Chapter 111: I’m Better Suited For Clinical Practice!
Inside the Spicy Pot shop, nearly half the tables were occupied, the rustling sound of the oscillating fan mingling with the girls’ gossip and the auntie’s scraping of chair legs on the floor.
An auntie wearing a red apron brought over a pot, holding it high above her head as she shouted, “Make way, careful not to get burned!~”
“Make way, careful not to get burned.”
“B11, yes, that’s you. I’ll go get you some rice.” The auntie slammed the pot down between Lu Cheng and Mu Nanshu, the bamboo basket holding the pot wobbled, and the pot handle tilted.
This sudden slam forced Lu Cheng’s words back into his mouth. Lu Cheng quickly tidied the cup in front of him: “Do you order takeout often? I thought you could cook?”
Mu Nanshu and Lu Cheng grew up in the town, attending elementary and middle school there.
The town was considered semi-rural. Back then, when Mu Nanshu’s parents were out doing business, Mu Nanshu was responsible for grocery shopping and cooking.
It wasn’t until the second year of middle school, when the Mu family’s business improved significantly, that Uncle Mu hired someone to bring an auntie back to be a full-time companion for her studies.
Mu Nanshu’s cooking skills were honed this way.
Mu Nanshu was wearing a light blue A-line shirt today, with a relatively simple silver bead pendant around her neck. When she reached back to tie her hair with the hair tie on her wrist, she appeared quite proud.
Perhaps she realized the movement was rather ungraceful, so she turned slightly: “I cook occasionally, but when I cook for myself, I can’t eat it all, and I’m too lazy to wash dishes.”
“The cafeteria is also quite far, so I often order takeout,” Mu Nanshu said, habitually flicking her ponytail to her left chest after tying her hair.
However, realizing she was about to eat, she swept her hair back again. Just as the auntie brought the rice, Lu Cheng first served Mu Nanshu a large bowl.
“I can’t eat this much now,” Mu Nanshu said after a brief pause.
Lu Cheng then scooped some rice from his bowl to the side and handed it to Mu Nanshu: “No wonder you look like you’ve lost so much weight.”
“Are you dieting? Be careful about your stomach.”
Mu Nanshu shook her head: “Out of ten Chinese people abroad, nine are hungry every day… It’s not exactly hunger, but after being hungry for a long time, your appetite shrinks…”
“There’s no good Chinese food near our school.”
Mu Nanshu picked up her chopsticks, picked up a piece of green lettuce, and put it in her mouth: “The taste is okay, the seasoning is a bit too strong, it doesn’t have that fragrant pot aroma of a spicy pot.”
Lu Cheng said: “The Wu’s Spicy Pot we used to eat in college is gone.”
“I haven’t had that taste since then. The spicy pots in our Long County can’t replicate that flavor either.”
The Wu’s Spicy Pot Lu Cheng mentioned used to be at the food court on Zhongbei Road. Lu Cheng had specifically searched for it today, planning to go eat there next time, but the shop was no longer there.
“Perhaps it’s because I didn’t have many good things to eat back then, so the flavors remain in my memory.”
“I, on the other hand, find that eating food in China is a pleasure, even this place,” Mu Nanshu said, her cheeks puffed out as she slowly chewed.
Lu Cheng wasn’t a picky eater. As a carb-loving guy, he couldn’t feel full without rice or noodles.
In a flash, Lu Cheng finished his large bowl of rice.
When Lu Cheng went to scoop more rice, Mu Nanshu’s rice was less than a third gone. Mu Nanshu was curious, was this spicy pot really that delicious?
However, it had always been like this; watching Lu Cheng eat always gave her the ‘appetite’ to eat half a bowl more.
After the meal, it was 12:40 PM. Mu Nanshu walked alongside Lu Cheng, holding a parasol to aid digestion.
She shot Lu Cheng a look and said, “Why are you walking so far away? Aren’t you afraid of the sun?”
Lu Cheng raised his right arm: “I never use an umbrella. I always ride my electric scooter. If I get tanned, I get tanned, it doesn’t matter.”
“One of my roommates said your skills are really, really good, but I didn’t expect her to be your supervising teacher this time!” Mu Nanshu suddenly mentioned.
“Do you want to drink milk tea?” About twenty meters ahead, Lu Cheng spotted a “Ba Wang Cha Ji” with a considerable queue, and instead of answering, he asked.
Hanshi City was still hot in September. Most people couldn’t resist a refreshing cup of milk tea, and she was no exception: “Then let’s get one…”
After ordering, Lu Cheng and Mu Nanshu sat side-by-side by the floor-to-ceiling window, enjoying the cool air conditioning and watching the outside world.
Outside, takeout delivery drivers occasionally passed by, young couples exuded “carefree” smiles, a sanitation worker picked up cigarette butts under the sun, a formally dressed real estate agent introduced something to a client, and traffic flowed endlessly.
Mu Nanshu secretly glanced at Lu Cheng and asked again, “Why are your skills so good?”
“No, it’s just that my basic skills are a bit better, not much in terms of technique.”
“The skills I have now, even the department you’re in at Xiehe Hospital wouldn’t value,” Lu Cheng said.
Xiangya Hospital doesn’t even accept patients with tendon injuries, and Xiehe Hospital even less so.
“It shouldn’t be that simple. Xie Yuan’an is almost cracking. From ten in the morning until now, she’s been probing indirectly, asking for a lot of information back and forth,” a hard-to-describe gleam flickered in Mu Nanshu’s eyes.
Her tone sounded casual, but it held a faint sense of ‘crisis’.
Lu Cheng turned to look at Mu Nanshu and scratched his head: “Bookworm, would you believe me if I said I don’t even know the specific situation?”
“I just bury my head and learn. I have no concept of what level I’ve reached or what can be done with this kind of proficiency.”
Mu Nanshu naturally believed him: “I don’t understand clinical practice much. During my master’s and doctoral studies abroad, I spent more time reading and doing scientific research, with little clinical exposure.”
“It’s only during the resident physician standardized training phase that one is officially integrated into clinical practice.”
“But the fact that you could make Sister An act like this suggests you must be quite excellent…”
“She told me that Professor Xie is willing to take you as a student, a guaranteed spot.”
Officially improving one’s academic qualification, even if one doesn’t stay at Xiehe in the end, would provide a great opportunity to find a good job in Hanshi City.
Hanshi City has more than just Xiehe, Tongji, Provincial People’s Hospital, and Zhongnan.
Lu Cheng glanced at Mu Nanshu and suddenly raised his eyebrows: “If I told you I don’t want to actively improve my academic qualification right now, and just keep my bachelor’s degree for another year or two, what would you think of me?”
Mu Nanshu lowered her chin, her voice soft: “I can understand, but I don’t particularly support it.”
“Didn’t you say a few days ago that you don’t care about winning or losing, you just want peace of mind? For yourself, there’s no need to delay…”
“Following a teacher and wholeheartedly learning techniques would be better than fragmented learning, picking up bits and pieces here and there.”
Lu Cheng nodded gently: “We’ll see after the upcoming Microsurgery Skills Competition.”
“Actually, it’s not beneficial for my development to go directly to a teaching hospital to study and improve my academic qualification right now.”
“I’m more suited for clinical practice!” Lu Cheng’s voice was firm.
Skill points are gained from treating patients, not from solely immersing oneself in laboratory scientific research.
From Mu Nanshu, Lu Cheng also learned that 80% of the time during postgraduate and doctoral studies is spent on scientific research experiments.
Mu Nanshu smiled: “You definitely have your own understanding. I trust you won’t be reckless.”
