Chapter 1: Pre-service Trainee

"Scars are a man's medals."

"Do you know what the shiniest medal of all is?"

The surgeon standing before the operating table scanned the young people gathered around, glanced at the assistant beside them, and finally met the patient's gaze, a smile spreading from within their mask to offer comfort.

The patient was very nervous, legs tense and trembling slightly.

"It's the surgical scar left behind from a circumcision."

"Don't be nervous. Just think about how, from here on out, the sky is the limit—as comfortable as you could ever want to be!"

The surgeon stared intently into the patient's eyes while saying this final sentence, speaking with sincerity.

After speaking, the short, stout surgeon's eyes squinted, and he emphasized the word "comfortable" so heavily that Ji Xiang, standing behind him, couldn't tell if this teacher was making a dirty joke or just making a dirty joke.

Or perhaps, making a dirty joke.

Ji Xiang was a newly arrived Pre-service Trainee; he was visiting the Second Affiliated Hospital today and would only be considered an official Standardized Training Student after passing an exam in a few days.

He was tall, clean-cut, sunny, and handsome.

It was said that Surgeons were very fast with their "speed" on the operating table, but in Ji Xiang's shallow experience, he had never encountered someone who could handle it as effortlessly as the teacher before him.

After a few moments of small talk, the patient's nervous mood eased slightly; he slowly closed his eyes, putting on an expression of "I am the fish on the chopping block," waiting to be cut.

The point was, his pants were already off, so it was a bit late to say anything.

"Wang Daxiao, you say that every time before surgery. Is it some kind of strange ritual? Summoning your God of Surgery?"

The Nurse asked while nimbly organizing the various surgical instruments the surgeon needed.

"I'm telling the truth," the surgeon smiled slightly. "The shiniest medal—I wonder which girl will be lucky enough to see it in the future."

As he spoke, the surgeon hummed a familiar tune.

"You doctors in the Urology Department are just a bunch of perverts. Every single one of you can't stop talking about the 'lower three paths.' It's boring."

"If I don't talk about the 'lower three paths' and talk about the 'upper three paths' instead, Neurosurgery and Thoracic Surgery wouldn't agree, would they? This is professional knowledge; don't talk nonsense if you don't understand. Actually, we're considered decent; the Breast and Thyroid Surgery department are the real perverts."

The Nurse ignored Wang Daxiao's rebuttal, finished packing everything up, finally opened the Lidocaine and Physiological Saline, placed them to the side, and called out, "Call me if you're missing anything."

A Circumcision is just a minor Outpatient Surgery and does not require an Instrument Nurse.

The surgeon didn't mind being called a pervert; humming a song, he attached a needle to a 10ml Syringe, diluted the Lidocaine, drew a tube of the mixed solution, and began the Local Infiltration Anesthesia.

The "assistant" beside him wanted to help but didn't know what to do.

"Here, pay attention to my hand posture and the angle of the needle. Although Local Infiltration Anesthesia is a minor procedure, there's a lot to it," Wang Daxiao said to the assistant beside him.

The assistant nodded, watching intently.

"Teacher, are you a retired Colonel?" a new Standardized Training Student behind him asked with stars in their eyes and a tone of admiration.

"No," the surgeon answered naturally. "I said I was willing to laugh (xiao), so the department started calling me Colonel (Daxiao)."

So it was just a rumor, Ji Xiang thought to himself while standing behind Wang Daxiao, looking down at the surgical field.

Ji Xiang was very satisfied that the Attending Teacher was able to lead Pre-service Trainees into the Outpatient Surgery Room to watch a Circumcision during their pre-training hospital tour.

He had actually been very worried about what was said online—that teachers in the department would make the trainees do all the menial labor, including fetching meals and babysitting, without teaching them any proper work.

So-called proper work meant writing Medical Records, plus all the department's paperwork.

If that were the case, it would be truly boring.

Although Ji Xiang understood that he and the other students were just background props for the person currently standing in the assistant's position, he was still very satisfied with this.

That "main character" was the primary one, going up to the table first, after which several trainees would take turns acting as assistants to "help" Wang Daxiao perform the surgery.

Calling it "assisting" was really just experiencing the atmosphere of the surgery up close; they were members of the "atmosphere squad."

"You all watch my surgery carefully, pay attention to the details, and read your books when you go back.

You, stand a bit further forward and watch carefully.

A surgery like a Circumcision looks small, but there are actually many details that need attention," Wang Daxiao said to the students while disinfecting with 0.5% Iodophor and laying out the Surgical Hole Towel.

"Teacher."

The student pointed out by Wang Daxiao said nonchalantly.

"Hm?"

"They all say that if you persuade people to study medicine, you'll be struck by lightning."

"!!!"

"!!!"

The trainee standing in front of that person hurriedly stepped on their foot without a sound, telling them to shut up.

Wang Daxiao, however, didn't get angry at the retort; without even looking at the "disobedient" trainee, he injected the diluted Lidocaine and waited for the Anesthesia to take effect.

While waiting, he laughed, "You are all still young; it's inevitable that you'll be misled by public opinion."

"But Teacher Wang, there are too many medical disputes now. There are nearly ten incidents of violence against doctors every year; we're all scared."

"Yeah, many classmates with connections at home don't even come for their residency after graduation; they switch careers directly."

"The profession of a doctor indeed doesn't have a high ceiling. What can you do at the end of the day?" Wang Daxiao said. "At most, you'll be like Zhong Yisheng, where your Expert Number costs thirteen hundred and you still get cursed at. Look at Buffett; a single meal costs hundreds of thousands or millions, and it even has to be auctioned."

"That's true."

The young trainees were all a bit surprised to hear Wang Daxiao say this. Was he roasting himself? Did this person have some special hobby?

"But!" Wang Daxiao raised his volume slightly, scanned the young people beside him again, and said earnestly, "Although a doctor's ceiling isn't high, the floor is high.

And it's not just usually high; the floor is exceptionally high. You'll know in a few years when your families introduce you to boyfriends or girlfriends."

"Really?"

Wang Daxiao placed the Circumcision Ring on the edge of the prepuce, fixed the internal plate by flipping it outward, and said, "One is a white-collar worker at a big firm with a monthly income of twenty or thirty thousand; the other is a junior doctor at our hospital with a monthly income of eight thousand. Guess which one your family will prefer."

The trainees looked at each other.

"I'm telling you, as long as they haven't lost their minds, the family will choose the doctor." Wang Daxiao used the CO2 Laser to perform a circular cut 0.5cm from the Coronal Sulcus on the internal plate of the prepuce, removing the excess skin.

"A programmer at a big firm gets 'graduated' at 35; as for doctors, 35 is just the beginning. If you put your heart into it now, you'll be leading surgeries by then, or at the very least, acting as an assistant. Earning money is one aspect, but you also have to consider high social status and the convenience of seeing a doctor. The most important thing is—it's stable; stable as an old dog."

"You will come into contact with the specific details slowly in the future."

"Teacher, programmers at big tech companies have fulfilled lives and financial freedom by the age of 35," one person retorted.

"Heh." Wang Daxiao let out a huff, glanced up at the Standardized Training Student who spoke, but his hands didn't stop, trimming the incision edges while stopping the bleeding. "Financial freedom, is it that easy? When I was young... in the eighties of the last century, a friend of my mother's was hit by a pie falling from the sky."

"A pie? How big?"

"Inherited an estate from an overseas relative, 20,000 yuan."

"Pfft~"

Several young Standardized Training Students burst into laughter.

For young people today, a few million doesn't even count as money; people showing off their wealth online have pushed everyone's threshold to the sky.

But when they reach into their pockets, having more than a hundred in their WeChat balance counts as being rich.

"20,000 yuan back then was worth more than 20 million today." Wang Daxiao checked the surgical area for active bleeding and began the Interrupted suture for the Circumcision. "That auntie thought she had financial freedom and completely let herself go; she's living a miserable life now."

"Having said that, if one had that ability, being an Attending Professor at the Wudaokou Vocational Technical College affiliated hospital at 35, one wouldn't need to consider the issue of inflation at all."

Wang Daxiao performed the surgery nimbly, instilling his insights on career and life into the children, regardless of whether these young people who had just entered society could understand.

Ji Xiang had no interest in Wang Daxiao's dirty jokes or life lectures, focusing intently on the needle performing the Interrupted suture in his hands, striving to remember every detail.

Oil Gauze, Gauze circular Pressure Bandage, the surgery ended.

The Pressure Bandage was very neat; for a moment, Ji Xiang even felt like Wang Daxiao would tie a bow on it.

The Patient was sent away, and the next Patient was brought in.

The Outpatient Department Operating Room was like an assembly line, and Ji Xiang immediately heard Wang Daxiao's earlier remark about medals being brought up again.

This sentence seemed to have magic; the Patient's nervous mood eased slightly after hearing it.

Who doesn't like dirty jokes?

Especially in the operating room, where the Doctor is witty and humorous, chatting and laughing, fully dispelling the Patient's tension and anxiety.

Ji Xiang felt that Doctor Wang was indeed a fascinating person; it turned out that the remark wasn't just for flirting but had other functions.

"What's your name?" Wang Daxiao turned around, spotting Ji Xiang, who stood out from the crowd, and asked while looking up slightly at him.

"Ji Xiang, 'Ji' as in auspicious, 'Xiang' as in soaring," Ji Xiang answered loudly.

"Good name," Wang Daxiao praised absentmindedly. "For the next surgery, scrub in and come up to give me a hand."

Ji Xiang suppressed the excitement in his heart; he hadn't expected that he would be able to get on the operating table during the hospital tour before the exam.

Although it was only as an assistant, and most likely doing nothing but watching a "simple" Circumcision up close.

But for a Standardized Training Student, this already counted as the best reward.

"Don't listen to their nonsense; all that 'advising people to study medicine is like being struck by lightning' is just bull." Wang Daxiao began preparing things for the next surgery, speaking to the young people.

"Everyone says the end of the universe is the civil service exam, but to an old guy like me, that saying is truly misleading the youth."

"Teacher, civil servants are good; they have guaranteed income regardless of drought or flood—that's what you call stability!" a Standardized Training Student retorted unconvinced.

"Good?" Wang Daxiao's mask moved, seemingly curling his lip. "In the nineties of the last century, your parents should have experienced it; state-owned enterprise employees had what they called an iron rice bowl. But when the massive layoffs hit, the iron rice bowl was smashed to pieces. Forget about the rice bowl, even the pots were sold off completely."

This experience was quite foreign to the young people; no one believed Wang Daxiao's words.

In the limited experience of the young, the civil service exam already had a sacred halo.

Wang Daxiao knew the young people didn't believe him, but he continued, "Laid-off workers didn't have it easy. You go back and look up why eating chicken racks is popular in Fengtian, then put yourself in their shoes."

From advising people to study medicine to chicken racks, Wang Daxiao's train of thought was unrestrained; the Standardized Training Students couldn't keep up and fell silent.

Ji Xiang finished scrubbing in according to the steps in the book, and seeing Wang Daxiao glance at him a few times without raising any objections, he let out a long sigh of relief. As for the chicken racks or whatever, Ji Xiang had heard of it, but he didn't care.

First time on the operating table, as long as he didn't get scolded, Ji Xiang was very satisfied with his performance.

Getting on the table, Wang Daxiao put on his gloves and patted Ji Xiang's hand. "Don't be nervous, just help me hold it. I'm old, not what I used to be; if you don't hold it, I can't even finish. Back when I was young, one hand was enough."

"Wang Daxiao, be serious," the Nurse scolded. "These young people just arrived for Clinical work; don't lead them astray."

"Hehe." Wang Daxiao chuckled and began preparing the Anesthesia medication.

Ji Xiang was a bit nervous and didn't think about Wang Daxiao's dirty jokes at all, instead quickly recalling the scene of his classmate helping the surgeon hold the area in the previous operation.

As soon as his hand touched the Patient's surgical area, Ji Xiang suddenly felt dizzy, and the System Panel in the top right corner of his vision, which had been blank, began to flicker as if it were charging.

【System initializing.】

In less than a second, light and shadow flickered around Ji Xiang, as if he had passed through a space-time tunnel and arrived in the System Space.

He appeared in a corridor, the corridor of the General Surgery Operating Room, and on the LCD signs at the doors of the Operating Rooms on both sides, it was clearly written—Surgery in Progress.

(End of chapter)