Chapter 233 - 155: Onboarding
A celebration party.
It was at the same old place, the barbecue joint downstairs from the internet cafe.
For a bunch of students, this was already a high-class affair. Insisting on a seafood restaurant would have just made everyone feel awkward and constrained.
Besides, this place was lively enough.
Next door was Night Owl Fried Rice, a shared memory for countless generations of Southern Medical University students.
Years after graduation, Jiang He would still occasionally come over and order a bowl of fried rice, just to taste it again.
There were quite a few people tonight, and the topics of conversation were all over the place.
From the new *World of Warcraft* expansion pack all the way to which subject's exam was the easiest to fail...
When Jiang He pushed aside the plastic curtain and entered, it was as if Master Lu had arrived—everyone stood up!
"River God!"
"What? We should be calling him Professor Jiang now!"
"I'm sticking with Dr. Jiang. Hello, Dr. Jiang!"
Clearly, everyone had already had a round of drinks before he arrived.
Chen Hao yelled, "Old Jiang, you're so late! You have to drink a penalty shot!"
Jiang He just smiled and didn't refuse.
At the other end of the table, the class president, Zhou Yang, was already hammered. He mumbled, "Chen Hao, don't just stir things up. Jiang He is a doctor now, so he should drink less. But then again, on a day like today, it's not right not to drink. Alcohol is a carcinogen, sure, but having a little now and then isn't a big deal... No, wait, even a single drop is harmful. But I already led the charge earlier, so saying this now feels a bit hypocritical..."
Sitting beside him, Lin Yue patted his hand and said, "That's true."
Zhou Yang continued, "Our class definitely benefited from Jiang He graduating early, but it's also kind of demoralizing. We were all taught by the same teachers, so how come he gets to graduate early? Of course, this is the result of Jiang He's own hard work. We can't just see his talent; we also have to see his diligence. Although, diligence might be worthless in the face of absolute talent... but my original point was still meant to motivate everyone..."
Lin Yue: "That's true."
Zhou Yang, getting dizzy from his own rambling, waved his hand. "Forget it, let's not talk about this. Anyway, everyone eat your fill today! The hygiene here might be so-so, but places like this have the most authentic flavor. The risk is still there, of course, but since we're already sitting here, there's no point in fussing over it. Right, Lin Yue?"
Lin Yue nodded. "That's true."
After speaking, Lin Yue smoothly pulled Zhou Yang into her arms.
Zhou Yang struggled symbolically a couple of times before closing his eyes and falling asleep in her embrace.
'Such a PDA.'
The single folks couldn't take it, and a chorus of boos erupted.
"He's out already? The class president can't hold his liquor."
"Lin Yue, you just keep spoiling him."
"I can't stand it. Someone come have a drink with me to recover. That was way too sappy."
Chen Hao was, of course, incredibly envious.
He turned to Jiang He. "Old Jiang, when do you think I'll finally get to meet Juanzi?"
Jiang He remembered his trip at the end of the month and mentioned it casually, "I'm going to the Capital City at the end of the month. If you really want to see Xu Juan, you might as well just come with me."
"Holy shit!" Chen Hao was instantly thrilled. "For real? You'll take me? Old Jiang, you're my real brother!"
Then, he started to get anxious. "In that case, it'd be great if we could finish our project before we go to the Capital City. Imagine me showing up to meet Juanzi with a framework for a top-tier journal article. How impressive would that be?"
Jiang He asked, "Which project are you talking about?"
"The miRNA early screening one."
Chen Hao explained, "When I chat with Juanzi now, she usually doesn't pay much attention to what I say. It's only when I show off about something related to our major that she replies seriously."
Jiang He said, "Badass."
'Trying to finish the miRNA early screening project just to show off to a girl... Not bad. Could it be you're reborn, too?'
'Well, I guess it's not a bad motivator...'
Li Zijian toasted Jiang He. "I still remember the four of us shooting the shit in our dorm, saying whoever became a department director in the future would buy the rest of us a good computer. Looking at things now, it seems you won't be able to escape buying those computers."
"I'm not there yet."
"You're not far off."
Wang Bo, who was sitting nearby, chimed in.
The guy had been getting flamed for his web novel recently. He looked a bit dejected and seemed to be already preparing a new book.
He raised his glass and clinked it with Jiang He's. "Old Jiang, I'm planning to base my new book's protagonist on you—a doctor. I'm gonna write you a few wives. Leave it to me."
Jiang He broke into a sweat. "No, thanks. I'm good."
After a few more rounds of drinks, the atmosphere grew even more lively.
However, the topic of conversation gradually shifted without anyone noticing.
"Did you guys hear? That upperclassman we all know, the one doing his internship this year? His family pulled some strings to get him into the Provincial People's Hospital. They even negotiated his settling-in allowance."
"It's really hard to get by in clinical medicine without connections. My dad called me a couple of days ago, telling me to go back to our hometown's county hospital. He said he could arrange a permanent position for me."
"I'm not going back. I plan to take the entrance exams for a master's and then a Ph.D."
"Right, right, me too."
"I'm gonna follow River God's example! I'm also going to do research, write papers, practice clinical medicine, and rewrite the guidelines!"
"Whoa, you're getting all fired up, bro! Come on, let's have a drink!"
"Let's meet at the top!"
"To the top!"
Listening to all this discussion, Jiang He felt a wave of emotion.
'Many of these friends before him would have their rough edges worn down over the next few years by papers, promotions, and mortgages, eventually giving up on the path of a doctor.'
'The year 2008 was a watershed moment.'
'After this year, housing prices would start to skyrocket, doctor-patient relationships would become even more complicated, and medical reforms would proceed with drastic measures.'
'There's not much I can do to help them.'
'At most... I can see if any of these classmates develop a serious illness in the future?'
'Thinking about it, it seems none of them did.'
'The only one worth noting was Zijian, but he's not going out to party anymore. He's working out every day, saying he wants to pursue Liu Xiaotian. He should be fine.'
He finished the drink in his cup.
With Chen Hao organizing, everyone gathered together for a photo.
Someone joked, "Old Jiang, the next time we see you in a classroom, you won't be our teacher, will you?"
At these words, everyone burst out laughing.
"Old Jiang, if that day ever comes, you have to go easy on us. Make the final exam questions a little easier!"
"Yeah, Old Jiang! My regular coursework grades are terrible; I'm counting on you."
Everyone was laughing, but Jiang He couldn't bring himself to.
'Because... there's a good chance that might actually happen.'
'My current goal is to keep increasing my prestige, so performing surgeries, conducting research, and even giving public lectures are all possibilities...'
CLICK. A flash of white light.
The group photo for the Class of '06, Clinical Medicine, Division 2, was taken.
...
Another CLICK.
Jiang He had his staff ID photo taken.
Affiliated Hospital No. 1, Administration Building, third floor, Human Resources Department.
"Next."
Jiang He stood up from the round stool.
"The photo will be printed out in a moment. Go to that table over there to fill out the form, grab a file folder, then go to the Medical Affairs Office to get it stamped, and finally, go to Logistics to pick up your white coat."
The clerk deftly pulled out the memory card and inserted it into the computer next to him.
Jiang He nodded and walked over to a long, solid wood table.
He pulled out a form, clicked his ballpoint pen, and began filling in his basic information.
Just as Jiang He finished writing his name and ID number, someone next to him spoke:
"Hey, buddy, this pen's not writing well. Can I borrow yours?"
The speaker was a young man who looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six.
He was wearing a slightly ill-fitting dark suit with a crooked tie, and a few beads of sweat clung to his forehead.
Jiang He handed over his pen. "Go ahead, I'm done."
"Thanks." The young man quickly wrote his name on his own form: Meng Shiyu.
After writing, he turned to glance at Jiang He, his eyes lingering for two seconds on Jiang He's almost ridiculously young face. He struck up a conversation familiarly, "You new here today, too? Looking at your age, did you just graduate?"
In 2008, there were only a few paths for medical students.
To get into Affiliated Hospital No. 1, you either had to be a Ph.D. graduate who got a permanent position directly, or a master's graduate on a contract. Undergraduates who wanted in could basically only be temporary contract workers without tenure.
"Something like that," Jiang He replied vaguely, not bothering to explain.
"I'm Meng Shiyu. I came over after finishing my master's at Xiangya. Today's my first day reporting to the Hepatobiliary Surgery Department."
Meng Shiyu introduced himself while filling out his form, a hint of pride in his voice.
A master's from Xiangya was indeed an impressive credential in the current medical recruitment market.
"I'm Jiang He. I'm also heading to Hepatobiliary Surgery." Jiang He gathered his completed forms.
"What a coincidence!" Meng Shiyu's eyes lit up, and he immediately put down his pen. "Then we'll be brothers in the same department from now on. Wait for me for two minutes. I'll finish this, and we can go through the procedures together."
Jiang He glanced at the time. There were still forty minutes until the department's morning handoff meeting, plenty of time. So he nodded. "Alright."
Ten minutes later.
The two of them walked side by side along the connecting corridor, holding their onboarding forms.
Meng Shiyu carried his white coat, clearly treating Jiang He as a wet-behind-the-ears junior.
"Jiang He, in clinical work, especially surgery, skill is one thing, but what's more important is being perceptive."
"I spent three years at Xiangya, and I've seen too many unwritten rules. Affiliated Hospital No. 1 is a deep pond. For newcomers like us, the first principle is: work more, talk less."
Jiang He: "Mm."
Seeing Jiang He's receptive attitude, Meng Shiyu became even more eager to lecture. "When we get to the department, you have to address every attending physician and associate director as 'Teacher.' It doesn't matter how old they are; 'Teacher' is never the wrong thing to call them. Also, during rounds, we newcomers always stand in the very back. The front row is for the director, the second for the team-leading professors and attendings, and the third for the residents. Our job is to be at the very end, pushing the cart, holding medical records, and holding up the films."
He paused, his tone growing serious. "Especially our Director of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Yang Xu. I did my homework before coming here. Director Yang is a national authority in the hepatobiliary field, and he's got a big temper. A department director of his level is basically the local emperor of the department. During the morning handoff later, if Director Yang is there, you absolutely must not interrupt. Got it? Whatever you do, do *not* make the director angry. And don't try to be clever and offer any opinions. For bottom-tier newbies like us, not making a mistake is the greatest contribution we can make."
"Director Yang's temper is actually not that bad," Jiang He stated a fact.
Meng Shiyu glanced at Jiang He and shook his head helplessly, thinking to himself, 'This undergrad is a real case of a newborn calf not fearing the tiger. He has no idea how treacherous the real world is.'
"Fine, you'll see for yourself in a bit. Just stick with me and do as I do."
Meng Shiyu clapped Jiang He on the shoulder, looking every bit the big brother taking care of his little bro.