System Came When the Doctor was Thirty

As he turned away from the Emergency Department, Xiang Kun’s previously calm face had become cold and angry. He saw Dong Chang still trying to speak: ”Stop talking, haven’t we embarrassed ourselves enough?”

”Why did you go to his girlfriend’s place?” Xiang Kun rubbed his forehead.

Privately seeking out Lu Cheng was normal for Dong Chang, just colleagues chatting; privately having a meal with Lu Cheng was fine too, normal colleague interaction. Even visiting Lu Cheng’s home was okay, considered a friendly gesture.

But going straight to his girlfriend’s place, and not even managing to seal the deal?

This move completely wrecked the game.

”Uncle, this Lu Cheng, he’s impossible to deal with! Stubborn as a mule! Feels like an immature child.”

”Arrogant because of his talent!” Dong Chang kept cursing, but his tone was tighter.

”I really don’t get it. Is Lu Cheng’s damn project even of any use?”

Xiang Kun replied, ”Right, so you’re the only smart one and everyone else is an idiot?”

”Can’t you see it? What you think is useless, others find valuable.”

”We’ve underestimated the impact of Lu Cheng’s current project.”

”Regular research projects are naturally nothing special!”

”What if it’s more advanced?”

Xiang Kun’s knowledge was somewhat broader than Dong Chang’s. ”If you had told me earlier that you privately approached Lu Cheng, even went to his girlfriend’s place, today’s situation wouldn’t have needed arranging.”

”In the end, it’s because you couldn’t handle it.”

Dong Chang felt disgruntled: ”Uncle, isn’t it like this for everyone? Isn’t everyone doing the same?”

”Can Tian Zhiliang handle it? Xiao Zhaoxi?”

Xiang Kun pulled Dong Chang to stop him from talking further.

Once they both got in the car, Xiang Kun squinted his eyes: ”Dong Chang doesn’t need it, while Tian Zhiliang has already taken the advantage in the Emergency Department.”

”Lu Cheng just came to our hospital from County People’s Hospital through the exam selection. In such a short time, he gained the approval of Tian Zhiliang and Yao Xin from the Emergency Department, clearly there’s reasoning behind it.”

Dong Chang was clueless: ”Uncle, if Lu Cheng’s projects are truly that strong, what was he doing in the past years?”

”Why did he go to the County Hospital? And now, why come to the State People’s Hospital?”

”Why not just be a genius?”

Dong Chang gripped his hands tightly, his breathing a bit chaotic.

Then, Dong Chang took a deep breath: ”How can there be so many geniuses in the world? Ninety-five percent of geniuses are just fulfilling situational needs.”

”If my talent were good enough, I’d have left long ago.”

”I returned to Xiangzhou, how come I still meet these damn people?”

Dong Chang’s family background was decent, with parents working within the county system. If he had the talent for studies, it wouldn’t be difficult for his parents to send him abroad.

But Dong Chang couldn’t follow such a high-end route. Still, he worked hard, relying on studies and family connections to sail smoothly in the State People’s Hospital.

Until he reached the associate senior level, then he was stuck, unable to progress further.

Xiang Kun scolded, ”Who are you calling damn people?”

”Your mindset is too skewed. Are you incapable of seeing others do well?”

Dong Chang shook his head, his tone calming: ”Uncle, that’s not it. I’m just perplexed why I encounter such people here.”

”Uncle, look at our department. Director Yang is just fifty years old, head of General Surgery, and director of the Surgery Research Office!”

”Li Yukun, Xiangya Hospital Master’s graduate, department deputy director, young expert in Xiangzhou.”

”Tang Pengfei, Xiangya Hospital Master’s graduate,”

”Zhang Zhong, Master’s, thesis supervisor;”

”Peng Wei, Master’s, undergraduate and postgraduate from a top university…”

”Uncle, if someone truly has talent, who would willingly delve into trivial scheming? Isn’t it because the atmosphere is like that, a circle with an average level, you do it, I do it, they do it too, that’s why there are so many personal dealings?”

”Who would want to rely on flattery when they could succeed on talent?”

Xiang Kun crossed his arms, side-eyed him, squeezing pity from his helpless gaze: ”That’s how it is... that’s fate. The State People’s Hospital today is not what it used to be…”

Those people Dong Chang talked about, Xiang Kun was very familiar with, and he didn’t have much affection for them either. These people added a lot of pressure on his nephew.

As for how others accumulated to this point, how much suffering they endured, what does that have to do with Xiang Kun?

The whole family, Xiang family and Dong family, just one direct relative entered the State People’s Hospital with him.

”Meeting Lu Cheng is your destiny.”

”Because thinking about it now, besides him, no one else dares to take on the responsibility of restarting the Trauma Center. You know you can’t do it, Tian Zhiliang knows he can’t do it either.”

”Lu Cheng is willing to step up, and he has his own backing, so he can take the lead.”

”Nothing can be done about it.”

”Small matters can be handled through relationships, but big and important matters are unmanageable.”

...

Dong Chang drove and first sent his uncle Xiang Kun back, but he didn’t go directly home to see his wife nor did he visit his daughter. Instead, he returned to the hospital and dove into it at the first opportunity.

Several hours later, Dong Chang slipped into the emergency operating room, donning scrub coat and pants, hiding himself.

The emergency operating room is access-controlled, meaning when you enter, they verify your identity, but when you leave, whenever you leave, no one questions it.

If you’ve entered the operating room, it’s because you’ve assigned yourself an identity; otherwise, you are just an idler wandering around…

In the blink of an eye, another day passed.

Dong Chang stood at the door of a certain emergency operating room, watching through the lead door’s glass as Lu Cheng joked with Qu Daowen and Dong Liumeng inside.