top student at medical school

Chapter 156 Luring the Enemy into the Trap (Please Subscribe)

Fang Ziye did not exchange many words with Wu Guonan, nor did he make any harsh remarks.

Frankly speaking, Fang Ziye has never felt that his current writing foundation is weak. A basic experiment of the 8-point article type requires at least 20 pieces of work. Can you describe a master's student's foundation as weak?

Although the articles published in collaboration with his junior colleagues had low impact factors and were primarily instrumental in nature, Fang Ziye still couldn't understand Zhang Mingcan's interpretation of insufficient output...

Of course, Fang Ziye could understand Zhang Mingcan's other line of thinking: in Zhongnan Hospital, there are many students and a lot of resources, but when averaged out, they are basically not enough to go around.

This is true, but such a fact does not actually exist in Fang Ziye's case.

Back home, Fang Ziye wrote an article while occasionally tapping the WeChat chat windows of Luo Tingzhu, Jie Han, and Lan Tianluo to chat with them individually.

Luo Tingzhu asked the fewest questions, mostly sharing what she was doing. Occasionally, while sharing the work steps, she would raise a question or two and ask Fang Ziye to answer it.

After Luo Tingzhu went abroad, Fang Ziye keenly noticed the changes in her personality during their conversations.

Before going abroad, Luo Tingzhu was somewhat reserved and a little arrogant. At times, she even longed for Fang Ziye's praise and recognition.

For the first few days after going abroad, she pretended to be bold, thinking that she was not afraid of anything.

But then, in mid-March, Luo Tingzhu's writing revealed some hesitation and uncertainty, as well as her discomfort with the unfamiliar environment.

By late March and even now, Fang Ziye has noticed that Luo Tingzhu's entire demeanor during conversations has transformed into that of a well-behaved girl.

This kind of obedience doesn't mean it's good-looking; rather, it means that the person is more reserved and has lost their previous boldness and generosity, becoming more docile.

Furthermore, Fang Ziye also discovered that Luo Tingzhu's chat times were always very punctual, and he didn't know why.

Because Fang Ziye has no experience in love and his emotional intelligence is relatively limited, if he can deduce from Luo Tingzhu's perspective based on his own understanding, Fang Ziye probably thinks that Luo Tingzhu is afraid that if the two of them are too far apart, then the somewhat outstanding Fang Ziye will be taken advantage of by someone else.

Because of the distance, she had no other means than to be a well-behaved and obedient girl.

Whether it's so-called arrogance or aloofness, it only widens the distance that already exists between the two people.

Of course, this is a guess made by Fang Ziye from a rational perspective, something he thinks about occasionally.

Fang Ziye thought she was a bit naive. Didn't she realize how outstanding she was? In this situation, he himself was rather oblivious; he should be the one worrying.

However, Fang Ziye didn't think too much about it. He wanted to focus on his career first. Once he got his career up and running and overcame the major hurdle of the general hospital, he would be able to get through the tough times and have some time to himself.

After answering Luo Tingzhu's question about experiments, Fang Ziye said, "Actually, there's no need to rush. It's better to be steady when conducting experiments."

Then he wrote another sentence.

Jie Han's problem has arisen again.

This junior brother, Jie Han, asked a lot of questions.

I don't know if it was because of my departure, or because Jie Han suddenly and passively became a senior student, and thus felt a certain pressure as a senior student, but in just two or three days, Jie Han had already mastered the two experimental methods of Western blotting and flow cytometry—

They relentlessly questioned him about every little detail, as if they needed to thoroughly understand the principles in a short time and become his teacher.

After answering the second-to-last question, Fang Ziye pointed out regarding the last question: "Jiehan, you can check the literature first. The question you asked is related to immunoblotting, which I don't know much about either, so I may not be able to give you the answer you want. You can solve it through the literature."

"Get!"

“Senior brother, Master has also been staying up late writing articles lately. Our budget is to finish the article by early May at the earliest. Why don’t you share some of yours with me?”

"I might be able to finish the draft a little faster than you."

"Okay, fine, I'll highlight some for you, and you can put these results into text." Fang Ziye thought for a moment and realized that he needed to hurry.

After all, Master's dissertation defense is at the end of June. If this article cannot be published in time, his foundation will be slightly lacking.

At this point, fighting with all our might and having no other choice is the best option.

"Well, there's one more thing, senior brother."

“My mentor said that he is unlikely to win any grants for this year’s general research projects. So our group should probably make more use of the existing funding for basic experiments and get started first.”

"So, senior brother, you might need to lend me and Tianluo some money, around seventy or eighty thousand," Jie Han explained to Fang Ziye.

“It’s not like you can get a research grant just by submitting it, and nobody can get grants every year. My mentor said that if you didn’t get one, you didn’t get one, it’s okay.”

"The fund is currently in Master's hands. I estimate that Master will give it to you in a while. As long as you don't misuse it, the money in it can be used to make a basic foundation without any problem. You don't need to explain it to me."

“But you have to leave me at least around 600,000,” Fang Ziye said.

The bidding process involves competition from multiple industries across the country. Whether or not you can win depends not only on your accumulated experience but also on luck.

Fang Ziye fully utilized, and even exceeded, the funding provided by Yuan Weihong. Naturally, the return he gave to Yuan Weihong was also substantial.

With a budget of 300,000 yuan and a paper with an impact factor of over 20, there are countless people worldwide willing to pay that amount. Even as a co-corresponding author, no one would refuse.

The results that Fang Ziye returned to Yuan Weihong far exceeded his original expectations.

The other funds were given to Fang Ziye and Luo Tingzhu by Professor Deng Yong. Fang Ziye could use them, and Yuan Weihong could also use them, but not too much. After all, Deng Yong and Yuan Weihong were not direct mentor and student.

Fang Ziye not only had to ensure he had money to spend, but also had to ensure Luo Tingzhu had money.

According to the budget, there should still be more than one million yuan, which is all the start-up capital that Professor Deng Yong has obtained from the hospital in installments.

"Senior brother, we definitely won't need that many."

"I really miss the days when you were here. I could ask you any questions I wanted." Jie Han seemed to have finally finished asking his questions.

Fang Ziye sent three dots.

Too lazy to reply.

Lan Tianluo's dialog box is relatively simple.

After Fang Ziye shared his experiences of the past few days with Lan Tianluo, Lan Tianluo's reaction was simply: "Holy crap."

"Brilliant."

"worship."

"Brother!"

Well, that carefree, easily alarmed Lan Tianluo has gradually returned after Luo Tingzhu left.

Perhaps for Lan Tianluo, the most comfortable and free state is when his sister is not around.

After all, being a one-sided simp can sometimes be quite depressing...

So when Fang Ziye replied to Lan Tianluo about what he had done, Fang Ziye also thought, "Awesome! I admire you. No wonder you're a science student."

Gradually, Lan Tianluo realized that his senior brother Fang Ziye was giving him a warning, so he toned down his writing a little.

Lan Tianluo still felt a mixture of respect and fear towards Fang Ziye.

……

In the early hours of the morning, after calming down his two junior brothers and seeing Luo Tingzhu's message that she had finally been taken by her senior sister to eat her first Chinese meal, Fang Ziye went to sleep feeling quite content.

April 1st was still a weekend.

However, the trauma surgery department of Enshi Central Hospital continues to operate on a normal work schedule.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the shift handover room was packed with people, from Director Zhang Mingcan to the community residents of the hospital, none of whom dared to be absent.

In the nursing department, the head nurse also made sure that all the nurses, except for one nurse who was on maternity leave, were present and that everyone else, even those with dark circles under their eyes, had to work the full day shift.

People who have just finished their night shift are also required to fill up their day shifts.

Special times call for special methods.

Although there were only five or six surgeries yesterday, the department's three teams are scheduled to perform a total of eighteen surgeries today. Each team is planned for six surgeries, and there are also three critically ill patients who may need to be transferred to the ICU at any time. Therefore, the nursing department must be adequately staffed...

After a quick, concise, but effective handover, Zhang Mingcan said, "After the ward rounds, I'll go back to the operating room and start my normal work. I don't have anything else to say."

"Two points." "First, caution and meticulousness, due to the large number of patients."

"Second, we must organize and properly handle all the patients in the department, whether they are discharged or transferred, and we must follow up with them!"

"I've finished speaking. Does Director Hong have any instructions?"

Hongdu shook his head: "Director Zhang, let's start the ward rounds. Each group has a heavy workload."

"Alright!" At Zhang Mingcan's command, everyone stood up.

However, just as Fang Ziye was about to go on rounds with Wu Guonan, Zhang Mingcan, sitting in his seat, didn't move immediately but called out, "Director Wu, may I borrow Dr. Fang from your group today? Is that convenient?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Guonan turned slightly to the side.

After hesitating for a moment, he looked at Fang Ziye, who was looking completely bewildered and conflicted.

"Ziye, since Director Zhang is looking for you, why don't you go see him first?" Wu Guonan still didn't force Fang Ziye to stay.

These are special times, and Zhang Mingcan is still the ward director, so he can't afford to have disagreements with Zhang Mingcan.

Disagreements arising at this time are very detrimental to the department.

"Thank you, Director Wu. I'll return it to you right away," Zhang Mingcan said with a smile.

Fang Ziye could only wait for everyone else to leave. Even though Zhang Mingcan's team didn't lead the ward rounds, Dr. Zhong Xuegao, the attending physician, still led the team to make rounds.

Fang Ziye glanced at Zhong Xuegao a few times, finding the man quite interesting.

I noticed him because he shared the same name as an ice pop, but thank goodness, when he was born, Zhong Xuegao was still nowhere to be found. To be honest, it was this company that misappropriated his name.

Fang Ziye mainly heard from others that Brother Zhong Xuegao was a very interesting person.

"Director Zhang." After everyone left, Fang Ziye put away his notebook, smiled, and went to greet Zhang Mingcan, sitting down next to him.

Zhang Mingcan's smile at this moment was even brighter than Fang Ziye's.

There's no way around it; with his bald head, broad cheekbones, and wide, smiling face, he seems to possess the aura of Maitreya Buddha, and most people can't out-smile at him.

"Ziye, I never expected that you would be Brother Wei's student. I always thought you were Professor Deng's student." Zhang Mingcan leaned on his back, as if they had been long-lost friends, and slapped the table.

Seeing Zhang Mingcan's actions, Fang Ziye wondered if Director Wu Guonan had a problem with Zhang Mingcan, and why he would give him that kind of hint.

"Director Zhang knows my master?" Fang Ziye asked curiously.

Zhang Mingcan is at least forty-three years old, while his master is only around thirty-five. There's a difference of seven or eight years.

"Of course! When I was promoted to associate professor, I did my advanced training at Zhongnan Hospital. At that time, Brother Wei was only a PhD, but he had already become the chief resident of the department."

"Let me tell you, I have a very good relationship with Brother Wei."

"You didn't mention it that time. What I received was a message relayed by our department head, Qiu. It was Professor Li Guohua who said you wanted to come here for a counterpart exchange. Isn't Professor Li Professor Deng's teacher?"

"I naturally assumed you were his student. Me and Wei Ge."

“You can ask your master,” Zhang Mingcan said with a smile.

"If you had said so earlier, given my relationship with Brother Wei, I certainly wouldn't have given you such a small subsidy every month. To be honest, this isn't about offending Professor Deng or anything."

“Professor Deng is at a very high level; he doesn’t remember me at all,” Zhang Mingcan quickly added.

Regardless, Fang Ziye is now Professor Deng Yong's doctoral student. To say to Fang Ziye that you don't have a good relationship with Deng Yong is just asking for trouble.
"I wouldn't dare. My master has a wide circle of friends, so I don't know either." Fang Ziye could only force a smile.

Zhang Mingcan exclaimed, "Brother Wei, you're really amazing! Your professional skills and abilities are incredible."

"Back then, I remember there were still senior professors leading research groups in the department. Professor Deng Yong was only an associate professor at that time..."

Zhang Mingcan recalled the past with deep emotion.

Some of Zhang Mingcan's detailed descriptions did indeed confirm to Fang Ziye that Zhang Mingcan and his master Yuan Weihong were very familiar with each other.

After all, people who aren't familiar with their teacher might not know some of the subtle details about her.

For example, Yuan Weihong likes to show off, especially in front of his friends. He deliberately tries to "show off" a bit, and every time he feels his hairline is receding, he touches it...

After speaking for seven or eight minutes, Zhang Mingcan shook his head slightly: "I really feel sorry for Brother Wei. When I came back, I heard that Brother Wei almost couldn't stay in the hospital."

"It was only when Huang Kai went for further studies that he learned the actual situation. He said that when Wei was pursuing his doctorate, his research results and professional abilities were extremely distorted. He was very good at his major, but he didn't have much research output."

“I said that this doesn’t make sense. With Yuan Weihong’s research ability, how could he not have a few high-impact articles? He published a 5-point article when he was a master’s student.”

"You may not understand the significance of a 5-point paper back then, but at that time, a meta-analysis was enough to earn you a PhD."

"Later I found out that it was one of Wei's senior classmates, a senior attending physician at Zhongnan Hospital at the time, who ran off with all of Wei's experimental results, leaving him only some things for graduation."

"I heard that the two brothers even argued about this." Zhang Mingcan stopped abruptly at this point.

Because he saw that Fang Ziye's eyes were gradually becoming unfocused.

Zhang Mingcan gently patted his bald head, his tone and expression becoming increasingly serious.

"Ziye, you didn't know about this?" Zhang Mingcan's voice was noticeably lower, at least seven octaves lower.

"Fuck~"

"If Brother Wei knew I told you all this, he'd skin me alive." Zhang Mingcan moved his chair back a few seats, speaking in broken lip sounds with virtually no intonation.

His face showed the embarrassment that followed his enthusiastic speech.

Fang Ziye's gaze was thoughtful, his expression a mixture of anger and uncertainty.

He did not doubt the truthfulness of Director Zhang Mingcan's words. In fact, Fang Ziye had sometimes doubted the relative imbalance between his teacher's professional ability and scientific research output.

However, Fang Ziye always believed that this was a product of the era when Yuan Weihong was pursuing his doctorate; his major was excellent, but his academic achievements were not high.

Moreover, Yuan Weihong obtained the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) grant very quickly after graduation, and began to engage in experiments and publish articles, so he is doing relatively well.

However, his research output is simply disproportionate to his professional abilities and age.

Logically, Yuan Weihong should have been promoted to associate professor ahead of schedule. After all, his current abilities are comparable to those of Associate Professor Xie Jinyuan, with no significant difference. It's just that his research background isn't much stronger.

However, when Xie Jinyuan was promoted from associate professor to associate senior professor, the degree of competition was much less than that at Yuan Weihong's time.

Of course, Fang Ziye was not one to be easily manipulated. He simply said, "Director Zhang, thank you for telling me all this. However, if you're telling me all this just so I can leave my job to work in the lab, then I have my own thoughts and principles."

"And I will continue to persist in my beliefs."

In fact, if it weren't for Wu Guonan's hints or Wang Zhongxing's hints, Fang Ziye would never have realized the true meaning behind Zhang Mingcan's words.

A truly sophisticated person-manager doesn't fight or argue with you; they treat you as a resource.

In the most reasonable way, with the most equal exchange, lure them into the trap.

Of course, Fang Ziye felt he had taken one step into this urn, but how the other step would go might not be what Director Zhang Mingcan had considered or imagined.

To be honest, Fang Ziye felt that Director Zhang Mingcan didn't have the ability to treat him as a resource and make any kind of exchange with him.

That's it.

Zhang Mingcan immediately put on a serious face and said, "Ziye, what are you saying? How could I possibly mean that?"

"I'm saying this," Zhang Mingcan quickly turned his face away.

"Damn it, I'm not going to say anything more. The more I talk, the more confused and wrong I get."

"I'm looking for you mainly for one purpose: to give you a little more subsidies, and to ask you to mentor my students in the lab occasionally."

"I'll go and apologize to Brother Wei myself, you don't need to complain." Zhang Mingcan seemed a bit off, as if he had really done something wrong. He waved for Fang Ziye to leave.

(End of this chapter)