October 6th, 12:57 PM.
Fang Ziye alighted from the high-speed train at Hanshi Railway Station.
The National Day holiday lasted seven days. Although professional master's students didn't have official holidays, if one managed to swap shifts and temporarily hand over their patients to others, superiors would turn a blind eye, allowing you to go home or "have fun" for a day or two without comment.
Fang Ziye had used this method to take time off from the 4th to the 6th. Meanwhile, his junior colleague Jie Han had gone out to "live it up" for a few days as soon as the October 1st holiday began.
"Dad, I've just got off the high-speed train. Don't worry, I'm taking the subway and will be at the dormitory soon," Fang Ziye said. By dormitory, he meant the apartment he rented, not the postgraduate accommodation provided by the university.
"Good that you've arrived. Just focus on your own business, don't worry too much about home. Your mom and I are both in good health," his father's heavy voice over the phone gave Fang Ziye an inexplicable sense of reassurance.
Fang Ziye's hometown was in a small town under Ba County in E Province. The journey back and forth wasn't particularly far.
His parents were well aware of their child's situation, especially in a family with a medical student. They knew how competitive employment in the medical field was, and they were aware of Fang Ziye's intention to pursue a doctoral degree.
They could only provide some financial support; everything else depended on Fang Ziye himself.
"It's fine, I got to replenish my energy a bit too," Fang Ziye said.
"If I didn't come to wreak some havoc, wouldn't the chickens and ducks at grandma's house have turned into spirits by now?" Fang Ziye joked.
"It's all yours," his father cursed casually, then hung up the phone.
Fang Ziye squeezed onto the subway!
Thinking back seriously, he hadn't told his parents about his almost certain admission to the doctoral program during this trip home, mainly because it wasn't yet official.
Without a written promise, it was all hypothetical. If it turned out to be a wild goose chase in the end, the premature joy would be worse.
It would be better to wait until the college issued the documents, or until the list was published, before sharing this good news with his parents.
[Current Knowledge Points Balance: 57.1!]
Fang Ziye immediately looked at his panel balance, his thoughts stirring for a moment.
On October 2nd, during his teacher's clinic hours, Fang Ziye had seen four patients again, not asking for more, because he still felt his skills were inferior to his teacher's, so he shouldn't be too greedy.
With insufficient skills, it would essentially mean using the consulting patients as "growth material" for himself.
A certain amount was fine, but he still needed to do right by the patients who came for consultation specifically seeking Dr. Yuan Weihong's expertise.
However, among these four patients, there was one younger than himself. While examining him, Fang Ziye felt something that shouldn't have been there, and the X-ray showed a ray sign.
At that moment, Fang Ziye immediately suggested he visit the neighboring bone tumor department.
A whopping 48 Knowledge Points were instantly added to Fang Ziye's account.
However, Fang Ziye wasn't particularly happy. This patient, after going to the bone disease department, was assigned to one of his classmates. They were considering osteosarcoma, and patients with such a diagnosis typically don't have a good prognosis.
"Sigh!" Fang Ziye let out a soft sigh.
To be honest, it wasn't that Fang Ziye was being high-minded, but if given the choice to exchange those fifty Knowledge Points to make a patient's osteosarcoma disappear, he wouldn't even blink before agreeing.
However, such a reversal was impossible.
All he could say was that early diagnosis and early treatment were crucial, and the rest would be up to fate.
This junior colleague was a legitimate fourth-year student in the five-year clinical medicine program at Hanshi University Medical School, but after this incident, his life trajectory would likely be completely altered.
So, no matter what, physical health should always be the top priority.
After feeling slightly melancholic for a while, Fang Ziye managed to compose himself. As the subway passed through the Yangtze River station, he chose to add some of these Knowledge Points to his Hemostasis Technique, upgrading it to level 3.
With this, the stone weighing on Fang Ziye's heart finally seemed to have been set down.
The standard for the training room exit exam that guaranteed his doctoral admission at the master's stage had now been completely met.
Fang Ziye believed that given how much importance Professor Deng Yong, the chief of orthopedics, and even the hospital placed on the training room exit exam, they wouldn't treat the standards they had enthusiastically discussed as a joke and then disregard them in the end.
After crossing the Yangtze on the subway, Fang Ziye sent a message to his teacher, Yuan Weihong: "Master, are you at home now? I've brought some local specialties from my hometown for you."
"It's pine mushrooms, I found them myself." This was indeed something Fang Ziye had foraged for himself, and he had been quite lucky. On October 4th, he had found quite a lot, so he packed some of the more tender and attractive-looking mushrooms for Yuan Weihong to try.
"That's great, come directly to our house for dinner. My wife and I have cooked at home today," Yuan Weihong replied.
Fang Ziye didn't stand on ceremony and headed straight for Yuan Weihong's residential community.
However, after entering the house and finishing the meal, Fang Ziye seriously added another sentence, "Master, I think my hemostasis technique is about ready too." At these words, Yuan Weihong's expression froze.
His lips trembled slightly as he looked at Fang Ziye with a complex gaze.
Even his wife was extremely shocked at this moment.
Generally speaking, it was rare for even one person to exit the training room in a year or two.
Of course, one couldn't judge current abilities solely based on exiting the training room. How could a master's student who had just exited the training room be as skilled as Yuan Weihong? Could they be more impressive than Associate Professor Xie Jinyuan?
That was impossible.
What mattered was seeing their potential for growth.
Fang Ziye's ability to exit the training room was already a display of aptitude, not of ability.
"Well, that's good news!" Yuan Weihong said after a while, taking a deep breath. He rubbed the corner of his eye, then picked up a cup of tea from the table, took a sip, found it tasteless, and then gulped down another mouthful.
Turning his head, he said, "To be honest, Xiao Fang, generally speaking, a mentor's first student is a kind of destiny, but often also a kind of regret."
"Because at this time, in this field, it's the most vulnerable moment..."
Yuan Weihong's voice quivered slightly.
How many years had Yuan Weihong studied? How many years had he struggled in clinical practice? How many papers had he published? How much hardship had he endured? How many sunrises had he seen after pulling all-nighters in the laboratory?
He had fought tooth and nail for funding to reach where he was today. But even though he appeared to be an outstanding young talent to outsiders, he was still just a junior in the hospital.
When supervising his first master's student, every supervisor was just a master's supervisor, unable to promise doctoral studies.
Even when helping them find jobs, you didn't have much professional standing in the field, and might still need to use some of your own connections...
"Master." Fang Ziye suddenly didn't know what to say.
"Work hard in the future. Strive to stay at the hospital," Yuan Weihong didn't break down, but instead encouraged him after taking a deep breath.
Fang Ziye nodded heavily.
After having the opportunity for further education, one naturally needs to work harder to grow and move towards distant goals.