Bai found retired director Wen at a small garden clinic in the southern district. The path passed a rain barrel and a row of medicinal plants. Wen was pruning a branch when she saw them.
“You’re from the hospital archive,” she said. “Du sent a request?”
“He gave us the clinic contact,” Qinghe replied. “We can leave if you don’t want to discuss the old pilot.”
Wen set the shears on a stool. “I remember the channel proposal and the hospital’s request. Come sit where I can hear you.”
Gu asked whether she had supported the local regulator design. Wen remembered the first meeting with the hospital engineers. The workers had described waiting hours for a central adjustment after a furnace valve began to drift. She had not wanted to replace the central system; she wanted a local regulator that could be tested under observation and rolled back if it failed. Wen said she wanted a pilot because workers needed a way to adjust treatment without waiting for a distant Registry office. The request stalled when central funding went to the large furnace upgrade.
“Did you think the design was ready?” Gu asked.
“Ready to test,” Wen replied. “Not ready to build everywhere. I wanted an engineer present, a physician reviewing the outcomes, and a way to return to the old setting if the new one failed.”
