Melissa put her hair up in a bun and looked at Alex.
"You know, Alex," she said. "This is a practical competition, so it would be useless to rely on facts memorized by rote. If you're not a qualified doctor, you really shouldn't be here. What if you made a patient's condition worse? Neither Wayne nor Mr. Franks would be able to protect you."
"Mr. Franks? Who's that?" Alex asked, trying to remember.
"I knew you were just taking this opportunity to get close to me," Melissa said, rolling her eyes. "Mr. Franks plays an important role at the state medical board. Whatever issues Wayne can't fix are solved by Mr. Franks."
She smiled at Alex affectionately. "I can't believe you don't know him," she said. "Why do people praise you for being an amazing doctor? I thought Mr. Franks said that you were his friend, but perhaps he was talking about someone else."
Although she was young, she was very good at reading people. From her previous experience with Alex, she felt she knew him quite well. She had pursued him after finding out about his status and wealth, but when he had rejected her, she had started to become resentful toward him. Since then, whenever she would see Alex, she would assume that he was flattering her and trying to get close to her.
She also believed that, while Alex had read more books, memorized things by rote, and was good at theory examinations, he couldn't compare with her in clinical assessments. And for that reason, she always thought she was above him.
Alex smiled at her and said, "Is Mr. Franks really that well known? Maybe I'll remember him when I see him."
When Alex had first taken over Dr. Isaiah Allbrook's clinic, Mr. Franks had become a medical board investigator responsible for the inspection of medicinal materials.
As Alex was speaking to Melissa, hundreds of patients queued up at the entrance of the hall. Each patient had picked a ticket with a number on it, and they would see the doctor with the corresponding number.
The clinical assessment was free to all patients that day. Once they had been examined by the contestants, they would be re-examined by Wayne and his team to check whether the contestants' assessments were correct.
This meant that patients could get an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan for their conditions, so they were more than willing to participate.
The competition began.
The first patient to come to Alex's table was a middle-aged man who found it very painful to sit down.
But when he saw how young Alex was, he doubted his abilities. He looked at Alex scornfully and said, "I came to see a doctor. If you're not one, then you should leave so that I can get proper treatment."
Then he sighed in disappointment. "It's true what they say," he muttered under his breath. "You only get what you pay for!"
Alex's remaining nine patients were also shaking their heads, and it seemed that they were not very satisfied with Alex either.
Melissa covered her mouth as she smiled, gloating at Alex's troubles.
Alex ignored them and concentrated on the middle-aged man. "You find it difficult to sit for long periods, and you suffer from stomach and lower back pain," he said after examining him. "It's because you have hemorrhoids."
Two patients nearby started whispering to each other.
"You don't know what you're talking about," the man said, clearly embarrassed.
Alex wrote out a prescription.
"If you don't treat it now, you'll end up on bed rest for at least half a month," he warned the man.
When he saw the man looking at him doubtfully, he added, "If you don't believe me, you can press on that location and check for yourself."
The man frowned.
"Just press it," said Alex.
The man was unconvinced, but he put his hand behind his back, and to prove Alex wrong, he pressed hard on it. Unexpectedly, he felt a sharp pain, and he cried out. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead and his face turned red.
Alex handed the prescription to the man and said, "The level of pain you feel when pressing will show you the severity of the hemorrhoids. Take this prescription and order refills. If you take the medicine continuously for a week, then your symptoms will improve. If you take it for half a month, you may be cured from it completely."
"Are you trying to scare me?" asked the man.
Alex shook his head. "If you don't believe me, then you can go and get a re-examination."
The man looked nervous. He grabbed the prescription and quickly ran to the re-examination room.
Five minutes later, he came out of the room, looking disappointed. His condition had been diagnosed correctly.
Alex received full marks on his first assessment.
Melissa flushed. She hadn't expected Alex to get it right.
Alex examined the remaining nine patients. Not only did he accurately diagnose their conditions, but he also gave them effective treatment plans.
The patients were all grateful and praised Alex for being a good doctor.
Hours later, all the assessments were completed, and ten contestants were selected to go through to the finals.
Once again, Alex was at the top of the list with full marks.
All the other contestants were surprised that he had ranked first in both the theory and the practical tests, and they looked at him enviously.
Wayne ran over to congratulate him. "Congratulations, Alex," he said. "You've made the finals."
His admiration for Alex grew. Alex had seen ten patients and had made no mistakes with the diagnoses. In fact, the treatment plans he had suggested were better than what Wayne and his team would have suggested.
"Well, I'm a doctor," replied Alex, shrugging. "If I can't get the assessment right, then how can I treat patients?" He grinned. "Besides, today's patients were easy to diagnose."
Wayne smiled, and then he walked away.
"Cut the arrogance, Alex," said Melissa. She was surrounded by several other contestants, and they all looked at Alex with scorn.
Alex frowned and glanced at Melissa. "Well, at least it's better than giving someone the wrong diagnosis for their condition," he said mockingly.
"What do you mean by that?" retorted Melissa. "Just because you've seen a few patients, do you think you're a great doctor now?"
She started to grow angry. "In this field of work, you have to treat more than just a handful of patients. Besides, shouldn't you follow up with the treatment of those patients to see if your assessment was correct?"