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

Hearing the man say he wouldn't do it anymore, the woman paused slightly, her voice softening considerably. "It's not that I don't want you to do it anymore. In another ten days or so, when you're feeling better, you can do it again. But not now."

"If you stop doing this in the future, are you going to leave me to live like a widow? How am I supposed to live?"

Chen Ping heard the woman's words coming from the ward and smiled helplessly.

It seems this isn't entirely the older brother's fault. The older sister also had considerable needs, and she was terrified when she heard her brother say he wouldn't do it anymore.

Chen Ping shook his head and walked towards the examination room.

This is the difference between grassroots health centers and large hospitals. At the municipal people's hospital, once the doctor has finished rounds and prescribed medicine, that's it. Nobody cares what you and your spouse do behind closed doors at night.

But having stayed in the hospital for several days, eating, drinking, and relieving himself all in this courtyard, nothing could be kept secret, and he had no choice but to take care of it.

There were already patients waiting in the examination room.

She was a woman in her fifties who had been suffering from back pain for several years. She heard from a relative in the next village that there was a skilled doctor named Chen at the health center, so she got up early and walked several miles of mountain road to get there.

Chen Ping had her lie face down on the examination bed, pressed on her lower back a few times to find the right spot, inserted a few needles, and while leaving the needles in, he also wrote a prescription, telling her to go home and apply a hot salt pack, and come back for a follow-up visit in a few days.

The woman left, expressing her deepest gratitude.

I then saw a few more patients, some with coughs, some with bloating, and a child who had fallen and scraped his knee and was brought in by his parents for dressing changes.

Zhou Jie and Sun Xiaoyan worked together more and more seamlessly, one handing over the equipment and the other making the registration. Wang Tao took a moment to lean over to Sun Xiaoyan and asked in a low voice whether the stitches on Xu Feng's head had been removed.

Sun Xiaoyan smiled at him, a rare occurrence, and said that the dissection had just been done last night and that it was healing well.

Wang Tao wanted to chat a bit more, but Li Fang called him from the pharmacy to move medicine boxes, and he ran faster than a rabbit.

Around noon, just as the last patient left the corridor, Chen Ping was closing his medical record and preparing to stand up and stretch when the sound of a car engine suddenly came from the courtyard.

It was the dull rumble of several vehicles crashing into the concrete, followed by someone shouting, "Who gave you permission to build here? Stop construction! Stop construction immediately!"

Chen Ping put down the medical record book and walked out of the consultation room.

Three white law enforcement vehicles were parked in the yard, with the words "Administrative Law Enforcement" printed in blue on their sides. Seven or eight people in dark blue uniforms were walking towards the construction site in the backyard.

The man leading the way was a man in his forties, wearing sunglasses and carrying a folder. He walked quickly and with firm steps, his leather shoes making a clattering sound as they hit the concrete floor.

Old Sun ran over from the construction site, wiped his hands on his work clothes, and tried to offer a cigarette with a smile on his face, but the other man waved him away.

"Are you in charge?" The man in sunglasses glanced at Lao Sun, then turned his gaze to Chen Ping, who was walking down the corridor.

"I am."

Chen Ping stepped forward, his tone relatively polite, "This medical center project was approved at a meeting held by the township government, and the approval procedures are underway. Are there any problems?"

The man wearing sunglasses pushed them up and perched them on his forehead. He pulled a piece of paper from a folder and handed it to Chen Ping. It was a supervisory notice from the city, an official document with a red header and a stamp on the bottom.

His tone was like reciting a legal document, each word carrying a stiff, businesslike tone: "This land is state-owned land allocated to the health center. The approval authority does not lie with the township government, but with the next higher level."

"The township's approval was only a preliminary review. Construction started before the final approval was granted, which is considered construction without prior approval. Construction must be stopped immediately. The foundation must also be demolished and the site restored to its original state."

Chen Ping took the notice and read it through. He looked up, wanting to say something more, but the other party didn't give him a chance to speak.

With a wave of his hand, the man wearing sunglasses signaled two people behind him to start walking toward the foundation pit. One of them squatted down with a tape measure to measure the dimensions of the ground beam, while the other held up a camera and snapped photos of the half-poured concrete, the flashes dazzling in the sunlight.

"Don't move!"

Old Sun panicked, spreading his arms to block the foundation pit, his face flushed red. "You think you can just stop like that? What will my dozen or so workers eat? The foundation is only half-poured; if you stop, the concrete will be ruined. Can you take responsibility for that?"

"If you continue to obstruct law enforcement, we will have no choice but to notify the police station." The man in sunglasses left no room for negotiation.

Chen Ping reached out to stop Lao Sun, took out his phone, walked to the locust tree, and dialed Zhang Jianmin's number.

The phone rang several times before being answered. Zhang Jianmin's side of the line was very noisy, like he was in a meeting. Chen Ping briefly explained the situation, and Zhang Jianmin said, "I'll be there right away," before hanging up.

In less than fifteen minutes, his black Santana pulled into the health center. As soon as the car door opened, Zhang Jianmin jogged in, his forehead covered in sweat and his shirt collar open, clearly having come directly from the meeting.

He shook hands with the law enforcement officer wearing sunglasses, pulled Chen Ping into the corridor, and lowered his voice, "Dr. Chen, the township really can't handle this. I told you before that the township could approve it because I thought that building an auxiliary building inside the health center was just a matter of the township government issuing an approval and submitting a report."

"Who knew that the Municipal Health Bureau would issue a direct supervisory notice, with a very clear attitude: the medical center project does not conform to the medical area plan and will not be approved. The final approval authority for this land does not lie with the township; the township can only conduct a preliminary review, and the Health Bureau directly rejected it."

Chen Ping was silent for two seconds, and when he heard "Municipal Health Bureau?", he immediately understood.

Xu Wenshan is now in charge of the Health Bureau.

Xu Wenshan knew better than anyone who was behind him.

This clinic has been under someone else's nose since the first day of construction, just waiting for him to finish laying the foundation before taking it all over.

He suppressed the thought, not uttering it aloud, and simply looked at Zhang Jianmin, asking, "Is there any other way?"

Zhang Jianmin frowned and glanced towards the foundation pit.

The newly tied steel cages are still standing in the pit. The concrete has been poured halfway and has hardened, so it can't be broken even by smashing.

He thought for a moment and tentatively said, "How about I get you some land elsewhere? If you build the clinic somewhere else, outside the health center, the health bureau won't be able to reach as far. I'll find some vacant land for construction in the township, and I'll personally oversee the approval process. I guarantee it will be smoother than here."

Chen Ping shook his head, glancing only at the foundation pit.

That was the foundation he had laid, which cost over 100,000 yuan. The key point is that the treatment center cannot be separated from the health center.

The children who come for psychological counseling may need to be transferred to the health center at any time; he must also be able to rush to the scene immediately if there is an emergency with a patient in the ward.

Separating them would be two different things. If the clinic and the health center are together, it can also boost the health center's business.