Having skipped lunch, Yan Feifan left the Emergency Department, carrying a small box of sandwich cookies from a kind nurse.
By the time he finished the cookies, he had arrived back at the Comprehensive Diagnostics Building.
Yan Feifan walked into the office on the sixth floor and was surprised to find Qin Ying, as well as Mr. Qi's daughter, Qee Xiaolu, were also there.
He hadn't seen her in nearly a week, and Yan Feifan noticed that Mr. Qin, who was sitting in his seat, looked much healthier.
Her face had a healthy flush, and her eyes, in particular, had become much brighter and full of life.
Yan Feifan took two steps forward and greeted them, "Mr. Qin, Miss. Lulu, hello!"
"Are you here to see me?"
Qee Xiaolu smiled. "Mr. Yan, my cousin said she wanted to have a casual chat with you."
"I'm going to hang out in my dad's office for a bit, so I won't disturb your chat."
After Qee Xiaolu left, Qin Ying said to Yan Feifan, who stood respectfully before her, "Grab a chair and sit down."
Yan Feifan pulled over We Xin's nearby swivel chair and sat down about three feet from Mr. Qin.
Qin Ying sized up the still rather slender Yan Feifan and said slowly, "Only after hearing about what you went through did I realize we once operated in the same room back in Chuanzhong."
Yan Feifan hummed in acknowledgment and added softly, "At the time, Mr. Qin, your entire focus was on the patient on the operating table. It's perfectly normal that you didn't notice me."
A nostalgic expression crossed Qin Ying's face. She sighed softly. "I'm only now realizing that even back then, you were already exceptional."
She continued, "That was my first time on an earthquake relief mission, so the memory is naturally very vivid."
"I remember it clearly. I went through five different first assistants during that surgery."
"I have fairly clear memories of the other four, but my memory of you is a blur."
Qin Ying said admiringly, "As a surgical assistant, you enabled me, the lead surgeon, to complete the operation so smoothly and comfortably that I barely noticed you were there. That, in itself, is proof of your excellence."
Yan Feifan gave a modest smile.
"Over the last few days, I've learned a bit more about your situation..."
Qin Ying continued slowly, "For your rotational training in every department, all your supervising physicians gave you outstanding evaluations."
"My uncle is also full of praise for you. He says you not only have a photographic memory but are also incredibly knowledgeable and quick-witted. He called you the most brilliant young talent he's seen in all his years as a doctor."
"He even threatened that if I don't accept you as my student, he'll take you as his own Closed-door Disciple..."
Yan Feifan said quietly, "I'd prefer to be a surgeon!"
Qin Ying nodded.
Suddenly, her tone became serious. "Yan Feifan, choosing to be my student means you're choosing the path of a trauma surgeon."
"Someone as talented as you has many other options. Neurosurgery? Cardiothoracic surgery? ENT?"
"So why did you choose to be my student?"
Yan Feifan was about to explain, but Qin Ying held up a hand to stop him.
"Yan Feifan, you've seen for yourself."
Qin Ying forced a smile. "My mental state is much better now. I even had two counseling sessions this week."
"I can promise you that no matter what your answer is, I won't have those dark thoughts again."
"Trying to take your own life is a foolish thing to do. Once is more than enough."
Qin Ying remarked with a sigh, then looked Yan Feifan in the eye and said with great seriousness, "Yan Feifan, I want to hear the answer that follows your heart."
She continued, "You are brilliant, but the path of medicine is tedious and long."
"If you aren't following your heart—if you're doing this out of sympathy, pity, pressure from others, or for any other reason..."
"...and you choose a medical path you don't truly love, then you will never reach the heights you're capable of."
Yan Feifan started to speak, but Qin Ying stopped him again.
"You don't need to explain. And you don't have to give me your answer right now."
"Go home tonight and think about it. Think long and hard about what you truly want."
Qin Ying stood up. "I've already arranged it with the others," she said. "Tomorrow at ten, in Mr. Liu's office, I will hear the decisions from both you and that young lady from the Yu Family."
"I'll be there at nine-thirty."
"Yan Feifan, if your decision hasn't changed, come to the office to see me before nine-fifty."
"If you arrive after that, I'll know what you've decided."
"In that case, I will be the first to speak, and I will tell Mr. Liu and my uncle that you don't meet my criteria."
Yan Feifan hadn't expected Mr. Qin to be so considerate. For a moment, he was at a loss for words.
"Mr. Qin, I..."
Qin Ying waved her hand again and gave a small smile. "The more I learn about you, the more I realize how exceptional you are."
"I truly hope that on this medical path, you can reach heights that we never could."
She added a warning, "Yan Feifan, making the choice you truly want is not only being responsible for yourself, but it's also the greatest sign of respect you can show me!"
Deeply moved, Yan Feifan replied earnestly, "Mr. Qin, thank you for coming all this way to have this talk with me."
"To be honest, my own career plan is still a bit vague."
"I'll think it over carefully tonight..."
After seeing Mr. Qin and Qee Xiaolu off, Yan Feifan returned to his desk and began to ponder his choice.
He had originally chosen to go to medical school because he'd watched his grandparents suffer from their illnesses, and he'd had the fanciful notion that he could learn the skills to cure them.
Although that wish was never realized, and was perhaps always destined to fail, as his studies deepened, Yan Feifan found himself falling more and more in love with medicine.
This was especially true after he left medical school for the hospital. Seeing patient after patient recover and walk out the door thanks to his help filled him with a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that washed over his entire body—a feeling he truly savored.
Now, Yan Feifan faced another choice.
This was a more specific career choice, one that would determine what kind of specialist he would become.
He was leaning toward becoming a surgeon.
But even within surgery, there were countless subspecialties, each with its own focus: brain surgery, neurosurgery, cardiothoracic surgery, general surgery, ENT, urology, orthopedics, trauma surgery...
'Which specific path should I choose?'
'Just as Mr. Qin said, if I become her student, trauma surgery is the inevitable choice.'
'Trauma surgery primarily deals with injuries to the body's surface and limbs from all sorts of causes.'
'Mr. Qin's greatest strengths are in limb replantation and recovery from sports injuries.'
'In reality, trauma surgery demands a surgeon be incredibly well-rounded. Replanting a severed arm, for instance, requires you to set the bone, reattach muscles and tendons, reconnect blood vessels, and suture nerves.'
'It's basically like being a generalist surgeon.'
The thought of a generalist surgeon made him recall the four emergency surgeries he had observed in the ED that day.
Those four patients all had severe, complex injuries, each involving multiple ruptured internal organs.
By comparison, their multiple bone fractures were considered minor issues, to be dealt with last.
Each patient had a team of three or four doctors, all with different specialties, working together to save them.
'But while the doctors seemed to be collaborating efficiently, in reality, a person's thoracic and abdominal cavity is only so large. It's easy for them to get in each other's way.'
'And in an emergency surgery with several people cooperating, it's easy to lose track of priorities or make a misjudgment, wasting precious time.'
'If a single person were an all-rounder...'
At this thought, Yan Feifan couldn't help but shake his head.
'With the current trend of increasing specialization in medicine, a truly omniscient, all-purpose doctor is an impossibility.'
'The so-called "general practitioners" of today are just family doctors who know a little about everything but are masters of nothing...'
Just then, a sudden knock on the door interrupted Yan Feifan's train of thought.
He got up to open the door.
He was surprised to find the person at the door was Xiao Man, the news reporter he had met at the wedding yesterday.
Yan Feifan also noticed that her eyes were red, a clear sign she had been crying...