This miracle doctor just wants to be fired!

Once time truly begins to move forward, it rarely gives anyone advance warning.

Initially, it was just that a new group of young faces appeared in the ward.

The resident physician who used to follow Zhou Cheng around and couldn't answer his questions for a long time gradually began to work independently and lead ward rounds.

Later, the catheterization lab upgraded its equipment.

Images that used to require several people to repeatedly measure around a screen can now be reconstructed in a short time.

Later, the three research group rules that had once been posted on the whiteboard in the small conference room were reprinted, put into an inconspicuous transparent frame, and hung at the entrance of the cardiology demonstration room.

Several more points were subsequently added by students and young doctors.

New students only know that these are departmental rules, but few know that they originated from a group meeting, some unsatisfactory data, and four patients with serious complications.

What is even less known is that the complex coronary training system, which is now adopted by intervention centers in many countries, did not originate from a successful technology launch, but from a publicly acknowledged mistake.

By the time the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars project was completed, Zhou Cheng's team had established a clinical decision database covering multiple domestic and international centers.

Li Mingyuan later became one of the youngest academic leaders in the field of complex coronary intervention in China.

When he first took charge of the national training independently, he did not start with the most difficult cases, nor did he put the high-difficulty surgeries he had performed at the beginning. Instead, he first played a video that was only a dozen minutes long.

The patient's condition was not rare, and the instruments were quite ordinary. Halfway through the surgery, the surgeon canceled the planned procedure and accepted a result that was not aesthetically pleasing, but safe enough.

Someone in the audience asked, "If you had continued, you might have gotten even better footage. Why did you stop?"

Li Mingyuan stood on the podium and paused for a few seconds: "Because our goal in performing surgery is to improve the patient's outcome, not to finish the last page of the presentation slides."

As he finished speaking, he suddenly recalled many years ago when he stood in a small conference room, facing four videos of complications, still stubbornly searching for which balloon and which stress had caused the problem.

At that time, he believed that the error must be hidden in a specific action, and that the answer could be found as long as the parameters were checked.

He later realized that some mistakes happen precisely when every action meets the standard.

Zhao Sisi did not become a mere statistician.

She and her engineering team jointly established a nationwide complex intervention data platform.

In the final product introduction, a line of text that rarely appears in medical artificial intelligence promotions has been added to the most prominent position:

This system is for informational purposes only and should not replace clinical judgment.

Chen Yu's research progressed the slowest, yet it went further than anyone expected.

Instead of turning to complex instruments or incorporating all her work into Zhou Cheng's projects, she continued to study why patients couldn't follow treatment plans that doctors considered clear enough.

Literacy, medication burden, family support, and post-discharge living conditions were once considered too low-level to be published in top journals.

However, as her research expanded, more and more hospitals began to redesign discharge prescriptions, follow-up procedures, and community outreach.

Years later, the continuous care system for heart failure established under Chen Yu's leadership significantly reduced the repeat hospitalization rate of elderly patients in many places.

When she received her first national clinical research award, the award citation used many grand statements, but after she stepped off the stage, she first sent a photo to Zhou Cheng.

The photo shows a redesigned prescription with large font and simple illustrations next to each medicine.

She wrote below:

"Teacher Zhou, if that elderly person who couldn't read the prescription back then were discharged from the hospital now, they probably wouldn't make the same mistake again."

Zhou Cheng replied with only two words: "Very good."

A few minutes later, he added, "The data will continue to be monitored."

Chen Yu laughed for a long time after seeing it.

Lin Feng eventually took over most of the department's administrative and coordination work.

When he was young, he always said that he was just temporarily covering for Zhou Cheng and would hand over the job when someone else was suitable. However, he later rose through the ranks from ward management and talent recruitment to become the executive head of the cardiovascular center.

……

Zou Ligan truly began to reduce surgeries after a very ordinary preoperative discussion.

The patient that day was an elderly patient with complex left main coronary artery disease, complicated by renal insufficiency and peripheral vascular disease.

Several young doctors discussed the proposal for nearly an hour before finally sending it to his office, hoping he would review it one last time.

After reviewing the materials, Zou Ligan did not immediately offer any opinions, but simply told them to go find Zhou Cheng: "Director Zhou is currently attending a meeting abroad."

"Then let's do it online."

"Time difference might be inconvenient."

"A patient's condition is not affected by time zone."

After the young doctor contacted Zhou Cheng, the two sides discussed for more than 20 minutes and finally determined a phased treatment plan.

Zou Ligan sat beside him the whole time, only occasionally asking one question.

After the meeting, he closed the medical record and suddenly said to his secretary, "From now on, you don't need to send these kinds of cases to me first."

The secretary paused for a moment, then asked, "You're no longer overseeing the process?"

"Someone can help."

"But you have more experience."

Zou Liqian smiled and said, "If experienced people never let go, how can the people behind them truly catch up?"

Since then, he has gradually withdrawn from high-risk surgeries, retaining only half a day of outpatient service and difficult case discussions each week.

The department was worried that he wouldn't adapt well, so they arranged a quieter office for him, but that office was empty most of the time.

Zou Ligan still habitually walks into the wards. When he encounters a young doctor reporting on a patient's condition, he occasionally stops to listen for a few words. If he finds a problem, he asks about it; if he doesn't find a problem, he continues forward with his hands behind his back.

On the day the retirement procedures were finally completed, the hospital prepared to hold a formal ceremony.

The publicity department had prepared his work experience in advance.

From establishing the interventional team in its early years to promoting the construction of regional cardiovascular centers and cultivating many national-level talents, the materials were printed out in more than a dozen pages.

Lin Feng also contacted many students who had left the hospital, planning to have them return to participate.

When Zou Ligan found out, he only held a small meeting within the department, saying, "Retirement isn't a funeral; don't call everyone back."

Lin Feng said, "Your words put the publicity department in a difficult position."

"Then don't let the publicity department handle it."

The final ceremony was held in the cardiology demonstration room.

There was no large backdrop, no lengthy speeches from leaders, just a few rows of chairs.

Zou Ligan sat in the first row, listening to the young doctor tell stories of the past.

He himself has forgotten many things, but others remember them very clearly.

When it was Zhou Cheng's turn to speak, the demonstration room fell silent.

He didn't prepare a speech in advance, but only carried the old notebook that Zou Ligan had given him many years ago.

The cover was much older, and inside were many new sticky notes, including Zhou Cheng's own notes as well as questions added later by three students.

"When the teacher gave me this notebook before, he said there were many mistakes in it and it shouldn't be used as teaching material."

Zhou Cheng turned to the first page. "I looked at it again later, and there were indeed quite a few mistakes."

Someone below laughed.

Zou Ligan, sitting in the front row, also laughed and scolded, "If you can't speak properly, then speak less."

Zhou Cheng closed his notebook. "But I kept it because the true inheritance of a discipline is not about later people proving that the earlier people were never wrong, but about knowing where the earlier people went and where they went wrong, and then continuing to move forward."

The demonstration room gradually quieted down.

"Our teacher didn't give us a set of always-correct answers. He taught us to acknowledge uncertainty first, to investigate errors first, to step forward when patients need us, and to stop when the risks outweigh the benefits."

"Over the years, I always felt like I was taking over his work. Later I realized that taking over is not about repeating what the teacher did."

Zhou Cheng looked towards the first row.

"Take one more step forward after you reach where the teacher stopped."

Zou Liqian didn't say anything, but just lowered his head and straightened his cuffs.

At the end of the ceremony, he handed the symbolic appointment certificate and flowers to his secretary, taking only a group photo of the department with him.

After he retired, he did not completely leave the hospital.

Initially, I came back twice a week, but later it became once a month. Sometimes I would just take a walk around the outpatient building and have a meal at the cafeteria.

After Zhou Cheng took over, he did not make significant changes to the original structure of the department.

The only change is to reorganize the previously scattered clinical, research, and training teams.

Complex coronary artery disease, heart failure, structural heart disease, arrhythmia and basic research no longer compete for limited resources; each direction must simultaneously establish clinical problems, research platforms and talent teams.

The department no longer evaluates young doctors solely based on the number of surgeries, the number of papers published, and the amount of funding received.

It took Zhou Cheng many years to truly understand that leading a team does not mean training everyone to become another version of himself.

A team that can go further must allow its members to have different directions on a common bottom line, and must be able to continue operating even after a key figure leaves.

……

A few years later, the cardiovascular center became an important international base for research on complex interventions and clinical decision-making.

The team members come from different countries, and Chinese, English, and other languages ​​are often spoken at the same time during meetings.

Zhou Cheng's name has been included in many international guidelines and expert consensus. The training system he helped establish has been localized in many countries. The research that was initially triggered by a complication crisis has gradually expanded to structural heart disease, critical circulatory support, and treatment decisions for elderly patients.

Foreign media outlets have described them as one of the world's most influential cardiovascular teams.

After seeing the report, Zhou Cheng only forwarded the link to the publicity department, not to the research group.

Lin Feng asked him, "Such big news, aren't you going to let the students be happy?"

"They've already seen it."

How did you know?

"If no one speaks in the work group for half a day, it means they are discussing it in other groups."

Lin Feng smiled.

Neither of them is young anymore.

Raymond Lam's hair is noticeably thinner than before, he's started carrying a thermos with him to meetings, and he occasionally complains that the younger doctors are too direct.

Zhou Cheng's changes are not obvious; he just has more wrinkles around his eyes. He is gradually reducing the number of complex surgeries he performs, and is spending more time on pre-operative decision-making and team training.

……

A new round of elections for academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has been launched.

The Science and Education Department held a brief meeting to discuss Zhou Cheng's application, and no one regarded it as a distant idea anymore.

Zhou Cheng has established an internationally leading clinical and research team.

This has driven changes in training and quality control methods in multiple directions, and has also cultivated a group of students who are capable of independently undertaking national-level projects.

From his qualifications to his industry influence, he has entered a stage where he can truly challenge for that position.

After the meeting ended, everyone else left one after another, but Zhou Cheng stayed alone in his office and put the confirmation document generated by the academician application system into his drawer.

The phone rang once.

Lin Wei sent him a message asking what time he would be home.

Over the years, their lives have still been interrupted by emergency room visits, meetings, and business trips, but they have also developed their own set of routines.

Lin Wei no longer requires him to leave work on time; she only asks that he inform her in advance if there are any changes.

He replied, "Half an hour."

Lin Wei quickly sent a message: "Director Zou has arrived and is waiting for you at home for dinner. He said he wants to see if the academician candidate can return on time today."

Zhou Cheng's lips twitched slightly when he saw the message.

He shut down his computer, picked up his coat, and glanced back at the office as he walked to the door.

Many years ago, when he first truly faced a research error, it was on a night like this, sitting in front of the screen repeatedly watching a surgical video.

At that time, he wanted to find a clear instrument error, a parameter that could be corrected, but in the end he found that what was really missing was the judgment that he had never realized he needed to be taught.

Many things that happened afterward started that night.

Learn to resist academician controversies.

Zou Liqian was not selected.

Top journal articles, National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars projects, international teams, and now the academician application materials are sitting in a drawer.

He turned off the office lights.

Just as the door lock gently closed, a voice that had been silent for many years, so long that Zhou Cheng had almost forgotten it had ever existed, suddenly rang out from the depths of his mind.

The sound appeared without warning, so much so that his hand remained on the switch on the wall for a long time without moving.

【Ding! 】

Zhou Cheng was taken aback.

It has been too many years since the system last issued a task.

Over the years, he rose from the leader of the seventh group to the director of the cardiovascular center, undertaking national-level projects, establishing a multi-center platform, and leading his team into the first echelon of international research on complex cardiovascular diseases.

The system remained completely unresponsive.

Eventually, he almost forgot that such a thing still existed in his mind.

Before my eyes, a familiar semi-transparent interface slowly unfolds.

[Host's actual career trajectory being verified...]

Lines of text flashed rapidly across the light screen.

[Serving as the leader of the seventh intervention team.]

[Served as the project leader for complex coronary artery disease.]

[Supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars.]

Establish a national-level clinical research platform for complex cardiovascular diseases.

[Served as Director of the Cardiovascular Center.]

[Leading the team into the top tier of international cardiovascular research.]

[The nomination process for academician candidates has officially begun.]

The text paused for a few seconds.

Then, the system's cold voice sounded again.

[A significant change has been detected in the host's current identity and occupation status.]

[Host's current occupation: Director of the Cardiovascular Center.]

[Host's current academic identity: Leading figure in China's top cardiovascular discipline.]

[Current Host Status: Academician Candidate Recommendation Process in Progress.]

[The difficulty of the main system quests is being reassessed...]

[The fourth phase of the main quest is generating...]

Zhou Cheng's eyelid twitched slightly.

He suddenly remembered when he was in his twenties, the first time he saw the words "dismissed by the hospital" on the system panel. At that time, all he wanted was to get the reward, leave the hospital, and then lie down.

Later, the system prevented him from being promoted, but he became a candidate for academician.

The system demoted him from a core position back to a regular doctor, but he gradually took over the department left behind by Zou Ligan.

Now, he stands before the door to the election of academicians.

Based on the system's past patterns, it's not hard to guess what the task in the fourth stage will be.

A new line of text slowly appeared on the light screen.

The fourth phase of the main storyline is expected to be officially released in 24 hours.

[Note: The tasks for this stage will be tailored based on the host's current position, academic influence, and status in the academician election process.]

[The task rewards are expected to increase tenfold.]

Zhou Cheng stared at the words "tenfold improvement" and remained silent for a full half minute.

Ten times the amount of 300 million yuan.

Three billion yuan?

Even today, this remains a number that no one can easily ignore.

My phone just happened to vibrate at that moment.

Lin Wei sent me a message: "Director Zou is nitpicking your academician application materials. He asked me to ask you whether you should submit the final version or not?"

Then, another photo was sent.

In the photo, Zou Ligan, who has been retired for many years, is wearing reading glasses and sitting at the dining table, holding a thick application document in his hand, with an old notebook that he gave to Zhou Cheng years ago next to him.

The food was already laid out on the table, but the old man was still flipping through the pages one by one. When he encountered a part he was not satisfied with, he would simply draw a line on it with a pen.

Zhou Cheng looked at it for a moment and replied, "Submit it. Have the research department submit the final version tomorrow."

The system interface suddenly turned bright red as soon as the message was sent.

【warn! 】

[The host is detected continuing the academician application process!]

This action could significantly increase the difficulty of the main quest in Phase 4!

[Please choose carefully, host!]

Zhou Cheng looked at these lines of text and suddenly smiled.

He turned off the system panel and reached out to press the switch on the wall.

The office was plunged into darkness, with only the light from the corridor shining through the crack in the door.

The young doctors were still discussing the patient's treatment plan, their arguments coming intermittently, sounding not much different from the seventh group many years ago.

Zhou Cheng picked up his coat, locked the office door, and walked towards the elevator.

The system seemed unwilling to give up, and the mechanical prompts came up again.

[Does the host confirm their intention to continue applying for academician status?]

[Friendly reminder: After confirmation, the difficulty of the fourth stage of the mission may reach the highest level in the system!]

Zhou Cheng did not stop.

"confirm."

No one in the hallway knew what he said.

The elevator doors slowly opened, and Zhou Cheng stepped inside, pressing the button for the first floor.

Just as the door was about to close, the system gave a final, crisp notification.

[Host selection has been recorded.]

[Fourth stage main quest generation in progress...]

[Task Difficulty: Unknown.]

[Mission Reward: Unknown.]

[Please prepare yourself, host.]

The elevator doors closed completely, and the numbers began to drop.

Zhou Cheng glanced down at the time.

There were 27 minutes left until Lin Wei's designated time to go home.

This time, he should be able to make it in time.

The End...