Chapter 54: The Last Disciple

Chapter 54: Chapter 54: The Last Disciple

Qi Yue’s words might not have been a grand pronouncement, but for Yu Zhiming, they were a sharp wake-up call.

First came the prestigious talent recruitment offer from Huashan Hospital, then Gu Qingran’s desperate eagerness to hire him, not to mention the endless praise from everyone back home. Yu Zhiming had indeed gotten a bit full of himself, losing his sense of perspective.

Jolted by this wake-up call, Yu Zhiming realized a crucial fact.

His claims to fame—auscultation, percussion, and adjusting fetal positions—all stemmed from his so-called gift: his hypersensitive hearing.

But when it came to the true foundations of a doctor’s ability—medical knowledge, experience, and clinical judgment—Yu Zhiming was merely at the level of an attending physician from a county hospital.

At best, you could add the adjective "excellent" to that: the level of an excellent attending physician from a county hospital.

Compared to the young doctors at Huashan Hospital, even that was a considerable step down.

The thought made Yu Zhiming blush with shame.

’And here I was, fantasizing about coming to Huashan Hospital and taking the world by storm.’

’If I’d kept that up, the higher I flew, the harder I would have fallen.’

’Teacher Qi is right. The path to becoming a great physician is long and arduous. I need to focus on building a solid foundation first.’

After some self-reflection, Yu Zhiming adjusted his mindset and took the agreement out of his briefcase.

"Teacher, this is the part-time contract Vice Dean Gu from Ning’an Hospital gave me this morning. What do you think?"

Qi Yue took the contract and quickly skimmed through it.

"A fixed expert consultation fee of ten thousand a month, with additional remuneration for diagnoses, treatments, and other services to be calculated separately..."

Qi Yue smiled faintly. "This Gu Qingran... I rather admire him. He’s got some guts."

"He’s investing in your future. This won’t take up too much of your time or cause you any unnecessary trouble."

"Zhiming, you’re an attending physician, so you’re already qualified to practice independently. You can sign this agreement."

"Just think of it as earning a little extra spending money."

Having received permission, Yu Zhiming grinned and put the agreement back into his briefcase.

He felt a surge of delight.

’With this extra ten thousand in income, he could pretty much cover his sister’s expenses and his rent.’

’Fu Xiaoxue’s tuition was 160,000 a year. Add in room and board, books, uniforms for school and military training, and all the other miscellaneous fees, and it came to over 170,000 for the year.’

’Factoring in other costs and rounding up, the one-million-yuan windfall he’d received was basically all gone.’

’Money really is hard to earn and easy to spend...’

About twenty minutes later, Yu Zhiming and Zhou Mo followed Qi Yue into a magnificent restaurant called the Hundred Fresh Pavilion.

In private room number three, Yu Zhiming finally met the colleagues from the research center who were already waiting.

There was Han Shuo, the surgeon and Associate Chief Physician whom Fourth Sister had mentioned before, and another Associate Chief Physician, Xie Jianmin, who specialized in rheumatology and immunology...

There were also two young attending physicians, Wang Zhijin and Wang Zejia. With Qi Yue’s brief introductions, Yu Zhiming put a face to each name.

In the room was one more person Fourth Sister hadn’t mentioned: the medical center’s head nurse, Yan Wenjing.

She was a woman of about fifty, with a kind face and a slightly slender build.

She was especially warm toward Yu Zhiming, insisting that he call her Sister Yan.

From Yu Zhiming’s perspective, everyone there was warm toward him—in fact, a little too warm.

Fortunately, Yu Zhiming had just gone through some mental recalibration and had become more self-aware.

Otherwise, all this warmth and flattery from his colleagues would have surely sent his ego soaring even higher...

After the introductions and a brief exchange of pleasantries, everyone politely deferred to one another before taking their seats.

Yu Zhiming sat next to Qi Yue.

As instructed by Qi Yue, the waiter handed the thick menu to Yu Zhiming.

According to Qi Yue, their custom for these gatherings was for everyone to order one dish, and he would fill in any gaps at the end.

As the newcomer, Yu Zhiming was to order two dishes.

Yu Zhiming flipped through the luxurious, richly illustrated menu, but he found himself in a bit of a predicament.

Back in his hometown county, ordering food wasn’t a simple matter; there was a lot of etiquette involved.

In the past, although Yu Zhiming had been treated to his fair share of meals, he’d rarely had the chance to order for himself.

Besides, it wasn’t something he’d ever paid much attention to.

’Yu Zhiming seemed to recall that in a formal setting like this, the first person to order was supposed to set the standard for the entire meal, right?’

But as he quickly flipped through the menu, he saw that the prices for the dishes ranged from tens of yuan to hundreds, and even over a thousand.

’That’s a really wide price range.’

Yu Zhiming cast a pleading glance at Zhou Mo beside him.

Catching his eye, Zhou Mo smiled sweetly and said, "Dr. Yu, every time the Director treats us, it’s a happy occasion for us to have a feast."

"We order whatever we want. You don’t have to worry about saving the Director any money."

After a short pause, she added, "Dr. Yu, if you’re not familiar with Binhai cuisine, I suggest trying one of the restaurant’s signature dishes. They’re quite good."

Now with a better sense of things, Yu Zhiming shot Zhou Mo a grateful look. Then, following the waiter’s recommendation, he ordered two of the restaurant’s signature dishes.

Steamed Sea Bass and Lion’s Head Meatballs with Crab Roe.

Yu Zhiming passed the menu to Zhou Mo, who didn’t even glance at it. She simply ordered the Crystal Shrimp and casually passed the menu to the next person.

Suddenly, Yu Zhiming felt someone staring at him.

But when he turned his head, the gaze vanished instantly.

It almost made him think that what he’d sensed in his peripheral vision was just his imagination.

Yu Zhiming turned to Qi Yue and, trying to make small talk, asked, "Teacher, shouldn’t we have invited your wife and son to join us?"

What Yu Zhiming didn’t know was that his use of the word "Teacher" had caused quite a stir.

Ever since Qi Yue started working at Huashan Hospital, he had taken numerous young doctors under his wing to train them.

Outside the hospital, those young doctors all referred to themselves as his students, but Qi Yue had never personally acknowledged them as such.

Of course, he had never publicly denied it either.

However, Qi Yue never allowed them to call him "Teacher" to his face; he would correct them every single time.

When Yu Zhiming called him "Teacher," everyone in the room, except for Zhou Mo, subtly or overtly fixed their eyes on Qi Yue, waiting for his reaction.

Qi Yue seemed completely oblivious. He chuckled and waved his hand. "No need. She finds us boring and says we have nothing to talk about, so she rarely joins our dinners."

’He didn’t correct him!’

’He actually didn’t correct him!’

The two young attending physicians, Wang Zhijin and Wang Zejia, along with Xie Jianmin and a few others, exchanged glances.

The looks they shared were incredibly complex.

They couldn’t help but think of the rumor circulating around the hospital. Now, it seemed that even if it wasn’t spot on, it wasn’t far from the truth.

’The relationship between these two was far closer than they had anticipated...’

Just then, Han Shuo, who now had the menu, chuckled. "Director, to congratulate you on finally finding a disciple to your satisfaction, I’m going to have to order a truly special dish."

Qi Yue was in a good mood and laughed heartily. "You rascal, you’re always finding excuses. When have you ever held back when ordering?"

Han Shuo chuckled. "This time, it’s no excuse. This is a genuine congratulation to you, Director, and to Dr. Yu."

He then turned to Yu Zhiming and said with a smile, "Before you arrived, I went to the kitchen and spotted a live grouper. It’s a few pounds, and they say it’s wild-caught."

"Dr. Yu, how about we switch the Steamed Sea Bass for..."

Qi Yue cut him off cheerfully. "No need to switch. Just add the Steamed Grouper."

"I’ll say it again: order whatever you want tonight. Don’t hold back."

Wang Zejia seized the opportunity. "In that case, Director, I’m going to change my order to the Braised Crocodile Tail."

"I’ve never tried crocodile meat before."

Qi Yue nodded with a smile. "No problem. Anyone who’s already ordered can change their dish once."

After a two-second pause, he added in a joking tone, "You’re all eating on my dime, so in the future, when my final disciple here asks for guidance, you’d better not hold anything back."

"Of course, of course!"

"With you here, Director, it’s not our place to be giving him pointers..."

The welcome dinner for the Qi Yue Medical Research Center began, steeped in a happy and lively atmosphere.

...until Qi Yue took a bite of the Steamed Grouper that had just been served.

His expression darkened. He waved over the waiter serving their private room and demanded coldly,

"This dish... did your head chef make it personally?"