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

"I used to blame myself for being too career-oriented and not caring about anything else. I always thought that you are young and I am young, and we have plenty of time to live a good life in the future."

Su Meng looked up at him, her eyes bloodshot, whether from lack of sleep or some other reason, she didn't know. "Back then, I thought the position of deputy director was more important than anything else. Meetings, research, writing reports, building connections—that's what I did every day when I opened my eyes. Now that I think about it, what was the use of all that? In the end, it was all gone in an instant."

Chen Ping did not respond.

He looked out the window; sunlight filtered through the gaps in the poplar leaves, dappling the ground.

Su Meng suddenly stood up and walked to Chen Ping, less than half a step away from him.

She reached out and placed her hand on his chest. Through the fabric of his shirt, the warmth of her palm seeped through, making it slightly hot.

Then she pressed her face against his, her forehead against his collarbone, and her shoulders trembled slightly.

"Chen Ping, is it possible for us to go back to the past?"

Her voice, muffled and choked with suppressed sobs, rang out against his chest: "Can we remarry?"

Chen Ping froze.

He hadn't thought about this problem.

For more than a month since his divorce, he has been living in Siping Township, busy with seeing doctors, giving acupuncture, writing prescriptions, and building houses every day. He is so busy that he has no time to think about his now-overdue marriage.

What's more, it was Su Meng who initiated the divorce. She didn't even turn her head when she left the Civil Affairs Bureau. Now, she suddenly stands in front of him, buries her face in his chest, and asks him if they can remarry.

He gently grasped Su Meng's arm and pushed her slightly away from his chest; the movement was light but firm.

Su Meng looked up at him, her eyes red, but no tears fell. They just remained red, as if she had been holding them in for a long time.

"Su Meng,"

Chen Ping's voice was low, but every word was clear: "The past is the past. You and I both know that some things, once broken, are broken forever, and even if you put them back together, they won't be the same thing anymore."

Su Meng released her grip, took a half step back, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and sniffed. "I know I didn't do well before. But I'll change. I won't be like that again. I can put my work aside, and we can start over..."

Before he could finish speaking, the door was pushed open.

Cui Ying stood at the door, holding a small medicine bottle in her hand and wearing a loose-fitting house jacket.

Her gaze swept between Su Meng and Chen Ping. Su Meng's eyes were still red, with tear stains still clinging to her eyelashes; Chen Ping stood leaning against the windowsill, his expression somewhat stiff, his hands in his pockets, not moving.

Cui Ying's expression was calm, revealing no emotion, but her fingers were gripping the medicine bottle.

"Chen Ping, my wound hurts a bit, can you take a look at it?"

Her tone was neither warm nor cold, but every word was spoken clearly, as if she were reporting on work, or as if she were announcing hope Yao.

Without waiting for Chen Ping's reply, she walked straight to the bedside, sat down, took off her coat and draped it over the back of the chair, turning her back to Chen Ping and revealing the dressings on her back.

Su Meng stood in the middle of the room, watching Cui Ying sit on Chen Ping's bed, watching Cui Ying take off her coat, and watching the few snow-white dressings on Cui Ying's back.

She took a step back, leaned against the wardrobe, her hands in her trench coat pockets, her face expressionless.

Chen Ping stood by the window, looking at Su Meng and then at Cui Ying, feeling a throbbing pain in his temples.

He walked over, picked up the medicine box from the bedside table, took out iodine and cotton swabs, stood behind Cui Ying, and gently peeled back a corner of the adhesive tape on the top dressing to peek inside.

The wound is healing well; there is no redness or swelling around the sutures, no oozing, the skin edges are neatly aligned, and scabs have already begun to form.

"It's okay, it's a normal healing reaction. New tissue is growing, so it's normal for it to feel a little tight."

He reapplied the dressing, his fingers inevitably touching her skin.

Instead of gently tightening the bandage as she usually does when changing dressings, Cui Ying sat steadily with her back ramrod straight, as if expressing a certain attitude with her entire body.

"Thank you."

Cui Ying stood up, put her coat back on, and buttoned it up one button at a time.

She turned around, glanced at Su Meng, and nodded. "Director Su, excuse me, please continue your conversation."

She went out, but the door wasn't closed properly, leaving a crack.

Her footsteps in the corridor were neither hurried nor slow. She stopped at the door of the dormitory next door, then the door opened and closed. It was very soft, but it could be heard clearly in the quiet dormitory.

Su Meng walked to the door and gently pushed it closed.

She turned around and looked at Chen Ping. "How did she get that injury on her back?"

"She encountered wolves on the mountain. She was protecting a child when the wolf attacked her. I stitched up her wounds." Chen Ping put the medicine box back on the bedside table.

Su Meng was silent for a few seconds, then looked up into his eyes, her gaze direct, "Have you slept with her?"

Chen Ping choked on his words, coughed twice, and looked up at Su Meng.

Su Meng's expression was serious; she wasn't jealous or provoking, she was genuinely asking the question.

Her eyes were bloodshot, and there was a slight sign of fatigue at the corners of her eyes, but her gaze was bright, as if she had gathered all her strength for this moment.

"No." Chen Ping shook his head.

Su Meng didn't speak, but the corner of her mouth twitched slightly, the curve was very small, it was hard to tell whether she was smiling or disbelieving.

"So how did you manage all this time over the past month? Did you rely on yourself?" Su Meng asked.

Chen Ping sighed, leaned against the windowsill, put his hands in his pockets, and remained silent for a few seconds with his head down.

"Didn't I solve all these problems myself before we got divorced?"

He looked up at Su Meng, his tone calm, not complaining or blaming, but simply stating a fact: "It might not even happen once a month, and every time you say you're tired, busy, or that you'll do it another day."

"Sometimes you'd take your clothes off, answer a phone call, get up, and leave. I'd lie in bed for ages, listening to you on the phone in the living room talking about work, then go to the bathroom to take a cold shower. I've never told you these things because I know you're under a lot of work pressure and I don't want to add to your stress."

Su Meng pulled her hand out of the trench coat pocket, letting it hang at her side, gripping the hem of the trench coat tightly.

She had her head down, her chin almost touching her chest, and her loose hair covered her face, so her expression couldn't be seen, but you could see that her shoulders were trembling slightly.

"I never realized... that I could have gone so far before." Her voice was hoarse, as if it were being squeezed out from deep in her throat.

Chen Ping did not respond to that.

He looked out the window; the sound of the ramming machine in the backyard was still shaking the ground. Old Sun shouted something, but his voice was drowned out by the machine's noise.

Su Meng wiped her eyes, took a deep breath, tucked her hair behind her ear, and forced a smile. The smile was so faint that it was almost invisible. "Could you come with me for a walk this afternoon? I've come all this way and haven't even seen the scenery here yet."