Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 2749 The Master of Dongning (Second Update, Book Subscription)

Dongning, the most dazzling pearl on the Pacific Ocean.

At dawn, the moment the sun rises above the horizon, the entire city is bathed in bright sunlight.

As the sun rose, a six-year-old boy running along the beach turned his head to look at the rising sun on the horizon, and a smile appeared on his face.

Then he started running on the seaside path again, as if he was trying to sense something.

There were many people doing their morning exercise along the way. Familiar faces would see him from afar and call out with a smile:
"Good morning, Monkey King!"

Hearing their greetings, the six-year-old would always smile and nod in response, his voice clear and bright: "Good morning."

The title "Monkey King" was known to everyone in Dongning City. He was the pillar of the Zhang Family Troupe, his monkey performances were masterful, his leaps and bounds, his scratching and scrambling, every smile and frown exuding the agility and wit of a monkey, every gesture full of theatrical charm, truly deserving the title of "Monkey King." But only he knew that this glory was slowly fading away.

After finishing his morning run, the six-year-old walked along the old street toward the opera house. Along the way, people still called him "Monkey King" with a smile. He nodded gently, but the smile on his lips faded a little as he got closer to the opera house.

The Zhang Family Opera House is hidden in a corner of the city. Unlike the surrounding buildings, it is a typical classical Eastern-style building with green tiles, wooden beams, and vermilion columns that are somewhat mottled. It still retains its former grandeur, but cannot hide the vicissitudes of time.

As I approached, I could hear the sounds of synchronized body movements coming from inside the building—sticks rising and falling, footsteps striking the ground, crisp and powerful.

As soon as Liu Lingtong pushed open the door, he saw the stage—several fellow apprentices and his younger brother Liu Xiaolingtong were practicing the basic skills of monkey opera. They were doing somersaults, twirling sticks, and imitating the expressions and movements of monkeys. Every move was clean, neat, agile, and vivid. It was clear that they had all worked hard and had a solid foundation.

Instead of feeling relieved, he frowned deeply, his gaze fixed on their figures, filled with worry.

"Still worried about the theater?"

The voice came from behind. Turning around, he saw his father, Liu Lingtong, the founder of the Zhang family's monkey opera, wearing a vest and holding a purple clay teapot.

The six-year-old nodded slightly, his voice low:
“Father, fewer and fewer people are watching the plays these days, and we’re only keeping the audience going thanks to our old customers. If this continues, I’m afraid our Zhang family troupe won’t be able to hold on.”

Upon hearing this, the father sighed deeply, walked slowly to the edge of the stage, and looked up at the young people practicing on stage with a somewhat dazed expression.

"Yes, with movies and TV shows being so exciting these days, who would want to squeeze into this old theater to listen to us sing these old operas?"

The old man's voice was filled with endless emotion as he said:

"Back in the day, when your uncle and I brought our troupe here from overseas, the first play we performed drew a huge crowd, packed so tightly you couldn't see the end of the line. People back then truly loved watching plays. Whether they understood our accent or not, their cheers were deafening. You wouldn't believe it, people really loved watching plays back then..."

The old man couldn't continue speaking, and could only let out a heavy sigh.

At this moment, he seemed to recall the scene from 30 years ago when he brought several fellow apprentices here. Back then, he had only heard that there were few actors here. He believed that as long as you could act, you could definitely make money.

Just like others have said, there are many people here, but few actors, so it's definitely possible to make money...

This is why their return journey was repeatedly delayed. Eventually, transportation was cut off, and they were never able to return.

But back then, there were so many people watching the play, it was a sea of ​​people.

Where is it like this now?
When was the last time the theater was packed and people lined up outside early to buy tickets?

The six-year-old couldn't even remember.

Fewer and fewer people are watching plays now. Apart from some elderly people, how many young people still watch plays?

Looking at his energetic apprentice and youngest son on stage, a hint of undisguised disappointment flashed in his eyes. He never imagined that this day would come. When he built this opera house, he thought it would become more and more prosperous in the future.

Unexpectedly, in just 10 years, everything has changed. The once bustling theater now has fewer and fewer customers.

For many young people, opera seems to be something only their parents' generation enjoys watching.

After a moment of silence, the father seemed to suddenly remember something, his cloudy eyes brightened, and he turned to look at the six-year-old boy:

Do you remember what day it is the day after tomorrow?

The six-year-old nodded immediately, his tone solemn:
"I remember, of course I remember."

"Has the ticket been sent?"

"I had someone deliver it to you personally this morning, so there won't be any delays."

The father then slowly nodded, his expression becoming more solemn, and said, word by word:

"They are your saviors; we can never forget this kindness."

He paused, then added:
"By the way, you're going to perform on stage yourself tomorrow, right?"

The six-year-old nodded and said:

"Yes, I'll go on stage myself. After all, Dr. Yang Jingfan once said he liked watching me play Sun Wukong!"

-

Dongning University Medical Center is one of the top five medical centers in the world, and it is renowned for its bone marrow transplants.

Around 9 a.m., Dr. Yang Jingfan arrived at the medical center as usual. As he went into his office to change his clothes, his eyes couldn't help but glance at the wall next to him.

The wall is covered with various awards and honors he has received, which are commendations from all sectors of society. More than 20 years ago, leukemia was an incurable disease that could only be controlled by chemotherapy.

At that time, he had just obtained his medical doctorate and felt powerless in the face of the despair of the patients' families and the suffering of the patients.

It was around this time that he saw news of successful organ transplants in a magazine. A thought then popped into his head—if organ transplants can treat some diseases, could a similar approach be used to treat leukemia?

After having this idea, he devoted himself to the research of bone marrow transplantation. Two years later, he performed the world's first bone marrow transplant—transplanting bone marrow from identical twins to a child with leukemia. The bone marrow was completely normal on day 25; however, the child relapsed and died on day 176.

Despite this, it still gave him hope. However, what awaited them was the darkest decade—almost all of the approximately 200 cases he followed globally were wiped out, with only 3 surviving.

At the time, the academic community generally declared that "transplantation is dead." Meanwhile, Yang Jingfan withdrew the halo of the first successful case, retreated to animal models, systematically deconstructed the reasons for failure in dogs, and painstakingly extracted clinical rules through dog experiments.

Starting in 1960, his team first used methotrexate for clinical immunosuppression; it was also during those years that he and his team overcame numerous difficulties and established this discipline from scratch.

Finally, eleven years after completing the world's first bone marrow transplant, he made the world's first successful allogeneic bone marrow transplant a reality, and the patient has been living a good life ever since.

"Let's do it today..."

Thinking of this, he glanced at his secretary's desk as he left the office.

No flowers, no cards.

Perhaps something got in the way.

Upon arriving at the doctors' consultation room, several doctors were already waiting. The patient's complete set of examination reports, bone marrow matching results, and immune marker data were laid out on the table, and the atmosphere was serious and focused. This was a routine case discussion held daily at the bone marrow transplant center.

"Doctor, the patient has only found a non-related donor with six matching sites in bone marrow matching. The risk of rejection and GVHD is much higher than with a sibling donor."

"Should the preoperative conditioning regimen be strengthened with increased immunosuppression?"

Yang Jingfan asked questions while looking at the tissue compatibility antigen typing data on the report.

"Methotrexate will continue to be used as a basic immunosuppressant, and the dosage will be administered according to our optimized standard."

Yang Jingfan spoke in a calm and steady voice:

“The matching accuracy of unrelated donors is already sufficient. Excessive suppression of the immune system will significantly increase the risk of infection.”

Another doctor immediately expressed concern:
"What about the prevention of GVHD? According to past data, the incidence of acute GVHD in unrelated transplant recipients is close to 60%, which is the most dangerous complication."

"Methotrexate combined with cyclosporine, and the prophylactic program should be initiated 48 hours after the operation."

Yang Jingfan quickly offered a solution, saying:

“The patient is young and has relatively good organ function. If this approach is followed, the success rate of organ transplantation is over 75%.”

The team members quickly added details and discussed specific issues such as postoperative care, infection control, and nutritional support.

Half an hour later, the final treatment plan was finalized, and the doctors left to carry out their duties.

Yang Jingfan returned to his office, leaned back in his chair, gently rubbed his temples, and then took out another paper he was writing.

Over the past decade or so, with the deepening of research on bone marrow transplantation, bone marrow transplantation between unrelated individuals has become fully mature, and terminal diseases such as thalassemia, aplastic anemia, and leukemia finally have the possibility of being cured.

Under his leadership, the Dongning University Bone Marrow Transplant Center has become a global center for the treatment of blood diseases, performing an average of 350 transplants annually with a success rate of 70% to 80%.

Yang Jingfan is also constantly researching the application of bone marrow transplantation to the treatment of more blood diseases, and this paper is the culmination of his efforts over the past three years.

"...I hope that other doctors can also gain some inspiration from this and then help more patients."

Just then, the secretary gently knocked on the door, holding a bouquet of flowers. She entered, placed the flowers and an envelope on the corner of his desk, and said softly:
"Dr. Yang Jingfan, these flowers were just delivered."

Upon seeing the bouquet of flowers, Yang Jingfan immediately smiled.

He quickly picked up the envelope, which had no writing on it, only a lifelike portrait of Sun Wukong.

"I knew it……"

He opened the envelope and took out two tickets, the dates being this weekend.

"Thirteen years."

Looking at the ticket in his hand, Yang Jingfan's tense brows, which had been furrowed all morning, finally relaxed, and a gentle smile appeared in his eyes.

Thirteen years ago, he performed the world's first allogeneic bone marrow transplant on a 16-year-old boy in the hospital. The bone marrow donor was his younger brother.

At that time, there was no successful precedent.

But the surgery was ultimately successful.

The boy survived.

At that time, Yang Jingfan told him that he hoped to see him perform monkey plays often in the future. Although the boy was only 16 years old at the time, he already had the reputation of being the Little Monkey King.

It was from that time onwards that Yang Jingfan would receive a letter from the Little Monkey King containing flowers and tickets on this day.

It has been going on for 13 years without interruption.

The little monkey king became the monkey king.

These two tickets were, in effect, his way of saying, "Doctor, I'm fine. Thank you!"

Over the past 13 years!

He is still alive and well.

Looking at the tickets in his hand, Yang Jingfan's smile grew wider and wider.
He carefully placed the ticket into the drawer of his desk, and when he looked up again, a smile was still on his face, which was the reason he chose to study medicine back then.

During the war-torn years, he treated many wounded soldiers as a military doctor, and now in this hospital, he is providing the best treatment to patients as well.

For Yang Jingfan, these two tickets were the best reward he could ever receive...

(End of this chapter)