Chapter 378: Is *The Lancet* Owned by His Family?

It seems this Provincial Natural Science Foundation project is truly important to Ji Xiang, to the point that he fabricated some things to try and muddle through.

But he didn't stop to think, is muddling through really that simple? Does he really take the expert reviewers for fools?

Ling Tian's smile turned cold, mixed with pleasure and satisfaction.

It seems his and his boss's tacit, concerted efforts had achieved ten-tenths of the effect; a fierce punch, landing straight on Ji Xiang's weak spot, throwing him into total disarray—this was what Ling Tian wanted to see.

At this very moment, he hoped even more that Liu Zhuren would insist on passing Ji Xiang's proposal, with no one checking whether that so-called supplement was real or fake.

If the people from the Second Affiliated Hospital did that, he would definitely expose the academic fraud.

Not only would he teach Ji Xiang how to conduct himself, but he would also teach those at the Second Affiliated Hospital who wanted to support Ji Xiang a lesson in how to behave.

When the time came for Ji Xiang to become a drowning dog, he wouldn't mind stepping on him one more time, ensuring he could never recover for all eternity.

……

"Zhuren, take a look, it's real," Ji Xiang said very calmly.

Liu Zhuren stared at Ji Xiang, seeing that he had no expression of extreme excitement, anger, or disappointment; just like before, Ji Xiang was so calm he was almost bland, as if he didn't care about anything.

Taking off his glasses, Liu Zhuren took Ji Xiang's laptop.

This child is so persistent; could it be that his and Lao Bai's insistence ended up harming him instead?

The higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment; it's no wonder a young person like Ji Xiang couldn't handle it.

Liu Zhuren looked at the content on the laptop, rows and rows of English that Liu Zhuren couldn't understand at all.

"This is..." Liu Zhuren paused, scratching his head a bit.

If it were a Chinese journal, he could tell the truth from the fake at a glance.

But an English journal, and a supplement at that—the whole format was wrong, and there was no way to find translation software on Ji Xiang's computer, which was quite awkward.

"Let me see," another expert reviewer beside Liu Zhuren leaned over.

He was also dazzled by the English, but this person's English level was clearly higher than Liu Zhuren's, and he read it word by word.

"It seems to be real..." he said doubtfully after a few seconds.

He could read the content intermittently, but he had never imagined seeing a fresh, hot-off-the-press article at a Provincial Natural Science Foundation review meeting.

From the timestamp, it could be determined that this article had been uploaded just ten minutes ago.

This was too much of a coincidence.

This Provincial Natural Science Foundation review was full of surprises; first, the review rules were suddenly announced to be stricter, and the best proposal was lost just like that.

But just when everyone thought it was over, the person brought out a supplement of *The Lancet*.

*The Lancet*—this was the ceiling of medical journals.

This expert reviewer didn't dare to draw a conclusion, so he held the laptop and handed it to another person beside him.

"What's going on? What are the expert reviewers looking at?"

"That guy named Ji Xiang just said that a supplement of *The Lancet* published his article."

"Stop talking nonsense, is *The Lancet* owned by his family? They can just put out a supplement whenever they want. Even the regular issues aren't easy to get into, let alone a supplement. Do you know what was published in the last supplement of *The Lancet*?"

Other doctors participating in the selection whispered among themselves.

Someone took out their phone and started searching.

"I never even dreamed of publishing an article in *The Lancet*, but a paper agency sent me a message saying it's 200,000 per piece, and that's only as a second author, damn it."

"I received that too, I don't really believe it. 200,000, that's way too expensive."

"The key is they say it takes 3-6 months to publish, the time is a bit long, and I'm worried about being scammed. Think about it, normally published articles take half a year, and that guy..."

The doctor speaking pursed his lips, "He says there's a supplement, so there's a supplement. Does he really think *The Lancet* magazine is owned by his family?"

"Hey."

The person beside him nudged him with their elbow.

"What's wrong?"

"I checked on the website, the supplement was published 13 minutes ago."

"No way, it's the middle of the night over there, are they doing 996 and 007 too?"

Although he said that, he still took the phone.

The young doctor's English level was better than the old Zhuren and the old experts; he glanced at it, and the doctor was immediately dumbfounded.

He still didn't believe it, so he looked at the URL again and took out his own phone to search again.

Sure enough, 13 minutes ago, *The Lancet* magazine had temporarily issued a supplement, and the content of the supplement was about Renal Cancer Partial Nephrectomy with the participation of Interventional Therapy.

There were a total of 12 papers from different countries and regions; the whole thing was slightly thin, but there was nothing one could say against it.

The second article, the author names were in pinyin, and one could tell at a glance it was Zhao Zhe and Ji Xiang.

It was actually real!

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

While the doctors off-stage were in shock, an expert on stage didn't even look at the computer, waved his hand directly, and said firmly, "A Standardized Training Doctor wants to publish in *The Lancet*? Have you gone delusional? And a supplement, do you even know what a supplement is?"

"Teacher, you can check *The Lancet*'s official website yourself," Ji Xiang said calmly.

"Pfft," that person curled his lip.

Out of respect for Liu Zhuren of the Second Affiliated Hospital, he didn't say anything excessive, but his attitude was self-evident.

However, a middle-aged doctor in his thirties immediately walked onto the stage, hunched over, and whispered two sentences to him.

The expert reviewer's expression went from disdain to shock, and finally, he took the phone with a face full of suspicion.

The middle-aged doctor pointed at the literature on the phone and communicated with him in a low voice.

"Really?"

"Boss, it's real. The supplement was published ten-plus minutes ago, there's no mistake, I've double-checked it repeatedly."

The expert reviewer returned the phone to the middle-aged doctor and waved for him to go down.

He did not speak; the doubt from just a moment ago seemed to still be hovering in the air, and he looked at Ji Xiang with a face full of confusion.

"Holy crap! It's actually real!!"

The Expert judge contacted by Ling Tian had taken out a mobile phone first thing in the morning to search, and was shocked to see that article.

The Lancet, supplement, falling from the sky; this was a turn of events he had not anticipated.

He had originally thought Ling Tian had utilized immense resources, even adjusting the eligibility for the provincial Natural Science Foundation selection, and that victory was already in hand.

But the other party actually had connections reaching the heavens... or perhaps luck reaching the heavens; while the review was underway, The Lancet magazine had rarely issued a supplement, and their article was actually in that supplement!

In an instant, the requirement for a national-level paper became completely irrelevant.

The impact factor of The Lancet exceeds all national-level journals; a single article is enough to change the direction of things.

It must be too much luck, the Expert judge thought to himself, envying Ji Xiang's luck to the Extreme Point.

But he still remembered Ling Tian's existence, so he raised his voice a little—not out of surprise, but to notify Ling Tian that there had been a change in the situation here.

"The Lancet supplement? Impossible!"

A sound suddenly came from his mobile phone, and the Expert judge hurriedly hung up the phone at the first opportunity.

Covering the phone with his hand, he wore a sheepish smile.

(End of this chapter)