"Senior, I've bought the bouquet," Junior Jie Han messaged after carefully packaging the intricately carved tofu in a gift box.
Fang Ziye then typed out a one-handed reply: "Send me the receipt."
"Senior, the hand-held bouquet didn't cost much. Do we really need to split it?" Jie Han cautiously responded.
"Send the receipt. It's our custom to split the cost for Teachers' Day gifts," Fang Ziye replied sternly, befitting his role as the senior student.
Their group of three had only recently formed. In the past two years, Fang Ziye had simply given the teacher a gift on Teachers' Day, without any private gatherings. It was only after Jie Han's arrival that their teacher Yuan Weihong felt comfortable enough to formally gather his students in advance to celebrate Teachers' Day together.
Naturally, the process needed to be more formal, with everyone feeling involved.
Jie Han then sent over the receipt.
Bouquet prices tended to be higher near Teachers' Day, but it wasn't too bad - just over 100 yuan, which wasn't excessive.
Fang Ziye said: "Master has booked a place near Hanstreet in Wanda Plaza. You can find it, right? Just search for it directly."
After replying, Fang Ziye also made a point of sharing the map location with his junior.
"Senior, I can find it. I've been there before," Jie Han quickly replied.
...
At around 5 PM, Fang Ziye and Jie Han arrived at the private room first. After setting down the elegant bouquet, Jie Han carefully opened the two gifts Fang Ziye had brought and examined them one by one.
"This carbon fiber motorcycle helmet paired with the teacher's electric bike - isn't that a bit too flashy?" Jie Han made a playful gesture before carefully setting it back down.
"Now that he has a motorcycle helmet, shouldn't Master hurry up and get his wife's permission to buy a matching bike?"
"Master isn't that old," Fang Ziye explained to Jie Han.
Yuan Weihong really wanted a motorcycle, the kind you could look cool riding. It was only after two years of clinical rotations that Fang Ziye happened to learn this.
They couldn't afford to buy a bike, but buying a helmet as a hint seemed like a good idea.
Jie Han had a sudden realization: "Oh, I see. It's not easy being a grown man with responsibilities[1]."
Fang Ziye rolled his eyes at Jie Han.
As they were talking, Yuan Weihong approached, carrying two bottles of wine. He closed the door with flair and asked, "Have you ordered yet?"
Fang Ziye, leading Jie Han, immediately stood at attention: "Master, we haven't ordered yet. We were waiting for you."
Jie Han hadn't even had time to put the helmet back. Yuan Weihong stood on tiptoes to look: "Little Jie, what's that in your hands?"
Jie Han slowly turned around, looking a bit embarrassed.
Yuan Weihong waved at Fang Ziye: "Go call the waiter in. Let's order first."
Then he took the helmet from Jie Han's hands: "This thing?"
Yuan Weihong put on the helmet, which covered his high forehead and made him look quite handsome, though also a bit silly.
"Very cool," Fang Ziye and Jie Han both gave a thumbs up.
"Sir, are you ready to order?" A waiter tactlessly pushed open the door, ruining Yuan Weihong's mood.
He quickly took off the helmet, "Yes, yes, let's order..."
After ordering and instructing the waiter to start bringing out dishes, Yuan Weihong noticed another exquisite gift box. He frowned slightly and said: "You two must be from rich families, giving two gifts at once."
Professional master's students, though integrated into standardized training, work the same as those in standardized training but without the benefits. They only receive a subsistence allowance of around 1,400 yuan per month, which doesn't even cover Fang Ziye's rent.
Yuan Weihong stood up, walked over, and asked, "How much did this cost? If it's not too expensive, I could process some labor fees for you."
Before he finished talking about reimbursing labor fees, Yuan Weihong had already opened the box lid.
In this day and age, it's no longer fashionable to quietly open gift boxes at home, so Yuan Weihong immediately saw the octahedral pyramid-shaped tofu blocks inside.
"Master, we bought the gift box online for 11.01 yuan, and the tofu was bought behind the skills lab building for 2 yuan a piece," Fang Ziye explained.
"A total of 13.10 yuan," Fang Ziye was about to give Yuan Weihong the breakdown when...
Yuan Weihong gave Fang Ziye a sideways glance, pointing at him with his finger.
"You should take better care of your health. Eat the meat you buy if you can, don't always waste it by feeding the garbage bin." Yuan Weihong seemed to have inside information, knowing everything Fang Ziye usually did.
Hearing this, Jie Han chimed in: "Master, we all say that if Senior doesn't become a doctor in the future, he'd definitely be first-rate at chopping filling for a dumpling shop."
Fang Ziye often frequented the farmers market, practicing his incision skills by cutting meat almost into a diced state.
Of course, materials used for surgical practice couldn't be eaten, so every time Fang Ziye came to the department, he would freeze the packages and throw them in the trash. Coincidentally, Fang Ziye's apartment complex was the same as Shu Lang's, a second-year master's student.
So Shu Lang had seen this and reported it to Yuan Weihong.
"What about you?" Yuan Weihong turned to Jie Han, who had been teasing Fang Ziye, with a soul-searching question.
"Master, I've sent you an email with an article that Senior and I revised together."
"And taking this opportunity, I also wrote a letter that has been accepted and should be published soon. It's just that the article is too small and the content too simple, so I didn't report it to you for revision."
SCI articles come in several types: original research, reviews, perspectives, and letters (to the editor).
A letter-type article is a short commentary written in response to an article already published in a journal, analyzing its topic selection, methodology, and results, identifying issues, and explaining them.
Although not very useful, it requires deep research skills to spot problems and write to the editorial department. It's considered a small practice article.
Sometimes a certain number of articles are needed to build and embellish one's portfolio.
Jie Han had just arrived, and being able to produce something of his own while revising articles made Yuan Weihong very happy: "Everyone's doing well. Our team is progressing and working hard."
Yuan Weihong closed the gift box lid and sat down, saying: "Let's drink a bit less today. Tomorrow is Professor Deng Yong's Teachers' Day, and we still need to go there to receive some 'watering'[2]."
"As students, you don't have many opportunities to drink. Times are getting better now, and excessive eating and drinking are no longer allowed."
"We should focus more on our specialties and research - these are the fundamentals..."
"Ziye, your pressure is actually quite high."
"November is the deadline for our hospital's doctoral admission assessment, and from October onwards, doctoral application and interview assessments for some domestic universities will start successively. This will waste a lot of your time."
"It's already September 10th, less than two months until November, and with the time wasted in between, it might be less than a month. You can't put all your eggs in one basket and fight a desperate battle."
"You should still try your chances outside. With your current operational skills, if you meet a teacher who appreciates your specialty, your chances of getting into a doctoral program are very high..." Yuan Weihong seemed to be hinting at something.
Translation Notes:
[1] The original Chinese uses an expression that literally translates to "the position of a younger brother is not easy for adult men," implying the difficulties of being in a subordinate position.
[2] "Watering" here means being plied with alcohol, as if the students were plants being watered.