Chapter 730: Keeping Pace with the Times

Finding the diagnosis and the cause of the illness, Ji Xiang breathed a sigh of relief.

After communicating with the Family Member, Meng Qingfei subsequently ordered a diagnostic treatment.

Ji Xiang did not leave directly, but instead waited for the results of the diagnostic treatment. Although he knew the diagnosis was correct with a high degree of probability, Ji Xiang still felt a compulsion, as if his Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder were acting up, to see the results on paper.

Meng Qingfei was very happy; although he didn't say anything to Ji Xiang, he hummed a little tune.

In the barely audible sound, there was joy and delight.

"Meng Laoshi, when did you start going online to look up medical conditions?" Ji Xiang asked after reporting to the System NPC.

"That was many years ago. One day, a Patient came in for a consultation and said a lot of plausible but incorrect things. I felt it was strange at the time, so I asked for details."

"Later, I discovered he had searched online and thought he had Cancer, and had even written his will."

"!!!"

"I was very curious at the time, so I went up and took a look. Back then, many things weren't well-developed, and it wasn't easy to do. But after a few years, I gradually got into the habit of opening my phone when I encountered a diagnosis that wasn't clear."

"What do we call this? This is called keeping pace with the times."

Ji Xiang looked at Meng Qingfei's smug expression and scratched his head.

"Meng Laoshi, actually, these things are all written in books."

"I can't memorize them." Meng Qingfei gestured, making a "person's height" motion, "Look, at least three times a person's height—so many books, how could I memorize them all?"

Ji Xiang thought about it, and it seemed that was true.

Even if one memorized them, in a moment of urgency, it would be very difficult to find what one needed in such a vast sea of content.

The human brain is, after all, not a computer.

Even when looking up medical conditions online, one still needs search terms.

"Psh, look at you, do you really think you can be omnipotent? Let me give you an example," Meng Qingfei laughed. "Back when your Brother Meng was still a 'steel-straight' man, I went to the movies with a girl I was pursuing in college."

"It was a real struggle to get her to go out. We were relatively conservative back then; only about a quarter of the people in college were dating."

Ji Xiang looked at Meng Qingfei with a smile, listening to him tell the story.

"My brain was sharp back then, unlike now. The movie was a horror film. Insects about the size of a human flew straight at us, pouncing and biting people, scaring the girl so much she leaned right against me."

"Like telling a ghost story?"

"Hey, guess what your Brother Meng did."

"Of course, I would have just put my arm around her," Ji Xiang said. "Or maybe patted her head, told her not to be afraid—at the very least, I would have held her hand."

"See, that's the gap. Back then, I only knew how to show off my memory. I told the girl, 'What's there to be afraid of? Insects couldn't possibly grow this big because they lack the cardiac structure of mammals; their blood cannot carry oxygen, and oxygen circulation can only rely on natural diffusion through the air within their bodies. So, they would die long before they could grow that big.'"

"That... is truly terrifying." Ji Xiang looked at Meng Qingfei and sighed.

"Right?" Meng Qingfei was also quite wistful. "Many years have passed, and now my memory is no longer capable of photographic recall, but I still remember this scene."

"It's alright, it's not a regret. Actually, if it were me, I would probably have said something similar."

"Hm?" Meng Qingfei was taken aback.

"Basic physics and mathematics knowledge can also deduce a similar conclusion."

"Strength comes from muscles, and the magnitude of strength depends on the cross-sectional area of the muscle. Simply put, the thicker the arm, the stronger it is, not the longer it is."

"If you scale it up proportionally by two times, the cross-sectional area becomes four times larger, but the volume becomes eight times larger. If you scale it by ten times, the cross-sectional area becomes 100 times larger, but the volume becomes 1,000 times larger."

"So, if a mosquito were to grow to 100 times its original size, it would probably only be 20 centimeters tall. Although its strength would increase by 10,000 times, its body weight would increase by 1,000,000 times. Forget flying; it probably wouldn't even be able to stand up."

"But I was still afraid."

As Ji Xiang said this, he gripped his right hand with his left.

"And then she held your hand."

"..."

"If you didn't encounter that, it's just bad luck. It's not your fault, Meng Laoshi."

Meng Qingfei looked at Ji Xiang carefully, finally determining that this guy wasn't being sarcastic.

"You really are good at comforting people," Meng Qingfei laughed. "Xiao Ji, are you sure what you just said didn't have an element of 'killing the heart'?"

Ji Xiang thought about it carefully.

"Let's not talk about this." Meng Qingfei didn't mind Ji Xiang's "killing the heart"; he changed the subject to avoid making Ji Xiang feel awkward.

'Steel-straight' men are all like this; when he was Ji Xiang's age, he definitely would have thought the same way.

What empathy, what sitting and discussing the Dao—these things were all like fairy tales that only existed in beautiful imaginations.

Ji Xiang was just young; he would be fine once he was a few years older.

"Didn't I write a paper for He in the Internal Medicine Department a while ago? There's some progress."

"I heard He Laoshi mention it, saying the manufacturer is helping to facilitate it and it will be published soon."

"Right!" Meng Qingfei was a little excited. "Luck is good, quite good."

"Congratulations, Meng Laoshi. You wouldn't be leaving your name off the paper, would you?"

"What are you thinking? He gave me a sum of money to buy the first authorship; I'm the second author," Meng Qingfei said. "The point is, this thing has taken too long and is very troublesome. By the way, Xiao Ji, don't look down on papers, and don't think this stuff is useless."

"Don't be like I was when I was young, arrogant and conceited. What talent do I have? Thinking about it now, it was all my own doing."

"Mm-hmm." Ji Xiang followed Meng Qingfei's lead, saying, "I've been writing papers, and I've already published many. Meng Laoshi, if you have any needs, just say so; don't be polite."

"Many?" Meng Qingfei was stunned for a moment.

He knew Ji Xiang had published papers in top-tier journals, but what did "many" mean!

"Thirteen, I think, and two more are currently under review."

Meng Qingfei frowned, staring fixedly at Ji Xiang.

"Meng Laoshi, what's wrong?"

"Are they 'Zhong' series journals? Did you go to Nan Fang and meet some Academician? That's impossible, though. Even if an Academician puts in a word, they can only get one or two papers through—that's already giving enough face. The layout is already booked; it's very hard to squeeze in."

"They are all SCI articles. I like those with an impact factor above 20; I don't have much interest in papers with impact factors that are too low. If I have to bring them up later, they won't be very useful, so I gave up on those."

"..."

If Meng Qingfei were a few years younger, he would have grabbed Ji Xiang by the collar and pinned him against the wall to give him a good beating.

*Chinese Journal of General Surgery*, the top domestic professional journal in his field; a single paper is enough for a doctor at a municipal-level Grade A Tertiary Hospital to use for a promotion their entire life, yet its impact factor is only 0.89, not even reaching 1.

Moreover, the difficulty of this thing increases geometrically.

Ji Xiang actually!

So many, and so fast!

The key is, why is it so fast?

Meng Qingfei was somewhat puzzled.

At this moment, Lin Jiuze was just as puzzled as Meng Qingfei.

(End of chapter)