Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

  Zhang Fan went back to his apartment and changed his clothes. He then phoned Shao Hua, since she also knew that he was going to the excellent youths of Chasu City award ceremony today. It was likely that she was waiting for his good news.

  “Have your parents eaten already?” Zhang Fan asked Shao Hua.

  “They had a late lunch, so they didn’t have appetite for dinner and went out for a walk instead. I was waiting for you. Is the ceremony over? Did you have to go on stage to give a speech?” Shao Hua giggled at her own joke.

  “Nope, since I’m not high-ranking enough to give a speech. No need for you to cook dinner. How about coming out to eat dinner with us?” Zhang Fan also explained what had happened today.

  “Are you alright? Are you tired?” Shao Hua asked out of concern.

  “It’s fine. I’m not tired at all. Everything was pretty successful. How about I come pick you up? You can also meet some new friends.”


  “Okay. I’ll be waiting for you at the neighborhood entrance then.”


  “Alright, but I think it’ll take me about 20 or so minutes to get there. Don’t come out too early. It’s really cold.” Zhang Fan then took a shower and put on some normal clothes before heading out. He really wasn’t accustomed to wearing a suit and tie.

  When Zhu Bing met Shao Hua, his originally extinguished flames of passion suddenly became ignited again. E Restaurant’s food was extremely spicy, which helped to set a nice atmosphere for the five young people’s meal. After the unexpected incident at the previous hot pot restaurant, Lu Renjia had calmed down significantly and didn’t act so arrogantly anymore. She also had plenty of smiles for Zhu Bing. They counted as comrades who had experienced a battle together now! However, it was unknown what the result of a romance between an ordinary policeman who could only work hard and the daughter of a high-ranking government official would be. One could only hope that it would end well!

  On Monday morning, when Zhang Fan went to the endocrinology department, he didn’t even get a chance to report in to the director, as the hospital administration department summoned him. It turned out that yesterday, the pregnant woman he had helped had come over with all her friends and family, a large group of more than 100 people, to parade around, making music and drumming as they gave a silk banner to Chasu City Hospital.

  They had made a rather large commotion. In fact, they even hired a band to start playing music all the way from downtown to Chasu City Hospital.

  The child’s father was a young and upcoming elite at the post office. In order to express his utmost gratitude, he even invited the leader of the post office to come thank the hospital.

  Although there had been no prior notification, the leader of Chasu City’s main post office would have equal ranking to Superintendent Ouyang. Just for this alone, Superintendent Ouyang personally stood at the hospital entrance to receive the crowd.

  Such things were Superintendent Ouyang’s favorite activities. The hospital had a publicity department. Zhang Fan was made to take countless pictures together with the silk banner as if he was a trained monkey. Some people were born leaders, while some people were naturally unsuited for leadership positions.

  Zhang Fan was able to easily converse with any patient or their family members. Zhang Fan wasn’t afraid of even the most difficult surgery or most difficult family members. However, Zhang Fan truly wasn’t used to facing this type of event with all its glory. He was even really shy as if he had been discovered while doing something he shouldn’t have. This was a common problem for those who were highly skilled! Being the superintendent or some high management position would be beyond him.

  Superintendent Ouyang could tell that Zhang Fan wasn’t acting as naturally as normal. She was happy, yet also disappointed. Superintendent Ouyang really liked Zhang Fan. She planned on retiring in five years. It would be quite difficult for her to find and groom someone to take over her superintendent position, and Zhang Fan was amazingly skilled. Although Chasu City was rather small, she felt that it would be quite nice if Zhang Fan could take over her position in the future as this would also help to make Zhang Fan stay in Chasu City.

  Why was China still able to remain united despite so many internal fractures over the years? It was because of this national way of Confucian thinking. Without regards to whether this was good or bad, such a way of thinking would always affect the Chinese way of life, especially for the educated who worked for the government.

  Zhang Fan’s medical abilities were already outstanding. If he could get accustomed to politics, he would definitely be the best possible candidate to be the next superintendent in her mind. There would be hope for him with her and Li Xiao’s assistance. But after seeing Zhang Fan today, Superintendent Ouyang truly understood how Zhang Fan was. He was purely someone with medical skills. He would be completely unsuited for any political positions such as superintendent!

  She was happy because Zhang Fan hadn’t lost himself in the glory. She was disappointed because she felt that Chasu City Hospital wouldn’t be able to retain a talent like Zhang Fan in the long run, since the greatest advantage of being able to offer him the superintendent position here was no longer possible. How else was Chasu City Hospital supposed to keep such an outstanding talent here?

  Maybe some people would ask, was it normal for a superintendent to consider Zhang Fan as her successor? Of course it was. Even the chairman of China would want to cultivate his successor. As long as you lived in China, if you didn’t cultivate connections at work, it would be difficult for you to even obtain a private patient room after retirement. Superintendent Ouyang was also observing to see if Zhang Fan was the type who knew to repay favors or not. However, this was all no longer necessary, as Zhang Fan was unsuitable to become a superintendent!

  This was a problem with Chinese politics. Most leaders would still be courageous in fighting when they were middle-aged. However, older leaders would all start either grooming a successor or trying to think of ways to embezzle even more money right before retirement. The closer to retirement, the more brazen they would be. Why was this? They lacked a sense of security about their last decades of life. Since even politicians were like this, it was the same for ordinary commoners. They all lacked a sense of security. Why did people commonly become more miserly and loved grandchildren more in old age? Because of lack of a sense of security.

  By the end of the patient’s parade of gratitude, the glory belonged entirely to the hospital. This was the deficiency of someone like Zhang Fan who only had medical skills. Although his medical skills were overwhelming, he would be toyed with like a child whenever it came to anything political!

  Zhang Fan went to the endocrinology department afterwards. Director Dilibaer was the type who didn’t care who you were. She wouldn’t give face to anyone who didn’t have a serious attitude or study properly.

  “Doctor Zhang, surgery and internal medicine are different. I’ve read through countless surgical medical reports before. To be honest, if they had to write under my rules, not a single one of those medical reports would pass. Their records are simple to the point of being barebones. I hope that you won’t bring such a habit to internal medicine. I do know that you’re incredibly skilled at surgery. But, what type of hospital is this? This is only a small hospital in the border province. The outside world is huge. I hope that some small achievements won’t limit your worldview. An excellent surgeon shouldn’t only be an expert at surgery. He should also be a master of internal medicine!”


  “Yes, Director Dilibaer, I understand!” Zhang Fan nodded in acceptance, since she was right.

  “Don’t think that I’m being too overbearing. I don’t wish for someone with such medical talent to fade into obscurity in the end!” Something shone in Director Dilibaer’s eyes as she looked directly at Zhang Fan.

  “I understand, Director. I’ll definitely live up to your expectations,” Zhang Fan told her.

  “It’s not about my expectations. You should live up to your own potential. At your current age, it’s the best time to establish your foundation. You should know what you need to be doing! If you think that my words are logical, then go do it. If you think that I’m wrong, feel free to ignore me.

  “This is the newest endocrinology publication. I’ll be asking questions about it next week during the major weekly patient checkups.” Director Dilibaer then handed Zhang Fan an incredibly thick textbook. He was rather stunned!

  In any workplace where skills were the more important, you would often meet older people who were normally very nice, but could be quite heartless when it came to work. They would also have incredibly strict requirements for those they viewed as talented. Why was this? This was a common problem to those with skills. These people were different from politicians! For China’s medical abilities to improve so rapidly, these older doctors who were so strict without giving face were really important.

  How strict had Qiu Fazu been with his students back in the day? His disciples had been capable of reading medical textbooks written in German, back in that generation! At that time, China didn’t even have a systemized way of studying western medical texts. Qiu Fazu had relied on incredible strictness to raise extremely capable disciples who became accomplished surgeons in southern China. Even now, if you went to ask all the best hospitals in southern China, their top surgeons would almost always have some sort of intimate connection to Qiu Fazu.

  Zhang Fan left with the thick medical textbook! This textbook was incredibly heavy. He figured that he would have to grind it until he shriveled!