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

Zhao Guosheng nodded, holding the jar. "Good morning, hurry up and eat. Aunt Li saved some porridge and steamed buns for you."

Sun Xiaoyan responded and walked into the cafeteria, sitting down in front of the bowl of porridge that Aunt Li brought over.

Li Fang glanced at her, her gaze lingered on her face for a moment, then moved away.

Wang Tao opened his mouth as if to say something, but Liu Wei kicked him under the table, making him swallow his words.

Chen Ping stood up and cleared away the dishes. As he passed by Sun Xiaoyan, he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. He had noticed Sun Xiaoyan's walking posture when she came in.

With just one glance, he understood everything.

He took smaller steps than usual, and his movements were slower when he sat down. His back was straighter than usual, but it was a forced straightness, not a natural one.

He put the bowls and chopsticks in the sink, turned on the tap, and rinsed his hands.

I can't really describe my emotions; I'm not angry or disappointed, just a faint sense of melancholy.

Last night he was still talking to Cui Ying about traditional ideas in the yard, and today he saw Sun Xiaoyan take this step.

But that's their choice, and he has no right to interfere.

After finishing their meal, everyone returned to the front yard to prepare for work.

When they passed the pharmacy, Zhou Jie pulled Sun Xiaoyan into a small cubicle next to the pharmacy.

The cubicle door was ajar, and the voices inside were kept very low, but Chen Ping still overheard a few words as he passed by.

Zhou Jie's voice was both angry and anxious, "Did you two... you know... do that? Didn't you promise me that we'd talk about it after we got married? Why didn't you listen?"

Sun Xiaoyan's voice was even softer and harder to hear, but there was a sense of explanation in her tone, as well as a certainty that was hard to define.

After a while, Zhou Jie sighed, her voice softening, "Forget it, what's done is done, there's no use saying anything now. I see how good he is to you now, and I hope he won't change his mind. You should be more careful in the future, and don't be so foolish as to disregard everything."

The door opened, and Zhou Jie came out first, her face still showing some resentment.

Sun Xiaoyan followed behind her, her eyes slightly red, but a smile on her lips. She reached out and tugged at Zhou Jie's sleeve, as if to say, "Don't be angry."

Chen Ping had already returned to the consultation room.

He sat down behind the examination table, opened the medical record book, and circled the names of several patients who were scheduled for follow-up appointments that day.

The sun was shining brightly outside the window, and Wang Tao was again trying to win Zhou Jie's favor in the corridor. Li Fang called out from inside the pharmacy, "Wang Tao, don't block the doorway and block the light." Wang Tao awkwardly moved to the side.

Everything is the same as usual.

Just after nine o'clock, a commotion came from the ward.

The new mother and her husband, carrying their baby and bags, came out of the ward and ran into Chen Ping coming out of the clinic.

As soon as the man saw Chen Ping, he put down the snakeskin bag he was carrying and went to greet him. He grabbed Chen Ping's hands and shook them vigorously. "Dr. Chen, we're being discharged today. I don't know how to thank you enough. You saved my wife and son's lives."

Chen Ping was shaken so badly by him that he swayed, then laughed and pulled his hand back, patting his shoulder. "Go back and live a good life. Make sure your wife has a proper postpartum period. Don't get out of bed or touch cold water."

The man nodded vigorously, then turned around and called out, "Wife."

A woman walked over carrying a baby who was fast asleep with rosy cheeks.

She handed the swaddled baby in her arms to Chen Ping, "Dr. Chen, look how well it's growing. If it weren't for you, this child would be gone."

Chen Ping looked down and gently touched the child's cheek with a finger.

The child pursed his lips twice, but didn't wake up.

He straightened up, withdrew his fingers, and instructed, "Go to the county hospital for a follow-up check-up in a week, to have your blood clotting function checked, and then have a full check-up forty-two days postpartum. Call me anytime if anything happens."

The couple left the courtyard gate, expressing their deepest gratitude.

Chen Ping stood in the corridor watching them walk away. Just as he turned to go back to his clinic, Zhao Guosheng poked his head out of his office and waved at him. His expression was a bit strange, as if he had been constipated for several days.

Chen Ping walked over. "Dean Zhao, what's wrong?"

Zhao Guosheng pulled him into the office, left the door slightly ajar, and when he turned around, the wrinkles on his face were almost squeezed together.

He rubbed his hands together, lowering his voice as if he were talking about something shameful, "Dr. Chen, could you interview a few security guards for me? Several have come in, all of them my relatives, introduced by my aunts and uncles, I really can't avoid them."

"You tell me, as the dean, if I personally interview them, who do I hire? Who do I not hire? They're all relatives; it's not good to offend anyone."

"Go ahead, you're from out of town, you don't know anyone, if you don't meet the requirements, we won't hire you, you don't care about personal relationships anyway."

Chen Ping looked at him, suppressed a laugh, and nodded, "Okay, I'll go."

He walked out of Zhao Guosheng's office, turned into the corridor, paused at the door of an empty consultation room, took a deep breath, and pushed the door open to go in.

Five old men were sitting on a bench against the wall inside the room.

Chen Ping's heart skipped a beat when he first glanced at it.

This isn't a job interview for security guards; it's clearly a gathering at a senior citizens' activity center.

An old man with completely white hair and deep wrinkles on his face, deep enough to hold chopsticks, was slowly combing his hair with a plastic comb.

There was an old man who was missing two front teeth, so his smile was dark and hollow. He was holding a cane, the tip of which was worn shiny.

There was another old man who was even more outrageous. He had a hearing aid on his ear and no stool. He sat on a pile of newspapers against the wall, tilting his head and dozing off.

Chen Ping sat down in the main seat, looking at the old men with some helplessness. Let alone resumes, he guessed that these old men didn't even have their ID cards with them.

"Grandpa, how old are you this year?" Chen Ping could only ask himself.

The white-haired old man put the comb into his breast pocket, puffed out his chest, and said, "Seventy-three, born in the Year of the Rabbit, in excellent health. He practices Tai Chi every morning and can walk around the village three times."

Chen Ping patiently continued asking, "Have you ever worked as a security guard before? Do you have a security guard certificate?"

The old man blinked and shook his head honestly. "I've never been a security guard, but I was a night watchman in the production team. I banged the clapper at night for three years straight, and I knew whose dog was barking."

He probably felt that his experience was very convincing, so after he finished speaking, he leaned back in his chair, crossed his hands on his stomach, and waited for Chen Ping to nod.

Chen Ping did not nod.

Then I looked at the old man who was missing a front tooth.

What did you do for a living before?

"I'm a farmer. I've farmed all my life, but now the land has been leased out to someone else. I'm just sitting at home doing nothing anyway, so I came out to find something to do. I'm good with my legs and feet, I can walk fast, and I can sit all day without anything to do."

Chen Ping didn't ask any more questions. He glanced around at the remaining old men, some dozing off with their heads tilted, others picking at their nails, and realized that talking to them one by one wasn't a solution.