Chapter 522: Studying Medicine, What Is It For?

"Xiao Ji, where did you hear about this?" Yang Zhuren asked.

"An elderly teacher told me; it's just some old, dusty, trivial matter." Ji Xiang assigned a new title to the system NPC.

"Tsk tsk, impressive," the Weichang Waike Zhuren muttered again.

He looked back at the time; the intraoperative frozen section would take about 15 minutes, so there were 10 minutes left.

Since they were idle anyway, the Weichang Waike Zhuren said, "Ji Yisheng, I heard that a few months ago, Qin Chu, the boss in Shanghai, wanted to take you on as a closed-door disciple, but you refused? And it ended quite unpleasantly?"

"Yes," Ji Xiang replied with a calm expression, giving him a definitive answer.

"I don't do interventional work, so I don't know," the Weichang Waike Zhuren said. "Li Zhuren is... let's not talk about that. I want to ask you something."

"Teacher, please go ahead."

"My son was obsessed with web novels a few years ago, and I read some too just to bridge the generation gap. Do you know what 'undergoing the Heavenly Tribulation' is?"

"Zhang Sanfeng has an introduction regarding the Inner Elixir, saying that when one reaches a certain stage, one sees terrifying ghosts and monsters before their eyes and hears wailing and howling in their ears. At this time, one must hold fast to their inner heart, knowing everything is an illusion; it takes quite a while."

"..." The Weichang Waike Zhuren was stunned. He had originally intended to advise Ji Xiang, but he hadn't expected the question he threw out to be twisted by Ji Xiang into a completely different direction.

"In domestic mythology, there are few mentions of the Heavenly Tribulation. In *Journey to the West*, the Great Achievement Heavenly Immortal Art that Sun Wukong practiced seems to be called an extraordinary path, seizing the essence of heaven and earth and encroaching upon the mysteries of the sun and moon. Its speed and power are too terrifying, making it envied by the gods and ghosts of heaven and earth, which is why there are the 'Three Disasters' every five hundred years."

The Weichang Waike Zhuren sighed.

The other party was a top-scoring national number one; by comparison, he himself was nothing. Even in the banter on the operating table, he had fallen behind in an instant.

For a moment, the Weichang Waike Zhuren actually didn't know what else to say.

The metaphor of the Heavenly Tribulation had already been dragged to the other side of the sky by Ji Xiang; it was difficult for him to even keep up with Ji Xiang's train of thought.

"Teacher, I understand what you mean," Ji Xiang's eyes narrowed slightly. "You mean that even if a monster like Dapeng kills countless people, it still gets taken away in the end, while the small monsters without backgrounds all end up dead."

"Sigh," the Weichang Waike Zhuren sighed.

If he had said this himself, it would have led to many stories, which could be considered his own personal experiences over these many years. Telling them to those who came after might have been of some help to them.

But the words he wanted to say, coming out of Ji Xiang's mouth, had changed their flavor.

How helpless.

"My feeling is..." Ji Xiang hesitated, "A few years ago during the great epidemic, there was a popular science post on the Xinglin Garden forum that told ordinary people how to prepare medicine and how to avoid spending large sums of money on marketed drugs."

"They weren't discriminating against traditional medicine. I was young at the time, and I saw that the medicine kits prepared by Xinglin Garden for their employees included Huoxiang Zhengqi Water."

"I've digressed. In the replies to the post, a medical student said—stop posting things like this. As medical students, we could still buy medicine at pharmacies that others didn't know about, but once you guys publicized it, everything was gone."

The Weichang Waike Zhuren was stunned for a moment. What Ji Xiang said was a bit long, but the content was extremely sharp. Moreover, although the great epidemic of a few years ago had passed, the scars left behind were hard to erase in a short period of time.

"At the time, the account that posted on Xinglin Garden had a reply—then what did you study medicine for?"

"To make a living, I suppose," Ji Xiang answered his own question. "On my first day of Standardized Residency Training at the Second Affiliated Hospital, I heard Teacher Wang say that being a doctor is a profession with a very high bottom line. Everything has its pros and cons; let's not talk about that. That day when I was in Shanghai, I thought of this post."

"Studying medicine, what is it for."

What is it for...

These four words echoed in the hearts of everyone in the operating room like the morning bell and evening drum.

"Qin wanted to take me on as a closed-door disciple, and I am very grateful, but those with different paths cannot make plans together," Ji Xiang said. "So, I didn't go. As for the future, who knows."

The Weichang Waike Zhuren sighed again.

Although Ji Xiang was young, his values were rock-solid; if you threw them out, they could knock a dog over. It was unknown who had taught him.

Ring ring ring~~~

The landline outside the operating room rang.

The Circulating Nurse glanced at the time, then sprang up as if there were springs in their seat, running off to answer the phone.

The air in the operating room suddenly tightened.

The result of the intraoperative frozen section would determine how the next step of the surgery would be performed.

If the pathology department reported it as malignant, they would have to extend the incision and go in to explore organ by organ. But as for which specific organs to explore, the Weichang Waike Zhuren and Yang Zhuren had no idea.

"Glassy Degeneration!"

The Circulating Nurse shouted from outside.

The shout traveled inside, and the air in the operating room instantly loosened. Yang Zhuren narrowed his eyes; it looked like he should be smiling under his mask.

"Awesome!"

The assistant opposite the Weichang Waike Zhuren excitedly raised his hand and patted his chest.

*Bang bang* it sounded.

Because it was a sterile area, the Weichang Waike Zhuren didn't say anything; he was also very happy.

The intraoperative frozen section reported benign, and everyone was very happy.

"Warm Saline," the Weichang Waike Zhuren said heartily.

Rinsing and exploring—although there was almost no damage, he still followed the prescribed surgical steps bit by bit.

Ten minutes later, after sewing the last stitch, the Weichang Waike Zhuren turned and left the operating table.

"Ji Yisheng, impressive!" the Weichang Waike Zhuren said sincerely.

"Teacher, this case..."

Ji Xiang hesitated.

"What's wrong?" the Weichang Waike Zhuren asked.

"It's very rare, and I want to write a paper. You will be the first author, and I'll bring along a doctor from my team. What do you think?"

"What kind of talk is that?" the Weichang Waike Zhuren said unhappily. "I'll just be the corresponding author; you can write it however you want. For the paper you write, you are definitely the first author; you can handle the rest yourself."

"I feel quite embarrassed."

"Pah, our department publishes at least 20 papers with 'China' in the title every year," the Weichang Waike Zhuren said proudly. "Ji Yisheng, do you want me to help you find a reviewer? I'm familiar with all of them."

"For this kind of rare disease, I want to publish in *The New England Journal of Medicine*," Ji Xiang said. "*The Lancet* isn't interested in case reports, but *The New England Journal of Medicine* publishes similar articles quite often."

"..."

"......"

The Gastrointestinal Surgery Department director, Yang Zhuren, and the professors in the observation gallery were all stunned.

The New England Journal of Medicine? It is on par with The Lancet, a world-class academic journal.

Ji Xiang's ambitions are wild enough; are the top-tier national journals no longer enough to satisfy him?

"Doctor Xiao Ji, that seems very difficult," the Gastrointestinal Surgery Department director said truthfully, "One might not even be able to publish a single paper in a lifetime."

Ji Xiang smiled and said nothing.

(End of this chapter)