Chapter 291 - 196: Leader Jiang

Chapter 291: Chapter 196: Leader Jiang

This was one of those moments where Jiang He desperately wished he could be Meng Shiyu.

Does anyone know the feeling? The conference is over, you’re surrounded by a crowd of people showering you with praise, and there’s absolutely no way to escape!

"Dr. Jiang, what you said on stage earlier was so inspiring! What’s so great about Johns Hopkins University? Plagiarism is wrong, and they deserved to be called out to their faces just like that!"

"Jiang He, I’m from the general surgery department at Municipal Hospital No. 2. Our department has a consultation for a severe and complex case next week. Would you have time to come and offer some guidance?"

"Teacher Jiang, I’m a reporter from the provincial TV station. Could we get a quick close-up shot?"

"President Jiang, here’s my business card. Our company is a distributor for high-end imported biochemical reagents. Could you give us a shot at your lab’s future consumable procurements?"

"Xiaojiang, are you seeing anyone? I have two nieces who just came back from studying abroad..."

"Teacher Jiang, can I add you on QQ? I’d like to ask for your advice..."

All sorts of voices surrounded him from every conceivable angle.

Jiang He continuously accepted business cards with both hands, nodding and replying.

"Thank you, I will."

"You’re too kind. We should connect more when we have the chance."

"Let’s both do our best."

「One hour later.」

Jiang He was exhausted.

To be honest, with the experience of two lifetimes, he was fully capable of handling this kind of situation perfectly and flawlessly.

But he just felt so tired.

If Jiang He had his choice, he’d much rather lock himself in the lab and grind away at research, or tirelessly cut out tumors to save lives.

That’s how overachievers are; work, ironically, made him feel free...

「Meanwhile, on the second floor of the provincial government complex.」

Dean Chen and Yang Xu were having tea face-to-face with Lin Zhenhua.

Teacher Yang placed the file folder he had prepared on the coffee table.

"Minister Lin, we’d like to ride the momentum from today’s conference to make a request regarding some internal matters at Affiliated Hospital No. 1."

Lin Zhenhua smiled. "Go ahead. What policy are you after this time?"

Yang Xu said, "Minister Lin, do you see how hard Jiang He is working right now? The provincial P3 lab is under his lead, the pilot program for the SAP early prediction model was just launched province-wide today, and he’s also pushing forward the miRNA early screening experiment. This kid is juggling nothing but national-level projects."

Lin Zhenhua nodded. "For special talents like him, the province has already been giving him the green light all the way."

Yang Xu: "Yes, but Jiang He’s current title is still just a Resident Physician..."

Dean Chen picked up the thread. "His authority is still too limited. Many things require multiple layers of approval, and the back-and-forth causes delays..."

Yang Xu chimed in, "Besides, Minister Lin, Jiang He might be going to Hopkins. When the time comes, they’ll see that the representative of a medical team from China is just a Resident Physician. That wouldn’t look very good, would it?"

Dean Chen: "So, Director Yang and I are thinking, since the hospital is short-staffed anyway, we hope to let Jiang He work without restraint to better facilitate the progress of these national projects."

The two of them were like a married couple, chattering away, one picking up right where the other left off...

In reality, they had been preparing for this conversation for a long time.

The file folder contained discs of Jiang He’s recent surgical recordings, progress reports on the SAP and miRNA experiments, and a letter of recommendation jointly signed by all the department heads at Affiliated Hospital No. 1.

Yang Xu had gone to great lengths to prepare all this material.

Lin Zhenhua glanced at Yang Xu, then at Dean Chen, and suddenly laughed.

"Old Yang, Dean Chen, you prepared all this just because you were afraid I wouldn’t agree, weren’t you? I’m well aware of Jiang He’s capabilities, and I greatly admire this young man. Rules... rules are for ordinary people."

Yang Xu’s eyes lit up. "You mean...?"

"A once-in-a-century genius like Jiang He should be fast-tracked straight to the top. Old Chen, your Affiliated Hospital No. 1 should issue an official directive and establish an ’Attending Physician Responsibility System’."

Dean Chen looked puzzled.

Lin Zhenhua continued, "Create a position for an independent medical team leader. The hospital will directly appoint Jiang He as the Attending Physician and team leader of a new joint Hepatobiliary Surgery and Critical Care group. Starting today, within Affiliated Hospital No. 1, he will have the special privilege to admit and treat patients independently. Furthermore, his performance-based compensation will be benchmarked against the associate-senior professional level and above."

Dean Chen understood now and nodded repeatedly.

In fact, there was precedent for this kind of action in the country.

In reality, some top hospitals in Southern China, like those in the Xiangya or Huaxi systems, often faced the awkward situation where the top-tier post-docs they recruited from overseas with huge offers didn’t meet the seniority requirements for national professional titles.

The hospitals’ solution was to grant them positions as specially-appointed researchers or give them the internal compensation of an associate-senior professional, allowing them to skip the residency phase and directly become team leaders who lead rounds and perform surgeries as the primary surgeon.

"From now on, when he goes out for exchanges, everyone will refer to him as Leader Jiang."

Lin Zhenhua laughed. "Let him loose and let him work. The provincial department will absolutely support such an outstanding talent. Go to Hopkins and show them what he’s made of? Absolutely. I’ll even arrange an official entourage for him to boost his prestige!"

Yang Xu gave him a huge thumbs-up.

That got a major +1 from him.

...

「Thirty minutes later.」

「Downstairs.」

The crowd surrounding Jiang He had finally dispersed...

A few of his team members felt exhausted just from watching.

But Chen Hao was also full of admiration.

’Old Jiang’s social skills are incredible. Whether it’s leaders or colleagues, he manages to charm them all. That’s something I really need to learn from.’

Just as they were taking a break, Yang Xu arrived.

He had his hands in his trouser pockets and looked to be in an excellent mood.

Walking up to Jiang He, Yang Xu said, "Jiang He, I just finished a little meeting with Minister Lin. Now, I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"

Jiang He blinked.

Seeing the smile that his teacher could barely suppress, Jiang He had already guessed most of it.

’Whenever something good happened, his teacher loved to be dramatic and keep him in suspense.’

’Sigh, what can you do?’ he thought. ’Might as well play along and humor him.’

"Teacher, why don’t you start with the bad news."

"The bad news is, after an emergency consultation between the hospital and the provincial department, it has been decided to strip you of your status as a Resident Physician. In other words, you may no longer be able to work as an ordinary, low-level doctor at Affiliated Hospital No. 1."

Jiang He feigned shock. "Huh? No way! How could this happen? Then... what’s the good news?"

Yang Xu immediately broke character and burst out laughing. "The good news is, the hospital is issuing an official directive to appoint you as the independent team leader for Hepatobiliary Surgery! They’re implementing the Attending Physician Responsibility System! Starting next week, you’ll receive the compensation of an associate-senior professional, independently admit patients, independently write prescriptions, and independently act as lead surgeon! In other words, you’re becoming an attending and a team leader!"

Jiang He: "Wow."

Chen Hao, standing to the side, was genuinely happy. "Old Jiang! When you’re rolling in dough, don’t forget us little mutts!"

Cheng Xiyao smiled. "Congratulations, Dr. Jiang... oh, wait, I should call you Leader Jiang now~"

Wang Xiaoqing, on the other hand, was very composed, commenting, "It’s about time."

Lu Xiaolin said earnestly, "It feels like only yesterday I was calling you my junior, then I was calling you my senior, and now I have to call you Leader. Congratulations, Leader Jiang. If you ever need someone to write up major case files or just be an extra pair of hands, call me anytime."

No one was overly shocked.

It was mainly because Jiang He had done so many incredible things recently.

That had diluted the impact of this particular achievement.

In their eyes, Jiang He getting the authority to lead his own team was completely well-deserved.

While everyone was laughing happily, Yang Xu snuck a glance at Professor Wang.

People have a habit of looking at the person they like most when everyone is laughing...

Only to find that Professor Wang was actually looking at Jiang He.

’Hm? Professor Wang doesn’t have a crush on Jiang He, does she? Crap!’

Yang Xu felt like he was becoming a little obsessed.

Ever since the last time Wang Xiaoqing had asked to meet with him and it fell through,

He’d been wanting to bring it up again.

But he could never find the right opportunity to say it.

What a dilemma.

Finally, he sighed and added, "Oh, right, Jiang He, there’s one more thing. I guess you could call it the icing on the cake."

Jiang He asked, "What is it?"

Yang Xu said, "The competition our province just held was a huge success. We got feedback from Academician Zheng in the Capital City, who gave the competition’s format an extremely high evaluation. Now, several top medical schools are taking the lead to push it forward. The province plans to upgrade this regional competition into a national clinical skills competition for medical students, and it’s going to happen soon."

Hearing this, a flicker of something passed through Jiang He’s eyes.

In his past life, the first National Clinical Skills Competition for Medical Students was held in 2010.

It was happening a bit earlier in this life.

But it made sense.

His own god-tier performance in the South China Region after his rebirth had caught the attention of the higher-ups, directly accelerating the development of this national competition.

’However, I’m already an independent team leader at Affiliated Hospital No. 1 now.’

’Compete against students? There’s not much point to that anymore.’

’With this kind of energy, I’d be better off planning my proposal to Shen Yu in the Capital City at the end of the month, or figuring out how to go challenge them at Hopkins.’

So, Jiang He said, "That’s great news, but Teacher, I think I’ll sit this national competition out. I have too many projects on my plate and can’t spare the time."

But Yang Xu’s tone was firm. "No, you have to participate."

Jiang He was taken aback. "Huh? Why?"

Yang Xu patted him on the shoulder. "I’m not asking you to be a contestant. You’re going to be a judge."

Jiang He: "?"