Me! A high-ranking official!

Hearing Zhou Qingyan say this, he felt a surge of anger. Playing with human lives?! Cutting off the life of an ordinary little girl just to prolong the lives of the powerful?!

With a stern face, he slowly said, "I would appreciate Secretary Zhou's help in finding out more!"

"Okay, I understand. Wait for my message." Zhou Qingyan said and hung up the phone decisively.

Zhao Jianguo stubbed out his cigarette and turned back to the door of the third-floor ward. Li Gan and Liu Tao were both staring at him expectantly, especially Li Gan, whose eyes looked like those of a drowning man clutching at a straw.

"Don't worry, I've used my connections in the city to find out more about the donor. We'll have news soon." He patted Li Gan on the shoulder.

About an hour later, his phone finally vibrated; it was Zhou Qingyan.

He quickly went to the stairwell and answered the phone: "Secretary."

"The matter has been investigated." Zhou Qingyan's voice was calm: "Just as I suspected, there was no reneging on the donation. The bone marrow was intercepted, and the person who took the surgery in place of the donor is the grandson of a retired senior leader in the city. They used a special channel, and the donor was secretly transferred to a VIP ward. The surgery will be tomorrow morning."

Zhao Jianguo's heart sank to the bottom. It was just as he thought! In this pyramid of power, the lives of those at the bottom are truly like weeds, easily used to fill the pits of the powerful!

"So what do we do now?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Now that we've found out, I naturally have ways to stop the surgery and put the donor back on track." Zhou Qingyan's voice suddenly became extremely serious: "But Zhao Jianguo, the other party has already undergone bone marrow removal, this was originally a life-threatening situation."

Zhou Qingyan paused, then pressed him, word by word, "You choose. If you save Li Gan's sister, the grandson of that old leader, you will face the same desperate situation that Li Gan's sister is in now. Think carefully about the consequences."

Save one life, kill one life.

If they could seize the opportunity, the powerful figure who hijacked it would also be left to die in the sterile ward. Moreover, this would inevitably offend the city's intricate network of relationships. Holding his phone, he remained silent for a few seconds before slowly saying, "This was originally Li Gan's sister's opportunity! Since they dared to use such heinous methods to steal a life, they should have anticipated the backlash! I have no reason to hesitate!"

On the other end of the phone, Zhou Qingyan didn't seem surprised by his answer, and even let out a barely audible chuckle.

"Fine." Zhou Qingyan's voice returned to its cold tone: "Since you've made your choice, I will handle this matter cleanly. From now on, whether it's what happened at the welcome banquet or this favor, the debt I owe you is settled."

"Beep beep beep..."

The phone hangs up.

He put down his phone and let out a long breath. He understood what Zhou Qingyan meant.

The events of the past two days have taken a turn for the two of them from mutual suspicion to working together to break the deadlock. Although they had that ambiguous physical relationship and even had a child, now, the score is settled.

From then on, apart from their superior-subordinate relationship, they were like two parallel lines, with no further connection.

He turned around, pushed open the door to the stairwell, and walked over to meet the anxious gazes of Li Gan and Liu Tao.

"Old Li," Zhao Jianguo said in a deep voice, looking at Li Gan's bloodshot eyes, "Go and prepare. The surgery will proceed as planned."

After hearing Zhao Jianguo's nonchalant "the surgery proceeded normally," Li Gan was stunned for a moment, then his bloodshot eyes stared intently at Zhao Jianguo.

Li Gan wasn't stupid. After years of struggling in the lower rungs of society, he knew all too well the dirty tricks of the trade. Something else must have happened to prevent his sister from undergoing surgery despite having already had her bone marrow removed. Most likely, someone had intercepted the procedure. Anyone capable of intercepting their bone marrow under these circumstances must be someone of considerable status and influence. And now, Zhao Jianguo, working at a top-tier hospital, had managed to snatch back the reneged bone marrow donation from the other party. How powerful and influential must that be? This wasn't divine intervention; Zhao Jianguo was using his immense power to save his sister's life!

"Thump!"

Without uttering a single wasted word, Li Gan's tough and resolute exterior crumbled instantly, his knees buckled, and he knelt upright on the hard tiles of the hospital corridor.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

He slammed his head three times, the sound echoing dully on the floor tiles. When he finally looked up, his forehead was bruised and swollen, and his voice was hoarse: "Brother Zhao...you have done me such a great favor! From this day forward, my life, Li Gan's life, is yours!"

"Get up!" Zhao Jianguo grabbed his arm and yanked him up. "A man's knees are worth gold. Don't try that again. Go wash your face, compose yourself, and don't let your sister find out. I'll take care of the rest."

Li Gan wiped away his tears, nodded repeatedly, and stood guard behind Zhao Jianguo like a wooden stake.

Time passed by, minute by minute, ten minutes, twenty minutes, half an hour...

The sterile ward remained quiet; not a single nurse could be seen.

Liu Tao couldn't sit still any longer. He paced anxiously back and forth in the corridor, then leaned close to Zhao Jianguo's ear and whispered, "Jianguo, is this really going to work? It's been over half an hour already. Could it be that those people are just paying lip service and causing some trouble again?"

Li Gan's eyes gradually reddened, his fists clenched tightly, the veins on the back of his hands bulging like worms. He gritted his teeth, like a wild beast driven to the brink of despair: "Brother Zhao... if they dare to swallow my sister's life-saving bone marrow today, I'll go to the nurses' station and grab a pair of scissors, and I'll take them all down with me!"

"Shut up!" he hissed, pulling out an unlit cigarette and biting it between his teeth, his eyes cold and hard. "Keep your cool. If anything unexpected happens, they'll let me know."

He knew that since Zhou Qingyan had spoken, given the swift and decisive measures taken from above, the people at the city hospital were definitely holding an emergency meeting to clean up the mess.

Sure enough, after another ten minutes, a series of hurried shoe sounds came from the corner of the corridor.

The attending physician who had been evasive with them earlier was now jogging along, sweating profusely. Ahead of him was a middle-aged man with a large belly, bald head, and wearing a white coat. His name tag clearly read: Executive Vice President, Chen Mingyuan.

Upon seeing Zhao Jianguo and his group, Vice Dean Chen's chubby face immediately broke into an extremely sincere, even somewhat ingratiating, smile. He strode over, took Zhao Jianguo's hands, and shook them vigorously.

"Oh dear, family members, I'm so sorry! It's a misunderstanding! What a huge blunder!"

Vice President Chen's forehead was covered in cold sweat, and his words were so earnest as if he wanted to pour out his heart: "After an emergency verification by our hospital's Party Committee, the donor did not back out at all! It was an operational error by the staff at the blood bank who affixed the barcodes of the two medical records backwards, which caused this absurd situation! Please forgive us!"