(Thanks to 無助的雲, zhu_510, 007之009 for the monthly ticket encouragement)

Liu Banxia basically walked out right on the dot of getting off work; even if he didn't say so, it was almost that. Everyone could understand how he felt—today was a big day for him.

When he got home, the atmosphere was really lively too, pretty much like New Year's. What surprised Liu Banxia was that even his own parents had rushed over.

"This guy, you've got me all worked up," Liu Banxia said.

"Hahaha, Brother Liu, congrats! Got any red envelopes?" Qiu Mingyuan said with a grin.

"Hey… it's just a promotion to deputy director, I'm about to go bankrupt from it. Dad, Mom, when did you get here?" Liu Banxia asked.

"As soon as we saw your message, we figured it's not that far anyway, so we just came straight over," Liu Qingdong said.

"Since you're here, you should stay a couple more days," Liu Banxia said.

Then he saw Tang Dou's four pups, also placed by the dining table, belonging to the second tier. Two on one chair, all sleeping soundly.

"What's going on here?" Liu Banxia asked curiously.

"They have to help you celebrate too," Qiaoqiao said with a straight face.

"Celebrate."

Doudou, who was off to the side bullying Tang Dou and Tiggie, also shouted once.

But once he yelled he considered the task done, and went back to bullying them.

"You can count it as having finally made it. I checked, and not just in Binhai City—across the whole country there aren't many deputy directors this young," Qiu Huaili said.

"Hey… I just got lucky and caught this wave. Normally speaking, you'd have to at least be an associate chief physician first," Liu Banxia said.

"It's just that our emergency center hasn't been upgraded yet, the setup is relatively low, so I slipped in through that gap. But I'm still pretty happy, hahahahaha…"

As Liu Banxia talked, he couldn't help laughing out loud himself.

He really was happy; he kept saying he didn't care, but his body was being very honest. All afternoon his face had been lit up with a big smile.

It cracked Qiu Mingyuan up, and it was probably also why he liked hanging out with Liu Banxia. He was straightforward, without all those twists and turns.

"Alright, you chat a bit more and then we'll eat," Auntie Tong called out.

"We have to really eat well tonight, and have a little drink too," Liu Banxia said.

"I can only use juice instead of alcohol, but the doctor said my gout shouldn't be a big problem. As long as I keep it under control from now on and don't overdo the seafood and such, it won't affect much," Qiu Mingyuan said.

"That's all because Banxia caught it early. Otherwise you'd be the one suffering later. Living on bland soup and plain water every day, that's rough," Qiu Huaili said.

"It was just coincidence. If you keep bringing it up, I'll get embarrassed," Liu Banxia said with a smile.

"It's fine, I like hearing it," Qiaoqiao added with a squinty smile.

Everyone laughed. Qiaoqiao never bothered to hide what she was thinking.

"Banxia, after becoming deputy director, will your work get even busier? Will it delay you coming home and taking days off?" Peng Xiuqin asked.

"Mom, it won't delay anything. The deputy director's work is all in-hospital stuff, I can handle it during working hours," Liu Banxia said.

"What's still the busiest is my receiving patients. You never know when someone will come in, and if I really have to go into surgery, then the time I get home is uncertain."

"That's alright. Come home whenever you can. It's boring if Qiaoqiao's home alone. Just these four little ones keeping her company, and all they know how to do is sleep all day," Peng Xiuqin said.

Qiaoqiao listened feeling sweet inside, knowing her mother‑in‑law was "backing her up."

The dishes were all brought to the table, and tonight's sumptuous dinner officially began.

Tang Dou's four little babies were still sleeping soundly, but both Tang Dou and Tiggie were also celebrating today, with plenty of meat in their bowls.

The two of them were eating happily. Living in a family like this really was happiness for them—not only was the food and drink good, everyone in the house doted on them.

"This fish, I really can't get enough of it," after eating for a while, Liu Banxia sighed.

"Your Auntie Tong has been stewing it for an hour and a half. If it were me, I wouldn't have the patience," Peng Xiuqin said.

"You just put it on the stove to stew, it's no trouble," Auntie Tong said with a smile.

"Banxia is really impressive. This deputy director post is no small thing. Now that you've got it, it's our family's pride. And you're still so young—down the road you've at least got to become Chief Director."

"Auntie Tong, now you're really overpraising me. Being a deputy director is good enough; if I really climbed all the way up to Chief Director, I'd basically have no life of my own left." Liu Banxia said with a sigh.

"I always thought our Second Hospital was fairly gentle and rainless, but in fact there's no shortage of messy stuff either. Don't they all say it in the movies? Wherever there are people, there's the martial world. Wherever there's power, there will be struggle." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"You can't really say who's right or wrong. Once opinions diverge, everyone insists that their own view is the correct one. Surface-level disagreement isn't a big deal; what's scary is the backstabbing behind the scenes."

"It's the same wherever you go. Fighting for power and profit is the eternal theme." Qiu Huaili said.

"But Old Qiao and I have finally toughed it out and seen the light. Now we just work outward from our own patch, expanding bit by bit, steady and sure. The competition between companies, that's what's really fierce."

"Otherwise why do you think Old Bao is so cautious? A publicly listed company is even more dangerous. On the surface, issuing stock brings in funds for development, but it also means many more people start eyeing you. Oh right, how's her daughter doing?"

"She's recovering quite well. After a few more days of recuperation, she can be discharged and go home to rest." Liu Banxia said.

"But she'll still have to stay on the meds for another two or three months, and she'll need follow-ups at any time so we can adjust the dosage up or down. They're all hormone-based drugs; once you take them for a long time, some side effects are bound to show up."

"From this point you can see our Comrade Old Qiu at home is actually quite wise." Qiu Mingyuan said.

"That's also because you grew up well. If it had been another one of my patients, the days ahead would be very hard to get through." Liu Banxia said.

"I've noticed something quite interesting: the family has a huge impact on a child's development. When parents spoil their kids too much, the chances of the kid going crooked get really high."

"And if the family isn't harmonious enough, the psychological impact on the child is also huge. Today I had a little patient who woke up from sleep with both legs paralyzed."

"We ran a lot of tests and couldn't find anything. We suspect it might be because he heard his parents were getting divorced, and the psychological shock was too great. In order to divert that mental stress, his legs just stopped working."

"My god, Brother Liu, seriously?" Qiu Mingyuan asked in surprise.

"We don't know either, we're just guessing blindly anyway." Liu Banxia said with a laugh.

"From another angle, maybe in the child's subconscious he feels that if he's sick, seriously ill, he can hold this about-to-break family together."

"The human body is amazing. A lot of conditions simply can't be explained by precise pathological mechanisms we can find. Especially once it involves neurological issues, it's even harder to judge."

"Unless we did it like on TV—open the kid's skull and do electrical stimulation—that would still only be a diagnostic test. But the harm to the child would be way too great, it's not acceptable."

"Is it like with cancer patients—if they don't treat it, it can slowly get better on its own?" Qiu Mingyuan asked.

"From my personal point of view, that kind of thing is impossible. The biggest likelihood is that the original diagnosis was wrong." Liu Banxia said.

"Don't think medicine is so advanced now; misdiagnosis is actually still pretty common, and there's a lot that could be said about that. To sum it up, there are three key points: good mood, good exercise, good lifestyle."

"Anyway, with you in the family, everyone feels very reassured." Qiao Xuezhi said.

"From now on, we'll do a routine health check once a year. No matter how busy we are, we have to make time. Then we'll leave the rest to you—if you see anything wrong with us, just tell us directly."

"Before I met Banxia, I absolutely never thought this way. But now it's different—this is all about probability. Even if the odds are tiny, it can still happen."

Everyone nodded, thinking of either their own personal experiences or people they knew well. In any case, health really is important—far more important than money.

No matter how rich you are, if an acute illness suddenly hits—"snap"—and off you go, what can you do? Want to regret it after the fact? Heaven isn't going to give you that chance.

"When it comes to health, as long as you take it seriously enough, that's fine. Don't over-focus on it either; going too far is bad as well." Liu Banxia said with a smile.

Given that everyone had reached this kind of understanding, Liu Banxia was quite pleased.

He might be careless with himself sometimes, but that didn't stop him from reminding people he was close to. When it comes to illness, you have to nip it in the bud.

Illness doesn't pick people. Whether you're rich or poor, if it's your lot to get sick, you'll get sick.

Among all the patients he'd seen, there really were plenty who weren't short of money. Their only demand was to stay alive; they were willing to pay anything. But a lot of the time, the outcome still wasn't ideal.

And then there were many who also wanted to stay alive but simply didn't have that kind of money in their pockets, not enough to sustain treatment at all. Like that patient he consulted on today with the huge intra-abdominal tumor—do you think he didn't want to live?

You can only say that in life, some helplessness is inevitable.

Chatting away over tasty dishes, the atmosphere at the table was very pleasant. Most of the conversation revolved around praising Liu Banxia. Since they were all his elders, he just accepted it all with a smile.

Relationships are built over time like this; friendships are often maintained this way too.

Qiu Huaili and Qiao Xuezhi had known each other before, but without Liu Banxia as a link pulling them together, they might not have ended up working on a project together now.

From the start of the meal, Qiaoqiao had been in a great mood. Other people complimenting Liu Banxia made her happier than if they were complimenting her.

Even though after she got pregnant, Liu Banxia's status in her heart had already dropped to a tie for second place with Tang Dou, that was still pretty high.