After being separated from my family, I became a darling of the military region thanks to my medical

The draft in the corridor was a bit harsh, making one's face feel tight.

After signing, the thin piece of paper was taken away by the nurse. Li Dazhu didn't rush back to the ward, but squatted down against the wall and took out a blue cloth bag that was even patched up from his pocket.

The cloth bag was peeled back layer by layer, revealing a stack of loose bills.

The largest denomination was the "Great Unity" note, of which there were only two. The rest were one-yuan, five-mao, and two-mao notes, with the majority being coins. The edges of the aluminum coins were worn smooth, clearly indicating that they had been held in one's hand for a long time.

"one two three……"

The towering man squatted there, his fingers spitting as he counted the bills one by one. If he miscounted, he started over.

He was oblivious to the strange looks he received from family members passing by.

Ye Zhen stood a few steps away, watching quietly.

The money, stained with sweat and smelling of earth, was the money earned by farmers who toiled in the fields, risking their lives for food. In those days, a serious illness was enough to bankrupt a well-off farming family instantly, let alone someone who had been bedridden for half a year.

"doctor."

Li Dazhu counted the money, carefully wrapped it up, looked up and saw Ye Zhen, and hurriedly stood up. He awkwardly wiped his hands on his trouser leg, bent down and picked up the bamboo basket at his feet.

The basket was lined with dry grass, and dozens of eggs were crammed together, some of which had chicken droppings and grass clippings stuck to their shells.

"Doctor, I... I don't have anything good." Li Dazhu shoved the basket into Ye Zhen's arms, his face turning a deep purplish-red. "These are eggs laid by our old hen, collected over half a month, all red-skinned! Don't mind the dirt, this is... to nourish you. My father's leg is all depending on you!"

Ye Zhen lowered her head.

The smell of chicken manure was unpleasant, even somewhat pungent.

But in her eyes, this basket of eggs represented the entire sincerity of the family, and even their livelihood for the next two weeks.

She reached out her hand, but instead of taking the basket, she gently pressed down on the back of Li Dazhu's cracked hand.

"Take it back."

The voice was cold and unquestionable.

"Doctor, I..." Li Dazhu said anxiously, thinking she was disgusted.

"After surgery, the patient needs a high-protein diet to promote callus growth." Ye Zhen looked into his eyes, her tone calm yet penetrating. "I cooked some for the old man, two a day. That's the doctor's order."

Li Dazhu froze, his eyes instantly reddening, his lips trembling as he stammered, "Yes! Yes! I'll listen to the doctor!"

Ye Zhen withdrew her hand and turned to walk towards the nurses' station.

Zhao Haifeng, his face dark, was checking the pre-operative preparations when he saw Ye Zhen approaching. He snorted coldly and turned his head away: "Don't think I'll submit to you just because you signed the papers. If you open the joint capsule and can't see any necrosis, let's see how you handle this! Don't cry then!"

"Dean Zhao."

Ye Zhen walked up to him, her hands in her coat pockets, her posture as upright as a pine tree.

"What? Scared? Want to back out?" Zhao Haifeng glanced at her sideways.

"Since you're going to lay it all out in the open, how about we make a bet?" Ye Zhen said calmly, as if she were talking about something trivial. "If the surgery proves me right, and there is indeed avascular necrosis of the femoral head—"

She paused, her gaze sweeping over Li Dazhu, who was still counting coins in the corner in the distance, and her voice deepened:

"The hospital will cover all costs for this surgery, as well as subsequent hospitalization."

Several nurses who were preparing medication nearby trembled, and the ampoules almost fell to the ground.

Completely free?

That's several hundred yuan!

Zhao Haifeng suddenly turned his head, staring wide-eyed at Ye Zhen as if he were meeting this "spoiled young lady" for the first time. He had originally thought that this girl was there to gain experience, to show off her skills, or even to cause trouble.

But now, he looked into Ye Zhen's clear yet frighteningly stubborn eyes.

There is no utilitarianism or calculation involved.

Only purity.

That purity reminded Zhao Haifeng of the time thirty years ago when he first put on his white coat and took an oath in front of the red flag.

"You..." Zhao Haifeng's throat moved, and his stubborn temper suddenly subsided, replaced by a surge of hot blood rising from his chest.

"What arrogance!"

Zhao Haifeng slammed his hand on the table, making the notebook on it bounce three times.

"You little brat, using public funds to do favors?" He pointed at Ye Zhen, but the initial hostility on his face had vanished, replaced by an air of arrogance. "Fine! As long as you can prove it's a dead bone, as long as you can save Old Li's leg! I'll go to the Health Bureau; if the government won't pay, I, Zhao Haifeng, will pay it myself!"

He turned to the head nurse, who was completely stunned, and yelled, "What are you looking at! Call Director Yan of the Health Bureau! Tell her I, Old Zhao, am about to make a mistake, and ask her to come and see the scene! If anything goes wrong, she can use my job as a football!"

……

Half an hour later.

A bicycle was parked downstairs in the hospital building.

A middle-aged woman wearing a gray Zhongshan suit, with short hair reaching her ears and black-rimmed glasses, was energetic and decisive.

Yan Hua, Director of the Health Bureau of Qingyun County.

She jogged upstairs, followed by a panting Zhao Haifeng.

"Zhao Haifeng, you stubborn old mule! How dare you agree to something that violates the rules?" Yan Hua cursed as he walked, but his steps did not stop.

Until she saw the rural man squatting on the ground at the door of the ward, and the old woman holding her granddaughter.

Yan Hua slowed down.

She walked up to the old woman, and Li Dazhu's mother was so frightened that she quickly stood up and frantically twisted the hem of her clothes.

"These are the family members?" Yan Hua asked.

"Yes," Zhao Haifeng said in a low voice. "Our family has been poor farmers for three generations. This surgery has drained our savings. If the old man becomes paralyzed, half of our family will collapse."

Yan Hua was silent for a few seconds. She looked at Li Dazhu's mother, then suddenly reached out and squeezed her hands tightly.

"Don't be afraid, fellow villager."

Yan Hua's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a reassuring quality: "Since you're here at the hospital, don't worry. Your situation is special, and we'll consider the surgery costs. Whether it's free or approved on a special basis, the government will cover it! We will never let ordinary people be unable to afford medical care!"

Li Dazhu's mother burst into tears and was about to kneel down.

"This isn't allowed!" Yan Hua grabbed him and turned to look at the closed operating room door, her gaze sharp. "Where's that expert from Beicheng?"

"It's inside," Zhao Haifeng pointed inside.

"Let's go to the observation room." Yan Hua straightened his collar. "I want to see if this girl who dares to make demands of me really has the skills."

Zhao Haifeng led Yan Hua to the observation room, and then hurriedly changed his clothes and washed his hands. He needed to go in and keep an eye on the girl so that nothing serious would happen.

……

operating room.

The shadowless lights weren't all on yet; only one group was lit, making the light somewhat dim.

The air was filled with the smell of disinfectant, and that chilly aura instantly put people on edge.

Ye Zhen stood in front of the sink.

The water flowed over her long, slender, white fingers, from fingertips to elbows, once, twice, three times. Every movement was as precise as a textbook demonstration, rigorous and rigid, yet possessing a strange sense of rhythm.

She looked up at herself in the mirror.

Although the body was young and thin, the flame burning in its eyes was exactly the same as that of the renowned surgeon who had dominated a top-tier hospital in his previous life.

"Dr. Ye."

Anesthesiologist Zhang pushed open the door, looking somewhat nervous. "The patient is anesthetized. Epidural anesthesia, controlled at the T10 level. It's just... this equipment..."

He pointed to the equipment table next to him.

There were two open metal boxes there.

It's no longer those blackened, poorly fitting hemostatic forceps from the county hospital, nor those scalpels as dull as saw blades.

Neatly arranged there were German-imported surgical instruments with a cold, matte finish. Bone drills, Kirschner wires, guides, bone forceps... each one exuded the chilling aura of precision machinery, completely out of place in this simple operating room.

This is the "dowry" that Ye Zhen brought.

Ye Zhen shook the water off her hands, took the sterile towel handed to her by the nurse, and dried them off.

"What's wrong with the equipment?" She turned around, raising her hands to her chest.

"It's...it's too high-tech." Old Zhang swallowed hard. "Even the nurses on the platform are afraid to touch it, worried they won't be able to afford to pay for it if they break it. Our county hospital couldn't afford a set of this even if they sold everything they owned, right?"

Ye Zhen's lips, hidden beneath her mask, curved into a very faint smile.

"Instruments are meant to serve people, not to be worshipped."

She put on gloves and walked to the operating table.

Below the stage, Old Li had already been covered with a green sterile sheet, revealing only a small patch of dark yellow skin at the base of his left thigh. Due to nervousness, his heart rate on the monitor was a little fast, and the ticking sound was particularly jarring in the quiet space.

Ye Zhen reached out and skillfully picked up a bone drill from the box.

That familiar touch allowed her soul to return to its rightful place at that moment.

At this moment, the observation room on the second floor was already packed with people.

Besides Director Yan and Hu Dazhi, doctors from general surgery, orthopedics, and even obstetrics and gynecology who weren't on duty came. Dozens of eyes stared intently through the glass window at the thin figure in front of the operating table.

There were doubts, ridicule, and curiosity.

"This little girl looks even younger than my daughter, can she really handle it?"

"They're quite good at putting on an act, but I think it's all just for show."

"Shh! Don't talk! Look at her starting stance!"

At the operating table.

Ye Zhen ignored all the stares from the outside world. In her vision, the world had shrunk to the surgical field, which was just a small area. Skin, subcutaneous tissue, fascia lata, intermuscular spaces... all the anatomical structures instantly formed a three-dimensional image in her mind.

"knife."

A single, brief word, devoid of any emotional fluctuation.

The surgical nurse, Xiao Wang, trembled slightly and quickly slapped the scalpel handle into Ye Zhen's hand.

Ye Zhen gripped the knife.

Without the slightest hesitation, he lowered his wrist slightly, and the blade sliced ​​across his skin.

"laugh!"

An extremely faint sound of tearing silk.

There were no unnecessary movements, no repeated cutting. With one stroke, the skin was neatly separated, the edges of the incision so smooth it looked as if it had been measured with a ruler. Before the blood could even seep out, it was precisely stopped by pressing the gauze down.

This strike was steady, precise, and ruthless.