August's scorching heat made Hanshi[1] feel like a roasted city.
At the Trauma Surgery outpatient clinic of Hanshi University's Zhongnan Hospital, the powerful central air conditioning whooshed loudly, dispelling the oppressive heat.
Fang Ziye stood at the clinic doorway, his hair fluttering in the breeze. He tucked a navy blue retractable pen into the left breast pocket of his white coat.
After pushing open the door to look outside, he turned back and said, "Master, there are no more patients outside. Those who went for tests probably won't get results until tomorrow."
It was now 5:23 PM, just seven minutes before the 5:30 PM end of outpatient hours.
Yuan Weihong, sitting at the computer in the clinic, leaned back in his chair. He rested his right elbow on the yellow lacquered wooden armrest, sitting at an angle with his feet splayed. Narrowing his eyes, he asked: "Ziye, when will that paper of yours be published?"
Yuan Weihong was Fang Ziye's master's degree advisor. He had a classic square face, with a hairline already at least four centimeters above his eyebrows.
Publishing papers was required to meet graduation requirements for a master's degree, otherwise graduation would be delayed.
"Master, it was accepted in May. Publication will probably be in October. CSCD[2] journals tend to have a longer timeline between acceptance and publication," Fang Ziye replied softly as he adjusted his white coat, looking down.
As a professional master's student in trauma surgery at Hanshi University's Zhongnan Hospital, Fang Ziye spoke in a barely audible voice about only publishing one CSCD (Chinese Core) journal paper for graduation.
Of the two English papers he'd written, one had been rejected countless times after completion, while the other had just been finished and sent to his advisor for revisions.
English papers only counted as SCI[3] publications after being published. Otherwise, they were just English compositions.
Now in his third year of the master's program with graduation approaching, if he couldn't publish an SCI paper, he'd need to publish at least one Chinese core journal paper to avoid delaying graduation.
Yuan Weihong seemed to read Fang Ziye's thoughts: "October publication is good enough."
"As long as it's sufficient, don't worry about others' opinions on face."
Yuan Weihong knew Fang Ziye was hardworking and steady, not frivolous, so he didn't put too much pressure on him. Natural talent was a matter of individual fortune - not everyone could smoothly progress to big hospitals.
"Have you thought about pursuing a PhD? It's just the two of us here. I've heard you're only thinking about finding a job," Yuan Weihong asked quietly.
Fang Ziye quickly looked up, a hint of bitterness in his eyes. At this sensitive topic, face-to-face with his mentor, Fang Ziye gave a slight nod. He didn't dare speak.
Pursuing a PhD was the best path for medical students aspiring to excel.
But the most crucial aspect of the master's phase was research output - papers, or more precisely, the quantity and quality of SCI publications. How could he dare mention wanting to pursue a PhD in front of others in the department when he hadn't published a single paper yet?
Relying on listening to Jolin Tsai's[4] "Courage"? To become a laughingstock?
Doctoral programs don't organize unified entrance exams. Universities conduct independent admissions.
More brutally put, advisors conduct independent admissions. Whoever they want gets in, and if they don't want you, even reporting them won't help!
Wanting to compete for doctoral admission with just one CSCD paper was undoubtedly seeking death amidst a battle of gods, and bringing humiliation upon oneself!
"Have you started writing your graduation thesis?" Everyone's life path is different. Yuan Weihong simply changed the subject, his tone suggesting he only hoped his first student could graduate smoothly.
Yuan Weihong was just an attending physician at the hospital, having become a master's advisor only three years ago. He was still far from qualifying as a doctoral advisor.
So even though Yuan Weihong found Fang Ziye reliable and wanted to keep him by his side, there was nothing he could do!
The first requirement for recruitment at Zhongnan Hospital - doctoral, master's, and bachelor's degree diplomas and certificates - would completely block Fang Ziye.
"It's almost done, Master. I can send it to you by this weekend at the latest," Fang Ziye nodded in reply, his voice a bit louder. He absolutely dared not be careless with writing his graduation thesis.
With less than a year left until the graduation defense, not submitting a draft to his advisor now could lead to graduation issues later on. Who else could cover for him then?
Compared to the unattainable hope of pursuing a PhD, the more pressing and realistic issue was graduation!
Otherwise, if he happened to be selected for external blind review, it would be too late to go back and properly write the graduation thesis!
"Send it to me as soon as it's done. I'll give it a good review," Yuan Weihong said.
"How's your health lately? You fainted in the training room half a month ago." Yuan Weihong crossed his legs, folded his arms, and looked Fang Ziye up and down.
Fang Ziye wasn't tall, about 178 cm, with a clean and somewhat delicate appearance.
But medicine, especially surgery, was the field least reliant on looks!
Seeing the topic turn to everyday matters, Fang Ziye smiled and replied, "It's fine now, Master. That time was probably just low blood sugar."
"Now I'm keeping a very regular diet and schedule."
The training room was a skills training center built by the hospital at great expense. The large orthopedics department had a floor of skills training rooms for use by the hospital's standardized training residents, master's and doctoral students, and staff doctors to practice their skills.
Yuan Weihong thought for a moment, then said with pursed lips: "About pursuing a PhD, the best and simplest way is to study hard and write papers diligently."
"That's much more reliable than emerging from the training room. Even if it is our hospital's ladder to the clouds."
"Compared to emerging from the training room, writing papers is the fastest shortcut."
The hospital's skills training center had different training rooms. The hospital's resident physicians only needed to pay a small maintenance fee to use them.
As a master's student at the hospital, Fang Ziye could naturally go too.
Moreover, whether it was the chief director of orthopedics or the director, they all explicitly stated:
If your paper writing isn't good enough, then your surgical talent must be good enough, and we can give you a chance.
As long as you can emerge from the training room at different stages, residents will be arranged for master's programs, master's students for doctoral programs, and doctoral students for employment!
Of course, if you write good papers with plenty of research output, you can naturally be arranged for doctoral studies and employment as well.
But if you're worthless in both research and professional skills? Then no one will pity you.
The opportunity was always there, seemingly clearly priced like produce at a market.
Hearing this, Fang Ziye's eyes flickered a few times. He let out a sigh, took off his white coat as if Kong Yiji[5] taking off his long gown, and explained resignedly: "Master, I was thinking of practicing basic skills more, learning some surgeries well, to make it easier when I go work at a prefecture-level city hospital in the future."
"After going to work, there won't be such a good place as the training room for us to practice."
Fang Ziye came from an ordinary small-town family. His undergraduate grades were middling, barely getting him into a 211[6] university. He had good luck during the graduate entrance exam, with a decent written test ranking.
He made it into the old 985[7] Hanshi University...
Now it seemed his luck had run out. After two years, his professional skills were average, just passable, and his research output barely met the minimum requirements!
"If you really want to pursue a PhD, quietly look for opportunities elsewhere..." Yuan Weihong advised somewhat reluctantly.
He himself wasn't a doctoral advisor.
"Alright, Master." Fang Ziye nodded.
He glanced askance at a panel only he could see, lost in thought—
[Name: Fang Ziye]
[Physician Level: Resident Physician]
[Medical Theoretical Foundations: Surgery Level 2 13/50, Orthopedics Level 2 17/50, Trauma Surgery Level 2 29/50...]
[Basic Medical Operation Skills: Incision Level 1 18/20, Suturing Level 1 17/20, Debridement Level 1 15/20, Hemostasis Level 1 15/20...]
[Current Knowledge Points: 5]
"Let's call it a day." Yuan Weihong looked at the time, which showed 5:30 PM, and began shutting down the computer, preparing to announce their departure. He was a person with an extremely strong sense of time...
Translation Notes:
[1] Hanshi: A fictional city name based on Wuhan, a major city in Hubei province, China.
[2] CSCD: Chinese Science Citation Database, a significant academic journal index in China.
[3] SCI: Science Citation Index, an international citation index for scientific journals.
[4] Jolin Tsai: A famous Taiwanese singer. The reference to her song "Courage" is used ironically here.
[5] Kong Yiji: A character from a famous short story by Lu Xun, known for his long scholar's gown symbolizing his educated status.
[6] 211: A project of National Key Universities and colleges initiated in 1995 by the Ministry of Education of China, including about 100 high-level universities.
[7] 985: A project that aims to found world-class universities, launched in 1998, which includes an even more elite group of universities than the 211 project.