense to relieved, then to that "I understand" smile. He turned and called out towards the examination room, "Wang Tao! Call Dr. Chen out!"

Wang Tao had already run out of the corridor, and when he saw Su Meng, his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

He turned and ran towards Chen Ping's office, almost tripping on the threshold as he entered. "Dr. Chen! Dr. Chen! You..."

He swallowed the words "ex-wife" and replaced them with "Director Su is here."

Chen Ping was slightly taken aback, wondering what Su Meng was doing here at this time.

Chen Ping got up and walked out of the clinic, stopped in the corridor, and looked at Su Meng standing in the courtyard.

Su Meng looked at him too, and the two stared at each other for several seconds, separated by half a courtyard.