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

Su Wenzong sat there with a very complicated expression.

He looked at Xiao Lei in front of him, a feeling he couldn't quite describe churning inside him.

He knew Xiao Lei was no good; he knew exactly how much dirty money Xiao Lei had made from the heart stents at the city hospital over the years, down to every single one of his accounts.

The problem is that he signed every report and accepted every kickback.

He and Xiao Lei are in the same boat; neither of them can escape.

He stood up, looked at Xiao Lei, and squeezed out a sentence: "I'll go and persuade her."

Xiao Lei smiled triumphantly, walked back to the table, and patted Su Wenzong on the shoulder. "That's right. Dean Su, if Su Meng had listened to your advice earlier, she wouldn't have suffered so much."

Su Wenzong left and went directly to the disciplinary committee's detention center.

Thanks to Xiao Lei's prior arrangements, Su Wenzong was able to meet Su Meng immediately upon arrival.

Otherwise, Su Meng, being a cadre under quarantine and investigation, would not be allowed to meet with her family.

However, all rules are made by people, and as long as you have strong connections, the rules can be changed.

When Su Meng was led to the visiting room, she saw Su Wenzong sitting on the other side of the glass wall. She paused for a moment, then continued walking over and sat down.

She picked up the receiver and called out, "Dad."

Su Wenzong looked at Su Meng, and his eyes instantly reddened.

He only had one daughter, and he always wanted to give her the best. He used his connections to get Su Meng into the Health Bureau, where she became the deputy director.

But now, Su Wenzong has some regrets.

He saw that Su Meng's face was very pale, her eyes were sunken, her lips were dry and chapped, and her hair was casually tied in a ponytail with a few stray hairs falling on the side of her face.

She was wearing a dark red cotton vest that wrapped from her neck to her knees, and it didn't look like her own clothes.

He had never seen his daughter like this before, and his heart felt like it had been squeezed.

"Meng'er, Dad has asked many people. I've asked everyone I can, but it's no use. Do you know who's behind this? Xiao Lei's father is the vice mayor."

"As long as you're willing to be with Xiao Lei and marry him, you can leave with just one word from him. The suffering you've endured these past few days has kept your father up at night. Can't you just soften your stance? Apart from being a little petty, Xiao Lei is top-notch in every way. If you're with him, you won't have to worry about anything in the future."

Su Meng remained silent for a while before whispering, "Dad, you know Xiao Lei better than I do. Do you really want me to spend my life with someone like that?"

"You know best how I divorced Chen Ping and how Chen Ping went to the Siping Township Health Center."

Hearing Su Meng's words, Su Wenzong's hands trembled on the receiver, and his voice also trembled.

It seems that Su Meng already knows something.

But in this situation, what use would it be for Su Meng to know more?

"Meng'er, I've never asked you for anything in my life. Do you know how happy I was when you divorced Chen Ping? I was just thinking that you could finally find Xiao Lei, have a powerful backer in the bureau, and have a good reputation in front of others."

"But you just wouldn't listen to me. You secretly investigated everything, and you kept going back to that remote mountain valley to find Chen Ping, all to get funding for the health center through him. What does Xiao Lei lack compared to him? Why can't you change your ways?"

Su Meng looked up at her father on the other side of the glass wall. After decades of being father and daughter, she suddenly felt that her father was somewhat unfamiliar.

"Dad, don't say anything more." Su Meng's tone was firm.

"Meng'er, can't you listen to your father just this once? If something really happens to you, how am I supposed to live? How can I face your mother in the afterlife?"

Su Wenzong looked pleading.

Looking at her father's aged and haggard face, at the white hair at his temples and the bulging veins on the back of his hand gripping the receiver, Su Meng finally burst into tears.

She cried silently for a long time, and the father and daughter remained silent across the thick glass.

The only sounds in the visiting room were the faint static of the intercom and the occasional footsteps coming from the distant corridor.

Finally, Su Meng hung up the receiver and said something to the glass.

Su Wenzong could no longer hear, but he knew that once Su Meng made up her mind, no one could change it.

Su Meng had someone take her back to the detention room.

Su Wenzong sat for a long time before slowly getting up and leaving!

………………

Chen Ping and his group traveled for several hours and arrived in Tianhai City close to noon.

The car drove directly into the courtyard of the municipal government's guesthouse, where a deputy director of the municipal health bureau's office was already waiting at the entrance.

After shaking hands with County Head Fang and exchanging a few polite words with Chen Ping, he said that the room had been arranged and that he should eat and rest first, and then give a report at 2:30 pm in the conference room of the Municipal Health Commission.

Lunch was served at the guesthouse's buffet restaurant. Chen Ping picked up a few dishes from his plate and ate them, but they didn't taste very good.

County Chief Fang and Dean Ma were still discussing the details of the afternoon report, and he responded half-heartedly, his mind already wandering elsewhere.

After dinner, County Chief Fang went back to his room to rest, while Chen Ping said he wanted to go out for a walk to digest his food. He hailed a taxi outside the guesthouse and headed straight for the First People's Hospital of the city.

When he arrived at the hospital entrance, he stood there for a few seconds, then went inside.

He walked through the outpatient hall to the third floor, knocked on the door of the dean's office, but no one answered.

I knocked twice more, but still no one answered.

A young clerk wearing glasses peeked out from the office next door and paused for a moment when he recognized Chen Ping.

"Director Chen, when did you get back? Who are you looking for?" the clerk asked.

"I'm looking for the dean," Chen Ping said.

"The dean went out; it seems he went to participate in some activity," the clerk said.

Chen Ping thanked him and turned to go downstairs.

As he walked down the stairwell, he suddenly remembered that Su Wenzong, as the president of the Municipal People's Hospital, would definitely be present at the afternoon's report meeting.

Realizing he had made a wasted trip, he flagged down a car and headed back.

2:30 p.m., Municipal Health Commission conference room.

This conference room is even larger than the county auditorium. The LED screen above the stage displays the conference logo in red on a white background. There are five or six hundred people sitting below the stage. The front row consists of leaders from the provincial and municipal health systems, and the back row consists of representatives from hospitals throughout the city.

While waiting on the side stage, Chen Ping glanced down at the audience and saw Su Wenzong sitting in the third row by the aisle, wearing a white shirt, with his hair neatly combed and his face expressionless.

Xu Wenshan was sitting next to Su Wenzong, chatting and laughing with the person next to him.

Fang Hai was sitting in the back corner, scribbling something on a notebook with a pen.

Further on, several familiar faces appeared: several former colleagues from the Municipal People's Hospital, Director Qian, Dr. Sun from the Emergency Department, and several head nurses I had dealt with before.

He wanted to go over and say something to Su Wenzong, but the host had already called his name, and the venue quieted down, with everyone's eyes turning to the side stage.