top student at medical school

Chapter 136 Willing to Be a Goalkeeper (Please Subscribe)
"Ziye, you haven't been to the training room in a long time. Why don't we go to the training room together and celebrate?" Yuan Weihong suggested as the conversation was drawing to a close.

Using practicing in the training room as a way to celebrate is quite novel.

Lan Tianluo, however, blurted out, "Senior brother, Master has made great progress in his skills recently, so he wants to..."

Jie Han stepped on Lan Tianluo's foot, while Yuan Weihong looked at Lan Tianluo with a conflicted expression. For a moment, he wanted to hit him, but Lan Tianluo had already said it outright, so what could he do?
"Master, have you made progress in the second training room as well? Could you show us?" Fang Ziye immediately became interested and did not lose his curiosity even though Lan Tianluo had revealed it.

To be honest, Fang Ziye had only heard about the second training room. It was the training room where doctors and attending physicians stayed during their term of service. The training materials and the level of sophistication were no less than those in the second training room of the hand surgery department. He had even heard that there were steel plates for open reduction and internal fixation of fractures on mice.

Yuan Weihong suddenly felt bored, but he couldn't blame Lan Tianluo.

Compared to Fang Ziye's collecting obsession and Jie Han's endless questions, Lan Tianluo's straightforwardness was the smallest window God had closed for him.

No one can be perfect, right?

"Forget it, I guess I won't go." Yuan Weihong stretched.

……

After the group of master and apprentices parted ways, Yuan Weihong rode his electric scooter in another direction. On the way, he called and said, "Honey, let's go shopping while Xiaoqi is in class. It's been so long since I've taken you shopping..."

"These little brats, they're driving me crazy!" Yuan Weihong chuckled and complained to his wife.

Yuan Weihong felt very uncomfortable not being given a chance to show off.

"Did I say something wrong?" Lan Tianluo poked his neck with his index finger after Yuan Weihong left.

Jie Han shook his head and encouraged him, "No, you can keep saying that in the future."

Fang Ziye naturally didn't want to trick Lan Tianluo, so he explained, "Learn slowly. Understanding the teacher's feelings is also a skill, and there are no tricks or formulas to it."

When it comes to teaching techniques, Fang Ziye feels there are patterns to follow, but when it comes to interpersonal relationships, he only goes by his feelings and understanding. As for reaching the level of teaching others, he hasn't reached that level yet.

The three of them strolled back leisurely. On the sidewalk next to Fruit Lake opposite Zhongnan Hospital, they were about to turn into the small road leading to the practice room. They needed to wait for a traffic light.

Jie Han then looked at Fang Ziye and asked, "Senior brother, are you going to Enshi next month?"

Jie Han's tone was slightly dejected. He had a large head, but he no longer had the pure naivety and invincible spirit he had when he first came to Zhongnan Hospital.

He stood sideways, the mole at the corner of his eye pointing directly at Fang Ziye, giving him an indescribable air about him.

Lan Tianluo stepped back two paces and listened attentively.

He had always treated Jie Han and Fang Ziye as his senior brothers. In the whole group, Lan Tianluo found that these two older brothers were older than him and much more mature.

"I'm going in April, departing on March 31st. I'll be buying the tickets in a couple of days."

"Why are you still reluctant to part with me?" Fang Ziye put his arm around Jie Han's shoulder.

As Jie Han's clinical skills matured significantly, his mindset also matured considerably.

Fang Ziye realized that Jie Han had gradually lost the dashing spirit he had in the first few months after arriving at the hospital. Jie Han was already outstanding before he came, and after arriving, he gradually developed into a research leader. Even now, he is still outstanding among his peers.

However, ever since Fang Ziye went from part-time to full-time to immersing himself in the laboratory, a lot of clinical pressure naturally piled up on Jie Han. Jie Han had no choice but to take it on. Although it was difficult, he felt that he had a senior brother by his side who could come and take care of him at any time.

But once Fang Ziye left, Jie Han suddenly realized that he had only been at the hospital for less than a year. Not only had he lost the help of his senior brother in clinical practice, but he also had a junior brother, Lan Tianluo, who was younger than him, and the two of them needed to grow together.

Furthermore, to some extent, Jie Han felt that he was more mature than Lan Tianluo, after all, he was the senior brother. Lan Tianluo was a halfway through his career, so his theories were not detailed enough.

Besides these, Jie Han also discovered that once his senior brother left, a lot of the teacher's workload would fall on his shoulders.

Next year, he will also guide Lan Tianluo in writing the proposal to see if they can get a school-level project. Moreover, Fang Ziye will be away from home in April until he returns next April. During this year, he will also have to work with his teacher to complete the Young Thousand Talents Program defense, project application, and follow up on experimental progress...

Lan Tianluo felt that being a junior brother was really good; once he became a senior brother, he would feel a heavy responsibility on his shoulders.

"I am a little reluctant to part with him." Jie Han maintained his respect for Fang Ziye while restraining his own emotions.

"But thinking that when you come back, you can take us to new heights, I also feel that you've had a tough time." Jie Han has been thinking about many things in the past few months.

Having been deeply involved in scientific research, Jie Han knows just how difficult it is for a small research group like Yuan Weihong's to make its presence felt within a large research group.

Looking at Associate Professor Xie Jinyuan, an associate professor, his presence in Professor Deng Yong's group is extremely low.

Yuan Weihong's foundation was even weaker than that of Associate Professor Xie Jinyuan, but even in such an environment, under the guidance of his teacher and senior fellow student Fang Ziye, he has now taken a step forward, making his small research group almost parallel to Professor Deng Yong's research group.

This parallelism is not an exaggeration.

Professor Deng Yong's team's accumulated workload over a year is still less than that of Senior Brother Fang Ziye, who worked alone for less than half a year. How many people in the hospital can do that?
It would be very difficult to find a second person. Even if we were to look, perhaps some top researchers in internal medicine or academic graduate students would have a chance to contact them.

But Fang Ziye is a professional graduate student.

As the saying goes, "throwing a brick to attract jade" (meaning to offer a brick to attract jade), Jie Han felt immense pressure as he was about to take over the mantle from Fang Ziye.

"Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Your main tasks right now are twofold: one is to familiarize yourself with clinical procedures and get into the practice room, and the other is to use the research funding you've received to solidify your experimental skills."

“You don’t have the pressure of presenting project results; you only need to learn how to operate the equipment proficiently. That must be very relaxing, right?” Fang Ziye replied.

Fang Ziye's fellow students were reluctant to let him go, but he still had to leave. This was a promotion path that no one in the medical field could avoid.

Without going abroad, it is very difficult to stay in the hospital, and future career advancement opportunities will become very limited.

Everyone else has overseas experience, but you don't. Even if you join this institute, your income may be lower than others, and you won't have the corresponding perspective and knowledge.

Of course, if Fang Ziye could gain about six months of grassroots work experience during his doctoral studies, then he would not need to go to the countryside to provide support before becoming an associate professor, which would save him a lot of time.

At this point in the conversation, it seems we're heading down a more sentimental route.

But it's not really appropriate for a group of grown men to take an emotional approach.

Jie Han said, "Thank you for the opportunity, senior brother. Before you leave, let the three of us have a drink together to see you off and welcome you back next year."

"Alright!" Fang Ziye stopped trying to evoke any sentimentality.

There aren't many people in the research group yet, so it's relatively easy to get along, and the feelings are becoming more and more genuine because you don't have to invest too much effort.

If the research group grows to the size of Professor Deng Yong's group or even Associate Professor Hong Zili's group, the relationship between the three students will certainly not be as harmonious as it is now, nor will they have as much energy.

Because everyone needs to grow, and after growing, they have to temporarily split up. After splitting up, they become their own teams again. Although there is still communication, they are, after all, separated...

Inside the training room, 801, the room was bustling with people chatting happily.

When Fang Ziye led his two junior brothers in, it didn't dampen the spirits of the people inside at all. In fact, someone said, "More people have arrived."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuanpei, who was at the center of the conversation, quickly turned around with a smile: "Who is it?"

The moment Li Yuanpei saw that it was Fang Ziye who had entered, he straightened up and stood up. His expression became relatively tense as he walked towards Fang Ziye: "Brother Ye, it's been a long time."

After calling everyone, Fang Ziye asked, "It seems like none of the senior brothers are in the training room today?"

Li Yuanpei said, "Yeah, the senior students have either gone abroad or returned home, so we had a get-together. It's been like this for a long time now."

"So, Senior Brother Xue Cao and Senior Brother Yan Zhiming are planning to go abroad?" Fang Ziye understood.

The best time to go abroad is the second semester of the first year of doctoral studies, which is after the Spring Festival in the first year of doctoral studies. You can go abroad for a year and return during the second year of doctoral studies.

For example, Dong Wenqiang and Wang Yuanqi returned after about six months abroad. However, Gu Yi, a senior in the same year as Wang Yuanqi and Dong Wenqiang, did not have the opportunity to go abroad. His resume was too weak, and he did not receive a scholarship to study abroad, making self-funded study abroad not worthwhile.

Of course, Wang Yuanqi and Dong Wenqiang went abroad even earlier. They applied for the opportunity to go abroad in December of their first year of doctoral studies, for a six-month period from January to June.

This year, Professor Deng Yong's doctoral fellows, Yan Zhiming, who is professional in his field, and Xue Cao, who is academic in his field, both successfully applied for opportunities to study abroad, which is quite remarkable.

"Yes. Both of my senior brothers are very outstanding."

"Dr. Fang, I heard you're even more outstanding than Luo Tingzhu? Could you give me a performance?" a fellow student asked.

He is the same age as Yuan Weihong, thirty-four years old. After graduating with a master's degree, he entered a prefecture-level city hospital. Now he is in his fifth year as an intermediate-level doctor and is about to be promoted. However, to be promoted, he needs to have further education experience, grassroots work experience, and publications.

He came from Xian City People's Hospital. He was rather overweight, and his physique was somewhat similar to that of Duan, a student of Hong Zili.

"Brother Dong, these are just rumors. What's so great about me? Senior Brother Wang Yuanqi is the one we should learn from." Fang Ziye originally intended to show off his skills in front of his two junior brothers.

However, Fang Ziye had just seen his classmate, Li Yuanpei, who used to be more outstanding than him, and he suddenly restrained his demeanor, so Fang Ziye put away his thoughts.

Li Yuanpei and Fang Ziye had an excellent personal relationship. Even when Fang Ziye was at his lowest point, no one stepped on him. Instead, they offered encouragement and mutual praise, but not the kind of mutual praise that involved sarcasm.

Fang Ziye would never do anything to ridicule Li Yuanpei or put pressure on him. In fact, if by chance, the brothers would take care of each other, which would be excellent.

Wang Yuanqi entered the institute in the same year as Fang Ziye, but at that time Wang Yuanqi was a doctor.

However, Wang Yuanqi's doctoral degree is even more impressive than Gu Yi's and Dong Wenqiang's because Wang Yuanqi came through a specialized program. His undergraduate degree was not very good, so he chose to study orthopedics at Wuhan University Zhongnan Hospital, which is a relatively good hospital in Hubei Province, to avoid too much competitive pressure or being looked down upon for his first degree.

Even now, although Wang Yuanqi's level in basic operations is not as high as Fang Ziye's, he is stronger than Fang Ziye in terms of the basic skills required for a doctoral student to complete their training. Fang Ziye has not yet made any progress in this direction.

If we really have to pick, Professor Deng Yong's third favorite person would probably be Wang Yuanqi, and the other one tied for third would be Dong Wenqiang, a second-year doctoral student who is also an academic master's student who is very good at conducting experiments.

“Dr. Fang is being a bit modest. We’ve been at the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital for over half a month, and everyone, including the senior professors, has been full of praise for him. It’s clear that Dr. Fang’s skills are exceptionally good. He’s letting us see for ourselves.” Li Yuanhong, who came from Enshi Central Hospital for further training, made the same request.

Fang Ziye still didn't agree, saying only, "I'll just practice casually. There's still a lot to learn, so I won't embarrass myself in front of my fellow disciples and old friends."

Seeing Fang Ziye's refusal, the older brothers were disappointed, but Fang Ziye's ability to still overpower a top genius like Luo Tingzhu, whom they personally acknowledged, even after not coming to the training room for several months, must be impressive.

However, Fang Ziye refused to show off, and during practice, he only performed basic, somewhat clumsy, specialized operations, leaving them with no other options.

After Fang Ziye finished his work, he went to the workstations where Lan Tianluo and Jie Han were practicing and watched them for more than half an hour each, patiently pointing out some details to them one by one.

This method of instruction was something Fang Ziye learned from Luo Tingzhu. When Luo Tingzhu first entered the training room, he was more solid than Fang Ziye. Therefore, when Fang Ziye sought instruction from Luo Tingzhu, he not only learned the professional content of his instruction but also the method of instruction, which Fang Ziye found quite good.

Fang Ziye's mood improved as he anticipated that his two junior brothers would soon make further progress in incision and suturing techniques, respectively.

Just as she glanced in Li Yuanpei's direction again, Li Yuanpei was about to leave.

Seeing this, Fang Ziye said, "You two keep practicing. Meet at the lab again at 10 p.m. I'm going out to talk to Li Yuanpei about something."

"Okay, senior brother. If you need to see Senior Brother Li, you can go now."

“I think what we lack isn’t skill, but proficiency; we’re still a little bit short,” Jie Han nodded.

Lan Tianluo said, "I'm about the same, Senior Brother Fang."

The two continued to practice diligently with their heads down.

After Fang Ziye left the training room, several visiting doctors who were also occupying the operating table asked, "Is this Dr. Fang really that amazing?"

"Of course, Senior Brother Fang is amazing! Holy crap, you didn't see him perform a tail artery reconnection demonstration," said Zhu Yunwen, who was standing near the visiting doctors.

Just that one sentence, that one noun, knocked several people down.

In prefecture-level city hospitals, very few people are skilled in performing tail reattachment or limb replantation. Each one is a valuable asset to hand surgery, as long as the blood vessel pass-through rate can reach over 90%.

We're offering a hefty salary to hire you!

Regardless of educational background, the goal is to become the top hand surgeon in a prefecture-level city hospital.

It's about several tens of meters away from the training room building.

Fang Ziye invited, "Brother Pei, want to grab a late-night snack? I might need to ask you for a favor."

"Brother Ye, I have to go to the lab, so it won't be convenient for me to grab a late-night snack. Although I can't be involved in the academic field anymore, I still need to prepare for the basic requirements for graduation." Li Yuanpei declined, looking as if he couldn't shake off the weight of a mountain.

Fang Ziye didn't know how to help, so he just smiled and said, "Brother Pei, we can actually relax a bit. Having such a good mentor is a blessing for both of us."

"I'm looking for you because I hope you can take care of my two junior brothers after I leave."

“They were both so clueless last year, like complete novices in clinical practice. I’m afraid that if I leave, they won’t have anyone to ask for help or ask for assistance.”

Li Yuanpei paused for a moment upon hearing this, then shook his head and said, "That's impossible, Brother Ye, you're overthinking it."

"Whether it's Jie Han or Tian Luo, they both have excellent connections."

Li Yuanpei did think Fang Ziye was overthinking things. Their network of connections was no worse than Fang Ziye's, was it?
“Brother Pei, superficial social interactions are fine, but genuine assistance is still needed. Brother Pei, if it's inconvenient for you, I'll go ask Xiong Jinhuan.” Fang Ziye simply changed his tune.

Fang Ziye had learned his lesson. There were many things he couldn't ask anyone, and it was difficult to ask his teachers. So he could only figure them out on his own. Because even if you asked his senior doctoral student directly, he might not give you the real answer.

Fang Ziye had walked this winding road before, so he hoped to find a reliable support for his two junior brothers.

A close neighbor is worse than a distant relative; distant water cannot quench a nearby fire.

Li Yuanpei said, "Brother Ye, you brothers have such a good relationship. I really envy you."

“It’s alright, Brother Ye, you go and pursue your future. I’m willing to be a goalkeeper, someone who lives off my savings, and stay here obediently.” Li Yuanpei’s tone was slightly desolate, but very formal.

It's like the stubbornness of a villager guarding the village.

"Brother Pei, you can definitely do it. The road ahead is long, and who knows who might unleash unprecedented energy?"

“Look back at you and me last year, I wasn’t as desolate as you are now.”

“Brother Pei, I’m not being sarcastic or anything. I just feel that as long as there’s hope and you’re willing to work hard, everything else is just a matter of fate.” Fang Ziye said.

If he had acted with Li Yuanpei's current mindset earlier, Fang Ziye would have been abandoned long ago.

"Okay, thank you." Li Yuanpei nodded. He exchanged a fist bump with Fang Ziye, then turned and disappeared into the night, to strive for his own opportunities and breakthroughs.

The road ahead was long and the lights were dim, but Li Yuanpei didn't seem to feel lost about the future at this moment, because the path he was on was the same path his classmates had walked before. If his classmates could make it, so could he.

The final chapter of Volume One.

Looking back, in the first volume, there was only the character Xiong Jinhuan, and we couldn't find a suitable foothold for him. According to the outline, we should have sorted him out, but considering that we're not in the same group and don't have much interaction, we'll leave him for later.

Xiaoyu felt that the first volume was quite successful, focusing on academics. It covered topics such as master's and doctoral degrees, attending physicians, general residents, and associate professors, their respective positions, trade-offs, reasons for their efforts, and resource allocation—a complex mix of many things.

Although Fang Ziye is only just beginning, in reality, even professors are only just starting out in the field of scientific research. So don't rush it; medicine is a discipline that matures late...

The next volume is purely about career and profession. I believe that the career and profession volumes are easier to write and more likely to stand out than the academic and reading volumes.

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(End of this chapter)