Chapter 166: Over a Decade of Heart's Blood (Alliance Leader Mengde's Bonus Chapter)

"The data is at the hospital? Let's go take a look!" Liu Zhuren's curiosity about this was no less than Ji Xiang's; he urgently wanted to know what this Zhao Yisheng had done.

"I haven't eaten yet." Zhao Yisheng felt a bit conflicted, but that urge to show off was at work, and he wanted to immediately display his results from these years to the director from the Provincial Hospital, so he was slightly hesitant.

Under this hesitation, even his speech became sparse, the only time he wasn't interrupted by anyone.

"Where can't you eat?" Liu Zhuren said.

"That's true." Zhao Yisheng stood up to pay the bill, hesitated after scanning the code, and said, "Boss lady, pack it up, please hurry."

"It's better to eat it hot here; it won't taste good once you get home."

"I have an urgent matter." Zhao Yisheng was clearly still conflicted.

Carrying the takeout boxes, they walked out the door, and the three of them got into Zhao Yisheng's car.

"I keep all the materials at home," Zhao Yisheng explained to Liu Zhuren while starting the engine. "I used to keep them at work, but the cleaning staff threw them away, thinking they were expired Medical Records. I had to dig them out of the trash can. Fortunately, I kept the discs in a cabinet, otherwise, I wouldn't even have a place to cry."

"But later, as the data grew, there was no other way, so I could only keep it at home. My place isn't big, and the materials take up a lot of space."

"Over a hundred Patients—how are they doing post-surgery?" Liu Zhuren asked curiously.

"Twelve Patients have already passed away, but the cause of death was old age or other illnesses, not Tumor metastasis. You know, our Renal Cancer is a 'lazy cancer,' and the post-surgical results are very good. Plus, my surgical skill is limited, so the more difficult Patients were all sent to the Provincial Hospital for treatment; I've also been quite lucky."

Hearing Zhao Yisheng say he was quite lucky, Liu Zhuren knew very well that this wasn't the only reason.

If an illness was slightly serious, families without money for treatment would simply give up; they would absolutely not go bankrupt to throw money at someone who only had one or two years left to live.

Taking care of the living first, then the dead—this was also a very helpless reality.

But even so, such a high post-surgical survival rate was something Liu Zhuren hadn't expected.

"Among the remaining Patients, 11 had Tumors grow on the contralateral Kidney, which I removed. Then there are another 28..."

Zhao Yisheng spoke of his "scientific research" with a face full of excitement, as if he had been drinking; Ji Xiang was even afraid he would drive the car straight into a ditch.

This time, no one interrupted Zhao Yisheng's words; Ji Xiang and Liu Zhuren both listened attentively, and the two grew increasingly respectful of this Doctor.

Although he looked quite greasy and his chatter was annoying, he was very crisp and efficient when it came to doing things.

Over a dozen years of follow-ups—someone with a less firm mind would have given up long ago for various reasons, yet Zhao Yisheng had persisted the whole time.

Just like how he carried out Interventional Surgery at a grassroots hospital, this Zhao Yisheng had never given up amidst the hardships.

The most crucial thing was that this guy's Interventional Surgery was actually good; relying on the interventional consumables of the Circulatory Internal Medicine Department, he was able to train his surgery to LV6 level.

The city wasn't big, and they drove to Zhao Yisheng's home in over ten minutes.

Entering the house, Liu Zhuren and Ji Xiang saw that no one was home, and they didn't ask why.

Under Zhao Yisheng's eager introduction, the two began to browse the records he had saved over the years.

Just as Zhao Yisheng had said, the follow-ups and re-examinations every three months were all preserved quite well.

The earliest Medical Records had already turned yellow; Liu Zhuren picked them up cautiously, afraid they would crumble if he touched them.

After looking at just a few Medical Records, Liu Zhuren fell silent, letting Zhao Yisheng's chatter take over as he rambled on about this and that in his ear.

Liu Zhuren also published papers and did scientific research.

But among the research he had seen, which one wasn't just casually faked? Who could be this serious?

This Zhao Yisheng was truly impressive. Liu Zhuren felt a bit of regret; if he were a Doctor at his own hospital, he would definitely cultivate him as a successor.

Transferring someone to the Second Affiliated Hospital was something Liu Zhuren could barely manage, but it was too much trouble and required pulling strings; since he wasn't a relative, Liu Zhuren didn't even consider it.

"Zhao Yisheng, impressive," Liu Zhuren praised. "How many papers have you published?"

"..." Zhao Yisheng's voice stopped, and he felt a bit awkward.

"Hm?" Liu Zhuren was startled and turned his head to look at Zhao Yisheng.

"Not a single one," Zhao Yisheng said embarrassedly. "Maybe the data still isn't enough. It's truly hard to publish an article in a national-level journal. At first, I thought this data could be published in an SCI, even the worst kind of SCI, but even a national-level one didn't work."

"I was too young, and no one taught me; I was just doing it blindly."

"Can't you just spend some money?" Liu Zhuren said with disdain.

"I just have this stubborn temper," Zhao Zhe sighed. "Colleagues I'm close with all told me to spend some money to get an article out and pull some strings to get a research project for a promotion. But I felt it wasn't necessary; my research data is detailed, and someone will surely appreciate it. But after submitting to several national-level journals and failing, I couldn't stand the publication fees. Later, I hardened my heart and just submitted to SCI directly; I didn't believe everyone in the world wanted publication fees. Unfortunately, it seems the foreigners also..."

SCI... Liu Zhuren was speechless; this guy really dared to think and was truly confident.

Ji Xiang smiled, looking at Zhao Yisheng's face, which looked older than his actual age, and remembered what the System NPC had said.

"Liu Zhuren, I've been trying for these years. Later, when no one paid attention, I felt it was because I wasn't doing well enough and was just daydreaming while lacking the skill," Zhao Yisheng explained to Liu Zhuren.

Liu Zhuren was noncommittal; he skimmed through Zhao Yisheng's accumulation of over a dozen years and felt moved in his heart.

This person was quite interesting.

"You'll do the same for tomorrow's Patient post-surgery, right?" Liu Zhuren asked.

"Of course. The reason I can't publish a paper is because the number of Patients isn't enough yet. Anyway, I have to perform the surgery, so I'll just record it while I'm at it."

Liu Zhuren nodded, stood up, declined Zhao Yisheng's offer of a meal, told him they would meet at the hospital tomorrow, and after a few more polite words, left Zhao Yisheng's home.

"Zhuren, this Zhao Yisheng is very impressive," Ji Xiang said to Zhao Zhuren as they got into a taxi to go back and get their car; once it was quiet, he voiced his thoughts.

"Of course, but he is too pedantic," Liu Zhuren said. "Or rather, not pedantic, but he simply doesn't know how things should be done. Let's see his skill tomorrow; if it's decent, I'll help him publish a paper in a national-level journal."

"What is the procedure for publishing a paper?" Ji Xiang asked.

Liu Zhuren smiled slightly and didn't explain to Ji Xiang. Ji Xiang didn't ask further; no matter how much Liu Zhuren said, it wouldn't be as good as asking the System NPC in the System Space.

Liu Zhuren originally wanted to find a place to grab a bite, but in this small city, all the restaurants were closed after 9 PM; it was desolate as hell.

There was no choice but to return to the hotel to eat instant noodles.

Liu Zhuren and Ji Xiang both had their own thoughts, and after eating the instant noodles, they each rested.

The next morning, Zhao Yisheng came early to pick up Liu Zhuren to go to the hospital.

(End of chapter)