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

"Dr. Chen! Is Dr. Chen here?" Old Zhang's son's voice was very loud, and the whole health center could hear it.

Chen Ping walked out of the consultation room.

When Old Zhang's son saw him, he rushed over in three steps and knelt down with a thud.

"Dr. Chen! I've come to thank you!"

Chen Ping quickly stepped forward to help him up: "Get up, what are you doing?"

Old Zhang's son wouldn't get up, but insisted on holding the banner up to Chen Ping: "Dr. Chen, if it weren't for you yesterday, my father would be dead! You saved his life, which means you saved our whole family! You must accept this banner!"

The group behind them joined in the chant, "Take it! Take it!"

Chen Ping accepted the banner and helped Old Zhang's son up: "How is your father?"

"All done! All done!"

Old Zhang's son was so excited his face turned red. "I was able to eat as soon as I got home yesterday, and this morning my arm wasn't swollen anymore, and I feel great! My mother said she absolutely had to come and thank you, otherwise she wouldn't feel right!"

Zhao Guosheng ran out of the office, still holding the jar in his hand. His eyes lit up when he saw the banner.

He served as the director of the Siping Township Health Center for twenty years and never accepted a single banner of appreciation.

"Alright, alright, come in and sit down," Zhao Guosheng said, gesturing. "Li Fang, pour some water! Wang Tao, bring a chair!"

"I'm not sitting anymore, I'm not sitting anymore."

Old Zhang's son waved his hand, turned around and pulled an old man out of the crowd, "Dr. Chen, look, my dad came by himself!"

Old Zhang emerged from the back of the crowd, wearing a clean Zhongshan suit, his hair neatly combed, and he certainly looked energetic.

He walked up to Chen Ping and was about to bow when Chen Ping stopped him.

"Uncle Zhang, please don't be like this. I'm a doctor, it's my duty to treat and save lives."

"Should I?"

Old Zhang's eyes reddened. "Dr. Chen, you don't know, when I was bitten by a snake on the mountain yesterday, I thought I was going to die."

That snake was a five-step snake. Everyone in these mountains knows that if you're bitten by a five-step snake, you won't live more than two hours.

I had already told my son what my fate would be, and then you gave me a few needles and I came back to life. You think this is the least I could do?

He wiped away his tears: "Dr. Chen, you are my savior!"

A crowd of onlookers stood in the courtyard.

The old man selling vegetables on the street, Sister Zhang from the barbershop, Old Zhou from the noodle shop, and several passersby all gathered around to watch.

They looked at the banner, at Old Zhang's perfectly fine arm, and then at Chen Ping; their expressions changed completely.

"Is this doctor really that skilled? He can even cure five-step snake?" an old man whispered to the person next to him.

"Really? Don't you need antivenom for five-step snake venom?"

"Old Zhang is standing right here, his arm is perfectly fine, does it look fake?"

"Is this doctor new? He looks quite young."

Liu Wei stood at the door of the clinic, looking at the banner with envy.

Wang Tao, standing to the side, rubbed his hands excitedly, muttering, "I knew Dr. Chen was amazing! I knew it..."

Li Fang leaned out of the pharmacy window, looked at the banner, then at Chen Ping, and muttered, "This doctor from the city is really something else."

Cui Ying stood at the door of the accounting office without saying a word, watching Chen Ping surrounded by a group of people, and the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

Old Zhang's son took out another red envelope from his pocket and stuffed it into Chen Ping's hand: "Dr. Chen, this is a small token of my appreciation, you must accept it."

Chen Ping pushed the red envelope back: "I can't accept this. I'll take the banner, but you can take the money back."

"No, no, you must accept it..."

"We really can't accept it."

Chen Ping pressed his hand down. "I'm a doctor. It's my duty to treat and save lives. If you continue like this, I don't want the banner anymore."

Old Zhang's son looked at him, then at Old Zhang, who nodded: "Alright, Dr. Chen is a considerate person, let's not make things difficult for him. The thought is what counts."

Old Zhang's son then took back the red envelope, held Chen Ping's hand and thanked him several times before leaving with his men.

The sounds of gongs and drums gradually faded away, and the courtyard quieted down, but the banner still hung at the entrance of the clinic, its red color dazzling.

Chen Ping spent the rest of the morning surrounded by onlookers.

They didn't come to see a doctor; they came to see him.

People from the street, the next village, and even those from more distant villages all heard that a doctor from the health center had come to treat five-step snake venom, and they came specifically to see him.

Wang Tao stood in the doorway, blocking the way: "Dr. Chen needs to rest. Come back this afternoon, come back this afternoon."

But they couldn't stop them. Those people peeked inside, and seeing how young Chen Ping was, they were skeptical and left, muttering to themselves.

At lunchtime, Chen Ping didn't go out. Cui Ying brought back two boxed lunches from outside. They were basically rice with two dishes: one stir-fried cabbage and the other stir-fried green beans. They weren't very oily, but they were hot.

"You've become a star." Cui Ying handed him the boxed lunch. "The whole Siping Township knows you now."

"Celebrity? What celebrity?" Chen Ping took the lunchbox. "I just treated a snake venom."

"Did you treat a snake venom?"

Cui Ying sat down opposite him. "Five-step snake venom, no antivenom, just a few injections and it's cured. Do you know what that means?"

"What?"

"It means you're capable."

Cui Ying said earnestly, "This place is poor and lacks medical care and medicine. When people get sick, they can only endure it. If you have this skill, more and more people will come to you for treatment in the future."

Chen Ping took a bite of rice but didn't say anything.

Sure enough, someone came when I went to work in the afternoon.

It wasn't just one or two, it was in waves.

The first person to come in was a man in his fifties, clutching his back and walking with a limp.

He stood at the door of the consultation room, looked inside, and hesitated for a moment: "Are you the doctor who treats snake venom?"

"It's me." Chen Ping stood up. "What's wrong?"

"My back has been hurting for years, and I can't do heavy work. I went to the county hospital, and they said it was a herniated disc and recommended surgery. But I don't have the money, so I've just been enduring it. You... can you treat me?" the uncle asked, rubbing his hands together.

Chen Ping asked him to sit down and placed his hand on his lower back.

In that instant, all those thoughts flooded back into my mind.

He could see a piece of cartilage protruding between the fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae, pressing on a nerve, like a stone pressing on a rope.

"It's visible," Chen Ping said. "No surgery needed, let's try a few acupuncture needles first."

He had the uncle lie face down on the examination bed and took out Wang Tao's bag of silver needles from the drawer.

The first needle was inserted into the Shenshu acupoint, the second into the Dachangshu acupoint, and the third into the Yaoyangguan acupoint. The fingers twisted, lifted, and plucked the needle in one smooth motion.

The middle-aged man hissed, then let out a long sigh: "Ah...that feels good."

After three needles were inserted, Chen Ping added another needle to his Weizhong acupoint.

After leaving the needles in for fifteen minutes, when they were removed, the man sat up on the examination bed, tried to twist his waist, and his eyes widened.

"Does it stop hurting?"

"It doesn't hurt anymore!"

The man stood up, took a few steps, then squatted down again, then stood up again, his face full of disbelief. "It really doesn't hurt anymore! I've never felt this relaxed in years!"

He grabbed Chen Ping's hand, too excited to speak, finally managing to stammer, "Dr. Chen, you're a living saint!"