This miracle doctor just wants to be fired!

"Worry."

"Are you afraid I'll lose the election because of you?"

Zhou Cheng didn't dodge the question and nodded directly: "Possibly."

After listening, Zou Ligan smiled.

This time, the smile was more pronounced than before.

"Zhou Cheng, have you forgotten why I participated in the additional election?"

"This is recognition of your decades of work."

"This is the official statement."

"And what's your opinion?"

"To be able to do more things."

Zou Ligan leaned back in his chair, his tone slowing down.

"Being an academician can promote the development of disciplines, help secure platforms, and allow young teams to avoid some detours, so I am willing to strive for it. But if this status can only be obtained by suppressing real complications and deleting mistakes for students, then it has no value."

Zhou Cheng didn't speak, he just looked at his teacher.

"If they really want to use this issue to influence me, it means they think I'll distance myself from you for the sake of the election, or they'll ask you to suppress the problem," Zou Ligan said. "Then they're wrong."

"But this might be your last chance."

"Opportunities are important, but bottom lines are even more important."

After Zou Ligan finished speaking, he got up and walked to the window.

The leaves on the trees downstairs have begun to turn yellow, and the wind blows between the two buildings, causing the branches and leaves to sway constantly.

"Moreover, things aren't always as they seem," he said with his back to Zhou Cheng. "When you publicly admit your mistakes, some people will see it as leverage, while others will see it as taking responsibility. Peer review isn't all about public opinion."

"But the short-term effects have already appeared."

"So we need to investigate."

Do you have anyone you suspect?

Zou Ligan turned around: "There are several directions, but I won't name them until I have evidence."

He paused, then added, "Among the candidates from my department and research area this year, some have long advocated that complex interventional technologies should be concentrated in a few centers and have consistently opposed the decentralization of new technologies. Others' teams have been competing with us for positions in platforms, grants, and academic societies in recent years. But these can only be considered as conflicts of interest, and cannot be used to conclude that they did it."

Zhou Cheng nodded: "I understand."

"What you need to do most right now is not to be led astray by this trend."

"What should I do?"

"Continue to complete the review and solidify the multi-center data. The hospitals and societies should issue formal responses. Do not argue with forum accounts, and do not change your public statements because you are worried about me."

Zou Ligan walked to the door, then stopped: "There's one more thing."

"Please speak."

"If someone contacts you privately recently and offers to reinstate your meeting and academic positions if you postpone the review report and withdraw some conclusions, do not agree, but do not refuse outright either."

Zhou Cheng frowned: "Someone has already contacted you?"

"not yet."

"Then why do you say that?"

"Because when these kinds of incidents go on, someone always has to step in and act as a mediator."

When the door opened, Lin Feng was standing outside, clearly having been waiting for a while.

Zou Liqian didn't say much, just patted him on the shoulder and turned to leave.

After entering the room, Lin Feng glanced down the corridor to make sure Zou Ligan was far away before placing the materials on the table.

"What did you talk about?"

"Election of new academicians".

Lin Feng's expression immediately changed: "Is it related to this?"

"It might be related."

"Is someone using this as an excuse to make trouble?"

"There are only signs at the moment."

Lin Feng remained silent for a moment, then muttered a curse under his breath.

He rarely spoke like that in the office, and Zhou Cheng didn't remind him.

"I knew this was unusual." Lin Feng sat down and opened the top email. "Look at this. The notices from the three academic societies have almost identical attachment formats and citation order, even the mistake of writing Linjiang City as Lincheng is the same."

Zhou Cheng took it.

Three documents from different organizations.

They appear to be independent, and the wording of the text also differs.

However, the four cases of complications listed in the risk description section are in the exact same order, and the old papers cited by Zhou Cheng's team are also identical.

More obviously, two of the documents mistakenly wrote Lincheng as Linjiang City, where the accident occurred, and the third one was corrected in a later revision!

"The same draft," Zhou Cheng said.

"At least the same set of materials was used." Lin Feng nodded. "Someone prepared them in advance and sent them to different organizations."

"Can the source be traced?"

"The secretary of the association was unwilling to say, only saying that it was a material discussed collectively by the expert group."

"Who is responsible for drafting it?"

"Still asking."

Zhou Cheng placed the three documents side by side.

At this point, it's difficult to explain it as a coincidence anymore.

Even if it is confirmed that someone is pushing for it, they still cannot respond to the technical controversy by saying "competitor suppression".

The four complications do not disappear just because the documents came from the same draft, nor do the training deficiencies cease to exist.

"Save it first," Zhou Cheng said.

"Do we have to wait?"

"Wait for formal evidence."

"There are already calls from outside for the National Natural Science Foundation of China to investigate."

"Then we'll cooperate with the investigation."

"What if we suspend your project?"

"Let's pause for now."

Lin Feng looked at him, as if trying to find a trace of anger or resentment on his face, but in the end he saw nothing.

"Are you really not angry?"

"angry."

"You can't tell at all."

"What's the use of figuring it out?"

"At least you make me feel like you're a normal person."

Zhou Cheng smiled.

Lin Feng laughed along, but quickly returned to his serious demeanor afterward.

"Director Zou's additional election this year..."

"May be affected."

"So you're planning to tell him to postpone the subsequent public reports?"

"He just told me to continue."

Lin Feng was stunned: "He really said that?"

"Um."

"That was definitely him."

Lin Feng let out a long breath, leaned back in his chair, and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds.

"Both the master and his apprentice are harder to persuade than the other."

Zhou Cheng picked up the next email: "You don't have to persuade me."

"That won't do," Lin Feng said. "You guys are responsible for upholding principles, I'm responsible for watching out for who's stabbing us in the back."

At 5 p.m., the hospital's research department held an emergency meeting.

All personnel from the legal department, medical affairs office, publicity department, and cardiology department have arrived in Yangzhou.

Instead of discussing how to retaliate, the meeting focused on identifying existing risks: whether there were any unreported complications, whether past data could be fully traced, whether there were ethical and informed consent loopholes in multi-center collaborations, and whether the training and promotion process involved commercial interests.

Zhou Cheng submitted all the original data, cooperation agreements, and training records.

The head of the research department flipped to the last page and asked, "Are there any corporate grants?"

"The equipment company covered the venue and transportation costs for both meetings, all of which were included in the cooperation agreement."

Are there any patent benefits associated with technology-related equipment?

"We have two patents for improved medical devices, but they have not yet generated sales revenue."

"Does Linjiang City use the relevant patented equipment?"

"No, we're using standard commercial equipment."

"Were there any corporate statistics supporting your past papers?"

"no."

The head of the research department nodded and continued to have people check each item one by one.

The meeting lasted for more than three hours.

By 8 p.m., all the materials that could be verified immediately had been checked, and no data deletion, concealment of interests, or ethical violations were found.

The remaining part needs further confirmation by contacting the cooperating hospitals and journals.

By the time the meeting ended, it was completely dark outside.

Zhou Cheng walked out of the administration building. The wind carried a slight chill, and the leaves of the trees on the roadside leaves rustled in the breeze. One by one, the lights of the parked cars turned on.

He had just taken out his phone when he saw a text message from an unknown number.

The content is very short.

"Professor Zhou, regarding the recent controversy within the association, some things are not beneficial to anyone if handled publicly. Would it be convenient for us to meet tomorrow?"

This short message was unsigned.

Zhou Cheng stood on the steps for a few seconds, took a screenshot of the text message, saved it, and then forwarded it to the hospital's legal department and Zou Ligan.

A few minutes later, Zou Ligan replied with a single sentence: "Don't delete it, goodbye."

Zhou Cheng put his phone in his pocket and looked up into the distance.

The election of academicians, the boycott by academic societies, the concentrated complaints, and the sudden appearance of intermediaries have completely changed the nature of this controversy, which originally revolved solely around technological security.

But the more this was the case, the clearer he became about one thing: someone wanted him to mix the two things together.

Because he was being targeted, he began to deny his own mistakes.

Or he might suppress the subsequent report because he's worried about the teacher being affected.

If he takes any one of those steps, the other person will get what they really want.

……

The next morning, Zhou Cheng completed his ward rounds as usual, reviewed the surgical plans for two surgeries as usual, and, as usual, asked Li Mingyuan to recheck a set of data that did not meet expectations at the group meeting.

Before the meeting adjourned, he looked at the three students and said, "There may be a lot of news circulating outside recently. Don't participate in the discussions, and don't delete or modify any information. Whether the project is being targeted or whether the data is accurate are two separate things."

Zhao Siyuan nodded.

Chen Yu asked, "What if they attack us with false information?"

"Preserve the evidence."

Li Mingyuan was silent for a moment, then asked, "Teacher, will Director Zou's election as an academician be affected?"

Zhou Cheng glanced at him: "Maybe."

"Do you regret publicly reviewing the situation?"

The meeting room fell silent.

Zhou Cheng did not answer immediately. Instead, he closed the original medical record on the table and said after a while, "If we don't make it public, it may affect the next patient. The election of academicians is important, but the patients are also important. There is nothing to regret about this choice."

Sunlight streamed through the window and fell onto the whiteboard.

Those three research group rules are still posted there.

Do not falsify data.

If you don't understand, just admit it.

Respect rest time.

In retrospect, the real challenges we face for the first two points have only just begun!