Chapter 193: What a Pity for This Platform

Ji Xiang smiled, "He is my friend."

"A friend?" Zhao Zhe was a bit puzzled. He vaguely remembered seeing a similar figure when he was in the Provincial Hospital, and seeing him again in Shanghai, he wasn't quite sure, so he asked casually.

But he hadn't expected to get a definitive answer from Ji Xiang.

"Teacher Zhao..."

"Xiao Ji, just call me Brother. It's not because you offended Teacher Qin that I'm demoting you; I'm not that snobbish. I see you're easygoing too, and when we're together, calling each other 'Teacher' all the time feels too formal and stiff; I'm not used to it."

"I'm a few years older than you, so calling me Brother Zhao is more intimate."

"Speaking of the word 'teacher,' I was chatting with a buddy of mine who is a pure high school physics teacher, and he envies our profession as doctors to death. He says that being a doctor is professional and exclusive, while a teacher's qualification certificate doesn't have such requirements..."

Zhao Zhe's talkative nature flared up again, moving from forms of address to teacher qualification certificates. This differed from Ji Xiang's understanding, so he asked curiously, "Brother Zhao, teachers should also have exclusivity, right?"

"No. To give a recent example, the Second Affiliated Hospital is a teaching hospital, and the Attending Professors in the Urology Department are all teachers who have to pass exams for certification. They say it's an exam, but it's actually just a formality. They have both Physician Certificates and teacher certificates, but the teachers only have teacher certificates and no Physician Certificates."

Ji Xiang nodded, roughly understanding what Zhao Zhe meant.

Doctors can go be teachers, but teachers cannot come to be doctors. The technical barriers for doctors are strict and it is very difficult to enter. But for teachers, it's not necessarily the case.

He seized the moment, taking advantage of Zhao Zhe leading the topic into an unknown abyss, and asked, "Brother Zhao, your memory is quite good; you could be called someone who can recite a stele after one glance."

"Hahaha."

Ji Xiang's question touched upon the thing Zhao Zhe was most proud of.

In Yuanliao, no matter how outstanding his performance was, no one would notice, but after chatting with Xiao Ji for a few sentences, the other person knew he had this specialty.

"When your brother here was young, my memory was even better; I could read a book basically once. Other classmates would burn the midnight oil for two weeks before the final exam, but I would just read the book once two days in advance and that was enough."

"Memorizing books isn't a big deal. What I like most is that no matter how many years ago I met someone, as long as I've seen them once, I remember them clearly. Actually, I don't think of them usually, but when we meet again, what they looked like last time just surfaces, and I can't forget it even if I try."

"That's called photographic memory, impressive!" Ji Xiang praised.

"Hehe, otherwise how could your brother have secretly learned Interventional Surgery on my own? I'm not bragging, but an average person wouldn't be able to learn it at all! No one taught me, I figured it out myself; without some real skill, you really couldn't do it." Zhao Zhe's expression suddenly dimmed as he said this.

"Xiao Ji, it's not that I'm nagging you, but this opportunity is truly rare." Zhao Zhe sighed with emotion, "Although here..."

As he spoke, he looked up at the towering inpatient building of the Hepatobiliary Hospital.

"The Surgery Department here is top-tier in the industry, but the reputation of the Interventional Department is not good. But can people from small local hospitals pick and choose? Being transferred to Shanghai to work, and they even promised you your future prospects—it's truly a pity."

Zhao Zhe rubbed his hands as he spoke, as if it were his own future that had been ruined.

"I just can't stand it," Ji Xiang said very calmly. "I also know there are many patients here, and the surgeries can't be finished at all. But if you can't finish them, don't take them in; you can think of other ways. Taking in patients on one hand and fooling them on the other. Brother Zhao, is the poor reputation you mentioned related to this?"

"Mm," Zhao Zhe nodded. "With Teacher Qin's technical level, professional ability, plus the Hepatobiliary Hospital's name and surgical volume, everyone would have respected him. But just because the Interventional Surgery here is done so poorly—it's a poor attitude—the interventional doctors I've heard talking about Teacher Qin don't approve of him at all."

"You have exchanges with interventional doctors?"

"A little bit. If you can't find someone you know well, you can go online. Every time there's gossip on professional forums about the surgical attitude here, everyone is very disdainful." Zhao Zhe changed the subject, "But Xiao Ji, you are still too reckless, still too young. If you could come here, how good that would be."

"Hehe."

"Teacher Qin originally wanted to take you as an apprentice. He is old, and when he can't work anymore, he wants an apprentice in his prime to hold down the fort. He provides resources, you provide technology; it's a win-win."

As he spoke, Zhao Zhe sighed deeply again, feeling very regretful.

If it were him, he would probably swallow even a pile of shit if he had to.

No matter how bad the reputation of the Interventional Department here is, it's still a top-tier hospital, incomparable to small local hospitals or even the Second Affiliated Hospital in the provincial capital.

Although the way things are done here is annoying, it is, after all, a top-tier hospital. Doctors are especially dependent on the platform, especially!

This is a characteristic of the profession, so whenever Zhao Zhe thought about the opportunity right in front of him being casually abandoned by Ji Xiang, he felt heartbroken.

Even if the opportunity wasn't his.

"Following one's heart is quite important," Ji Xiang said. "I don't want to, so I don't want to. If I were to grit my teeth and work here, I probably wouldn't achieve anything. By the way, you said Teacher Teng is the only Academician in the Interventional Department, and an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences at that. I just checked, and it's true."

Speaking of Teng, Zhao Zhe's face was full of longing.

For grassroots doctors, these are all god-like figures in the sky.

"Brother Zhao, look, Teacher Teng is in Jinling, not in the Imperial Capital or Shanghai, right?"

"Heh," Zhao Zhe smiled. "Xiao Ji, you underestimate the world... By the way, let me tell you some gossip. At Huashan or some other hospital, visiting students need to take exams. Our hospital's Director of Neurosurgery went for advanced studies back then, and he went gray from stress trying to pass the exam."

Ji Xiang felt that Zhao Zhe's train of thought was really quite scattered, but he was also willing to listen to this kind of inside gossip.

Things like visiting students having to take exams are at most just talk; Ji Xiang knew that the biggest task for a visiting doctor is to do the work, to work like a horse or an ox. Which hospital would seriously conduct exams?

"He still grumbles after drinking about how grueling the advanced study exam at Huashan was back then, harder than the college entrance exam. There was a doctor who lived in the same dorm as him; that person went to work when they were supposed to, and played when they were supposed to."

"Ha." Ji Xiang had already guessed the result.

"Do you think the doctor who played when they were supposed to was a top student who passed easily? Hahaha, that doctor didn't pass." Zhao Zhe's mouth curled into a mischievous smile.

"..." Ji Xiang was startled, "Brother Zhao, they didn't pass, what happened later?"

"They were sent back, of course," Zhao Zhe said. "Huashan's requirements are very strict. That person is now a big shot in the top five of domestic neurosurgery, but this matter cannot be mentioned; if you mention it, they'll flip out."

"I think it's fine if you don't stay here; gold will shine no matter where it is."

Ji Xiang glanced at Zhao Zhe; it seemed that after all these years, he had already accepted the character setting that he was not gold.

(End of chapter)