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

The next morning, Chen Ping woke up in bed at the county hotel.

The sunlight streaming through the gap in the curtains was blindingly bright. He raised his hand to shield his eyes, only to realize that he hadn't even closed the curtains properly before going to bed last night.

I looked at myself in the mirror while washing up. My eyes were a little bloodshot, but I was still holding up.

I called Su Meng several times last night but couldn't get through. That feeling of unease was pressing on my chest, and even after a good night's sleep, it didn't go away.

Although the two were divorced, Chen Ping was still somewhat worried about Su Meng.

I had just finished tidying up when there was a knock on the door.

He opened the door, and Dean Ma was standing there, with County Head Fang beside him. Both of them looked very energetic. County Head Fang was carrying two plastic bags filled with steaming hot buns and soy milk.

"Dr. Chen, hurry up and eat breakfast. We'll leave after you've finished."

County Chief Fang shoved the plastic bag into Chen Ping's hand, his tone light and cheerful, "The city gave us a last-minute notice last night, telling us to go this morning. The report meeting is scheduled for the large conference room of the Tianhai Municipal Health Commission. There are more people attending than in the county; there are people from both the province and the city."

Chen Ping took the steamed bun, nodded, and didn't say anything more.

Even if he didn't go to the city to give a report today, Chen Ping still planned to go to Tianhai City to see what was going on with Su Meng, since no one was answering her phone.

Given that Su Meng is the deputy director of the Health Bureau, it's impossible for her to be unreachable by phone.

If you can't get through on the phone, then the situation is definitely not optimistic.

The three of them ate a few bites and then got into the car, where Xiao Li had already driven to the hotel entrance and was waiting.

This is a champagne-colored minivan with the words "Cangyang County Government" painted on its body. The seats are spacious, and the air conditioner is quietly blowing warm air.

The entire journey from Cangyang County to Tianhai City takes about three hours via expressway.

Many of these are mountain highways, not far apart, but they take a long time. There's nothing we can do about it; in mountainous areas, you can't calculate time based on distance.

On plains, a 100-kilometer highway trip takes less than an hour, but in mountainous areas, a 100-kilometer stretch might take a whole day to cover.

As soon as County Chief Fang got into the car, he started flipping through the materials, muttering a few names. He said that the Provincial Health Department had also sent people today, and their level was much higher than that of the county. He told Chen Ping to just give the report from yesterday and not to change the draft.

Dean Ma, sitting in the passenger seat, turned around and said to Chen Ping, "The province has taken notice of your report. They might even send you on a tour of the province to give lectures in the future."

"Also, several major hospitals in the city will send people there, and there might be some who are dissatisfied and deliberately try to trip us up, so Dr. Chen should be careful."

"Yes, yes, we need to pay more attention to this. We need to carefully consider every word we say so that we don't fall into their traps." County Chief Fang nodded repeatedly.

Upon hearing this, Chen Ping frowned, feeling quite overwhelmed.

He didn't want to complicate things so much, and he had to carefully consider his words, lest someone seize on a single sentence and label him.

"Sigh, I really don't like dealing with leaders. I'm not good with words, I'm blunt, and I easily offend people," Chen Ping sighed.

But as soon as I finished speaking, I immediately felt that something was wrong.

County Chief Fang and Dean Ma are both here; they are leaders to him. If Chen Ping says this, isn't he including these two people in his conversation?

"County Chief Fang, Dean Ma, that's not what I meant, I..."

"Dr. Chen, don't explain anymore. We both know you and you don't have any bad intentions." County Chief Fang patted Chen Ping on the shoulder. "However, if you want to benefit the people and make a difference at the Siping Township Health Center, you really need to deal with these leaders and government departments."

"Otherwise, if even a minor leader makes things difficult for you, you won't be able to do anything!"

Chen Ping nodded repeatedly at County Chief Fang's words, and he truly believed them.

If I hadn't used my connections with Old Master Song, that clinic would still be shut down.

If it weren't for Zhang Jianmin supporting him in the township, County Chief Fang in the county, and Su Meng in the municipal health bureau...

Their Siping Township Health Center could not have achieved its current success.

The car drove out of Cangyang County and onto the highway, with continuous mountains on both sides of the road.

The foothills of the Taihang Mountains are no longer too steep at this point; the terrain is gentle and undulating. In early winter, the vegetation is sparse, and the rocks along the ridgeline reveal their grayish-brown texture.

Chen Ping leaned back in his seat, looking at the mountains outside the window. He subconsciously took out his phone and dialed Su Meng's number again.

The call still didn't go through.

He put his phone back in his pocket and looked out the window at the rapidly receding railings and mountain walls.

Just as Chen Ping and his group were heading to Tianhai City, Su Meng was led out of a windowless room at the end of the corridor of the Tianhai City Discipline Inspection Commission's detention center.

She spent the night in the detention room, but didn't sleep soundly because the pillow was too low; she would wake up as soon as she turned over.

Breakfast consisted of a bowl of thin porridge and a steamed bun. She managed to eat half of it, but the steamed bun was so dry that it crumbled and felt like chewing paper.

She stared blankly at the ever-burning lamp for a long time, silently counting the days in her mind, and thinking back on everything she had done in the health bureau over the past few years.

She was certain that she had not violated any rules and that every allocation was traceable. This was a sentence she kept repeating to herself in the room, as if she were doing some kind of mental preparation.

When the iron gate was pushed open, she thought it was another interrogation, so she stood up and instinctively reached out her hand to put the tracking bracelet on them.

But the female staff member at the door wasn't wearing a wristband; she simply said, "Someone's here to see you."

Su Meng was taken aback. The fact that the person who came was "coming to see me" meant that the person was not an investigator.

She followed the staff through a long corridor and was led into a visiting room.

This room was smaller than the interrogation room she had been in before. It was separated by a glass wall with a microphone hole. The glass was thick and the chamfered edges glowed with a pale green light.

There was a person sitting on the other side of the glass wall.

Xiao Lei was wearing a black cashmere jacket, his hair was combed too neatly, and he had applied hair wax, which made it gleam under the fluorescent lights.

He saw Su Meng walk in, and a smile appeared on his face. That smile no longer contained the obsequious and ingratiating manner he used to display in front of her. Instead, it was filled with a condescending confidence and a kind of greedy expectation.

Su Meng sat down in the chair, looked at his face, and felt a wave of nausea.

Xiao Lei picked up the communicator and held it to his ear, while Su Meng also picked up her own receiver.

"Su Meng,"

Xiao Lei's voice came through the electronic device somewhat distorted, but his tone was clear: "I've come to see you. How did you, a deputy bureau chief, end up in a place like this?"

"I told you before, if you come with me, you'll live a life of luxury, and who would dare to touch you? You're a woman of the Xiao family, the deputy mayor's daughter-in-law! But you just wouldn't listen."

Su Meng looked at him coldly, without saying a word.

Xiao Lei leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and the toes of his black leather shoes dangled lightly outside the glass. He continued, "Let me be clear with you now. With my connections in Tianhai City, letting you out is just a matter of making a call."

"As long as you're willing to be with me, you'll be my woman, Xiao Lei's woman. I mean what I say. I'll call them right now."