Visiting

When saying goodbye, Song Shuyi said with a grin, "See you soon."

Knowing it wouldn't be very soon, the two of them were forced to have a group photo taken, with Song Shuyi's arm around each of them.

Xu Zhenqing and Cen Zeng both had very good features. Song Shuyi looked at the final product and said, "Fuck, I probably shouldn't have taken a photo with you guys, huh?" It's a bit self-deprecating.

Despite saying that, he still posted the original, unedited photo to his Moments, writing, "It's a curtain call, a new chapter is about to begin."

On the bus to school for class, Cen Zeng opened his phone to check.

The midterm results were as expected, which should secure his scholarship application for the semester.

Without Song Shuyi, the laboratory became even more oppressive.

Zhang Yuhao was a living example of "lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own foot." Without his senior, when Li Aimin looked at his work, he would naturally only scold him.

Nothing new happened. Xu Zhenqing's attitude was calm and composed; she didn't give Zhang Yuhao any special treatment, but she didn't ostracize him either.

In Senior Sister's words, he wasn't worthy.

Whether he was worthy or not, Cen Zeng didn't know, but it couldn't be that only Li Aimin was worthy. But Cen Zeng couldn't think any more about it.

It was all meaningless.

But the internship rotation began as scheduled.

When he left in the morning, Cheng Shuo was still fast asleep.

He thought for a moment and tried to fry the egg into the shape of a heart. After a long effort, it looked more like a peach.

It didn't really matter. He casually tore a page from a notebook and deliberately wrote: "Really out of eggs, remember to buy some when you have time."

Discovering that it was exactly ten characters long felt particularly absurd, so he forced himself to add another line, "Buy the 15-pack, no need to buy the so-called free-range eggs."

During the internship rotation, putting on the white coat, he didn't really feel alive. But since he was in a relationship now, he had to at least pretend to be alive.

He was assigned to the Department of Neurology, under the guidance of supervising teacher Liang Fei, a man in his forties with an associate chief physician title, who was also the type of clinical instructor most willing to teach students.

He didn't listen to gossip, but Wu Yin was always keen to provide it to him. So he came to understand that this was an idealistic doctor with few research achievements, purely because he preferred seeing patients on the clinical front lines.

The air in the ward was thin. The ward rounds were like a strange mass, dragging along third-year students who couldn't understand Latin at all, imparting some meaningless knowledge.

He felt a little sleepy, then remembered he hadn't had a good night's sleep in days. Then he remembered Senior Sister's face, strong, tenacious, and calm.

Xu Zhenqing hadn't given up yet, so he had no reason to surrender either.

It was time for a case: an 85-year-old male, left-sided hemiplegia after cerebral infarction, accompanied by speech dysfunction, on his 4th day of hospitalization, under observation during the recovery period.

Liang Fei stopped, glanced at the patient's condition, and turned to ask, "Who among you can talk about this patient's clinical course and possible complications?"

No one answered.

Cen Zeng stood in the back row, not originally planning to speak.

But Liang Fei scanned the group, keenly aware of where this batch of students' gazes fell, and his eyes landed on him: "What's your name?"

"Cen Zeng." He was forced to answer.

"Alright, you give it a try."

He paused, his voice was not loud, but it was steady: "The patient has a major artery cerebral infarction, with an acute onset and large affected area. The neurological deficit is currently quite significant. Possible complications during the recovery period include aspiration pneumonia, deep vein thrombosis, cognitive impairment, etc. Attention should be paid to positioning, swallowing function screening, and rehabilitation assessment."

The associate chief physician looked at him, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

"Well said." He nodded, then continued to press, "So what areas do you think we can optimize in our current management?"

Cen Zeng felt as if he had switched to a different channel.

He was forced to subconsciously and rapidly search his memory for the standard answer: "Although the swallowing function screening has been done, there is currently no record of a rehabilitation plan being initiated. Additionally, the patient's speech is slurred, which doesn't rule out damage to Broca's Area, so a further speech rehabilitation assessment is also recommended."

He spoke calmly, not wanting to see anyone's gaze fall on him.

Liang Fei let out a laugh, his tone carrying a hint of appreciation: "Not bad, kid. Your head's on straight. You didn't even panic when I called on you, that's pretty impressive."

At this very moment, Wu Yin was still dutifully playing his role as the hype man. He said, "He's first in our department."

Of course, the person before him didn't have to make a choice yet, which was why he seemed so kind.

"Very good. Are you considering graduate or doctoral studies in the future? Our research group is short on people." Doctor Liang was easy to talk to, and his eyes at this moment still held a rare look of admiration and gentleness.

Several of the graduate students around them immediately looked up at Cen Zeng.

Cen Zeng didn't answer. He just nodded politely, said thank you, and then lowered his head to write some notes in the small notebook in his hand, hiding the cold sweat that had begun to form in his palm.

He wasn't used to this. No matter how many times, he never got used to it.

However, at the end of the internship rotation, Doctor Liang asked him to stay.

His expression was peaceful, yet it held a glimmer that he didn't want to see.

"You stay for a moment."

Before leaving, Wu Yin said to him, "You can do it."

He still hadn't fully processed Cheng Shuo's "disgusting Wu Yin." And now, here came an offer he didn't know how to refuse.

"Interested in graduate school?" The teacher in front of him smiled at him. "Cen Zeng, right? You're not bad."

"I..." He was silent, almost wishing he hadn't worked so hard before. "I..."

Doctor Liang looked at his face and, surprisingly, didn't seem disappointed: "Has someone else beaten me to it?"

"I..." Cen Zeng heard himself say, "I'm sorry. My eight-year program has already been approved, under Li Aimin."

He learned from Song Shuyi, speaking his supervisor's full name without any reverence.

The person opposite him said with a smile, "What's there to be sorry about? There's nothing to be done about that. You're very impressive. But, if you ever have cases you don't quite understand, and they're related to neurology, you can come find me."

Cen Zeng was silent for a long time, and in the end, found he had almost nothing to say.

In the end, all he could say was, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me." The person opposite him smiled. "Just think of it as a bowl of chicken soup for the soul. You'll become a very good doctor."

Cen Zeng didn't know how he should reply.

"I..." He found he could only utter this word.

The person opposite him just sighed and said, "It's okay."

Is it okay?

He just felt like he wanted to jump.

Liang Fei seemed much more open-minded than he had expected, just saying, "You're pretty good, we can chat when you have time."

They inexplicably added each other on WeChat.

Doctor Liang was too gentle, Cen Zeng didn't know what he should do.

But someone else's WeChat message arrived first.

Cheng Shuo asked, "I bought the eggs, what are we eating today?"

So, he replied without a conscience, "I don't know. I want dessert."

Is this okay?

He didn't know.

But Cheng Shuo replied calmly, "Then, I'll come pick you up."

[Author's Note]

The author is a little unsure of what to say... so I can only say thank you to everyone.