top student at medical school

The cemetery's stone monuments are solemn, with a black and white color scheme.

The photo of Luo Pan with a faint smile stood out starkly against the grief-stricken expressions of the crowd. He was "peacefully" placed in the very center of the wreath, where a great many people came to pay their respects.

Everyone was holding a bouquet of flowers.

The farewell ceremony did not last long, and the rest of the people dispersed.

It was as if Luo Pan's death was merely an opportunity for everyone to gather together. Whether they were close friends or casual acquaintances, they would eventually have to go back to their own lives.

Fang Ziye stood at a distance, scanning the few people who hadn't left yet, and a surge of emotions welled up within him.

Luo Tingzhu, Min Limin, Lan Tianluo, Fang Xiyan.

There's some truth to the old rules: only blood relatives will remember you fondly and be reluctant to part with you after your death; other people's remembrance of you is mostly a matter of 'ritual'.

In China, the death of a person is considered a great loss, so when someone passes away, most of the people who have some connection with them will come to pay their respects, but that's all they will do.

As night fell, the shadows of the crowd were stretched long by the setting sun.

Lan Tianluo, dressed formally in a suit, shirt, and tie, with a bouquet of flowers pinned to his chest, murmured to himself as he chatted with Luo Pan: "Dad, you've been so busy your whole life, busy here and busy there. Now, it's all good, you can finally rest."

"What's rather ridiculous is that after you retired, I became just like you were back then."

"But now I'm so busy!"

"Dad, let me tell you, I graduated with my doctorate, was promoted to attending physician, and became an associate professor and associate researcher. How about that? At my age, I have these titles, which is better than what you did at my age, right?"

"It should get better. Although what I do is not as grand as yours, or as lofty as yours, I always talk about national strategic importance."

"But I have also accomplished one thing: a significant number of patients have recovered because of me, and that number continues to grow."

Lan Tianluo glanced furtively at Fang Ziye as she spoke, then continued to 'complain': "And my brother-in-law really doesn't treat me like an outsider, he treats me like an animal to be used."

“I slack off on surgeries I don’t have to perform, and I don’t come to the department on days I don’t have to make rounds. I’m just an associate professor and attending physician. I’m only thirty years old, and I have to live this kind of ‘inhuman’ life. I can’t sleep soundly every night.”

“But I can’t do anything about it. I have opinions but I don’t dare to say them. After all, my brother-in-law can do surgeries that I can’t. When I encounter patients that I can’t handle, I still have to ask him for help.”

"Dad, it's so hard to ask for help..." Lan Tianlu muttered to himself, his voice not quiet.

Fang Ziye and Luo Tingzhu could both hear Lan Tianluo's feigned behavior, but they did not disturb him.

Fang Xiyan is only 85 centimeters tall, less than half the height of Fang Ziye. She wore a delicate blue silk floral dress with light pink shorts and a pair of small, cute flats.

She raised her delicate chin: "Mom, why isn't Grandpa talking? I can't get through on the phone either?"

Luo Tingzhu is a girl, but she is no ordinary girl. As an associate professor and associate chief physician in the Department of Anesthesiology, she has witnessed too many life-and-death situations after taking on anesthesia tasks on her own.

The only destination of human life is death. The cycle of life and death is the complete path of life, and no one can escape it.

“Xiyan, Grandpa used to work too hard, so he needs to rest properly, for a very long time.” Luo Tingzhu’s tone was calm.

For many years, she and Luo Pan had almost no communication, but in recent years, Luo Tingzhu and Luo Pan have met and chatted frequently. Luo Pan talks to Luo Tingzhu about his past and asks about Luo Tingzhu's past...

If Luo Pan hadn't suffered from a rare disease, he could have enjoyed the joys of being surrounded by his children and grandchildren, and Luo Tingzhu could have enjoyed "fatherly love" for a few more years. But there are no "what ifs" in this world.

ALS is an incurable disease, and it's not something that Fang Ziye, Luo Tingzhu, Lan Tianluo, and a few others can quickly treat by simply jumping in.

As the saying goes, there are patterns to follow in medicine. The more rapid the onset of an illness, the simpler and more direct the solution often is.

On the contrary, the slower the onset of a disease, the longer the tug-of-war it takes to find a solution.

In the emergency room, people die quickly from infections, but they can also be saved quickly.

Cancer and rare diseases have a slow onset, slow progression, and slow course, but they are stubborn. Even if the whole world works together, there is nothing you can do if they want to move forward.

After all, there are no gods in this world.

Fang Xiyan is two years old. Although she is very young, both of her parents are doctors. When they go out to work, her grandparents and maternal grandmother often explain the significance of her parents' work to her.

"Is Grandpa dead?" Fang Xiyan's gaze was innocent. She didn't quite understand what death meant, but her grandparents always said that if her parents didn't go to work, someone might lose their life.

“Yes! Grandpa passed away and went to heaven, becoming a star to watch over you~” Luo Tingzhu nodded, telling the 'fairy tale' she had heard back then.

When her grandmother passed away, Luo Tingzhu cried her eyes out, because she was more sensible at that time.

"Then why didn't Mom and Dad save Grandpa?"

"Grandpa, Grandma, and Grandma on my mother's side said that you saved many, many people. Mom's dad is called Grandpa on my mother's side. I love my dad very much, and I will definitely save him." Fang Xiyan looked at Luo Tingzhu innocently, showing the unbridled nature of a child.

A two-year-old is as cute as can be when he's not crying or being naughty.

With chubby pink cheeks, a soft and sweet voice, an adorable expression, and sincere eyes...

Lan Tianluo glanced back at Fang Xiyan and muttered, "Dad, look at you, how can you be so heartless? My child is still undecided, but Xiyan is so adorable. Don't you feel any reluctance at all?"

“Dad, will you blame me and my sister? We know that the longer we delay treatment for your condition, the more painful it will be. But we are willing to wait a few more years so that you will still have a father to call.”

"Dad, you won't blame us, right?"

"We really did our best..."

"My father, mother, and uncle tried many, many ways to save my grandfather for many, many years, but they were still powerless."

"Xi Yan, do you know what it means to be powerless?" Luo Tingzhu asked.

"I know, I know," Fang Xiyan explained. "Like me, I can only move my little stool, but I can't move the dining table at home. It's because I'm not strong enough."

"My grandfather said that when I grow up, I will be able to move it."

"Dad, Mom, aren't you two still not fully grown up?" In Fang Xiyan's world, Fang Ziye and Luo Tingzhu are both adults.

But she also knew that compared to her maternal grandparents, her parents didn't seem to have grown up either.

"Yes, neither your father nor I were fully grown up. We were both babies who were over three or four hundred months old."

"Xiyan, you're already twenty-four months along." Luo Tingzhu stopped explaining in great detail to Fang Xiyan.

"Oh!!!" Fang Xiyan's adorable voice seemed to melt away everything.

As night fell and visibility grew increasingly blurry, Min Limin approached and advised, "Tianluo, Ziye, Tingzhu, let's go back. It's getting late."

"Let him rest well. Actually, your father doesn't have many regrets." Min Limin didn't say that Luo Pan had no regrets at all, but that kind of regret was already fixed in the historical trajectory. If that kind of regret wasn't a regret, then she and Luo Pan were destined to be apart.

Min Limin didn't know whether Luo Pan's regret was good or bad.

"Tianluo, let's go back. We'll come see Dad again in a while." Fang Ziye pulled Lan Tianluo up.

Lan Tianluo's bottom was covered in dust. He reached out and patted it off, squinted slightly, stuck out his tongue, and scraped the outside of his lips: "Brother-in-law, sister, what have the three of us been doing all these years?"

"It's a family reunion that we managed to put together so many people, so why does it seem so incompetent to Dad?"

Fang Ziye took a deep breath: "No regrets!"

Fang Ziye looked at Luo Pan's photo, the frame already blurred in the night: "Dad, we're going back now, you should get some rest."

It wasn't that Fang Ziye wasn't working hard enough, nor that Lan Tianluo and Luo Tingzhu were ignoring Luo Pan's condition.

Helplessness is a limitation of the times, an absolute tragedy caused by insufficient technological development, and a fixed consequence that this generation must bear.

Luo Pan's illness wasn't due to a lack of money for treatment, a lack of proper rest, or a lack of support; rather, it was because even after doing everything to the utmost, there was still nothing that could be done.

For this research, Fang Ziye tinkered with more than thirty level 7 skills, but it was still useless!
The neurogenic muscular atrophy continued to progress, beyond any medical cure, and it couldn't be resolved by surgery. Although Fang Ziye had another solution—to use instruments to turn Luo Pan into a vegetative state—Fang Ziye and his team couldn't do such a reckless thing.

Luo Pan would not agree, Min Limin would not agree, and even Fang Ziye's parents would not agree.

To live, one must first have dignity and basic decency!
June of 2028 wasn't particularly hot yet. When Fang Ziye returned to his newly bought and renovated house near the hospital, Feng Junfeng was waiting at the door with a suitcase.

"Master... Mistress, Brother Luo," Feng Junfeng called out with a smile.

Lan Tianlu touched his short hair: "Are you calling me that because you're helping my senior brother take advantage of me?"

"Uncle-Master," Feng Junfeng immediately changed his address.

"Brother Feng, where are you going with your suitcase?" Fang Xiyan turned around, her big eyes wide with curiosity as she looked around.

"I'm going back to my hometown, Xiyan. I'll come see you again next time." Feng Junfeng is now twenty-nine years old. He is no longer the naive master's student he once was. Now, he is a graduating doctoral student in surgery at Central South University.

He is a leading figure in the talent recruitment program of the municipal hospital in his hometown. After returning, he will immediately lead a team!

Although Feng Junfeng failed to secure a position at the hospital and was defeated by another skilled "moonlighting" performer, the techniques he had accumulated over the years under Fang Ziye's tutelage were unmatched by ordinary people.

Feng Junfeng could have stayed at Liyuan Hospital, the same hospital where the professor who asked Fang Ziye the bizarre question during his master's thesis graduation was located.

However, Feng Junfeng did not want to continue waiting for opportunities and slowly climbing the ranks like outsiders, so he chose to return to the prefecture-level city hospital in his hometown and try to bring back some of the technology from Fang Ziye to benefit the local area.

Fang Ziye asked, "Have you bought the tickets?"

Feng Junfeng nodded: "Master, the train ticket is for 11 p.m. I took the old green train when I was in college. This is my last year of studying and I'm going home. I'll just go back the way I came."

Fang Ziye nodded: "Tian Yao has left too, right?"

"Yes, Tian Yao was a member of the minority cadre program, so he returned to Yunnan Province. He could have gone to Enshi Central Hospital, but he didn't choose that option."

"He can still get into Yunnan Provincial People's Hospital when he goes back, which is one of the top teaching hospitals in Yunnan Province," Feng Junfeng replied.
"Tian Yao said he has some other things to attend to, and since you've been busy these past few days, he won't come to bother you or say goodbye. He'll come to visit you and your wife on Teacher's Day."

"Master... thank you."

Feng Junfeng said.

"No need to thank me, I only did what I should do," Fang Ziye said.

Feng Junfeng's eyes were slightly red, and his expression was unfocused: "Master, is it something a mentor should do to give an academic presentation at the annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Surgeons Association?"

"Master, is it also something you are required to do, to take me directly to the JAMA editorial office, watch the editors review my article, and even point out any doubts in the article to be published?"

"Is it a mentor's duty to give advice to students to argue with other associate professors at the Asian Orthopaedic Surgeons Conference and have a fair fight?"

“Master, thanks to your kindness, I have gained a glimpse into the academic world, but my connection with cutting-edge scientific research in this lifetime ends here.”

"I've thought about it carefully, and my relationship with it is just a fleeting encounter; we can't develop a deep connection."

"If I go any further, I will be trapped in a mess; if I take a step back, I will regret my lack of success. This state of neither advancing nor retreating is just right."

Upon hearing this, Fang Ziye knew that these words came from Hu Qingyuan. Fang Ziye said with amusement, "Why are you talking more and more nonsense?"

Feng Junfeng said, "Qingyuan has a state of mind cultivation. This cultivation has nothing to do with professional skills or interpersonal relationships, but it is related to one's own beliefs."

"However, this concept is not a traditional one, but rather an active idea of ​​observing people and the world."

"In your words, Master, it is self-awareness."

"By occasionally observing and learning from others, I've naturally picked up some things. Master, am I becoming a bit too artsy?"

Fang Ziye laughed and said, "If you keep standing at the door, your master's wife will say that I don't know how to treat guests."

"Let's go inside and talk for a bit. I'll personally take you to the train station later."

“Okay!” This time, Feng Junfeng did not refuse.

Fang Ziye then led Feng Junfeng into the house. Luo Tingzhu and Fang Xiyan had already prepared cut fruit and laid it out. Fang Xiyan said, "Brother Feng, please don't be shy."

"These are all yours, and those are mine." Fang Xiyan very 'generously' pointed to the small fruit plate that was exclusively for him!

"Thank you, Xiyan."

After Fang Xiyan finished putting down the fruit plate, he said, "But I should go take a shower, drink milk, and go to bed, otherwise we'll be late to the amusement park tomorrow, and if we're late, we won't have enough time to play, which won't do."

Fang Xiyan personally went to move her bathtub, intending to fill it with water for a bath.

After an unknown amount of time, Fang Xiyan's sobbing voice rang out: "Mom, will Grandpa stop braiding my hair from now on?"

What should I do if I want my grandpa to braid my hair?

Luo Tingzhu comforted her, "Mom will do the haircut for you."

"But Mom is Mom, and Grandpa is Grandpa..."

The pain of separation and death is something that each person must grapple with individually, and the same applies to children; no one can chew it up and feed it to them.

"..." (End of this chapter)