Chapter 720: Why Learn

Chapter 720: Chapter 720: Why Learn

The seminar room was already packed.

There were not only undergraduate students, but also many graduate students in white coats. Even a few young counselors and teachers had come to see what the fuss was about.

When Li Xu walked into the room, accompanied by Director Liang, the once-noisy space fell silent in an instant.

All eyes locked onto Li Xu, filled with curiosity, scrutiny, and even a hint of... defiance.

Li Xu’s expression was as calm as ever as he smiled and nodded at the crowd.

Director Liang walked to the center of the lectern, cleared his throat, and picked up the microphone.

"Good afternoon, students and teachers."

"Today, we are greatly honored to have invited one of our university’s outstanding alumni, Dr. Li Xu, to return to his alma mater to share and discuss some clinical cases."

"I’m sure you’ve all heard of Dr. Li." Director Liang intentionally emphasized his words. "Although Li Xu only graduated three years ago, he has already been through the wringer on the front lines of clinical practice, accumulating an immense wealth of hands-on experience. He not only held his own at a local clinic but has now been appointed as the Vice Dean and Director of the Oncology Department at the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine."

"Today, we’ll let your senior, Li Xu, share some of the difficult cases he has encountered in his practice and talk about his insights. If you have any professional questions, you can also ask them here."

"Of course..."

Director Liang’s tone shifted, a smile playing on his lips. "As a requirement, after today’s lecture, every single one of you must submit a reflection paper of no less than five thousand words."

"Awww—"

A collective groan of despair immediately rose from the audience.

Li Xu’s mouth fell open, momentarily at a loss for words.

’This Director Liang... he’s a real piece of work, isn’t he?’

With a single sentence, he had instantly made Li Xu public enemy number one.

As students, there was nothing they hated more than having to write a reflection paper after a lecture.

Especially one with an insane word count like five thousand.

Even the graduate students, who usually churned out papers as easily as drinking water, felt their scalps tingle at this demand.

"Li Xu."

Director Liang put down the microphone, turned his head, and said with a grin, "Dean Song and the others have been singing your praises to me. The people sitting in the audience today are our university’s top students—many of them are master’s and doctoral candidates. If you don’t show them what you’re really made of and impress them, they’re going to tear you to shreds in those five-thousand-word papers."

Li Xu gave a wry smile.

It was only then that he realized Director Liang was intentionally trying to make him a target.

This was a common tactic used by old foxes in education.

The best way to motivate students was often by goading them, or in other words, by creating a comparison.

Only by setting up a "hypothetical rival" could these arrogant academic elites be spurred to think with real drive.

It was true that Li Xu had graduated from their university, but he only had a bachelor’s degree.

And today, more than half of the people in attendance were graduate students.

In the field of medicine, which places immense value on academic credentials, the "hierarchy of academic prestige" was a very real and powerful force.

This was especially true in major hospitals when competing for resources and promotions; the rat race was even more intense.

When doctors of the same age competed, the first thing they compared was their academic qualifications.

’I have a Ph.D., and you only have a master’s, so I’m superior. We both have master’s degrees, but I graduated from a top-tier university while you’re from a lesser one, so I’m still better than you.’

This was a common mentality among many medical students.

And today, Li Xu, who only had a bachelor’s degree, was going to stand on stage and lecture a group of master’s and doctoral students?

In the eyes of these already proud and arrogant graduate students, this felt a bit like the world being turned upside down.

That was why the eyes of the graduate students in the audience, though curious, were filled more with defiance.

They wanted to see for themselves just how capable this "undergraduate senior," who had been hyped up by the outside world, really was.

Did he get to where he was through some kind of internet hype?

In any case, Li Xu had already graduated. Director Liang was using a successful alumnus to provoke and humble the pride of his current students—it was a no-lose situation for him.

"Director Liang, you flatter me. You’re really putting me on the spot here."

Li Xu said with a self-deprecating laugh, then strode confidently to the lectern.

He stood before the microphone, his calm gaze sweeping across the entire room.

"Good afternoon, seniors and fellow classmates."

"Director Liang was just praising me a bit too much. In truth, this is the first time since graduation that I’ve returned to my alma mater in this capacity to speak with everyone. I don’t have any grand principles to preach. I’m just here to casually share some of my experiences in clinical practice so we can learn from each other and discuss things together."

Li Xu’s voice was gentle, without a trace of arrogance, which made some of the students in the audience who were initially resistant relax a little.

As he spoke, Li Xu plugged a USB drive he had prepared into the computer on the lectern and opened his PowerPoint presentation.

"Director Liang only notified me yesterday afternoon about coming back to speak with you all today. Time was a bit tight, so I had to rush to put this PPT together overnight."

Li Xu continued as he operated the computer, "I sat in front of my computer for a long time, thinking, ’What should I say to a room full of such brilliant students?’"

"Should I discuss profound classical theories? I was afraid of presuming to teach experts and making a fool of myself. Should I talk about overly complex and rare cases? I worried that wouldn’t be grounded enough and would be beyond what’s relevant to you at your current stage."

"So, in the end, I decided that today we won’t talk about specific diseases or profound medicines. We’ll just talk about something that is most basic, most elementary, and yet, most fundamental."

As he spoke, the first slide of his presentation popped up on the display screen.

It had a white background with black text, extremely simple, without a single image.

On it were just five large words:

"Why Study Traditional Chinese Medicine?"

Seeing this title on the screen, Director Liang, who was sitting in the back row sipping tea, was taken aback.

He muttered to himself in surprise, "This kid... that’s a brilliant choice of topic."

This topic, on the surface, seemed like a cliché question that every medical student is asked on their first day of school, making it appear very "elementary."

However, very few people could discuss this question with any depth after actually struggling and gaining experience in clinical practice for a few years.

The fact that Li Xu dared to choose such a back-to-basics topic in this setting, facing this group of proud graduate students, was in itself a testament to his immense self-confidence.

He had made a special trip to the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine the previous afternoon and had listened from the back of a crowd as Li Xu diagnosed patients.

He had already gauged Li Xu’s skill level. His effortless command of the Chinese medical classics and his profound insight into pathogenesis and pathology were absolutely on the level of a master.

In Director Liang’s view, Li Xu’s understanding of Traditional Chinese Medicine had far surpassed the depth one would expect from someone his age.

Having such a young man discuss such a seemingly simple topic might truly be like a sharp sword, piercing the hollow pride these students had built up amidst their stacks of books and arousing a genuine resonance in their souls.