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

Zhou Jie was putting the used blood pressure cuff into the cabinet when she heard this. She turned around, glanced at everyone, and her expression was somewhat complicated.

She walked over slowly and said in a low voice, "You don't know. Xiaoyan's family is not well-off. Two years ago, her father was seriously ill and almost died."

"Xiao Yan didn't want to go to school anymore and wanted to go home to take care of her father. It was her boyfriend who took out his savings for tuition and used it to pay for Xiao Yan's father's medical treatment."

"Then he dropped out of school and went to work on construction sites to support Xiaoyan through her nursing school education."

Zhou Jie's voice wasn't loud, but the courtyard was quiet, and everyone could hear her clearly.

After hearing Zhou Jie's words, everyone fell silent, their brows furrowing slightly.

Li Fang's face was even more unpleasant, probably blaming herself for mocking the boy earlier.

"Back in school, there was a rich kid who pursued Xiaoyan for two years, sending her flowers and food every day, but Xiaoyan never even gave him a second glance. She said that she had only ever been with this one person."

"They plan to get married once they've saved enough money. They can rent a house for now and take things one step at a time."

After Zhou Jie finished speaking, she quietly looked at everyone.

The courtyard was quiet for several seconds.

Zhao Guosheng licked his lips, his voice somewhat deep, "This child, she usually has a cold face and doesn't like to talk, but she knows what's going on."

"This girl, she seems cold all the time, but she's warm-hearted than anyone else." Li Fang's eyes were a little red. "Wang Tao, put those fruits away properly. Don't eat other people's fruit. When Xiao Yan comes back, give them to her. It's not easy for the two of them."

After saying that, Li Fang turned her head to the side, perhaps unable to hold back her tears.

"I won't eat it, I won't eat it..." Wang Tao hurriedly put the bag of fruit on the bench in the corridor, his face full of regret and embarrassment.

At that moment, he wanted to slap himself twice. How could he have said something like that about someone being stingy?

"In today's society, it's really not easy for Xiaoyan to stay true to her original aspirations. This child has a very positive outlook on life," Wang Jianguo said admiringly, adjusting his glasses.

Chen Ping looked in the direction of the courtyard gate without saying a word.

He recalled the forearm that Xu Feng had exposed when he stuffed the fruit into Wang Tao's arms. There were two deep white marks on it, marks left from physical labor. They weren't old wounds, but new marks from the last few months.

He recalled his years as the purchasing director at the Municipal People's Hospital, where he saw too many young and beautiful nurses who, after only a few days in their departments, would start asking which attending physician was still unmarried and which department head owned a house and a car.

She was on the phone with her boyfriend saying, "We'll get married once I'm settled," but then she sent him a breakup text message saying, "We're not compatible."

Some of the boyfriends who were dumped were like Sun Xiaoyan's boyfriend; they worked to support their education and gave them their best, only to be told in return, "You can't give me the life I want."

In today's society, the first step to success is to cut off one's beloved, but Sun Xiaoyan, a young girl, managed to protect her love and her original aspirations.

At this moment, in everyone's mind, Sun Xiaoyan's image has risen to a higher level.

"Alright, everyone go eat." Zhao Guosheng waved his hand.

In the canteen, Aunt Li deboned the lamb leg bones and made soup. She cut the meat into large chunks and braised it with potatoes and carrots. When she finally served it, it was a big bowl full of lamb, with the glistening sauce coating the meat. The meat was so tender that it could be easily picked up with chopsticks and fall off the bone.

The mutton soup simmered over low heat all morning, resulting in a milky white broth with a thin layer of oil floating on top. It was sprinkled with cilantro and chopped green onions, and served in individual bowls.

Besides the lamb leg, Aunt Li also stir-fried eggs with green peppers, made cucumber salad, and reheated the leftover shredded pork with garlic sprouts from the morning. The large round table was piled high with food.

Everyone sat down around the table. Wang Tao picked up a piece of mutton and put it in his mouth. It was so hot that he grimaced, but he couldn't bear to spit it out. He mumbled "Delicious."

Liu Wei took a sip of the mutton soup, his glasses fogged up by the steam, and he took them off, wiping them as he nodded.

Zhao Guosheng cleared his throat and looked at Chen Ping. "Dr. Chen, I've been with the health center for so many years, from mud floors to cement floors, from adobe houses to new brick houses. I've never been as happy as I am today."

"I still feel like I'm dreaming that our health center was featured on the provincial TV news. We can't drink alcohol at work this afternoon, so I'll toast you with tea instead."

Chen Ping stood up, holding his water glass, and clinked glasses with Zhao Guosheng.

He then instructed others to follow suit, raising their water glasses to toast Chen Ping, who in turn clinked glasses with each of them.

Cui Ying also picked up her water glass, glanced at Chen Ping, and said, "I'd also like to toast our Dr. Chen. Hope there's a chance we can be on TV."

"Cui Ying, you're still offering a toast? You'll be family soon, and you'll be drinking the nuptial wine together then," Li Fang teased.

"Sister Fang..." Cui Ying's face turned red instantly.

The others joined in the commotion, laughing heartily.

Chen Ping casually picked up his water glass, clinked it against Cui Ying's, and drank the water in one gulp.

After everyone finished their meal in a lively atmosphere and were about to rest, a series of shouts and curses suddenly came from the direction of the courtyard gate.

The sound was sharp and harsh, like a knife scraping glass, and could be heard clearly even across half the yard.

Chen Ping was the first to stand up and walk out.

Everyone else got up as well, the chair legs scraping against the floor tiles with a jumble of noise.

At the gate of the courtyard, Sun Xiaoyan was staggering into the yard, supported by her boyfriend Xu Feng.

Xu Feng's face was covered in blood, with a bloody gash running diagonally from his forehead to his brow bone. Blood flowed down his cheeks, staining the collar of his faded work jacket a large patch of dark red.

He limped on one leg, leaned half his body on Sun Xiaoyan's shoulder, and grimaced with every step he took.

Sun Xiaoyan's hair was disheveled, and her face was covered in an indistinguishable mixture of sweat and tears. When she saw Chen Ping and the others rushing out from the backyard, she cried out in a trembling voice, "Help!"

Not far behind her, a young man in a black jacket was chasing after her, brandishing a steel pipe about half a meter long, cursing and spitting everywhere. "I've been chasing you for so long and you didn't even glance at me. You turned around and hooked up with some poor bastard, even walking around with him like that? I'll kill him today, or I'm not a Zheng!"

Seeing this, Chen Ping rushed forward in three steps and pulled Sun Xiaoyan and Xu Feng behind him.

Wang Tao and Liu Wei rushed over, standing guard on either side.

Zhou Jie squeezed up from behind and took Sun Xiaoyan's arm, helping her to support Xu Feng as they retreated into the corridor.

Blood was still dripping from Xu Feng's face, falling onto the corridor floor tiles, drop by drop, glaringly red.

The young man rushed to the courtyard gate, only to see several people suddenly appear and block his way. He instinctively paused, his steel pipe raised in mid-air, his face twitching, but he still yelled, "Who the hell are you? Mind your own business! This poor bastard tried to seduce my girl, it's none of your business if I beat him up!"