Lu Cheng still has a car, but the house his family bought is less than five hundred meters from Long County People's Hospital, so a little electric scooter suffices for everything.
Driving to the hospital might not even guarantee a parking spot, so Lu Cheng often uses his scooter for commuting.
Everyone ordered a cup of coffee. After Han Jingyi sat down, they chatted a while longer, and then Lu Cheng went back to fetch the car to pick up and drop off people...
"Let me take you to a slightly off-the-beaten-path but very authentic teppanyaki place. The delicious teppanyaki in the county is no longer on Chaoyang Road, it's over by Tucheng Dam..." After Lu Cheng dropped Han Jingyi back at Feng County, he opened the navigation.
Mu Nanshu gently responded with an "Mm," appearing quite 'aloof.'
Feng County is really close to Long County. It took Lu Cheng only thirty minutes to drive from Feng County, through the county town of Feng County and Long County, to the "suburb" of Long County.
Once they parked and sat down, Lu Cheng said, "This place was newly built around 2020, meant as a security housing area and public rental housing. Originally, it was going to be turned into a market, you know, the market over by the second school is too small and chaotic."
"But later on, for some reason, it stopped, leaving only this shell. I've ordered beef, string beans, egg with chives, and crispy bones. Check if you want to add anything..."
"Add some pork tripe and squid; that should be enough, we won't finish it all." Maybe the food stimulation made Mu Nanshu, a gourmand, 'come alive' a lot.
"Is Uncle Mu currently in Ji City or Long County? Where are you staying later?" Lu Cheng asked.
Mu Nanshu replied, "Staying at Integrity Plaza, we have a house there too. Can you drop me over..."
Integrity Plaza is a riverside district between Long County and Feng County, with a nice environment: "Integrity Plaza is good, a riverside view apartment."
"How's work going now? Should be pretty okay, right?" Mu Nanshu asked with a smile.
Lu Cheng rolled his eyes: "It's no good, and the interpersonal relationships in this small county can give you a big headache. If I tell you, up until now, I haven't operated a proper secondary surgery, would you believe it?"
Mu Nanshu, being a medical student, didn't require an explanation of what a secondary surgery was: "Let's not talk about these things when we're out for a meal... You haven't come to the prefecture-level city and county, don't mind these in the future..."
"In the future, what you'll be competing over isn't interpersonal relationships, but absolute hard skills."
"I heard in Union you almost have no requirements on new PhDs? But you get automatically terminated if you don't secure a project within five years?"
It's more difficult to mingle in teaching hospitals than in county levels, as many top teaching hospitals practice the policy of 'up or out'!
The so-called surface refers to the national natural science foundation surface projects, a very difficult type of project to obtain, and if you can't get it, you'll be terminated, it's purely survival based on merit, this is the brutal reality.
"There are indeed such contracts. If I can't mix well in the future, maybe I'll come to the county hospital." Mu Nanshu laughed.
"No way, with your academic background, not going for a ministry-appointed position and casually landing in a provincial-level hospital, you're more than capable of that, and I believe even in a very competitive environment, you can do very well..."
"In the future, I can brag and say Mu Nanshu from Huazhong Union Hospital is my old classmate and still my good friend!"
"Would others usually have such prestige to talk about?" Lu Cheng boisterously raised his thumb, the jubilation was naturally infectious.
Lu Cheng was genuinely happy for Mu Nanshu's current job opportunity.
Suddenly Mu Nanshu said, "Lu Cheng, do you know, in every top hospital, there's a unique 'Cyan Cloud Ladder' of their own? Both in research and clinical fields."
"If you can cross that, you can bypass all academic restrictions..."
Lu Cheng interrupted with a smile: "Little sister!"
"Those top hospitals' 'Cyan Cloud Ladder,' are meant for the elite professors, just pie in the sky drawn for ordinary folks, motivating everyone to work tirelessly like beasts of burden."
"If I had that ability, I would've been soaring through normal channels already."
"The most important thing is having self-awareness. Take a look at me, the best example of lacking self-awareness."
"If I'd enrolled in Zhongnan Hospital's master's program, who would have given me a hard time?" Lu Cheng boasted, maintaining the mood, preventing a slip into melancholy.
Mu Nanshu explained somewhat guiltily: "I didn't expect Huashan Hospital's master's in orthopedics to be so competitive back then, besides requiring self-contributed papers."
The matter of Lu Cheng pursuing Huashan Hospital's master's was something decided privately between the two, and Lu Cheng's performance wasn't from aiming too high, just not adhering to the 'common rules.'"
Mu Nanshu's family had some money, but put that money in Shanghai, it's not even considered a bubble, how much could Mu Nanshu understand about the operation rules at the lowest level?
Back then, Mu Nanshu was also a young person, how much more insight could she have than Lu Cheng?
Lu Cheng laughed and said: "Greatly appreciate a friend's loyalty, who said not to study for Huashan Hospital's master's, and angrily went abroad at his own expense."
"Coming and going, it cost me an amount I can't earn my whole life..." Lu Cheng clicked his tongue.
Lu Cheng knew even before he began earning that money wasn't easy to make, but given Lu Cheng's current salary level, he really might never earn enough in a lifetime for Mu Nanshu's seven-year overseas study expenses.
Fudan University's masters and PhDs are also easy to find jobs, and well sought-after in China. With Mu Nanshu hardly mixing irregularly, it's not particularly difficult to fight for funded abroad opportunities, fulfilling the 'foreign experience' requirement to recruit top teaching hospitals.
"Next time I visit Han City, can I look for you, old classmate? I might even act as your guide."
"After work, there isn't much time for playing around." Lu Cheng asked in an attempt to find words, his gaze turning somewhat complex.
After Mu Nanshu's parents' business took off, Lu Cheng didn't feel any "class difference" with them, but now, even with a 'panel' in place, Lu Cheng didn't dare to "expect" or "promise" anything anymore.
In the end, Lu Cheng knew himself well, no longer some young lad with plenty of future to 'borrow' against!
"Sure." Mu Nanshu generously agreed.
...
After eating, Lu Cheng drove Mu Nanshu back to Integrity Square District, the underground garage.
Mu Nanshu even invited Lu Cheng up for a visit, until four thirty in the afternoon, when Mu Nanshu's parents were nearly back in Long County from Ji City, Lu Cheng finally drove back.
However, just as Lu Cheng got into the car, his phone vibrated—it was a message from Mu Nanshu, who hadn't contacted him in a long time.
A file, titled 'Huazhong Union Hospital Special Talent Introduction...'
Lu Cheng didn't open it immediately, knowing without looking that the requirements inside would be impossibly high.
Just in terms of clinical practice alone, it might require surgeries that Union Hospital professors couldn't even perform.
Right now, Lu Cheng is just a small doctor in a county hospital, even with tendon injury cases, there's competition...
"In the end, the age of riding dreams as horses has passed..." Lu Cheng hung up the phone, muttering to himself.