top student at medical school

Chapter 107 A Stark Contrast (First Update, Please Subscribe)
The next day was Saturday, but it was also the first day of the New Year's Day holiday, December 31st.

Because of the three-day holiday, Fang Ziye dared to sleep until 8:10 a.m. before getting up.

After a quick shower and washing up, I dried my hair, bought two steamed buns on the way, and rushed to the department.

In the doctor's office, Qin Geluo, who was in charge of leading ward rounds on weekends, was already in place, waiting for Fang Ziye. He then led Luo Tingzhu and Gu Yi to begin their ward rounds.

New Year's Day is a short holiday, so the beds that had been used for patients being discharged earlier are gradually becoming empty.

Fang Ziye has two discharges scheduled, which will be processed today.

There's basically nothing special about it.

However, after finishing his rounds, Fang Ziye heard Li Yuanpei say, "Brother Luo, I'm going to the practice room now. I've already taken care of all the patients under my care. The discharge record and diagnosis for the discharged patient are all written. I just need my junior brothers to print them out for me."

Qin Geluo looked in the direction of the sound and saw that Li Yuanpei's face was full of fatigue and his eyes were slightly bloodshot, indicating that he had been fighting for a long time.

Qin Geluo chased after him a few steps: "Yuanpei, you need to take good care of yourself and get some rest. It's good to work hard, but health is the foundation of everything. Don't put the cart before the horse."

Qin Geluo was a subordinate of Professor Deng Yong's group, so he naturally knew how much Professor Deng Yong had lost by stepping down from his position as ward director.

The direct reason for all of this was that Professor Deng Yong wanted to secure him a future as a doctoral candidate at the institute.

Li Yuanpei hoped to live up to his teacher's expectations and had been working hard. Moreover, since the rumors started to circulate, he had hardly left the training room.

"Brother Luo, I'm fine! I make sure I get at least six hours of sleep every day, and my diet is regular." Li Yuanpei's voice was slightly desolate.

Upon hearing this, Fang Ziye also chased after him out the door. When Qin Geluo saw Fang Ziye coming, he stopped walking alongside Li Yuanpei.

Fang Ziye offered a word of advice: "Yuanpei, your master's decision is definitely not about ruining your health; it's out of care for you. Besides, even if Professor Deng Yong hadn't called Song Yi, Song Yi probably still wouldn't have stayed at Central South University."

"This is just like walking right into the line of fire."

Li Yuanpei, who was in the same cohort as me, received a doctoral offer from the affiliated hospital of Sun Yat-sen University. There was no need for me to continue competing within my own hospital, nor was there any need for me to get involved in this whole affair.

Do you think Professor Deng Yong did the right thing? Actually, he did. Song Yi could have taken the special program route, which would have given the research group an extra doctoral spot and an extra student.

Do you think Professor Deng Yong did something wrong? Actually, no!
Don't you know your own background and resources? There are already so many students, why do you need so many more spots? Are you risking your life to give up certain resources for graduation?

Am I here just to beg you to give me a PhD? Am I, Song Yi, crazy?

You can actually find information about how many research projects each professor has and how much funding they have online, if you just put in the effort to look.

It's certain that we'll give the senior students a chance first; Song Yi might be willing to wait.

Sharing the opportunity with Fang Ziye might not be unacceptable to Song Yi, after all, Fang Ziye also went through a special program, including Luo Tingzhu, who has an eight-year program, right? You have to accept that.

But what's the point of bringing Li Yuanpei in again?
From Song Yi's perspective, he would think that Professor Deng Yong didn't have such a big problem, so why did he have to invite so many people to eat? Doesn't that mean he thinks I'm not one of his own and that I have to stand at the next table and wait for his people to finish eating before I can eat?

How despicable am I?
The more carefully one examines this matter, the more one realizes that neither Professor Deng Yong nor Song Yi made any wrong choices.

If we have to point out a mistake, we can only say that Professor Deng Yong's group didn't have enough funding for their research project. If they had a research grant of several million or even tens of millions of yuan, a dozen or so people could easily divide it up, and then it wouldn't matter.

"Brother Ye, you don't need to persuade me. I will definitely take care of my own body."

"I'll just try my best to push it. I don't think it will make the teacher absolutely happy, but at least it will give him some comfort."

"I will definitely bother you, Luo Tingzhu, and the other senior brothers a lot in the future!" Li Yuanpei's temperament was now in a state of absolute restraint.

Upon hearing this, Fang Ziye dared not offer any further advice: "Alright, brothers, let's help each other out."

Fang Ziye now has enough leverage to confront Li Yuanpei directly, because Professor Deng Yong is already his mentor, and Professor Deng Yong's favoritism towards him surpasses that towards Li Yuanpei.

Why?

Just because Professor Deng Yong obtained several hundred thousand yuan in research funding from the hospital for Yuan Weihong—was this for Yuan Weihong's benefit? No.

Was it for Luo Tingzhu? Part of the reason is that it was for himself.

Yuan Weihong already had his own research funding, which belonged to the group, and Luo Tingzhu couldn't interfere. However, Professor Deng Yong's funding was all given to Yuan Weihong, so that he and Luo Tingzhu could share it. This was a way of making a statement.

Perhaps it was Professor Deng Yong who felt he had handled the Song Yi matter poorly, and this was the result of his serious internal reflection.

Being a master is not easy, no matter which master you are, it's not easy. Fang Ziye is becoming more and more aware of this now.

Watching Li Yuanpei leave, Fang Ziye was conflicted.

As Professor Deng Yong's master's student, Li Yuanpei's desire to stay and pursue a doctorate is perfectly understandable. Even if Li Yuanpei had a way of pleasing his mentor, that's not wrong either!

Li Yuanpei resorted to tricks because he had nowhere else to go.

When they returned to the ward, Lan Tianluo and Jie Han, the two young duo, were already busy.

Jie Han went directly to find the dressing change cart team to change the dressings, while Lan Tianluo was responsible for revising the medical orders. When he saw Fang Ziye coming over, he said, "Senior brother, I have revised all the medical orders for all the patients in our group. Could you please review them again?"

“Master said that since you will soon graduate with your master’s degree, you need to get used to the process of being a chief resident assistant in the future. So for the next period of time, you will only need to write medical records.”

Lan Tianluo was very proactive.

Fang Ziye moved closer to Lan Tianluo, scrolling up and down with the mouse to open the bed's medical records, and said, "I'll definitely treat you to more meals in the future!"

"Mainly, after my thesis defense this month, I will devote most of my time to the lab before April to make preparations for your graduation and other aspects."

"But I'm still on the rotation program. There aren't many opportunities for hands-on work in the department, so I'll do experiments on a part-time basis."

Fang Ziye no longer hid the fact that Lan Tianluo was about to become his junior brother.

Because he has to be very careful with his time.

The 33-month residency training program will not conclude until the end of March.

In April, Fang Ziye will be going to the orthopedics department of Enshi Central Hospital, which Professor Li Guohua has arranged for him to gain experience at the grassroots level. During this time, even if he can take some basic cell experiments with him, it won't be much.

Therefore, after the defense on January 20th, Fang Ziye didn't have much time left to conduct experiments.

Once Fang Ziye entered the doctoral program, his first task was to spend six months in the hospital, then six months abroad, and finally a year writing his thesis proposal and dissertation. With the final draft of the dissertation, there was simply not enough time.

"We know, senior brother. Don't worry. Han Ge and I have been in the department for almost half a year now, and we're pretty familiar with everything inside and out. Anyway, we have you, senior brother, to ask us anything." Lan Tianluo said politely.

Fang Ziye opened the medical order pages of several more medical records and nodded.

"Okay, no further modifications are needed."

"Okay, senior brother, could you type out the discharge records and diagnoses for the two beds you're getting discharged from today? I still have my own beds to fill out, otherwise I would have helped you," Lan Tianluo explained.

"Why don't you just eat all my food for me?" Fang Ziye rolled his eyes and patted Lan Tianluo on the shoulder.

Lan Tianluo and he had no superior-subordinate relationship; their relationship was entirely based on personal connections. It was already good enough if Lan Tianluo could help him with something. Fang Ziye himself had also worked his way up from a junior resident doctor, so he wouldn't make things difficult for his junior colleagues who were still junior doctors.

"Sure, it's perfect timing since I'm on a diet."

……

After Fang Ziye finished processing the discharge medical records and printed them out, Lan Tianluo said he could help with the process. Fang Ziye could then comfortably do all his own things this month. As long as the medical records were completed, he could leave. He could slowly learn how to talk and sign.

Fang Ziye didn't stand on ceremony either.

Just then, Fang Ziye saw Luo Tingzhu walking out of the office, presumably to change clothes and leave the department. He followed her, first entering the doctor's office and changing into his down jacket.

In January, nearing the end of the year, the temperature in Han City was quite cold, its damp chill no less intense than the summer heat. Luo Tingzhu had also changed into a thick, long white down jacket, the hem of which reached a few centimeters below her knees, making her look like a white penguin.

When she saw Fang Ziye approaching and walking alongside her, Luo Tingzhu flinched slightly, a little nervous.

Fang Ziye said, "Tingzhu, thank you. I just took some time to look at the pictures you sent yesterday."

He did gain some knowledge points, though only 6. However, there were two images unrelated to knowledge points that alerted Fang Ziye's keen senses.

Fang Ziye wasn't a typical straight man; otherwise, he would have been quite sensible. Although he wasn't adept at navigating social situations, he was quite perceptive when it came to understanding other people's intentions.

Fang Ziye simply couldn't believe or imagine that this was something Luo Tingzhu, who seemed generous but was actually extremely reserved, could do and express directly. He was afraid he might misunderstand.

"The experiment results were alright, right, senior?" Luo Tingzhu tilted her head slightly, trying her best to steer the conversation back on track, not deviating from the topic even slightly.

"The experimental results are good. They can be used as materials. But Tingzhu, which branch do you plan to follow up on? Or do you plan to directly work on the upstream and downstream pathways of LDH?" Fang Ziye asked casually.

"It should be a matter of regulating both upstream and downstream sectors; that would be more prudent!" Luo Tingzhu slowly relaxed.

And discussing scientific research is appropriate even in an elevator.

The orthopedics department is a standalone building, so there's no fear of being overheard by others; it's considered part of the family.

Two joint surgery professors looked at Luo Tingzhu and Fang Ziye, and after hearing their discussion, each patted Fang Ziye on the shoulder encouragingly: "Very good, keep it up."

"Orthopedics really needs pragmatic and open-minded students like you. If needed, you can come to the 22nd floor of the laboratory building to participate in our research group's group meetings."

These words surprised both Luo Tingzhu and Fang Ziye.

Turning their heads, they saw that the two professors, who were around thirty or forty years old, were not very familiar to them.

The main problem is that there are too many professors and associate professors in Zhongnan Hospital.

In trauma surgery alone, there are three full professors and three associate professors. If we count one subspecialty as six, then the entire orthopedics department has about thirty senior professionals, and the number of senior professionals in the bone disease specialty is probably even more.

I can only have a general impression; I can't match them one by one.

Cell experiments require an appointment.

Fang Ziye and Luo Tingzhu went to the training room first. Fang Ziye asked, "Tingzhu, do you know what standard Li Yuanpei wants to achieve?"

In the practice room, there is actually a concept of big goals and small goals.

The big goal, naturally, is to master all the techniques in the first training room, and then all the techniques in the second training room.

The smaller goals are benchmarks to be set during the master's stage, the doctoral graduation stage, and the breakthroughs to stay in the hospital.

Generally speaking, if one wants to break through the training room benchmarks of the doctoral stage and reach the standards for staying in the hospital, one must basically break through the operational exit standards of the training room when graduating with a master's degree.

Then, in the first year of doctoral studies, break down all the basic skills, and spend the remaining two years practicing and improving the basic skills of the major, proceeding step by step.

This is similar to the case of Yan Zhiming, who is a first-year doctoral student. In this year, his best option is to master debridement, suturing, incision, and hemostasis techniques to meet the standards required for graduation from the doctoral training program. Only then can he possibly hope to reach the graduation standard for doctoral studies.

But this is very, very difficult.

For example, Wang Yuanqi, a second-year doctoral student, entered the hospital through a special operation program while pursuing his doctorate, becoming Professor Deng Yong's second co-doctoral fellow without taking up a quota.

Even with a solid foundation in basic medical procedures like Wang Yuanqi's, now in his second year of doctoral studies, he hasn't yet achieved an absolute advantage in all fundamental medical procedures.

That's too difficult; it requires a high level of talent.

Of course, there are also those who come from behind and surpass others. For example, Dai Yinsheng, a third-year doctoral student, also entered the doctoral program through a special program. However, Dai Yinsheng's overall skill level in this program is not as good as that of Sun Shaoqing, who did not take the special program during his master's studies.

You can't just give up after taking a leap; you need to strive forward step by step.

In fact, Fang Ziye's level is easy to understand. In the early stage, from level 1 to level 3, the required skill upgrade progress is less than 100 points. However, from level 3 to the most basic level of 100/500, it takes about 100 knowledge points to offset the proficiency.

This is the fundamental reason why it is so difficult to emerge from seclusion in the training room.

"It hasn't been specified, but it's definitely better the higher it is."

"Senior Brother Li is very hardworking, but he's also a little pitiful. There's nothing anyone can do to help him. I hope he can get over his troubles soon," Luo Tingzhu said softly.

“However, Senior Brother Yuanpei’s first small goal is to be able to pass the training room exit standard that he is aiming for before graduating with his master’s degree. Right now, the only thing he can barely meet is the incision technique,” ​​Luo Tingzhu analyzed in detail.

"Hmm. I think it's about the same too. You can only get past it through repeated practice. Simply giving pointers isn't enough." Fang Ziye's cutting technique is comparable to Luo Tingzhu's.

This shows that Luo Tingzhu's talent is truly exceptional. Fang Ziye predicts that Luo Tingzhu has a chance to break through the first training room and emerge from seclusion.

Luo Tingzhu thought for a moment, tidied up her essential snack bag, and tilted her head to ask, "Senior, I heard you're still writing a meta-analysis. Aren't you about to defend your thesis? Is it really necessary to waste this time?"

Luo Tingzhu made a suggestion.

A meta-analysis is merely a tool and offers no real benefit to Fang Ziye. When job hunting, three or four meta-analyses with an impact factor of 8 are less valuable than one academic paper with an impact factor of 8 in Fang Ziye.

"It's mainly to practice writing articles. As a senior, I feel some pressure as my juniors are becoming more and more outstanding."

"My mentor plans for me to be doing research part-time for the next few months, so naturally I still need to learn something." Fang Ziye smiled, clearly not worried about his graduation thesis at all.

The workload in this thesis is more than enough for an eight-year program like Luo Tingzhu's. To be honest, it's a bit of a waste that I only used it for my master's degree.

"That's true."

“Brother Fang, Professor Yuan talked to me yesterday. The gist of it was that you and I should submit three proposals to the provincial-level research project application in the names of Professor Yuan Weihong, myself, and Professor Deng Yong respectively.”

“Provincial-level research projects, municipal-level research projects, and general projects do not overlap.”

"Is your workload and preliminary preparations sufficient?" Luo Tingzhu was genuinely taken aback by Yuan Weihong's boastful claim.

What a guy.

What kind of family background does this person come from?
Regardless of his own research project, Fang Ziye applied for a school-level project, a municipal-level project, and is now undertaking preliminary research for two provincial-level projects, as well as a project application for Yuan Weihong's general research fund.

How much prior research must have been done?

Upon hearing this, Fang Ziye said guiltily, "We'll plan it out together then. Everyone in our group needs to be involved in this."

"But this matter must absolutely not be told to anyone."

Can Fang Ziye directly explain the depth of his current research topic to Luo Tingzhu? No!

It wasn't that she was afraid Luo Tingzhu would find out, but rather that she was afraid of being overheard.

"Okay!" Luo Tingzhu nodded gently and then said nothing more.

Fang Ziye glanced to the side and saw Luo Tingzhu pursing her lips and lowering her head slightly, seemingly lost in thought.

Fang Ziye didn't know how to start the conversation.

Actually, what Luo Tingzhu was thinking at this moment was, could it really be a case of a collector pandering to someone's tastes?
While their minds were slightly distracted, the two arrived at the training room, received their materials, and began practicing separately.

Around 2:30 pm, Fang Ziye finished his practice early and then noticed that Li Yuanpei was staring blankly at Luo Tingzhu's performance, his eyes filled with bitterness and envy, looking as desolate as an old man.

Seeing this expression, Fang Ziye couldn't help but feel a stirring in his heart.

He's Li Yuanpei, after all...

(End of this chapter)