Life in siheyuan era

The military hospital occupied a vast area of over three hundred acres, yet it only had three buildings. Among them were two three-story red brick buildings: one was the outpatient clinic, and the other was a comprehensive building combining administration, logistics, and outpatient services.

The five-story building facing west was the inpatient building. The fourth and fifth floors were dedicated to military personnel, while the first, second, and third floors were open to the public.

Hospitals have a unique characteristic: they are bustling with people every day, especially during lunchtime when a surge of people floods towards the inpatient building.

In this surge, people hurried along, carrying lunch boxes and insulated containers. On the side of this surge, Zhou Zhiyuan walked out of the comprehensive building and joined the flow, heading towards the five-story building.

During lunchtime, delivering meals to hospitalized relatives was a major characteristic of the hospital. Those like Zhou Zhiyuan, with empty hands, must have their lunch boxes in their bags.

That's what he thought, finding a disguise for himself. However, amidst the surge of people, no one paid attention to him.

He was there to conduct reconnaissance. After registering his temporary residence around eleven o'clock, he arrived at the military hospital and conducted a preliminary reconnaissance of the outpatient clinic and the comprehensive building before heading to the inpatient building, posing as a family member delivering food, feeling justified in walking among the crowd.

He had a target. Shen Lanbo gave him some basic information: Shen Lanyin was an inpatient doctor in the military cardiology department, and Hao Zhiwen should be an inpatient doctor in the public cardiology department.

He knew the hospital's rules: doctors were divided into outpatient doctors and inpatient doctors. This classification wasn't strict for outpatient doctors, as they were the first to diagnose patients and would follow up on their treatment after hospitalization.

However, it was strict for inpatient doctors. Becoming an outpatient doctor was his primary goal.

Shen Lanyin and Hao Zhiwen were both young doctors who had to go through the inpatient doctor stage. Saving lives couldn't be learned solely from books; accumulating experience was crucial.

Zhou Zhiyuan focused on the inpatient building based on this line of thinking. Shen Lanbo didn't provide much information; he had questioned Shen Lanyin, but getting her to talk was as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Shen Lanbo was helpless. Chen Shuying entrusted the investigation to him, so he assigned the reconnaissance task to Zhou Zhiyuan.

However, he didn't get any information from Shen Lanyin's mouth. Hao Zhiwen's name was secretly provided by Fang Xiang.

Fang Xiang vehemently criticized Hao Zhiwen's character on the phone, saying that Hao Zhiwen should be dragged out and shot.

But Shen Lanbo didn't believe his words; Zhou Zhiyuan's reconnaissance results would be the evidence for the verdict.

For Zhou Zhiyuan, obtaining evidence was simple: just activate the function of his mouth.

He wasn't a talkative person before, let alone good at flattery. But after experiencing the dream life and meeting Political Commissar Zhang Limin, who deliberately cultivated him, he knew how to talk.

The delayed military service application allowed him to meet his good brother Shen Lanbo, and also Zhang Limin, who specialized in 'persecuting' him.

This Political Commissar Zhang took 'persecuting' him as his duty, and was best at setting traps for him, especially verbal traps that were set anytime, anywhere. After being 'persecuted' for two years, he was absolutely mature, and coaxing information out of someone was a piece of cake.

At this moment, a white figure floated past him. Zhou Zhiyuan glanced at the two IV drips on the tray, secretly admiring her skill.

Such swift footwork required close coordination of eyesight, waist strength, and feet. Dashing back and forth, yet the IV bottles on the tray remained motionless, demonstrating the nurse's high level of skill.

"A master," Zhou Zhiyuan praised silently, circling the U-shaped corridor on this floor.

After reconnoitering several doctor's offices, nurse's stations, treatment rooms, and duty rooms, he focused on a target who was likely to talk. He pushed open the door of a ward, walked into the room, stood still, and opened his mouth to say: "Grandpa Mo, I've come..."

He paused, his eyes fixed on the face of the white-bearded old man.

The white-bearded old man was lying on the hospital bed, his beard having not been shaved for a long time. The white beard on his chin and lips formed a continuous patch, and wrinkles covered his thin face.

He was covered with a white quilt, his left hand exposed. A thin plastic tube extended from his hand to the IV drip bottle on the stand. He had his eyes closed, seemingly asleep, and didn't hear Zhou Zhiyuan's voice.

The old man in the next bed leaned against the headboard. Hearing him call "Grandpa Mo", he immediately turned to the white-bearded old man and whispered: "Old Mo, Old Mo, someone has come to see you."

Hearing the old man in the next bed call out, Zhou Zhiyuan quickly explained: "I went into the wrong room. This..."

He explained to the old man in the next bed, but saw the white-bearded old man open his eyes and look at him, saying faintly: "You didn't go into the wrong room. I am your Grandpa Mo."

The white-bearded old man's attitude startled him slightly. This situation was unexpected.

He had a plan. The only reason he designated this ward as the target was that the door hadn't moved at all during lunchtime, with no patients or family members coming in or out.

Faced with this phenomenon, he could deduce that "there are not many patients in this ward, it seems there are only two, and their family members are not here either, they may be patients from out of town."

His intuition was extremely accurate. Standing in front of the door, he listened intently for a few seconds and heard two breaths coming from inside, immediately making the deduction that there were only two patients in the ward, and they were two old men.

Having made this deduction, Zhou Zhiyuan was certain that they must be lonely. He could achieve the purpose of chatting by finding an excuse to enter the room, and he wanted to learn about Hao Zhiwen's character from them.

But before entering the ward, he had to consider the issue of address. This issue was crucial. Wang, Li, Zhang, Liu, and Zhao were the top five most common surnames. There were the most people with the surname Wang. If he called out "Grandpa Wang" upon entering, the two old men in the room might answer together.

He was here to reconnoiter, not to find grandpas for himself. It didn't matter what the two old men's surnames were. To avoid unnecessary trouble, the best way was to find a less common surname.

This surname was the surname of the patient he came to visit. This was the reason, while going into the wrong ward was the result.

Since he went into the wrong ward, he had to ask about it. Which ward did the patient he came to visit live in?

The two old men certainly wouldn't know, but he would get the chance to chat for a while. He could express some concern and ask about a certain doctor's medical skills and character.

He didn't remember the ward number, but he could remember the doctor's name. His name was Hao Zhiwen.

There was no problem with this setup. Two lonely old men meeting a young man who liked to chat would definitely be talkative. It would be great if he could learn about Hao Zhiwen.

Perhaps they didn't know Hao Zhiwen, but they could recommend a few patients who knew him.

Having completed this setup, Zhou Zhiyuan carefully considered the issue of address, silently recited the Hundred Family Surnames, and quickly found a surname. The surname Mo was relatively far back, and he could call out "Grandpa Mo".

Having made thorough preparations, Zhou Zhiyuan pushed the door open and called out "Grandpa Mo", and then he met Grandpa Mo.

His luck was really good. Calling out "Grandpa Mo" could actually run into one, and the other party actually admitted it.

He was rash. Thinking that there were not many people with the surname Mo, he forgot that this concept of 'not many' might involve hundreds of thousands of people.

At this time, he could only accept it. The white-bearded old man was quite interesting. Judging by his appearance, he should be around seventy years old. Calling him grandpa wouldn't be a loss.

Zhou Zhiyuan became interested, pulled a wooden stool from under the bed, sat down beside the bed, and cheerfully asked: "Is your IV drip the last bottle?"

Grandpa Mo looked at him and asked dissatisfiedly: "You came to see me, but you didn't bring anything?"

Zhou Zhiyuan smiled and said: "You are a pretentious person. Bringing something that doesn't please you is worse than bringing nothing."

"That's true..." Grandpa Mo actually agreed with his words, and then said solemnly: "I'll tell you, you listen. When you come again..."

At this point, the door opened and a middle-aged man walked in, saying to the old man in the next bed: "Dad, the line at the cafeteria is too long. After you finish your IV drip, let's go out to eat."

At this time, Grandpa Mo shut up, listening to the old man in the next bed ask: "Old Mo, I and Shuanzi are going out to eat. What do you want us to bring you?"

Grandpa Mo smiled and said: "Old Liu, thank you, no need to bring me anything to eat. There are still pastries in the cabinet."

He politely declined Old Liu's kindness, and Old Liu didn't say much. He got out of bed, put on a black cotton-padded coat, and walked out of the ward one after the other with the middle-aged man called "Shuanzi."

Zhou Zhiyuan watched the door close, retracted his gaze, and turned to Grandpa Mo. His observation of the Old Liu and his son had ended, and he confirmed that they were farmers.

Zhou Zhiyuan looked at Grandpa Mo, listening to him say in a low voice: "Bring me a bowl of wontons and five meat pies for lunch tomorrow."

His attitude made Zhou Zhiyuan very curious, and he asked softly: "Respecting the old and cherishing the young is a virtue, but only the elders who deserve respect are included in the series of respecting the old. I wonder what qualities Grandpa Mo has that make me respect him?"

He wanted to hear the reason, but Grandpa Mo replied indifferently: "I didn't want you to respect me, I'm just making a deal."

Grandpa Mo spoke indifferently, but when he said the word "deal", he spoke in a solemn tone.

This tone proved that he respected transactions.

Zhou Zhiyuan also respected transactions. Between two strangers, nothing could better reflect the essence of human nature than a transaction.