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

He looked at Su Meng, and Su Meng looked at him.

The two stared at each other for about two seconds, maybe three seconds, maybe only one second, but Chen Ping felt it was a long time, as if they had walked through the past ten years again.

Su Meng extended her hand: "Dr. Chen, thank you for your hard work."

Chen Ping looked at her outstretched hand; her fingers were slender, her nails were short and neatly trimmed.

He had held those hands before, for many years—at their wedding, in the hospital corridor, on the sofa late at night, at the entrance of the Civil Affairs Bureau. The last time, she handed him the divorce certificate, and he didn't hold it.

He reached out and grasped it.

Her hands were cold, and her fingertips were slightly damp with sweat.

He gripped it briefly, then released it so quickly that no one nearby noticed.

But Cui Ying noticed it.

Cui Ying stood next to Chen Ping, watching Su Meng from the moment she got out of the car.

Look at the way she got out of the car, look at the way she shook hands with Zhao Guosheng, look at the way she glanced at everyone in the yard.

Look at the way she looks at Chen Ping.

That kind of gaze isn't like a leader looking at a subordinate, nor is it like a stranger looking at a stranger; it's a very complex, suppressed, restrained, yet impossible-to-hide look.

Cui Ying clenched the hem of her clothes for a moment, then let go.

Su Meng walked up to her: "And who is this?"

"Cui Ying, our accountant," Zhao Guosheng quickly introduced.

Su Meng extended her hand: "Hello, Accountant Cui."

Cui Ying grasped her hand and smiled, "Director Su, welcome."

Her hands were warm, and she held them tightly. When she let go, she paused for an extra second.

Su Meng glanced at her, then at Chen Ping, said nothing, and turned to walk into the courtyard: "Dean Zhao, show us around."

Zhao Guosheng quickly followed, walking beside Su Meng with half his body turned to the side, as if to shield her from the wind.

He walked and introduced the place, his voice trembling, but becoming more fluent as he spoke: "Our health center is thirty years old. It has two rows of buildings, one in front with clinics, a pharmacy, and an injection room, and the other in back with wards and dormitories. The conditions are indeed a bit poor, but everyone works very hard, especially after Dr. Chen came..."

He paused, glanced at Chen Ping, and said, "Since Dr. Chen arrived, there have been many more patients. People from several nearby villages come to him for treatment. A few days ago, someone was bitten by a five-step snake and didn't have antivenom, but Dr. Chen cured him with just a few needle pricks. And there's Zhao Dezhu from Sunjiagou next door, whose wife jumped into the reservoir..."

"Old Zhao," Wang Jianguo coughed from behind, indicating that he had said too much.

Zhao Guosheng quickly stopped himself: "Anyway... it's just that... the health center has been much better since Dr. Chen came."

Su Meng didn't speak, but nodded and followed Zhao Guosheng forward.

She looked very carefully, going into every examination room, looking through every window, and touching every table.

When she touched the crack on the examination table, her fingers paused for a moment, then continued forward.

She frowned slightly when she saw the sparsely stocked medicine shelves in the pharmacy, but didn't say anything.

She saw the blackened ultraviolet light in the injection room, her lips twitched, but she didn't say anything.

She stood there for a long time, looking at the peeling paint on the walls and the windows covered with plastic sheeting in the ward, before turning around to look at Zhao Guosheng.

"Director Zhao, the conditions at the health center are indeed very poor."

Zhao Guosheng blushed and rubbed his hands together. "Director Su, we also want to improve things, but we don't have the money. The county isn't allocating funds, the health center has to be self-sufficient, there are few patients, low income, and we can't even pay salaries..."

"I understand." Su Meng interrupted him, her voice not loud but crisp. "I'm here today to understand the situation. You can tell me if you have any difficulties."

Zhao Guosheng opened his mouth as if to say something, but then swallowed it back.

He glanced at Chen Ping, but Chen Ping didn't look at him.

Su Meng turned around and looked at the people behind her: "You guys go and look around first. I'll talk to my colleagues at the health center separately to get a feel for the situation at the grassroots level."

The group exchanged glances, nodded, and then looked around.

Their presence here was merely a formality; it was all at the request of Deputy Director Su Meng during a meeting.

Let them look around freely now, just to relax. Anyway, the environment in Siping Township is quite nice.

As the short-haired female cadre left, she glanced back at Su Meng. Su Meng nodded and followed her.

The courtyard fell silent.

The sunlight shone on the ground, the water dried up, and the ground turned white again.

The leaves of the old locust tree rustled, as if speaking on their behalf.

"Director Su, look..."

Zhao Guosheng rubbed his hands together. "Why don't you come to my office and sit down? I'll pour you a cup of tea?"

"Need not."

Su Meng smiled. "Dean Zhao, I'd like to have a private talk with the comrades at the grassroots level. You can go ahead with your work; you don't need to keep me company."

Zhao Guosheng paused for a moment, then nodded: "Alright, alright, Director Su, please feel free to do as you please."

He turned and walked away, then turned back after a couple of steps. "Director Su, would you like a cup of tea?"

"Really, you don't need to."

"Director Su, who would you like to talk to first?" Zhao Guosheng asked.

"Let's go with Dr. Chen; after all, he's from the city hospital," Su Meng said.

"Okay!" Zhao Guosheng said, then whispered to Chen Ping, "Dr. Chen, you and Director Su have a good talk..."

After saying that, Zhao Guosheng waved his hand: "Everyone else, go back to work!"

Zhao Guosheng left, and Wang Jianguo, Liu Wei, Li Fang, and Wang Tao also left, each returning to their respective clinics to do their own thing.

Cui Ying didn't leave; she remained standing beside Chen Ping!

At this point, only three people remained in the courtyard.

Su Meng, Chen Ping, Cui Ying.

Su Meng looked at Chen Ping, while Chen Ping looked at the ground.

Cui Ying looked at Su Meng, then at Chen Ping, her lips twitched, but she didn't smile.

"Dr. Chen, can we find a place to talk?" Su Meng's voice was calm, as if she were talking about something very ordinary.

Chen Ping looked up, glanced at her, and then at Cui Ying.

Cui Ying stood beside him, neither moving nor speaking, just standing there as if waiting for something.

"Come to my office."

Chen Ping said.

He turned and walked towards the examination room, with Su Meng following behind.

When he reached the door, Chen Ping stopped and turned to look at Cui Ying.

Cui Ying was still standing in the courtyard, the sunlight shining on her, her light blue shirt billowing in the wind, her hair fluttering around her face.

She looked at Chen Ping without saying anything, but her lips twitched as if she wanted to say "Go ahead," but then she didn't.

Chen Ping pushed open the door, and Su Meng followed him inside.

The consultation room was small, with a table, two chairs, a washbasin stand, and an old table lamp.

Chen Ping had put the wooden box on the table into a drawer. The table was clean and tidy, with only a pen holder and a medical record book.

Su Meng sat down in the chair, and Chen Ping sat opposite her.

The two people were separated by a table, but it felt like there was a river between them.

"The conditions at the health center are really bad," Su Meng said first.

"Um."

"You've been here for half a month?"

"Um."

"You've lost weight."

Chen Ping remained silent.

He looked at the pen holder on the table, not at Su Meng.

Su Meng looked at him for a while, then her gaze moved from his face to his clothes and paused.

"Is this a new dress?"

Chen Ping glanced down at himself: "Yeah, a friend bought it for me."

Su Meng didn't speak, but tapped her fingers lightly on the table twice before stopping.

"That Cui Ying..." she paused, "your new girlfriend?"

Chen Ping looked up at her.

Su Meng's face was expressionless, but her eyes were not right. Her eyes were waiting, waiting for an answer, waiting for a verdict.