Chapter 54: Chapter 54: A Master’s Demeanor
Nanshan Medical University Affiliated First Hospital.
Yang Xu had just finished surgery. He was smoking a cigarette, looking slightly weary.
"Professor." Jiang He bowed slightly.
Chen Hao, following behind, also respectfully called out, "Professor Yang."
Yang Xu said, "Ah, you’re here. Have a seat."
Before sitting down, Jiang He placed the thesis on the desk.
Yang Xu’s gaze swept over the envelope, but he didn’t immediately reach for it.
He exhaled a cloud of grayish-white smoke. A smile played on his lips, seen through the curling wisps.
"You kid. You were away from the university for a few days, went to the Capital City, and made quite a stir, didn’t you?"
Jiang He grunted in acknowledgment. "I went to the Capital City for some personal matters and stopped by Peking Union Medical College Hospital to see Senior Brother Lu."
"Xiaolin called me last night. We talked for over an hour."
"His research on cell polarity reversal had been stuck for a long time at the intraoperative clinical assessment stage. He told me on the phone last night that you gave him an idea: to use an intraoperative ultrasound probe to guide a core needle biopsy."
"That’s a very precise approach. It avoids the seeding risk of a preoperative puncture and solves the dead end of unclear frozen sections."
Jiang He nodded slightly. "I just overheard a bit and followed my Senior Brother’s line of thinking. I’m glad I could help."
"Don’t be so quick to be modest." Yang Xu flicked his cigarette ash. "Xiaolin made his position clear to me. You provided the core breakthrough for this paper, and you also backed him up during the presentation at Peking Union. He’s insisting on adding your name as a co-first author."
A co-first author?
Sitting beside them, Chen Hao was dumbfounded.
’Wait, what? How did Old Jiang write another paper? What’s going on?’
"Thank you, Professor. And please thank my Senior Brother for me," Jiang He replied.
Yang Xu looked at Jiang He, seeing his expression remain as calm as still water. He felt increasingly satisfied and said:
"Xiaolin also told me about something else you did at Peking Union."
"A VIP patient with pancreatic head cancer was about to undergo a major Whipple procedure, but you stopped them outside the operating room. It turned out to be autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP). Something even the Directors of Peking Union Medical College Hospital missed, and you overturned it just by glancing at the CT scans?"
Chen Hao: "?"
’What does he mean, "overturned the conclusions of the Directors of Peking Union"? What’s that supposed to mean?’
But Jiang He simply answered truthfully, "Radiologically, there was a pseudocapsule sign but no double duct sign. Such subtle features are easily masked by abnormally high CA 19-9 levels. The directors have a huge workload and can easily fall into fixed patterns of thinking. I was just offering another possibility from an outsider’s perspective."
"Stop giving me that official spiel." Yang Xu chuckled and shook his head. "A mistake is a mistake. When a surgeon misjudges, it can cost a life. The fact that you dared to speak up during a consultation at Peking Union not only saved that patient but also, in a way, helped out their general surgery department. I know Xu Wenpei; he’s a pure clinician. You’ve made him owe you a massive favor this time."
At this point, Yang Xu picked up the tea mug on his desk and wet his throat.
"One last thing." He put down the mug. "Xiaolin said the patient’s family member is a coal boss from Jin City. To thank you, she plans to invest two million to build an independent medical laboratory for you?"
Chen Hao: "???"
’Two million?! To build a lab?!’
Okay, now he knew where the money for the computer came from. Chen Hao had a sudden epiphany.
Old Jiang didn’t go to the Capital City to meet up with someone; he went there to make a haul!
Not only did he get data from Peking Union, but he also managed to snag such a huge hidden asset on the side. All he could say was, damn.
Jiang He’s tone remained even. "It’s just a verbal offer. Boss Wang is a businesswoman. Her condition is that I must first produce tangible initial results to prove my research direction has commercial value. Only then will the two million for imported equipment materialize. So, it’s barely the first step."
After hearing this, Yang Xu was silent for a long time.
He leaned back in his chair, studying the young man before him intently.
Twenty-one years old, a third-year undergraduate, no prominent family background.
And yet, this was the person who, on a single trip to the Capital City, helped Lu Xiaolin break through a research impasse, corrected a major misdiagnosis among a group of experts from Peking Union, and even secured a two-million-dollar venture capital proposal.
Most importantly, in the face of accomplishments that would make any other medical student’s ego swell to the heavens, Jiang He’s demeanor remained completely placid from start to finish.
He didn’t take credit, didn’t show off, and was even soberly aware of the price behind a capitalist’s promise.
He was so composed, it was almost unnerving.
’The air of a master.’
"Alright, that’s enough about the Capital City." Yang Xu retracted his scrutinizing gaze, but the admiration in his eyes was practically overflowing.
He reached out and took the manila envelope from the desk.
"Is this the fruit of your late nights?"
"Yes. I just finalized the draft last night," Jiang He nodded.
Yang Xu unwound the string closure on the envelope and pulled out the neatly bound A4 papers inside.
"Prognostic Analysis of Lymph Node Ratio (LNR) After Pancreaticoduodenectomy Based on a Large, Multi-Center Sample"
Yang Xu turned to the first page, and the office fell silent.
Chen Hao, sitting nearby, didn’t dare to breathe too loudly, his hands unconsciously gripping the fabric of his pants at his knees.
After about ten minutes, Yang Xu flipped to the last page, to the Cox regression parameter estimate table and the Kaplan-Meier survival curve.
He didn’t speak right away. Instead, he turned back to the beginning and double-checked the core statistical indicators.
The paper wasn’t complex.
It was purely a statistical analysis based on clinical case data.
But it was precisely its simplicity that made the paper’s premise so ingenious.
"The idea is excellent, and the formatting is standard," Yang Xu said, placing the paper back on the desk. "I only have one question. Can you guarantee the authenticity of this data?"
Jiang He nodded. "The data from Affiliated Hospital No. 1 was manually retrieved and entered by my roommate from physical case files in the basement archives during the National Day holiday. Every single record can be traced back to its original case number."
"As for the other long-term follow-up data... Xu Wenpei, the Director of General Surgery at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, personally copied it for me from their internal clinical tracking database."
Yang Xu understood instantly.
This was the cashing in of that massive favor Xu Wenpei owed Jiang He from the misdiagnosis case in the Capital City.
It was perfectly logical, and the data source was absolutely authoritative and clean.
"Good. Very good."
Yang Xu nodded slowly, repeating his praise.
Leaning back in his chair, the weariness on his face seemed to vanish in that instant.
As Jiang He’s mentor, he now felt like he had truly hit the jackpot.
Yang Xu gave his final evaluation.
"This paper is absolutely good enough for a top journal, and it really could rewrite the current prognostic analysis indicators."
"I can be your corresponding author. With the co-sponsorship of Affiliated Hospital No. 1, we won’t even need to go through the initial review for the Chinese Journal of Surgery. I’ll call the editor-in-chief directly and get it on the fast track for blind review."
"Thank you, Professor," Jiang He said politely.
"For now, go back and prepare well for the semifinals." Yang Xu put the manuscript in his drawer. "I’ll help you polish the layout and wording."
If it had been anyone else, Jiang He would not have felt at ease simply handing over the paper.
But this was Yang Xu, an undeniably good person and a good mentor. Entrusting it to him, Jiang He was a million percent confident.
As they left the professor’s office,
Chen Hao followed beside Jiang He, his head still in the clouds, feeling as if he were in a surreal dream.
"Old Jiang... what kind of monster are you...?"
Jiang He said calmly, "Let’s go. Back to the university. Time to prepare for the semifinals."
Chen Hao: "..."
He was silent because he couldn’t comprehend Jiang He’s mindset—achieving something so huge, yet instead of celebrating, he was immediately moving on to the next project without pause.
But he was completely won over.
He had truly underestimated his roommate. He never expected him to be so formidable.
This formidability wasn’t just in his academic skill, but also his mindset, his ideas—every aspect of him.
Chen Hao also wanted to become a good surgeon.
It wouldn’t be easy; the road was long and arduous.
He knew that he still had much to learn from Jiang He...
