The middle-aged doctor quietly shut his mouth.
After all, she was a young woman, while he was an old man—his stamina naturally couldn’t compare to hers.
An hour later, Wen Zhiyu placed the scalpel onto a sterilized metal tray beside her.
The moment she stepped out of the operating room, Mother Shen immediately rushed over.
Her hands hovered uncertainly in the air, afraid to touch Wen Zhiyu carelessly, but her voice was filled with anxiety. Seeing that Shen Lifeng hadn’t come out behind her—and that none of the doctors had emerged either—her heart tightened.
“Zhiyu, how is Ah Feng?”
She was terrified of hearing that the surgery had failed. As soon as the question left her lips, she stared at Wen Zhiyu, desperately hoping for a satisfactory answer.
But even if the surgery had failed, she knew she couldn’t blame Wen Zhiyu.
The operation had always been extremely risky. If not for Wen Zhiyu, no one would have even dared attempt it.
Mother Shen’s eyes filled with tears that looked ready to spill over at any moment.
Then Wen Zhiyu spoke.
“The surgery was very successful. He should wake up before long. However, his injuries are severe, so he’ll need some additional time to recover. Don’t worry—I’ll be monitoring him the entire time. If any complications arise, I’ll deal with them immediately.”
The weight crushing Mother Shen’s heart instantly disappeared.
She nodded repeatedly.
“Good! That’s wonderful!”
For the next three days, knowing that this was a critical observation period, Wen Zhiyu remained in the hospital room and carefully monitored Shen Lifeng’s condition.
She also fed him some nutritional solution she had prepared herself.
The recovery progress was excellent.
As Mother Shen watched her son improve day by day, her eyes remained perpetually moist with tears.
Wen Zhiyu was least able to handle that sort of expression.
She said,
“Auntie, Shen Lifeng’s consciousness should have recovered by now. You can talk to him more often. It’ll help both his recovery and his waking up sooner.”
Mother Shen nodded and immediately sat beside Shen Lifeng.
Finally having redirected all of Mother Shen’s overflowing emotions elsewhere, Wen Zhiyu breathed a sigh of relief.
During the following days, doctors from the hospital frequently came to consult her about medical questions.
Without exception, Wen Zhiyu was able to provide answers immediately.
This only made everyone more aware of both their own shortcomings and just how far ahead Wen Zhiyu truly was.
The gap was simply enormous.
It wasn’t something that could be overcome through ordinary study alone.
Wen Zhiyu herself didn’t think much of it.
In her previous life, she had worked in medicine, and she had devoted nearly two lifetimes to the field.
Naturally, she was far ahead.
If they could easily catch up to her, that would have been the strange thing.
The hospital director pushed open the door.
“Comrade Wen, the dormitory room we’ve arranged for you has been cleared out. You can move in whenever you’d like.”
Wen Zhiyu nodded.
There was still some distance between the military base and the hospital. Traveling back and forth every day was genuinely time-consuming.
Besides, every time she returned to the military housing, she could feel strange looks being directed at her.
She didn’t particularly care, but she wasn’t determined enough to keep making herself suffer either.
Taking the key and asking for the time, Wen Zhiyu turned her head—
—and met Shen Lifeng’s wide-open eyes.
“Shen Lifeng?”
Her cool voice carried a note of surprise.
Mother Shen had been listening to the conversation. Hearing Wen Zhiyu’s voice, she immediately turned around.
The moment she saw Shen Lifeng awake, her eyes instantly became wet again.
“Ah Feng!”
she cried.
However, after only a few minutes, Shen Lifeng slowly fell asleep again.
Wen Zhiyu conducted a brief examination.
“He’s already passed the critical stage. You don’t need to worry anymore.”
Mother Shen repeatedly patted her chest.
“That’s good! That’s wonderful!”
Soon afterward, the hospital director arrived with several doctors to perform their own examination.
“Comrade Wen, we need to conduct an inspection and file a report with higher authorities. It’s not because we doubt your judgment.”
The director took the initiative to explain.
Doctor Jiang came along as well and kept stealing curious glances at Wen Zhiyu.
Truthfully, most people didn’t dare get too close to Wen Zhiyu.
They always felt as though she existed on an entirely different level from them.
Even Doctor Jiang—a foreign-educated physician—felt the same way.
It was as if they belonged to two different worlds.
Naturally, that only made her more curious.
Wen Zhiyu could feel their gazes.
She ignored them.
Back when she was conducting experiments in Beijing, far more eyes had been on her than this.
After the examination was complete, Doctor Jiang suddenly handed Wen Zhiyu a notebook before leaving.
In a small voice, she asked,
“Comrade Wen, I really admire you. Could you give me your autograph?”
Doctor Jiang had a delicate, sweet appearance.
With her big blinking eyes, she looked rather adorable.
Wen Zhiyu couldn’t bring herself to refuse.
She took the notebook and signed her name in bold, flowing strokes.
Doctor Jiang immediately hugged the notebook to her chest and left with the delighted expression of a teenage fan who had just met her idol.
Wen Zhiyu shook her head helplessly.
This little girl really does think ahead of her time.
Wen Zhiyu hadn’t remained in the room much longer when someone suddenly pushed the door open.
Even the director and the nurses always knocked before entering.
This person’s behavior therefore felt especially abrupt.
Frowning, Wen Zhiyu looked over.
The newcomer was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, wearing a broad smile.
He had a square face, small eyes, and deep wrinkles. In an era when most people were thin and undernourished, he sported a noticeable beer belly. One hand rested beneath his stomach.
The moment he saw Wen Zhiyu’s face, his eyes lit up.
And then he couldn’t seem to look away.
Wen Zhiyu looked at him indifferently.
“What do you want?”
The man walked over.
“I heard you’re a doctor from Beijing. My wife is seriously ill. I’ve come to ask you to treat her.”
Setting her book on her lap, Wen Zhiyu frowned.
“Who sent you here?”
“Myself.”
The man had only learned about her existence by chance and rushed over.
Of course, he had already approached the hospital doctors and been refused.
Upon hearing that answer, Wen Zhiyu frowned even more.
Where did this idiot come from?
“Sorry, but I can’t help you. Please leave.”
She rejected him outright.
This wasn’t her hospital, nor was it his.
It wasn’t a place where she could treat whoever she pleased or where he could demand whichever doctor he wanted.
“You’re a doctor! My wife is practically dying! Refusing to treat her is the same as killing her!”
Wen Zhiyu completely ignored the blatant emotional blackmail.
Looking outside, she happened to see Doctor Song passing by.
“Doctor Song!”
Doctor Song was the female doctor who had previously mistaken Wen Zhiyu for Doctor Jiang.
Hearing her name, she turned her head and immediately spotted the middle-aged man.
Her expression darkened at once.
She knew this man.
First, he wasn’t a good person.
Second, he was notoriously difficult to deal with.
How had he ended up bothering Wen Zhiyu?
She hurried inside.
“This patient’s family member, please leave immediately and stop harassing other patients’ families.”
The man refused to leave.
He even reached out as though trying to grab Wen Zhiyu’s hand.
A faint silver flash appeared between Wen Zhiyu’s fingers.
She tapped an acupuncture point on his arm with a silver needle.
As she withdrew it, she flicked her hand with visible disgust.
Some people might not be physically sick—
—but every drop of blood in their bodies was filthy.
Like the man standing in front of her.