After seeing the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law off, Li Chu had nothing to do today. He had originally planned to write that report today, but last night his wife arranged for him to clean the other house.
After thinking for a moment, he turned around and walked to the director's office, greeted Director Sun, went back to the consultation room, slung his bag over his shoulder, told Ding Qiunan again at the pharmacy, and then left the hospital towards the courtyard.
It had been a while since he'd been here, and the neighbors in the alley greeted him warmly when they saw him.
As Li Chu approached the entrance of the courtyard house, he stopped and looked up at the courtyard.
Three years have passed since he moved away, and everything seems unchanged, yet it also seems to have changed quite a bit, giving him an indescribable feeling.
"Hey, Xiao Chu, what brings you here at this hour?"
Following the sound, Li Chu turned his head and saw the third aunt and several other aunties from the courtyard and alley walking together. Judging from what they were carrying, they had just returned from grocery shopping.
She greeted the group with a smile, "Auntie, are you going to buy groceries?"
"We've got nothing much going on right now, so let's all go to the market together. Xiao Chu, come over for lunch at home!"
Upon hearing what the third aunt said, alarm bells went off in Li Chu's mind.
These three aunties and uncles have long since mastered the art of dividing every penny into three parts. It's already a favor if they don't come to your house for a free meal; why would they kindly invite you to their house for dinner? There must be something going on.
Li Chu chuckled but didn't dare to reply, then turned and walked into the courtyard.
But he still couldn't escape it; the third auntie finally called out to him.
"Xiao Chu, wait a minute, my husband Yan just said he's been wanting to see you lately."
"Uh, Auntie, is there something you need?" Li Chu was a little helpless, but since he had already been called over, he had no choice but to ask.
"How about this, Xiao Chu, if you're not leaving at noon, come over for lunch. I'll have Lao Yan talk to you about it."
"Auntie, please say what you need to say. There's no need to eat. I might be leaving soon." He didn't want to eat at Uncle's house at all. Not to mention that he would feel obligated to eat there, he couldn't stand Uncle's stinginess, which involved counting even the peanuts he ate.
The old woman hesitated for a moment: "Let's wait for Lao Yan to come back and tell you. I'm just a woman, I can't explain it clearly."
Damn it, this looks like something serious. Li Chu felt a throbbing pain in his head.
"Alright then, I'll probably be in my room later. When Uncle San comes back, please have him come find me."
"Okay, okay, okay!" The three aunties beamed with joy.
"Hey, Xiao Chu, what brings you here today?"
"Oh, I just came over today to tidy up the house since I had nothing to do."
"Hey, say something! I'll go back and put the groceries down, then come over and lend you a hand."
"No, no, Auntie, really, it's not necessary. I'll just tidy up a bit, it won't trouble you."
"Don't be so polite with me, Xiao Chu."
"I won't stand on ceremony with you, I'll go inside first, Auntie."
When Li Chu reached his door, he turned around and saw that the Third Aunt had already entered his house.
I reached into my bag, took out a mask, and put it on. It had been a long time since I had cleaned the house; I estimated that the dirt inside was about a foot thick.
Then he took out the key and opened the door. Sure enough, as soon as the door opened, a cloud of dust rose up with it.
Li Chu stood at the door for a while before going inside.
He filled a basin with water, sprinkled some on the floor, and then started wiping the table.
While he was working diligently, Minister Li in the ministry was staring blankly at a report sent by the military.
This notice was an award for meritorious service, and the person who performed the meritorious service was none other than Li Chu, who was awarded a second-class merit.
Minister Li frowned and read the report several times from beginning to end. Everything was correct: the name, age, and workplace were all correct. But why was there no reason for the meritorious service?
What exactly did he do to deserve a second-class merit award from the military?
After putting down the report in his hand, Minister Li picked up the phone on the table and dialed the number. The call was answered quickly, and he only said one sentence before hanging up.
I had just hung up the phone a few minutes ago when there was a knock on the door.
The person who came in was Director Cheng from the Health Bureau.
"Director Cheng, please sit down. Take a look at this."
Minister Li then handed over the report.
When Director Cheng took it, he found it was a notice of meritorious service and award. He couldn't help but wonder what it meant to show this to him.
But as you read on, you'll understand why the leader showed him this.
"Minister, is this...is this our Li Chu?"
Director Cheng looked up, pointed at the report, and asked.
"Well, it seems you don't know anything either."
Director Cheng smiled somewhat awkwardly: "Minister, I really don't know anything. Could it be related to the main hospital..."
Minister Li waved his hand: "Impossible. If it were the General Hospital, would the ministry not know?"
"Oh right," Director Cheng realized. "If someone has made a special contribution to medical work and needs to be awarded a commendation, it must first be reported to the ministry. In such cases, the ministry usually approves it without needing to report to the General Headquarters for approval."
However, this merit was directly awarded by the General Headquarters of the Army, which makes it far more valuable.
These are all things that only the highest-ranking officials have the authority to approve.
After thinking for a moment, Minister Li asked, "Director Cheng, what has Dr. Li been up to lately?"
"What else can he do? He works at the hospital, on duty every Thursday, and he also collaborates with other departments in the hospital on several research projects."
Minister Li fell into deep thought. These were all routine tasks, and the research project certainly hadn't yielded any results yet, otherwise the ministry would have known.
"Alright, Director Cheng, you can go ahead now. Don't spread this around yet."
Director Cheng put down the documents in his hand and walked out of the minister's office.
After standing in the hallway for a while, still without any clue, I shook my head and went upstairs. Since the leader said not to spread it, I won't ask around. I'll find out sooner or later.
After Director Cheng left, Minister Li picked up the phone and dialed Dean Yang's number at the hospital.
Less than twenty minutes later, Dean Yang appeared in the office, panting.
Whether they were genuinely in a rush or just putting on a show for their superiors remains to be seen.
Dean Yang looked at the report in his hand, equally bewildered.
"Minister, there's something I'm not sure if it's related to this," Dean Yang said cautiously.
"What is it? Tell me."
"At the beginning of the month, it seemed like Dr. Li had something going on. A military vehicle would come to see him frequently, but we don't know the specifics of what it was about."
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