Chapter 579: The Nobody

"He is very impressive."

The young man whom Ling Tian addressed as Junior Brother Lin wore an innocent smile, looking very gentle.

Ling Tian smiled, his pupils dilating and contracting as he struggled to focus on finding Lin Jiuze, while simultaneously putting away his PAD. "Junior Brother Lin, the boss is still waiting for you. Let's grab a quick bite, then you can rest early to adjust to the jet lag."

"Sounds good, thank you, Senior Brother Ling," the innocent-looking young man said.

Ling Tian took him away from the office to find Qin Chu.

This innocent-looking young man was named Lin Jiuze, brought in by his boss from Harvard Medical School; his teacher, Tang Chenghua, was the boss's fellow apprentice.

"Jiuze" came from the *Chu Ci* chapter "Heavenly Questions," a name that sounded quite scholarly.

Coupled with Lin Jiuze's innocent expression, his lack of reaction while watching the show, and the fact that he was often overlooked, Ling Tian vaguely felt that the person the boss had brought in might not be a match for Ji Xiang.

In fact, Ling Tian had long since extinguished any thoughts of taking revenge on Ji Xiang.

The world is so big; how nice it would be to go separate ways and never see each other again. Why make things difficult for oneself?

But his boss seemed unable to let go of the obsession in his heart, and upon learning that the production team intended to introduce an elimination system, he summoned this so-called genius junior brother from the United States.

However,

Lin Jiuze looked exceptionally gentle, almost a bit foolish.

Although Ling Tian wouldn't go so far as to look down on him for it, he couldn't see anything special about Lin Jiuze either. If there was anything special, it was this—Ling Tian had to exert great mental effort to keep track of Lin Jiuze by his side, otherwise, he would forget this "protagonist" entirely.

Qin Chu was very enthusiastic upon seeing Lin Jiuze, talking incessantly about the several interactions between Lin Jiuze's father, his teacher, and himself back in the day.

Lin Jiuze just smiled honestly, responding with "uh-huh" and "ah" like the clumsiest straight man in a comedy duo.

If such a young doctor were to come to the department, he would definitely be a "nobody," never receiving any attention.

A nobody. Watching his boss and Lin Jiuze chatting affectionately, a sudden chill crept up Ling Tian's back.

Something is wrong!

He attached great importance to Lin Jiuze, yet while watching the show just now, he had forgotten this person many times, forgetting his very existence.

He was sitting right next to him, watching the show with an honest face, occasionally letting out a "silly" laugh, but he kept intentionally or unintentionally forgetting him!

Moreover, although he realized he was forgetting Lin Jiuze, the thought was fleeting and faint.

This was quite terrifying. When Ling Tian tried to scrutinize Lin Jiuze again, his gaze had changed.

Ling Tian knew his own capabilities well, and he had never seen a young person like Lin Jiuze. Turning into a "nobody"? Making people completely unaware of his existence? What was the point of that?

Countless question marks popped up over Ling Tian's head.

Qin Chu and Lin Jiuze were chatting happily, but Ling Tian noticed that his boss would occasionally falter, likely because he had ignored Lin Jiuze's existence and had to forcibly pull himself back.

Holy crap!

Ling Tian was extremely interested in Lin Jiuze, and not just because Lin Jiuze was said to be the best graduate from Harvard Medical School in the last ten years.

Ling Tian even suspected that because of Lin Jiuze's "nobody" attribute, the "ten years" might just be an underestimate.

As he thought about it, his mind went blank. When Ling Tian snapped out of it and realized he had been pondering Lin Jiuze but had spaced out, his mind blank and his eyes staring straight at the ground, a chill ran through his entire body.

Damn it, this is too eerie!

The three arrived at a restaurant in Shanghai; pushing open the window revealed the river, neon lights shimmering, with cruise ships on the water and tourists like a weave along the banks.

It was a prime spot, not the kind of place one could enter just by having money; Ling Tian knew very well how much the boss valued Lin Jiuze.

He managed to focus his attention, maintaining his manners, and let the boss and Lin Jiuze order the food.

"Did you watch today's show?" Qin Chu asked after sitting down.

"I did, Boss." Ling Tian struggled to concentrate, turning the fruit platter toward the boss. Seeing the boss had no intention of touching it, he used his remaining focus to turn it toward Lin Jiuze.

"Tell me what you think," Qin Chu said with a serious expression.

Ling Tian gathered his thoughts and said, "Ji Xiang's performance wasn't more brilliant than the previous episodes, but I always feel he has a kind of precognitive ability."

"Hmm." Qin Chu nodded without saying much; Ling Tian knew the boss was waiting for him to elaborate.

"The patient refused to sign the papers and wanted to go home after the intestinal polyp was removed; this kind of thing isn't actually a big deal. In a hospital, there are several similar patients every day, and for an experienced clinical doctor, it's quite normal."

"But Ji Xiang insisted on waiting for the patient, going against his own routine. I think it could be a coincidence, or perhaps Ji Xiang saw potential problems while assisting Director Zou with the intestinal endoscope. What do you think, Boss?"

"My judgment is split. If you say Ji Xiang has such strong diagnostic capabilities, I still have some doubts; after all, this isn't an interventional surgery. But if you say Ji Xiang has the ability to foresee the future, I have my doubts about that too."

"A woman's intuition?" Ling Tian asked.

He didn't say this to disparage Ji Xiang's gender, but rather it stemmed from an old joke in the department. Years ago, a certain Head Nurse had discovered her husband was cheating through her excellent "woman's intuition," catching him red-handed in bed.

"Intuition that a patient would bleed?"

"Similar things aren't rare in clinical practice. A few years ago, you were performing a hemostatic surgery. During the operation, everything looked perfectly fine, but you refused to leave the table. The nurse kept signaling me with her eyes, and I tried to persuade you from the side, but you insisted on observing."

Ling Tian began to cite examples, choosing one of Qin Chu's proudest surgeries.

That surgery treated a patient with postpartum hemorrhage; Qin Chu had been invited by another hospital to perform the emergency surgery. The embolization of the uterine artery was done, and logically, he should have turned around and left the table.

Yet Qin Chu refused to leave. He remained silent, enduring the pressure of the patient's family members banging on the door outside for several hours, waiting for another side branch to bleed again after the main trunk was embolized and the blood pressure rose.

The surgery was performed beautifully and was one of Qin Chu's proudest works.

Ling Tian was clever; bringing up such an example at this moment was very appropriate—it both explained the issue and put the boss in a good mood.

Qin Chu nodded slightly. "Indeed, after performing enough surgeries, one develops a kind of intuition."

"But Ji Xiang could have raised his doubts," Ling Tian frowned.

"No, that's from your perspective," Qin Chu denied Ling Tian's point, tapping the table. "Given your status and position, it doesn't matter if you raise a doubt, even if there's only a 20% or lower probability. Ji Xiang is just an Intern, and he was arranged to be there by the production team. If he didn't have 100% certainty, he wouldn't speak up."

(End of chapter)