top student at medical school

Chapter 593 The young lady is even more unhappy! (Please subscribe)

March 15th is a Friday, and the 16th will be a Saturday.

At 6:40, Fang Ziye was already woken up by Luo Tingzhu, who was full of fighting spirit, and went out for a jog.

6:40 AM is not a special time for Fang Ziye, but it is the point at which Luo Tingzhu developed "wake-up syndrome" in Wuhan.

The anesthesiology department required them to arrive at 7:30, but Luo Tingzhu set her alarm for 6:40 and never changed it.

Running, showering, breakfast!
After quickly completing her morning routine, Luo Tingzhu turned back on her way upstairs with a slightly hesitant look on her face: "Senior brother, are you really going to livestream yourself writing a letter?"

"How about we contact each other privately?"

"This kind of thing is very offensive and thankless!"

Luo Tingzhu was somewhat worried.

Of course, it's also out of kindness, because everyone who does scientific research has a tough time, and it's understandable that they might make some minor mistakes when writing papers.

Luo Tingzhu has experienced hardship herself, so she also respects the efforts of others.

"Tingzhu, you go to the study first, I'm about to start here." Fang Ziye waved with a smile.

Some things can be viewed from different perspectives, leading to completely different experiences.

Essentially, the purpose of submitting letters and comments to the editorial department is to improve the rigor of scientific research and make the research results more comprehensive and cautious!

It is one of the forms of identifying and filling gaps!

Those involved are often confused, while bystanders see things clearly!
After Fang Ziye made his decision, Luo Tingzhu didn't waste any more words and slowly walked upstairs. Only after reaching the second floor did Luo Tingzhu say, "Senior brother, you must also remember your own mission!"

"Our group will meet again tomorrow night."

"You also have clinical duties to perform."

After giving a reminder, Luo Tingzhu went directly into the newly opened study on the second floor.

Meanwhile, after roughly adjusting his computer and mobile device, and setting up the audio and computer screen, Fang Ziye changed the title of his live stream to "Associate Professor Under Research Pressure, Online Boosting Article Count..."

This is a track that has never been seen before.

At the same time, Fang Ziye sent Wu Xuanqi a message with only three simple words.

"Brother Qi, I'm starting my live stream."

Wu Xuanqi had already prepared "get√".

“I’ve followed you, and I’m in the process. I’ll be recording your screen at any time, so please watch your words,” Wu Xuanqi replied with a voice message.

"There's nothing to note; letters and comments don't need to be anonymous."

"You just need to record the screen on your end," Fang Ziye replied.

Fang Ziye's online name is very simple: Fang ZY!
Previously, the account was handed over to Wu Xuanqi for a period of time. Wu Xuanqi only operated it for a little over a week, but quickly gave Fang Ziye one or two thousand fan points!
The operation method was very simple: just paste a screenshot of Fang Ziye's email address showing the article submission, add some Douyin (TikTok) boost, and the fan value skyrocketed.

Of course, when you first start a live stream, there's no one in the room, regardless of whether you have any fans watching.

The first article Fang Ziye wrote was his own.

On the left are PDF documents for reading, and on the right are Word documents.

The first thing Fang Ziye did was to copy the format of another completed letter into a Word document, and then keep the first and last sentences.

We read the article by Martin Bendszus and his colleagues with great interest.
We declare no competing interests.
This is a fairly standard opening and closing statement for a letter or comment.

At this point, there was still no one in the live stream, but even if there were onlookers or someone asked a question, Fang Ziye wouldn't respond in the short term!
After briefly reading through the basic format of a letter, we can summarize as follows: 1. We read this article with a thirst for knowledge, because it can broaden our knowledge base.

2. Affirm the research significance of the paper's authors, and what new insights or ways it will broaden our thinking.

3. This article contains some inaccuracies, and we had some doubts during the reading process. It also has some contradictions in conclusions with other published articles, some inappropriate methods of argumentation, and the data processing results may be 'brutal' or even have calculation errors.

4. We hope the authors can provide more data.
Then find a few credible reference articles to support your point of view before submitting your paper.

Such submissions are usually met with complete silence.

The editorial department is very busy. Unless a particularly pointed issue is mentioned, the editorial department will not accept it or publish it on the journal's website.

A letter is a type of academic paper.

The first comment appeared in the live stream chat amidst the constant flow of people: "Letter? So this is a big shot openly posting articles?"

"Let's take a look." That was his second comment.

Boosting the number of articles can be considered a way to solidify one's research output. Many scholars, when they have free time or while reading literature, will casually write one or two articles when they see errors in the articles.

You can make your resume look better, but what truly makes your resume substantial are the key articles.

Fang Ziye replied, "It's mainly for learning."

"If I were to encounter a leading researcher who could offer me a few pointers, I could benefit immensely!"

There was no response in the comments section!

About a minute later, the user with the nickname xxx who had commented earlier returned: "Holy crap? Someone as important as you needs to spam articles??"

"Who offended you?"

Clearly, this netizen came across the work posted on Fang Ziye's account.

Fang Ziye mainly shared the congratulatory letter after his article was successfully submitted, which was a very eye-catching piece of work.

Whether you're an expert or not, you'll likely pause and reflect on it to some extent.

Then, the live stream notification indicated that someone had entered the live stream by following the account.

"So even top researchers publish papers! I'm a master's student here to watch and admire them."

"Do people who publish in JAMA medical journals also need to publish a lot of papers? Has the medical field become this competitive?"

Fang Ziye ignored them all and continued to refine his letter submissions.

This first article is a response to a previous paper by Jie Han, which had an impact factor of about eight, making it a fairly significant paper.

The argument was supported by experimental data, but Jie Han was not a god. In the process of statistical analysis, a small oversight occurred. Therefore, Fang Ziye pointed it out and found another published article as a reference.

This indicates that the correct statistical result was not prescribed by Fang Ziye, but rather a statistical form that is generally accepted by the scientific community. Jie Han did not obtain the correct result during the data collection process.

In addition, Jie Han chose a rather broad angle in his conclusion argumentation...

1.…

2.…

Fang Ziye wrote five sentences in total, and after carefully reviewing them and finding no typos, he opened the magazine's submission backend right there in the live stream, in front of everyone!
"Hey! Hey bro, is it really okay for us to read these things you submit?"

"I came here completely bewildered, and I feel like I'm going to leave the live stream still completely bewildered. Can anyone with a brain tell me what's going on here?"

"It looks a bit like the pages I usually browse, except this page is too serious."

Netizens are happy—

"Didn't I say that the associate professor was browsing articles online? Was he submitting them to SCI journals?"

"A letter is a format for SCI articles. It might be for a broadcaster's promotion or other purposes, where there are requirements for the number of articles. The broadcaster is demonstrating and teaching us how to generate a lot of articles."

"I've been watching from beginning to end, and in just fifty minutes, it seems like the host has already finished a letter!"

"As expected, letters are a magic tool for increasing the number of articles. I just don't know if the editorial department will accept them and publish them on the website."

"An impact factor of eight is pretty good; it's a decent letter!"

Following that, a self-proclaimed expert provided some basic information.

"The higher the SCI impact factor of a journal, the more rigorous the review process, and the stronger the personal ability of the authors who can submit to it. Basically, it is very difficult to find shortcomings or errors in these articles."

"The host found four spots in just a few tens of minutes. The difference in the host's and Wen Zhang's levels of understanding is too great."

"This is what a pro player does when they're just killing people in the newbie village! It's basically like racking up kill stats!~~~"

"6666..."

"Awesome!" some people started saying.

……

Finally, around 10:20.

The actors have arrived.

Little Cow Rider: "Hey streamer, do you dare to publish this article? It has an impact factor of 16."

The little cow then copied the article's title.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Fang Ziye was taken aback.

"Can you take a look at this article and see if it can be written as a letter?" Little Cow asked.

“The comments section is too noisy, I can’t see clearly. Why don’t you send me a private message with the article title and the doi number?” Fang Ziye replied.

Wu Xuanqi, the veteran actor, sent the DOI directly to Fang Ziye, who then opened PubMed and downloaded the document.

No login required!

The sanatorium's network allows direct download of online documents, and there are other channels to pay for downloads. The access and resources are more extensive than those on the campus network!
"Let me see first, the result is uncertain..." Fang Ziye smiled.

However, this article was already agreed upon by Fang Ziye and Wu Xuanqi beforehand, so Fang Ziye immediately noticed the problem.

There's no other reason than that, after what happened to Fang Ziye, not only was Fang Ziye taught a lesson, but Wu Xuanqi himself was also deeply awakened. Therefore, he hoped that Fang Ziye could help him solidify the articles that his team had already published.

To prevent any potential scandals during a crucial promotion period for someone in their team!
This is called internal optimization, which is the same as Fang Ziye directly editing articles for his own team!

It's okay if the manuscript is rejected; the team doesn't need these few articles right now.

It's highly likely to be supplementary information, revising and supplementing the conclusions of the original article, which will waste some more time!
Identifying and filling gaps is a way for the scientific community to relax restrictions on researchers.

"This looks promising!"

"Aren't you going to write it yourself? If you don't, I really will! Is Little Cow Rider still around?" Fang Ziye pretended not to know the other party.

Little Calf Riding: "???"

"..."

Netizens: "???"

"????"

Question marks flooded the screen!

Fang Ziye ignored all of that and spent another forty minutes writing the second letter, also live-streaming the entire process. Then he said, "That's all for today!"

"I have other tasks, so please don't think about giving me tips. I'm just here to communicate and learn with everyone, not to make money from this, so I've turned off the tipping function."

"See you next time!" Fang Ziye ended the broadcast in a flash.

Because it was almost 9:40, Fang Ziye still needed to go to the laboratory at 10:00 to perform two experimental procedures.

Nie Mingxian lacked absolute confidence in his operations.

At 1 p.m., Fang Ziye also needs to prepare for the 'difficult and complicated' patients that the trauma and hand surgery groups plan to admit next week, so his schedule is quite full!

……

"Senior, are you really going to write a letter live?" Luo Tingzhu asked as she packed her snack bag as she and Fang Ziye headed toward the lab.

"Yeah, it must be true!"

"At its peak, there were over thirty viewers watching my live stream!"

"Aside from Brother Wu Xuanqi, there are still thirty-three people, which is quite a gimmick, and the content of the live broadcast has been universally praised!"

There's really nothing to criticize.

Anyone who has done scientific research knows that in addition to their work, they also need to read a lot of literature. In the process of reading the literature, they use their strong knowledge base to discover the shortcomings in the literature.

It's perfectly normal to write a letter or two on a whim.

This kind of behavior is not something to be criticized.

"Senior brother, have you found some problems yet?" Luo Tingzhu asked directly.

“Mm…” Fang Ziye nodded.

Luo Tingzhu fell silent...

……

Around noon, Fang Ziye's experiment was interrupted by a phone call from Professor Fang Zhikuan!
Nie Mingxian, holding his phone, said, "Professor Fang has made three calls in a row. Is there something urgent coming up in the clinical area?"

"You take it!" Fang Ziye said, his gloved hands clasped together at his chest. His voice was clear and crisp.
"Hello, Professor Fang."

“Professor Fang, the patient in our group who had his leg amputated before has come back and is now regretting it!” Fang Zhikuan said.

Fang Ziye paused for a moment upon hearing this, then read another meaning in the words: "Are the patient and their family going to cause us trouble?"

"He gave up treatment on his own. His family made a strong statement in front of all of us, demanding amputation and saying they didn't want to go through with it anymore!"

"Signature as proof!"

The right to informed consent and the right to informed refusal are equally important!
Fang Ziye had tried to persuade him to give the team an opportunity for open surgery, but the patient and his family refused and insisted on amputation.

Doctors should, of course, respect the patient's wishes.

"I had that thought, but mostly I regretted it..."

At this moment, the patient's voice arrived, slightly shaky: "Professor Fang, I'm so sorry, Professor Fang, I..."

"I...I...I..." the man hesitated, then stopped.

Fang Ziye said calmly, "Brother, there's nothing to apologize for, and nothing to regret." "Once you've made a choice in life, don't regret it. Your symptoms have already been resolved." Fang Ziye reassured him calmly.

Fang Ziye also felt a little regretful about his amputation.

However, inspiration requires a trigger point.

Before attending the emergency surgery invited by Professor Qu Tangwei, Fang Ziye had not received such inspiration, and it was impossible for a new treatment method to emerge out of nowhere.

"Professor Fang, I should have believed you. So many people have been cured by you, I should have believed you..."

A life with legs and a life without legs are completely different.

After hanging up the phone, Nie Mingxian scratched his head, sighed, and said, "This is probably just what a fucking messed-up life is like."

"If I were him, I'd be kicking myself!"

"Ziye, I heard that this patient's condition is much simpler than the current hand surgery patient, right?"

Fang Ziye nodded, re-entered the testing area, and carefully continued the unfinished operation.

"Actually, even if we had used the microcirculation device at that time, it might not have been impossible to achieve a therapeutic effect, but the patient disagreed with my suggestion."

“Then I can only respect other people’s opinions!” Fang Ziye said.

Respecting others is respecting yourself, which includes, but is not limited to, respecting the fate of others and letting go of the 'helping-others mentality'!
Fang Ziye wasn't absolutely certain!

Liao Jia came over from the adjacent control room, and after understanding the situation, he also felt quite sorry for her.

But there's no going back in life. Once a crucial choice is made, it can never be reversed!

……

Time flies, and it's already weekend evening again!
After Fang Ziye arranged the tasks for each experimental team through group discussions, he rushed from the laboratory toward the clinical area.

Scientific research and clinical practice are equally important, and the clinical care in the clinical area must not be taken lightly!
Even though the trauma surgery and hand surgery teams are nearing completion, as long as Fang Ziye remains the team leader, he must personally oversee everything to prevent mistakes!
Of course, before heading to the clinical area, Fang Ziye received a call from his mentor, Deng Yong!

Deng Yong has been relieved of his clinical work and is currently a "free agent." Coincidentally, Yuan Weihong's schedule is abroad, so he is also a "free agent."
The two are currently staying temporarily in a hotel in Enshi.

Deng Yong said, "Ziye, I've discussed the academic report with some senior professors, and we've decided that you should be the one to give it."

"I just need to lend my name!"

"Currently, Professors Li Guohua and Xiong Zhizhang from the Department of Trauma Surgery, Professors Qi Wenshan and Dong Wensheng from the Department of Joint Surgery, and Professor Li Dongqing from the Department of Orthopedics have all arrived in Enshi!~"

"We are contacting the academic lecture hall. Please prepare your content. As for the time of the academic presentation, Yuan Weihong and I have discussed it and it is expected to be on April 10th..."

"There is less than a month left now."

"I'm applying to the sanatorium to join as a member of the research group. Your professor, Yuan Weihong, has to go back in a few days!"

"So, during this period, it will mainly be the two of us communicating," Deng Yong quickly reported.

Academic reports are no joke!

Preparing a month in advance already puts a very tight schedule. This is even though Deng Yong has now stepped down from his position as the head of the clinical ward.

“Okay, Master, I’m on my way to the clinical group for a discussion right now, so it’s not very convenient,” Fang Ziye said honestly.

"Then you get busy first."

"Come over for a late-night snack tonight, I'll call them all first..." Deng Yong said.

"Okay, sure!" Fang Ziye hung up the phone and quickly rushed to the group discussion meeting.

Fang Ziye now has too many tasks to handle simultaneously, so each matter must be clarified!

Fortunately, Li Yuanpei made further adjustments to Fang Ziye's level of involvement; otherwise, with the addition of the micro-circulation device chemotherapy project, Fang Ziye felt he would be overwhelmed.

……

After Fang Ziye arrived, Wu Xuanqi and the others were not curious about what Fang Ziye was doing in the laboratory, but immediately began to discuss the newly admitted patients.

The trauma surgery team was led by Wu Xuanqi: "Ziye, next week, our group will mainly be admitting three patients."

"One of them also had osteomyelitis, but without systemic metastasis, making it easier to treat than the hand surgery group."

"The other one has a bone defect."

"But the third one is a bit tricky. It was also a palliative care patient admitted to the sanatorium, who was forcibly admitted."

"What is the diagnosis?" Fang Ziye asked.

“After the amputation, the severed limb is painful,” Wu Xuanqi said.

"Huh???" Fang Ziye thought it was a bit of a mess.

Why admit someone who is experiencing pain after an amputation?

"The patient's name is Zhang Fugui!"

“Forced hospitalization!” Wu Xuanqi emphasized the name.

Fang Ziye was stunned when he heard this.

If we're talking about who has the biggest reputation in the entire Enshi City right now, if Elder Zhang is second, no one dares to claim the top spot. Even former Dean Chen and Song have to step aside!
Mr. Zhang Fugui is a recipient of the Medal of the Republic. (This has been modified; please do not take it literally!)

In 12, Mr. Zhang had his leg amputated due to chronic osteomyelitis infection.

There was also a news interview report...

His resume needs no further introduction or support; his name alone is enough to command the respect of everyone present!
These are the true elders, the original builders!
"Okay!~"

"Aside from the pain, are there any other problems?" Fang Ziye asked.

The sanatorium gave Mr. Zhang a courtyard to live in for ten years; it's all something the country owes him!
For several years after his amputation, Mr. Zhang never uttered a single word.

If it weren't for Mr. Zhang's son helping him with the census registration of retired soldiers, these deeds would have been forever lost to history.

He had his leg amputated 12 years ago!
Perhaps, if he had spoken up earlier, he could have avoided this final step, but he didn't!
He was a "living military god" who could be worshipped by all Chinese people, but he did not choose to do so.

"Nothing has been found yet!" Wu Xuan asked curiously.

“Then let’s discuss the other two patients!” Fang Ziye said.

Fang Zhikuan had naturally heard of Elder Zhang's name, and said with a smile, "I think this patient with chronic osteomyelitis is relatively easy to treat!"

"Although he is outside..."

……

After Fang Ziye finalized the admission schedule with the hand surgeons for two diabetic foot patients and one patient requiring functional reconstruction surgery the following week, he went out to report to his two teachers!
Master Deng Yong and Yuan Weihong sat together, chatting and laughing, each with their legs crossed, exuding an air of commanding authority.

After Fang Ziye arrived, the two of them tacitly put their legs down.

"Ziye's here! See if there's anything else you want to add!" Deng Yong greeted him warmly.

"No need, Master, this is enough for us."

"Master, why don't you go to the hotel I booked for you?" Fang Ziye asked with a smile.

Deng Yong arrived on Saturday, and Yuan Weihong didn't even have time to adjust after getting off the plane.

"Just choose the one closest to you, why go to all that trouble?"

"This time I might be staying for an extended period!"

"As long as it's manageable," Deng Yong explained with a smile.

He knew Fang Ziye's good intentions, but Deng Yong wasn't short of money; there was no need for him to live in such luxury.

Yuan Weihong said calmly, "Ziye, have you finished planning the follow-up for this experiment?"

“If you need my help, just say so. But you already have experience leading several large-scale projects, so I don’t think you need your mentor to worry about it.”

"Master, the tasks have been almost completely assigned!"

"Everything is progressing very quickly. Wherever there's a need, if I can't take it all, I'll fill the gap!" Fang Ziye sat down next to Luo Tingzhu.

Li Yuanpei chuckled and interjected, "Teacher Yuan, Ziye is a pervert; he can not only change his sex, he can even change his gender!"

"Go, don't drive, your junior sister is here! Be serious." Deng Yong waved his hand to silence Li Yuanpei.

Following that, he asked Fang Ziye in more detail about the current progress, whether any manpower was needed, and what areas Deng Yong and Yuan Weihong could help with.
Fang Ziye simply asked Deng Yong and Yuan Weihong to find a few more teams to cooperate with.

Because there were too many sub-projects related to the microcirculation device and chemotherapy, their team was overwhelmed. Not taking any more would be wasteful, so they had to prioritize other teams in the orthopedics department.

Try to digest it internally as much as possible!

There are so many sub-types of tumors in orthopedics, each one is like a piece of fatty meat, dripping with oil...

At this moment, Deng Yong and Yuan Weihong felt as if they had reached the pinnacle of their lives!

Such a top-tier research topic can be given away for free.

The tone of his voice when he called to arrange a meeting was as if he were about to start a war.

I almost just said, "Are you coming or not? If you're coming, hurry up and come; if you're not, get the hell out of here..."

Of course I'll come!

The three professors specializing in bone tumors, along with some senior professors, practically mobilized the entire team!
Even Professor Du Xinzhan shamelessly asked if there were any slots available!

At this point, don't worry about saving face; just eat the meat first!
Of course, once this phone call was made, it was basically clear that from now on, Deng Yong's team in trauma surgery would be the "research leaders" of the Department of Orthopedics at Zhongnan Hospital, and would be the academic leaders of the Department of Orthopedics at Zhongnan Hospital!
Even if you admit it, you still have to eat meat!
……

After making the phone call, Deng Yong, who had been bent over for less than half a month, finally straightened up.

Yuan Weihong's "A Leaf in the North Sea" is full of witty remarks.

He almost swaggered over with an arrogant, unapproachable gait, crushing Yuan Weihong's familiar "friends" like a rolling wheel!
For a moment, Fang Ziye couldn't tell whether Yuan Weihong or Deng Yong was the administrative director of the Department of Trauma Surgery!

Li Yuanpei's emotions didn't need any comforting at all!

Although he didn't participate, the amount of meat that the orthopedic department could get was enough for Li Yuanpei to eat until he died!

"..."

This is a classic case of "when one person attains enlightenment, even their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven!"
Although those honors still require effort, almost no one dares to doubt its future prospects!
All of this was achieved through Fang Ziye's hard work and struggle.

From limb salvage surgery for severed injuries to limb transplantation, from the application of microcirculatory devices in chronic infections to chemotherapy for bone tumors.

Every step before this has been taken with exceptional care and confidence, so in this crucial step, no one can surpass Fang Ziye's team!
That evening, Deng Yong was deeply moved!
"The child is growing up, so we should respect his/her opinions!"

Deng Yong admitted that if Fang Ziye hadn't come to Enshi Sanatorium and hadn't received so much funding, he wouldn't have been able to achieve such great results if he had been locked up in Zhongnan Hospital!

Although this groundbreaking achievement required a month of preparation for the academic report before the project was even launched, it was enough to shake the entire orthopedic community!
Revolutionizing the world's understanding of cancer treatment, and revolutionizing our understanding of chemotherapy technology!
……

There are no surgeries scheduled for Monday!

So Fang Ziye still organized a live stream!
During the live stream, Fang Ziye smiled as he responded to the letter he had previously submitted.

Unsurprisingly, Jie Han was given some trouble by Fang Ziye. He received private messages from journals asking him to conduct more experiments or to provide explanations.

Jie Han knew that Fang Ziye was behind it, so all he could do was conduct experiments and collect data.

Similarly, Wu Xuanqi's team, with Associate Professor Long Yuan as the first author, also dutifully "revised" the article and are ready to respond at any time.

Once a submitted letter is accepted by the editorial office and published in a journal, the original author is required to respond!

After receiving this feedback!

Fang Ziye wrote another letter, directly targeting his older brother Qin Geluo!

After this demonstration...

Fang Ziye then drew a lucky viewer from the comments section to use as new material for writing a letter, and then submitted the letter written by veteran actor Wu Xuanqi to him during a live broadcast!
After the live stream ended, Fang Ziye asked Wu Xuanqi for the recording footage of the live stream so he could be prepared for any possible response!

If all goes well, he should receive feedback and a reply very soon!
Such feedback and responses will be a tough battle, a battle that Fang Ziye started first!
……

March 25th, the last Monday of March!

Kyoto, inside a villa.

"Lanlan, why are you eating so little? Have you been too busy with work lately? Are you under too much pressure?"

"It seems there's a solution for your research project completion issue now?" the old man asked his granddaughter with concern.

It's noon now, and the girl's parents are still at work. She's gone home to have lunch with her grandparents.

Xie Shulan is the girl's name, and Lanlan is just her nickname.

She forced a smile, looked up and said, "Grandpa, you don't need to worry about me. I'm all grown up now and I can manage my emotions."

“Recently, some of the research projects I worked on have been written into letters!” Xie Shulan said.

"What does it mean?"

"The letter means that the other party discovered flaws in our article and research, so they sent it to the editorial department..." Xie Shulan complained.

Then, forcing a smile, she said, "But it's okay, our research group can solve it."

"Who is it?" The old man was instinctively annoyed upon hearing this.

"Every scholar in the world can write a letter, right? But the recipient seems to be a scholar from China, though I don't know exactly who."

"His surname is Fang, and he's from Han City University!" Xie Shulan was so engrossed in scientific research and her work that she had no idea what her grandfather had done.

Her family protected her very well.

"He must be quite knowledgeable," Xie Shulan reluctantly offered a compliment.

Xie Shulan's grandmother said, "A senior who can find the shortcomings in your research must be an exceptionally outstanding person."

The old man's eyes darkened slightly, but he paused for a moment before continuing to eat.

(End of this chapter)