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

Half an hour later, the main auditorium of the hospital, which was originally used to store miscellaneous items, was temporarily requisitioned.

Hundreds of simple stools were lined up tightly, with parents holding children in the front row and students who had just put down their luggage crowded in the back. The air was filled with a mixture of the smells of tobacco, old wooden floors, and disinfectant.

There was no projector on the podium, only a large blackboard that had been wiped white.

Ye Zhen rolled up her sleeves, held half a piece of chalk in her hand, and drew a simple heart structure diagram on the blackboard with a few quick strokes. Next to it, she drew an eggplant and a drumstick.

There was a buzzing sound from the audience; no one understood what was going on.

"Everyone, look up at the blackboard!"

Ye Zhen tapped the eggplant with a piece of chalk, the sound crisp and clear, without uttering a single foreign word: "I know many of you here are illiterate and don't understand what 'comprehensive census' means. Let's skip the formalities. Today I'll teach you a set of life-saving rhymes, so memorize them all!"

She turned around, pointed to the painting, and her tone became melodious, as if she were telling a story:

"Just look at their lips, are they purple? Do they look like the skin of a frost-bitten eggplant?"

"Secondly, check the thickness of the fingers; are the fingernails round like drumsticks?"

"Thirdly, they can't get up from their squatting position, and they have to rest after walking just a few steps!"

"That's what they call—purple eggplant, drumstick fingers, likes to squat, and hates getting tired!" Ye Zhen threw down the chalk, dusted off her hands, and said, "If any of these apply, don't hesitate, go to the hospital! That's the child's heart crying for help!"

There was a two-second silence in the audience, followed by a sudden commotion of realization.

"My goodness! I understand what this miracle doctor is saying!"

"Purple eggplant lips... Yes, yes, yes! My second child's lips turn purple whenever he cries, the same color as an eggplant skin!"

"Write this down quickly!"

What were once profound and mysterious medical theories were instantly transformed into colloquial language that even the villagers under the old locust tree at the village entrance could understand.

Seeing the excited parents below, Ye Zhen pressed her hand down, her expression instantly turning serious, even a little fierce: "Just looking won't do; how you raise your child over the next six months is the key! Anyone who fails to follow these guidelines will be sending their child to meet the King of Hell!"

"First, prevent catching a cold; it's a matter of life and death!"

Ye Zhen held up one finger, "A normal child's cold and runny nose are fine, but these kids are different! A cold turns into pneumonia, and heart failure follows. It's getting cold, we'd rather the adults be cold than let the kids catch a chill! Make sure their mouths and noses are covered tightly with scarves when they go out, and if anyone in the family is coughing or has a fever, stay three meters away from the kids!"

"Secondly, don't run around like crazy, that's a death sentence!"

"Don't feel sorry for your child if they don't run or jump; making them run is killing them! Tell the boys in your family that they're not allowed to take the sick child to chase chickens or dogs. If the child gets so tired that they squat on the ground, an adult should pick them up immediately; don't let them pant on their own!"

"Third, replenishing nutrition is like a life-saving elixir!"

Ye Zhen's gaze fell on Liu Tie in the corner, and her tone softened, "I know everyone's life is tough, but for the next six months, treat this kid like royalty! Don't sell the eggs from the old hen at home, give them to the kid. Even half an egg a day will help build up his heart muscle. If he gets stronger, the success rate of the surgery will be 10% higher!"

Liu Tie sat in the corner of the first row, his baby sleeping soundly in his arms after drinking warm milk powder. This man, who had spent his entire life digging coal in the mines, listened with tears welling up in his eyes.

He was illiterate and didn't know what myocardium was, but he understood: don't let them get cold, don't let them run, and give the child extra nutrition.

"Purple eggplant, to prevent colds, eat eggs..." he muttered to himself, as if reciting Buddhist scriptures. He dared not forget, he would never forget, not even in death.

Next to her, Li Hong from Peking University Medical School pushed her notebook over, on which was drawn the diagram that Ye Zhen had just drawn. Although the lines were crooked, the "eggplant" and "drumstick" were drawn particularly large, and next to them were several points of attention written neatly.

"Uncle, please take this." Li Hong tore the page off with a "rip" and did it quickly. "If you see any child like this in the village, show them this picture. Remember, whatever you do, make sure the child doesn't catch a cold."

Liu Tie awkwardly rubbed his sweaty hands on his trouser leg, his hands trembling as he took the thin piece of paper, as if receiving an imperial edict. After a long pause, his eyes reddened, he bowed deeply to Li Hong.

……

Late at night.

Half of the lights in the auditorium were off, leaving only a few dim wall lamps that cast long shadows.

This place, originally intended for a mobilization meeting, has now become a temporary campsite. In order to make room for those fellow villagers who had traveled a long way with sick children, some students who had not returned to school did not hesitate to use the auditorium floor as their beds.

Hundreds of people lay crammed together. Boys were on the left, girls on the right, with several rows of long tables that hadn't been moved yet in between. The red bricks supporting the table legs were a bit loose, and occasionally someone turning over would bump into them, making a slight creaking sound.

The floor was hard; it was solid cement with a thin layer of wooden planks. Although everyone was wrapped in thick military overcoats, and some even had two overcoats stacked together as padding, the hardness still seeped into their bones. But these high-achieving students, who usually complained about the hardness of their dormitory beds, were unusually quiet tonight.

Not many people were asleep.

Breathing sounds rose and fell, but were all shallow, as if afraid of disturbing some solemn atmosphere.

"Are you asleep?"

From the group of boys on the left, someone rolled over and asked in a low voice. The voice didn't carry in the empty auditorium; instead, it sounded exceptionally clear.

"without."

"Neither do I."

Several responses rang out one after another, carrying an obvious sense of clarity.

"That uncle named Liu Tie..." The boy who spoke first paused, his voice a little muffled, "When he kowtowed so loudly, I was taking notes right next to him. The noise was really loud. Just now, when I closed my eyes, all I could see was that scene, it made my head hurt."

Li Hong, the girl on the right, wasn't asleep either. She lay on her side, the rough collar of her military overcoat rubbing against her chin. Her eyes were open, staring at the dim yellow wall lamp to her side, where tiny dust particles floated up and down in the halo of light.

"Back in school, in those big lectures, the old professors would recite 'The Great Physician's Sincerity and Excellence' from the podium, and I didn't like listening to it." Li Hong stretched her hand out from under her coat sleeve; her fingers were a little cold. She touched the hardcover notebook under her head, the one she used to take notes during the day. "Back then, I thought, studying medicine is so great! It's a skilled profession, and the older you get, the more sought-after you become. After graduation, you'll be assigned to a big hospital with good benefits and quick housing allocation; you won't have to squeeze your whole family into a cramped apartment building fighting for a toilet."

A few soft laughs echoed from the darkness, brief and punctuated by an unspoken, honest understanding. That was indeed the initial thought of most of them: simple, self-serving, and not wrong in itself.

"But today..." Li Hong's fingers traced the edge of the notebook, the rough texture giving her a sense of security. She pulled out the "Work Guidelines" that Ye Zhen had rushed to print overnight from the inside pocket of her coat.

By the dim light, she looked at the four characters written in fountain pen on the cover. The characters were so strong that they penetrated the paper, even leaving raised marks on it.

"When Uncle Liu knelt on the ground begging for help today, I realized that this white coat has weight. It's not about exchanging it for a two-bedroom apartment; it's about the weight of human lives. If I'm not skilled enough and miss a diagnosis, it could ruin a family."

Li Hong's voice was very soft, yet it was like a pebble thrown into a calm lake.

"Professor Ye's 'purple eggplant' metaphor was brilliant." The boy who had spoken earlier rested his arm behind his head, staring at the dark ceiling. "Before, when the textbooks wrote about 'cyanosis' and 'clubbing fingers,' it made my head spin. I always felt it was too far removed from real life. But today, Professor Ye just casually drew it on the blackboard, and I completely understand. The more we learn, the more rhymes we memorize, the more miles we run, the fewer people like Uncle Liu will despair. That's the purpose of our studies, that's what college students should be doing."

"What you said reminds me to memorize the manual a couple more times," another boy muttered, sounding like he was about to sit up, but was pushed back down by the person next to him.

"Come on, go to sleep. We have to get up early for screening tomorrow. Those folks need to catch their train back, we can't hold them back."

"Okay, go to sleep."

"I'll ask logistics tomorrow to let me go to the train station. It's windy there, but I can handle it."

"Then I'll be in charge of triage in Warehouse No. 2. Today I watched Teacher Ye's auscultation technique and learned a few tricks. I'll try them out tomorrow."

The soft whispers gradually subsided, and the auditorium returned to silence. But this silence carried a newfound sense of security and warmth. The dreams of the young were no longer merely about romantic poetry and songs, nor about anxieties about job assignments, but rather about the innocent, smiling faces of those who had been rescued, and the slowly straightening backbone of this nation.

Outside the auditorium, under the pillars.

Gu Zheng, wearing a coat, was hidden in the shadows, with an unlit cigarette between his fingers, which he simply held to his nose to smell the tobacco and refresh himself.

With a creak, the heavy wooden door was pushed open, and Ye Zhen walked out, bringing with her a warm breath.

"Commander Gu, are you eavesdropping?" Ye Zhen raised an eyebrow, her voice carrying a hint of weariness and languor.

"Listen to the awareness of these greenhorns." Gu Zheng put the cigarette back into the cigarette case, stretched out his long arm, and naturally pulled her into his arms, wrapping her in his coat. "Wife, you've really set this fire. If we get through tonight, even if the sky falls, these kids will still have a strong backbone."

Ye Zhen leaned against his hard, warm chest, gazing at the starry sky, and exhaled a puff of white breath: "Yes, a single spark can start a prairie fire."

She wants to heal not only people, but also their hearts. She wants to leave behind a true spark of hope for the medical community in this era.

"Is the official business finished?"

Gu Zheng's voice suddenly lowered. He lowered his head, his hot breath brushing against Ye Zhen's ear. "Shouldn't we settle our personal accounts? How does Dr. Ye plan to settle the score for those 'five little red flowers'?"

Ye Zhen's ears burned, and she was about to push him away: "Stop fooling around, this is a hospital..."

Before she could finish speaking, he suddenly leaped into the air—Gu Zheng didn't give her a chance to reason with him, he simply picked her up and carried her towards the jeep.

"Gu Zheng! Put me down! Don't let anyone see us!" Ye Zhen whispered, quickly burying her face in his collar.

"So what if I saw it? Is it illegal for me to hug my own wife?"

Gu Zheng smiled like a bandit leader who had just abducted his wife, his deep eyes filled with undisguised aggression.

"I'm also injured, and my heart is broken. I urgently need Dr. Ye to give me artificial respiration."