Chapter 2178 - 1430: It Will Enter the Chronicles of Medical History

Chapter 2178: Chapter 1430: It Will Enter the Chronicles of Medical History

On the third day after Manstein returned from the United States, Weber came again.

This time, he didn’t come alone. But before coming, Yang Ping received a formal email. The sender was Weber, and the email was meticulously written, in typical German style—title, salutation, body, attachments, everything was neatly organized:

"Professor Yang, a supplementary note on my next visit."

When Yang Ping saw this title, he felt something was off. A normal person’s email title would be "I’ll come next week," but Weber wrote "a supplementary note on my next visit," like a lawyer drafting a contract.

He opened the email, and the body read as follows:

"Dear Professor Yang Ping, I plan to visit your institute again next Wednesday. The academic purpose of this visit is the same as last time: to continue learning about your team’s latest data and further discuss the molecular mechanism of original cell activation. In addition, the German TV channel ZDF plans to shoot a documentary about ’Scientific Frontiers in Spinal Cord Injury Repair,’ and they hope to do some filming during my visit. I have made it clear to the crew that all filming must obtain your and your team’s prior written consent, must not interfere with normal scientific work, must not film any unauthorized experimental content, and must not shoot patients’ faces without their consent. The crew leader will communicate with you directly before arrival to confirm all details. Should you disagree, the crew will not appear. I, too, respect your decision—the filming of a scientific documentary should not come at the cost of disturbing science itself."

Yang Ping finished reading the email and thought for a long time. This is Weber’s style, and it’s also the style of all old-school German scientists—setting the rules first before discussing matters. No surprise attacks, no sudden surprises, not forcing "I brought a film crew" as an established fact. Rather, it’s about prior communication, full consultation, and consent. It makes you feel respected, not coerced.

He forwarded the email to Manstein with a line: "Is this the German way of doing things?"

Manstein’s reply was swift: "Yes! Weber is a typical old-school German professor. Clothes can be worn casually, but rules cannot be casual. When he says ’the film crew won’t appear,’ they really won’t appear—it’s not just lip service."

Yang Ping replied to Weber’s email: "Professor Weber, the film crew can come. But they must sign a filming agreement upon arrival, clarifying the scope, usage rights, and confidentiality obligations. Yang Ping."

On Wednesday morning, a black business car stopped again at the entrance of the institute. There wasn’t a van filled with equipment following behind; the film crew had arrived in Nandu a day early, found their own accommodations, and drove over themselves, standing at the institute entrance waiting.

Weber got out of the car, wearing a dark blue windbreaker and a baseball cap. Four people followed behind him: two cameramen, a sound engineer, and a producer. No one rushed directly with the equipment to start filming—they all stood by the car, waiting.

"Professor Yang!" Weber walked over and shook hands with Yang Ping, "The film crew is waiting outside; is your filming agreement ready?"

"It’s ready!" Tang Shun shook Weber’s hand.

Weber communicated with the film crew in German for a few sentences, then said, "They will only send one producer as a representative to go upstairs with us; the others will stay downstairs until we sign the agreement, after which they’ll come up."

Germans are pretty disciplined, Yang Ping thought as he watched the Germans who were checking their equipment.

Once they got to the office at the institute, Tang Shun handed over the agreement: "A bilingual version in Chinese and German, you can take a look first."

Weber took it and read it from start to finish. He read every line earnestly, as if reading a paper. After finishing, he nodded and turned to the film crew’s representative. He spoke to him in German, which meant: Here’s the filming agreement, read it, and sign if you agree. If not, go back, and we won’t shoot. The representative took the agreement, read it carefully, nodded, and took a pen from his bag to sign it.

Weber handed the signed agreement back to Yang Ping: "Is this alright?"

"It’s fine, shall we look at the data first?"

"Let’s look at the data first."

Yang Ping walked into the meeting room of the institute, with Weber following behind.

The producer went downstairs to call the film crew up, but it was agreed that they would not film while looking at the data. They went downstairs to unload the equipment from the car, moving it to the corner of the laboratory hallway, neatly stacked against the wall, and waited. No one urged them, and no one was impatient.

Weber sat down at the conference table, and Manstein placed the latest data in front of him. Chen Jianguo’s standing record from the past two weeks had increased from six minutes to seven and a half minutes. The mechanism study results of a new batch of mouse models showed that the chemogenetic ablation experiment data had come out: after clearing the original cells, functional recovery indeed partially reversed. Additionally, the batch of data sent by Hanna from Germany had been cross-verified, and the analysis was highly consistent with the findings of Manstein’s team.

When Weber saw the ablation experiment data, his actions noticeably slowed down. He picked up the graph, looked at it against the light for a long time, and then put it down. "When did this come out?"

"Yesterday!" Manstein said.

"How many repetitions?"

"Three times, with consistent results."

Weber took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes: "Manstein, do you know what this data means?"