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

The morning at the Gu family compound was broken by a shout from the guard, Xiao Wang.

"Sir! Vice Minister Li from the Ministry of Health is here! His car is already in the yard!"

In the east wing, Ye Zhen was sorting through a table full of German documents she had brought back from Berlin. Beside her, Gu Zheng, wearing a loose old military shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, was pretending to be his wife's "page boy" with a feather duster in hand, but his eyes kept glancing at Ye Zhen's exposed fair wrist.

Upon hearing the shout, Gu Zheng frowned, threw the feather duster on the table, and his lazy demeanor vanished instantly, replaced by a murderous expression.

"It's like a weasel paying respects to a chicken in the early morning." Gu Zheng snorted coldly, casually pressing down the stack of documents Ye Zhen had just organized under his hand, as if protecting some rare treasure. "Wife, no matter what he says later, just drink your tea. I'll play the bad guy."

Ye Zhen glanced at him with amusement and moved his large hand away: "Those are leaders from the Ministry of Health. Don't make us look like a bandit's den."

"In an era where there were more wolves than meat, if you didn't become a bandit, the meat would have been snatched away by those hungry wolves long ago." Gu Zheng straightened his collar, his eyes darkening. "I don't want to give up a single piece of this equipment."

The atmosphere in the main hall was subtle.

Grandpa Gu sat in his armchair, twirling two walnuts in his hands, his eyelids drooping, seemingly resting with his eyes closed. Opposite him, Vice Minister Li sat upright, with two bottles of obviously aged Moutai at his feet.

"Uncle Li, so early?" Gu Zheng strode in, offering a forced smile before plopping down on the sofa opposite Vice Minister Li, his long legs blocking most of the aisle. "What wind blew you, this big shot, to our little temple today?"

The smile on Vice Minister Li's face froze for a moment, then returned to normal. He looked at Ye Zhen, who was following behind him, with eyes as eager as if he were looking at his own daughter.

"Well, Comrade Ye Zhen has returned in triumph, but the ministry hasn't made any official announcement yet. Today, on behalf of the ministry's Party Committee, I've come to see our hero," said Vice Minister Li, glancing meaningfully at the coffee table. "Also, I have some work-related difficulties that I'd like to discuss with Elder Gu and Comrade Ye Zhen."

"Discuss?" Gu Zheng scoffed, leaning back so the sofa creaked under the weight. "Let me guess. Did those senior deans break your phone line last night? These old fogies are really going all out for something like this, aren't they worried about triggering their high blood pressure?"

Vice Minister Li's smile faltered slightly. He chuckled dryly, rubbed his hands together, and decided to cut to the chase: "Gu Zheng, you grew up in the system too, you know the country's difficulties. Medical resources are scarce nationwide right now, especially high-end cardiac surgery equipment, which is a lifeline. What Comrade Ye Zhen brought back this time is too precious. If it were only kept at the General Hospital of the Military Region, it would be like 'one flower blooming alone does not make a spring.'"

As he spoke, he took a document bearing a bright red official seal from his briefcase and pushed it to the center of the coffee table.

"This is a 'coordinated allocation plan' drafted by the ministry in an emergency meeting overnight. Our idea is to use resources wisely, so that the major hospitals in Beijing can all benefit, and everyone can get a share. This is also conducive to improving our overall medical standards; it's about the big picture."

Gu Zheng didn't take the document; he just glanced at it.

Good guy.

He sneered inwardly. Half of the ventilators were taken away, 80% of the monitors were taken away, and even one of the two most valuable extracorporeal circulation machines, the only one of its kind in all of Asia, was to be taken away to support Shanghai.

Is this what they call "taking advantage"? It's like they're just scooping meat directly into their pot with a spoon.

"Smack."

The lighter's flame leaped up, the blue flame licking the cigarette butt. Gu Zheng took a deep breath, the pungent smoke swirling in his lungs before he slowly exhaled, blurring the cold light in his eyes.

"Equal distribution of benefits? Uncle Li, that's a brilliant phrase." Gu Zheng, a cigarette between his fingers, tapped the sofa armrest with each tap, each stroke seeming to strike a chord with Vice Minister Li. "Back when my wife went to Berlin, why didn't any of these people show up and offer her equal benefits? They were all watching the spectacle, betting on her making a fool of herself at that lousy conference, right?"

Just as Vice Minister Li was about to open his mouth to explain, Gu Zheng didn't give him a chance at all.

"Now the stuff has been brought back. It was something she risked her life to get back on the operating table, with someone scrutinizing her with a magnifying glass! The ship is still adrift at sea, while these people are at home making a deafening racket with their abacuses. Aren't they afraid of breaking their teeth?"

Gu Zheng stood up and slammed his hand on the document.

"Bang!"

The loud bang startled Xiao Wang, who was on guard outside the door, so much so that he almost dropped his gun.

"Want to split it? Fine! Let them swim around in international waters. Whoever swims back to the ship gets the stuff! Let's see who has the ability!"

Vice Minister Li's face flushed red and then turned pale from the intense aura emanating from the man, and his hand holding the teacup trembled. He knew that this little tyrant of the Gu family was a troublemaker, but he hadn't expected him to be so disrespectful.

He looked pleadingly at Old Master Gu, who had remained silent until now: "Old Chief, look at this... this is also for the sake of the country's medical development..."

The walnut in Grandpa Gu's hand clicked and stopped.

The old man slowly opened his eyes. His gaze was cloudy but not senile; it possessed a sharpness honed by the passage of time. He didn't look at Vice Minister Li, nor did he scold his ill-tempered grandson. Instead, he turned his gaze to Ye Zhen, who had been sitting quietly to the side, drinking tea.

"Zhenzhen earned the equipment through her own abilities." The old man's voice wasn't loud, and his speech was slow, but it carried an authoritative air, like a pillar of strength, each word leaving a dent in the ground. "This thing belongs to the Ye family, not the Gu family, nor the Gong family. Whether to give it to her, and how to give it to her, is up to her."

The ball was kicked to Ye Zhen's feet.

All eyes in the room instantly focused on the young woman.

Ye Zhen put down her teacup, the porcelain bottom tapping against the mahogany table with a crisp sound. Her expression was calm, showing neither anger at having her reward snatched away nor awkwardness in the face of a high-ranking official.

She reached for the distribution plan, took out a pen from her pocket, and uncapped it.

"Gu Zheng, sit down," she said calmly.

Gu Zheng, who was still fuming, seemed to have been switched on. Although he looked unwilling, he obediently sat back down, but his eyes were still fiercely staring at the document.

"Swish, swish, swish."

The sound of the pen nib gliding across the paper was exceptionally clear.

Ye Zhen quickly marked up the document. In less than a minute, she pushed it back.

"Minister Li, you can take these."