Around noon on Wednesday, Yan Feifan finished two intraspinal tumor puncture procedures and headed to the Plastic Surgery Center.
When he arrived at the director’s office, he saw that Wang Chuan had already laid out a meal on the coffee table in the guest area, enough for two or three people.
The dishes were exquisite; you could tell at a glance they had been personally prepared by a master chef from a famous restaurant.
Yan Feifan didn’t wait to be invited. He poured himself a glass of water and sat down across from Wang Chuan.
"Director, you always order such lavish and exquisite takeout."
Wang Chuan tossed a spare set of utensils—an extra sent by the restaurant—to Yan Feifan and joked, "No matter how much I order, there are always people who smell the food and come over for a free meal, so not a single bite goes to waste."
After a two-second pause, he sighed softly. "With good food to keep me company, life doesn’t feel so hard."
"Fortunately, the dawn is near!"
Yan Feifan picked up a tender piece of beef tenderloin with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth. He said casually, "My sister once said that life is hard, but you still have to live it. We should face it with optimism and seize each day."
Wang Chuan chuckled. "Ziruo is quite philosophical!"
Yan Feifan scoffed. "Philosophical? Her? That’s just her way of tricking me. Back in the day, every time we saved a little money, she’d use that line to talk me into spending it all on food, drinks, and fun."
Wang Chuan found this amusing. "She didn’t heartlessly ditch you and go have all the fun by herself, did she?"
Yan Feifan shook his head. "No, she never did that."
"The problem was, back then she only knew how to spend money, not earn it. So she just exploited me."
Wang Chuan laughed again. "The more capable you are, the more work you do. Ziruo keeping you company while you grew up happily is more than enough."
Yan Feifan pursed his lips, unconvinced. Then he heard Wang Chuan change the subject. "Feifan, Ziruo’s sharp critique of Dr. Zhou yesterday has spread throughout the hospital."
"Given that Ziruo is your sister and you were there at the time, her words are being interpreted as your own."
Yan Feifan explained, "Director, we were just talking casually in the cafeteria."
"Who would’ve thought Dr. Zhou’s student would be so sensitive? He latched onto one thing we said and got so aggressive."
Wang Chuan took a sip of soup before speaking. "At a sensitive time like this, right after his promotion review for Chief Physician was denied, the reaction is bound to be a little extreme."
"It also shows that Dr. Zhou and his team have lost some of their composure. Perhaps they even harbor some resentment, feeling that the cardiac surgery department didn’t give them enough support during the promotion review."
Yan Feifan asked curiously, "Why was Dr. Zhou’s promotion denied this time?"
At the Affiliated Hospital, promotion reviews, especially for the Chief Physician level, weren’t something you could get automatically just by meeting the basic requirements for academic qualifications, seniority, publications, research achievements, and medical skill.
The hospital has a relatively fixed quota each year.
If you were unlucky enough to be up for review alongside a lot of heavy hitters, you could easily fail.
Wang Chuan shook his head. "I’m not sure about the specifics."
"This Dr. Zhou has never produced any noteworthy papers or research, and his medical skills aren’t particularly outstanding. He was always a borderline case."
"If the competition is even slightly stronger, it’s perfectly normal for him to get pushed out."
Wang Chuan laughed again. "Ziruo’s sharp words really hit the nail on the head, in a way."
"Dr. Zhou’s success was built on that one thing, but it’s also his downfall."
"For so many years, he’s basically only performed ventricular septal defect repair surgeries. Naturally, he’s neglected and even regressed in other areas."
"And now, as an Associate Chief Physician in his late forties, he probably can’t bring himself to swallow his pride and act as an assistant to relearn more difficult surgeries."
Wang Chuan added with a sigh, "Perhaps he’s grown timid himself. He doesn’t want to—and doesn’t dare to—step out of his comfort zone."
Yan Feifan also sighed softly and asked with concern, "Director, how should we handle yesterday’s dispute?"
"Should I go over and explain things to Dr. Zhou?"
Wang Chuan glanced up at him. "Explain? You actually want to go apologize, don’t you?"
Yan Feifan gave a sheepish laugh. "Well, he is a senior in the field. It’s better to avoid trouble, right?"
Wang Chuan snorted. "Feifan, that’s your one weakness. You’re too soft."
"Ziruo was a bit overprotective of you when you were growing up."
After a pause, Wang Chuan’s voice turned cold. "Was Ziruo’s assessment of Dr. Zhou wrong?"
"It might have been harsh, but I think it was completely on point."
"And since you weren’t wrong, there’s no need to apologize."
"Feifan, experts are temperamental. They don’t tolerate any nonsense, they call it like they see it, and they’re incredibly stubborn."
"So, as long as you haven’t made a fundamental mistake, you don’t apologize to anyone."
Wang Chuan continued persuasively, "Feifan, you’re now a specially-appointed expert at two renowned institutions, the PLA General Hospital and Baining Hospital. Here at the Affiliated Hospital, you’re a well-known genius. That’s a solid status that no ordinary Chief Physician can compare to."
"As doctors, we should especially believe that the skilled one is the master. So what’s wrong with you commenting on Dr. Zhou?"
"So you need to start asserting your status when the situation calls for it."
"You also need to start learning how to establish your authority."
"Feifan, you need to start cultivating the bearing of a great doctor!"
These words left Yan Feifan a bit dazed.